If you're faced with a complex task using Microsoft Word's Find and Replace feature, the "Find What Text" replacement code may come in handy. For example, let's say you need to add the HTML italic tags and around anything formatted with italic. (If you don't understand HTML, don't worry. You'll soon see the point of this article.) You might think you'd need a macro to add the tags, but you don't. You can easily do it like this:

1. Open the document you want to tag.

2. Open the Find and Replace dialog (click on the Edit menu; then click "Replace").

3. With your cursor in the "Find What" box, turn on italic formatting (CTRL + I) so that the word "Italic" is displayed below the box. Make sure the box itself is empty.

4. In the "Replace With" box, enter "^&" (if you want, you can also set this box to "Not Italic" by pressing CTRL + I a couple of times).

5. Click the "Replace All" button.

Any italicized text will be surrounded by the HTML italic tags.

The ^& code in the "Replace With" box represents the text you specified in the "Find What" box. In this case, that's any text with italic formatting. What you're saying is, "Find any text in italic and replace it with *itself* surrounded by HTML italic codes."

As a specific example, let's take the following line, with asterisks indicating italic formatting:

"This is a test to *see* what will happen."

When you use the Find and Replace procedure above, you'll get the following result:

"This is a test to see what will happen."

You can use the same principle to manipulate text in a variety of ways:

* Put quotation marks around the titles of magazine articles that an author has italicized.

* Insert a bullet in front of every paragraph formatted with Heading 3 style. (You knew you could find style formatting, right? In the Find or Replace dialog, click the "More" button [if available], then "Format," and then "Style.")

* Insert "Chapter" in front of every number formatted with Heading 1 style.

And so on. Any time you need to add something to unspecified text that's formatted in a specific way, try using "Find What Text."

Last week we talked about using style "aliases," which make it easy to apply styles in Microsoft Word. Even easier is using keyboard shortcuts. I don't like the inconsistency of Word's standard ones, so mine are set up like this:

CTRL + SHIFT + 1 applies the Heading 1 style (Macintosh users would use OPTION rather than CTRL).

CTRL + SHIFT + 2 applies Heading 2.

CTRL + SHIFT + 3 applies Heading 3.

I've added the other heading styles as well--all the way through Heading 9 on CTRL + SHIFT 9.

Also on my computer:

CTRL + SHIFT + N applies the Normal style.

CTRL + SHIFT + B applies Block quotation.

CTRL + SHIFT + L applies List.

CTRL + SHIFT + P applies Poem.

In fact, for those last three, our Editor's ToolKit and WordSetter programs automatically style block quotations, lists, and poems as they should be for correct typographic control. For example, a four-paragraph block quotation actually needs *three* styles, not just one--like this:

First paragraph of the block quotation.

Middle paragraph of the block quotation.

Another middle paragraph of the block quotation.

Last paragraph of the block quotation.

On a typeset page, the positioning of each paragraph would be basically the same as it is in this newsletter, with spacing above and below the block quotation.

To accomplish that, the first paragraph would need a style called something like BlockFirst, which would be set up to include, say, 6 extra points of spacing (leading) above it.

The second and third paragraphs, styled with BlockMiddle, would include *no* extra spacing above or below.

The third paragraph, styled with BlockLast, would include 6 extra points of spacing below it.

That may seem overly picky, but it provides enormous control over the formatting of a block quotation, and it's the right way to do it. The *easy* way to do it is to install our Editor's ToolKit or WordSetter program, select the paragraphs of the block quotation you want to format, and press CTRL + SHIFT + B. Bingo! The whole block quotation will automatically be styled correctly. If you think that's neat, you should see how the programs style multiple-stanza poems (too complex to go into here).

If you want to assign your own key combinations to styles, you can do it like this:

1. Click the "Format" menu.

2. Click "Style."

3. In the "Styles" box, find and click the style you want to apply with a key combination.

4. Click the "Modify" button.

5. Click the "Shortcut key" button.

6. With your cursor in the box labeled "Press new shortcut key," press the key combination you want to use, such as CTRL + SHIFT + B.

7. Click the "Assign" button. The new combination will appear in the box labeled "Current keys."

8. Click the "Close" button.

9. Click the "OK" button.

10. Click the "Close" button.

To apply the style using the new key combination, do this:

1. Position your cursor on the paragraph you want to style

2. Press the key combination.

The paragraph will be formatted with the style you selected for that key combination.

