Windows Live Movie Maker 2011: [free app] Remove Recent Projects

Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.

And from time to time, in the Windows Live Movie Maker support forum, the question is resented on how to remove the Recent Projects history.

The quick answer is that you can't; not within the application. But the information can be removed because it's being stored in the registry. This requires some dumpster dving in to the Windows registry…

2012: Windows Live Writer Top 10 Plug-ins - Most Useful

f5fiubotWindows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.] If you're a blogger you'll find this tool incredibly helpful- and it's refreshingly free from Microsoft.

A large number of bloggers use Windows and use Windows Live Writer to post to their blogs from virtually anywhere. Windows Live Writer is considered the bar at which all other offline blog editors are judged.

One of the things that makes Windows Live Writer so popular is the ability to edit and compose your articles in a WYSIWYG editor. So as you are composing, what you are looking at is exactly how it's going to look one the information has been published. But another reason is the fact that the application has the ability to extend it's abilities to do other things not natively covered; allowing outside developers to generate plug-ins that'll enrich the overall experience and functionality of Windows Live Writer.

I have compiled a list of uber-useful plug-ins that are the most common and suggested plug-ins from the Windows Live Writer support forum from this year 2011 [and going on to 2012].

Here they are…

Blogger has seemingly changed it's API without telling anyone; or it's just broke.

I was reportng on one problem when I found two others. The Google blogger support forums are teaming with reports of people having problems with not being able to post to BLOGGER using outside applications like Zoundry Raven or Windows Live Writer.

There's a small range of problems right now; they're not being able to publish, not being able to pull old posts to edit them and the problem with the SLUG not being created properly. The problems are for sure a result of something that Google changed recently with the Blogger handling of remote posting applications; or basically, mucking with the base API that allows outside applications to post articles to BLOGGER.

The forums have been busy with reports for a couple of days and yet I've seen no responses from Google Blogger support over the issue; which isn't encouraging. You would really expect to see more participation from Google on issues of this nature.

Notice: Blogger is creating the wrong SLUG for Blogs

ctrl4ehiThis started like last week [or more]. People using Windows Live Writer and blogger may have noticed this; mainly because Windows Live Writer is the de facto standard for offline blogging.

Basically, the problem is that when people compose blogs and then submit them to their respective blogs to be posted, the SLUG or URL they uses is typically composed of the words use in the title of the blog post. and as of recently, this hasn't been happening with blogger.

Blogger is taking the first sentence of the blog, not the title, and creating the default SLUG or URL for the post. it's really nothing more than irritation, but it should get some notice because it doesn't create a very efficient SEO tagged blog post.

Zemanta still problems with it's plug-in with Windows Live Writer 2011

Zemanta still having problems with it's plug-in with Windows Live Writer 2011I reported a problem way back with Zemanta and the plug-in for Windows Live Writer; it was the one where Zemanta's plug-in would crash Windows Live Writer at right about 460+ - 500 words. I got their attention and then I was able to get one of their developers to remote in to my machine and they were able to see the problem in action.

Later Zemanta released another version of the plug with a fix; but it was only a slight fix… the bug was still there; only in a different spot.

Now, the plug-in has recently gotten worse; it crashes if you even so much as hover over the related articles listing…

I contacted them again and I sent them a screenshot, but sometimes videos work a lot better.

Windows Live Writer: my 500 Internal Server Error -just weird

Windows Live Writer brokenAs everyone knows [hopefully], Windows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.]

But then again, there's the crap like this…

I was running in to an issues where Windows Live Writer is having a problem with a specific post…

I could and have published other posts, and even older posts just for testing... my problem was showing up when I was making an attempt to publish this one SPECIFIC post.

Windows Live Movie Maker: How to take a video Snapshot/screenshot

hpfrjusbWindows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.
The question comes up in the support forum about how to grab Snapshots or screen captures of the videos that are playing.
The process is actually pretty easy…

Windows Live Movie Maker - Error 80070003 - Path Not specified

qjajrnnvIn the Windows Live Movie Maker forums, there's an ongoing issues with the installation of the application where users aren't able to launch the program.

Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.

But how can you use it if it'll never start? well, hopefully this will help you…

Windows Live Movie Maker Exclamation Marks

0klemkhaWindows Live Movie Maker is one of those under developed application that don't handle variance very well.

The exclamation marks; they can mean basically one of a couple of things when you are dealing with Windows Live Movie Maker. They can mean the video you are attempting to work with isn't supported [or is, or has become corrupt], or you are out of system resources, etc. And there are suggestions for all those issues.

A lot of the time, it's codecs…

CODECS; What you need to know about codecs, in a nutshell, is that they dictate whether or not the audio, video or both are recognized properly by Windows Live Movie Maker, and it's important to have the right codecs installed/updated. It affects the performance of Windows Live Movie Maker and it also affects the rendering of the videos/audio inside the application— And Windows Live Movie Maker offers no automated assistance in resolving the issues of codecs. And if you're under the illusion that just because Windows Media Player can play the file, it should be good? That'd be wrong. Loading codecs for Windows Live Movie Maker is left to the users/customers to find and install...

Windows Live Movie Maker: How to export to MP4?

zycim1kkThis is another question that keeps coming up in the support fourm… How do you export videos from Windows Live Movie Maker to MP4?

This actually goes for other formats as well, because the straightest answer is you can't.

Windows Live Movie Maker only exports to WMV; there are no other options. You can change the resolution and the dimensions of the movies you export, but all the videos you export will be to WMV. Even when the file is written to a DVD; it's exported to WMV and then Windows DVD Maker converts that to VOB [for DVD].

Here's some more resources…

Windows Live Movie Maker: Supported File Formats

atj3ndgkWindows Live Movie Maker support forums are littered with problems with getting users media files in to the program the mesh wwith the application.

Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.

Honestly, the application should be able to handle all these formats, considering that they're all considered standard, but there are some exceptions. If Microsoft was smart about it, they'd devote some time to finding, recommending or writing an app that'd find the right codec and loading of the Windows Live Movie Maker users.

Windows Live Movie Maker supports many formats; but what's not provided to the public [regular users] is that Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't recognize those various formats unless the CODEC for that format is installed in the operating system; it's not built-in to Windows Live Movie Maker. And Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't make any attempts to identify or get those codecs for you. 

Windows Live Movie Maker Add/Remove Automatic Captions

liljip2q
Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.
There's this reoccuring question in the Windows Live Movie Maker forums; it how to remove or add automatic captions to the videos and pictures.

The solution is actually pretty easy.

Windows Live Writer: WordPress and using the NEXTPAGE tag

imageOn my website, I was playing with the option of breaking my larger posts in to smaller pages. So, in lieu of having one massive log post, [like 3000 words], I've got a piece here, piece here and piece here; basically spoon feeding the reader the information for some of my longer posts that have to do with how to's.

And what I noticed during this process of researching the ability and how to accomplish it and IF it'd be a good idea; I found that WordPress and Windows Live Writer don't have the option to use the <!--nextpage--> tag in WordPress.

Baically, if you go in to the WordPress editor and in to Windows Live Writer 2011; you don't have these options.

How to use a Webcam with Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

ysmvje4yWindows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.

Another cool feature of Windows Live Movie Maker is to to use the webcam to make videos and post them or to eMail to friends and family.

The process of using the webcam with Windows Live Movie Maker is relatively simple… in most cases.

Windows Live Movie Maker 2011: Problems Importing Video

zcovw1moWindows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.

Windows Live Movie Maker is a good editor for the price, and it's supported video formats is impressive, when they work; and that's where it gets interesting. Windows Live Movie Maker supports many formats; but what's not provided to the public [regular users] is that Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't recognize those various formats unless the CODEC for that format is installed in the operating system; it's not built-in to Windows Live Movie Maker. And Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't make any attempts to identify or get those codecs for you.

It's a massive flaw in the way video editing should be. If a software vendor says the software they offer is supposed to support X format, then it should support that format right out of the gate— and that's not what Windows Live Movie Maker does.

