In the publishing house where I used to work, we experimented with what I call "paperless proofreading." A previous newsletter explains the concept:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1713004126

We also talked about having proofreaders work from PDF files, but that would mean they'd need to get the full-fledged Adobe Acrobat software so they could annotate the text, pointing out errors for the typesetter to correct and inserting queries for the editor. Acrobat has some wonderful features, but at $299 it's a tad expensive for many proofreaders:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro/acrobatstd.html

If only we'd known about the wonderful (and free!) PDF-XChange Viewer from Tracker Software Products:

http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/pdfx_viewer/

It won't do everything that Acrobat does (for example, merge annotations from multiple PDF files), but it includes a wide range of PDF annotation tools. And that means you could send PDF galleys by email rather than sending paper galleys by postal mail. How much money would that save you? A 300-page book at 2.5 cents (or more) per page to print or photocopy comes to $7.50. If you make three copies (for two proofreaders and the author), that's $22.50. Add postage of, say, $4.60 X 3 = $13.80, for a grand total of $36.30:

http://postcalc.usps.gov/

If you want overnight delivery (deadlines, right?), you're looking at postage of about $65, for a grand total of $87. And that doesn't include mailing envelopes, time spent copying and mailing, or the time cost of losing at least two days in transit. How many books do you handle a year? Ouch!

So, would PDF proofreading work for you? If you'd like to find out, PDF-XChange Viewer could be the way to go.

http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/pdfx_viewer/

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

After reading "Deleting Multiple Comments" in the previous newsletter, Greg Ioannou wrote to explain that in Word 2003 and 2007, no macros are needed to delete multiple comments:

From Word's help files:

- To quickly delete all comments in a document, click a comment in the document. On the Review tab, in the Comments group, click the arrow below

Delete, and then click Delete All Comments in Document.

It is a bit more complex for just one reviewer:

- On the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click the arrow next to Show Markup.

- To clear the check boxes for all reviewers, point to Reviewers, and then click All Reviewers.

Click the arrow next to Show Markup again, point to Reviewers, and then click the name of the reviewer whose comments you want to delete.

- In the Comments group, click the arrow below Delete, and then click Delete All Comments Shown.

______________________________________

Ron Solecki wrote:

I think I've found something "new" in Word. Well, it is not documented in any of the M$ Word books I have, the online help, M$ KB (but finding anything specific there is a minor miracle, I suppose it may be buried in there somewhere), or a Google search (first 26 entries) ... so something "new"!

What is this new thing? It is a way of providing fine control displaying levels in View / Outline.

The previously documented methods I've found are:

1. default keyboard shortcuts, ALT + SHF + 1-9, +/- , A

2. outline toolbar, "+" and "-" buttons to open close a selected heading

3. outline toolbar, dropdown "Show Level #" list

4. outline toolbar, "Show Level" buttons (older versions of Word)

5. macros, assign macro to user defined toolbar buttons to recreate the old button method

6. click on the "+" sign beside the heading level in outline view

Now there is a 7th!

7. Document map.

I found that displaying the document map when in outline view provides finer control over the heading levels displayed. In the past I never used the document map with outline view. Why bother, they show the same thing, condensed headings. Occasionally I would use the document map because it provided a slightly more condensed (smaller text) view to jump around in the doc.

The new thing I found is that I can use the document map to provide fine level control in the outline view. This is how ...

- display outline view: View / Outline

- concurrently, display the document map: View / Document map

The two displays are "in sync" showing the same levels. The first 5 methods described above affect the whole document, and clicking on the "+" sign beside a level in outline view opens up everything below it, including the text, which is more detail than I want to see.

Right clicking in the document map displays a drop down with "+/-" signs and "Show Level" options. I've found the "+/-" options unpredictable in the document map, and the "Show Level" choices work exactly like the toolbar option (probably invoke same command) affecting the whole doc.

The "new" thing is that clicking on the "+" sign beside a heading in the Document Map only opens up the specific heading 1 additional level at at time, unlike when you do it in the Outline view, which opens up everything (including text!). And no matter how far down you click in the document map, it will only expand the associated outline view to display headings, never body text!

