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Track Changes Privacy Suggestion -- Make Date/Time Stamp Optional!
I'm sorry, but you are describing exactly the kind of work I do, and I can't
see that a client would have any reason to care *when* you make the changes provided the required changes get made. I make numerous passes through the documents I work on, and I find more mistakes every time. No one can see everything at once, and I don't think anyone expects you to. Most instructions I've read actually stipulate that you make several passes. And I have to say that I read a lot of published books where there is no evidence that any editor made even one pass, much less several. I recently proofread the page proofs of a book to be published by Random House (which had been copyedited and proofread by their editors), and the author (for whom I was performing the work) and I were equally appalled by the number of errors I found. I wouldn't care how many times the editor had to read the ms or backtrack in it provided the errors were corrected. FWIW, it's also true that the more corrections there are to be made, the more passes it's going to take. You just can't see everything at once. And a lot of things you aren't going to know are "errors" till much later. In the book I'm currently working on, there are stupefyingly thorough bios of two of the characters early on; neither mentions any military service (or allows any space in the timeline for it). Several chapters later, they're talking about their army experiences in Iraq. Another character, a nurse, is shy on one page and bold on the next (she actually vacillates throughout the book). Those are just a few of the problems. As it happens, I've about given up on this book, which the author is self-publishing; I finally decided I'd done all I could reasonably do, and if the author thinks it's done, I'll just call it done. I don't think he'll sell more than a couple of dozen copies no matter how much we polish it, anyway. g -- 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. "redpencilgirl" wrote in message ... Without giving actual examples, it's hard to give you an idea of what I mean here, so let's say that the author of a manuscript I'm editing creates a character named Frank. He's Frank from page 1 to page 72, but on page 73, he suddenly becomes Fred. Only I'm sort of distracted by the author's annoying habit of putting three exclamation points at the end of every sentence, so I don't notice that he's Fred until page 175. So now I go back to page 73 (having searched for "Fred" and discovered that that was where the name first appeared). Anyone looking at my changes will be able to see that I made the Fred/Frank change three days (or however long it has been) after the other changes -- deleting of exclamation points, suggestions about ambiguous language, grammar corrections -- made on the same page. And while my imperfect eye is something I should be aware of (because being aware of it will make me a better editor), it is NOT something I need to show my clients...or that, really, they have any need to know. Does that make it any clearer why this is so important to me? "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: FWIW, your clients don't have to know when you have changed your mind: just reject the change. Or accept it, turn Track Changes off and change it back, then turn Track Changes on again. -- 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. "redpencilgirl" wrote in message ... In Word 2002 for Windows XP (and apparently in other newer versions of Word as well), rolling the mouse over a Track Changes balloon turns up the name of the person who made the change or comment, along with the date and time the change or comment was made. Currently I can choose the privacy option "Remove personal information from file properties on save" and have my name replaced with the anonymous term "author" -- however, I cannot opt to remove the date and time. I believe that information about date and time is personal, too, and I feel strongly that I should have the option to take it out. Here is the situation: I am a freelance editor, and my clients would like me to make my changes using the Track Changes option instead of the old-fashioned way (on paper with a red pencil). I don't mind helping them out that way -- I'm all for going electronic whenever possible -- but I DO mind that the electronic document will suddenly provide them with information that was never available to them in the paper version: for example, that I often work late into the night, or that I often change my mind about a correction I have made and go back later to revise it. As long as I make my deadlines, my clients do not need to know when I made my changes and comments -- they only need to know that the changes and comments have been made. Please help...thanks! ---------------- This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane. http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t |
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