why the rejection?

[malward2008]

Celeste & Ed,

I have written for CC for years and cannot understand why my Colony Collapse Disorder article was rejected. There was no reason given. How are authors supposed to correct mistakes if you don't tell them why their content was rejected. If you knew the trouble I had submitting this, you would realize why I'm not happy about it. The other factor is that Louise is waiting for the article. Please advise.

Mary

[Ed]

You were asked to format according to our guidelines and submit in one of our accepted file formats - doc, rtf, or txt. We cannot accept docx files.

Ed

[malward2008]

Ed,

I was not asked anything of the kind, nor was there any communication between us. I submitted in the same way as I always have and this was for a request. My articles were always accepted in this format before. I am very perturbed that I lost the sale.

[BarryDavidson]

Mary,

Have you recently switched to Office 2007? The reason I ask is because it automatically defaults to saving the files in .docx format. Celeste knows more about Office 2007 than I do, but it's my understanding that you have to change a setting to have it save to the plain ol' .doc format.

[Ed]

In addition, our guidelines have been updated. Articles must be submitted according to our guidelines whether they are for a request or not. The submission form has indicated for several weeks that articles should be submitted in doc, rtf, or txt format to help authors to remember that we do not accept docx file type (we never have).

I'm sorry you did not receive your notice, but I have recorded in my notes what was entered into the rejection box. Constant Content uses a new inbox system, so if you did not receive "any communication" via email, your notice appears there.

Thanks,
Ed

[malward2008]

Ed,

I have Vista now and there is no way that I know of to change settings. All my other writing jobs accept this and I'm not sure why CC is not. If Celeste knows, please have her write to me. Otherwise I cannot submit. I am a writer, not a computer whiz. As far as I'm concerned, I am submitting in doc format and there is no reason for the rejection. Thanks for your caring attitude... NOT!!! Thank you also for the help. I appreciate you returning my kindness and leaving me in a position where I cannot submit, especially since I'm the one who recommended you for the job and then you doing your best to force me out. That's the Christmas spirit, my friend.

[Celeste Stewart]

I'm happy to help with the .docx format - I've posted it many times here in the forum as I too have had the Word 2007 blues.

Word 2007 defaults to a new file extension (.DOCX) and unfortunately, even now, two years later, many people haven't upgraded to Word 2007. That means that many potential customers would not be able to open the documents that they purchased if CC accepted the submissions in this new format. The old format, .DOC, is almost universal but .DOCX requires Word 2007 or a Word 2007 viewer to open it. (I believe OpenOffice.org can open it too). While it's not that difficult for people to download a free Word 2007 viewer from Microsoft, many don't know about it. All they know is that they can't open the .docx file. Imagine paying for an article and not being able to open it.

Here's how to save your documents in the trusty old .doc file format:
Click the Office button (in the upper left corner of the Word screen) and click on Save As. Choose Word 97-2003. That's it.

If you don't want to do that every time and you don't have any other reason to prefer using Word 2007's new file extension, you can change Word to save all documents to the old format automatically. (I can't say I've seen any difference between the two formats other than the diagramming feature remains editable if you save it as the new format but becomes a static image if you use the old format.) Anyhow, to do this, go to the Office button once again and choose the Word Options button. Click on the Save link in the next screen which is listed in the left pane. Now, under Save Documents, find the "Save files in this Format" option and choose Word 97-2003 .doc from the drop down arrow list. Click OK.

[malward2008]

Celeste,

Thank you so much for the help. I really appreciate it.

Mary