Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
It probably won't surprise you to learn that I use LibreOffice to write these articles. For the longest time, I would print out each draft of an article, mark it up with a red pen, then transfer my changes to the computer. This old-school method came from my years editing papers as a student and as a professional. As I began to write on a regular basis, I accumulated a growing stack of recycle paper from writing. I tried to use both sides of the paper, and even ripped some in quarters for use as note-paper. Before long I was burning through a lot of paper and ink. At some point I decided I needed a digital solution. I already knew that Writer provided editing markup, but had never tried to use it for editing my documents. With some hesitation, I began to use it. The whole “old dog, new trick” issue. After using it for a couple of months, I began to wonder why I hadn't used it before. From right inside Writer, I can track my changes, make notes (comments), and accept or reject the changes. In many ways, it is quicker and even more efficient than the hard-copy method.
Ça ne devrait probablement pas être une surprise pour vous que j'utilise LibreOffice pour écrire ces articles. Pendant longtemps, j'ai imprimé chaque brouillon d'un article, je le marquais au crayon rouge, puis je transférais mes modifications dans l'ordinateur. Cette méthode de la vieille école dura de ma période étudiante jusque dans ma vie professionnelle. Quand j'ai commencé à écrire de manière régulière, j'ai accumulé une pile toujours croissante de papier recyclé de mes écrits. J'ai essayé d'utiliser les 2 faces du papier et même de le partager en quatre pour l'utiliser comme bloc-note. Il n'a pas fallu longtemps pour consommer beaucoup de papier et d'encre. A un moment, j'ai décidé que j'avais besoin d'une solution informatique. Je savais déjà que Writer fournissait des outils d'annotation, mais je ne les avais jamais essayé pour la revue de mes documents. Avec quelque hésitation, j'ai commencé à l'utiliser. La difficulté bien connue « On n'apprend pas à un vieux singe à faire la grimace ». Après deux mois d'essai, j'ai fini par me demander pourquoi je ne l'avais pas utilisé avant. Directement dans Writer, je peux suivre mes modifications, ajouter des notes (des commentaires) et accepter ou rejeter ces changements. De toute façon, c'est plus rapide et plus efficace que la solution des impressions papier.
Preparing to Record Changes Once I finish the first draft of my article, I save it as a version and turn on recording changes. (More on version control later.) ‘Edit > Changes > Record’ sets Writer to begin recording changes. Edit > Changes > Show sets Writer so it shows me the changes that have been made. I have debated with myself the wisdom of showing changes while I am actually editing. On the one hand, I can see the changes as I make them. On the other hand, showing the changes while I edit can make reading the text difficult. I have tried it both ways, and see some logic in not showing changes during the actual edit process, but waiting until the accept and reject process to actually show the changes. In the end, the choice is yours. NOTE: If you are passing the document to someone else to edit, you might want to take some precautions. File > Properties; select the Security tab; check “Record Changes”, and click on “Protect”. Enter and confirm a password. This will prevent the other person from making changes and then accepting or rejecting them. When you get the document back with their changes, File > Properties, click on “Unprotect”, and enter your password. You can now accept or reject their changes.
Préparer l'enregistrement des modifications Une fois que j'ai fini le premier jet de mon article, je l'enregistre comme une version et enclenche le suivi des modifications (je reviendrai sur les versions plus tard). « Éditer > Modifications > Enregistrer » prépare Writer pour l'enregistrement des modifications. « Éditer > Modifications > Afficher » indique à Writer de me montrer les modifications effectuées. Je me suis posé la question de l'intérêt de voir mes modifications pendant que je revois le texte. D'un côté, je vois les modifications quand je les fais. De l'autre, voir les modifications pendant que je les fais complique la lecture. J'ai essayé les deux solutions et j'ai trouvé plus logique de ne pas afficher les modifications pendant la révision mais d'attendre le moment du rejet ou de l'acceptation de ces modifications pour les voir. Au final, faites votre choix. NOTE : Si vous transmettez votre document à quelqu'un pour qu'il le révise, vous pourriez vouloir prendre quelques précautions. Fichier > Propriétés ; sélectionner l'onglet Sécurité ; Cocher « Enregistrer les modifications » et cliquer sur « Protéger.. ». Entrez et confirmez un mot de passe. Ceci empêchera l'autre personne de faire des modifications en activant le mécanisme d'acceptation / rejet. Quand vous récupérez le document avec les modifications, Fichier > Propriétés, cliquez sur « Annuler la protection … » et entrez votre mot de passe. Vous pouvez maintenant accepter ou rejeter les modifications.
