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General discussion

Microsoft Word

May 22, 2005 1:51AM PDT

I have Office XP on my computer which includes Microsoft Word.
Some time ago, I saved a list of names and phone numbers in My Documents. When I opened the document using word to change some names, Word doesn't let me edit like Works used to. Anything I can do other than retype the list?

Discussion is locked

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"Word doesn't let me edit like Works used to"
May 22, 2005 1:53AM PDT

I can't guess what that means. Tell more.

Bob

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Try Again
May 22, 2005 3:45AM PDT

In Works(Win 9Cool I could bring up the ''my document'', use the curser to delete a name and use the curser to add a name at the bottom of the list. When I open the document with Word(Win XP), I can't find anything on the tool bar to change the curser to an arrow so I can make changes. I was told that Word doesn't allow me to change a document. I can't make it any clearer than that.

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Still mysterious.
May 22, 2005 4:31AM PDT

Auggie,

I do practically nothing else with Word than editing documents (my boss and collegues only accept the fifth or later version of anything I write Happy). And I suppose that after installing the Works to Word converter module (read about it in http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=103928&messageID=1189890) I could open (and then edit) any document created in the Works word processor.

Maybe it's a Works database or Works spreadsheet?

But if you've got in Word, you can try to copy it to clipboard (ctrl-A, ctrl-C), then paste it into Notepad (to start with), or Wordpad. It's amazing how much formatting you lose when pasting things into Notepad. Then save it as .txt file, and open that again in Word. Probably, this will save you from typing it over.

Hope this helps.


Kees

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You need to share any error messages.
May 22, 2005 5:14AM PDT

We've made some rocky progress to where you state " I was told that Word doesn't allow me to change a document. "

There is an error message in there somewhere that will unravel what is going on, but I can't see it you.

Such details would help bring this to a quick close.

Bob

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Thanks Kees
May 22, 2005 6:17AM PDT

No errors in message I will just follow Kees advice.

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Re: no errors in message.
May 22, 2005 6:46AM PDT

Auggie,

A message is an error. That's what Bob means, anyway. If you give the full text of the message, he can look it up on google, and tell you what the problem and the solution is.

It might help if you provide the full name of the file (including extension, that's the most important part). Or put the file on your homepage (if you have one, of course), so that someone can download it and have a look.

Anyway, good luck.


Kees

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My apologies
May 22, 2005 7:02AM PDT

I was told by a neighbor that Word will not let me bring up a document and edit it. I have no messages (errors) on my computer saying that.
I dont use Word. My computer time is spent on the internet. So when I opened the My Document in Word, I was suprised not to find an icon on the Word toolbar that would let me change the curser to an arrow so I could make deletions and additions to the document which is a .doc document.

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More
May 22, 2005 7:16AM PDT

When Word opens the document for me, my cursor is the arrow with 4 small arrows pointing in all four directions at the tip of the arrow. I want to change this to not have the four arrows but the vertical line so I can delete or add new names to the list. Best I can do to explain. If I'm still not clear no need to reply.

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More
May 22, 2005 7:25AM PDT

Just opened a different document (.doc) in Word and all is well. Must be just this one. No problem I just printed it and will scan it to file and all should work. Thanks for replies.

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Could be scanner problem
May 22, 2005 7:45AM PDT

I just printed the list and scanned it to file. Since it still won't let me edit but other .doc documents will, it has to do with the scanner. Thanks again

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I wonder if that's an image (picture) in the word file.
May 22, 2005 7:58AM PDT

The four headed mouse pointer would seem proper if so.

Bob

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Text only
May 22, 2005 7:11PM PDT

The scanner is set to send it to file as a editable text file. No images involved. I chatted over internet with HP tech in India which was a waste fo time. When she told me to change the margins in Microsoft Word, I said Goodbye.

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Place the document in a place others can check it.
May 22, 2005 9:13PM PDT

Bob

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Re: editable text file
May 22, 2005 9:29PM PDT

Auggie,

Generally it takes about as much time to edit the editable text file made by the OCR-software that comes with the scanner to correct the errors as it takes to simply retype the document.

And if it's a picture, you surely can't edit it (unless you've got something like Photoshop), but that's a different story.

As already said: put both the original document and the scanned version somewhere where others can see it. Your home page would be perfect. Use a binary transfer in the ftp, and tell the forum the full filename, including extensions (like doc1.wks and scan1.jpg).

If you don't have a home page, drop me a mail via the forum (click on my profile). Put your email-address in the message (the sender will be cnet, so I can't reply); then I'll mail you with my email-address and you can me send be both files as an attachment, so that I can have a look. Of course, I won't make any use of your data.

Hope this helps,

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Re: image in Word file
May 23, 2005 4:07AM PDT

Bob,

You were right. Auggie sent me four files:
- a 4 Mb bmp-file from the scan program
- a 1 Mb Word document with the scanned document (a table of 2 fields and 19 lines) as figure (image)
- an editable txt file, which needed editing as each column had become a paragraph
- an editable rtf-file, which needed editing for the same reason, although somewhat less.

I returned a few different formats of the data. And I think he's happy enough, because his wife can make changes now.
He wrote, by the way: 'As far as tennis.doc being a "figure" inside the word document, I think of figures as images not letters.' That might not be the way you and I think about it in this context, but it's an understandable point of view.

Kees