One aspect I find interesting is the need for ransomware protection. Looking into a way to automatically make git commits whenever a file is added or modified in a directory. The idea is to make it transparent to user, but possible for an admin to undo whatever damage they may have caused. I am not certain whether tortoisegit by itself can accomplish this. One repo would be local and another somewhere in the cloud.
Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
121–130 of 149 posts
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#122Technically, tracked changes and SharePoint. But in practice, you’d rather send the changes to the project owner via carrier pigeon. I’ve looked into what it would take to make a git style system for docx (since it’s just zipped XML, right :D), and the file format was a nightmare whenever an edit was made. Someone smart should take a look at it, as there would be a massive market for a DVCS for Office files. Imagine…
For procedure-style documents, I co-founded a company called ProcedureFlow[0] that allows change requests but for hyperlinked flowcharts. My inspiration was 100% GitHub/pull requests. We found that a lot of organizations store procedures in document form which change all the time. So, the purpose behind our product is to move away from a document into a format that easier to use/change/track.
Copied from another one of my comments in this thread:
A procedure is made up of many flows that are linked together. Everyone that uses the procedure views the "live" flows (like a master branch). Each user gets their own branch which we call a "draft". In a draft, a user is free to make any changes they want (add/delete/modify flows) and then submit all the changes for approval. Approving the change request then merges the changes into the "live" for everyone else to see/use. I even went so far as to build side-by-side diff of the flowcharts, rebasing/merging with live, and conflict resolution.
It's simplified in the UI so the terminology isn't 100% like git. But, one of our biggest hurdles though is actually teaching users how this works why it's better than the current mode of document locks/real time editing. And when our customers "get it", they really fall in love with the concepts and why it's better!
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like many commenters here haven't used Office 365 and may have outdated ideas of what Office is capable of these days (it ain't Office 2010). Of course one can't do a pull request with Office (non-geeks would struggle with the idea anyway) but live-editing of shared documents and version history is now built-in. If two or more people open the same .docx/.pptx/.xlsx from a shared environment (Sharepoint/Teams/O…
Yep! I think Microsoft lulled people into a false sense that they weren't doing anything with Office, while the Google suite gradually gained features (and to be fair, does 90% of what a normal person would ever do with documents). But it turned out they were busy making every feature in Office work in the collaborative environment, with versioning. It's incredibly impressive, and I am not a natural fan of Microsoft.…
Yep, this is why as a pragmatist, I'm all about "reviewing my priors" from time to time. Things change, constraints change, and we need to constantly update our views.
I lived through the days of Microsoft being predatory and evil and I hated Microsoft because their products sucked (not sure if anyone remembers the strident rhetoric in comp.os.os2.advocacy -- that newsgroup raised Microsoft hatred into an art form). For years this emotional response blinded me to the pockets of genuinely good technology that Microsoft had in its lineup (like SQL Server).
When I started working in an enterprise environment, I often ended doing things the hard way because of this blind spot of resisting anything Microsoft. It cost me so much.
It was only when I was forced to put aside my prejudices that I discovered that it was actually possible to be productive while using Microsoft tech. Nowadays I favor pragmatism and productivity over partisanship, and try to choose the best tool for the job, and if it means choosing MS tools occasionally, that's ok.
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#124Law firms use document management systems to maintain versioning of files, but only one user can edit at a time for the ones I’ve seen. I’ve found them to be annoying if I’m totally honest.
Ive also seen some advanced document comparison tools that plug into MS Word and redline differences (more advanced than the built in one).
I guess these tools could help ensure faith in the latest approved or “gold” version.
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#125Using Office365 versions with Track Changes turned on is probably the most viable option with normal people. Technically, you could use git, and it works decently with the xml-based Office file types, but it's a hard job to get people used to the workflow, and things like merge conflicts are going to be even more of a headache.
> Using Office365 versions with Track Changes turned on is probably the most viable option with normal people
I beg to differ as normal people would expect their old documents to work, and the subset of things that work in web is not enough. Quite like LO-supported, totally not on par with native.
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#126Use sharepoint, office365, and Teams. It versions, it supports collaborative editing, no more mailing things around, and so on.
With sharepoint and onedrive I struggled to coordinate when someone edits/commits. With git you do the change and PR. Office has no concept of someone merging changes.
My $0.02: just use git?
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like many commenters here haven't used Office 365 and may have outdated ideas of what Office is capable of these days (it ain't Office 2010). Of course one can't do a pull request with Office (non-geeks would struggle with the idea anyway) but live-editing of shared documents and version history is now built-in. If two or more people open the same .docx/.pptx/.xlsx from a shared environment (Sharepoint/Teams/O…
Yep! I think Microsoft lulled people into a false sense that they weren't doing anything with Office, while the Google suite gradually gained features (and to be fair, does 90% of what a normal person would ever do with documents). But it turned out they were busy making every feature in Office work in the collaborative environment, with versioning. It's incredibly impressive, and I am not a natural fan of Microsoft.…
Syncdocs https://www.syncdocs.com/ is a tool that lets multiple Microsoft Office and Google Docs users collaborate in real-time on the same document. It uses Google Docs for versioning.
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#128Use sharepoint, office365, and Teams. It versions, it supports collaborative editing, no more mailing things around, and so on.
Agreed.
The only caveat I'd offer is, for MS Word specifically, you can have: (1) Large complex documents (i.e. lots of links/references, sections) OR (2) Many collaborators. Pick ONE. If you must have both of these, leave track changes off, and use highlights and comments.
I've been in the unfortunate position of being next to a deadline, where the word document was the key deliverable. And then having that document become corrupted. Fairly certain it was a confluence of the above factors that caused it. If the doc is starting to take 30 seconds or more to just scroll down or edit one character, that's your first warning bell.
We tried opening in Word Online, Word Mac, Word Windows and even LibreOffice. No dice. What worked in the end? A smart chap on our team thought to try importing the doc into Google Docs, and then exporting it again...
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#129Is there anything out there, capable of working with MSOffice stuff in a granular and collaborative way? No, but people seem to get work done anyway. It's very strange to me. My current and previous jobs are very corporate, so much of the business and IT uses Office products all the time. I somehow managed to set the standard that I don't do it that way. I still have to sometimes, but it's not very often. The key is…
You must be a blast to interact with socially.
You got lots showing for yourself too hipsterstal1n
Re: Ask HN: “Git” for Microsoft Office?
#130Yes, it is called Google Docs. It has all the version history and the person that made the edit known. Still unimpressed with Office collaboration features and all the other Microsoft tools you need like SharePoint. Its 2020! Microsoft had 20 years to get it right and they are still giving us sub-par features.