The result is that you can have the whole document in outline view displaying only level 1 except for 1 heading that you have drilled down as many heading levels as you want using the document map. I've gone down 6 or 7 levels to organize the headings at that level.

It makes sense since both document map and outline view work with heading styles. And the one way fine control makes sense for the same reason. The document map can only display headings, never body text.

I have tested this in Word 2002/XP.

I also tried it in Word 97. But Word 97 has (always had, in my experience) problems displaying in outline view. I found that it has a bad habit of arbitrarily displaying body text in the document map and outline view seemingly at random, making it hard to confirm this tip. Reapplying "Normal" style hides the unwanted displayed text, but it does not always 'stick'.

Many thanks to Greg and Ron!

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

If you're interested in self-publishing or setting type with Microsoft Word, you'll find some interesting information on Aaron Shepard's Publishing Page:

http://www.aaronshep.com/publishing/index.html

If you do paperless proofreading (as described in the newsletter for May 14), you've probably bumped into some of the same problems I've had with comparing documents (Tools > Track Changes > Compare Documents) and merging documents (Tools > Merge Documents). In particular, sometimes I'll go to compare two documents and get the following message:

"The new document already has changes. Word may ignore some existing changes. Compare anyway?"

At other times I'll go to merge documents and get this cryptic notice:

"The merged documents contain unmarked changes. Do you want to merge up to the first untracked change?"

If you've had similar problems, maybe you'd be interested in better understanding Compare and Merge.

On the surface, Compare and Merge look a lot alike. They're both ways to show the differences between documents, right? Wrong. Well, okay, the Compare feature *is* a way to do that--in documents that don't already include tracked revisions. Merge, however, is something completely different--a way to combine documents that *already* contain tracked revisions and that have previously been "protected" for that very purpose. Here's a breakdown of the two features:

Compare's reason for living is to mark the differences between two documents.

Merge's reason for living is to combine tracked changes from two or more copies of the same document.

Compare expects that the documents are different (an original manuscript versus an edited manuscript, for example).

Merge expects that the documents are identical except for tracked changes.

Compare doesn't care where the documents came from.

Merge expects that the documents came from two or more different people--in other words, that the documents were reviewed on different computers than the one on which they are being merged. (If you want to get really specific, Word checks the name of the person who last saved the file. This name is set under Tools > Options > User Information.)

Compare expects that the documents do *not* already include tracked revisions. (If they do, you'll get the error message mentioned earlier.)

Merge expects that the documents *do* include tracked revisions (although they don't have to).

Compare doesn't care whether the documents have been protected for revisions or not.

Merge expects that the documents *have* been protected for revisions. (If they're not, you may get the error message mentioned earlier.)

Here's the breakdown in table form:

Compare Merge

Combines revision marks No Yes

Marks revisions Yes No

Documents are identical No Yes

Documents are from different reviewers No Yes

Documents contain revisions No Yes

Documents are protected for revisions No Yes

Use Compare when you have two different versions of the same unmarked document and want to see the differences between them.

Use Merge when you have reviewed documents that were originally identical and want to see the combined revisions from different reviewers.

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

After reading the article on paperless proofreading, Dave Gayman wrote:

Beyond the automated means for proofreading that have been recently discussed, there's a final method that I absolutely must use--because my brain has a way of blithely seeing what I intend to say, rather than what's actually on the screen or page.

I have the computer read the file to me. Of course, to do this, your computer must have sound capabilities--but most computers do, these days--plus software that synthesizes human speech from text files.

This is the single-practitioner equivalent to the standard editing group procedure in which the newest member of the team is chained to a chair and forced to read to the proofreader.

For the PC, there are a number of text-to-speech options out there; I happen to use an old one, no longer available and no longer supported. Search for "text to speech" in your favorite Web search engine. Look for one that "reads" from the Windows clipboard, so that all you have to do is select text you want the computer to read to you, then hit CTRL+C or Edit > Copy. Avoid the ones that are designed specifically for medical use, as they typically have inflated prices, thanks in large part to medical insurance.

