It happens all the time: I'm editing merrily along in Microsoft Word only to discover that I've accidentally hit the Insert key, turning on Overstrike. Now I've typed over the top of a whole sentence and who knows what else. Aarrgh! I wish I could rip that key right off my keyboard.

After I calm down, I look for a less drastic solution. Sure enough, it's possible to reassign the Insert key so that instead of turning on Overstrike, it pastes something I've copied (just like pressing CTRL + V or clicking "Paste" on the Edit menu).

If you'd like to do the same thing, here's the procedure:

1. Click the Tools menu.

2. Click "Options."

3. Click the Edit tab.

4. Check the box labeled "Use the INS key for Paste."

5. Click the OK button.

(If, for some unfathomable reason, you still need to turn on Overstrike, just double-click the OVR box in the status bar at the bottom of your Word window. To turn it off, double-click the OVR box again.)

Finally, the Insert key is good for something!

It's still not perfect, though. Here's what happens: I'm editing merrily along in Microsoft Word only to discover that I've accidentally hit the Insert key, pasting a whole bunch of unwanted text here and who knows where else. Aarrgh! I wish I could rip that key right off my keyboard.

After I calm down, I look for a less drastic solution. Sure enough, it's possible to reassign the Insert key to almost anything! The question is, what should it be? I'll give you some possible answers in next week's newsletter.

A longtime, highly skilled editor I know likes to keep track of how much she's tightened a manuscript, and she does it by counting words or pages as she works. This is especially useful if a publication (a magazine, for example) has only so much room for a particular article. But it may also be useful in editing long documents, such as books. After you've done it for a while, you'll get a feel for how much certain kinds of material need to be tightened, and you can use that as a guide in the amount of editing you do.

If you think this technique would be useful, Microsoft Word makes it easy to try. Before you start editing a particular document, do this:

1. Click "Tools."

2. Click "Word Count."

A dialog box will appear that shows the length of your manuscript in pages, words, characters, paragraphs, and lines. On a sheet of paper, jot down the number of pages (or words, if your document is short). Then, as you edit, check from time to time to see how you're progressing. Unless your space is limited, you don't consciously need to cut by a certain number of words or pages. Just edit as you ordinarily would. When you're finished, check the page count again. How did you do?

You might want to keep a record of your results for a variety of documents. Eventually, it will help you know ahead of time if you can get a chapter or article down to size through your regular editing, or if you'll need to get out the ax and start chopping. If you're negotiating with an author or client, that may be a useful thing to know. It may also be useful if you're making assignments to other editors: "Will you cut this by a third, please? I think that would be just about right."

If you're like me, you've often made an editorial correction in Microsoft Word and then, five pages later, changed your mind. But where was that correction? Word includes a feature that will take you back to your last change, then the change before that, and so on, cycling through the last four changes in your document.

The name of the feature is Go Back, although it's sometimes referred to as Previous Edit. Whatever Microsoft wants to call it, it's a handy feature to have. The problem is, it's a hard feature to find. You won't see it on a menu or a toolbar. Nevertheless, it's there, and you can use it by pressing SHIFT + F5.

When you press SHIFT + F5, you'll go back to your last change. What's less obvious is that if you made the change in a different document that's still open, Word will switch to that document and take you to the last change there. Neat! Not only that, but if you open a document you've worked on before, SHIFT + F5 will take you to the last change you made in *that* document. Amazing! Now you can find the place you left off editing in a document you've saved and closed. (If you're using our Editor's ToolKit program, you'll use the Go Back feature by pressing SHIFT + F10 rather than SHIFT + F5. You'll also find it on the Editor's ToolKit 1 toolbar and on the Edit menu, right under Go To.)

Go Back isn't a big, flashy feature. It's just one of those basic, practical tools that you'll use all the time--now that you know where it is.

It's hard to beat Microsoft Word if you're editing a document with footnotes or endnotes. If you add or delete a note, the other notes renumber automatically (assuming the notes haven't been typed as body text and numbered manually), and the program provides a notes "pane" that allows you to edit all of your notes at once. (With WordPerfect, you have to view and edit one note at a time. Yechhh.) To use the notes pane most effectively, follow this procedure:

1. Make sure you're using Normal view rather than Page Layout view (click the View menu and then "Normal").

2. Open the notes pane (click the View menu and then "Footnotes").

3. Use your mouse to grab the top of the notes pane and move it almost to the top of your document window, giving you plenty of room to work. (If you move it too far, the notes pane will close.)

Now you can see and edit all of your notes at once. (To close the notes pane, click the "Close" button at the top of the pane.)