Try not to get too carried away. Remember that you need certain key combinations for things other than styles. CTRL + F, for example, brings up Word's Find dialog, and ALT + E activates the Edit menu.

If you need to remove a key combination, that's easy too:

1. Click the "Format" menu.

2. Click "Style."

3. In the "Styles" box, find and click the style with the key combination you want to remove.

4. Click the "Modify" button.

5. Click the "Shortcut key" button.

6. In the "Current keys" box, click the key combination you want to get rid of.

7. Click the "Remove" button. The new combination will disappear.

8. Click the "Close" button.

9. Click the "OK" button.

10. Click the "Close" button.

And that's how to use keyboard shortcuts with style--oops, I mean styles.

To learn more about Editor's ToolKit, click here:

http://www.editorium.com/14842.htm

To learn more about WordSetter, click here:

http://www.editorium.com/14000.htm

As I edit in Microsoft Word, I mark the various typesetting spec levels with styles, which will later be converted by our QuarkConverter program so they can be used as style sheets in QuarkXPress. However, I hate reaching for my mouse to apply styles. So, to make applying styles easy, I sometimes rename the styles with an "alias," which I can quickly type using the keyboard. For example, if I had a style called "Block," I might give it the alias of "b." Here's how it works:

1. Click the Format menu.

2. Click "Style."

3. Click the name of the style you want to rename with an alias.

4. Click the Modify button.

5. In the "Name" box, add a comma to the end of the name, followed by the alias you want to use. (There should be no space after the comma.) For example, to give our Block style an alias of "b," your entry would look like this:

Block,b

6. Click the "OK" button.

7. Click the "Close" button.

Now, to apply the style, do this:

1. Make sure the Formatting toolbar is displayed (View/Toolbars/Formatting).

2. Press CTRL + SHIFT + S to activate the list of styles in the Formatting toolbar.

3. Type the style alias ("b").

4. Press the Enter key.

The currently selected paragraph will be formatted with the Block style.

Aliases aren't limited to one character, and you can use aliases with character styles as well as paragraph styles.

In addition to using aliases, you can use keyboard shortcuts to apply styles. We'll talk about that next week.

To learn more about our QuarkConverter program, click here:

http://www.editorium.com/14846.htm

Conditional text is text that you want to appear only in a certain situation. For example, let's say you're using Microsoft Word to write two brochures for the new WidgetMaster 2000. One brochure is a sales piece; the other explains the product's technical specifications. However, certain sections of both brochures contain exactly the same information.

The brochures are going to go through several rounds of client approval, and you're not excited about having to make the same corrections in both. Of course, you could make the corrections in one and then copy the corrected sections into the other. But if you're like me, you'd start to wonder if you'd been consistent about it, and at some point you'd get confused about which version was really correct. Fussing around with different versions is a pain.

Instead of working with two versions, consider using conditional text--courtesy of our old friend, Hidden formatting. (See our past two newsletters for other ways to use this feature.)

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1702656525

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1702836319

Using conditional text, you can write and correct just one document, hiding or revealing the conditional sections as needed. Here's how:

1. Create the styles for the sections that are the same in both brochures: CommonHeading, CommonBody, and so on. (Or just use your usual styles.)

2. Create the styles for the sales section: SalesHeading, SalesBody, and so on.

3. Create the styles for the technical section: TechHeading, TechBody, and so on.

4. Base all of the styles *for each kind of section* on one main style. For example, you might base the SalesHeading style on the SalesBody style, and the TechHeading style on the TechBody style.

Now write the brochure, using the styles to format the common, sales, and technical sections.

When you're ready to print one of the brochure versions (the sales version, for example), set the main style for the technical section (TechBody) to Hidden, as explained in last week's newsletter:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1702836319

All of the text for the technical section will disappear, leaving visible only the common and sales sections. There's your sales brochure!

When you're ready to print the technical brochure, remove the Hidden formatting from the main technical style (TechBody) and set it for the main sales style (SalesBody). All of the text for the sales section will disappear, leaving visible only the common and technical sections. There's your technical brochure!

This may not be as sophisticated as the conditional text feature in dedicated composition programs, such as FrameMaker. But somewhere, sometime, maybe it will help you get the job done.