June 2012

From: Dr Christopher Mabb, Scientific Word Ltd.
To: Our Scientific Word/WorkPlace/Notebook Technical Typesetting list

1. Skype/Internet Explorer conflict:     This is an unusual one. After a recent Training Course, one of the computing technical staff we'd met there Emailed us:

   "There is also a strange thing happening with one scenario that I am not sure if you are aware of in that when copying and pasting from SWP to [Microsoft Word] and vice versa it is fine but when Internet explorer is open at the same time it copies and pastes the latex directly in instead of the frontend representation. Any ideas on that?"

   It turned out that Skype had installed the 'click to call' add on for Internet Explorer, which was interfering with the copy and paste in Scientific WorkPlace. Once the user ran Internet Explorer without any add ons, it worked fine again - and a bit of detective work identified the Skype add on as the culprit. Thanks Jake!
   To the best of our knowledge this doesn't affect users of Firefox or Chrome. Do please let us have your feedback on this curious problem.



2. International Markers:     We received a message from Marrakesh via our webpage at http://www.scientific-workplace.com/ saying:

   "je veux sauter la page dans scientific WorkPlace mais e sais pas comment faire.."

   and an Email from a long-time user in China who was leaving long strings of XXXs in his document to mark his editing location. Everything's easy when you know how:

   "You can insert a marker anywhere in the document (Insert – Marker) and then click on Go – Marker to jump back to the place. Alternatively you can Go to a paragraph number."

   Why not download the sample document to test it out (then click Go - Marker - XXX)? When using this feature yourself, make sure that View - Markers is turned on so that you can see the marker when your cursor lands on it.
   We hope this helps a wider audience.



3. Word import/export:    Item 1 above reminds us that users frequently ask about importing and exporting to and from MS-Word, and to the best of our knowledge we've never covered it in these mailings. Our standard reply to this question says:

   "To convert from .doc to .tex, first use MS-Word to save the .doc file in RTF format (File - SaveAs - SaveAsType - RTF). Then you can open the RTF file in Scientific Word (File - Open - FilesOfType - RTF); when you save the file again it will be in the usual .tex format.
   To convert from .tex to .doc, open the document in Scientific Word and save as RTF (File - Export Document - Export type - RTF). You can then open this RTF file from MS-Word (File - Open - FilesOfType - RTF)."

   We know you already worked this out a long time ago  ; - )



4. Why Buy Elsewhere?     From time to time people try to obtain Technical Support for Scientific Word/WorkPlace/Notebook systems they didn't buy from us - which we don't think is quite fair! We gently point out that Technical Support is available from the distributor who sold the software to them, on production of their serial number, failing which we offer that:

   "If you wish to consider the possibility of buying our expert Consultancy time, please go to https://www.sciword.co.uk/consult.htm for further details."

   It's a shame that they should have to pay by the hour for what we offer our own users free of charge. As we wrote today while quoting for some systems:

   "You certainly won't get as good a deal anywhere else (even if you could get the boxes £5 cheaper) because my technical expertise is not available elsewhere - I've been demonstrating, selling and doing Tech. Support exclusively for this family of software since Scientific Word Ltd. was established in 1990."

   If you've made that mistake, why not Email us today to discover how you can come on board with us for a modest support payment now and a contract to buy version 6.0 and future upgrades from us - or else paying us an annual maintenance fee for Technical Support on an on-going basis.



5. TrueTeX installation problem:    A handful of new users have recently had a problem with the installation appearing to hang while installing TrueTeX - for example:

   "I'm trying to install my swp5 in my home desktop. It keep stopping at the stage installing TrueTex. No error message, just takes forever. Hope you can help me on that."

   The two most likely reasons we suggested were:

   "Are you installing in the default folders, or are you trying to install in a folder with a space in the name?
   Secondly, are you signed on the the computer as the Administrator when trying to perform the installation?"

   However, in one case the problem resolved after installing some Windows updates and rebooting; in another, the user reported that it finally installed after he'd left it over 4 hours.
   There's obviously something we haven't got to the bottom of yet - please watch this space for further information.



6. Version 6.0 delay - apology:      Barry MacKichan writes

   "May 2012. I would like to apologize to our customers for the delay in releasing Version 6 of our products. Our estimates for how long the project would take were too optimistic. In spite of this, version 6 does exist, and we are making real progress in reducing the bugs. We will release version 6. Absolutely. But we will not release it until it matches our standards for quality. Anybody who has bought any of our version 5.5 products after November 1, 2010, is entitled to a free copy of the corresponding version 6 product when it is released. We appreciate your loyalty, patience, and business. We think when version 6 is released, you will agree that it has been worth the wait.
   
   Barry MacKichan
   President, MacKichan Software, Inc."

   This is awkward for us, having been trailing the arrival of version 6.0 since December 2011 (Item 6). You probably understand that it's out of our hands - but we're still embarrassed. And we're grateful for your continued patience.