Moving to non-Word formats [long] (was: Re: Having trouble finding a word in multiple files
H
agents at meddatainc.com
Tue Jun 16 00:22:25 UTC 2020
On June 15, 2020 7:02:49 PM EDT, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
>On Tue, 16 Jun 2020 at 00:38, Mike Marchywka <marchywka at hotmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>> This has always puzzled me as some pdf "forms" are so awful I can't
>> get the local UPS store that specializes in things like this to
>> even print them without a huge hassle. They need data- a
>> csv file would do. Why is there still "paperwork" on a computer ?
>> Humans can read a csv file too...
>
>Oh, yes, agreed.
>
>I bought a battered old Lexmark laser printer and ancient Epson
>SCSI/USB1 scanner to Czechia with me. I regularly need both. At least
>once a month, for 6 years, someone emails me a form which I must print
>out, sign, scan and email back. >_<
>
>> What exactly is "outline mode?"
>
>I had a look because I thought I must have blogged about this, but I
>can't see anything.
>
>http://outliners.scripting.com/
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliner
>
>There are 2 kinds: single-pane and dual-pane. There are lots of FOSS
>dual-pane outliners, but as a writer, they are useless to me.
>
>A dual-pane outliner draws a tree, like a directory tree, in the left
>pane. The end of each branch is a document.
>
>A single-pane outliner is a totally different beast.
>
>It's a mode of text-editing which gives a text file (a one-dimensional
>document: beginning to end) a _structure_. It's not 2D like a
>spreadsheet grid but it's sort of 1.5D.
>
>Think of a bulleted list. One with multiple levels:
>
>1
>1 a
>1 b
>1 c i
>1 c ii
>1 c iii
>1 c iv
>1 d
>
>Now, imagine you can bump stuff up and down a level with Tab and
>Shift-Tab. When you do, all the others renumber automatically.
>
>Now, imagine that this list editor lets you move entries under other
>entries, or promote sub-entries up, and merge and split entries.
>
>Finally, imagine you can say "show me the top 3 levels and collapse
>everything lower" or "show all" or "only show headings". Or you can
>hide just one entry's sub-headings, or hide them all and then expand
>just one.
>
>Finally, take away the numbering. :-) It's not needed.
>
>It's a _far_ more flexible way of editing long documents than any
>flat, 1D editor.
>
>So, for example, the previous tech-writing contract to now gave me a
>3D printer, a service mechanic, and a copy of another company's
>unrelated product manual. I had 3 months to make a service manual for
>the 3D printer.
>
>Step 1, I entered all the headings from the other product manual into
>an outline. I saved it. 2-3 pages.
>Step 2, I edited all the headings so they related to the 3D printer
>instead. Same length, 2-3pp.
>Then I showed this to the client, who approved it.
>Step 3, I added subheadings to every section detailing what it would
>contain, and then subheadings to all of them, until all the conceptual
>stages were mapped out. 10pp.
>Step 4, with the engineer, we tried to work out which bits would need
>more detail and which less. 20pp.
>Step 5, we started disassembling and reassembling bits, while I made
>LOTS of notes, some on paper and some directly into the outline. 75
>pages.
>Step 6, we reviewed, revised, resequenced. 100pp.
>Step 7, I did all the steps, from my notes, and fleshed them out as
>necessary, I imported a parts list, direct into the outline.
>Step 8, I wrote intros and so on from scratch.
>Step 9, I told Word to insert a table of contents and an index. It
>could do this entirely automatically because every paragraph and every
>step had a position in one giant structure, and some had numbers etc.
>(250pp.) I also added pictures at this stage.
>
>Also, bear in mind, everything has styles automatically applied, live,
>and changing as the structure changes. Promote or demote an item, its
>style changes according to its position.
>
>Then once the draught doc was approved, I got a stylesheet from the
>marketing team and made a stylesheet with all the company fonts and
>colours etc. I then applied the stylesheet to my outline and Word
>magically formatted the now 350+ page manual in the company styles.
>
>A single doc, from planning to repro-ready copy. No conversions, no
>formatting stages, nothing.
>
>At any point, at any time, I could instantly zoom out to headline
>level, move to the section I wanted, and drill down, without ever
>knowing or caring what page number it was or anything. It's an
>immensely powerful _navigation_ tool as well.
>
>It's an almost incredibly powerful tool and no other leading
>wordprocessor has anything like it. WordPerfect doesn't, LibreOffice
>doesn't, AbiWord or KWord or anything.
>
>Kingsoft WPS Office has a very clunky one, but it's not FOSS and it's
>got the horrid Ribbon interface, which I loathe.
>
>Outline mode is the one thing that keeps Word my go-to writing tool of
>choice.
>
>--
>Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
>Email: lproven at cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lproven at gmail.com
>Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven
>UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
>
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I have been missing the old DOS outliners for a very long time, to use exactly as you describe. I think I used PC Outline the most if I remember correctly...
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