Microsoft Word's Wiki-ness
Thursday February 16th 2006
So last night I was working on a Microsoft Word document, and wanted to save its current "state". I poked around the Help contents about version tracking and the like, but came up empty-handed.
All I want, I thought, is a Wiki-inspired word processing program (not web-based though, since I don't always have an internet connection), where I can either make "minor" saves that overwrite the latest version, or save "states" that I can go back to at any time.
This state saving would also be helpful when it came to project documents, where actual "versions" are noted for tracking. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a program out there that did this for you automatically?
I could see 3 different saving functions:
- Minor save that overwrites current state.
- Save State that saves the document as a new "version".
- Minor Save State that is similar to a minor release or patch for a program (think v.2.1).
Microsoft Word's Hidden Wiki Behavior
This morning I jumped online while in the middle of editing this post, and just a bit of Googling revealed that, in fact, you CAN do this sort of thing in Microsoft Word. And shame on the Help Contents for not finding it for me! Regardless, this helpful article on About.com walks through the simple process of saving a document's version. I will begin using this, and see how effective it is. But at first glance, I'd highly recommend it!