Jack Lyon

More Hidden Secrets

Last week we talked about using Hidden formatting to make sure a list sorts properly. But Hidden formatting is useful for other things as well.

Let's say you're editing a scholarly book with dozens of block quotations from old journals. The author has consistently misspelled several geographical and personal names, so you fire up our MegaReplacer program to find and replace them all in one fell swoop (or you get ready to do them one at a time, by hand).

But wait! Although you want to replace the *author's* misspellings, you *don't* want to replace the original misspellings in the block quotations. They need to be reproduced verbatim. And you certainly don't want to okay every replacement by hand in this, long, long book.

Hidden formatting to the rescue!

Being the astute editor that you are, you've already formatted the block quotations with a style--named Block, let's say. (If you're not using styles for formatting, I beg you to learn how *today.* It will save you enormous amounts of time.) All you need to do now is set formatting in the Block style to Hidden. Here's how:

1. Click the Format menu.

2. Click "Style."

3. In the Styles box, click "Block."

4. Click the Modify button.

5. Click the Format button.

6. Click "Font."

7. Check the box labeled "Hidden."

8. Click the OK button.

9. Click the next OK button.

10. Click the Close button.

Whoa! All of your block quotations will have disappeared--if you're not displaying hidden text. If you *are* displaying hidden text, hide it, like this:

1. Click the Tools menu.

2. Click "Options."

3. Uncheck the box labeled "Hidden text."

4. Click the OK button.

Now, with your block quotations hidden, you can find and replace the misspellings in the rest of your text. Pretty slick!

Once you're finished, don't forget to reset your block quotations so they're no longer hidden. To do so, follow the first procedure used above, but this time *uncheck* the box labeled "Hidden." All of your block quotations will reappear, with their misspellings gloriously intact.

Now there's a "hidden" secret worth knowing!

Hidden Articles

In our last newsletter, we talked about how to work with lists.

You can read the newsletter here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1702467672.

I presented the following list of book titles, noting that I'd removed the initial "The" from The Old Man and the Sea and The Great Gatsby so they'd sort properly:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Jane Eyre

Old Man and the Sea

Great Gatsby

Moby Dick

A subscriber wrote to ask if there isn't a way to preserve the initial articles (like "The") but still sort correctly, mentioning that he'd had to delete opening quotation marks from items in a list so the items wouldn't be sorted to the top.

It would certainly be possible to write a macro that would take care of such items. Another approach, however, would be to format initial articles as Hidden. Let's say you're working with a list like this (notice the articles on the third and fourth items):

To Kill a Mockingbird

Jane Eyre

The Old Man and the Sea

The Great Gatsby

Moby Dick

You could use Microsoft Word's Find and Replace feature to find "The" (using Match Case) and replace it with "The" in Hidden format. In Word 97, 98, and 2000, you'd do it like this (the procedure is basically the same in earlier versions):

1. Click the "Edit" menu.

2. Click "Replace."

3. If it's available, click the "No Formatting" button.

4. Type "The " in the "Find what" box (include a space after the word).

5. Type "The " in the "Replace with" box (include a space after the word).

6. If it's available, click the "More" button.

7. Check the "Match case" box. (Uncheck any of the other boxes.)

8. Click the "Format" button.

9. Click "Font."

10. Check the "Hidden" box.

11. Click the "OK" button.

12. Click the "Replace All" button.

13. Click the "OK" button when Word tells you how many items it found and replaced.

14. Click the "Close" button.

You could repeat this for anything else you want to be ignored when you sort the list, such as "A," "An," quotation marks, and so on. (You could even record all of these together as a macro.)

Now sort your list (Table/Sort Text). When you're finished, it should look like this:

Great Gatsby

Jane Eyre

Moby Dick

Old Man and the Sea

To Kill a Mockingbird

But wait! We're not done yet. Now we'll get our articles (etc.) back by reversing the Find and Replace routine we used to hide them:

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Options."

3. Click the "View" tab.

4. Check the "Hidden text" box (under the "Formatting marks" heading).

5. Click the "OK" button (revealing the hidden text so it can be found).

6. Click the "Edit" menu.

7. Click "Replace."

8. If it's available, click the "No Formatting" button.

9. Type "The " in the "Find what" box (include a space after the word).

10. If it's available, click the "More" button.

11. Check the "Match case" box. (Uncheck any of the other boxes.)

12. Type "The " in the "Replace with" box (include a space after the word).

13. Click the "Format" button.

14. Click "Font."

15. Clear the "Hidden" box.

16. Click the "OK" button.

17. Click the "Replace all" button.

18. Click the "OK" button when Word tells you how many items it found and replaced.

19. Click the "Close" button.

Now your list will look like this, which is what you were after in the first place:

The Great Gatsby

Jane Eyre

Moby Dick

The Old Man and the Sea

To Kill a Mockingbird

Hidden text is useful for other things, too--but we'll talk about that another day.

