Here's the scenario: You open a giant document from a client and start looking through it. But what's this? The same odd character at the beginning of every paragraph. Must be some kind of file translation error. Odder still, Microsoft Word won't let you paste the character into its Find and Replace dialog, so how are you going to get rid of them all? By hand? Horrors!

If you knew the character's numeric code, you could search for it, as explained in our last newsletter:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?sort=d&mid=1704081834

But this character isn't on the usual list. How can you find out its numeric code? By using our trusty NextCharacter macro:

FOR MICROSOFT WORD 6 OR 7 (95):

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
NextChar$ = Str$(Asc(Selection$()))
MsgBox "The code for the next character is " 
+ NextChar$ + ".", "Next Character"
'Macro ends here
FOR MICROSOFT WORD 8 (97 OR 98) OR 9 (2000 OR 2001):
'Macro starts here
Dim NextChar$
NextChar$ = Str(Asc(WordBasic.[Selection$]()))
WordBasic.MsgBox _
"The code for the next character is " + NextChar$ + ".", _
"Next Character"
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

TO CREATE THE MACRO

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, 2000, or 2001, click "Macros."

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

6. Type a name for the macro in the "Macro Name" box--"NextCharacter" should do nicely.

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, 2000, or 2001, click "File," then "Close and Return to Microsoft Word."

TO RUN THE MACRO:

1. Put your cursor in front of the character whose numeric code you want to know.

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

3. Click "Macro."

4. In Word 97, 98, 2000, or 2001, click "Macros."

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

6. Select the macro (probably "NextCharacter") in the "Macro Name" box.

7. Click "Run."

After you run the macro, a message box will appear on your screen with the numeric code you need.

Our last newsletter explained how to search for special characters (such as carriage returns and section breaks) using character codes. You can read the newsletter here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?sort=d&mid=1703875043

Why should you, as an editor, writer, or publisher, care about something as "technical" as searching with codes? Because they make it possible to find and replace things you ordinarily couldn't, such as paragraph breaks, dashes, and symbols. This can be a big help in cleaning up all kinds of editorial and typographical problems that you'd otherwise have to fix by hand.

After reading the last newsletter, subscriber Bruce White wrote: "Next obvious question: Where can we find a full list of codes?"

There are actually two different kinds of codes:

1. Microsoft Word's built-in codes (such as ^p for paragraph breaks and ^t for tabs).

2. ANSI character codes (such as ^013 for paragraph breaks and ^009 for tabs).

Both kinds of codes are useful, but the list of ANSI codes includes every character you can use in Microsoft Word. Next week I'll provide a list of these codes and explain how to use them.

This week, I'll give you a list of Word's built-in codes, which you can use in Microsoft Word's Find and Replace dialog (Edit/Replace). For example, if you wanted to find an em dash, you'd enter the following code in the "Find what" box:

^+

To replace it with an en dash, you'd enter this in the "Replace with" box:

^=

You can also insert Word's built-in codes by clicking the Special button in the Find and Replace dialog and then selecting the item you need. Please note that you can use some of the codes only in finding text, others only in replacing, and others in either one.

You can also use combinations of codes. For example, you could search for tabs followed by paragraph breaks (^t^p) and replace them with paragraph breaks alone (^p).

And now, here's the list. Enjoy!

CODES YOU CAN USE IN THE "FIND WHAT" BOX

Annotation mark ^a

Any character ^?

Any digit ^#

Any letter ^$

Caret character ^^

Column break ^n

Em dash ^+

En dash ^=

Endnote mark ^e

Field ^d

Footnote mark ^f

Graphic ^g

Line break ^l

Manual page break ^m

Nonbreaking hyphen ^~

Nonbreaking space ^s

Optional hyphen ^-

Paragraph mark ^p

Section break ^b

Tab character ^t

White space ^w

CODES YOU CAN USE IN THE "REPLACE WITH" BOX

Caret character ^^

Clipboard contents ^c

Column break ^n

Contents of the Find What box ^&

Em dash ^+

En dash ^=

Line break ^l

Manual page break ^m

Nonbreaking hyphen ^~

Nonbreaking space ^s

Optional hyphen ^-

Paragraph mark ^p

Tab character ^t

In our last newsletter, I explained how to find Microsoft Word footnote numbers using the character code ^02. You can read the newsletter here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1703696660

There are other character codes you can use to find certain items:

* For a carriage return, you can use ^013.

