Mom,
Vicki and I were just talking about this same problem the other night. As an editor she had experienced the very same snags in her day-to-day inter-departmental work. Don’t panic. Incompatibility is the status quo it seems.
I know you pay the annual subscription fee, but if the version of Word on your newer iMac is not working with the version on your older laptop, there are several solutions:
First off, why are you still using Word? Are you editing someone else’s work and that’s how it arrives so you have no choice? Or are you working on your own files while you’re on the road?
Consider the workload, and do you really want to take it with you? Be honest, how much work are you really going to do while you’re in New England? You’ll be with the girls every day and there will be golf and Martinis.
Do you still have NeoOffice on the old laptop? OpenOffice(PC)/NeoOffice(Mac) was Vicki’s solution back in the day. It is far more consistently compatible with Word than Word is. Unlike Word, it has no problem going back and forth between different versions of Word, different platforms and operating systems. I used it all the time when I was jumping back and forth doing Windows-to-Mac-and-back acrobatics for my various clients. But that was a decade ago; so please note that such user-friendly ease, cross-platform kindness and compatibility of NeoOffice is no longer supported. And we know how that feels.
Our current state of technology is extremely cumbersome and clumsy and inefficient. Look at all the stupid shit it’s doing out there but it’s not making our quality of life any better. I say it’s making it worse and worse all the time. It eats my time but it won’t clean off my workbench or vacuum or fold my laundry or make me a sandwich. Heck, Alexa barely speaks to me any more. But if you still have NeoOffice on there, you could probably edit your Word files with it while you’re away. If not, then perhaps you could try copying & pasting whatever you think you might work on into a Pages document or Text file on your old Mactop, then transfer it back to Word on your iMac when you return home. There is also Notes, which is synced across all your devices.
I recommend you travel as light as possible. My old laptop finally croaked last week. I’m packing to hit the road for a while too, so I ordered a bluetooth keyboard that I can connect to an iPad and/or iPhone. Check out your Notes app. It will be much more useful to you than your laptop while you’re waiting on the tee box or sitting at the bar with a Three-Olive Martini. Or carry a pocket notebook and a golf pencil for the next couple of weeks. Yeah, I would travel light and enjoy the good company of your friends. Leave the laptop at home and just keep notes until you return to the desk.
And yes, I have a machine you can borrow if you want to give focus a try. Your choice, the green Remington or the Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe. I’ll drop it off when I stop by. I recommend the Galaxie. It’s just like the one on William’s desk in “Almost Famous” and its action is quick and crisp. The Remington has a longer throw and requires more stretching before and after use.
Let me know.
Love,
PSL
P.S.— I’ve had this VHS tape on my bookshelf for decades now and I’ve been dying to watch it, trying to find an operational VCR. Well, I finally found a VCR but I can’t find the right cables. Which is of no consequence now because I just recently found it on YooToob. Check it out! You’ll love it! It’s from a time before cell phones, before the onset of daily force-fed propaganda cycles and mass-misinformation of the Spittledown Tricklenomics delivery systems, before the rampant spread of the American Mindphage. It’s a roadtrip documentary called “Anthem” (c.1997).
If you watch, which I recommend you do before you leave for your roadtrip, here are the timestamps:
Doug Brinkley (4:07), George Stephanopoulos (9:42), Ralph Reed (13:45), Rita Dove (15:17), John Waters (17:46), Chuck D (21:50), Michael Spinola (23:50), Studs & Ida Terkel (25:55), Dorothy Betts (34:00), Wes Jackson (36:42), Willie Nelson (41:13), Dave Foreman (46:00), Jimmy Santiago Baca (46:55), A Post Office on a Trailer (51:50), Hunter S. Thompson (52:42), John Perry Barlow (59:34), Yellowstone (1:05:47), Jim Adkisson (1:07:30), Krist Novoselic (1:11:03), Tom Robbins (1:11:24), Lisa Carver (1:13:00), Robert Redford (1:16:00), Micah Wagner (1:21:50), Winona Laduke (1:25:58), Miguel Algarin (1:31:50), Rebecca Walker (1:32:50), Michael Stipe (1:35:20), The Office of Public Information is CLOSED today (1:42:00), Jack Healey (1:41:55), Geraldine Ferraro (1:49:00), George McGovern (1:51:55), Rev. Marvin Lewis Booker (1:59:50)
P.P.S.– Mom, I’ve just discovered that I may have some kind of Digital Dyslexia or something. I struggle tremendously with screens, fields, cursors, boxes, back buttons, forward buttons, bin buttons, save buttons, send buttons, etc. I just spent a very thoughtful and honest hour filling out an online profile and lost it all. Again. It’s gone. So, just remember to write things down on paper as you go.
I also discovered I don’t work on screen at all like I do in person or on paper.