Working with Lists

In my other life I work at a publishing house, so quite often I compile and edit lists of book titles, authors, type specs--all kinds of things. (I just finished putting together a list of nearly 1,400 book titles for a giant electronic publishing project.) A typical list looks like this:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Jane Eyre

Old Man and the Sea

Great Gatsby

Moby Dick

And so on. (You'll notice that I removed the initial "The" from The Old Man and the Sea and The Great Gatsby so they'll sort properly. You may also want to do this with "A" and "An" if you're sorting lists of books.)

BMW (before Microsoft Word) I used to sort such lists by hand. Now I sort them like this:

1. In Microsoft Word, select the paragraphs making up the list to be sorted.

2. Click the Table menu.

3. Click "Sort" or "Sort Text."

4. Under "Sort by," select "Paragraphs."

5. Under "Type," select "Text."

6. Select "Ascending."

7. Click "OK."

Wow, that works great! But wait a minute. I've got Great Gatsby in here three times! And Moby Dick twice! I wonder how many other duplicates I've got. Isn't there a way to delete them automatically?

In fact, there is. Just use this trusty macro, compliments of the Editorium:

FOR MICROSOFT WORD 6 OR 7 (95):

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
StartOfDocument
ParaDown 1, 1
Para1$ = Selection$()
CharRight 1
While AtEndOfDocument() = 0
ParaDown 1, 1
Para2$ = Selection$()
If Para1$ = Para2$ Then
WW6_EditClear
Else
Para1$ = Para2$
CharRight 1
EndIf
Wend
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

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

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Dim Para1$
Dim Para2$
WordBasic.StartOfDocument
WordBasic.ParaDown 1, 1
Para1$ = WordBasic.[Selection$]()
WordBasic.CharRight 1
While WordBasic.AtEndOfDocument() = 0
WordBasic.ParaDown 1, 1
Para2$ = WordBasic.[Selection$]()
If Para1$ = Para2$ Then
WordBasic.WW6_EditClear
Else
Para1$ = Para2$
WordBasic.CharRight 1
End If
Wend
'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, 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--"DeleteDuplicates" 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, or 2000, click "File," then "Close and Return to Microsoft Word."

TO RUN THE MACRO:

1. *Back up your document* in case something doesn't work quite right.

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

7. Click "Run."

No more duplicates! (If you still see what seem to be duplicates, check them carefully. One of the pair may be spelled slightly differently or have an invisible space preceding the carriage return.)

If you need other macros to make your life easier, you may be interested in our program add-ins at http://www.editorium.com. If you're editing, writing, or typesetting in Microsoft Word, they'll save you time. Couldn't you use more of it?

Print What?

Recently a Microsoft Word user asked me, "Is there an easy way to print the names and descriptions of the styles I'm using in my document?" Fortunately, there is. Here's the procedure:

1. Click the File menu.

2. Click "Print."

3. Click the "Print what" box at the lower left of the Print dialog box.

4. On the list of items you can print, click "Styles."

5. Click "OK."

Microsoft Word will print out a nicely formatted list (names and descriptions) of the styles you're using in that document.

If you try this, you'll notice that there are other items on the "Print what" list besides styles (and the document itself, of course). These include:

* AutoText entries. This will print your AutoText entries, including the AutoText name and the text itself.

* Comments (Annotations). This will print the comments in the document (including page number, reviewer's initials, and the text of the comment), which can be handy if you need to give a bunch of queries to an author or just want to review notes you've made to yourself.

* Document properties (Summary info). This will print the information in the document properties or summary info, such as title, subject, author, and so on.

* Key assignments. This will print the names, keyboard shortcuts, and descriptions of any custom key assignments you've made.

Print what? Almost anything you want.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

If you've been to the grocery store recently, you may have noticed certain boxes of General Mills cereal with a CD-ROM attached. The CD-ROM is advertised as containing a computer game (mine has "Amazon Trail"). What's not so obvious is that the CD-ROM also includes the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Thesaurus, the American Concise Encyclopedia, and the New International Version of the Bible--a pretty nice electronic reference library that's yours for free (after you buy the cereal, of course). I'm not promoting General Mills here; I'm just passing on a discovery that I hope you can use.

Microsoft Word's Layout Features

Microsoft Word includes a number of layout features that you'll need if you're doing serious typesetting or desktop publishing. They're not always easy to get to, however, or to understand. For various reasons, Microsoft has strung them all over the place, under File, View, Insert, Format, and Tools. Good grief! I recommend that you use Word's Customize feature (Tools/Customize) to put them all in one place on a new menu or toolbar where you can easily find and use them together.

Basically, these features are related to document sections or to the document as a whole. I've listed some of the most important ones below, with the command name following the descriptive name (so you'll know what commands to use if you want to create your own menu or toolbar):

Templates and Add-ins (FileTemplates)

Style Gallery (FormatStyleGallery)

Style (FormatStyle)

Page Setup (FilePageSetup)

Hyphenation (ToolsHyphenation)

Insert Break (InsertBreak)

Section Layout (FormatSectionLayout)

Header (ViewHeader)

Page Numbers (InsertPageNumbers)

Columns (FormatColumns)

Note Options (NoteOptions)

Once you've brought these far-flung cousins together, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to set up a document so that it looks and works right.

