John Moran

OK. I've got to take one more shot at this. After a couple of install/uninstall cycles, I got OOo versions 1.1.2 and 1.1.4 off my computer. Then came a "repair" reinstall of OOo 2.0 for good measure. Then I revisitied a TMG Sample database Journal export in RTF one more time. Aha. The seemingl random font size changes in footnotes/endnotes, and perhaps superscripts, may only occur in citations using a style at least partially including italics. This seems very difficult to correct in Open Office Writer, but if the user can get by without italics in his master sources in TMG, perhaps OOo could almost be declared ready for prime time.. Perhaps some users will even like the number sizing variation in RTF. On the OOo forums I visited today, some complained of the method of manipulating photo sizes in OOo vs. the method used in the Microsoft photo editor in Word, but it seems to do the job. As to the question of transporting TMG Journal Reports cross platform to Linux, with pictures linked to who knows what or where, which was the intended basis for the start of this thread - perhaps that can wait for another day. I certainly would not have even responded if the original header had mentioned Linux, of which I still know nothing, but it was quite a trip anyway. Thanks Dick. John

The version of MSWorks bundled with computers up to a couple of years ago did not include MSWord. I found th Works text editor relatively useless for genealogy reports on a laptop purchased in 2002. MS marketed a competitively priced retail package Called "Microsoft Works Suite 2005", which has a debugged MSword 2002 /XP version of that text editor, in place of the Works text editor. The Works 2005 suite also contains MS Streets and Trips, Money, and Picture It! 10. Although it does not have the power of the Excel spreadsheet, it does have the Works spreadsheet. Recommended. The reason for the competitive pricing would seem to be the imminent release of OpenOffice.org 2.0 suite available for "free" download from the site with that URL address. Recommended. John

Dale- Unless you typed every single bit of text into your exhibits, and started with "32 bit" TMG 5, is it possible that you have some old links to Winword.exe short filenames? If so, have you added a bunch of new Microsoft suites or applications so that windows got into the random number generating mode for short filemanes? If so, it is possible that TMG is looking for an obsolete short filename, such as Micros~2, but the new shortfilename might be Mi1933~1? And that TMG 6.07 has some new error checking routines? Nah. You didn't put any URL's in reference fields that TMG switched around or shortened between v 6.01 and v6.07, did you? ______________________________ Well, if that's not it, but you might have, just once, used Wordpad to link or paste, try a search for Wordpad.exe on your Win XP "C" drive to see how many different versions of that application might be still there. Then maybe have a look at your file associations in Windows Explorer for RTF, TXT, and perhaps even Doc files (if you violated TMG's warnings and linked a doc file as I just did and crashed both TMG and Word). Good luck, again, John

As a guess, do you use Norton Anti-virus? Have you disabled its script blocking features temporarily while running TMG?

Hmm. When I first got TMG 5.15 it seemed that report printer setup did what it darn well pleased with my Epson C82 driver, including overriding well hidden "advanced" settings within said C82 driver. Shrink to fit was out of my control. To save paper, I'd probably run the VCF output through a pdf converter, at least until I saw a few previews to check cause and effect of margin changes. The TMG pdf converter should be good enough for letter size paper, at just about any resolution. But be careful with too high a resolution, for you may not see the cut lines, which are only one pixel wide. John

Dale- If your TMG file has been accumulating exhibits from Win 98 thru XP SP2 upgrades, and if you used no third party text editor or viewer as a host application to insert your text files, your quickest check to see if you have a Wordpad version problem might be to try a TMG 6.07 install on a Win 98SE or XP original release machine. John

Temporarily disabling your firewall may open things up. I don't use a network, but the last time I experimented, Zone Alarm was in the way.

1)If there is any Java code used by TMG, AVG 7 anti-virus checker, for one, was quarantining Java first and asking questions later about a month ago. It targeted a portion of a download I had from Sun "just in case Open Office needed it"... Newer Sun java download was not quarantined by AVG, to the best of my knowledge. 2)Also be aware that MS went through some trials and tribulations on the Richedit dll (or whatever it's called) that underlies Wordpad in XP service pack 1. First they took away some Word 2-6/obsolete RTF capability from XP original release, and then they apparently put it back around the time of Service pack 2, (or so I inferred from reported FTM problems at the time.) For a while, you could search out your computer for the original XP editor and use it in place of the then new SP1 Wordpad, but I think MS finally deleted all the old editors with the latest releases. I couldn't exactly duplicate this on my XP desktop, as I started with an XP SP 1 installation. It may be that you got caught in the middle of that little runaround, though. Good luck, John

