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  #1   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Beth Brooks
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long as a
document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the actual file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and tabs, etc.
No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when they accidentally
do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours cleaning up a manuscript and
applying styles (which, incidentally, will significantly reduce the file
size), but, because it does not look appreciably different when printed out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS

Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word

usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth


  #3   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Jay Freedman
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

The one place where it makes a difference -- that someone is willing
to pay for -- is in electronic manuscripts that are to be submitted to
publishers for typesetting. The chaotic sort of document most people
produce would result in total garbage in a typesetting system.

I believe Klaus Linke, one of the Word MVPs
(http://word.mvps.org/AboutMVPs/Klaus_Linke.htm), does that sort of
work professionally for a German publisher, among his other duties.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:21:33 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill"
wrote:

FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long as a
document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the actual file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and tabs, etc.
No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when they accidentally
do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours cleaning up a manuscript and
applying styles (which, incidentally, will significantly reduce the file
size), but, because it does not look appreciably different when printed out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS

Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word

usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth

  #4   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

Since in most cases *I* am in effect the publisher, this is what I am doing.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Jay Freedman" wrote in message
news
The one place where it makes a difference -- that someone is willing
to pay for -- is in electronic manuscripts that are to be submitted to
publishers for typesetting. The chaotic sort of document most people
produce would result in total garbage in a typesetting system.

I believe Klaus Linke, one of the Word MVPs
(http://word.mvps.org/AboutMVPs/Klaus_Linke.htm), does that sort of
work professionally for a German publisher, among his other duties.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:21:33 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill"
wrote:

FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long as a
document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the actual

file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and tabs,

etc.
No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when they

accidentally
do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours cleaning up a manuscript and
applying styles (which, incidentally, will significantly reduce the file
size), but, because it does not look appreciably different when printed

out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup

so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS

Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have

been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word

usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of

which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere

near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have

any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth


  #5   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
JoAnn Paules [MVP]
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

I have seen some of the UGLIEST ways to format documents because I always
keep the non-printing characters turned on. I swear that most people don't
know how to properly center a heading!

And you are right when you say that the people who don't see the NPCs don't
appreciate having the work done correctly. They only care about the paper
copy. And sometimes it seems that they really don't look too closely at
that.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]



"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long as a
document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the actual
file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and tabs, etc.
No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when they accidentally
do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours cleaning up a manuscript and
applying styles (which, incidentally, will significantly reduce the file
size), but, because it does not look appreciably different when printed
out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS

Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word

usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere
near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth






  #6   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

Yep, I've just been working on documents with titles centered using spaces,
first-line indents created using tabs, and of course the ubiquitous double
paragraph breaks to create "blank lines."

Perhaps the worst (because of the level of circulation it reached) was the
book published by a local writers' group, an anthology of their work. One
member of the group who supposedly "knows something about computers" had
compiled the document, and they'd sent it off to a POD printer. It has a
running head on every page (including the title page and pages that should
otherwise be blank) and every paragraph in the thing has a first-line
indent, which means that the "centered" titles are off-center. It really is
god-awful. They gave me a complimentary copy when I spoke at one of their
meetings, so there wasn't much I could say.

Actually, I suspect the typography was not much worse than the content, but
you *can* make a silk purse out of a sow's ear to some extent: I've seen
some very attractive-looking books (well laid out, appealing type design)
that turned out to be total garbazh to read (indeed, I've typeset some of
them!).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message
...
I have seen some of the UGLIEST ways to format documents because I always
keep the non-printing characters turned on. I swear that most people don't
know how to properly center a heading!

And you are right when you say that the people who don't see the NPCs

don't
appreciate having the work done correctly. They only care about the paper
copy. And sometimes it seems that they really don't look too closely at
that.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]



"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long as a
document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the actual
file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and tabs,

etc.
No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when they

accidentally
do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours cleaning up a manuscript

and
applying styles (which, incidentally, will significantly reduce the file
size), but, because it does not look appreciably different when printed
out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the

newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS

Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have

been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word

usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of

which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere
near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have

any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth





  #7   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Graham Mayor
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

I regularly get a newsletter from an association related to a previous
employer which is a Word document formatted entirely with tabs. I have
resisted offering to fix it

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


JoAnn Paules [MVP] wrote:
I have seen some of the UGLIEST ways to format documents because I
always keep the non-printing characters turned on. I swear that most
people don't know how to properly center a heading!

