Mac Forum / Applications / Word / May 2008

Certainly you can, Michelle -

I hope the [mis]statement in the other post didn't mislead you. Just because
Word 2008 won't launch your scanner software & directly acquire the
resultant scan doesn't begin to suggest you can't still take advantage of
scanned material... It's just a bit less convenient:-)

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 1/25/08 12:14 AM, in article C3BECC64.CAAA%teacher24_70@yahoo.com,

Nope!  That's YOUR job :-)

The feature was dropped because barely anyone ever used it.

Teach him how to use his scanner using the software its manufacturer
provided, and he will be happy.

Cheers

On 7/02/08 1:39 AM, in article ee893d1.7@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,

Hi Phillip:

It's the reverse of Printing.  You need a TWAIN driver to drive an image
device.

Just as the printer driver needs to tell the printing subsystem about all of
the capabilities of the printer, the TWAIN driver has to inform the scanning
subsystem about all the capabilities of each scanner.

Which means it has to "know" them.

If the scanner manufacturer has provided a TWAIN driver, and the user has
installed it, and Word can ask for it, and the System can find it, it all
works perfectly.

If not, the user gets no pictures and Microsoft gets the blame.

Much better to leave the Scanning feature out and wait for the user and
their scanner to drop a file on the disk where we can see it.

Then we know where it is and what it is, which makes it a lot more reliable
to import it into the document :-)

Cheers

On 18/02/08 2:02 AM, in article eIJo4KYcIHA.4332@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl,

Reverting to Word 2004 or Tiger must be looking like a good option.  ;-)

But more likely HP has by now issued a driver upgrade.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

On 5/5/08 3:39 PM, in article ee893d1.19@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,

As Clive suggests in a much more gentlemanly way:-) this is a matter that
requires the attention of Apple & HP - Apple's intro of OS X 10.5 broke
printing for many, HP (among others) has not caught up with the publishing
of new drivers. Clue: I've always found it questionable when the mfr of
*anything* tells me I need to rely on some totally different software
developer's completely distinct software to drive their product.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 5/5/08 1:39 AM, in article ee893d1.19@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,

Hi,

I'm going to directly contradict Clive and CyberTaz. I hope they don't
get upset with me.

The problem is not your printer/scanner or driver. The problem is that
TWAIN support was discontinued in Office 2008.

The TWAIN acronym is rather interesting. It stands for Technology
Without An Interesting Name. Really! It is an open standard so that
scanners can communicate with software on your computer.

Tell Microsoft you want TWAIN support restored. Use Word's Help menu to
send feedback to Microsoft explaining exactly what you told us here and
that you want TWAIN put back into Word.

Thanks.

Well, since everyone is weighing in on this thread, I guess I might as well
jump in  :-)

You are correct:  This used to work and you want it back!  :-)

Clive is correct: rolling back is a good answer.

Bob is correct: this is not Microsoft's job.

And Jim is quite correct: TWAIN support was indeed discontinued in Office
2008.

Microsoft's research proved that a very small percentage of their users used
the feature, and it required a lot of development time to create and
maintain the code to do it.  There had to be some cuts to Office 2008 to
meet the on-sale date, and this was one of them.

HP sold you a device to work on OS 10.4.  I have one too.  Mine never
promised to work with anything higher than OS 9...

Apple uses a silly naming convention for its operating systems: the idea is
that OS "10.5" represents a small change from OS "10.4".  That's not true.
This is OS X (as in ecks...) and Version 5 is a large change from version 4.

So:  You have changed to a "different operating system".  You have not done
a "small upgrade", you have "replaced your operating system with a different
one."  As far as the applications are concerned, they have never seen this
one before.  Bits of it are similar.  Bits of it are nothing like what they
had before.

The only one who can settle this is YOU.  You must decide whether the new
abilities you purchased with OS X.5 are sufficiently valuable TO YOU to
justify the cost, in terms of money spent and the need to replace some of
your software.

Currently, I have decided that a scheduled backup that is not as good as the
one I am already using does not justify the cost of upgrading some of my
hardware and most of my software.  So I am using OS X version 4.  Apple's
problem now is to persuade me to buy a new OS.  To do that, they will
probably have to persuade me to buy a new printer, new software, and a new
computer.

Microsoft will be watching with interest to see how they do that.  Because
Microsoft would very much like some ideas on how to persuade me to purchase
Vista.  Which would mean a new PC, new software, and a new printer...  :-)

Both of them need to offer something sufficiently valuable TO ME to justify
a few grand's worth of total expenditure.  When I balance that up against
the benefits I will achieve by spending the money on a holiday for the
significant other, somehow the computer companies are currently not
achieving the required performance level.  Either of them :-)

You, of course, must do your own calculation of relative benefits.  But I
strongly suggest to you that your life will improve if you consider spending
the money on the significant other instead :-)

Cheers

On 5/05/08 3:39 PM, in article ee893d1.19@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,