Moved toward the Dark Side!

[Xairbusdriver]

At least in the word processing arena. My wife will now be using Word (and possibly Excel) when dealing with her PC trapped friends.

I took a couple of hours and played with the Prefs , but I cannot find a way to prevent Word from displaying/opening even a new document "Maximized" window.

I've read that there is a "Minimized" display, which sounds much like what would appear in the Dock. Obviously, the OS takes care of that automagically (or manually with the green gum drop.

I've seen what I think we want described as "Normal". Apparently, there are settings in the Word Properties under the Shortcut settings to select from those three methods. Of course, the Mac version has no "Properties", rather it uses the non-programmer term, "Preferences". There is neither a "Shortcuts" section nor any mention Maximize, Minimize nor Normalize.

The closest I can find on the web is a discussion at Window size on opening Word on Mac. Changing Zoom, Page width, saving, quitting & starting Word makes no difference; the new (or saved document still opens full screen.

There are some comments in that thread suggesting that a Macro could do this, assuming one had access to VB. Another suggestion was that a Theme might work. I managed to create a "Theme" with the desired zoom and window width settings, but I don't think you can actually create a document from a Theme as much as you Apply a Theme to a document... which ignores the window size.

Any suggestions? Or do people actually like having one app completely block their Desktop?!

[jchuzi]

I have the same issue and have not found a solution. I did, however, notify MS about the problem. You can do the same by launching Word and clicking the smiley face icon at the upper right of the window. The option to complain includes a screenshot of the errant document.

[Xairbusdriver]

A few months ago I had a Sister-in-Law observe me and the 27" iMac. She was more interested in how I was able to see about five different apps at the same time while viewing something on Safari. "How can you see all those programs at the same time?!" I did a bit of searching and discovered that many Windows folk have the same question. But rather than have each app 'remember' what size windows the user last had open or the document used when saved, it appears that the default Windows behavior is to 'full-screen' every app. I know I have usually seen Windows apps on screens that were visible on various desks during travels. I just assumed that it was the way most users worked when doing the same job all day long; all the screen space was needed for whatever the main task that day/week/life(!) of that employee. OTOH, most of these people consider 'personal computers' as nothing more than tools for their work and who would ever think of making a tool fun or at least interesting?!

I guess "we'll" just have to 'live' with most of the 'non-Apple' ways of the majority. I'll probably return the font to Calibri(?) since that's probably what all her friends will be using. No point in forcing Windows of whatever version do any more work than necessary by converting some beautiful TTF back into something MS thinks is good enough.

Thanks for the sad news.

[Paddy]

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/word-for-mac-1625-cannot-remember-window-size/ddc088b7-9a06-42d2-95bf-f8e521d5a156

Although all those folks are having the opposite problem: the window is opening too small!

I'm using Office 2016, so haven't seen this issue.

[Xairbusdriver]

From what I've read, "too small" or "minimized" sounds like what we might see in the Dock, especially if 'magnification' when it is used there. Perhaps what is seen in a large(er) Icon View in Finder. It seems to happen even to Windows users. Many times, the "Task Bar" is mentioned.

Their reply is the most encouraging statement I've seen:

We can reproduce the same behavior on our side...

Since their "Mac" page says they "love the Mac", there will probably be a fix later this week, if not today.

I tried to post a comment about it in their 'Support' section but I gave up after attempting to disguise myself as my wife! I can only assume they even track IP addresses. I was using my computer instead of hers but I gave them all the same info they have about her, including email and password. Still, I had to use one of my email addresses because I was trying to do this without touching her machine or the phone line that she was also using! I also type a lot slower than she does, maybe that's how they knew... Of course, she then got a disturbing email from M$ warning that "attempts" to access her info had been made and she should probably call the police or at least change all her passwords.

It's not nice to fool...
 

[Xairbusdriver]

While waiting on the repairman to come to the scheduled appointment 30 minutes ago, I am reading more of the linked thread. Some are amusing, most show frustration (or worse). One is even in Latin! One claims using a ßeta version solved "the" problem, but I'm not sure if it is the 'size' problem or not.

There is actually a post from susanfw-1956 on May 27 that describes the 'full-size' version of the problem. I'll keep reading and see if there is an eventual solution. Of course, this discussion keeps referring to version 16.25 and we have 16.26 installed. That would suggest the ßeta just before our current version may not have included a working solution.

Hopefully, the repairman will be here well before I get through the 13 pages of the thread!!

I have now reached the end of the thread and discovered there is still no solution... just as the repairman still has not come! Seems I am on my own for both Word and the broken central vacuum
system.

I have found and installed v. 16.27, by the way. There are notes in the Word->Help pages if you type in "Automatic Update". You 'guys' probably already know about that. However, my wife is now at her MBP, so I cannot 'play' with it...

[Xairbusdriver]

Some progress?

Jon & Paddy, which version are you using and are you on a laptop or desktop machine?

I just installed Wurd at the "invitation" of my wife (up to 5 installs by her invites). Opened a blank page and note that it appears it would fill a MBP screen. It was about 1/4 the size of my iMac screen. I zoomed it to 125%, dragged the width and stretched the height to show a full 8.5 x 11" 'page', added some text and saved it to a new folder. Word froze.

Restarted Wurd through the auto appearing window in which MS recognized the freeze. Tried opening the document. Pages tried to open it since that's the way I've been doing .docx files. Pages claimed the file was unreadable. Not my main concern, changed the document to "Open with Word".

Still would not open because the developer was "unidentified". Unlocked Security prefs and hit "Open anyway, I'm living dangerously!". Actually, the page was empty/broken/unusable.

Opened yet another blank document, added some text, adjusted the window size and saved it. Closed the document. Asked Wurd to open said document. Success! It opened in exactly the size it had been set to in exactly the same place on the screen.

Opinion: It appears that the default window size is almost exactly the dimensions of the 15" MBP. It may automatically shrink to fit a 13" model or an Air. It seems to "remember" the last window size if on a large monitor? Of course, a "new" window reverts to the same space wasting size...

BTW, this is the 16.26 version of Word. Not sure I want to tempt fate by updating to 16.27! Of secondary concern; why does MS NOT install the latest version of its own software?

Edit: Corrected Word version now installed.

[jchuzi]

I'm using Word 16.26 via Office 365. You can opt to have MS update automatically by launching Word, and then going to Help > Check For Updates. That launches Microsoft Update, which has the option that you seek.

[Xairbusdriver]

True, that's how I learned that there is a new version. That also made me wonder why MS is still installing an old one with a new subscriber; me, this morning.

I generally never allow automatic updates of critical apps. Even though I don't use Word, my wife now does. Therefore, it is "critical".

[Paddy]

I'm using Word 16.16.12 on my MBP - the most recent update (July 16) for Office 2016. Don't have MS 365.