SoftMaker.com

I am in the middle of a big editing job using the editing facility. I always keep original document and the working copy side by side. But I am a bit startled to discover that it seems Softmaker can only give screen views which are "trapped" in the same "box".

Is it possible to view both versions on screen as in Word?

Hello,

this is not yet possible with TextMaker. It is on our wish list for upcoming versions.

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Sven Leßmann
SoftMaker Software GmbH

Oh dear, this is disappointing. Actually, somehow, I managed yesterday to get two documents WITHIN the TextMaker viewing screen, which was a sort of "next best" option. Unfortunately, today, I can't get it back in the same way. In fact, I wasn't even quite sure at the time how two (and even more!) documents were suddenly opening up into the same Textmaker screen. (I have a wide screen that can take two documents side by side.)

Lack of this feature will stop my husband from buying the software. I think he will now carry on with Microsoft. It does make serious editing work much easier.

I also lost a lot of work yesterday in Textmaker and am not quite sure how, or if it had anything to do with having two documents within the same Texmaker viewing screen.

I'm not quite sure if I understand the issue. Sure, it is not possible to open more than one instance of TextMaker at the same time, so you always have only one application window. But within this application window you can easily place two (or more) document windows side by side for editing work. All you have to do is to save a copy of your document under a different name first, then you can open both files, place the original version (not to be altered) to the left, the working copy (to edit) to the right, and there you are.

Hello Jossi

First of all, I do of course give my documents different names. It would all get very confusing otherwise.

Yesterday, by accident, I got two documents to come up within the TextMaker viewing frame for working on. (In fact I sometimes had three.) While not so good as two quite separate documents as in Word - it was nevertheless perfectly workable.

Today, I haven't managed to stumble on this feature. When I open up a second document, it just replaces the one previously showing on the screen. I can click on the top to call up the one "sleeping" in the background - but then the other one disappears, so I can't view them simultaneously. So I am back to the same problem with no idea how they came to show side by side for a time yesterday.

I also lost a lot of work yesterday. The saved document (done as a "save as" with an end-number change in the file title) is nowhere to be found in the computer. I searched systematically through the folders as well as using the Windows 7 search function. I think it is really not possible - in Windows 7 - to be unable to find a document that is lurking somewhere in the system. I have no idea what I did wrong. I've never experienced this kind of problem before. I wondered if it was because of switching between three documents at that time. (But the other two were fine.)

Now must get back to the work I should have finished yesterday!

Here is a step-to-step guide how to view two documents side by side:
1. Start TextMaker.
2. Open document #1. It fills the whole space beneath the icon bars.
3. Open document #2. It also fills the whole space and covers document #1.
4. Go to "Window" in the menu bar and click on "Tile vertically".
5. Now you have your two documents neatly side by side.
6. If this doesn't work as expected, have a look at Tools > Options..., tab "Files". Under the heading "Opening", the box "Open documents in new windows" must be checked.
7. If the document windows are in the wrong order (left and right exchanged) you can drag them to the other side just like any other window in Windows.
8. If your monitor is wide enough, you may use Standard view with an appropriate zoom factor. If that makes the text size too small for comfortable reading and writing, choose View > Continous and make sure that in Tools > Options..., tab "View", the box at "Wrap text to window in continuous and outline mode" is checked (I suppose you are doing text editing, not formatting work).
9. When you are working repeatedly with a long document, see that in Tools > Options..., tab "Files", the box at "Return to the last editing position when a document has been opened" is checked.

This matter of losing your work is rather mysterious - I've never encountered anything like that. In any case, you should check (also in Options, tab "Files") the box "Autosave documents every ... minutes" and set a rather short interval so in case of a crash you won't lose more than 5 or 10 minutes' work.

Thank you SO much Jossi

I have just gone through your instructions and it all works wonderfully.

You know so much about this software and I would guess you are often helping others too. It would be great if - in the software package itself - there was a section, organised by topic, with attributed contributions from people such as yourself. I suspect it would rapidly prove more popular than than the "official" version.

Many thanks again