A second must-have option is the ability to control the speed of reading; you'll find that different speech engines (and different voices within each engine) provide different default speeds, and some defaults are too slow or too fast for optimum, follow-along reading.

If you have extra money lying around, and if the package you choose has optional voices, shell out for the high-end voices. Their sound and speech quality is much better than the standard ones.

-----------------

Last week, Anna Marshall wrote with the following question: "Do you or any of your readers have a macro that will take comments out of the comments area and paste them into the running text of a document?"

I received not just one macro but *three,* one from Steve Hudson and two from Clive Tolley. Many thanks to them! Before using these "in the real world," try them on some test documents to make sure they do what you want. You can also edit the macros if necessary to better suit your needs.

Sub CommentsToInline()
'Copies comment initials and text inline between square brackets,
'leaving original comments in place.
Dim C As Comment
Dim S As String
For Each C In ActiveDocument.Comments
S = C.Range.Text
S = " [" & C.Initial & ": " & S & "]"
C.Reference.InsertAfter S
Next
Set C = Nothing
End Sub
Sub CECopyComments()
'Copies the open file's comments to another file
'and saves this under the same name + '_COM'
'VBA routine written by Clive Tolley, 18.05.03
Dim Doc1 As String
Dim DocName As String
Dim DocPath As String
Dim i As Integer
Doc1 = ActiveDocument
i = Len(ActiveDocument.Name)
DocPath = ActiveDocument.Path + ""
DocName = Left(ActiveDocument.Name, i - 4)
If ActiveDocument.Comments.Count >= 1 Then
ActiveDocument.StoryRanges(wdCommentsStory).Copy
End If
Documents.Add
Selection.Paste
ActiveDocument.SaveAs FileName:=DocPath + DocName + "_COM.doc"
End Sub
Sub CEIncorporateComments()
'Removes comments and incorporates their text
'into the main text of the document,
'adding a space before.
'VBA routine written by Clive Tolley, 22.05.03
Dim i As Integer
If ActiveDocument.Comments.Count < 1 Then
MsgBox "There are no comments in this file!"
Else
For i = 1 To ActiveDocument.Comments.Count
ActiveDocument.Comments(1).Range.Copy
Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToComment, Which:=wdGoToAbsolute, Count:=1
Selection.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseStart
Selection.TypeText " "
Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
ActiveDocument.Comments(1).Delete
Next i
End If
End Sub

If you don't know how to use macros like these, you can learn how here.

Thanks to all for their contributions.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

Ron F Woolley offers desktop publishing tutorials, HTML tutorials, and lots of other interesting stuff on his Web site from Down Under:

http://www.dtp-aus.com/

Last week's article on paperless proofreading explained how to use Word's Reviewing toolbar to review revisions in a merged document. It's a great tool except for one thing: the need to locate and click those tiny toolbar buttons for every revision you want to find, accept, or reject. Wouldn't it be nice to use the same commands from the keyboard? Here's how:

1. Click Tools > Customize > Commands > Keyboard.

2. In the Categories window, find and click "All Commands."

3. In the Commands window, click "ToolsRevisionMarksNext."

4. Put your cursor in the box labeled "Press new shortcut key."

5. Press the keyboard combination you want to use. For example, for the "Next Change" command (ToolsRevisionMarksNext), you could use ALT + SHIFT + N.

6. Click the "Assign" button.

7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 for the following commands:

ToolsRevisionMarksPrev ("Previous Change," ALT + SHIFT + P)

ToolsRevisionMarksAccept ("Accept Change," ALT + SHIFT + A)

ToolsRevisionMarksReject ("Reject Change," ALT + SHIFT + R)

8. Click the "Close" button.

Now by pressing the key combinations you specified, you'll be able to review, accept, and reject changes just as if you were using the toolbar buttons--but without the aggravation. As a bonus, you now know how to assign commands to keyboard combinations.

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

I received some great messages from readers in response to last week's article.

