Category Archives: Editing

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]