Larry Blodgett wrote:
If you're doing a large document in Word I *seriously* recommend that you create a linked document, breaking the document into multiple files.
You don't know panic until someone comes to you and says 'Word just ate the only copy of my thesis! HELP!!!!!'
And for everyone who will chime in 'But I edited my 10,000 page novel just fine in Word', good for you, count your blessings and don't tempt fate again.
I'm sorry, Larry, but I'm going to say that I've never had trouble with "large" (ie lengthy) files in Word as long as they were text-only. I have written two novels in Word 5.1 and Word 6, both in the 300-page/1 MB range. The first one was written on a Centris 650 running OS 7.6, no less, which should give you some idea of how long I've been doing this.
Please watch your attributions: I said that, not Larry. 1MB text-only files with simple layout and no footnotes, index or toc, are no problem.
Large complex documents like doctoral theses or technical/scientific books will bring Word to it's knees in a heartbeat.
I can imagine worse than if my entire file disappeared. So I'd like to know more about these corruptions and crashes.
Backups, you make backups, don't you? Burn a cd of all your work, keep a copy on hand, keep one in a safe-deposit box somewhere, off site.
What version of Word are you talking about,
Multiple versions of Word: 4.3, 6, Office 97 on the PC (I've seen problems with both platforms, on several versions.)
how big are these files,
I saw problems with files as small as 2 mb, the most severe problems ( a file that would no longer open) was huge, around 40 mb.
and were there graphics
involved?
Yes, photos, charts, placed EPS files, placed excel graphs, placed SPSS charts, placed Powerpoint slides (the WORST), endnotes and footnotes, the whole nine yards.
Did they seem to save normally, only to turn into garbage
later on?
The worst case I can remember was a document that was merged with another via a copy/paste that barfed almost immediately after the document was saved.
The then thing wouldn't open without crashing. That was an entire thesis down the tubes.
-- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group
Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs
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