After I published our last issue, in which I hammered on "paper" editors fairly hard, LeAnne Baird wrote to remind me that there are times when editing on paper may be the best way to go. What are those times? Here are a few for your consideration:

1. When training is at least as important as efficiency. If you're trying to turn a proofreader into a copyeditor, or help a writer produce better copy, editing on paper lets the proofreader or writer see and absorb your changes. Yes, you can track revisions in Microsoft Word. But since a typeset document is eventually created from the edited Word document, there's no need for a proofreader to compare the two--or for a writer to make changes that have already been made.

Also, one of the main reasons for editing on the computer is to eliminate steps in the publishing process. So, if you're editing on the computer, you'll need to systematically teach the skills people learn naturally while proofreading or making corrections. Once source for training materials is EEI Communications (http://www.eeicommunications.com/), which publishes a book called Substance & Style: Instruction and Practice in Copyediting, by Mary Stoughton (http://www.eeicommunications.com/press/ss/).

2. When you're faced with a challenge that makes editing on the computer difficult or impossible. The problem could be anything from impaired vision to attention deficit disorder to carpal tunnel syndrome. Whatever it is, you'll need to find a way to work with it, and that might include editing on paper.

3. When you're doing a massive cut-and-paste job and simply need to see four or five or a dozen pages at once. Microsoft Word does a pretty good job of letting you see more than one document at a time, but unless you have a 36-inch monitor, paper may still be a more effective way to tackle the problem.

See "Doing the Splits" in our May 9, 2000, issue:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1700620580

Editorium Update usually just assumes that you're editing on the computer, specifically in Microsoft Word. But *why* should you edit on the computer? Because, to attain the same level of quality, it's cheaper than editing on paper--cheaper in money, time, and stress. I've heard editors complain that they don't like to edit on the computer because they "miss things." I've got news for them: They miss things on paper, too. In my experience, editors who really understand the advantages of editing on the computer wouldn't go back to working on paper for anything. Here are some of those advantages, particularly in Microsoft Word, which I offer for those who don't understand them or who may need to convince others of their reality:

* Word's Find and Replace features help you attain complete consistency in matters of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation in a relatively small amount of time. To accomplish the same thing on paper, you'd have to comb through a manuscript several times, and even then you wouldn't be sure you'd caught everything.

* Word's Heading styles, Outline view, and Document Map let you see and revise the overall structure of a manuscript in ways that are practically impossible on paper. (Ah, the days of scissors and tape.)

* Word's spell checker makes it possible to catch even the most elusive of typos. It won't find correctly spelled words used incorrectly, but it sure will catch incorrectly spelled words. Editors should use this tool to full advantage.

* Word's macro features let you automate all kinds of nitpicky chores that would take hours to do by hand. I often plead with colleagues, "If you have some tedious, repetitive, mind-numbing editing task, please *tell* me so I can write a macro that will do it for you." Sometimes they do! If you'd like to try some of these macros to make your work easier, visit our Web site at http://www.editorium.com.

* Word's reference features (such as Thesaurus and Look Up Reference) let you instantly find synonyms, check definitions, and much more. In addition, all sorts of reference works are available on CD and online, so you can find information and check facts in a fraction of the time it used to take. One CD product, Microsoft Bookshelf, was made to work with Microsoft Word; it includes The American Heritage Dictionary, The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, and other publications. If you also use Encarta or other CD-based reference works, I recommend that you install at least two CD-ROM drives on your computer for easy access. Better yet, put the electronic reference works directly onto that giant hard drive of yours.

Some useful reference Web sites include:

FreeByte's Guide to Free Online Reference: http://www.freebyte.com/reference/

The Reference Desk: http://rking.vinu.edu/ref.htm

Research Tools: http://www.westwords.com/guffey/research.html

Research-It!: http://www.itools.com/research-it/research-it.html

OneLook Dictionaries: http://www.onelook.com/

Library of Congress: http://catalog.loc.gov/

Encyclopedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com

And, of course, the Internet itself is a marvelous research tool.

* Editing electronically saves time (and thus lowers costs) throughout the production cycle, making you and your company more productive and more competitive. Here's why: If you edit on paper, somebody still has to get your corrections into electronic form for typesetting (and, nowadays, all sorts of electronic publishing). Some companies have typesetters key the whole edited manuscript. Others use the author's word-processor files, with typesetters keying in only the editor's corrections. Either way is a duplication of effort (and thus a waste of time and money), because the editorial changes are being made twice, once on paper and once electronically. Add to that the time and cost of proofreading (and correcting) the typesetter's work, and you begin to see the real extent of the problem. Why not just make the editorial changes electronically to begin with?

