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>- is it within the capability of Word 97 to "simply" acquire, and
coherently
>re-present a contiguous series of graphic images that have no
associated
>text?
The simple answer is "yes" you can store graphics in a Word file if you
really want to. I think if you look at the responses to Tracey's post,
you'll see that there is a simple fix to that specific complaint. In
Word, you can either place a graphic as a floating object (the default),
as an "inline" graphic tied to a cursor position. You do not need to
have any associated text at all.
However, I definitely agree with Michael--Word is not a good choice.
It is a given that the best way to store the scans is as graphic files
(and jpegs or gifs are the most efficient file formats. I haven't seen
the graphic viewers Michael mentions, but Paint Shop Pro has a browse
feature that displays thumbnails for all graphics in a folder. I'm not
sure PSP is the right choice--it's an application for creating
graphics--but something similar should work well.
I'd think your biggest concern would be organization. How are you
planning on making these graphics findable? I suppose you could set up
a folder storage structure in Explorer--establish categories and then
store related graphics in the appropriate folders (in fact this may be
the metaphor closest to her existing paper setup). But it is kind of
awkward, and limited in terms of future potential. How is she planning
on labeling these files without text? File names only?
What you really need is a cataloging system, a way for her to find the
right graphic file when she needs it. If all she's got is Word, I
suppose you could set a table in a Word file to store a label, the file
location and at some point description and other pertinent info. You
could also use Excel for this. But a better choice would be a database
program, such as Access. With a database, you could set up a very
simple system now, and have room to expand later as desired.
Access is a pretty complicated program, you might be able to find a
simpler (and cheaper) alternative. Sorry, in spite of my signature, I
don't know much about mass market database options.
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Sella Rush mailto:sellar -at- apptechsys -dot- com
Applied Technical Systems, Inc. (ATS)
Bremerton, Washington USA
Developers of the CCM Database
