FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Let's first discuss what a document is. For most Word Processing applications, a document is a file that contains a header and one or more groups of data ("streams").

In the case of Microsoft Word, each document is technically a compound ("structured storage") document that contains multiple streams of data consisting of document summary information, embedded objects (e.g., Excel spreadsheet), streams conforming to the OLE2 structured storage standard (e.g., the document header), and the document content (i.e., the Word objects that comprise the bulk of the document). The document must be correctly established so that each of these streams can be properly handled by the component of Word that reads in data from the compound document format.

When Word opens a document, it first must determine whether the document in question is in the Word format. If not, then Word will attempt to first recognize the format of the document and, if successful, convert the document from a recognizable format (e.g., WordPerfect 5.X) to the Word format and change the data stored into data that Word will recognize and understand. Once the document is formatted for use by Word, Word creates objects in the Word object model based on the data in the document. There are many objects; some examples of the more familiar objects are paragraphs, sections, bookmarks, and fields. These objects are used by Word to perform the functions you see through the Word application window, such as editing, printing, viewing, etc.

So what can go wrong? Well, plenty. And when it does, we often (maybe sometimes incorrectly) describe this behavior as "document corruption." Document corruption will typically fall into one of the following categories:

Inaccurate or incomplete document headers
Missing or incomplete data streams
Unrecognizable data
Incompatible data
Bugs!

Yes, believe it or not, there are bugs in MS Word. Without going into a long discussion about what a software bug is, let's just say that these bugs can both lead to incorrectly-saved data and cause Word documents to not open correctly in Word, therefore generating corruption in one of the four other categories, and also incorrectly created Word objects from good data.

By far the most fragile part of the data recognition and storage process is the conversion of documents in and out of Word formats. Not only can Word's converters do a poor job of converting documents created in another word processing application, but the converters in the other word processing application can incorrectly change the data for its own purposes. That is why going back and forth between Word and another word processing application will often lead to document corruption.

What does CrossFingers do?

CrossFingers does two things to repair Word documents: 1) it can rebuild the document based on the content of the document, and 2) it automates procedures that fix many classes of document corruption. These procedures are provided as options when you run CrossFingers. These options include disabling fast saves and background saves, repairing outlines, converting through Word 6.0/95 format, removing custom tabs, and reapplying heading styles.

Will CrossFingers fix all corrupt documents?

No. Because CrossFingers works from within the Word object model, CrossFingers cannot fix documents that will not open in Word. Even if the document can be opened in Word, there can be critical problems with the document that can prevent the document from being repaired.

Can I evaluate CrossFingers before purchasing?

Yes! You can request a free, fully-functional, 30-day evaluation copy of CrossFingers to try on any document.

SUPPORTED SOFTWARE

What versions of Microsoft Word are supported by CrossFingers?

CrossFingers is currently certified for MS Word versions 97, 2000, and XP (2002).

What versions of Microsoft Windows are supported by CrossFingers?

CrossFingers is certified for 32-bit Windows operating systems (ie, Windows 95, 98, NT4, 2000, and XP)

Will CrossFingers install and run on a Citrix server?

Yes.

Does CrossFingers integrate with any Document Management Systems?

Yes. CrossFingers v2.5 will integrate as a right-click function from within Hummingbird's DocsOpen desktop application. Other document management systems will be integrated in future releases of CrossFingers.

installation

How do I install CrossFingers?

>From the CrossFingers CD or downloaded zip file, run Setup.exe. During installation, you will be prompted for a destination (program) directory. After the installation is finished, copy the License.ini file on the CD or e-mailed from Levit & James into the CrossFingers program directory.

Where does the License.ini file go?

In the CrossFingers program directory. By default, this is C:\Program Files\Levit & James, Inc\CrossFingers.

OPERATION

How do I run CrossFingers?

With the exception of DMS-integrated mode, CrossFingers is run as a standalone executable. Select Start > Programs > CrossFingers to run. If you are running a DMS that has CrossFingers integration, then select one or more files from a search or project window, right-click, and select CrossFingers. Fill out the various user options and click 'Finish'. CrossFingers will process each document and provide a status display of the processing steps as it is executing.

What is the difference between Method 1 and Method 2?

Method 1 and Method 2 represent two alternative approaches to repairing documents. If you select Method 1, then CrossFingers will re-build the document into a new document based on objects that are contained in the original document. If you select Method 2, then CrossFingers will employ an RTF-based method for repairing documents.

Which method should I use?

It depends on the nature of the corruption in the document in question. The best method can only be determined through trial-and-error; if one method does not work, try the other. There have been many cases of corrupt documents in which both methods worked successfully.

TROUBLESHOOTING

CrossFingers did not fix my document. What else can I do?

There are several things you can still try. If the document can still be opened in Word, then you can either try running the Stylizer Preprocessor on it to completely re-create the document after cutting and pasting it as unformatted text into a new document. To try this, you can request a free, fully-functional, 30-day evaluation of Stylizer. There is some manual editing of the document that would be required, but you will ensure a pristine copy of the document when you are finished.

Also, if you can open the document in Word, e-mail the document to Levit & James. The features in CrossFingers are the result of problem documents that have been sent to us, reviewed, fixed, and subsequently automated into the CrossFingers application.

There have also been cases where a manual procedure involving importing a document into WordPerfect, saving it into an RTF format, then re-importing it into Word will at least allow the document to be opened in Word. Either the document is fixed by this process or it can be repaired by CrossFingers or one of the alternative solutions mentioned above.