Distributing Word docs to customers?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Mary Arrotti wondered: <<We're currently debating pros & cons of how  
we distribute our documents to our customers. I'm more comfortable  
with distributing all our docs (other than Help) to customers in PDF  
format. This has been common practise in my experience.>>

Yup, and because it works: you control the format, and customers  
can't modify the content in any significant way. If they need to make  
notes, it's easy enough to copy text into their favorite word processor.

<<A coworker prefers distibuting our docs in Word format so our  
internal sales & support people can copy text from the docs.>>

I'm not aware of _any_ pros related to distributing docs in Word  
format, and there are many negatives. If people need to copy text,  
teach them how to use the text selection tools provided by Acrobat  
Reader or (if you're using WebHelp or HTMLHelp) any Web browser.

<<(However, we wouldn't want our customers to do this.)>>

No, you really don't. The legal liability issues boggle my mind. It's  
not that you couldn't prove, with difficulty, that someone who  
thought they know better than you screwed up the docs and suffered a  
loss or injury as a result, but what a hassle that would be. Not to  
mention the ethical complications. If the goal is to allow some form  
of interaction with customers so that you can evolve the docs by  
working together, you need a wiki that provides access controls, not  
Word.

<<While the obvious solution might be to produce both formats - my  
coworker feels this unnecessarily complicates our process.>>

If selecting Acrobat Distiller in the Print dialog or clicking the  
PDF icon in the Acrobat toolbar for Word is too complicated for your  
coworker, they might want to consider a career in a less complicated  
field. <g>


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
Coming soon:  _Effective onscreen editing_ (http://www.geoff-hart.com/ 
home/onscreen-book.htm)

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