TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I'm curious about what "maintain control" means.... Are you simply
wanting to keep a paper trail of revisions or do you need full
documentation for every change (who made it, when, and why)?
Those of us who work as "lone writers" (the only writer at our company)
have to deal with the revision tracking problem, too. Right now I simply
save all my paper copies of review updates and spend time making
diary-type notes, but I can understand that for a large company with
many writers for a single document that method might not be appropriate.
In that case, couldn't you just require each writer to make a backup
copy of the document file before he or she begins revising it? For
example, I have a doc named "widget user.doc" and maintain it in its own
directory (c:\docs\userguides\widget). Every time I get ready to
edit/revise it, I simply save off a copy as (072498.doc where the
filename is the date of the last revision) in a special subdirectory
(c:\docs\userguides\widget\backups). If I should need to restore or
review changes (compare docs), I would just use the latest doc in that
backups directory. Obviously, you may not want to keep a backup copy
every time you spell check it, or simply regenerate an index, but
otherwise it should work.
Maybe I'm missing something?
Jane
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
AnswerSoft, Inc.
Richardson, TX (972)997-8355
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nancy Hitchcox [mailto:nancy -dot- hitchcox -at- GA -dot- COM]
>
> I would like to hear from editors who allow authors to work
> in a document
> throughout the publication process. I edit proposals and am
> (snipped)
> to Repro. I feel we have to find a way to accommodate their needs and
> still maintain control over the document. We are using MS
> Word Office 98
Word 97 (have not seen Office 98...are you sure it's out now? Or are you
using Macs?) allows you to embed non-printing notes in the text, turn on
revision markings by author, etc. Sometimes the simplest solution is the
best one.
Jane
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
AnswerSoft, Inc.
Richardson, TX (972)997-8355
