I've been working on some very large stories but am quite frustrated with Windows 10 file management protocol. It feels like they do sinister, and sneaky things with file preferences; seeming to try to put things on their "sky drive", which to me means out in the public. I do not trust them. I "think" that I now understand enough about what to look for each time I save a file, but there is always the feeling that some sneaky geek will change things and I will miss that.
I write in MS Word 2016, um because that is what I have, and I am no computer Master at all, nor do I wish to be. For me it is about the story and nothing else. So, armed with the, still uncertain, confidence that somewhat reliable file management is possible, before I get on with the latest project, does anyone have suggestions?
Ahabidah
Comments
Saving your stories
Personally I use LibreOffice, it's a FREE reliable alternative to MS Suite.
I find it easy to use. It can save/read MS stuff and a lots of others standard.
Peace and Love tmf
Just guessing
I'm wondering if you are using a cloud version (usually monthly subscription) and this is why it might be trying to save everything to the cloud so you can share it across devices. A lot of software is going that way these days, I suspect it's a better cash-flow/income model.
I don't trust that sort of thing either, I use open office (it seems libra office is an offshoot of this) - both will be compatible with Word, with probably only a few weird and wonderful things that nobody uses that they won't do.
Writing software
I use Scrivener (cost is approx $40 US for lifetime use)
https://www.writersstore.com/scrivener/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpMLOBR...
I have also heard good things about YWriter which is free software. Personally I have installed it and looked at it, but never really used it since I had been using Scrivener for a few years now and quite content with it.
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html
Then for general office software to replace Microsuck office there is Open office, https://www.openoffice.org/
and LibreOffice https://www.libreoffice.org/
I've used Open office in the past and can say if you want one that 'feels' like Microsoft office but is more powerful, it is hard to beat. Libre Office I've never used so can't really comment on it.
As for Windows 10??? All I can say is that Windows 8 was a huge flop that no one wanted and Microsuck still hasn't learned from that mistake. I've deployed it onto about 30 laptops at work and I have spent more time on those 30 fixing issue with the flaky operating system than I ever have with the over 13,000 PCs and laptops we have at work. Among other things the buggy OS will do that you don't want, is not just minor personal settings but crucial settings will revert to Microsuck's idea of how they want those settings not how you want or need them to be. I have to say it's buggier than a Volkswagen factory.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
OpenOffice/LibreOffice
These are basically the same thing.
They started out, as I recall, as StarOffice and was, I believe, a Sun product. Or maybe Sun bought it? I'm old enough to remember but I don't. Subsequently it became "open source" which meant that the protocols and file layouts became freely available for people to utilise. That then became "OpenOffice", still supported by Sun.
Sun then got bought out by Oracle, who decided that they didn't want OpenOffice to be freely available so mucked about with the licences. Because the source was available, it was "forked" and a new product generated which is now called "LibreOffice". This is supported by the community, basically, and has nothing to do with Oracle.
TLDR; It is basically all the same thing, but the security updates and improvements come from different places and the licences on what you can do with it are different.
Penny
I’m a Apple Pages user myself
I’m a Apple Pages user myself and I store my files on iCloud only because I’ve had my house broken into in the past and my laptop was stolen and hard drive locked.
I lost all of my script and story files that I had on the laptop at the time.
Open Office vs Libre Office
Yes, one (Libre) was a fork of Open Office but then the Libre Office team have done a huge amount to is.
The original Star Office was written in Java which meant that performance wise, it sucked big time.
Sun did a lot of work on it but it was still a memory hog and dog slow..
Large parts of Libre Office have been re-written since and it is much speedier now. I feel that LO is far more uptodate than OO.
Windows 10 is going subscription as is Orifice. Stop paying for and lose access to your docs (held in the cloud naturally). Also no more security updates, no more anything.
I know that for many, they got Windows 10 as a 'free' upgrade but MS is doing sneaky things with Intel and obsoleting hardware that has a lot of life left in it yet.
Suddenly you try to do an update and Windows tells you 'Sorry but your hardware is no longer supported'.
That will force you into getting a new laptop/desktop. Then the 'free' Windows will go subscription. Possibly as high as $9.99/month. Many here can't afford that. So, you are going to be caught between a rock and a hard place.