Dick- Open Office Writer 1.1.2 had a "feature" of filtering all imported fonts to see if it deemed their use legal. This resulted in documents opening properly at first, but after any Save operation there could be font errors, particularly in footnotes and superscripts. This "filter feature" was supposedly 'fixed" in version 2.0 for doc files. Seems to be OK with Word 2000 exports from TMG, but not with RTF exports Same old font problem, I now see. (Same thing showed up with UFT Journal Exports in RTF). So RTF is not a viable option with Open Office Writer at this time on any platform, with or without photo linkage. (But I cannot link the photos in OOo RTF either). It may be that RTF is the preferred export for MSWord for long files, but Word 2000 doc is the preferred export for Open Office on Win XP?? **Disclaimer. I was never able to successfully uninstall OOo versions 1.1.2 and 1.1.4 from my computer, so there may be some cross-talk in the RTF file filtering unique to my XP computer. Dunno, but anything is possible. Oh yes, OOo opens RTF files with *.txt extension (as text) just fine from the internal pulldown menu. On the Win XP platform, it is possible to modify graphic file link paths to different folders from within Open Office Writer. Absolute number of characters in the path may not be an issue within reasonable limits, although it might be advisable to limit to 31 characters or less in any event for CD burning compatibility. Enough already, John

Dick- Sorry, but all I noticed was "boon to the TMG community" when I came in last night, so I posted a link to the "problems" of a UFT user who is trying to add three more "Event" images to his 10,000 page report which already has numerous photo links working fine in Word. He could use some old-timer help. As to the Macro you desire, if you send an RTF file to your Linux OOo Writer user, he should be able to open that RTF file as a text file and use find/replace to change all the links to the root directory in one operation. I say "should" because the last time I tried to open an RTF file as text in OOo, I gave up and reverted to Word. John

http://genforum.genealogy.com/uft/messages/11031.html

Dick- Well, it is possible to crash both MSWord 2002 and OpenOffice Writer 2.0 with these experiments. Word does seem to get a little flakier - flakier perhaps than OOo - when exhibit linking to original source paths is exported from TMG. Word seems to default to clipping images with large pixel counts at the paper width, minus margin settings (8.5in -0.5 in -0.5 in = 7.5 in. in width). Word maintains the picture aspect ratio. OOo Writer seems to default to square images of approximately 1.58 inch square size and does not initially display the correct aspect ratio unless the original was square. OOo expands thumbnails and shrinks large pixel count images to obtain this default 1.58 in. square size. If OOo is in control of the file, and not in "read only" mode because the file is also open in Word, a couple of mouse clicks on EACH and EVERY individual image will fix the aspect ratio, and perhaps the size. I found no global override yet. And, yes, Dick I did experiment with breaking paths by renaming folders containing "some" of the source graphics files. Results were predictably unpredictable. i.e. Maybe you get a link in Word right off the bat; maybe you don't. Doesn't matter if the link is broken or not if you select "footnote" export, it seems flaky. It became apparent that TMG may try to save your bacon by maintaining a thumbnail image of the former external link until thumbnails are regenerated. This could cause a little confusion, however well meaning the procedure - but TMG does warn immediately that external exhibit links are broken. In my limited experiments, it seemed that TMG was exporting more or less as advertised. However, at this point, I would be reluctant to blame either TMG or OOo Writer for linking experiments that do not go exactly as as perceived in MS Word on the Win XP platform. Over and out, John

Dave- Here's a real shot in the dark if you are running XP-SP2. It probably does not apply, but is simple enough to check. XP SP2 apparently deleted certain needed files on a few computers. http://www.vtablet.com/windows_xp.htm John (relating to "AUTOEXEC.NT" when trying to run certain 16-bit applications.)

Dick- I have to wonder if we are both exporting TMG Journal Reports with the same exact Options selected. The sample images that I exported originated from different directories, and consisted of png, jpg and bmps. To the best of my abilities, I disconnected them their orignal location, whether under TMG Program files or My Documents. My method necessarily differed slightly from yours. Although I am did not even look at the compressed and perhaps encrypted Word Doc file exports from TMG, I did peek into one or two RTF files as TXT and saw correct linkage to the newly created folder. I also observed that the file size of the copied images in that folder was identical to the originals. I will have another look at this for all TMG Report options, as I should have done originally to see if there is at least one mode that operates as you describe on my computer. Frankly, I do not understand what "embedded" is supposed to mean in the Report Options, anyway. Perhaps it means "Copied to a new Folder". And yes, the image aspect ratio is off for pictures linked from OpenOffice Writer 2.0 on my Win XP SP2 machine, too.. Regards, John

A recent post on another popular genealogy forum suggests that it may be necessary to enable sharing on each folder in a lan path.