Recording Changes If I set Writer to show changes, and I add text, it is underlined and changed to the color I have set. When I remove text, it is shown as struck-through just as I would when editing a hard copy. The strike-through text is shown in a different color from the added text. The colors used for added and deleted text are controlled by the settings at Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Changes. If I hover over a change, it will show the author, date, and time of the change in a tool-tip box. If I have “Extended tips” turned on in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > General, the tool-tip will show the author, date, time, and any comments attached to the change. The author's name is controlled by the information in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > User Data. To add a comment to a change, I place the cursor anywhere within the changed text. Edit > Changes > Comment brings up the comment dialog. I can then enter my comment for the change. This is sometimes useful to remind myself of why I made a certain change. Once I am finished, I click on OK and the comments are added to the change. Accepting / Rejecting Changes After editing the draft, I am ready to review my changes. If changes are not currently showing, Edit > Changes > Show. Edit > Changes > Accept or Reject brings up the “Accept or Reject Changes” dialog, which displays a list of all my changes. Each listing shows the type of change, author, date, time, and any comments. Selecting any of the items in the list highlights the change in the document. If I want to keep the change, I click the Accept button. If I don't want to keep the change, I click the Reject button. If I know I want to keep all my changes, I can just click the Accept All button. However, if I decide to throw out all my changes, I can click the Reject All button. On the Filter tab, I can narrow down the kind of changes that are displayed in the list. There are four different filters for me to choose from: Date, Author, Action, and Comment. The Date filter allows me to see only changes that were created earlier than, since, equal to, and not equal to a certain date. I can also select changes that occur between two dates. The buttons with the clock face at the end of the date entry fields allow me to set the date to the current date and time by clicking them. The last setting for the date filter is to show only the changes made since the last time the document was saved. I never have much use for the Author filter, as I am usually the only one who is making changes. However, if I did have someone else editing for me, I could pick between my own changes and the changes made by another editor of the document. The Action filter allows me to display just a certain type of change. The four change types are insertion, deletion, formats, and table changes. If I feel the need to add a lot of comments to my changes, I can use the Comments filter to filter changes based on the text contained in the comments. I just check the Comment filter and enter the text I want to look for. Marginal Notes or Comments Sometimes, I need to make a note to myself. Using the hard copy method, I would just write a note in the margins. These usually don't represent an actual change, but an idea or action to act on at a later time. For example, needing to expand on an idea, or save an idea for a later article. Marginal notes are accomplished through Comments. Do not confuse these with change comments. To create a comment, I highlight the information it applies to. Insert > Comment. A box in the color assigned to the author by LibreOffice appears in the right margin. The name that appears at the bottom of the comment is controlled by the data entered in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > User Data. Placing my cursor inside the box, I type my comment. I can even format the text within the comment box using the format tools in the formatting toolbar or the side-bar. I right-click or click on the down-arrow to get a menu that allows me to delete comments when they are no longer needed. Saving Versions After each cycle of changing and then accepting / rejecting, I like to save a version of the document in its current state. File > Versions opens the Versions dialog. I click on Save New Version and give the version a name like “Rough Draft”, then maybe any comments I may need like “image markers in place.” I click OK to save the version. If I ever need to go back to a version, I can open the Versions dialog, select the version I need, and click Open. For more information on version control, see my blog post at http://wp.me/pvwht-9k. NOTE: The version control in LibreOffice is okay for small to moderate size documents, but less than ideal for very large documents. The editing tools built into Writer are useful for single-person editing or multi-person editing. I can have the program track my changes and allow me to later accept or reject the changes. I can add comments to the changes to help me remember why I made the change. I can also add margin notes to the document through the comment tool. After each edit, I can save a version of the document in case I decide to revert back to a previous version.