New XP Home, fresh Word 2000 fully updated: where to start setting up?

  • Thread starter Almali del Benian
  • Start date
A

Almali del Benian

Dear All,

I'm sitting here scratching my head. I recently got a new computer;
it's running Windows XP Home, fully updated. My dealer installed my
Microsoft Office 2000, and kindly updated that as well. I also checked
for updates about a week ago (a week after getting the machine).

I used Word 2000 for a time last year, using these newsgroups to help
me out; however, I hadn't known about them at first, and may have set
myself up for various corruptions in Word when I first used it.

Now that I have a fresh, clean, pristine (? <haha>) opportunity to
start from scratch, but have forgotten what I learned last summer, I
think I'd be wise to configure Word 2000 just as cleanly as I
possibly can, making use of all you people have to offer.

Yet here I sit, wondering just where I should begin!

Maybe it will help if I tell you my proposed use of Word.

I write a lot using a text editor (NoteTab), and/or my email client
(Eudora). I save this material in text files and email messages; I do
a lot of resarch for my book this way.

I'm working on a book, size unpredictable, but it will certainly be a
long document,and I'm subscribed to the long documents newsgroup and
several others as well.

My formatting needs are probably quite simple. If/when I submit to a
publisher, my formatting should be clean, clean, clean, and as simple
as possible.

Last summer, I learned (sort of) how to do the outline numbering,
using Shauna Kelly's site. I see from my recent reading here that
there could be various ways to use those same principles, each with a
twist that might affect a Table Of Contents. I guess it doesn't matter
which twist I use, as long as I keep things fairly simple, and don't
try to mix things up together. - just be consistent.

Despite my simple needs, I forsee that I'll need to specify Header
formatting at each of, what, 9? levels, that I'll need to select fonts
and paragraph styles for:

Headers
Body Text
Footnotes (and/or end notes)
(I'll worry about Table of Contents later; same for index.)

Maybe for comments.

There might be some others; seems to me I had quite a long list of
Styles on my previous, crashy, Windows 98 SE machine.

I will be bringing in text from NoteTab, and email text (all in plain
text) from Eudora, and may also quote email message headers, to which
I could apply styles, fonts, and so forth. I did experiment with that
last summer, with some success. I didn't like the default "headers"
that came with Word 2000, so modified the style to suit myself. That
also seemed to work fine.

One of my concerns is that I can't remember how to start a new
Document so that I don't start right away with corruption. I know not
to save to nor import from a floppy disk, but only copy files
(presumably, outside Word, perhaps using Windows Explorer; however, my
normal procedure, since I have two physical hard drives, is to copy
from one drive to the other in order to back up files).

Document Templates confuse me. I need also to relearn how to put
toolbar buttons in (customize), and I'm subscribed to that newsgroup.

I suppose I'm asking, in what order should I begin configuring Word
2000, to keep everything squeaky clean on my system?

By the way, I use AVG antivirus (Single Professional), AdAware and
Spybot, and keep them all updated, and scan regularly. And I'm running
chkdsk /f regularly (about once a week), and also defrag; same
thing.I've learned in the past that behaving in slightly paranoid
fashion can help keep a computer running well and safely <G>

Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Almali del Benian
 
J

Jay Freedman

Hi, Almali,

You've already made a good start, especially by knowing that there are
such things as templates and styles and that they need to be used
consistently.

You'll find a gold mine of advice at word.mvps.org. There's probably
too much to read in any reasonable amount of time, so I'll recommend
starting with these:

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm - Clive Huggan's
_opus magnum_ applies to both Mac and Windows flavors of Word.

Creating a Template – The Basics (Part I)
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm

Creating a Template (Part II)
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm

What do Templates and Add-ins store?
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm

How to assign a Word command or macro to a toolbar or menu
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/AsgnCmdOrMacroToToolbar.htm

How to cure Word's List Numbering with a dose of VBA
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Numbering/CureListNumbering.htm

Of course, keep reading the newsgroups, and ask about anything that
comes to mind.

Tips for avoiding corrupted documents:
- Read http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm and
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/FilesToBackup.htm.
- As you say, don't work directly on documents stored on floppies (or
any other removable media).
- Don't use Fast Saves, File > Versions, nested tables, or Master
Documents.
- Do turn on "Always create backup copy" in Tools > Options > Save.
But don't rely on it for a real backup. In addition to copying the
files to a second hard drive (which will save you if one of the drives
goes bad), make daily backups outside your computer and preferably
outside your work location. Think about recovering if someone broke in
and stole your computer, or if a fire destroyed your office. For
example, you can store a copy on your ISP's server or on one of the
many places on the Net that rent disk space.

Best wishes for a successful book!
 
A

Almali del Benian

Dear Jay,

What a treasure trove you sent me! Thanks so much! This will keep me
busy for some time <hehe>!

