I am on the city of Greensboro's media list. They send press releases by email with the release as an attachment with cryptic or meaningless subjects, some recent examples:
- HumRel092509.docx
- 08.24.09 0300 Press Release Nothing to Report
- School supplies2009.doc
There are a few smart exceptions, but most of these emails are void of any body text describing what the release is about, much less the release itself. There is no reason why the email body could not contain the message. Instead, one must open a compatible image or document program to view the attachment and solve the puzzle of what it is about.
Now, to make it even more cumbersome, documents are being attached in the DOCX format. So if you don't have Microsoft Office 2007 or later, you have the pleasure of trying to figure out how to open that file type on your computer.
It seems to me that the city might give some thought to how it distributes its press releases, with some consideration of efficiency and accessibility to a broad range of recipients.
You can try a file format converter for Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en) that will make readable in older versions of MS Office documents created in the 2007 version, or you can go to OpenOffice.org (freeware) and their word processing program will open and even edit that format.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Roger. I actually use Open Office and have used it previously to open the City's .doc files. Trying to open docx with it though results in a prompt to select the appropriate filter. The obvious did not work, so I gave up for now.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, in the interest of efficient dissemination of information, the City should send pres releases in more widely accessible formats.
I understood your point, but thought you might be stymied as well.
ReplyDeleteAh, I see. Well, yes. I am still stymied. Open Office's Word 2007/XP filter cannot open the docx -- at least, not the one attached.
ReplyDeleteNo one should send .doc or .docx attachments (or other applications, for that matter) unless the recipient is required to edit and return the document. That's what PDF is for and it should be used by everyone sending out press releases or other read-mostly information.
ReplyDeleteBut Roch is also correct: just paste the darned text into the email and skip the attachment altogether. Can't count how many times I've opened a Word doc to see 3 sentences that could have been pasted into an email.
Old-time thinkers.
But I do go for doc naming like "08262009_meeting_minutes.pdf" or similar. The title should be reasonably explanatory without reiterating the entire contents.
Thank you, Sue. Sometimes, in my complaints, I stop short of offering constructive suggestions. Yours are good suggestions.
ReplyDelete