TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Large Documentation in Word From:RJACOBSE -at- GPS -dot- COM Date:Thu, 2 Oct 1997 15:55:46 -0500
Kathee,
Experiment with saving your screen shots as a separate file (using the
lowest number of colors possible in the bmp) and linking to the screen shot
files, rather than saving them in the Word doc. In my experience, we've
reduced our doc files by 90% (yes, that's right). There are a couple of
"gotcha's" to be aware of with this method. I'll be glad to let you know
the specifics if you're interested.
Regards,
Roy Jacobsen
Senior Editor
Great Plains Software
Date : 10/02/97 01:28 p.m.
To : TECHWR-L @ LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU
cc : (bcc: ScribeTribe)
From : DiPieKA @ CH.ETN.COM
Subject : Re: Large Documentation in Word
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------
> My department is working on a large manual. We are documenting a
> propriety software program. We are using Word 97 and Snagit (a screen
> capture application). My operating system is NT 4.0. The documentation
> is based on a template that has many macros created in Visual Basic
> (the operating system of the person that created the macros is Windows
> 95 - I am the only NT user in my dept. - we are all using Office 97).
> Each chapter is its own document. Yesterday I tried to open a chapter
> that is approx. 20 pages and contains approx. 10 screen shots. As soon
> as the document appeared my entire screen froze. I went to the Task
> Manager and Word was not responding. I was not able to scroll or
> print or do anything except end word. Each time I tried to open it the
> same thing happened. We also tried opening it on other machines. The
> network team was finally able to open it (in NT) just by brining it up
> over and over. The only suggestion our network team gave was breaking
> up the document into small documents of 5 or 6 pages and always
> opening documentation from Word rather than clicking on the document
> icon. The manual is going to be several hundred pages and this would
> be unpractical. We are wondering if there is a better way to manage
> large documents in Word that has screen shots besides breaking them
> up. Also - is anyone aware of a problem using Windows NT instead of
> Windows 95?
> I really appreciate any suggestions - I am pretty new to this.
> Thank you,
> Kathee DiPietro
> DIPIEKA -at- CH -dot- ETN -dot- COM
>
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html