Suggestion for "Reject/Accept all changes"

[hmm]

The ability to accept or reject all changes is implemented dangerously in
Word 2007. Even if it can be undone, a user may save his document before he
even realizes he accidentally did it (as it seems just happened to a
colleague of mine). I suggest:

1. That the feature be placed in a separately activated accept/reject
changes sidebar window, where the user is attuned to the fact that he is
accepting and rejecting changes and not just reviewing the changed document.
2. Confirm that the user indeed wants to make the change before doing it.

Thanks.

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...02aee4&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Stefan Blom]

Accept All Changes in Document is a command which is unlikely to be
misunderstood, I think. And, as you wrote, it is possible to undo, using the
Undo button on the QAT or by pressing Ctrl+Z. Note that you can undo even if
you have saved the file (assuming that you didn't close and reopen it first).

 

[hmm]

Stefan,

Thanks for your response.

It's always a good idea that a program confirm with the user any change that
would result in a loss of information, even if the change is retrievable.
For example, when I delete a file, Windows asks me to confirm, even though I
would be able to retrieve it from the Recycle bin.

 

[grammatim]

Sounds like you'd want to turn on the WordPerfect Compatibility
options.

 

[hmm]

I could not find this option discussed in Word (2007) Help. Where can I find
out more about it?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It no longer exists in Word 2007 and in any case is entirely irrelevant to
your situation.

 

[grammatim]

AFAICT there is no discussion of the compatibility options (I just
inquired about that in another thread). But when people come here
complaining that Word keeps asking them to verify everything they try
to do, they're advised to turn off the WP compatibility options.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

No, that's only for deleting text; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/UnableToDeleteText.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

AFAICT there is no discussion of the compatibility options (I just
inquired about that in another thread). But when people come here
complaining that Word keeps asking them to verify everything they try
to do, they're advised to turn off the WP compatibility options.

 

[hmm]

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions.

My original suggestion for Microsoft still stands: Accept/reject changes
ought to be confirmed before execution.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't see any difference between this and any other drastic action in
Word. You can inadvertently select all the text (with Ctrl+A) and press a
single space that replaces all of it. You're not asked to confirm that you
want to do this. You can delete large blocks of text without being asked for
confirmation (unless you have the WordPerfect options enabled). Any action
that can be undone with Undo is inherently harmless. The real danger comes
from the actions that can't be undone, such as Save and Close.

In any case, users are much less likely to inadvertently accept or reject
changes than they are to switch to Final view and think that what they're
seeing represents the actual state of the document. Users frequently have to
be reminded that changing view has not changed anything; they must actually
accept or reject the changes to change the document.

 

[hmm]

In your example, selecting text and typing, one will see the result in the
document and will know immediately that he made a mistake (then undo it).
But with Accept or Reject all changes, he may now know at all that he did it
until it's too late. Such would be the case if he accepts all changes while
showing the final version without markup.