[Pop`]

sid derra wrote:
I am writing a thesis at the moment, which is a word file (Word 2002,
winXP home) with 116 pages at the moment. The file size is about
10.5mb, it contains plenty of Excel objects and bookmarks. So far so
good - now, here comes my problem:

So far i worked on this file at my desktop (2.6ghz dual core, 2gb ram)
without major problems. Now I just had to go to Europe for a couple of
months and thus have to finish the paper on my notebook. It's a 1.4ghz
Celeron with 512mb ram on winXP home as well (same Word version).
I still have about 30 pages to go, but it's almost impossible to add
new text to that file, as the typed content will not appear on the
screen until several seconds after the text was typed. This is super
annoying and I just wondered if there was anyone out there who has
any ideas on how to speed up word on my current system again, while
editing this file. I mean, the notebook is not the newest on the
block, but not AS outdated yet either. I just wonder if there are any
options that are known to slow down Word considerably and can be
turned off for the time i work on this file. (Something like real
time spell check maybe? I tried to turn this option off already,
without any noticeable effect.).
Thanks a whole bunch in advance!
sid

The best thing to do is try using, as much as you can:
-- View; Normal and
-- View Outline if you've used headers.

Also, temporarily break the large file up into smaller pieces. BE VERY SURE
TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOUR'E DOING SO YOU CAN REASSEMBLE THEM CORRECTLY!
Then you can have smaller files open to work on most of the time and only
need to reassemble if you need to check it in full context. I do mine by
chapter numbers and/or sections, with useful names.

If you can, since you only have 30 pages to go, write those pages in their
own, separate file and then later copy/paste t hem into the end of the major
document.
ALWAYS WORK WITH COPIES! When a copy looks good, then back it up,
preferably with a date in the title so you can tell where in the process the
backup came from. When you're all done, create TWO complete documents in
two different places, on different drives if possible, one a CD or DVD, for
storage until they're no longer needed.

Do NOT use Master Document mode should you come across it! It WILL cause
loss of data and corruption in a short period of time, but you wont' know it
right away.

HTH
Pop`