Word crashes (somewhat OT)

DEVONthink Tips
1

I bought a ScanSnap as a result of the enthusiasm for it in these forums, and so far I’m very happy with it. But since I installed the software, including Adobe Acrobat 7, I have been having mysterious crashes in Word that affect the whole computer; the left mouse button stops working entirely, the keyboard and right mouse button work for a little while, and then I have to reboot. (It’s not the mouse; I’ve already tried switching it out and nothing changed.) I think this may be related to Acrobat, because there is apparently a history of conflicts between it and Word. I have several questions:

Can I remove Acrobat without affecting the functioning of the ScanSnap?

Does anyone have any other ideas (I’ve tried trashing the Normal template, removing items from the Word Startup folder, updating, virus scanning, removing Contextual Menu items, and just about everything else that’s been recommended in any forum!)?

Is there another word processor that will export into Word with formatting, especially footnotes, completely intact? I’ve looked at most of the big ones, and this appears to not be a seamless process in any of them?

Sorry if this is too OT, but I didn’t know where else to turn :cry:

2

You don’t need Acrobat to use the ScanSnap. You can choose any program that opens pdfs such as DTP, Preview Skim or Yep, for example.

You can also try reinstalling Word, remembering that it’s a Rosetta application if you are on an intel mac.

Open Office and NeoOffice might suit you, if you don’t need track changes and some of the more advanced/obscure Word features.

I’ve actually used them to open and edit .doc files created on Windows machines that MS Word for Mac had problems with.

YMMV

good luck.

3

Thanks. I’m still on a non-Intel Mac, in part because of the Word problem. And I am under the impression that alternatives like Open Office are not as useful for academic and potentially collaborative situations because of some of the bells and whistles that are missing, though I would be happy to be wrong. I am particularly concerned about footnotes (since what I am writing is a dissertation :confused: ) I am going to try the remove/reinstall route if I have to, but I’m going to try removing Acrobat first. Thanks again.