The most mundane post ever

After doing a job for over 10 years I finally figured out a more efficient method of doing a routine task. It cut my time in half. Ironically, the more efficient method worked because I did not use one of the features of Microsoft Word that makes things more efficient.

The task is making two versions of an exam. I receive the "A" version from the instructor, I then edit that one then make a "B" version with the questions in reverse order. I have not successfully done this by simply changing the order from ascending to descending. The whole thing becomes a mess when doing it that way. Mostly has to do with how the instructor lays out the test - would work fine if every question were in an outline form but the instructor prefers not to do that because it would add two or more pages to the exam. Multiply that by 50 copies and a lot more paper gets used. We do two sided copying.

This time I did not use the auto numbering function and was able to simply renumber on the "B" version (save "A" version as "B" version and then renumbered) and a few minutes of cut and paste put things in place. With auto numbering on cut and paste is a bit more dicey. Ended up helping grade the last test because of an error in order between the two versions.

I take the small joys where I can get them.