macWord weirdness

[ksmith]

MacWord just gave me a scare. As you know. Bob, I am in the middle of revisions, which means that I have multiple files open at one time, and I'm doing a lot of Search/Replace and saving a lot. I made some changes to a chapter, then tried to save it only to find that the chapter had been renamed with a 4-digit designator (and some text I can't recall) and that I could not save it due to permission issues. I tried with another file, and couldn't save that to either the hard drive or the flash drive. When I changed the file to rtf, I could save it.

Other weirdness: all the files vanished from the folder for this iteration Endgame, and for a couple of other folders. This disappearance only occurred when I tried to open the files via Word--when I checked the folders in Finder, all the files were there. I was therefore able to cut/paste some files into the flash drive folder and save my work. I then shut down Word. Checked Macaroni, and found that the Repair Permissions program had run yesterday. I went ahead and ran it again.

Opened up Word again, and all the files were there.

This has never happened before. I had activated Autosave after Word crashed on me last week--I deactivated it since I've heard that the autosave functions can get gummy.

My iBook is almost 3 years old--do these things have an expiration date?

Comments

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

Because of the fact that Word couldn't see the files but they showed up in Finder, I would say that the problem was with Word. Word is not recognizing files it created so they are not available in the OPEN window. You might want to reinstall Word. Mine regularily forgets "Save As" and I have never been able to figure out why.

If Finder couldn't see the files then it's the operating system and worry about your iBook. I assume you are working from hard drive and only using flash as backup?

I'm better at diagnosing problems with graphics programs but do have to deal with Word problems regularly. Don't know if this helps or hinders?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

After I shut down Word, re-ran Repair Permissions, and shut off Autosave, I didn't see any more issues. I also didn't see that weird numbered file that turned up during the episode.

Thanks for the input--it's reassuring that, at least at this point, the issue is likely Word. I've always used Word, so it's the devil I know, but the Mac version has always seemed a bit strange--it's the only Mac program I have that crashes, and it experiences regular seizures that last a few seconds--everything just *stops*, then continues on as before, as though nothing happened.

And my AppleCare contract for the iBook expires next month, so I may be looking at a new laptop this year in any case.

Oh, blank....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

That would have scared the crap out of me. My old Apple 3c did some weird save functions once, but nothing this extreme.

I'd call the local repair guys...or run the diagnostic -- Macs must have some diagnostics?

Re: Oh, blank....

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

It may have diagnostics, but I don't have an evening to spend mucking about finding them until after I get the book done.

If I have to work at the iMac for the duration, I will. It has always seemed more steady than the iBook.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

Disk utility is in APPLICATIONS folder and is called Disk Utility.app. To repair anything however you need to boot from the system disk (Restart computer holding down the c key. When awake, don't install the system but go to menu item "Disk Utility". Run that. It will do it's magic and then restart the computer as normal.)

Just in case you wanted to know...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

This is good to know--thanks!

Word Seizures

[serendipita.livejournal.com]

When it happens, look at the bottom of the screen and see if it says it's backing up the file. Historically, anyway, that would stop everything for a few seconds. (Not using Word much lately, so I'm not sure whether it's still true.) I think the default is to do this every ten minutes.

Re: Word Seizures

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Tanks for the suggestion. I did have Autosave on when the file funkiness happened. But MacWord seems to seize every so often even when all the save functions are turned off. I'm wondering if there is a save function that I can't control? Or a ghost of a save function that tries to save, but can't.

I am going to look into a different word processing program, I think. My publisher wants e-subs that are ready to go right into production, and that means no more Master Documents with chapters as individual files.

Re: Word Seizures

[serendipita.livejournal.com]

There's also the standard laptop thing of trying to minimize hard drive access. So it accesses the hard drive only sporadically. But that's pretty obvious--makes a humming, engine-winding-up noise--so I'm guessing that's not what you're talking about....

Dunno.