Heisenberg was right!

[Uriel]

You can't look without touching.

Using Word 2003, open a document.

Do Fileroperties:Statistics.

Just LOOK at it.

Then do File:Close.

Word will ask if you want to save "the changes" you made.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This has always been true in Word AFAIR. The same will be true if you Print
Preview. Both actions cause Word to Update Fields.

--
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.

 

[Uriel]

Oh.

But it happens even if there are no fields.

And even for docs that have fields, shouldn't Word only set its internal
"this document has been changed" flag if "update fields" results in at least
one field being changed?

I always find the "do you want to save changes?" prompt disconcerting when I
haven't changed anything.

This has always been true in Word AFAIR. The same will be true if you Print
Preview. Both actions cause Word to Update Fields.

--
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.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Turn off Smart Tags. Does that help?
--
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


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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The Properties are fields even if they are not present in the document.

--
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.

 

[Uriel]

Word asks: "do you want to save changes?"

There are no changes.

All I'm saying.

Is a document's word-count a "field"? No doubt a fine philosophical debate
could be had there.

But we don't have to figure out the answer. Regardless, Word shouldn't ask
"do you want to save changes?" when there are no changes.

The Properties are fields even if they are not present in the document.

--
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.

 

[Uriel]

Try what I said with smart tags off.

message Turn off Smart Tags. Does that help?
--
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.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

There are a number of things that Word sees as changes (i.e. the document file you open is not going to be byte for byte the same
when you close it). It may not be you making the change but the file may have been changed.


File=>Properties, such as last printed date.
Active Smart Tags in Autocorrect options
Automatic Spell /grammar/ formatting consistency checking being active.
Add-ins that load/run when Word or a document does so.
The document contains links to data
The document contains fields that link to data
The document contains fields that update (including the date field)

If you open a new, blank document in Word save it, close it then close Word, reopen it then reopen the saved document then close it
again do you get the prompt?

=========
Word asks: "do you want to save changes?"

There are no changes.

All I'm saying.

Is a document's word-count a "field"? No doubt a fine philosophical debate
could be had there.

But we don't have to figure out the answer. Regardless, Word shouldn't ask
"do you want to save changes?" when there are no changes. >>

 

[Uriel]

If you open a new, blank document in Word save it, close it then close

Word, reopen it then reopen the saved document then close it again do you
get the prompt?
No.

File=>Properties, such as last printed date.

Well, fair enough, if you've printed and the doc contains a changed
last-print-date, that's a change.

Add-ins, if they make changes, cause changes. So fine.

The date field -- sure, IF it's been updated, then that's a change.

Some of your other examples I don't really know about. (Don't use smart
tags, data links.) But what's difficult about the principle here? A change
is a change. Not-a-change is not a change.

"Bob Buckland ?" <75214.226(At Beautiful Downtown)compuserve.com> wrote
in message
There are a number of things that Word sees as changes (i.e. the document
file you open is not going to be byte for byte the same
when you close it). It may not be you making the change but the file may
have been changed.


File=>Properties, such as last printed date.
Active Smart Tags in Autocorrect options
Automatic Spell /grammar/ formatting consistency checking being active.
Add-ins that load/run when Word or a document does so.
The document contains links to data
The document contains fields that link to data
The document contains fields that update (including the date field)

If you open a new, blank document in Word save it, close it then close Word,
reopen it then reopen the saved document then close it
again do you get the prompt?

=========
Word asks: "do you want to save changes?"

There are no changes.

All I'm saying.

Is a document's word-count a "field"? No doubt a fine philosophical debate
could be had there.

But we don't have to figure out the answer. Regardless, Word shouldn't ask
"do you want to save changes?" when there are no changes. >>

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Uriel,

As you mention, change-is-change.

As you did not get the change prompt on a blank document - a guess, not being able to see your documents obviously <g>) would be
that one of your documents where you do get that prompt may contain a date (Insert=>Date with the update choice checked) or other
data that is changed by the computer, not necessarily by you. The problem is going to be that the add-ins, for example, don't
always announce themselves as far as what changed.

If you have a specific document where you're seeing this behavior you can try a couple of things.

1. Start Word in Office safe mode (hold ctrl key when starting Word) then use File=>Open to open that 'changing' file then close
it without doing anything else. Still getting the prompt? Then probably not an add-in as safe mode is supposed to keep them from
running on startup.

