Office products, especially Word, do so much automatically that it often
behaves in unexpected ways and it is not clear how to "turn off" those many
features. I would LOVE to be able to click on a button and switch the default
mode to a COMPLETELY blank slate, where NOTHING would be done automatically
except those things I purposefully turned on.

In word, for example, you could start from a bare-bones mode that didn't do
anything except display your typing in a paper with 1-inch margins. From
there, you could add proportional spacing, paragraph protocols, turn on spell
check, grammar check, automatic list formats, etc......

Years ago, I had a word processing program called "Write Now" that was
arranged this way - it didn't do anything "fancy" until you told it to. This
meant that you could deal with features as you needed them and learned about
them. It made trouble-shooting SO MUCH EASIER.

Perhaps a "set up wizard" could be written that would ask you whether or not
you want to use the various features? Clearly, it would take a long time to
go through it, but it could also act as a mini-tutorial. For each feature,
there could be a brief explanation and then you could choose to turn it on or
off or set the default setting.

----------------
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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

Hi Amy,

Have a look at these articles:

http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...AutoFormat.htm
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/C...ngWord2002.htm

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 08:47:59 -0700, Amy
wrote:

Office products, especially Word, do so much automatically that it often
behaves in unexpected ways and it is not clear how to "turn off" those many
features. I would LOVE to be able to click on a button and switch the default
mode to a COMPLETELY blank slate, where NOTHING would be done automatically
except those things I purposefully turned on.

In word, for example, you could start from a bare-bones mode that didn't do
anything except display your typing in a paper with 1-inch margins. From
there, you could add proportional spacing, paragraph protocols, turn on spell
check, grammar check, automatic list formats, etc......

Years ago, I had a word processing program called "Write Now" that was
arranged this way - it didn't do anything "fancy" until you told it to. This
meant that you could deal with features as you needed them and learned about
them. It made trouble-shooting SO MUCH EASIER.

Perhaps a "set up wizard" could be written that would ask you whether or not
you want to use the various features? Clearly, it would take a long time to
go through it, but it could also act as a mini-tutorial. For each feature,
there could be a brief explanation and then you could choose to turn it on or
off or set the default setting.

----------------
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

While these articles go a long way toward helping users get rid of automatic
features, I think Amy's suggestion of a "bare bones" operating state, with a
Setup Wizard, is a good one.

--
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
Hi Amy,

Have a look at these articles:

http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...AutoFormat.htm
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/C...ngWord2002.htm

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 08:47:59 -0700, Amy
wrote:

Office products, especially Word, do so much automatically that it often
behaves in unexpected ways and it is not clear how to "turn off" those
many
features. I would LOVE to be able to click on a button and switch the
default
mode to a COMPLETELY blank slate, where NOTHING would be done
automatically
except those things I purposefully turned on.

In word, for example, you could start from a bare-bones mode that didn't
do
anything except display your typing in a paper with 1-inch margins. From
there, you could add proportional spacing, paragraph protocols, turn on
spell
check, grammar check, automatic list formats, etc......

Years ago, I had a word processing program called "Write Now" that was
arranged this way - it didn't do anything "fancy" until you told it to.
This
meant that you could deal with features as you needed them and learned
about
them. It made trouble-shooting SO MUCH EASIER.

Perhaps a "set up wizard" could be written that would ask you whether or
not
you want to use the various features? Clearly, it would take a long time
to
go through it, but it could also act as a mini-tutorial. For each
feature,
there could be a brief explanation and then you could choose to turn it
on or
off or set the default setting.

----------------
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...mid=6ef1e636-a
a89-4b0a-957c-a994d40f5223&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagemen t