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Subject:re: Saving Word to ASCII From:"Christensen, Kent" <lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 14 Mar 2001 08:29:53 -0700
re: Their resume submit page wants me to submit an ASCII text version. The
actual text field request is: "Please copy and paste an ASCII text version
of your resume here." I haven't done this before and Word doesn't have an
option to save in ASCII.
This is a funny little thread that effectively demonstrates problems people
have with writing and understanding instructions--perfect for this list.
The first error is made by the writers of the instruction--it would be
highly unlikely anyone would copy/paste something they couldn't themselves
read, making "use ASCII" pretty redundant. Perhaps they felt it sounded
important.
Next, the poster confuses "copy/paste" with "save." These are not the same
thing.
Finally, most respondents fall into the trap of advising how to save files
in .txt format in WORD. Granted, the requestor probably needed to know
this, but it's not at all related to the request from the interviewers, and
the poster's resume will not be submitted using these techniques.
So, when you are viewing a "submit page" and it can be assumed that "submit
page" means a computer screen presentation and you are to "copy/paste"
something, the answer is ... if you can read it, it's OK and it's ASCII. If
it's a bunch of funny characters that make no sense, it's not. And, I
challenge you to find out how to copy/paste anything from WORD that somehow
transforms into funny characters in the process--you can't, I assert.
Or, maybe I just don't get it, in which case see my first sentence again.
PS: How to perform requested step:
In WORD, use your mouse to highlight the desired text (your resume).
Perform Edit/Copy (you can do cntrl-c if you wish)
Go to the resume submit page and place your cursor in the resume submit box.
Perform Edit/Paste. (optionally, cntrl-V)
ASCII happens.
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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