"Because," the papyrophiles exclaim, "we don't like making all those little changes on the computer." To which I say, "Why not? You make them on paper. And then check all of them on paper. And then send corrections back to the typesetter. And then check those corrections. You really like that better?" But okay, okay, I don't like making them either, on the computer *or* on paper. That's why I've created tools like FileCleaner, which avoids the whole ugly mess of manually eliminating double spaces between sentences, making sure punctuation following italicized words is also italic, making sure commas and periods are inside of quotation marks, and so on. By automating this kind of stuff, you make it easier to find substantive errors you might miss while messing with the miniscule. Editing on the computer doesn't turn editors into typesetters or technicians. It lets them focus on what good editors do best: grapple with meaning and clarity and communication.

If you're still working on paper, why not do yourself a favor? Learn to use the electronic tools that will make your work better, faster, and more fulfilling. You'll be glad you did.

Last week we talked about Microsoft Word's Spike feature, which lets you cut as many blocks of text as you want (like sticking them on a spike) and then paste them all at once in your chosen location. You can read last week's newsletter here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1701584333

But what if you want to *copy* rather than cut the text to add to the Spike? You can do it with a special Word macro called CopySpike--*if* you have the Macros8 template that comes with Word 8 (97 or 98) and you are using Word 8 or Word 9 (2000). I thought the macro was also in the Macros9 template for Word 2000, but it's not. And the Macros8 template isn't available at the Microsoft Web site. What's an editor to do?

Use one of our custom macros, below, which will run in Word 6, 7 (95), 8 (97 or 98), or 9 (2000) on Macintosh or PC.

FOR MICROSOFT WORD 6 OR 7 (95):

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
If GetSelStartPos() <> 
GetSelEndPos() Then	'Text is selected
Spike			'Add entry to spike
EditUndo		'Undo the cut
Else
MsgBox "Please select text before running this macro.", 
"No Text Selected"
End If
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

FOR MICROSOFT WORD 8 (97 OR 98) OR 9 (2000):

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
If WordBasic.GetSelStartPos() <> _
WordBasic.GetSelEndPos() Then	'Text is selected
WordBasic.Spike			'Add entry to spike
WordBasic.EditUndo		'Undo the cut
Else
WordBasic.MsgBox "Please select text before running this macro.", _
"No Text Selected"
End If
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

TO CREATE THE MACRO AND ASSIGN IT TO A KEYBOARD SHORTCUT:

1. Copy the appropriate macro from this newsletter.

2. Click the "Tools" menu at the top of your Word window.

3. Click "Macro."

4. In Word 97, 98, or 2000, click "Macros."

5. Make sure "Macros Available In" shows "Normal.dot."

6. Type a name for the macro in the "Macro Name" box--maybe "Copy2Spike" to differentiate it from Microsoft's CopySpike macro.

7. Click "Create."

8. Paste the macro at the current insertion point.

9. In Word 6 or 7, click "File," then "Close," then "Yes." In Word 97, 98, or 2000, click "File," then "Close and Return to Microsoft Word."

10. Click the "Tools" menu.

11. Click "Customize."

12. Click the "Keyboard" tab or button.

13. In the "Categories" window, click "Macros."

14. In the "Macros" window, click "Copy2Spike" (or whatever name you gave the macro).

15. With your cursor in the "Press new shortcut key" box, press the keyboard shortcut you want to use to run the macro--ALT + CTRL + F3, for example.

16. Make sure the "Save Changes In" box shows "Normal.dot."

17. Click the "Assign" button.

18. Click the "Close" button.

TO USE THE MACRO:

1. Select the text you want to copy to the Spike.

2. Press the keyboard shortcut you set to run the macro (such as ALT + CTRL + F3).

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each entry you want to copy to the Spike.

4. Place your cursor at the spot where you want to insert the contents of the Spike.

5. Press CTRL + SHIFT + F3.

The contents of the Spike will be inserted into your text, and the Spike will be empty once more. (Remember that the Spike pastes each of its entries as a separate paragraph, so you probably won't want to unload it in the middle of a sentence somewhere.)

If you do have Word 8 and the Macros8 template, just open the template in Word and follow the on-screen instructions to install and run Microsoft's version of the CopySpike macro. (You should find the template in C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOfficeMacros.)

If you're looking for other custom macros to make your work easier, try our add-in programs at http://www.editorium.com.