Total editing time statistic - how/what does it measure

[J...@officeformac.com]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I like the "total editing time" statistic. I often need to keep track of how long I have spent on a particular document and draft. I did a little casual test and it seemed fairly accurate.

My question - if I stop working directly with a document (my fingers don't touch the keys) how long a period of inactivity stops Word from accruing editing time, and do actions that do not change the document (such as scrolling) start counting editing time again (which would be good for me, because I count reading and reviewing as a part of editing).

Also, I have general curiosity on how this works, but didn't see anything in the built-in help or this forum.
Thank you.

[John McGhie]

If you have a look in Excel, I think you will be disappointed: that box
should be blank, because Excel does not have the function.

The dialog you are looking at contains the label because it is shared with
all other Office applications. But Excel does not produce any data to go in
it.

In the other applications, I think the algorithm is very simplistic: the
difference between File Open and File Close is added to Total Editing Time
on save. So it makes no difference what you do on the keyboard.

Hope this helps

On 17/10/09 3:58 PM, in article 59b7e...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"J...@officeformac.com" <J...@officeformac.com> wrote:

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:jo...@mcghie.name

[John McGhie]

Ooops... {Blush} We're in Word now, aren't we :-)

So my answer is:

" I think the algorithm is very simplistic: the
difference between File Open and File Close is added to Total Editing Time

on Close. So it makes no difference what you do on the keyboard."

Sorry about that...

Cheers

On 17/10/09 7:47 PM, in article C6FFCFD2.3173%jo...@mcghie.name, "John

[J...@officeformac.com]

I do not believe that your answer is correct. I did a simple test. In this test, I kept the open file as the front, active window.

Open file, wait five minutes = No increase in editing time.

Open file, scroll for a couple of minutes (simulated reading) = no increase in editing time.

Open file, make random edits, scroll around for a couple of minutes, save, wait an additional five minutes = increase of three minutes (out of 8 minutes time file was opened).

I believe that Word starts incrementing editing time when you make your first change in the document and continues until you save, but I didn't test other variations (edit, switch applications, return for one example).

Maybe someone knows exactly how it works ... ?

[John McGhie]

You have to save the document (or close it). The numbers are updated as
part of the Save processing of the file.

On 31/10/09 9:54 PM, in article 59b7e...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"J...@officeformac.com" <J...@officeformac.com> wrote:

--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,