Document Management

Word 97 Manual Tab 4 Document Management DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT §4.1 CREATING NEW WORD DOCUMENTS – INTRODUCTION §4.2 CREATING A NEW GENERAL DOCUMENT §4.2.1 Creating the Document §4.2.2 Saving the Document §4.3 CREATING A NEW DOCUMENT FROM A FIRM PRECEDENT §4.4 CREATING A NEW DOCUMENT FROM AN EXISTING DOCUMENT §4.5 SAVING WORD DOCUMENTS §4.5.1 Saving the First Time §4.5.2 Saving and Overwriting §4.5.3 Closing a Document §4.6 FINDING AND OPENING A WORD DOCUMENT §4.6.1 Simple “Finds” §4.6.2 Advanced “Finds” §4.6.3 Opening a Document §4.7 DELETING A DOCUMENT 1 1 1 1 3 5 5 6 6 6 7 8 8 10 13 14 Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Word 97 Manual Tab 4 Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-1 DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT This Tab will deal first with creating Word documents and saving them. It will then discuss locating existing documents on the system, and opening them. Your system has been set up so that it will automatically store your documents in the correct directory. A user interface allows you to specify the client file number. The system automatically assigns a document number to each document, and the user interface allows you to add a long name that will make it easier for you to find the document using Word’s search tools. Your documents are stored in N:\Clients, then under the client file number. Your documents will have a document footer that indicates the name and storage location of that document. You can find the document again by referring to its footer or, if the document is not in front of you, by using Word’s search capabilities. §4.1 CREATING NEW WORD DOCUMENTS – INTRODUCTION There are three different ways of creating new documents: 1. Creating a new “general” document: In this case, you would be creating a new letter, memo, fax cover, basic agreement, account, file opening sheet, etc., from scratch. See §4.2. 2. Creating a new document from a firm precedent: In this case you would be using one of the firm’s precedents to create a brand new document. See §4.3. 3. Creating a new document from an existing document: In this case you would be using one of your own, or someone else’s, existing documents to create a new one. See §4.4. §4.2 §4.2.1  CREATING A NEW GENERAL DOCUMENT Creating the Document To create a new general document from scratch: use the File  New command (either by clicking on File and then on New or by typing the shortcut Alt F N), or Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-2 use the shortcut Ctrl N.You will see Word’s New dialog box, which will look something like this: To change the display: Some people don’t like the big icons. If you prefer a different view, click on the “List” button to get a display like the following. (This setting will remain in place during this session of Word, but will revert to the default when you exit from Word.) “List” button The icons or file names represent templates. You must decide what type of document you want to create before you create it. The “General” folder contains basic office templates, such as the letter, memo, fax covers, etc. These are discussed in Appendix B Templates. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-3 Select the icon or name for the type of document you want to create. Either click on it or use Arrow Keys to get to it. Once it is highlighted you can double-click, click on OK, or press Enter on the keyboard. In some cases, a document will immediately come up on your screen. In other cases, you will see a dialog box that prompts you to provide certain information, and then a document will come up on screen with some information already filled in. If you chose one of the “blank” options, you will get a blank screen with no text. You should immediately save the document. See §4.2.2. §4.2.2 Saving the Document You should save the document as soon as it is created. First, you must tell Word where to save the document. To do so, go to the File menu and choose ClientSelect. You will see the following dialog box: Type the client file number or other identifying name. Then click OK. What you are typing is the folder under that you want the document to be stored in. The folder name can be a number or it can be letters such as “Admin” or your name. If that client file exists, you will be switched into that folder. If it doesn’t, the folder will be created and you will be switched into it – and you’ll see a message such as the following: Click on OK. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-4 Next, you will tell Word to save the document, and you’ll specify a long name for it. To do so, click on File and then SaveAsNextClientFile. The system will automatically assign a number to the file then ask you to provide a long name. The long name can be any length and can include spaces. It is safest to avoid punctuation because various programs interpret punctuation in such a way that you may end up losing or not being able to save a file. If you absolutely must use punctuation, the safest thing to use is a dash. You will then be shown the Save As dialog box: In this dialog box, do the following: 1. Check that the client file number and document name are correct. 2. If there are subfolders listed under the heading “Name”, double-click on the one you want and ensure that it goes into the Save in box. (Note: If you want to create a new subfolder, click on the Create New Folder icon, type the name of the new folder, then double-click on it and ensure that it goes into the Save in box.) 3. Check that the Save as type box says “Word Document (*.doc)”. 