Anna Marshall wrote:

Thanks for another great Editorium Update! I enjoyed very much your proofreading sequence. It's essentially what I use, aided by your Editor's ToolKit and FileCleaner tools.

One step you might add to your sequence is viewing the text differently by changing the background color, using columns, or employing one of the other methods you listed in previous newsletters:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1710581825

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1710626323

Although these methods don't completely substitute for a review of the printed document (for me), they get darn close.

Also, your sequence doesn't acknowledge the importance of interplay between text and images in the final document. I've never seen text stand with no changes once imported into a layout. Frustrating as it is to document managers and designers, the layout generally spotlights a need for minor text adjustments if not content adjustments (e.g., certain content commands more visual emphasis than intended).

Some designers I know import a rough draft of the text into the layout to nail text-design interplay issues up front, so that when final text comes through, it gets imported into a final layout, and there should be few surprises.

Brad Hurley wrote:

Thanks for the paperless proofreading tips--I used the same procedure when working on magazine articles that were reviewed by several outside experts and editors.

Here's another tip that might be useful to some of your readers: Recently, I edited a government publication that was put through an unplanned multi-agency review after the report had already been laid out in Quark. The process lasted several months, and there were extensive revisions. I saved a ton of time and hassle by buying a copy of Quark CopyDesk, which allowed me to make direct edits to the text in the Quark file. No need to give the designer marked-up hard copies, and CopyDesk protects the layout so the artist needn't worry about the editor messing up the design. Furthermore, CopyDesk lets you easily extract the text as a Word file, which allowed me to track all the changes I'd made: I extracted the text from the original CopyDesk file, and then when the revisions were complete I asked the designer to send me a new CopyDesk file. I extracted the text from the new file into another Word document and used Word's "Compare Documents" feature to reveal the differences between the two versions.

For me the real value of CopyDesk wasn't so much fitting the copy to the layout, but being able to make text edits directly to the Quark file without having to fax marked-up copy or e-mailing a commented-up PDF to the graphic designer. It reduces the opportunity for error and saves a lot of time.

Steve Hudson wrote:

Automated processes? Live on 'em 🙂 I generally use all of these:

Reapply all styles

Spell / grammar check

check for bad bookmarks (multi-paragraphs)

bookmark all headings ready for x-reffing

remove all un-reffed bookmarks

phrase finder to check consistent vocab use

Set page layouts

report on picture names, compare against directory

find slang words

strip bad spacing

prep for online use (cleans up tables, bullets and the like)

apply autocorrections

apply casing to headings

Anna Marshall wrote with the following question: "Here's a problem for you. Do you or any of your readers have a macro that will take comments out of the comments area and paste them into the running text of a document?"

If you, gentle reader, have such a macro that you'd be willing to share, please let me know.

Thanks to all for their comments and suggestions.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

Interested in a program designed specifically to handle revision control? You might want to try ComponentSoftware RCS, which can be used at no charge for single users. Here's what the Web site says:

"ComponentSoftware RCS (CS-RCS) is a powerful, inexpensive revision control system for Windows. Based on the widely used GNU RCS, it is fully integrated with the Windows Explorer, providing the most intuitive and easy-to-use configuration management and change control solution in the market. CS-RCS supports multi- platform workgroups, making it the ideal solution for sites that share common files on UNIX and Windows platforms.

"CS-RCS handles all types of documents including program files, project files, resource files, HTML documents, MS-Word documents, pictures and drawings.

"CS-RCS can use any file server or local drive to store the archive repository. Network connection to the archive repository can be LAN, corporate wide-area network (WAN), dial-in connection (RAS) and the Internet.

"CS-RCS Basic is used for general-purpose document revision management as well as for entry-level software configuration management. CS-RCS Pro includes advanced features needed for complex software and web development projects."

You can learn more (and try the program) here:

http://www.componentsoftware.com/Products/RCS/index.htm

I started in the publishing business as a proofreader, reading type set in hot metal on a Linotype machine. I'd compare the type against the edited manuscript and mark any discrepancies. Then back the type would go for corrections, with additional cycles of proofreading and corrections until the type was error free.