And you are right when you say that the people who don't see the NPCs
don't appreciate having the work done correctly. They only care about
the paper copy. And sometimes it seems that they really don't look
too closely at that.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long
as a document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the
actual file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and
tabs, etc. No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when
they accidentally do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours
cleaning up a manuscript and applying styles (which, incidentally,
will significantly reduce the file size), but, because it does not
look appreciably different when printed out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite
MS Word expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files
that have been created/modified by author's with very little
knowledge of how Word usually works. I'm also being asked to create
templates and forms, both of which tasks are helping me to learn
even more. I don't claim to be anywhere near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a
living cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you
might have any advice for me on how to turn that skill into a
career. Thanks!

Beth



  #8   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Charles Kenyon
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

I'm in the process of trying to hire a new secretary. The door opener is to
send me a resume in Word format. It lets me decide who I don't want to
interview very quickly.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.


"JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message
...
I have seen some of the UGLIEST ways to format documents because I always
keep the non-printing characters turned on. I swear that most people don't
know how to properly center a heading!

And you are right when you say that the people who don't see the NPCs
don't appreciate having the work done correctly. They only care about the
paper copy. And sometimes it seems that they really don't look too closely
at that.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]



"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long as a
document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the actual
file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and tabs,
etc.
No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when they
accidentally
do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours cleaning up a manuscript and
applying styles (which, incidentally, will significantly reduce the file
size), but, because it does not look appreciably different when printed
out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS

Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word

usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere
near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth






  #9   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
JoAnn Paules [MVP]
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

OOOH! I like that!

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]



"Charles Kenyon" wrote in message
...
I'm in the process of trying to hire a new secretary. The door opener is
to send me a resume in Word format. It lets me decide who I don't want to
interview very quickly.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.


"JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message
...
I have seen some of the UGLIEST ways to format documents because I always
keep the non-printing characters turned on. I swear that most people don't
know how to properly center a heading!

And you are right when you say that the people who don't see the NPCs
don't appreciate having the work done correctly. They only care about the
paper copy. And sometimes it seems that they really don't look too
closely at that.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]



"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long as a
document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the actual
file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and tabs,
etc.
No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when they
accidentally
do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours cleaning up a manuscript
and
applying styles (which, incidentally, will significantly reduce the file
size), but, because it does not look appreciably different when printed
out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite MS
Word
expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files that have
been
created/modified by author's with very little knowledge of how Word
usually
works. I'm also being asked to create templates and forms, both of
which
tasks are helping me to learn even more. I don't claim to be anywhere
near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a living
cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you might have
any
advice for me on how to turn that skill into a career.

Thanks!

Beth







  #10   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default MS Word Clean-up as a career?

When I'm sent forms that are awful, I often tacitly clean them up before
filling them in. AFAICS, no one ever notices. The pip is a form that is sent
unprotected, with elaborate instructions for accessing the Form Field
Options to change an unchecked check box to checked. You'd think they'd at
least notice that I send the form back protected, with the instructions
removed.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
I regularly get a newsletter from an association related to a previous
employer which is a Word document formatted entirely with tabs. I have
resisted offering to fix it

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


JoAnn Paules [MVP] wrote:
I have seen some of the UGLIEST ways to format documents because I
always keep the non-printing characters turned on. I swear that most
people don't know how to properly center a heading!

And you are right when you say that the people who don't see the NPCs
don't appreciate having the work done correctly. They only care about
the paper copy. And sometimes it seems that they really don't look
too closely at that.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I can tell you that this ability is not appreciated. As long
as a document looks good when printed out, users don't care what the
actual file
looks like. It's obvious to me that most users do not operate with
nonprinting characters displayed. If they did, surely they would be
embarrassed by the number of empty paragraphs, extra spaces and
tabs, etc. No doubt that's why it's so traumatic to most users when
they accidentally do turn on display of NPC. I can spend hours
cleaning up a manuscript and applying styles (which, incidentally,
will significantly reduce the file size), but, because it does not
look appreciably different when printed out,
the client does not value the effort.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Beth Brooks" wrote in message
...
Hi!

It seems that no matter where I work, I always end up as the onsite
MS Word expert, especially when it comes to cleaningup Word files
that have been created/modified by author's with very little
knowledge of how Word usually works. I'm also being asked to create
templates and forms, both of which tasks are helping me to learn
even more. I don't claim to be anywhere near
the MVP level but I aspire to it!

I was wondering whether there is anyone out there who makes a
living cleaning up other people's MS Word messes and whether you
might have any advice for me on how to turn that skill into a
career. Thanks!

Beth




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