Taming MS Word

You might be a MS Word user for quite some time, may be for a year, two years, five years or even more. In fact majority of the people who are into writing or even in non-writing profession opt MS Word as a word processing tool. Are there any good reasons for choosing this tool? I bet there could be many. First and foremost, MS Word being the first and only word processing tool to be in the market which had all the utility based features with appropriate GUI that is easy to work with. Another could be that this works well on Windows platform. Of course, other word processor too works well. However, there is no doubt that MS Word became an obvious choice for the people who opted for Windows OS.

MS Word evolved with the passage of time adding more features into subsequent releases. For the users, availability of the new features always added more spices to their delight. But more added features brought more complexity to the application and user complain began pouring in. The older versions of the word regarded to be more stable than the newer versions. Although, MS Word crashing is not an often reported phenomenon, still it poses different kinds of problem which can make you go mad. At times you will bewilder to think why your most lovable word processor behaves so stupid. Some times the problems are so horrible that you will really think twice whether to use word in professional environment or not.

One such problem or call it the biggest problem I have faced with word is increasing the file size from some 350 Kb to 13.5 Mb size in few minutes time. Any action you perform on this file takes you long time and increases the files size exorbitantly and finally at one point it hangs. Try opening it again, doesn’t work at all. This happens especially when you are working with the customize word templates and supposed to create fairly long documents using formatting and graphics. In my personal experience this bloating problem is inherent with Word 2003 and later editions.

So, one of the way to work with long documents is to get back to the earlier versions of the word which might not give you this problem. But you can never be sure, because the code structure for the different version of the application will not be much different. However, this can relieve you a bit.

The major issue is to trouble shoot this if you are in the middle of the work and quite good amount of time is spent on the document. With trial and error experiments, we came across some solution which could be useful. If you are faced with such situation, try doing the following:

1. Open the Word document in MS Word, if possible. If this is not responding, try opening it with Internet Explorer. I think it should open.

2. Save as HTML or RTF. Name the file with an HTML extension or RTF extension, e.g. communication.html.

3. Open communication.html file.

4. Save communication.html with a new Word .doc extension, e.g.communication1.doc.
This process of converting the Microsoft Word file into HTML and back into Word, removes all the unnecessary codes in the file, and will reduce the file size significantly.

Well, the file which was earlier of 10 Mb size reduces to less than 1 Mb size rather quite closer to the original size. On further query and discussion with pals and colleagues, surfaced the same difficulties but all had opinion to avoid this situation rather than trouble shoot.

Points of advice suggested were to follow certain golden principles while working with word template. Few of them are:

Do not cut and paste materials directly from one file into another as this will bring unwanted styles in the target Word file. Instead convert it to raw text and then import.

Avoid using the default settings in the Normal.dot template file.

Do not cut and paste graphics into Word. Instead, reference them with Insert | Picture.

Insert graphics at the end, when all content is ready.

Do not use default Word auto-format settings in the Table.

Use only styles to create bullets. Avoid using the toolbar and menu options to create bullets. Avoid over-rides. Supposedly bullet lists cause more damage than any other feature in Word.

The list might go on and on depending upon the user experiences. Probably the future releases of MS Word might address these problems, but we may experience certain other problems. This makes us weigh other available options. However, on the usability index, MS Word would exceed any other word processing tool in the market. Even otherwise, those available tools could be complete error free is not guaranteed. The question is, shall we say bye to word and adopt the new tool. Certainly we will differ in our approaches depending upon our need. Nevertheless, most of us would prefer to tame MS Word to cater our need than to switch over to some other tools. I am sure these pointers in mind will help reduce the file size and avoid corrupting the document template.

User Manual in support of Science Research

Writing user manual or help for analytical tools, in support of science research is always a challenge for writers, not only for its technical accuracy but also in terms of knowledge transfer. This involves good amount of knowledge percolation, and precision in language before it goes for the technical correction.

Some of the custom research analytical tools consist of numerous algorithms for computing the data to suit the requirement of the analysis. Evidently these tools are meant for highly knowledgeable audience who would like to use these tools in pursuit of achieving unknown facts. The analyzed data may be used to make hypothesis in the area of research or made it public for some other to validate, make relation and further predictions.

The basic aims of user guide or help is to lead user to familiarize different functionality and features of the tools to achieve desired result. However, when the analytical tool is a niche product, the job of a technical writer becomes tough. The confusion begins when technical writers do not know the knowledge level of the audience. Even when they know, it is sometimes misleading. For example, if you consider that all the analytical scientists and researchers have computation algorithm knowledge then it might not hold true to the whole class. Most of the time, it may incidentally become true that audience for whom you are writing user manual finds it useful and have no doubts performing the tasks they desired to do.

But most of the times it will not be so, some of them in spite of knowing and able to perform the tasks will come back to you to verify that how they are doing is the right way. Some of them will come back to you seeking knowledge looking beyond the beauty. Some will have comparative tastes to analyze the results derived differently with different tools. These audiences will seek detail knowledge of the logic and algorithm. Sometimes they will have a quest to know the comparative analysis of the similar tools available in the open market. The fact is, scientist and researchers like to verify and validate before they accepts anything. That’s how the science evolves.

These are too many things to do. The question is: can your user manual or help answer all these questions? Ideally it should not, but looking at another perspective it can carry as much knowledge as possible. But, how much, is yet again a question. Nevertheless, even if you have mega size manual, there will still be some message for you.

However, saying so, involves great amount of energy to compile the required content into the user manual. This is the primary job of a technical writer but it requires evidently all the stakeholder to contribute in to making of the manual. It is like sewing the cloths with fine needles.

Task looks Herculean, but it helps audience a lot in case of developing a tool in cutting edge technology. That is the primary goal of a user manual. Never to forget, one satisfied user can bring you ten more other users for your product.