Here are some other tips for working with notes:

* Use Word's Go To feature (CTRL + G) to go to a specific note. This will work in document text and in the notes pane.

* Let Microsoft Word do the numbering for you. Some writers and editors do such weird things as use Word's automatic note reference numbers but manually type notes and note numbers at the bottom of the document rather than use the notes pane. I've also seen cases where an author, wanting to use a number followed by a period for note numbers, deleted and retyped each note number (with a period) in the notes pane, or inserted a period after the automatic note number. This is madness. Let Word do the job it was designed to do.

* Don't put headings into the notes pane. Some authors type things like "Notes to Chapter 3" at the top of the pane. It may look okay when you print it out, but it's actually a note without a note number, and it may cause file corruption and other problems. If you need to use such headings, put them at the bottom of your document text.

* You can convert endnotes to footnotes or vice versa by clicking the Insert menu and then clicking "Footnote," "Options," and "Convert."

* If you're working with revision marking, or tracking, turned on, you can delete a note reference number from the document text, but the note itself will still show up in the notes pane, and your other note reference numbers won't renumber correctly. This appears to be a bug in Microsoft Word. The only remedy I've found is to accept revisions by clicking the Tools menu, then "Revisions," and then "Accept All." (You can also accept a single revision by clicking "Review" rather than "Accept All.")

* If you're editing a document with manually typed notes rather than automatically numbered notes, you can turn them into automatically numbered notes with our NoteStripper program, which you can download at http://www.editorium.com/15078.htm. Then you won't have to renumber the notes by hand when you're finished editing.

* If you need to turn automatically numbered notes into regular numbered text (perhaps for use in QuarkXPress or PageMaker), our NoteStripper program will do that as well. It also includes other tools to make working with notes a snap.

Just another pretty face? Nothing wrong with that. If you're editing in Microsoft Word, why not use a typeface that you're comfortable reading and that makes editing easy? (Unless, of course, you're editing documents that have already been carefully formatted for typesetting.) You can always apply the final typeface and formatting after your editing is finished (probably just by attaching a different template to the document).

Some typefaces lend themselves better to editing than others. Here are some things to look for in a typeface to use while you're editing:

1. Legibility. Are the characters clear and easy to read?

2. Universality. Is the typeface readily available at no cost or low cost, and on other computers as well as your own?

3. Are special characters easy to distinguish? These include the hyphen, the en dash, the em dash, and opening and closing quotation marks.

I first thought that Courier might be a good font to use in editing. It's nice and clear and can be found almost anywhere. Its hyphen and dashes, though, are practically indistinguishable, making it unsuitable for editorial work.

After considerable testing and exploration, I've found three typefaces that seem to me to work especially well for editing:

1. Times Roman (yep, that old chestnut), some variation of which you almost certainly have on your computer already.

2. Verdana.

3. Georgia.

Times Roman is actually a bit small and condensed (designed to fit lots of type into a newspaper column), but you probably won't find a face with more easily distinguishable quotation marks and dashes. The em dash is nice and long, the hyphen is tiny, and the en dash falls comfortably in between. You just have to make sure that you get the point size big enough so you can read it comfortably.

Verdana is a Microsoft typeface that was designed for viewing on-screen, so it looks especially clean and legible on a computer monitor. Its quotation marks aren't as clearly distinguishable as those in Times Roman, but they're not bad, either. Verdana's main drawback is that it's a sans serif font, so the eye doesn't glide from letter to letter. If you're using Verdana for editing, however, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as you may have a tendency to slow down a little as you read.

Georgia is another Microsoft typeface that was designed for viewing on-screen, so, like Verdana, it looks great on a computer monitor. Unlike Verdana, it has serifs, making it a little smoother to read.

You can download both Verdana and Georgia free of charge from Microsoft at the following address (which may break in your email and need to be put back together):

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm?fname=%20&fsize=

Using one of these fonts, you may want to create a template that you attach to documents you're going to edit. If you don't want to create such a template yourself, please feel free to use the Typespec template that comes with our Editor's ToolKit program. You can download it at this address:

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

Whether you use the program or not, you can still use the template, which was created using the Verdana typeface (my current favorite) and has lots of styles for editorial markup. If you want to use a different typeface with the template, just open the template in Microsoft Word and change the Normal style to the font of your choice. Another approach is to use Times Roman, Verdana, or Georgia in the template you are currently using. You can always change back to the original font when you're ready for final formatting.

You may not have given much thought to selecting a typeface for use in editing, just using whatever your client has used by default. You'll probably find your work easier and more enjoyable if you use a typeface that you like and find easy to read. Why not give it a try?

for a particular purpose, and freedom from infringement. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and use of this document.

