Don Schlesinger: WORD question

[Don Schlesinger]

I prefer using Word 97, rather than a more recent version, Word 2000. All of my saved documents are in the WORD 97 format.

Yesterday, someone sent me a document written in WORD 2000, and when I downloaded it, it opened up a WORD 2000 version, to read it.

Much to my surprise, when I now go to My Documents, all of my stored WORD documents have been changed to WORD 2000, which I very definitely DON'T want to keep that way.

How can I change them all back to WORD 97, and how can I avoid something like this happening again?

Thanks for any advice.

Don

[Don Schlesinger]

The Word 97 icon, on my desktop, still opens and produces the Word 97 application. In it, I can access all Word documents and open them in Word 97, as always.

But, in the My Documents folder, on the desktop, all the existing documents in all the folders, or by themselves, have now been changed to Word 2000.
What a pain!

There is a way to assure that, when someone sends me a Word document, as a download, when I upload it, it will be forced into Word 97 and NOT Word 2000. Someone did that for me, but I seem to have lost that feature, and, in the process, my Word documents, in MY Documents, have been "transformed" or "converted."

Any help will be much appreciated.

Don

[Alan]

Hi Don,

You might want to try the following:

Open "Word"
Select Tools, Options, Save and then go down to "Save Word files as":

Then select your preferred file default format.

Hope it works.

Regards,

Alan

[Don Schlesinger]

> Then select your preferred file default
> format.

> Hope it works.

Word document (*.doc) has been chosen. But, nowhere does it look like I have a choice between Word 97 and Word 2000.

I rebooted the computer and all the Word 2000 documents changed back to Word 97 ones! And you want to know why I hate computers!! They do the most ridiculous things!

So, when all else fails, I turn the damn thing off and, 99 times out of 100, my problem gets solved -- which has led to my motto: When in doubt, pull the plug out"!!

Go figure!

Don

[Parker]

I'm glad you were able to resolve the problem. Hold on a second while I step up on my soapbox.

And you want to know why I hate computers!! They do the most ridiculous things!

It doesn't have to be that way!

What you perceive as computer problems are, in reality, Windows problems.

Suppose you bought a car and discovered that it would periodically coast to a stop. In order to get moving again, you would have to roll up all the windows, shut it off, and restart it. You talked to other owners of this model and found that they all considered this acceptable behavior.

It has been a couple of months since I have had any reason to re-boot my Linux system. The router /firewall that I use to connect my home network to the cable modem has been perking away for over a year - since the last time we had a power failure. It runs a stripped-down version of Linux.

I'm not suggesting that you (or anyone else) immediately re-format your hard drive and install some variety of Linux. Just be aware that you don't have to put up with crashing systems, expensive upgrades, and one-size-fits-all applications.

The only reason I still have one Windows computer is because I need to run applications like Casino Verite and BJRM2000, and I have had no luck at all convincing Norm, John, Karel, etc., that they should port their products to Linux. Yes, I have an ulterior motive for creating this forum.

Okay, I'll get off the soapbox - for now. :-)

[Norm Wattenberger]

It doesn't have to be that way!

Agree completely. When you buy a large IBM mainframe; it is plugged in and 5-10 years later unplugged. In between, it will not crash. If you take a high-powered rifle and fire into it, two things will happen. The computer will send a message to the operator (in another room since humans are rarely allowed in machine rooms) stating that it has experienced hardware failures and has rerouted services around the failures and the computer will call IBM and provide a list of parts in need of replacement. Work will continue without any reduction in speed. Burn down the building and a computer in another power grid will detect the problem and take over.

Now I don't expect a PC to perform like a mainframe. But, a day doesn't go by where I don't curse Bill gates. I run Windows 2000 Server SP2, receive monthly updates for all Windows versions and still crash every day. I use Word 2002 and still have problems with serious bugs. (Don, you saw one of these when you pointed out the page numbers in the CVData manual index weren't right. That's a serious bug for a mature product.)

Problem is, although Bill Gates is famous for selling a terrible operating system and continually selling people upgrades that don't help, he still has nearly the entire market. UNIX in all its forms has 1% of the desktop market. I can't see anyone developing software for that small a market. It would be cheaper for me to buy PCs for UNIX users.

regards,
norm

[Don Schlesinger]

I'm glad to know that someone as knowledgeable as you are about computers experiences all of the aggravation that I do. Makes me think less it's because of my computer illiteracy and more because the software created for them SUCKS!!

Don

[Parker]

> Problem is, although Bill Gates is famous
> for selling a terrible operating system and
> continually selling people upgrades that
> don't help, he still has nearly the entire
> market. UNIX in all its forms has 1% of the
> desktop market. I can't see anyone
> developing software for that small a market.
> It would be cheaper for me to buy PCs for
> UNIX users.

Sad but true. There is no money in developing software for Linux (or other flavors of UNIX). It must be done for other reasons, otherwise Microsoft will only strengthen their monopoly. Despite the lack of financial incentive, there is still some pretty decent software out there, such as Opera, Mozilla, StarOffice, WordPerfect, etc.

Of course, the problem is even worse for advantage play software, since it has an extremely narrow market to begin with. The number of serious advantage players who are also Linux geeks is probably still in single digits! :-)

The world needs more programmers with too much time on their hands!

BTW, I would like to personally thank you for your participation in this forum. Your presence is greatly appreciated by everyone here.

[Don Schlesinger]

> I rebooted the computer and all the Word
> 2000 documents changed back to Word 97 ones!
> And you want to know why I hate computers!!
> They do the most ridiculous things!

Unfortunately, I got faked out here. The icons are, indeed, the old, Word 97 ones. They changed back, from the Word 2000 ones. But, when you go to open such a document, the computer attempts to install Word 2000 (which is also on my computer), and would open the document in 2000, if I let it.

If I want to open an old document in Word 97, I have to first open the application, and then choose the document from there, as opposed to choosing it from My Documents, on the desktop.

I find this quite ridiculous. There IS a way to change them back, but I don't know how to do it.

Don

[T. Hopper]

> If I want to open an old document in Word
> 97, I have to first open the application,
> and then choose the document from there, as
> opposed to choosing it from My Documents, on
> the desktop.

> I find this quite ridiculous. There IS a
> way to change them back, but I don't know
> how to do it.

Click on the Start button
Select Settings
Select Folder Options
Select File Types
Scroll down and select "Microsoft Word Document"
Click on Edit
Click on Edit again on the "Edit File Type Screen"
Change the disk location in the "Application used to perform action" box

This works on Windows 98. If you have a different version, the process should be similar.

[Don Schlesinger]

> Change the disk location in the
> "Application used to perform
> action" box

To what?? When I get there, it says: "C:Microsoft Office\OfficeWinword.exe"/n

I wouldn't have a clue what to change it to. But, I sense you're on to something here, so maybe you've found the solution.

> This works on Windows 98. If you have a
> different version, the process should be
> similar.

I have Windows 98. So, what's my last step?

Thanks.

Don

[Don Schlesinger]

> it says:
> "C:Microsoft
> Office\OfficeWinword.exe"/n

This should have had a "Program files" at the beginning of the string. I couldn't see it and left it out.

Don

[T. Hopper]

Try using the Find program from the start menu to look for "winword.exe". Word 97 will be the smaller one. Obviously you have both of them somewhere on your computer.