MS Works Word Processor serious problems

Question

The MS Works Word processor on the new Windows XP Dell computer I purchased recently is missing a large amount of important features that are in Word 2000 on my old Windows 98 computer. It is more or less a stripped down version of the old processor and nothing in the help files are of any addition. Apart from the lack of features, I have had problems which interfere with my writing. The most common one is crashing(about which I have already written to you). A message comes up in the middle of writing something, explaining that an error has occured and that I will lose all my work. If I save very regularly this is not a particularly bad problem, however some loss is inevitable, and annoying. The following message looms on my screen: -------------------- Microsoft Works Microsoft Works has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. _________________________ If you are in the middle of something, the information you are working on might be lost. Please tell Microsoft about this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to help us improve Microsoft Works. We will treat this report as confidential and anonymous. To see what data this error report contains, click here. SEND ERROR REPORT DON'T SEND ------------------------------------- I am not connected to the internet on that computer. Another more serious problem has occured twice. The first time, I had a document saved the previous night which had 13 days of work in it. The next morning, I opened it and it was entirely blank. Another time the same thing happened except I lost 4 days work. In total I had lost 17 days work because of the unexplained deleting of the contents of my documents, and several pages of work in total because of the crashing. This is very frustrating and detrimental to my career. Recently, the 'error report' message came up on my screen and I clicked don't send, it closed and when I reopened it it was blank even though I had been saving up to the last paragraph. So on top of the 17 days I've lost an additional 6 pages. Compared to my old Windows 98 Word processor, this new processor is below standard.

Nick44 · Answer

frcl: The MS Works word processor is not MS Word.  As you have discovered, there are significant limitations in trying to convert Word files ( .doc format) to the Works format (which is .wps).  There isn't much that can be done about that.   However, if you can save the original Word documents in .rtf format, I think you will get better compatibility between the applications.  See the following Knowledge Base article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;271080 BTW, newer versions of Word can save files in a .wps format that is more or less compatible with Works (either 4 or 6/7) and can also read those files directly.  See the following KB articles for details:  http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315757 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;318244 The articles refer to Works 6, but Works 7 is very similar.   I'm not sure what is going on with the Works program crashing.   We use  Works 4.5,  Works 7 and Word XP on different computers, and  haven't noticed anything like that .  We do use Word XP for all of our file conversions and don't rely on any of the Works converters, which we have found to be unreliable. Perhaps the problem you are having is related to format incompatibilities. If you really need the features of MS Word for professional reasons, you will have to purchase it.  You can get it as part of the Works Suite, or you can get the Student-Teacher edition of XP office. BTW, IIRC,  you do have the option to purchase the MS Works Suite (which includes Word) from Dell when you order your computer. Message Edited by Nick44 on 11-28-2003 06:56 PM

frcl · Answer

Thank you, but the crashing and deleting of data is the main problem and I have lost enormous amounts of work. Can no one explain the crashing???

frcl · Answer

It is certainly not due to format incompatibilities as it has happened just as much with documents I have made from scratch with the processor.

plmbst · Answer

My wife's Inspiron 4100, just 2 years young, experiences the same problems that I've been reading in many of these forums. When using the word processor in the Works suite it will lose or delete files, message boxes appear asking to save changes to the global template, and now, with increasing regularity, the History list that appears at the start-up of Works is empty. I haven't seen this problem in any other post, and any help would be appreciated.

The Works word processor may not be Word, but it should still function reliably.

The laptop is running XP Home.

Thanks

frcl · Answer

Someone else has the same problem. No info?

plmbst · Answer

Thanks for the reply frcl, it seems that misery may indeed love company, but it would love solutions to the problem more.

eleanor246 · Answer

Since the details of the error messages are missing, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to properly address the various problems noted in these threads. Microsoft's error messages usually have a Details tab that can access the specifics of the error messages. The version of Word and the operating system used by plmbst is missing. The message, '...save changes to the global template' is relevant to MS Word, not the Works Suite Word Processor, or it was in earlier versions of Works Suite. I cannot address what changes Gates may have made to Works Suite 2002 and 2003. The 'bottom line' is this. The details of error messages are vital in providing solutions. They are especially important in searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles. Good luck!

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