The Fastest Way to Corrupt a Word Document

The Fastest Way to Corrupt a Word Document? Work with Track Changes turned on.

By the way… Microsoft Office is our lifeblood. LeaderGuide Pro™ is an add-in to Office. I have no reason to badmouth Word. With that said, I get to share in the anguish of LGPro users whose files have corrupted and who are calling us for help. And, usually, the corruption happens in very large documents that have been worked on by multiple contributors and that are due to the printer/trainer/executive vp of training by tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.

Why have the files corrupted? Nine times out of ten it is because the users were working in a LeaderGuide Pro™ file with Track Changes turned on.

What does Track Changes have to do with file corruption?

Track Changes causes corruptions in Word documents that share some or all of these characteristics:

• Large file size
• Complex document with graphics, tables, text boxes, different section headers and footers, etc.
• Graphics that have not been inserted through the Insert function; have not been inserted “in line”; are in different file formats
• Multiple Tables that are copied & pasted in from other documents; inserted into existing tables

So, why does this happen in LeaderGuide Pro™ documents?

Because once you get going, your LeaderGuide Pro™ documents tend to be large, complex files with a mix of tables and graphics.

But I need to see what changes have been made!

Q. How can I “track changes” without running the Track Changes feature?

A. Use Word’s Compare function.

Step-by-step Guidance:

• Open & Save your original document
• Next do a “Save As” and re-name the document
• Work away in your re-named document, making changes like mad, without Track Changes turned on. When you are done working in you document, save your document and close it.
• To see what the changes are: Open Word & click on the Review tab; Click on Compare
• In the Compare Documents dialog box: Select the two documents you want to compare; AND click on More if it is not already selected
• Use these additional options to determine what you will see
• Compare your documents & Accept or reject changes as appropriate
• Repeat this process as needed, as you work through multiple drafts of your document

Q. WIIFM?

A. You get to work in a clean file without the visual distraction of all the changes showing in their various colors and cross-outs. And, you significantly reduce your chances of file corruption by a lot (and that’s just an estimate.)