SmartDocs Frequently Asked Questions
This page contains many common questions and answers about SmartDocs. Click on the appropriate link
below to skip directly to a section of interest.
General SmartDocs Questions
What is SmartDocs?
SmartDocs is a plug-in for Microsoft Word that integrates a set of powerful content reuse capabilities into
Microsoft Word to make authoring in your organization more efficient and more reliable.
What types of authors and documents does SmartDocs support?
SmartDocs is completely configurable and thus can support nearly any content author and document type.
The list below is a sample of the different authors and document types that SmartDocs can support:
- Technical Writers: User manuals, help guides, and technical documentation.
- Sales and Marketing Writers: Sales proposals, datasheets, marketing brochures.
- Medical Writers: Protocols, clinical study reports, investigator brochures.
- Other Writers: Procedure documents, policy documents, legal documents, contracts, research reports.
You say SmartDocs "integrates seamlessly" into Microsoft Word. What does that mean?
The SmartDocs user interface lives entirely inside of Microsoft Word. In short,
SmartDocs appears as if it's natively "baked-in" to the Microsoft Word authoring environment.
Because SmartDocs looks and behaves like a natural extension of Microsoft Word, costs
associated with user acceptance and training are greatly reduced.
What content reuse capabilities does SmartDocs provide?
SmartDocs support numerous content reuse capabilities, including reusable variables, reusable snippets, conditional
text, document snapshots, and document assembly. Please visit our SmartDocs Features
page for more information.
SmartDocs Compatibility Questions
My organization has thousands of legacy Microsoft Word documents. Can I use SmartDocs with these documents?
Yes. SmartDocs is 100 percent compatible with any document that can be opened in Microsoft Word.
What if all of my content authors do not have SmartDocs installed?
Can they still collaborate on documents that were authored using SmartDocs?
Yes. SmartDocs and non-SmartDocs users can freely collaborate on the same documents with no fear of
incompatibilities or lost content.
We don't store our documents in Microsoft SharePoint. Can we continue to store our documents in
the same place we store them today (e.g., a file share, a document management system, etc)?
Yes. With SmartDocs, you can store your documents anywhere. Whether you store your documents
on your local computer, a network file share, or a document management system, SmartDocs has been
designed to be 100 percent compatible.
SmartDocs System Requirements Questions
What versions of Microsoft Word does SmartDocs support?
SmartDocs supports Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007. SmartDocs will fully support Microsoft Word 2010 when
it is officially released by Microsoft.
What operating systems does SmartDocs support?
SmartDocs supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
Does SmartDocs require a server infrastructure?
SmartDocs uses Microsoft SharePoint Server to centralize the storage of your reusable content.
SmartDocs works with both Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (SharePoint 2007) and Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) out-of-the-box, meaning no customizations or installations
need to be applied to your SharePoint server.
For organizations looking to outsource their SmartDocs infrastructure, ThirtySix Software
can host your SmartDocs SharePoint repository for a low monthly fee.
Content Reuse Questions
What is an unmanaged content reuse environment?
Unmanaged content reuse is an authoring environment in which no formal tools
or processes are in place to reuse content. Organizations lacking a content
reuse strategy often see content authors resort to unmanaged content reuse in
order to recycle already authored content.
Is unmanaged content reuse efficient or reliable?
Not usually. Relying solely on unmanaged content reuse techniques (e.g., copy-and-paste,
search-and-replace, manually searching through documents for content) typically leads to a variety of
common content related issues including:
-
Inefficient authoring. Content authors waste time searching for reusable content and
may author the same piece of content multiple times.
-
Inconsistent content. Redundant authoring may result in content that contains inconsistent
or conflicting text.
-
Outdated content. Reused content becomes stale and outdated because authors are not
proactively notified of changes to the source content.
-
Inefficient updates. Instances of reused content must be manually located and updated
to reflect any changes to the source content.
What is a managed content reuse environment?
A managed content reuse environment is an authoring environment which facilitates content
reuse by providing your authors with a set of powerful and easy-to-use content reuse capabilities.
Why is managed content reuse important?
A managed content reuse environment can reduce or eliminate the issues resulting from
unmanaged content reuse. By implementing a managed content reuse environment your organization
can enhance the productivity of your content authors, produce more reliable and consistent
documentation, and reduce total content management costs.
Do I have to implement an XML authoring solution to take advantage of managed content reuse?
No. Although many XML authoring solutions support content reuse, adopting an XML authoring solution
is not a requirement in order to take advantage of managed content reuse.