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October 03, 2005
F you, Microsoft Word
The Microsoft Office package drives me absolutely bonkers probably 50% of the time I use it.
To wit, there is the infamous autoformat feature. It's a great idea, do things for the user which he is probably attempting to do anyway. But it creates a cavalcade of problems.
It usually rears its ugly head when you are trying to make a bulletted list. If I type a 1., and then write a sentence, it automatically indents your list and throws down a 2. for you, also indented. There is no reasoning with the program, and if you try to back space or unindent it, all it does is erase your 1. and probably also your carefully constructed sentence. My dad, who you might call a luddite, absolutely hates this particular feature. And I do, too. Let me make my own fucking lists. The problem is, half the time it does stuff that you don't notice, or don't know about, and when you send it off to the real world somebody sees your messed up formatting and sneers at you for being an idiot who can't use his computer.
So, I turned in this assignment for one of my classes. Word managed to mess up my most basic feature, my headings. I divided my assignment into sections, which had nifty names like "I - ISSUES" or "IV - ANALYSIS." Good start, right? However, whenever you put a - in Word, it takes your dash and turns it into a thick double dash sort of thing. I knew this, but this time, it only did it for half of the headings, and inexplicably left some of them in the default dash. I have no idea why, except it must think there is some important difference between a "I" and a "II." I didn't notice the mistake because, well, I didn't think it would be messed up.
Imagine my dismay when I got the assignment back and the professor actually NOTICED that the dashes were different in my headings. While I blame myself for not catching the mistake, I am still awfully sore at Microsoft for building so many inconsistent features into their program. My solution, instead of battling with the dashes, is to forevermore make my headings "I. ISSUES" and tell the dash to take a hike. Conversely, I may just take the autoformat features and drop them into a lake wearing concrete shoes. Oh if that were only possible.
Posted by oz115 at October 3, 2005 08:19 PM
Comments
I fucking hate Word for the same reason! Someone ought to write Bill Gates and them him to change the program. Everyone gets affected by that god damn burden!
Posted by: Stat Boy at October 4, 2005 12:30 PM
We had an entire conversation about that fricking auto format! I HATE IT! When I had to do a report for work last night... took me 2 hours... and it did that G'damned auto format all over the place. Paul (my boss) e-mailed it back to me requesting I make the necessary adjustments before he send it along to HIS boss! OH IM SO ANGRY!
Posted by: Your Lady friend at October 4, 2005 07:02 PM
Usually, I use WordPerfect. But, in Word, try:
Format >AutoFormat >Options >AutoFormat and >AutoFormat As You Type
Pretty much, I have everything unchecked. I hope that helps.
Posted by: Marie at October 8, 2005 11:36 PM
So, I've been lacking in my reading, but when Word does this, you can just hit the bullet or list icon to toggle it back off.
Posted by: Q at October 11, 2005 01:10 PM