So, these are some things to know about Windows Live Movie Maker and how to address them…

Windows Live Writer 2011: Minimize the Ribbon GUI

14r0glxeWere you aware that you can minimize the ribbon GUI in Windows Live Writer 2011?

Windows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.] If you're a blogger you'll find this tool incredibly helpful- and it's refreshingly free from Microsoft.

But nah, why would you go looking; it's so convenient right? Right; so why go messing with a good thing… because there's an option for it.

I mean Windows Live Writer doesn't have a Find and Replace option, but you can hide the ribbon GUI…
time well spent right..

So, how do you do it?

How to: Adjust the duration of the video transition effects in Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

h1ubao1gThis was a good question from the Windows Live Movie Maker support forum. An user was asking a question about how to apply timing to the duration of the transitions that Windows Live Movie Maker offers.

Microsoft expects the Windows Live Essentials suite to be simple enough for everyone to understand, but somethings still need a little help.

So how do you adjust the duration of the transitions?

Windows Live Applications crashing on you? Microsoft says create a NEW ACCOUNT

So, the fun in the Microsoft Windows Live support forums is starting to turn funny again. And since I hang out there a lot I get to see a lot of the same issues pop-up over and over and all the same ones Microsoft has no answer for…

Like the one for Windows Live Movie Maker and Windows Live Writer that either won't start or the application just randomly crashes on users as they're using it. Those are the problems that want to pull your hair out, but when you have to contacting support; you a really searching for some direction or an answer… sadly Microsoft doesn't know the answer…

For the past 2 years, the Windows Live support forums have been plagued with questions about why Windows Live Writer or why Windows Live Movie Maker wouldn't start… It's funny because the Windows Live suite is from Microsoft and yet the applications may not be starting and Microsoft has no idea why… but they do have an unique suggestion.

Create a NEW ACCOUNT… on your Windows operating system.

Windows Live Writer 2011 Updated to v15 [15.4.3538.513]

o3kzhqejWindows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.] If you're a blogger you'll find this tool incredibly helpful- and it's refreshingly free from Microsoft.

Microsoft just pushed out a Windows Live Essentials update and Windows Live Writer was included with that update; pushing Windows Live Writer to the fresh new version of v15 [15.4.3538.513], but in typical Microsoft fashion they offer no ‘WHAT’S NEW’ file, or information page, to clarify what was actually updated.

I’m not understanding how or why Microsoft can’t offer any information as to what they changed or what they updated… where do you find this information?

Windows Live Writer 2011: Editing Options - Special Characters

kiyxvamhWindows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.] If you're a blogger you'll find this tool incredibly helpful- and it's refreshingly free from Microsoft.

And you can really help yourself out by using some of the editing options in Windows Live Writer, or you can use some of them to combat problems you might be having, or troubleshoot others.

Windows Live Writer has an option to convert special key phrases to something more attractive; editing wise.

Windows Live Writer and Blogger Error

imageTrouble in paradise… That's what it is… Blogger users have been coming to the support forums in pours, reporting a problem with not being able to use Windows Live Writer with Blogger. This issue seems to be completely new.

The Error:

The HTTP response was missing the required Location header.

It just sounds ominous; right?

I'm in the same boat, my uplink to BLOGGER is broken too. We have to start looking to WHY Windows Live Writer can't post to BLOGGER; and from my experience— it's not anything that Windows Live Writer did; it's going to be blogger.

How to Loop a video using Windows Live Movie Maker

imageEveryone seems to think that Windows Live Movie Maker burns dvds; it doesn't. It's a video editor. Microsoft has chunked up the application to where Windows Live Movie Maker does the video and Windows DVD Maker does the video converting and burning to DVD.

If you're trying burn a movie to a disc, and you're having some issues with either burn the disc, needing some options or issues with if the DVD disc is going to be compatible; I have this post…

Link:
     http://su.pr/2VbMUc

But his post is for, looping the video…

And from the statement above, Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't do that; Windows DVD Maker does and you can't get the loop function if you're going straight from Windows Live Movie Maker to Windows DVD Maker, you have to bypass that.

