What's the Real Story with Word's Comments and WriteRAP?

Word's Comment and Tracked Changes functions are widely used and relied-upon in our editorial processes, and they can be used in WriteRAP the same as in any Word document. We use them particularly because (as of Word 2002) they allow us to insert comments and track our changes without affecting the flow of the text.

However, there is a limitation to both these tools that we tend to overlook but which becomes apparent when used in a high-fidelity WriteRAP Word document: they do not entirely avoid reflow. When a comment or tracked change balloon is inserted in a document, Word creates a fake extended page margin to allow extra space to fit the balloon in... but it also expects to use space within the actual page margin.

When the page margin is already generous, we don't notice that this has happened, but it does happen, every time. And if the page margin is not generous -- if the design is "tight" -- then leaving comments and tracked changes visible will cause text reflow. The reflow clears itself up when the view is changed to show only final text (without the balloons), but if the balloons are showin', the text is reflowin'.

So while the use of track changes and comments is encouraged, just be aware of the this consequence.

WriteRAP 1.4 Released 12/9/2010

WriteRAP version 1.4 has been released on the USA WriteRAP server today, 9 December 2010. Most of the enhancements are ones that will benefit administrators and super-users of the system, though a few will improve life for all users:

1. There was a bug in the handling of projects whose project admins/project managers had been removed from the WriteRAP system. The bug is fixed in this release.
2. Documents in WriteRAP are added to a parsing queue upon sign-in; the documents are parsed to ensure that they are not corrupted. But documents in archived projects do not need to be parsed. This release removes those documents from the parsing queue.
3. Similarly, documents that have no template assigned do not need to be parsed. This release also removes those documents from the parsing queue.
4. Temporary folders and files build up on the WriteRAP server just as they do on any computer. This release removes them automatically.
5. Some actions that are available for documents in active projects should not be available in archived projects. In this release, those actions are disabled in archived projects.
6. Upon export of document(s), the user can now choose to have all documents that are being exported placed under administrative lock automatically.
7. This release fixes a bug and a usability issue concerning workflow status -- the status can now be set and will be properly maintained until it is explicitly changed.
8. WriteRAP system administrators can now update notices on the welcome page using a web-based interface, rather than by logging on to the WriteRAP server itself.
9. Users can now choose to sign-out and download multiple documents simultaneously; likewise, they can upload and sign-in multiple documents simultaneously.
10. WriteRAP administrators sometimes work with the Template Manager window, which lists a large number of templates. Previously, any action an administrator took in this window would cause the view on the window to return to the very top of the full list of templates, requiring the administrator to re-navigate to the point of interest in the list; this release leaves the view unchanged, thus making it easier to work in the list.
11. In this release, administrators can quickly toggle between a project page and that project's document list page.
12. A report of documents that failed to parse is now available in the reports page.
    

There is no update to the WriteRAP toolbar at this time.