Problems with people receiving attachments

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Dotty
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Post by Dotty »

I send my booking form and T&Cs as pdf documents. Not had a problem that I knew about before, but just had someone contact me who said he hadn't received them - I resent them and sent him another separate email telling him that I had. He replied that the email with them hadn't got through again. This was to a work email - he says that he gets loads of attachments and they get through OK. In the end I had to send them again to his wife's hotmail - they got through to that.
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

I had a problem with guests receiving words docs and now send PDFs and no problems. There is no faff - just save as a PDF instead of Save As.
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

PDF's it is then!

Strangely they always receive the contract which is sent as a docx though............
tavi
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Post by tavi »

I had a guest only recently using an Iphone who came back and said he couldn't find my attachment. He subsequently forwarded the email to his wife on her laptop and she found it no problem.

Mouse surely it's easy to convert your word doc to a pdf? I update in word then save a copy as a word doc and a copy as a pdf. It's just a click?
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Yes I know how to convert to a PDF (I don't have word I use office)....but it's an extra step added to the process when updating statements etc. whereas I normally just save and attach to email.
And our our internet connection isn't the fastest so sometimes converting takes longer than it should.
Then I'll have twice as many files saved once as a doc and once as a PDF.

I often feel we are going backwards and instead of things being quicker, they take longer (mini rant)

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tavi
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Post by tavi »

I often feel we are going backwards and instead of things being quicker, they take longer (mini rant)

ah now there - never a truer word was spoken. Just thinking about booking and checking in for a flight, or replying to an Ownersdirect enquiry.

I sometimes don't know whether to laugh or cry!
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

Mouse wrote:PDF. What a faff. I'd have to convert my word doc everytime I uodated it
Later versions of MS Word (e.g. Word 2013) come with a built-in PDF export right there in the File menu, so its just the same as saving.
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SandyBeaches
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Post by SandyBeaches »

I use pdfs - the arrival instructions are standard so I rarely need to change them and if there is something specific for that guest I'll type it in the body of the email.

I can't recall anyone ever saying they had't received it.

Very easy to save a word document as a pdf as the others have said 'save as pdf' does the trick!
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Normandie
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Post by Normandie »

Mouse wrote:PDF. What a faff. I'd have to convert my word doc everytime I uodated it...that is sometimes 3 times per guest (I update the statement at each payment stage).
We faff so our guests don't have to. ;-)

I've used pdf for about 5 years - it doesn't make sense to use anything else because not everyone has Word and not always the right version - backwards compatibility is often a problem.
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

dont they need to download adobe to read pdf? I remember in the early days guests couldn't/wouldn't do that
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Post by e-richard »

roxytoo wrote:dont they need to download adobe to read pdf? I remember in the early days guests couldn't/wouldn't do that
Well, they have to download SOMETHING to be able to read your attachments. Either Adobe PDF reader (not the whole of Adobe!!), or purchase MS Word or, or, or, or......

And PDF readers are almost ubiquitous and pre-installed on many new computers.
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Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

Open office, google docs.
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Open office is what I use Helen...what are google docs?
We faff so our guests don't have to. Wink
As I say I have had only 1 person in 11 years of sending attachments to guests (usually about 35 people a year) that has ever said they didn't receive it....and she did have it actually, on her laptop, just not her phone.

So I don't believe I have an issue of guest 'faffing' to deal with :wink:

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Essar
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Post by Essar »

We all seem to use the word "faff" quite a bit; it's one of those nice comforting words that you know is gentle and everyone understands it meaning.

Its probably got a latin history but it could also be an acronym - any suggestions (lots of nice fffffs to play with).
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anya752000
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Post by anya752000 »

A quick search brings up the following - does this mean we are all of the "below stairs" sort!

Origin

'Faffing about' is a phrase that is most often heard in the UK rather than in other parts of the English-speaking world. In fact, even in the UK it is something of an anachronism, more at home in a P G Wodehouse story than as 21st century street slang.

'Faff' has been used to mean 'dither; fuss; flap' since the 19th century. The Church of England clergyman, author, and folksong collector Sabine Baring-Gould recorded it in Yorkshire Oddities, 1874:

T' clock-maker fizzled an' faff'd aboot her, but nivver did her a farthing's worth o' good.
A quick search brings up the following - does it mean we are all the "below stairs" sort!!

'Faff' derives directly from 'faffle' which had been used since the 16th century, which much the same meaning but with the additional meaning of 'flap idly in the breeze'. The second meaning seems to be the source of another 1870s usage of 'faff', from The Australian Journal, 1879:

"No, it [a candle] burns quite steadily now; you are right about it faffing about before, because it blew towards my face."

Baring-Gould's citation locates the phrase amongst the rural working classes and its use in Australia at a time when English speakers in that country were predominantly ex-UK convicts, suggests that the phrase was to be found below rather than above stairs.
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