17 April, 2007

My Word

I'm in the very happy position of being able to avoid using word processors, spreadsheets, databases and slideshow-presentation software for work, so MS Office barely impinges on my consciousness from month to month.

The sole exception is MS Word, whenever people send me .doc files as e-mail attachments. My main objection to the package relates to the absurdly 'helpful', aka intrusive, default functionality, so this article, discovered via Lifehacker, is genuinely helpful. In short, it identifies the features (which sometimes isn't easy) and explains how to disable them.
By default, .doc e-mail attachments open in an annoying 'Reading' layout when clicked. No longer. That alone will improve my quality of life.

Incidentally, if you're ever tempted to send a .doc or .xls attachment to my private e-mail accounts, don't waste your time – without exception, I delete them directly from the mail server, unopened. Besides, I don't have anything on my own PC that would open them.