[Nfb-science] microsoft word and cross-references

[John Miller]

Hello,
Professional documents at most companies are authored in microsoft word 2003 or office 2007.
When these documents include numbered tables and equations, it can be your job to review that the numbering in the narrative text matches the correct table and equation.
I tried to get it right 100 percent with my sighted assistant but he let a few slip through.
Then I used the following method to review the document.
Just to make things more fun, track changes was on in the document.
I used microsoft office 2007, went to review, final, and saved a PDF of the document.
I recognized the PDF using Infty Reader.
Duxbury usually does a great job with these files, but for this one it would not import the file.
So I read the latex source.  I noticed that TABLE and EQUATION would appear in all capital letters drawing my attention to the location of the cross reference.
I noticed that Infty Reader would take a variable such as "index" and make the latex \mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}... giving lots of clutter between each letter of the variable name.
I caught the location of 2 incorrect cross references and was able to forward the document on in perfect order.
For some tasks there is no substitute to examining the final printed page or PDF.
I look forward to a latex utility than can filter out some of the too generous mark-up that can come from Infty Reader.
Best of luck with your similar projects.
very best,
John