This new computer, though, will do things quite nicely, without
dumping me out into some kind of hang, or crash, providing I give it
due care and attention (heh; just like the animals I love so much
<cackle!>)

Especially, Jay, I'm grateful that you picked up on what I'm having
trouble expressing because I remain somewhat disoriented and confused
with Word: that is, what *not* to do, to make sure I don't corrupt my
documents!

Also, I especially appreciate your remarks on backing up, and just
what that consists of! In the past, with DOS, I always had an off-site
backup. But since I was given my first Windows (98SE) machine, I
haven't managed to do that. Horrid feeling. I had no way to back up,
because my CD-Writer was wonky (Win98SE wasn't so hot, either).

But now I have a CD-Writer that actually works, and plan to do most of
my backups to CD-R disks (from what I've read, CDRW discs aren't that
reliable; I'll investigate that in other newsgroups). CDs can go
offsite. And in the interim - this never occurred to me! - I can use
storage space my ISP allows me to put daily backups there! thanks for
*that* tip!

Also, my ISP allows me a web site with 20 MB, and I've never used it,
nor learned how to make a web site. Time for me to learn. I can use
it, say, password-protected, for daily backups, or longer-term ones,
too! That is, once I learn how to make a web site <g>. I could have a
small area people could reach, if I wanted to go public. Not too
likely.

Oh, I have so *much* to learn! But tech support at my ISP is very
good. So, onward! And I kind of enjoy puzzles, if I don't feel under
time pressure.

Thanks so very much!

Almali del Benian
 
D

Dayo Mitchell

What a great attitude to bring to computers! It should serve you well, good
luck!
DM

Almali del Benian said:
Dear Jay,

What a treasure trove you sent me! Thanks so much! This will keep me
busy for some time <hehe>!

This new computer, though, will do things quite nicely, without
dumping me out into some kind of hang, or crash, providing I give it
due care and attention (heh; just like the animals I love so much
<cackle!>)

Especially, Jay, I'm grateful that you picked up on what I'm having
trouble expressing because I remain somewhat disoriented and confused
with Word: that is, what *not* to do, to make sure I don't corrupt my
documents!

Also, I especially appreciate your remarks on backing up, and just
what that consists of! In the past, with DOS, I always had an off-site
backup. But since I was given my first Windows (98SE) machine, I
haven't managed to do that. Horrid feeling. I had no way to back up,
because my CD-Writer was wonky (Win98SE wasn't so hot, either).

But now I have a CD-Writer that actually works, and plan to do most of
my backups to CD-R disks (from what I've read, CDRW discs aren't that
reliable; I'll investigate that in other newsgroups). CDs can go
offsite. And in the interim - this never occurred to me! - I can use
storage space my ISP allows me to put daily backups there! thanks for
*that* tip!

Also, my ISP allows me a web site with 20 MB, and I've never used it,
nor learned how to make a web site. Time for me to learn. I can use
it, say, password-protected, for daily backups, or longer-term ones,
too! That is, once I learn how to make a web site <g>. I could have a
small area people could reach, if I wanted to go public. Not too
likely.

Oh, I have so *much* to learn! But tech support at my ISP is very
good. So, onward! And I kind of enjoy puzzles, if I don't feel under
time pressure.

Thanks so very much!

Almali del Benian
 
J

Jay Freedman

Yes, I think the proper attitude toward computers in general, and Word
in particular, might be described as "paranoia on a leash". :) The
better prepared you are for total disaster, the less likely it is to
happen.

I can honestly say that in using every version of Word since 2.0(b) on
Windows versions from 3.1 through XP, I have never had a document go
corrupt, and only once had a template show minor signs of corruption.
But it does take a fair bit of care to maintain that record.

Dayo Mitchell said:
What a great attitude to bring to computers! It should serve you well, good
luck!
DM
 
A

Almali del Benian

What a great attitude to bring to computers! It should serve you well, good
luck!
DM

Oh, my goodness! <HUGE BLUSH> Thanks! Actually, it's a very, very
pragmatic attitude. In the long run, it saves huge amounts of time,
energy and frustration - and loss of data.

Descending into preening just a bit. Oops! practically broke my arm.
Or was that my beak?
Almali del Benian
 
G

Graham Mayor

Unless you add the style to the template (check the box and save normal.dot
when prompted on closing) the styles are only saved in the document. You can
use the organizer to copy styles from an existing document to normal.dot (or
any other template).

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Styles created (or modified) in a document remain in the document unless you
check the "Add to template" box. If all your documents are based on
Normal.dot, you might want to think twice about this (it's generally a good
idea to leave Normal.dot untouched as much as possible). The recommended
approach is to create specific templates for specific uses, providing each
with the styles required for that purpose. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm

--
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.

Myra said:
Dear Everyone,

I have been a Word user for several years, but not using it to its full
potential. I am trying to learn some of its abilities.
My question is - after I create a style does it remain as a Style I can
use in later documents? I have created several and after using them on the
document they were originally created for - they seem to vanish. What am I
doing wrong.
 

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