Wordperfect Weirdness Revisited

Back in January 2003 I published an article called "WordPerfect Weirdness," which featured a macro for converting "special" characters (dashes, quotation marks, and the like) in a file imported from WordPerfect to Word. You can read the article here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1711839353

Unfortunately, the macro isn't reliable with more recent versions of Word, and I needed an updated version (some of those authors are still using WordPerfect). If you need one too, here it is (for PC or Macintosh; yes, it still has some WordBasic in it):

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub FixWPWeirdness()
' Courtesy of The Editorium (www.editorium.com)
Dim a
Dim i
Dim FalseChar$
Dim TrueChar$
Dim ThisChar
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
'Check for platform
a = InStr(WordBasic.[AppInfo$](1), "Macintosh")
For i = 1 To 6
'Set find and replace variables
Select Case i
Case 1
FalseChar$ = "C"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(209)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(151)
End If
Case 2
FalseChar$ = "B"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(208)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(150)
End If
Case 3
FalseChar$ = "A"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(210)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(147)
End If
Case 4
FalseChar$ = "@"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(211)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(148)
End If
Case 5
FalseChar$ = ">"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(212)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(145)
End If
Case 6
FalseChar$ = "="
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(213)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(146)
End If
Case Else
End Select
'Find and replace characters
With Selection.Find
.Text = FalseChar$
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = True
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute
While WordBasic.EditFindFound()
ThisChar = Asc(WordBasic.[Selection$]())
If ThisChar = 40 Then
WordBasic.EditClear
WordBasic.Insert TrueChar$
End If
Selection.Find.Execute
Wend
Next i
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

If you don't know how to use such macros, you'll find instructions here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1706922855

For ease of use, you might want to attach the macro to a keyboard shortcut, as explained here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1713088939

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

The newsletter for February 9 featured an article called "Macros for Intuitively Reviewing Tracked Revisions":

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1719923701

After reading the article, Hilary Powers wrote:

Regarding your tracking-review macros: I think they'd drive me crazy. Maybe I've been doing this too long, but my thought process runs purely to "keep this change" and "don't keep this change" without reference to whether the underlying text will thereby be restored or removed.

This probably works for me because I never, ever review each and every revision and decide upon its fate individually.

When I go through an edited manuscript after the author has indicated what should happen to it, I first move from one of the author's comments or adjustments to the next, eyeballing for the author's tracking color. In each case, I fix that part of the manuscript so it does what the author wants (which may or may not be precisely what the author asked for). In the process, I try to delete all the queries I've put into the text.

Then I simply approve all the changes remaining in the manuscript, holus bolus--after which I have a whole array of very quick scans to make sure that no queries escaped and nothing else bad happened as a result.

For me, that's intuitive.

Many thanks to Hilary.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau offers interesting occupational and salary information for writers and editors:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/print/ocos089.htm

This entry was posted in Editing. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • The Fine Print

    Thanks for reading Editorium Update (ISSN 1534-1283), published by:

    The EDITORIUM, LLC
    http://www.editorium.com

    Articles © on date of publication by the Editorium. All rights reserved. Editorium Update and Editorium are trademarks of the Editorium.

    You may forward copies of Editorium Update to others (but not charge for it) and print or store it for your personal use. Any other broadcast, publication, retransmission, copying, or storage, without written permission from the Editorium, is strictly prohibited. If you’re interested in reprinting one of our articles, please send an email message to editor@editorium.com

    Editorium Update is provided for informational purposes only and without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from infringement. The user (you) assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and use of this document.

    The Editorium is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation or any other entity.

    We do not sell, rent, or give our subscriber list to anyone. Period.

    If you’d like to subscribe, please enter your name and email address below. We publish the newsletter once a week, and on rare occasions we may send an important announcement. We never, ever send spam. Thank you for signing up!