Hi Dick- First, let me thank you for being the person who showed me how to right click and find Windows path properties on the UFT forum nine years or so ago.<g>. But -- it would appear that links included in TMG (for MS Dos, etc) Journal Report files exported in RTF format do indeed point to the new directory into which the RTF file and linked images are copied. This is so whether or not "Reference full path names" is selected as a sub option under "Images:Embedded" under the Exhibits Tab. Sample: { INCLUDEPICTURE "c:\\\\documents and settings\\\\john\\\\my documents\\\\crapola\\\\new3me tmg folder\\\\img_0009.jpg" But it seems that Unix\ / Linux file structure may not include the MSDos "C" drive reference in its absolute links, and may also lean the slashes in the opposite direction. Therefore, unless you are willing to go into an RTF file and clean up the Links for your friend using Open Office Writer on Linux, it may be easier for him to accomplish this using the features in Open Office. I cannot see that TMG is in error on this. (HTML anyone?) Regards, John

A solution other than copy/paste in Word?

Dick- OOo Help is very verbose on the subject of "Relative and Absolute" links. John

Dick- Sorry, I must have missed the part about OOo Write on Linux! But have you verified that the photo editor used in that application (OOo Write) on that platform (Linux) is capable of recognizing and opening picture files in the flavor of jpegs you are sending, whether or not TMG is involved? In other words, are you sending plain, vanilla jpegs? John

Dick- It was by chance that the images I used for test were bitmap, and not jpeg. It may be that your favorite jpg photo editor is creating files (progressive jpg, etc) that the basic MS Office Photo Editor cannot handle, once the original link to that editor is broken.... TMG also has had problems recognizing and opening some jpgs with its basic developer photo editor, although it may copy the links through to Gedcoms and reports. There are also reports of MS Office 2003 upgrades uninstalling the basic MS editor from previous MS Office versions, perhaps to let you use the editor of your choice, but leaving Access with no associated editor at all. My experiments were with Word 2002 from a basic Works 2005 suite. As previously reported, I was able to install two versions of MS photo editing software, but none of other brands in my quick reinstall of Word 2002. John http://www.ammara.com/articles/accesspictureole.html#S1 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...125120121120120

Dick- This is all above my paygrade, but the picture files (*.bmp in my two image test) are correctly copied -not linked -to the "New2meTMG" test folder created just for this experiment. The Word 2000 *.doc file of the Journal Report is also in this "New2meTMG' folder. One of these bmps was a very small TMG original; the other was a very large scanned bmp I had created. There was a marked size differene in Word. I did go back after generating the doc file4 and rename and or redirect the original image files in both the TMG directory of origin, and in my existing "test" files in My Documents, where they also showed up from previous experiments. (No I am not talking abut the temp thumbnails created by TMG). I did choose Embedding option, not Endnote/footnote in Journal Report to enable the image copying function in TMG. I did hold down the shift key in the Word linking process (per pop-up note) to link and embed ALL exhibits. Good luck, John

Dick- I made the mistake of downloading the Adobe Album "Starter Edition" and it took over my photo editor file associations, so I will have to try your suggestion a little later. As for now, the Word pulldown menu containing application associations that I vaguely remembered was under Insert>Reference>Caption>Auto Reference. Different problem, perhaps, but have a look anyway. I did reinstall Word 2002 and was given the option of installing a different MS photo editor in addition to the Word photo editor, but no 3rd party apps. FWIW, I do not recommend the freebie Adobe Album available in conjunction with Adobe Reader 7.0 downloads, except for the cute little wall calendar thumbnail feature. John

Dick- I have a hazy memory of getting Word to display several (associated) Photo Editors a few months ago, but cannot do so right now while experimenting directly in Word..... Tools>Options>Edit ?? One of those editors may have been the internal TMG editor. Is it possible that the Word Photo Editor - or the TMG editor, if it is called into play in Word by the TMG export - is not recognizing the specific jpg format of your pictures ?? John

Dick- Did you try Tools>Options>Print>Update Links? john

Leslie- The assumption is that you do not have MSWord for any other text editor to filter the margin settings through, right? And you read the short blurb in my URL link above about special problems with WP 10/11/12, right? I just exported a short sample journal to file in RTF. Then I opened it as txt, not RTF, in Word, found the margin settings "just below the crease" and changed 0.50 inches to 0.75 inches by changing margl and margr from 720 twips to 1080 twips. If you do open an RTF file as text, be sure to save it back to text before renaming it to RTF. . .important!! If you are in a time bind, but have broadband, OpenOffice.org how has a (free) usable product in Writer version 2.0. Save the Journal report to doc or rtf format for opening in OOo. Good luck, John