Typefi Writer 8.7.0 (64-bit edition) release notes – Typefi Support

Released 08 October 2020

Today we are thrilled to announce the availability of Typefi Writer (v8.7.0.356) for the 64-bit version of Microsoft Word! This version of Typefi Writer is completely rewritten from the ground up to be compatible with modern 64-bit applications.

The 64-bit edition of Typefi Writer features the same user interface as Typefi Writer 8.7.0 for the 32-bit version of Word, with the addition of floating style panels, which means you can apply paragraph and character styles to content significantly faster (with less potential for error too!).

The 64-bit edition of Typefi Writer 8.7.0 is a major release, and it's possible some bugs may surface. If you have any feedback or run into any issues, please contact us.

Typefi Writer 8.7.0 (64-bit edition) system requirements

Microsoft Windows 10 (v1709 or higher)
Microsoft Word 2019/2016 (64-bit only) on the Semi-Annual Channel, or Word 2013 (64-bit only) with security update KB3039794
Microsoft Excel (optional; required for Microsoft Excel import)
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 or later
Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime - Version 4.0; if it is not present, the Writer installer will install it.
SQL server compact edition 4.0; if it is not present, the Writer installer will install it.

Key features

Rewritten from the ground up for 64-bit compatibility

The 64-bit edition of Writer is completely rewritten from the ground up, using the C# .NET programming language. (The 32-bit edition of Writer was written in Visual Basic.)

But, while everything underneath is new, you should feel right at home because the 64-bit edition of Writer features the same user interface as the 32-bit edition, except for the new floating panels. Since our developers used C# .NET instead of Visual Basic, they were able to make the paragraph and character styles panels floating, which means you can tag your content faster, with less potential for errors.

To install the 64-bit edition of Writer, see Install Typefi Writer and follow the instructions for the 64-bit edition.

Floating style panels

Apply paragraph and character styles to content, faster and with less potential for error, with the new floating paragraph styles panel. You can move the panel wherever you want on the screen, and apply the same paragraph style to different paragraphs, fast. See how it works in this video:

For step-by-step instructions, see Apply paragraph styles and Apply character styles.

Other changes

Improved the process for installing Writer: you no longer have to worry about installing Writer in the wrong Startup folder. Now, Writer is installed in a different location, so you do not need to move the Writer file when doing an install with elevated privileges.
Fixed an issue where Project Fields remained in the Content XML, despite deleting them in the InDesign template and re-running the job. Now, when you re-run the job with the updated template, the Content XML does not contain the deleted Project Fields. Specifically, Typefi Writer will search for and delete any Typefi Fields that do not exist in the TSS when:

you click Update (Typefi → Workflow → Update),
you click Refresh,
you attach a new workflow for the first time to a document (Typefi → Workflow → Attach), or
the new workflow is different from the workflow that was previously attached.

Rephrased the warning message when you try to publish a document with warnings. Before, the warning message was "The document has warnings and may not print as expected. Do you want to see warnings?", which expected a yes or no answer, but the only buttons were OK and Cancel. Now, the warning message is "This document has validation warnings and may not publish as expected. Are you sure you want to continue?". Pressing OK means the job will proceed to the Print Manager for publishing and pressing Cancel means Writer will open the Document Explorer dialogue so you can see the warnings.

Known issues

Microsoft Word automatically translates the names of its built-in styles (for example, English: Heading 1 → Spanish: Título 1) based on the display language setting (File → Options → Language → Display Language), which causes Writer to omit these styles if the translated style name differs from the name used in your Adobe InDesign template (workaround: rename your InDesign styles to match the translated equivalents for all built-in Microsoft Word styles).
Text effects (Outline, Shadow, Reflection, or Glow) are not preserved when converting to Content XML.
When importing an Excel spreadsheet, cell styles and local overrides are preserved, despite deselecting the Preserve cell styles and Preserve local overrides checkboxes.
In some environments, Typefi Writer and Microsoft Word may not be able to identify Excel elements within a Word document correctly. As a result, you may not be able to edit Excel elements. See this article for more information.
When editing an Image, Audio, or Video Element via the Edit Element dialogue, long filenames are not clearly visible.

Notices

Every product has a lifecycle. The lifecycle begins when a product is released and ends when it is no longer supported.

For more information about our end of support policies, see Typefi Product Support Lifecycle.

Microsoft Office compatibility

One of the benefits of Microsoft 365 is that Microsoft provides new features for Microsoft apps on a regular basis. The schedule for these updates depends on your selected update channel. Typefi only certifies Writer compatibility with the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel. While the Current Channel delivers new or updated features and security and non-security updates at least once each month, these releases are only supported by Microsoft until the next monthly channel release is available and may break compatibility with line-of-business applications like Typefi Writer. For these reasons, Typefi strongly recommends selecting the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel, which also delivers new or updated features and security and non-security updates, but on a slower schedule of two updates (in January and July) each year. For more information about the channel releases for Microsoft 365 Apps, see Overview of update channels for Microsoft 365 Apps.

To change your update channel to Semi-Annual Enterprise Enterprise Channel, do the following:

Run Command Prompt (cmd) as Administrator.

Enter the following commands:

cd "\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun"
OfficeC2RClient.exe /changesetting Channel=Deferred
OfficeC2RClient.exe /update user
exit

Wait for the updates to download and install.