Microsoft Word took my Baby Away
You know what I like least about Microsoft Word for OSX? Besides it's very bug-encrusted existence? When you do something simple like make a word bold, it defaults to making the ENTIRE DOCUMENT bold. The only way to avoid this is to click "undo" every time. Brilliant.
Alternatives, anyone? Help?
posted by Erica @ 3:47 PM
14 Comments:
Word (at least the latest versions) on Windows does the same thing. When I try to center a headline, it centers the entire document - above and below the headline. If you are on a Mac, couldn't you use Open Office? It will save in .doc format, if I'm not mistaken - and it's free!
OOo sucks on the Mac. You either have to run the glacial and buggy NeoOfficeJ or on X11 which is the opposite of a joy to use. And 2.0 isn't yet available at all. This is one of my few complaints about Macs...
I have this problem on my PC at the office, which only runs Microsoft Word (and not Open Office, which is what I use at home). What I've found works is to click on the 'AA' button that's leftmost on the formatting toolbar, which brings up a style and formatting sidebar. Click on the arrow to the right of 'Normal' and select 'Modify'. Uncheck 'Automatic Update'. What automatic update basically does is to apply any changes you make to the Normal template to everything that has the Normal style on your computer.
I haven't yet figured out how to make this selection permanent. It seems to be default on some versions of Word and not on the others.
Erica, look at your style settings and see if you have the box selected to "automatically update" -- I think that is the cause of the trouble.
Let me know if this helps!
~Amy
What Robin says may be true on Robin's computer, but sure isn't on either of mine...I'd suspect some ghastly error in settings (auto-update may indeed be the problem). In fact, I've found recent versions of Word (since the XP version on Windows, at least) much better about "format restraint"--not overdoing assumptions about what you had in mind.
I use Word a lot, on two different computers; if anything like that was happening, I would be screaming and switching...
It worked! I only had to drill down three menus and check a box labelled "do not check this box under penalty of death." If only there were an OSX alternative to Microsoft Vile. If you find one, let me know.
See the amount of text you kind people just wrote? See the amount of text it took to solve something that shouldn't have happened in the first place?
That's wrong.
I've not had your problem, however, Office Mac X does all sorts of things that I don't want it to do! The major pits is when I have a lab full of 20 4th graders on iBooks and all of their templates start acting really buggy which makes them act really buggy, which makes me act really bugy!
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word Perfect.
Word's not so great for WinXP users either: A Tool for Thought Declines
For Windows users, in addition to unchecking the Modify Style "Automatically Update" box, you will need to check the "Add to template" box in order to make the unchecked "Automatically Update" selection stick.
Neooffice isn't a bad choice - it takes forever to boot on my old G4 dual 500, but 1) it's not microsoft and 2) i'm not in a hurry!
The LECOM Librarian
Thanks for the help! It worked!
I was having the bolding problem in MS Word for Windows XP.
I went to:
Format, Styles, Right Clicked Normal, Modify,
Unchecked "Automatically Update"
Checked "Add to template"
No more automatic bold of whole document!
Thanks again!
Thank you for the "add to template tip". This has been driving me nuts for months since I received an update.
Thanks a ton for that tip on "auto-update" - it really drove me nuts.....
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