Author Archives: Jack Lyon

When I’m editing in Word and see something I want to correct, I usually have to use the cursor keys (repeatedly) to get to it, or I have to reach for the mouse to select it. I finally got tired of both alternatives and created a macro called Go2Text, which instantly takes you to the […]

Microsoft Word guru Steve Hudson has been sending me some interesting things. Today I’d like to introduce you to his “Editioning” macro, which allows you to use true conditional text in Microsoft Word 97 and above. Conditional text is the thing to use if you need to change a document in different ways for different […]

Over the past few weeks we’ve discussed corrections that editors can make automatically with Microsoft Word’s Find and Replace feature. For more information, see these three issues of Editorium Update: http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1708048908 http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1708127357 http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1708293844 In addition, editors can save time by making “semiautomatic” corrections–in other words, by using Word’s Find feature to locate “indicators” of possible […]

A couple of weeks ago, we were discussing lists of corrections that editors can make automatically using Microsoft Word’s Find and Replace feature. For more information, you may want to read these two issues of Editorium Update: http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1708048908 http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1708127357 I’d like to thank Martha H. Bowes, Ned Humphrey, and Joel Rosenberg for sending more items […]

As I explained in last week’s newsletter, editors who work in Microsoft Word can make many changes automatically (using Find and Replace) rather than making them manually. For more information on how to do that, please read last week’s newsletter: http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1708048908 This week, I’ve provided a long list of corrections that you *might* be able […]

When working electronically, editors often have to decide whether to make certain corrections manually or automatically, using such features as Find and Replace. Some corrections *have* to be made manually, but, in my opinion, editors often make more manual corrections than they should. For example, many editors change restrictive “which” to “that” by hand, making […]

No, no, not that kind of passes. I’m talking about making separate passes through a document to catch different kinds of errors. If you can catch them all in one pass, your mind is much more efficient than mine. I work much better and catch more errors by going through a manuscript several times, fixing […]

When I’m editing on the computer (which is most of the time), I’m most effective when I edit from the “top down.” What that means is that I don’t start changing commas and semicolons until I’ve done some other, more comprehensive tasks: 1. If each chapter of a book is a separate document, I pull […]