2003 ruined Word

  • Thread starter Thread starter Winddance
  • Start date Start date
W

Winddance

I just installed Word 2003. I have been using Word 97 for
several years. 2003 really can't be called an upgrade.
Word used to be a convenient, quick, easy to use word
processing program. Now, it is slow to open, what use to
be one click operations now take 4 or 5, the idiotic task
pane follows Microsofts plan to make the useable screen
even smaller (finally got rid of it), doing a merge is
like trying to make it through a South Dakota corn maze...
I can go on and on. Will someone please tell Microsoft:
1) Bigger isn't better.
2) Adding features is no longer an improvement.
3) Talk to the users before you make changes that turn a
very useable program into an unuseable boat anchor.
 
I have to disagree - you knew someone would :)

I have used all the Windows versions of Word and 2003 is easily the most
stable. That is not to say that it doesn't have some problems - but then so
did Word 97, but you learned to work around them.

The changes to merge have met with universal complaint, though you can go
back to the old method - see
http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm.

The startup task pane can easily be eliminated and the other taskpanes have
advantages.

If Word is slow to open then either you are using old and infirm Word 97
add-ins or you have the Norton AV Office Plug-in checked, neither of which
can be blamed on Word 2003.

You'll have to elaborate on what you have in mind re the four of five clicks
to perform what were simple tasks, as almost certainly anything that causes
you distress can be re-configured.


--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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I concur with Graham up to a point. It is certainly the case that some menu
items are buried one level deeper than they used to be (in a perhaps
misguided attempt to streamline the menus), but you can always add toolbar
buttons for the most frequently needed features. Although I don't ordinarily
use the task pane, it can be very handy at times, and I don't find that it
requires any otherwise needed screen real estate, as my document rarely
occupies more than 5/8 of the screen width anyway.

As Graham says, you can get back to Word's previous mail merge methods in a
variety of ways. See
http://home.earthlink.net/~wordfaqs/ExpressMailMerges.htm and
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister/MM2002/MM2002.htm

Every version of Word does require added system resources, and if you're
running Word 2003 on the same computer for which you got Word 97, it may not
have the speed or RAM or HD capacity to run Word 2003 effectively.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
See, just what I said. If Microsoft would have talked to
the users before making the 'improvements' one wouldn't
need to go to 3rd parties for fixes.
 
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