The Editorium is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.

As I've trained editors working in Microsoft Word, I've noticed a strange phenomenon: Left to their own devices, some editors will scroll for pages using only the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys (the cursor keys). That's like using a toothbrush to paint your house. This is going to sound pretty basic, but there's a whole hierarchy of keys you should use to move through a document. Here it is, from big movements to small:

CTRL (COMMAND on a Macintosh) + HOME takes you to the top of your document.

CTRL + END takes you to the bottom of your document.

CTRL + G (Go To) takes you to a specific page.

PAGE UP takes you up a screen.

PAGE DOWN takes you down a screen.

CTRL + UP ARROW takes you up a paragraph.

CTRL + DOWN ARROW takes you down a paragraph.

HOME takes you to the start of the line.

END takes you to the end of the line.

CTRL + LEFT ARROW takes you back a word.

CTRL + RIGHT ARROW takes you forward a word.

LEFT ARROW takes you back a character.

RIGHT ARROW takes you forward a character.

Ordinarily, you shouldn't use keys that are lower on the hierarchy to make a move that is higher on the hierarchy. As an extreme example, you shouldn't use the RIGHT ARROW key to move from the top to the bottom of your document. If you do, you're wasting time. For the same reason, you shouldn't use the RIGHT ARROW key to move forward a word. In the short run it won't matter much, but if you spend most of your day editing, those small movements will really add up. I'd guess that over the course of a year, you could measure them in miles. Want to increase your efficiency? Get into the habit of using the right key combinations for the movements you need to make. At first it may seem awkward, but after a while you'll notice a big difference in how quickly you can get around a document.

By the way, our Editor's ToolKit program adds one more item to the hierarchy:

ALT + CTRL + LEFT ARROW takes you back a sentence.

ALT + CTRL + RIGHT ARROW takes you forward a sentence.

Something else that will help you move around more efficiently is to increase your cursor speed. In a Windows environment, follow this procedure:

1. Click the Start button.

2. Click "Settings."

3. Click "Control Panel."

4. Double-click "Keyboard."

5. Set the repeat delay as short as it will go.

6. Set the repeat rate as fast as it will go.

7. While you're there, you may want to set cursor blink rate as fast as it will go (making it easier to spot your cursor).

8. Click "OK."

On a Macintosh, do this:

1. Click the Apple icon.

2. Select "Control Panels."

3. Select "Keyboard."

4. Set the key repeat rate as fast as it will go.

5. Set the delay until repeat rate as short as it will go.

6. Close the Keyboard dialog.

At first these new settings may seem impossibly fast. If you can stick with them, however, you should soon get used to them, and they'll definitely speed up moving around your document. That means you'll be working faster and more profitably, with more time to spend on the things that really matter. Good luck with your fast moves!

for a particular purpose, and freedom from infringement. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and use of this document.

The Editorium is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.

When I edit a document in Microsoft Word, I do everything I can from the keyboard. I avoid using the mouse because reaching over to get it interrupts the flow of work and slows me down. Sometimes, though, for a change of pace, I like to see how much editing I can do without even touching the keyboard, using the mouse as a sort of electronic pencil. If you're interested in trying this, here are some things to consider:

1. Using the mouse, you can (obviously) access any of the commands on Word's menus or toolbars, which include such things as changing case, changing format, cutting, copying, and pasting.

2. You can access the commands on Word's shortcut menu by clicking text with the right mouse button. For editing purposes, the most important commands are Cut, Copy, and Paste. (You can use the Cut command to delete text.) If you have Microsoft Bookshelf installed, you can use the Define command to look up words in the Bookshelf dictionary. In addition, Word 2000 includes a Synonyms command so you can replace a selected word with a suggested synonym or use Word's built-in thesaurus.

3. You can use the mouse to drag and drop selected words and phrases. You may need to turn this feature on under Tools/Options/Edit/Drag-and-drop text editing. Once it's on, you can select a word (double-click it), grab the word (hold down the left mouse button), drag the word to a new position (move the mouse), and place the word (let go of the mouse button). To copy the selection rather than move it, hold down the CTRL key with your left hand (if you're right-handed) before dragging the text.

4. You can use the mouse to copy and paste a word from nearby text rather than typing it in. You might also try resting your left hand on the keyboard (if you're right-handed) to type in the occasional space or other character. If you find yourself typing a lot, though, you may want to revert to using the keyboard instead of the mouse.

5. If you move through your document by dragging the vertical scroll bar, you'll see the page numbers in a small box at the right of your document window.