Windows Live Movie Maker Corrupt Project Files? Microsoft will fix it for you! For FREE!

1mdq1aptDo you have Windows Live Movie Maker 2011/2012 installed? Were you working on a project in Windows Live Movie Maker for hours, you saved it; everything was fine, just to come back hours later to find out the porject is now being reported as it can't open or the project you were just working on is now corrupt?
Never fear, Microsoft is here!
Over the past year Microsoft has had consistent and rampant complaints in the support forum over problems with Windows Live Movie Maker and users reporting corrupt project files. For what should've been otherwise a painless process has turned in to a 'dark level of Hell' support case.
Well, the programmers for the Windows Live application may have a solution, but they're not sharing it directly, but they're helping..

How to Burn a DVD with Windows Live Movie Maker

ged3sxozWhen I opened up the forums today, I didn't think I would be answering this question…

In the forums today for Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 there was a question about how to burn a DVD from Windows Live Movie Maker; it's true. welp, come to find out, it's a legitimate question.

WHY? Because the option to 'Burn a DVD' was missing from his menu in Windows Live Movie Maker. WHY? I don't understand why… but the option is supposed to be there.

But what you need to know is, Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't actually burn the movies to a disc or DVD; Windows DVD Maker does that…

Having problems with Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 Crashing?

rzh0gh0jI know, I know… I said I wouldn't be going back there, but I did...

Something about me wanting to help others in the Windows Live Movie Maker forums; I don't understand why I do it. It's almost self torture to know that Windows Live Movie Maker has all these problems and that if there's no one in the forums the users are just getting jacked around.

It's been a few months and the problems with Windows Live Movie Maker persist. The crashes, the codecs, Windows Live Movie Maker not being able to start at all… and the Microsoft techs working the forums seem helpless at best. Sometimes I wonder if they actually read the peoples submissions at all before they throw a canned respons at them about collecting and sending in a bunch system specifications [to never have returned].

So, here's my list of recommendations if you're having problems...

How to get multiple captions on to one image/video in Windows Live Movie Maker

imageThe issue comes up periodically in the Windows Live Movie Maker forums on how to add captions to pictures and videos in Windows Live Movie Maker. This little trick isn't hard, but Windows Live Movie Maker does make it a little hard to put multiple captions on to one image/video; it's because of the hwo the GUI works in Windows Live Movie Maker.
You're more than welcome to check out the Windows Live Movie Maker, if you think it'd be helpful…
Anyway, so here's how you do it…

How to use/apply Transitions to Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

w4t5il53This is a small post for the purpose of showing how to work with TRANSITIONS in Windows Live Movie Maker. The questions come up from time to time and I've seen others do some posts on it, but I wanted to do my own.

Applying transitions is fairly easy, but those who have never done video editing before; this is an easy way to review it.

This set of information assumes you can import your videos in to Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 to be edited. Not being able to import your videos will prevent you from apply transitions to them, as Windows Live Movie Maker wouldn't be able to decipher them anyway.

How to combine multiple videos in Windows Live Movie Maker

kosn1zk5If the weather is right, Windows Live Movie Maker is a fair video editor with some basic editing tools; it's a free offering from Microsoft in their Windows Live suite of applications.

Oddly enough, Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't come with an online help manual, a localized help menu or a support forum you can search, that'll yield any good results.

And while it seems simple enough, the question of combining, copy/cut and paste videos or splicing videos together seem to be a reocurring question in the Windows Live Movie Maker forum. So, I decide to generate something for them…

Windows Live Writer 2011 now has Spell Checking and Grammar checking - via a plug-in

image

Windows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.]

But Since Windows Live Writer was released, one of the biggest requests has been the addition of a 'grammer' [yes, I know I spelled it wrong; it's a pun] and spell checking ability, but Microsoft has bee dragging its feet on the Windows Live Writer development. They announce nothing; no new features, no plans for the future…

But while some developers having been searching for a workable option for a while; it seems another has found the holy grail for the rest of us…

There's now a plug-in for Windows Live Writer that'll check you posts for spelling and grammar. I can hear the sounds of cheers, and others woe'ing as they realized they never liked taking English in high school.

