Steve Litt wrote:
Hi all,
This is a general question for all those asking about converting LyX to MS
Word...
I've never done it, but:
LyX is my preferred tool for all word processing / typesetting tasks.
Anything I need to write with formatting - a letter, a report, a book,
a pdf file, I start out with LyX by default.
If a need for "word" comes up I try to avoid that, and have been
successful so far. There are publisers that accept camera-ready pdf,
happy for the work this saves them. Documents mailed to non-LyX
users can usually be sent as PDF. For those rare occations
someone need editable text in non-LyX format, I export plain text.
They can then paste plain text into their word. People usually
understand that there is no word on linux anyway.
Why not use MS Word from the beginning? AFAIK once you convert to Word (or rtf
or whatever), you can't really get it back into LyX. Once you're in Word, you
don't have LyX->LaTeX->TeX ability to lay out text and math. I'd be hard
pressed to believe that subtle LaTeX tweaks in your layout file will be
accurately retained by MS Word.
If the person requesting your book/thesis/whatever demands it in MS Word with
the idea of typesetting it him/herself, why do you care whether it's written
in LyX, MS Word, OO, Vim, Emacs or Mozilla Composer? It's not like you're
responsible for getting the layout right.
I find it strange if they insist on word when doing the typesetting
themselves. Sure, they don't want to support every editor out there.
But at least plain text should be fine. . .
If the person requesting your book/thesis/whatever demands it in MS Word with
the idea that YOU are responsible for the typesetting, and if the requester
cannot be disuaded from this unreasonable demand (after all, why can't they
just accept it as a .pdf?), then it would seem to me that the easier route is
to start it in MS Word, and begin that by creating a stylesheet (I think they
call them "templates" in Word).
Where I see LyX useful, and in fact completely indispensible, is for people
like me, who must prolifically produce large, well typeset documents, with no
help from a publisher or layout artist.
Another person who could use it is one whose publisher or layout artist
prefers to work with either LyX or LaTeX, especially if the publisher or
layout artist gives the author a layout before the book project begins.
But hard as I rack my brains, I can't think of a reason to start a project in
LyX, and THEN convert it to MS Word.
Only thing I can think of, is if the demand for word comes after the
project started. Also, someone unfamiliar with word might not want
do to a lot of writing, just a one-off conversion. Especially if they
don't have word - it cost money . . .
Helge Hafting
