RE: Error diffing word document

Hi Ben,

> From: Ben Fritz
>
> On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 10:16 AM, Benjamin Fritz wrote:
> > I tried manually downloading each revision, and the
> comparing them on
> > the command-line:
> >
> > C:\My\WC\Dir>wscript.exe "C:\Program
> > Files\TortoiseSVN\Diff-Scripts\diff-d
> > oc.js" "MyDoc 6308.doc" "MyDoc 6310.doc" //E:javascript
> >
> > Now I just get an error saying "Error opening MyDoc 6308.doc".
> >
> > The same thing happens after I convert both docs to the
> latest format
> > (saving as docx) and trusting the provider of the macros in them to
> > get rid of the "Enable Macros" warning on revision 6308.
>
> I got the command-line version to work.
>
> Instead of "MyDoc 6308.doc" I needed to use "%CD%\MyDoc 6308.doc".
> This got rid of the "error opening document" error. But then
> I got my original error you said was probably related to
> embedded objects or macros referencing deleted things.
>
> I converted my copy of the document to docx, which required
> me to save without macros for some reason.

I'm not a Word expert, but the .docx extension is explicitly without macros. If you want Word documents *with* macros, you have to save it as a .docm file.

> Even though I only converted the previous revision copy, the
> diff now works from the command-line. I bet if I were to
> convert the document in SVN future revisions would also diff
> correctly but I've not tested this since the document is
> subject to strict change management process. I'll give it a
> try the next time I encounter this issue, if I'm actively
> making changes at the time.

It sounds like it might be a macro issue. If you don't need the macros, you'll probably be better off not having them at all. On the other hand, if you DO need the macros, you might be better off using Word's document comparison features (the "Compare" button on the "Review" ribbon), or just enabling "Track Changes" when editing documents.

> I think I remember reading that the conversion to docx can
> remove some old data which stays around in the old file
> format due to "quick save"
> or something like that. So maybe it does have something to do
> with hidden bad references to objects that have been deleted
> in the past.0

"Quick Save" is a great way to make the document expand beyond all reason. I'm pretty sure that when you do a "Save As" in Word, it just saves the current state without the overhead. I could, of course, be wrong - it's been known to happen.

Regards,

Geoff

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