How to UPLOAD a video/movie to Facebook from Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

imageThe latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft to do some basic editing of video. The current/latest version of the application interface is simplified and Microsoft has done away with traditional video editing and gone with some a little 'dummy' proof.

Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't come with an official user manual; Microsoft expects their new application to be so simple it doesn't require documentation...

Thankfully, a kind soul created an user manual/guide for Windows Live Movie Maker 2011. It's in PDF form and it's 1.5mb; free to download.

Link:
http://bit.ly/fh1UjZ

This post is being generated based on the questions in the Windows Live Movie Maker support forum. There's only a few things you can do with Windows Live Movie Maker as it pertains to video editing… and I'm going to cover just one small piece.

How to TRIM a video/movie with Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

imageThe latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft to do some basic editing of video. The current/latest version of the application interface is simplified and Microsoft has done away with traditional video editing and gone with some a little 'dummy' proof.

Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't come with an official user manual; Microsoft expects their new application to be so simple it doesn't require documentation...

Thankfully, a kind soul created an user manual/guide for Windows Live Movie Maker 2011. It's in PDF form and it's 1.5mb; free to download.

Link:
http://bit.ly/fh1UjZ

This post is being generated based on the questions in the Windows Live Movie Maker support forum. There's only a few things you can do with Windows Live Movie Maker as it pertains to video editing… and I'm going to cover just one small piece.

How to SPLIT a video/movie with Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

imageThe latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft to do some basic editing of video. The current/latest version of the application interface is simplified and Microsoft has done away with traditional video editing and gone with some a little 'dummy' proof.

Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't come with an official user manual; Microsoft expects their new application to be so simple it doesn't require documentation...

Thankfully, a kind soul created an user manual/guide for Windows Live Movie Maker 2011. It's in PDF form and it's 1.5mb; free to download.

Link:
     http://bit.ly/fh1UjZ

This post is being generated based on the questions in the Windows Live Movie Maker support forum. There's only a few things you can do with Windows Live Movie Maker as it pertains to video editing… and I'm going to cover just one small piece.

 

Again! Zemanta v.66 Plug-in for Windows Live Writer 2011 crashes it.

imageRight on the heels of my post for Zemanta pushing another version of their plug-in out almost 8 months after I let them know about a bug that crashes Windows Live Writer 2011 after you get to 470+ words; it's got the same darn bug, just in a new spot.

I was ccompletely wrecked by this. I love the Zemanta plug-in, but in it's current form it's darn near impossible to use without infuriating yourself.

The majority of my posts exceed 500 words, and considering the plug-in causes Windows Live Writer to crash right about 470 words, it's hard to retain that train of thought, considering you have to keep track of how many words you type this far and where about is Windows Live Writer going to crash next time.

I've already contacted Zemanta and advised them that their bug is still there, and I've already provided instructions on how to re-create the problem.

Zemanta for Windows Live Writer 2011 - a new version released v0.66.0

imageIt's been months since Zemanta released a new version of it's plug-in for Windows Live Writer. Zemanta is a great plug-in for Windows Live Writer; it helps to find related images, articles and in-text links for the post that you're currently working on…

But also a couple months ago they were having some problems with demand this plug-in crashing Windows Live Writer; something that I pointed out to them several times and also by providing a video of how the plug-in was crashing the application.

But a new version of their plug-in has been released and they have a lot of new options to offer for customizing the plug-in…

Problems with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 and Windows Live Writer 2011?

imageDo you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 and Windows Live Writer 2011?

Well, you might have noticed a small problem with the dication in to Windows Live Writer. Is it constantly backing up 9 characters, or overwriting like every where you don't want it to as you're putting efforts in to dicating an article? Well, I was too..

I was quick to think that the issue was with Windows Live Writer 2011, but I was incorrect. I mean there's another issue with Windows Live Writer and Dragon NaturallySpeaking, but this one was worse.