Feeling lazy? Our new WordSetter program puts all of these features together under a new Layout menu and on a Document Formatting toolbar for easy access. It also provides other new features for section and document formatting, including:

* Crop marks

* Adjustable word spacing (tracking)

* Thin spaces

* Automatic styling for block quotations, lists, and poetry

* Ligatures (Macintosh only)

You can download the WordSetter program at http://www.editorium.com/14000.htm.

SURVEY RESULTS

In our last issue, I asked for help in knowing what to write about by offering a survey, which 56 subscribers took time to return. Many thanks to all who participated! Your responses gave me some valuable information. The survey asked:

What would you like to see MORE of in Editorium Update?

1. Explanations of useful features in Microsoft Word.

2. Macros to help you work more efficiently.

3. Discussion of general issues related to editing on the computer.

4. Reviews of add-in programs for Microsoft Word from various software publishers.

5. Links to useful publishing resources on the Internet.

6. Explanations of nifty things you can do with programs from the Editorium.

Interestingly enough, the clear winners were numbers 1 and 2 (1 had 25 votes for first position and 11 for second; 2 had 19 votes for first position and 17 for second). Next, in roughly equal proportions, were 5, 3, and 6. Number 4 came in dead last. That means our past newsletters have pretty much been on track, which is gratifying, and a number of subscribers asked me to "keep up the good work," which I'll try to do by following the survey results. I'll focus mostly on Word features and macros, with some of the other stuff thrown in from time to time just to keep things interesting. Thanks again for your help in improving Editorium Update.

THE WINNER

I promised to hold a drawing for those who responded to the survey. To do so, I created a Word macro that randomly selected a number from 1 to 56 (the total number of respondents). The macro came up with the number 12, which is the number of the response from Gail Welborn, making her the winner of a free registration for our Editor's ToolKit Plus program! I've contacted Gail privately to arrange for the registration. Congratulations!

When Not to Edit on the Computer

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

Editing on the Computer

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.

Copying to the Spike

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.

I Like Spike

Remember when editors wore green celluloid visors and impaled pieces of paper on a shiny steel spike? Word, too, has a spike, but it's buried so deep that most Word users have never even heard of it. The Spike is a *cumulative* cut and paste. It 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. The text is pasted in the order in which it was cut--first in, first out. If you're rearranging massive chunks of text,
you'll find the Spike exceedingly useful.

To use the Spike, do this:

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

2. Press CTRL+F3.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each item you want to add 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. (Note: 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.)

The Spike is actually an AutoText entry, which means you can see what's in it. To do so:

1. Click the Insert menu.

2. Click "AutoText."

3. In the list of AutoText names, click "spike."

You'll see the Spike's contents in the Preview box.

While you're there, you can insert the contents of the Spike into your document by clicking the Insert button. This will leave the contents of the Spike intact so you can use it again elsewhere if you need to. Or, you can accomplish the same thing like this:

1. Type the word "spike" into your document (remember, the Spike is an AutoText entry).

2. Press F3.

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 that we'll discuss next week. In the meantime, I hope you like Spike!

Extending a Selection

In our last newsletter, I promised to tell you about Word's Extend Selection feature, which I've assigned to the Insert key in our Editor's ToolKit program. Extend Selection, a terrific tool, is often overlooked because it's not included on a menu or a toolbar. It's also not covered well in Word's documentation (so what else is new?). Nevertheless, if you're editing in Microsoft Word, you'll find this feature invaluable.

Here's how it works: You're editing along and decide to delete the rest of the sentence. You could do it this way:

1. Hold down SHIFT.

2. Use your cursor key to move and move and move and move to the end of the sentence.

3. Press DELETE.

Or, you could do it this way:

1. Press F8 to turn on Extend Selection (or double-click the EXT box in the status bar at the bottom of your Word window).

2. Press the period key (.) to instantly select to the end of the sentence.

3. Press DELETE.

The second way is much faster, and when deadlines are looming, fast is good.

Extend Selection automatically selects to any character you type. If you hit the spacebar, it moves to the next space (probably selecting a word). Hit it again to extend to the space after that. Neat! Hit ENTER to extend to the end of the paragraph. Hit a character key to move to the next occurrence of a specific character. Use Word's Find feature to extend the selection to something far, far away. Once you've got that text selected, you can cut it, copy it, italicize it, style it, change its case, type over the top of it, or do almost anything else to it. You can even stick it on the Spike--but we'll talk about that in our next issue.

In the meantime, you should know that hitting F8 several times in succession selects text all by itself. Here's the pattern:

Hit F8 once to turn on Extend Selection.

Hit it again to select the current word.

Hit it again to select the current sentence.

Hit it again to select the current paragraph.

Hit it again to select the whole document. Now that's a selection!

If you change your mind, you can cancel the selection by hitting ESCAPE and then pressing a cursor key.

The next time you need to select some text, don't reach for the SHIFT key. Instead, try Extend Selection.