With some experimentation, I've learned which features I use most with the mouse, and I've placed them on the text shortcut menu (right mouse button) in our Editor's ToolKit program. Some of these are regular Word functions; others are unique to Editor's ToolKit. Here they are:

Cut

Copy

Paste

Delete (a single character or text you've already selected with the mouse)

Delete Word

Add to Spike

Insert Spike

Cap or Lowercase Word (toggle)

Make Word Italic or Roman (toggle)

Transpose Characters

Transpose Words

Apply Heading 1 Style

Apply Heading 2 Style

Apply Heading 3 Style

Apply Heading 4 Style

AutoStyle Block Quotation

AutoStyle List

AutoStyle Poem

Using all those features, you may be surprised at how much editing you can do without ever touching the keyboard. Give it a try! You'll soon be mousing around with the best of them.

for a particular purpose, and freedom from infringement. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and use of this document.

The Editorium is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft Word comes with a collection of secret macros. Well, okay, they're not really secret, but they're often overlooked. And they can be pretty useful if you know they exist and understand how to use them. Editors may be particularly interested in the following:

FindSymbol: A macro that allows you to find and replace symbols in your documents.

InsertFootnote: A wizard that helps you create footnotes in the MLA or Chicago Manual of Style format.

CopySpike: A macro that changes Word's spike functionality to copy to the spike rather than cut to the spike. (If you don't know what the spike is, please see your Word documentation. You'll find the feature very useful.)

The path and template names where you can find these macros are:

For Word 6, C:WinwordMacrosMacros6.dot

For Word 7 (95), C:MsofficeWinwordMacrosMacros7.dot

For Word 8 (97), C:Program FilesMicrosoft
OfficeOfficeMacrosMacros8.dot

For Word 9 (2000), C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOfficeMacros [or Samples]Macros9.dot

If you don't find the template in the folder for your version of Word, you may need to install it from your Word installation disks. For Word 2000, you may need to download it from the Microsoft Web site at http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloadDetails/supmacros.htm.

To use the macros, simply open the template into Microsoft Word. You'll see complete instructions in your Word window.

You'll find other useful macros at:

Microsoft: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadCatalog/dldWord.asp

The Technical Editors' Eyrie: http://www.wrevenge.com.au

The WORDinfo WEBindex from Alki Software:
http://www.wordinfo.com/links/ailist.htm

And, of course, the Editorium: http://www.editorium.com

If you know of other macros for editors, please don't keep them a secret. Let us know so we can share the information with our other subscribers. Thanks!

for a particular purpose, and freedom from infringement. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and use of this document.

The Editorium is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.

One of the advantages of editing on paper is that you can lay out the various pages, one here, one there, for reference and comparison with each other. For example, you may need to refer to a certain paragraph on page 10 while editing a paragraph on page 300. On the computer, this is a problem. You can scroll back to page 10 for reference, but then you'll have to scroll forward again to page 300 to make your changes.

If you do this kind of thing a lot, you may want to try using Microsoft Word's Go To feature (CTRL + G) to jump to the specific pages you need. Many editors never even think about this; they just hold the Page Down key and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll until they reach their destination. Go To may get you around more efficiently.

However, switching from one page to another over and over can get pretty tedious. Wouldn't it be nice if you could open the *same* document twice, with page 10 on the top of your screen and page 300 on the bottom? You can, with an often-overlooked feature called New Window. To use it, click the Window menu; then click "New Window." To see both windows at once, click the Window menu again; then click "Arrange All." You can tell the windows apart by looking at the title bar at the top of each one. Your original window's title will end with a 1. The new window's title will end with a 2.

You can move around each window freely, and you can have page 10 visible in the top window and page 300 visible in the bottom. Because each window contains the *same* document, any changes you make in one window will be reflected in the other. If you need to refer to more than two pages at the same time, you can open another new window. (If you're like many editors, you'd prefer to see the windows side by side, not one above the other. Our Editor's ToolKit program includes an "Arrange Windows" feature that puts one window on the left and the other on the right for easy comparison.)

You can also compare different pages with Word's Split feature, which lets you split a single window and scroll the two halves independently. To use it, click the Window menu; then click "Split." Position the split by moving your mouse and clicking the left mouse button. You can switch from one pane to the other by pressing SHIFT + F6. To get rid of the split, click the Window menu; then click "Remove Split."

If you work on long documents (such as books) and need to compare pages often, you may need a larger monitor. I recommend 17 inches at a minimum. Once you've tried a 21-inch monitor, you'll never want to go back. With a monitor that large, you can see a full page on your screen, and working on two documents side by side is a pleasure. You may never work on paper again.

for a particular purpose, and freedom from infringement. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and use of this document.

The Editorium is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.