…and there's a solution.

How to change the Drafts and Recent Posts folder in Windows Live Writer 2011

imageWindows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.] If you're a blogger you'll find this tool incredibly helpful- and it's refreshingly free from Microsoft.

One of the things that’s a hindrance to the application; it doesn’t let you choose where you want to put your drafts and recent posts.

But ah-ha! Seems after years of asking, there’s a registry hack for Windows Live Writer that’ll allow you to save your Drafts and Recent posts anywhere you’d like you…

Two days ago the information was offered up by one of the Windows Live Writer dev team in the support forum; Will Duff.

Here’s the reference link to the support forum where he made the post…

http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=22ad4735-6d12-4a9a-86e8-8e94c328be23

Why does Windows Live Writer crash?!

imageOne of the ubiquitous questions in the Windows Live Writer support forum is ‘why does Windows Live Writer crash?’ or ‘why does Windows Live Writer not want to start?’ and these are valid and good questions… and the forum techs don’t normally have a good answer; it’s very frustrating to users…

It never seems to amaze me on the level that Microsoft creates and distributes these applications; and they can’t provide answers as to why they don’t work— if anyone should understand why they wouldn’t Microsoft should know…

So, back to Windows Live Writer and it not starting or crashing.

FrontPage Express vs Windows Live Writer 2011

imageThis is more of a joke post and a jab at the developers for Windows Live Writer 2011 as opposed to anything officially informed.

While Windows live writer is definitively the best off-line blogging tool that there is currently, there’s still some problems with the application. One of the biggest disappointments for Windows live writer was the release of version 2011; where the only thing that they updated basically was the ribbon GUI.

I wanted to do a rough comparison between Windows Live Writer and an application that Microsoft produced roughly 15 years ago…

Broken: Windows Live Writer and YouTu.be URLs

lsrob5fnBasically, the NEW short URL’s from YouTube have broken Windows Live Writer.

I’ve been noticing a rollout of the new shorter URL’s from YouTube, and I’ve also noticed that they don’t seem to work so well inside Windows Live Writer [v15 [15.4.3508.1109]]… For instance, when I go to YouTube and pull out a video, the URL looks like this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fehTG17FKLA

And using that URL to insert an image works just fine. But the new short URL from YouTube; it no ‘worky’ as well… or at all.

Windows Live Writer and Embedding Google Picasa Web Album Videos

h0jrk2lbSo, the question comes up in the Windows Live Writer forum on how to embed a Google Picasa Web Album video in to a webpage. From doing some light searching over the web [using Google], it looks as though Google Picasa web albums doesn’t want you to link to YOUR videos. If you want to embed video [truly embed the video] it seems to have to upload them to YouTube.

It seems like an easy enough deal but what if you don’t want to do that? NOW what do you do? What options do you have…

Well here’s one way…

Windows Live Writer 2011 - set SAVE Interval

ua5am25hIn the previous version of Windows Live Writer you could set the save interval so that you could decide how often Windows Live Writer would’ve your current post as a  draft; and by default the new Windows Live Writer [2011] saves the post every 2 minutes.

But there are others who would prefer for this not to happen so frequent, or would like to do this every minute— cause you can only do this by minute.

So with the new version, they changed up the GUI and removed options to some settings, but they weren’t removed from the registry.

How to set a default FONT with Windows Live Writer 2011

pxeqq31oWindows Live Writer is a great application for offline bloggers and it’s even better for users that have absolutely no technical experience with blogs or HTML or CSS, but what Windows Live Writer doesn’t do is handle changing fonts on the blog.

Regardless of the blogging service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, Etc.], Windows Live Writer doesn’t change that default font, BUT you can tell Windows Live Writer to use another font when your composing your blog post… essentially overriding the default FONT from the blog.

How to edit a published POST or PAGE with Windows Live Writer

uti1l4xeWindows Live Writer is a great offline blog tool and lots of bloggers fall in love with it’s abilities.

