... changes revert ...

Question

Hello everyone,
MacPro 3.1, Intel Quad-Core Xeon, MAC OS X Leopard 10.5.4, 4 GB RAM, CS3.
We create our magazine (Veritas) in CS3; print; and proofread.
We indicate changes; make the changes; save the changes; and print.
Changes to images always work. Changes to text work. We close the document and reopen; print. Upon proofreading after the third printing, 90% or so of the errors that are discovered were the original errors we attempted to fix after the first proofreading. It appears that some changes do not get saved in spite of the fact that the editor is using Ctrl-S every page or so throughout the correction process. Anyone have a similar problem?
It appears that our changes are creating more errors in addition to ignoring many of the fixes we attempt to make.
Workflow at the moment is to save the changes to the same document name and path as the original to avoid version difficulty and confusion. We only have one document with that name and path. We print the document immediately after making the changes and it prints correctly. It appears that the process of closing the document and reopening it at a later time reintroduces the errors that existed before the last changes were made.
Our suspicion is that some setting or glitch causes the opening of the most recent file to revert to an older version in spite of being saved properly. We will commence saving each document with changes to a new path and folder to attempt to avoid the confusion with older versions. In that fashion, if opening the document reverts to an older version, we'll know which version it is and be able to more closely pinpoint the problem.
We're also isolating the document on the MacPro and not storing it on the server as we were doing previously.
For the questions:
1 - Will updating the software to the newest version help eliminate some of the problems? We expect it might.
2 - Will moving to a fresh install of CS4 help eliminate the problem? We're not sure if CS4 is built upon CS3 - in which case whatever we have now might also exist for us in CS4.
3 - I expect to get quite a few comments about not having any idea if it will work without knowing what the problem is in the first place. Not a problem... we're just curious if anyone has run into this problem *OR* if anyone else might have some insight about what settings or functions might cause this sort of problem.
We're at a loss to explain it precisely, duplicate it consistently, or eliminate it permanently. Thanks for any assistance or guidance.
Also, is there a spot somewhere on the Internet where the CS version updates are explained in detail? Perhaps this problem has been detected and solved through an update or patch we're not aware of just yet...
Until that time. . . Earl J.
USASOC History Office
Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Answer 1

Hello Leox,
We havent noticed any problems with our present solution, but we have only implemented it with this current issue of our magazine, so the jury is still out.
Our solution is to save it to a new folder (to change the physical path) with a new name (to break the link to older files of the same name). Were using the same version of CS3 without any regard to the version of CS3. All seems fine at the moment, but we have not progressed to the final stages of publication just yet where we scrutinize the layout and make many, many changes.
Well see what comes of it in a month or so.
Thanks for the interest and reminding me to make an entry.
Until that time. . . Earl J.