To comment on the following update, log in, then open the issue: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=99941 Issue #|99941 Summary|Avoid inadvertent loss of work by operator error Component|Word processor Version|OOo 3.0 Platform|All URL| OS/Version|All Status|UNCONFIRMED Status whiteboard| Keywords| Resolution| Issue type|FEATURE Priority|P4 Subcomponent|save-export Assigned to|writerneedsconfirm Reported by|gcwesq
------- Additional comments from [email protected] Fri Mar 6 04:15:50 +0000 2009 ------- Dear OO Engineer, Thanks for the opportunity. Probably the biggest (in terms of costliest) problem I know of with Microsoft Word is that it is too easy to lose your work (same applies in other MS applications). I have lost hours of work on a few occasions and I know of plenty of other people who have done the same. I now automatically keep copies of things (without formatting) through Google Desktop, which is a help, but I think there is a better solution. The problems are: 1. Sometimes when asked if I want to keep changes to a document, I say No when I should say Yes or, more often, Cancel (Example - I close a document, and I am asked do I want to Save changes - Yes or No or Cancel. I might suddenly decide I want to do a bit more to it, so I say No, and lose the lot). It's very difficult to recover from that. It may also happen if I think I am being asked about one document I have opened, when it's actually talking about another document (the one I just spent 3 hours creating). It's possible to lose track sometimes, or be in a hurry, or sometimes I'm very tired and not thinking straight. 2. Sometimes I overwrite one document with another when saving, and I am asked whether I want to replace the original document. Again, I sometimes give the wrong answer through confusion, haste or tiredness. I know it's my fault when it happens, but I know you will agree that that's not a reason to not fix the problems. A possible solution to 1. would be to keep track of how much work/editing is done on a file, and if I say I want to do something that would lose that work(eg,save), open an additional dialogue box that tells me that what I am about to do will cause the loss of say 90 minutes work that I have just done, and ask if I really want to do that. A solution to 1. and 2. would be to keep copies of all files for a pre-defined amount of time (maybe a week), so that if you inadvertently lose something, you can find a copy in your saved material, providing you realise in time - I think most errors of this type are discovered about 3 nanoseconds after clicking on Yes or No!! Most computers these days would have the capacity to do this, and you could always turn the facility off if you were short of memory. The files could also be saved in 'minimal' form, like a PDF, so that you could at least open them, read them, and even print them and scan them back in through one of those text recognition programs. Anything would be better than having to re-create hours of lost work. Another possibility would be to keep the base file plus added material, plus separate copies of any editing done (other than additions to the end of the file) so that a composite document could be made (a bit like merging two documents and highlighting the changes). You can do this in MS Word, using Versions, but it's not automatic, and I'm not sure it is failsafe. There may be some issues here I haven't thought about, but I think it would be worth a fair bit of effort to overcome these problems. I've never tried to make these suggestions to Microsoft, as I don't think I would get far. You guys seem far more reachable. Can you help me sleep easier? Thanks for reading my rant. All the best Geoff --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please do not reply to this automatically generated notification from Issue Tracker. Please log onto the website and enter your comments. http://qa.openoffice.org/issue_handling/project_issues.html#notification --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