Windows Live Writer is a fantastic offline blogging tool with a WYSIWYG editor. It interfaces with just about any blog service [Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, etc.] If you're a blogger you'll find this tool incredibly helpful- and it's refreshingly free from Microsoft.

Windows Live Writer is simple to use and yet some user still have issues with some of the simplest of functions; possibly because Windows Live Writer has no user manual.

But this is how to edit a published POST or PAGE

Tips for tagging posts with Windows Live Writer and WordPress

mnm5klvrWindows Live Writer is a great offline blog tool, but one the more laborious things with posts is tagging the post, if you do it.

And how important a tag is to a post, considering that Google says they don’t use tags, but the point of this post is to show how to use tags with posts, and some tips on using Windows Live Writer with WordPress [and tagging posts].

How to Publish a PAGE to WordPress

pvmbwa5iSo one of the common questions in the Windows Live Writer forum is can Windows Live Writer publish a PAGE to WordPress, and the answer is yes.

Actually, the function has been there for a long time. Sadly, and the purpose of this post, users normally don’t attention to the options of the application.

I believe this mainly because there’s no Windows Live Writer Users Manual; there’s no definitive way to look up, on the user’s own, if the application can do it or not. And the forum search doesn’t work, so here’s this…

Problem: Windows Live Writer 2011 crashing with Zemanta’s plug-in at 500+ words

imageI have two other posts to report on the issue that I’m having with Windows Live Writer 2011. The problem seems to be specific to using Zemanta’s plug-in for Windows Live Writer.

A couple of months ago [September 2010], I reported the error to Zemanta and they’ve been looking in to the issue.

One of their developers connected in to my system and I was able to show them the error, where it appeared, and I even zipped up all my plug-in DLL’s and sent them, so they could do some testing. At the time of this post the issue is still there… and a bit irritating to me because I can’t write a post without Windows Live Writer crashing at 460-500+ words; seems to be consistent at right at 460+ words.

So, I emailed them again for an update…

Windows Live Writer 2011: Keyboard Shortcuts

dvpup5djI never can find those silly keyboard shortcuts for Windows Live Writer, so I’m going to stop looking over and over; I found them and so therefore, I’m going to post them here.

And you can also find them here, from Microsoft and the Windows Live team, from there website here:

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-writer-keyboard-shortcuts-faq?wa=wsignin1.0

How to link an IMAGE to an email address

4hqobqaxOf course hanging out in the Windows Live Writer forums again, I found this question about linking an IMAGE to and EMail address.

Well, Windows Live Writer doesn't offer this by default, but it can be done.
And there's not a plug-in I know of that addresses this issue either...

So here’s the instructions on how to do it, plus check out the extra options you can tack on by using the MAILTO option…

Windows Live Writer: 3 Backup Options

True bloggers know the importance of backups with their blog posts; they’re valuable and should be safe guarded.

ez53fjyyWhy Microsoft doesn’t have a function to backup your Windows Live Writer stuff is beyond me; and why they’d leave that to third party developers to figure this gaping loop hole— another mystery.

Windows Live Writer only keeps a copy of what you compose with it; it doesn’t keep anything else offline. So, you need to ensure your keeping it, because if you lose Windows Live Writer data - it’s gone. You can thanks the GUID that Microsoft uses on that one.

Windows Live Writer 2011: How To Fix Problem With Detecting Theme - Part 2

tech support WordPress Windows Live WriterThis is really a follow-up and an add-on to another post I did about Windows Live Writer and problems with templates.

Link:
http://www.lehsys.com/2010/02/windows-live-writer-creating-a-custom-template/

With the latest version of Windows Live Writer [v15 [15.4.3508.1109]] 2011 there’s still problems reported with Windows Live Writer not being able to determine or be able to use specific WordPress themes at all; some won’t even download.

The official response from the Windows Live Writer support forum is sadly worthless. 99% of the time the support technicians  the forum, all they want is the Windows Live Writer log to be able to give to someone so they can review it- or not. But sadly, from someone that’s in the Windows Live Writer forums more than the technicians, they rarely respond to issued pertaining to WHY the theme didn’t download.

But I have a few more thing to share…

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