Floppy docs from Word 2000, word 2002 says it cant read format

G

Guest

A document in word 2000 on floppy disk is not reconized by word 2002. The
message says try formatiing the disk. HUH?
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Are you trying to open the file directly from the disk? Don't! Copy it to
your HD first, then open from there.

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

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
G

garfield-n-odie

You should not save files directly to a floppy disk or other
removable media from Office applications, because doing so
usually results in file corruption sooner or later. Save to the
hard drive, close the file, and then use Windows Explorer or My
Computer or your CD mastering software to copy the file to the
removable media.

You should not open files directly from a floppy disk or other
removable media in Office applications, because doing so usually
results in file corruption sooner or later. Copy the files to
your hard drive, remove the read-only attribute in
File->Properties, modify and save the file to the hard drive,
close the file, and then use Windows Explorer or My Computer or
your CD mastering software to copy the file to the removable media.

File corruption can occur when there is not enough space on the
removable media for the Office application to create the
necessary temporary files, and there is no way of knowing how
much space the temporary files will use. See
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=211632 "Description of how
Word creates temporary files" for more information.
 
J

Jay Freedman

Strayer said:
A document in word 2000 on floppy disk is not reconized by word 2002.
The message says try formatiing the disk. HUH?

Don't even try to open a document directly from a floppy -- it's a good way
to get a corrupted document. Copy the file to the hard disk, work on it
there, and then copy it back to the floppy after you close it.

If Windows Explorer won't copy the file from the floppy, you've learned a
valuable lesson about how unreliable floppies are.
 
G

Guest

Hi,
I have Win 98 and Word 2000 at home. I have a book on floppy and the
current book saved on floppy. I have used floppies since 1983.
My concern is not the doc, but getting word 2002 to read word 2000. This is
a a public library and no one has access to the HD.
The OS is win pro 2000.
Any ideas?
Strayer
 
G

Guest

Hi,
The OS is win pro 2000. I have win98 and word 2000 at home and have never
had this problem. I have an entire book saved on floppy. My concern is the
the CPU is at a public library and folks don't have access to the HD. There
is security on.
Word 2003 won't read the disk. Do you know why?
Strayer
 
G

Guest

Hi,
At home I have win98 and word 2000. I have a book saved on floppy and have
had no troublew, also at home my HD is 1.18G. No room. This Cpu is win pro
2000 and word 2003. It is a a public library and folks don't have access to
the HD Security is on for obvious reasons.
The "expert" who installed the OS put the user portion on a separater
partition from the admin. Go figure. Could this be a problem?
People here neeed to use the floppy in word. There are other CPUs. I put a
new floppy drive in this win pro and it works. Have any ideas?
Also, I always save to removable media. I don't have the $ to go out and
get a new anything.
Strayer
 
C

Charles Kenyon

The advice to not work from a floppy is well documented and sound.

You are risking your documents.

This was apparently your first experience with what happens regularly when
you try to use Word directly with a floppy disk. You have been lucky so far.

That said, if you must use a floppy ...
1) make sure that the Fast Saves and Versions options are turned off. (Tools
Options > Save)
2) use new floppies for new documents and save them only once.
3) if you open a document on a floppy and make changes, save the document to
a new floppy, each time. That is, one save, one fresh floppy disk.
4) keep your documents small and only one document per disk. If your
document uses more than half your disk space, you are much more likely to
have problems.

You can reuse the floppy disks by reformatting them.

Doing the above makes it likely that you will extend your lucky streak, it
doesn't mean it will go on forever. Word just does not work well with floppy
disks.

So, backup, backup, backup.

Note neither I nor anyone else answering your questions here works for
Microsoft. We are not paid but volunteers - other computer users sharing
their experiences with you. While you are welcome to sound off about how
Word should operate differently, realize that no one who has been helping
you is in any position to make changes in how it operates. This has been a
known problem with Word for many years, I doubt that it will be changed or
fixed because the problem is inherent in how Word works with files.

That the system was set up by an "expert" doesn't mean that he or she knew
about this problem with Word. There are numerous computer experts out there
who do not have anywhere near the depth of knowledge of Word that is shared
here daily. Word is a very complex program and I learn new things about it
almost daily. However, the partitioning of the drive likely made no
difference in what happened to you here, you have simply been lucky in the
past.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Recent Windows/Office updates have prevented Word from opening documents on
removable media. You'll have to explain this to your librarian, I'm afraid.
There may be a more recent update that corrects this. All the advice you
have been given not to do this is very sound, but I understand that it is
really not your decision to make.

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

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
G

Guest

Thanks so much. What I think I'll do is change the HD. I am not fond of
Microsoft at this time. I had trouble with plent of applications in the past.
 
G

Guest

Hi Charles,
Thanks for the info. THe problem was a patron at the library having a
word doc on a diskette and word 2003 would not recognize the format. There
may be a convertor, but I think the solution is to change the HD, One CPU has
Home XP and isn't used much. It had word, but I can't remember what year.
At home I have auto save etc. I have no trouble there. With a book, it has
to be separate from the computer. I do two back ups on floppies, one write
protected and one that can be opened.
As far as text editing programs go, there's now other programs available
that weren't before.
I started using word processing in 1983 and had a DEC with a program that
was super.
My concern was for people who come to the library and want to print
something out.
Again, thanks
Strayer
 

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