How Does One Keep Up?

[lvcabbie]

I've been using computers since they were massive things that filled an entire building. I've been using word processors since the early 80's.


I bought a PC with XP and used that word processor until I updated to another with Vista about 4 years ago.


So why had I never heard of Tracking Changes until this morning when my new contract said I would either have to have it or learn how to use it?


So, I did some Google searches and found it was NOT a feature of the home version of MS Word but came with the office one. How do I get that when I can't afford to go out and by a Big Mac?
Voila!!! I keep reading stuff about Open Office and it popped up on the search. AND IT'S FREE!


So, I downloaded it and, sure enough, it has the Track Changes and Merge features. Just what I need.


Now, I sure hope there's lots of people out there who know how to use it for when I mess up.


http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLGXjTD6BlEatzSYB02YT0ZVhhQPRoA C4uCqI6Vh4m8VzjL3zh

[Medievalist]

lvcabbie are you sure that Track Changes isn't part of the Home version of Microsoft Office?

I know that it is for the Mac version. I know that it used to be included in the Windows version as recently as 2005.

Try checking to see if Track Changes is listed in the Tools menu of Microsoft Word.

Track Changes is a feature, not a separate application. It's old, too; from back in the 1990s or late 1980s.

[Terie]

I currently have the home version of Word 2003, and have had at least two if not three earlier versions, and all of them had Track Changes.

[lvcabbie]

lvcabbie are you sure that Track Changes isn't part of the Home version of Microsoft Office?

I know that it is for the Mac version. I know that it used to be included in the Windows version as recently as 2005.

Try checking to see if Track Changes is listed in the Tools menu of Microsoft Word.

Track Changes is a feature, not a separate application. It's old, too; from back in the 1990s or late 1980s.

Nope! Not with the version that came with my Vista software!

[Medievalist]

Nope! Not with the version that came with my Vista software!

There is a "feature" called "shorter menus"--It might be a Preferences setting in MS Word; do you have that turned on?

It "shortens" menus by removing items from them.

Are you sure you have Microsoft Word from Microsoft Office, and not Microsoft Works? They are not the same.

[BigWords]

Is it Microsoft Word Starter 2010? There is a whole list of things which it does not support (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/starter-help/word-features-that-are-not-fully-supported-in-word-starter-HA010374498.aspx).

[benbradley]

...
Voila!!! I keep reading stuff about Open Office and it popped up on the search. AND IT'S FREE!


So, I downloaded it and, sure enough, it has the Track Changes and Merge features. Just what I need.
I don't know the relative statuses (stata? stati?) of these things, but there's a new suite that has recently forked off from OpenOffice:
http://www.libreoffice.org
As far as what I do with them (just basic WP and spreadsheets/graphs), they look identical so far. I recall reading here (in some earlier AW thread where I first saw it mentioned) that LibreOffice is where all the new development is going.

So how does one keep up? Read a bunch of tech news. Do what you just did - hit Google every time you hear a phrase you haven't heard of before, or aren't as familiar with as you think you should be.

Only a decade or more ago you had to read print magazines, newsletters and even print books to learn about all the new things.

[Matera the Mad]

Yeah, and when you can barely read that paperstuff any more, not to mention trying to find something in it -- ahhhhhhh. :D

[lvcabbie]

I definitely have "Microsoft Works" and there is absolutely no Tracking option anywhere!

But, what the heck! Open Office is easy to use and I've already done to follow changes, copy changes, record and merge.

[These Mean Streets]

MS Works does NOT equal MS Word.

MS Word has tracking changes, MS Works doesn't. MS Works doesn't even use the doc format but creates wps files.

[lvcabbie]

I'm finding out a lot of things Works doesn't have!!!
Now I'm stuck between OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Some say the latter has a lot more bells and whistles. But, I'm not enough of a techie to enjoy trying to figure them out.

[kuwisdelu]

Now I'm stuck between OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Some say the latter has a lot more bells and whistles. But, I'm not enough of a techie to enjoy trying to figure them out.

They're actually based on the same code base. The only difference is that LibreOffice will likely receive the most development going forward. LibreOffice was "forked" from OpenOffice a while back when many of the developers no longer felt the company sponsoring it was properly handling the project.

[Medievalist]

I'm finding out a lot of things Works doesn't have!!!
Now I'm stuck between OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Some say the latter has a lot more bells and whistles. But, I'm not enough of a techie to enjoy trying to figure them out.

OpenOffice is probably going to be pretty stagnant; I'd go with LibreOffice.

[Margarita Skies]

MS Works sucks. :gone:

[lvcabbie]

Thanks all.
Question - can I download both programs?
I'd kinda like to try both until I find out which I like better.

[Williebee]

I can't see any reason why you couldn't. BUT, I haven't done it yet. I've run it on separate machines.

Tell you what, give me 15 mins (Ok, make that 30, I'd forgotten how slow these two load.) and we'll find out together.

ETA: Okay, both up and running. No issues. (This is on an XP Home computer with a gig of RAM.)

[kuwisdelu]

I've had both installed. It's not problem. Well, on a Mac anyway. But I'd say just go with LibreOffice so you won't have to re-learn any of the small differences when it gets updates that OpenOffice doesn't.

[Williebee]

Well thanks, Kuwi. Where were you a half hour ago? :)

[Diana_Rajchel]

Just in case, if you try hitting Ctrl + Shft + E in MS Office, that can turn on track changes. The latest menus confuse the living daylights out of me, and I was convinced stuff was missing. Most of it's still there, and just tucked in completely non-intuitive places... for starters, the Help menu? Really hard to find now. Makes me miss that despicable little paperclip.

[Williebee]

One other thing? Earlier in the year I was at a gathering of several thousand education technologists. A mantra came out if it- "You will never catch up to the current state of technology. No one can. And that's ok."

Find what works for YOU. Use it until it no longer does.

[kuwisdelu]

One other thing? Earlier in the year I was at a gathering of several thousand education technologists. A mantra came out if it- "You will never catch up to the current state of technology. No one can. And that's ok."

Find what works for YOU. Use it until it no longer does.

I agree with everything but that last sentence. If you wait until it no longer works for you at all, moving over to something that does work for you again will be that much more difficult. It's rarely ever necessary to be on the cutting edge, but it does pay off to look at what you're currently using every once in a while, and try to see if there's anything better out there, or at least what the other options are, even if what you have now "works".

No one will ever be fully caught up. But what's more important is not being totally left behind. As with lots of things when it comes to computing (backing up, for example): a little time invested now can save you a lot of headache in the future. You don't have to go out and buy a RAID array and learn all the ins and outs of rsync, but for the love of god, at least copy those important files you just created to a flash drive or something.

[lvcabbie]

Well, here comes the download for LibreOffice!

One thing I've found so far on Open Office is how helpful and user friendly the help menus are!!!