My Computer tip # 23: always draft long writing in Notepad or similar

[fffred]

Fred,

As you learned in your working career, many times to your chagrin, ALWAYS draft your writing in Notepad so that some software error (common on internet, shall we say, "bulletin boards" or an email) or hardware glitch (Windows does flaky things sometimes when you type fast and hit a wrong key) does not cause your beloved writing to go "poof" into space and become unrecoverable.

So, people, don't be like Fred! Do your drafts in Notepad or equiv on your Mac!

[nahchoo]

I like the number you gave that tip! It's also good to use a notepad replacement that automatically backs up your message. Notepad ++ is a free one that I use often. You can check it out here - 

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

[aruzinsky]

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@fffred wrote:

Fred,

As you leaned in your working career, many times to your chagrin, ALWAYS draft your writing in Notepad so that some software error (common on internet, shall we say, "bulletin boards" or an email) or hardware glitch (Windows does flaky things sometimes when you type fast and hit a wrong key) does not cause your beloved writing to go "poof" into space and become unrecoverable.

So, people, don't be like Fred! Do your drafts in Notepad or equiv on your Mac!

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That's a good tip but for the wrong reason. 

These days, when you copy and paste text from a web page directly to the text entry box here, community.aarp.org, all sorts of unwanted things are added including invisible HTML code that AARP's software won't accept.  Pasting to Notepad and the copying again to the clipboard, strips the unwanted things from what you copied.

Otherwise, according to your rationale, Wordpad would work just as well, which it does not.

[fffred]

My reason is so that my text, that I have often invested a lot of time and effort in, is not permanently lost when there is some computer glitch...software, hardware, power, etc. Regardless of where I create my original draft (and each user might have their own preferences..I myself generally use Windows Notepad, not Wordpad...Wordpad will throw in hidden commands, etc, just the way Word or Word Perfect would)

Too many times I had work lost when some flaky software (generally web-based but sometimes even desktop-based email) wouldn't like my fast typing and several keys might be pressed too quickly in succession. I would regularly remind myself "Don't DO that, Fred!".

As far as the AARP forum, yes, sometimes I get that thing about "improper html" but it pretty much always corrects itself.

Ah, yes. A secondary reason for drafting important work elsewhere is so that it doesn't accidentally get "sent" or "published". Ooops!

[aruzinsky]

The time when writings are most often lost is when you click the Post button.  In that case, the easiest precaution is to copy your text to the clipboard before clicking Post.  But, that precaution is easy to forget.