we hates it, precious, hates it forever

[truepenny]

Microsoft Word is fucking with me.

I use WordPerfect. I've been using it for almost twenty years, I know how to make it do what I want, and it's the only word processor I've yet found that implements its Zoom feature in such a way that the blind-as-moles among us can see their text. But the encroaching hegemony of the Evil Empire means that if I want to interface with the outside world, I'd better convert to Word. (Give in to the Dark Side, Luke.)

My final review appointment is at 10:30 tomorrow. The University wants the Albatross printed with a laser printer on high-quality white 20 lb. paper. The paper I can handle, but I'm still using the inkjet I got my second year of college. Ergo, I've got to convert the Albatross into Word and find computer and laser printer somewhere in this city. Word, I repeat, is fucking with me. heres_luck showed me how to make it print the page numbers in Courier instead of Times New Roman, but neither she nor Mirrorthaw nor I can figure out how to convince it the endnotes are endnotes, not footnotes, and it DOES NOT NEED that damn ornamental line that one uses to separate footnotes from text. It puts the endnotes in the right place--AS ENDNOTES--but won't relinquish the line.

*balrog*

I must go now and joust the many-headed dragon of paperwork. When I return, I shall fling myself again into the fray against this damnèd writhing worm.

(My metaphors are very martial today. Clearly a reflection of my mood.)

Comments

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I can remember the old typewriter days, when one had to submit to Mickey Mouse rules about line length and white-out. Now that word processing has eliminated those ordeals, the powers that be are doing the worst they can with laser versus inkjet printer.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

To be fair to the PTB (urgh), inkjet output will be blurrily unreadable in a decade or two. Some of the hoops are an attempt at "archival quality" submissions.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I did not know that. Thank you.

Endnote removal help

[eeyorerin]

My school's dissertation office had a sheet explaining how to get rid of that damn line. Let me find it. Ah, here we go.

To Remove the “Continuation Line” for Endnotes in MS Word:
1. In a document that contains endnotes, Choose View>Normal
2. Choose View Footnotes. A Notes pane will appear at the bottom of the page.
3. With the pointer, press the arrow to the right of the box that says “All Endnotes.” Several choices will appear. Select “Endnote ContinuationSeparator.” A line running the width of the page will appear.
4. Highlight the line.
5. Delete the line.
6. Close the Endnote window and Save your work.
For more information, type “continuation separator” into the HELP box. When the assistant presents you with choices, select “Change or remove footnote or endnote separator.” The above procedure as well as the other choices in the box in item 3 above are explained.
This works in both the PC and Mac editions of MS Word, and it apparently works in all versions.

Hope that helps.

Re: Endnote removal help

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I adore LJ.

And also you.

Thank you!

Re: Endnote removal help

[eeyorerin]

You are most welcome.

Having just passed through the cleansing fires of the formatting office about a month ago, I'm still waking up twitching some days. However, that also means that my knowledge of Stupid Word Tricks for Dissertation Formatting is relatively fresh, so if you have any questions that your local squad can't answer, I'd be glad to try and help. (Email to eeyorerin@livejournal.com should reach me.)

[kate_nepveu]

Kinko's has a thing where you can upload files online and then pick up the printouts. For some reason it doesn't recognize my WP 9 files, but if you can print to PDF, you're all set.

Actually, if you can print to PDF you're all set anyway, as any copy place will have Acrobat. You could even e-mail me the file and I'll print it.

Alternatively, have someone call local copy places and find one that has WordPerfect. (If you've done that already, my apologies.)

[kate_nepveu]

(e-mail knepveu@steelypips.org btw--I'm serious, I have WordPerfect 9 [8 at home] and can generate PDF from it, it's really no trouble at all)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I think I've got things sorted out, but thank you very much for the offer of help.

[kate_nepveu]

Yay things sorted out. Good luck with the rest of it.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

No useful advice on the formatting, but great empathy from another "they'll take my WordPerfect away when they pry my cold, dead fingers off the keyboard" Luddite. I often save documents in Word versions so colleagues can read them, and I dodge the many, many formatting issues by doing all my highly formatted work in PageMaker. Word makes me insane. Where the hell is "reveal codes" when you need it.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Where the hell is "reveal codes" when you need it.

EXACTLY.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

WHY is Word keeping codes a SECRET?!
(It maddens me.)

[libskrat]

Because keeping codes secret is the secret of Word's hegemony. The more they reveal, the easier it is for folks to reverse-engineer the format and create conversion tools to and from it. The easier that is, the less reason folks have to stay with Word.

A bit of folklore surrounding the OpenOffice.org project is that the programmers tasked with figuring out Word's binary format occasionally threw up their hands and admitted that they knew what some indicators in the files did, but not why. In other words, Word's format makes no freaking sense... even to Word sometimes, as it appears that OO.org can write better Word docs than Word in some cases.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Somehow, although extremely funny, this is not in the slightest comforting.

*the Imperial Death March plays softly in the background*

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I'm ambivalent about it. When I used Word Perfect 5.1, I loved Reveal Codes, but hated the nagging, overprotective Jewish Mother aspects ("Do you really want to do this?", default is No, and you can't change either.) At one job, I needed to use Word, and I eventually learned to survive without Reveal Codes, but I don't have to like it. (I briefly worked with WP 8, which had fired the Jewish mother, and loved it, but the company eventually gave in to the Great Satan.)

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

I was assimilated long ago; when I realized that most of the world was going with Word, I gave in and started using it at home -- mostly so that I didn't have to install WordPerfect on my machine at work....

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

What, no copy places have copies of WordPerfect? I must be behind the times...

In truly desperate moments I've been known to use white-out with a photocopier. (Many people can't tell the difference between laser printing and photocopying.) It's comparatively low tech, but it can work.

[scootermark.livejournal.com]

Can't you export RTF from WP? Any word processor can read RTF and you won't have to switch to Word.