2. With the 'changing file' open use Alt+F9 to display many of the 'field codes' within the document to see if there is one there.
A date field for example can be formatted to *show* time, not just date, but the field updates based on its capabilities usually not
just the chosen display format.

Smart Tags are one of those 'built in features' in Word 2003 They try to find things like addresses or contact names in your
documents and mark the document to show that they may be linked to more information (phone number etc). You can turn them off in
Tools=>Autocorrect Optins and Tools=>Options

=======

Well, fair enough, if you've printed and the doc contains a changed
last-print-date, that's a change.

Add-ins, if they make changes, cause changes. So fine.

The date field -- sure, IF it's been updated, then that's a change.

Some of your other examples I don't really know about. (Don't use smart
tags, data links.) But what's difficult about the principle here? A change
is a change. Not-a-change is not a change. >>
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

For Everyday MS Office tips to "use right away" -
http://microsoft.com/events/series/administrativetipsandtricks.mspx

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Bob, I don't think you've been following this thread from the beginning.
What Uriel said is that when you open a file and look at the Statistics page
of File | Properties, you will be prompted to save the document on closing.
This is certainly true, and it results from Word having to recalculate the
word count, check the SaveDate and PrintDate, and so on. Even if nothing is
really changed, Word doesn't necessarily know that. But the original post
has nothing to do with anything else that can result in a "change" in the
file.

--
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.

Hi Uriel,

As you mention, change-is-change.

As you did not get the change prompt on a blank document - a guess, not

that one of your documents where you do get that prompt may contain a date

(Insert=>Date with the update choice checked) or other

data that is changed by the computer, not necessarily by you. The problem

is going to be that the add-ins, for example, don't

always announce themselves as far as what changed.

If you have a specific document where you're seeing this behavior you can try a couple of things.

1. Start Word in Office safe mode (hold ctrl key when starting Word)

then use File=>Open to open that 'changing' file then close

it without doing anything else. Still getting the prompt? Then probably

not an add-in as safe mode is supposed to keep them from

running on startup.

2. With the 'changing file' open use Alt+F9 to display many of the

'field codes' within the document to see if there is one there.

A date field for example can be formatted to *show* time, not just date,

but the field updates based on its capabilities usually not

just the chosen display format.

Smart Tags are one of those 'built in features' in Word 2003 They try

to find things like addresses or contact names in your

documents and mark the document to show that they may be linked to more

information (phone number etc). You can turn them off in

 

[Uriel]

Thank you Suzanne.

I'd just demur at "Word doesn't necessarily know that."

Bob, I don't think you've been following this thread from the beginning.
What Uriel said is that when you open a file and look at the Statistics page
of File | Properties, you will be prompted to save the document on closing.
This is certainly true, and it results from Word having to recalculate the
word count, check the SaveDate and PrintDate, and so on. Even if nothing is
really changed, Word doesn't necessarily know that. But the original post
has nothing to do with anything else that can result in a "change" in the
file.

--
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.

Hi Uriel,

As you mention, change-is-change.

As you did not get the change prompt on a blank document - a guess, not

that one of your documents where you do get that prompt may contain a date

(Insert=>Date with the update choice checked) or other

data that is changed by the computer, not necessarily by you. The problem

is going to be that the add-ins, for example, don't

always announce themselves as far as what changed.

If you have a specific document where you're seeing this behavior you can try a couple of things.

1. Start Word in Office safe mode (hold ctrl key when starting Word)

then use File=>Open to open that 'changing' file then close

it without doing anything else. Still getting the prompt? Then probably

not an add-in as safe mode is supposed to keep them from

running on startup.

2. With the 'changing file' open use Alt+F9 to display many of the

'field codes' within the document to see if there is one there.

A date field for example can be formatted to *show* time, not just date,

but the field updates based on its capabilities usually not

just the chosen display format.

Smart Tags are one of those 'built in features' in Word 2003 They try

to find things like addresses or contact names in your

documents and mark the document to show that they may be linked to more

information (phone number etc). You can turn them off in

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You are right. I know that Smart Tags are one of the things that trigger
this prompt. Apparently looking at document statitstics in an unprotected
document is another, as are fields that update. (In a document protected for
forms, looking at statitistics and cancelling does not trigger the prompt.)
--
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.