4. Now click on Save. You may see a Properties dialog box. The information you fill in here will assist you if you later need to locate the document. When you have completed the Properties dialog box, click OK. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-5 Once you have saved the document, it has both a name and a footer.   You can see the name in the Document title bar. Unfortunately it doesn’t show the path as well. The footer does not “update” to the correct document name until you print or Print Preview (see §7.1.2 Print Preview) the document. The footer will show the client file number and the document number. §4.3 CREATING A NEW DOCUMENT FROM A FIRM PRECEDENT The firm has a large precedent bank. To create a new document from one of the firm’s precedents: 1. Find the precedent. Precedents are stored in a particular location on your system. Your systems manager can tell you that location. (Note: You may wish to create “Favourites” folders so that you can easily get to the precedents you use most frequently – see Appendix G, §G.17.) 2. Open the precedent. (Note: You can protect the firm’s precedents against being overwritten, so that users will not be able to open the original precedent, only a copy of it.) 3. Save the document immediately, following the process set out in §4.2.2. §4.4 CREATING A NEW DOCUMENT FROM AN EXISTING DOCUMENT Sometimes you want to use an existing document as the basis of a new one. For example, you may wish to call up the last letter you sent to a client and re-use the address, re: line, and so on. Or you may wish to use a precedent you created in one client file as the basis for a new document in another client file.  In some cases you want to over-write the old document (e.g., a fax cover). If so, simply find the document, open it, make your edits, and save on top (see §4.5.2).  In other cases, you want to create a brand new document and save the old one untouched. To do this: Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-6 1. Find the existing document (see §4.6). 2. Open it (see §4.6.3). Note that you are opening the original document, not a copy of it. 3. Save the document immediately, following the process set out in §4.2.2. DO NOT just click the Save icon because you will be saving over top of the original document. §4.5 §4.5.1 SAVING WORD DOCUMENTS Saving the First Time You should save the document as soon as it is created. This process is set out in detail in §4.2.2. §4.5.2 Saving and Overwriting If you have saved a document and are editing it, you should save your changes frequently. (Note: You can tell whether you have saved a document to the system – the title bar will show its number and name rather than “Document 1, 2, etc.”.) To save your changes, so that you overwrite the previous version of the document, use either:    the Save button, File  Save, or the shortcut Ctrl S. If you have several documents open, and each of them has already been saved once, you can save all of them by holding down the Shift key down and clicking on the File menu. You will now see a Save All option. §4.5.3 If you try to close a document that hasn’t been saved since you last edited it, Word will ask you whether Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-7 you want to save it.Closing a Document To close a document, use:    the command File  Close, click on the lower  at the top right of the screen, or use the shortcut Ctrl W. You should close files when you are finished working with them, and be sure to close all files before exiting from Word 97. §4.6 IF YOU HAVE SEVERAL DOCUMENTS OPEN AND WANT TO CLOSE ALL OF THEM, HOLD THE SHIFT KEY DOWN AND CLICK ON THE FILE MENU. YOU WILL NOW SEE A CLOSE ALL OPTION. IF SOME OF THE DOCUMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN SAVED SINCE YOU LAST EDITED THEM, WORD WILL ASK WHETHER YOU WANT TO SAVE THEM.FINDING AND OPENING A WORD DOCUMENT §4.6.1 Simple “Finds” Note: Word uses the term “Open” rather than “Retrieve”. If you want to open an existing Word document, you must first find it. If you have the document in front of you, with a footer showing its number and path, this is easy. Otherwise, you will have to find the document and then open it. If you know the client file number, use File  ClientSelect and specify it. Then use:    the Open icon , the File Open command, or Ctrl O. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-8 You will get a screen that looks like the one below. The Look in box shows the folder you are searching in. If you can’t see the whole file name, you can point here and drag the border of the “Name” column. If the full long name doesn’t show, you can click on the line between “Name” and “Size” and drag it to the right. If the know the number or long name of the file you want:  Scroll through the name list until you find it, and click on it; or Type the number or a word contained in the name in the File name box and press Enter to see a list of all files that contain that number or word. Click on the one you want.If you are not currently in the correct folder, change the folder in the Look in box to the correct one. To change what’s in the Look in box, click on the pull-down menu and work through the directory structure. Once the box shows the correct folder, either scroll through the list of document names until you find the right one, and click on it, or type the name in the File name box. You have four options for viewing the files in the folders, determined by the four view buttons: 1. List The display shows only the file names. 