* For a section break, you can use ^012.

* For a word space, you can use ^032.

Of course, you can also use Word's built-in codes, which you can insert into the Find dialog's "Find what" box by clicking the "Special" button:

* For a carriage return, you can use ^p.

* For a section break, you can use ^b.

* For a word space, you can use ^w for a word space (actually, any white space).

So why would you want to use the first codes?

Because if you're finding something by using wildcards, the second ones won't work. For example, let's say that (for some reason) you're searching for "wh" followed by any other character (the wildcard for which is "?"), followed by a carriage return. In the Find dialog's "Find what" box, you enter this:

wh?^p

And to make Word search for the wildcard rather than an actual question mark, you put a check in the box labeled "Use wildcards."

Finally, you click the Find button. What happens? You get an error message:

"^p is not a valid special character for the Find What box or is not supported when the Use Wildcards check box is selected."

"Well then, how," you politely ask your computer, "am I supposed to find what I'm looking for?"

As usual, it doesn't reply, but here's the answer anyway. In the "Find what" box, you enter this:

wh?^013

And that will do the job.

Ordinarily, you should probably use Word's built-in codes, such as ^p and ^b. But when those don't work, now you've got an alternative.

In our last newsletter, I explained how to use the "Find What Text" code to change formatted text in Microsoft Word. You can read that newsletter here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?sort=d&mid=1703525514

(If that address breaks, you may have to put it back together again in your browser's address window.)

This week, I'll show you how to use the "Find What Text" feature to change the format of note numbers. (I'm going to use footnotes as an example, but you can do the same thing with endnotes.)

When you create footnotes in Microsoft Word (Insert menu/Footnotes/Footnote), the footnote numbers are formatted in superscript, like this (I'm using carats [^] to indicate superscript formatting):

^1^ This is the text of note 1.

^2^ This is the text of note 2.

And so on. But sometimes you might want your footnote numbers to have regular formatting and be followed by a period, like this:

1. This is the text of note 1.

2. This is the text of note 2.

Microsoft Word has no numbering option that will do this. Nevertheless, there *is* a way to do it, using "Find What Text":

1. Open a document containing footnotes (be sure to keep a backup copy of the document, just in case).

2. Make sure you're viewing the document in Normal mode (View menu/Normal).

3. Open the footnote pane (View menu/Footnotes).

4. Make sure your cursor is at the top of the footnote pane.

5. Open the Find and Replace dialog (Edit menu/Replace).

6. In the "Find what" box, enter "^02" (don't include the quotation marks). ^02 is the code that represents a footnote number.

7. In the "Replace with" box, enter "^&." (don't include the quotation marks). Be sure to include the period after the ampersand. Also, in earlier versions of Word, you may need to follow the period with a space. The ^& code itself represents any text that was found, or in other words, the "Find What Text."

8. With your cursor in the "Replace with" box, click the "Format" button. (You may need to click the "More" button first.)

9. Click "Font."

10. In the Find Font dialog, clear the "Superscript" checkbox so that the replacement text won't be formatted in superscript.

11. Click the "OK" button to close the dialog.

12. In the Find and Replace dialog, click the "Replace All" button.

Your footnotes will now be formatted like this:

1. This is the text of note 1.

2. This is the text of note 2.

Pretty neat! Remember, however, that if you now add another footnote, its number will be formatted in the superscript default, and you'll have to fix it by hand. To do so:

1. Select the number.

2. Press CTRL + SPACE to remove the superscript format.

3. Type a period after the number.

WARNING: Be careful not to delete a note number or type a note number by hand. Microsoft Word uses a special code to represent a note number, and if you fool around with this code, you risk corrupting your file. You can, however, delete or move a note *reference* number that appears in the *body* of your document, like this,^3^ and Microsoft Word will automatically renumber your notes, leaving their new formatting intact.

I ordinarily advise people not to mess around with automatic note numbers, because it's fairly easy to corrupt a document by doing so. If you know what you're doing, however, you can at least change the formatting of the note numbers if you really need to. Now you know how!

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.