You're making it much harder

• Autocorrect help please! - me
  • you must say YES to saving the global template when you exit Word each day. sm - desertfox
    • That was what it was! - thank you!
    • saving normal dot - TheMacroDiva
      • You're making it much harder - than need be.
        • No I'm not making it harder. you shouldn't rely on the 'prompt to save' as your only def - TheMacroDiva
  • Same Problem - ANON
    • autocorrect - psalazar
      • I use - me
        • Autocorrect is part of Word - and would be saved to your normal
          • AutoText and formatted AutoCorrect entries are - sm
        • I use Wordscript also...sm - nonny
          • Try using an autoclose macro - TheMacroDiva
            • the autoclose macro is okay - TheMacroDiva

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Unfortunately, some proprietary platforms seem to run two instances of MSword (as best as I can tell) which prevents you from saving your normal dot.  My post was addressed specifically to those who are encountering that problem.  An Autoclose/AutoExit macro should save the normal dot for you, and may be the ONLY way you can save it, even if you have selected the prompt for normal save on your options toolbar.

In any case, autoclose and/or autoexit macro that saves your normal dot will ensure that most, if not all of your recent autocorrect/autotext/macros present in your normal dot are saved, should you have an unexpected power failure or crash, or if you are using a template that is provided to you by an employer -- a template which may have been programmed in such a way as to prevent your normal dot from being when you exit word.

In any case, whether or not the "prompt to save normal template" is selected really shouldn't affect whether or not the normal is saved, the normal should automatically be saved as you exit MsWord.   The fact that normal.dot doesn't always save is, or worse vanishes entirely, is just one of these weird idiosyncracies which sometimes makes word (which really is a pretty wonderful program) so frustrating to use. (Hint, back up your normal.dot -- frequently!)

In my experience, the only time that a template reliably does not save is if you are writing macros (as opposed to recording macros) and if you fail to manually save your changes inside your Editor before exiting word.  

I have had the experience more than once of opening word to find that my newly programmed template is gone -- sometimes representing many hours of work  -- and that is where "the prompt to save" toolbar option really can be useful.

In short, I am fully aware of the "prompt to save normal" in the options toolbar (and mine is selected to prompt) and if I had thought this was best solution for the professional medical transcriptionist, I would not have bothered posting this information in the first place. 

So to make a long post short:  The best solution to make absolutely sure your normal dot is saved is to use autoclose and/or autoexit macros that instruct word to save your normal template, and don't just depend on the "save normal prompt" on your toolbar.  Regard it as an extra precaution, which is what it really is, don't depend on it, it can get unselected, and poof your normal.dot is gone!

For someone who just writes an occasional letter or term paper on with MSword the occasional loss of the normal.dot, albeit aggravating, probably isn't all that serious, but for the MT who depends on her paycheck to support her family, losing her normal dot and its 37,954 autocorrect entries is a real economic hardship.  She just might appreciate knowing that there is something she can do to prevent this from happening, even though you happen to think it is "complicated."

Isn't this forum here to provide fellow MTs with useful information they can use or not as they please?  Medical transcription after all, isn't a game or a hobby, it is real grown-up work, and it is prudent to take the time do real grown up things to maintain the tools of the trade.

Unlike some posts I have seen, particularly on the word-help forum that just make me want to scream, I will not post useless or wrong information -- even if it is "complicated" -- after all it's just information.  Writing autoclose/autoexit macros to save your normal dot are not pointless or useless exercises; and in any case you can disregard my posts, or not, as you please.  

You stated in your original post that you don't want to work weekends or odd shifts. What is your definition of an odd shift?  Second shift?  Third shift?  Sounds like you want to work M-F on days.  Sounds kind of rigid to me. 

Personally I like second shift, so everyone working days means more work for me! 

give you extra lines because of the time involved in doing those particular reports.  Not so much you get paid more per line, you just get extra line credit.  For example:

You have a 100 line report, but it is weighted because of a table that you have to input.  Then you would maybe get credit for 130 lines for that report.

I worked for yeeears for a company where I was the primary MT on the account.  I produced what they considered to full-time MTs (no bennies except taxes being cut and matched).  I earned $4000/month.  I later went to work in the office and happened to see an invoice to the client.  I did the math and I realized they were clearing an additional $4000/month just based on my production.  So they were making twice again as much as what they paid me.Was I immature enough to think I DESERVED MORE?  No!

I had a good gig and I knew it.  I knew how valuable I was to both the client and the MTSO.  I knew how long I had worked this account, how certain doctors would only accept my work, how many of those doctors seeing my work at the hospital went back to their practices and signed on with that MTSO because of the quality of my work increasing the MTSO's business in the process.  I was loyal to them  and they were loyal to me.  On the 3 occasions I ran out of work, they paid me 2 weeks pay just so I wouldn't take a job somewhere else.

But let's analyze this since you seem you jumped on my wardrobe size.

First you need to understand this is a country where capitalism is own of its primary foundation.  Next you need to understand that out of that profit, the owner had to pay herself (how many times did she call me for help at 11:00 on a Saturday or Sunday because people bailed on her and she had alread worked 20 hours that day and just needed someone who would help her out?).  In addition to having to do MT work, she had a business to run.  That means maintaining good will.  You know, visiting your clients, checking in to see how things are, what can we do for you...in other words, being the marketing person also.  And god forbid she have a private life.!  She had to pay an office manager to manage all the qurky personalities of the at-home MTs, the daily vascillating work flow, putting out fires and preventing them, etc.  Next she had to pay her bookkeeper because god forbid anyone's paycheck was late or incorrect.  Then she had to pay a computer tech to help set up the new MTs, manage computer issues, make sure all the clients got their work, set up new clients, maintained the ASP, etc.  She also had to pay the in-house MTs.  She had to pay her accountant to make sure the books were in proper order and do yearly taxes, keep up with adding new state taxes to the computer when she hired an MT from another state.

She had to pay rent, electricity, phones, toll free lines for all her long-distance MTs, liability insurance, provide computers sometimes with no notice because someone's computer died overnight and she couldn't afford down time for that MT or the client, provide computer equipment for the client's, provide C-phones and Lanier stations, pay someone to clean the office twice a week...

Is the big picture a little more clear?  Where does this new-age feeling of entitlement come from?  Geesh, am I the only one on this site who can remember trying to pick 100 lbs of cotton in a day and feeling satisfied if I got near that figure?  And I'm in my 40s! 

The world doesn't owe you anything.  It was here first.

Because they actually think they are making good money to "live in wonderful country that is free."  They don't pay taxes, they don't pay for health insurance, etc.  Not to mention, they don't do a good job, you could turn 'em in and have their butts back in their own country.  Fear is a great motivator.

Cost of living keeps going up and wages don't.  Why would ol' Joe America keep breaking his back working for peanuts when he KNOWS it's not going to pay the mortgage?  There ARE hardworking Americans out there but they have to make a profit and shouldn't have to compete with people who aren't even in this country legally.

I know they could care less about us, we're just numbers/slaves to them, but why don't they get a little integrity for the business, make us happy for once, in turn improving quality and giving themselves a good name, and pay by the hour while we learn this technology at least.  How can any company cut pay across the board like that and get away with it?