2. Details The display shows the file names plus details of length and date. 3. Properties Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-9 The display shows document properties tracked by Word. 4. Preview The display shows a preview of the contents of the document. Note that this is the slowest of the views, so it isn’t advisable to work in it all the time. Use it once you have narrowed your search to one or two documents and want to verify that you are opening the correct one. If you change the view, this will remain your default until you change it again (even if you exit Word and re-start Word). When you have selected the correct file in the correct folder, click on Open. §4.6.2 If you don’t know the name of the file or which folder it’s in, see the following section on finding an existing document.Advanced “Finds” Sometimes you can’t remember the name of a particular document that you want to use and you don’t have a hard copy to refer to. Word can help you find the document. Start by following the normal steps for opening a document. You will get a File Open dialog box. Click on the Advanced button in the dialog box to bring up the Advanced Find dialog box. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-10 This Advanced Find tool is an easy way to search for documents. Basically, what you do is: 1. Determine where you want to have the system search for your document. 2. Build the list of search criteria. 3. Start the search. Advanced searching is discussed in more detail below.Location of the Search Use the Look in box to tell the system where to search. Enter the folder name(s) you want the system to search in. Separate multiple folders with semicolons. Click on Search subfolders if you want the system to search all subfolders of the listed folder(s). Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-11 The above example will search all of the subfolders of the two folders “Work\SMZ” and “Work\Training”. Search Criteria Once you have determined where to search you must tell the system what to look for. The system requires you to define all the “search criteria” you want it to use to locate your documents. This part of the tool will allow you to search for any property of a document, such as its filename, the document title, the template attached to it, its author, when it was created, etc. Usually the first search criterion – “Files of type is Word Documents(*.doc)” – is already selected for you. You can change it if necessary, but note that Word can only perform certain kinds of searches, such as searching the full text (contents) of a document, on documents that were saved in Word format. It can’t search the text of WordPerfect documents, though it can search the file names of WordPerfect documents.An Example: For example, to locate all documents in the D: drive WORK folder with a name that begins with “tab” follow the following steps in the Advanced Find dialog box: 1. Type in D:\WORK in the Look in box. 2. Check the Search subfolders checkbox. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-12 3. Select File name from the Property box. 4. Select begins with in the Condition box. 5. Type “tab” into the Value box. 6. Ensure that the And button at the left is selected and then press the Add to List button to add your search criteria to the list. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-13 7. Click on Find Now. You will be presented with a list of “hits”. §4.6.3   Opening a Document Once you have located the document in the File Open dialog box, either: double-click on its name or click on its name and then on Open. §4.7 NOTE: IF SOMEONE ELSE IS WORKING ON A DOCUMENT, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO OPEN IT. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO OPEN A COPY – AND IF YOU MERELY WANT TO REFER TO THE DOCUMENT OR SAVE IT AS A NEW DOCUMENT, THIS WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR YOUR PURPOSES. IF YOUR PRECEDENTS (OR OTHER DOCUMENTS) HAVE BEEN PROTECTED AGAINST BEING OVER-WRITTEN, YOU WILL BE DENIED ACCESS TO THE Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999 Document Management 4-14 ORIGINAL. AGAIN, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO OPEN A COPY AND SAVE IT AS A NEW DOCUMENT THAT YOU CAN WORK ON. DELETING A DOCUMENT To delete a document: 1. Use File  ClientSelect then File  Open and locate the document. 2. Select it on the list (but don’t open it). 3. Press the Delete key or right click on the file name (or use the equivalent key on a modern keyboard) and select Delete from the shortcut menu. 4. You will see a message asking you if you are sure you want to delete that file. Say Yes. Note: Sometimes Word will not let you delete a document. This happens for various reasons, such as the following:   You haven’t selected it correctly. Try clicking on another document name then clicking back on the one you want to delete, and pressing the Delete key again. Word doesn’t think the document has been closed. Even if you have actually closed the document, Word doesn’t always “release” it completely for a while. You can always force Word to release the document by exiting out of Word then starting Word again. Doug Arnold Consulting Inc. January 1999