Don't even get me started on the data slurping that W10 does. Home/Consumer editions can't easily block it!
As a former professional software developer (40+ years) I called it a day with Windows in 2008 for personal use and went to a Mac. That is obviously a move that for many it is too expensive to make unless you buy a 2nd hand machine. A Used/reconditioned Mac-Mini is not bad value.
If you can't go down that route, you are left with Linux (scary for many). If you have a Linux Users Group near you, go talk to them. There are many kind souls who will set you up so that your desktop even looks like windows.
If you don't like what Microsoft is doing then now is the time to start thinking about alternatives before it is too late.
Samantha
Learn About...
...folders/directories. It might be a good idea to learn the basics of files, folders/directories, disk drives and filesystems. Save your stories in "My Documents" but have some kind of backup system or synchronizing system if you use more than one computer to write with.
I suppose that the scammers, the profit-makers, the prying eyes, etc. aim at those who don't know about the subjects.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
archaic but works
But I still use Office 2k7 on my Win7 PC & XP netbook (think I might still have a valid unused slot on the license too) and Word for Android on my phone
Windows 10 just makes me hate it more with every attempt to use it, so, so, so glad I refused the free "upgrade" when it was a thing.
Windont 10
I have 3 computers. 2 desktops and a laptop. When windont 10 came out, I only put it on my older desktop and I hate it. My laptop and gaming rig is still running Windows 7. 7 is just so stable, and runs fast. As for storage, I have more that one hdd i. Each system and hav e them set for auto back up. And I keep my docs on a flash drive, and periodically archive them on dvdrw discs. I don't trust ANY cloud service.
I set up my own file structures ...
... probably because I started working with microprocessors as hardware logic replacement devices long before IBM introduced their awful PC which, sadly became the industry standard probably because no IT manager would ever be fired for choosing IBM.
I have a desk top PC clone mainly because I can fix it and it has a full size keyboard and big vdu. I run Win10 and Firefox but I eschew the Windows file structures for personal stuff and just use my own which reflects accurately my interests. What little I write (I edit quite a bit) is done using an ancient Office 97 Professional suite of programs which includes Word, Excel and the rest. Word97 does absolutely everything I need in a word processor. In fact I suspect most users of Word, like me, do 99% of their work using 1% of the features :)
I occasionally use the latest Open Office suite as means of translating docx files into the rtf files I usually edit in.
Robi
Well...
I'm dinosaur like you. I use Win XP&Word97 and happy. It happy bunch not even suspect about horrors of future like so called clouds.
"Word97 does absolutely everything I need in a word processor. In fact I suspect most users of Word, like me, do 99% of their work using 1% of the features :)"I write all docs using asciidoc
whether it be for work or for home.
It's a plain text format so I use any old text editor.
I'm a linux user, so I use emacs, vim, atom, whatever.
Like notepad+, but they have asciidoc modes.
Then I use asciidoctor to convert from plain text to both html and pdf.
all free, but with rather nice output.
Scrivener, Word2007, Dropbox, Owncloud
I write in Scrivener, move things to my ancient copy of Word2007 to format for printing and save multiple copies locally, on Dropbox and on BCs Owncloud which is our own servers.
I've lost too many stories and even whole novels to be careless.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Backing up files
I do much similar in backing up my writing files. The files i'm working on are stored on a separate internal drive, which is backed up automatically to an external drive over night, I also manually backup to google drive and to a thumb drive (That I always carry with me) every few days. That way even if everything in the house is destroyed or stolen I should not lose much, if anything.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Save all mine to jump drives
Jump drives, flash drives, whatever anyone wants to call them. Plug it in, call it drive F and save everything to it. When HD goes south, I have a dozen or more in a box, the files are still accessible with a different computer. I also built computers and did computer programming at one time. Lost years of work when the HD went south more than once. Jump drives have been a god send to me. I have a love hate relationship with computers and Hard Drives in particular.
Have fun with life, it's too short to take seriously
always,
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Like others i have my
Like others i have my computer set to backup to a remote drive i have lost to much over the years not to