Now the Linotype machine is gone. My electronic text is imported into QuarkXPress, and the number of errors on galleys is vastly lower than in the old days when everything had to be rekeyed by hand. Proofreaders still look over the typeset galleys for errors the editor may have missed as well as widows, orphans, and bad line breaks. But then we're right back into the old correction cycle. Isn't there a way to make it go away?

It turns out that there is. I call it "paperless proofreading." The idea is that proofreading should be done on the edited Word document *before* typesetting takes place. Some of the advantages are:

* No paper is involved, eliminating printing costs, copying costs, postage costs, and time in transit.

* Editors can merge the proofread documents and then use Word's reviewing tools to jump quickly to each correction and accept or reject it. This decreases the time needed to reconcile galleys.

* The corrected manuscript goes directly into typesetting, eliminating the correction cycle after proofreading.

Disadvantages include:

* The author and proofreaders must have a computer, Microsoft Word, and the ability to send and receive email. However, if they don't have Microsoft Word, they can download and install the free OpenOffice.org software and use its Write module to make and track their corrections. You can learn more here:

http://www.openoffice.org

* There will need to be a separate proofreading for typography (bad breaks, etc.) and an accompanying correction cycle after the galleys have been typeset.

If you'd like to try this method of proofreading, here are the steps you'll need to follow:

PREPARING THE MANUSCRIPT

1. Edit your manuscript in Microsoft Word.

2. When you're ready to send the manuscript out for proofreading, make any tracked revisions permanent (so you don't have to review them later along with the proofreaders' revisions). Then save the manuscript with a new name, such as "My Galleys.doc."

3. "Protect" the manuscript so the proofreaders can't change it without revisions being tracked. To do so, click Tools > Protect Document > Tracked changes. I'd recommend using a password here, but write it down so you don't forget it. You might want to use a password that's the same from job to job or even for all your editors. Just don't give the password to authors or proofreaders. Word will ask for the password twice. Click OK and then save the document.

4. Send the manuscript to your author and proofreaders as an email attachment. In the message, include your name, phone number, and proofreading deadline along with any special instructions. (Since they now have access to Word's Find and Replace feature, you should probably instruct them to *call you* before using the feature to make extensive changes. If you've already done a spell check, you might also mention that.) Part of your instructions should be to delete and insert whole words, not just modify existing words. That will make reviewing the changes much easier later on.

The author and proofreaders will need to save the document to their hard drive, open it in Word, make their corrections in Microsoft Word (*not* WordPerfect, which doesn't handle revision tracking well), save the document, and return the document as an email attachment.

REVIEWING THE MANUSCRIPT

1. After the proofreading has been done and sent back to you, save the documents from the author and the proofreaders to your hard drive, being careful to give each one a unique name so they don't overwrite each other ("My Galleys Author.doc," "My Galleys Proofer 1.doc," "My Galleys Proofer 2.doc").

2. Open the author's copy of the proofread document to be your reconciled version.

3. Make sure revisions are showing (Tools > Track Changes > Highlight changes on screen) and note the color of the revisions. After you've merged the other documents into this one, you may want to give revisions in that color more weight because they were made by the author.

4. Open the document and merge each of the others into it by clicking Tools > Merge Documents.

5. "Unprotect" the document by clicking Tools > Unprotect Document and entering the password.

6. Save the document with a new name, such as "My Galleys Reconciled.doc."

7. Review the corrections and accept or reject them as needed. There are two different tools you can use to do this:

* The Accept or Reject Changes dialog.

* The Reviewing toolbar.

If you have Word 2002, the Accept or Reject Changes dialog will not be available--unless you know the secret way to get it back: Click Tools > Macro > Macros > Macros in: > Word commands > ToolsReviewRevisions > Run. Note that you can put this little beauty on a menu or toolbar for easy access:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707444986

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707286867

You can also move your mouse cursor over a correction to show who made it (as long as you've turned on Tools > Options > View > Screen Tips).

USING THE ACCEPT OR REJECT CHANGES DIALOG

1. Click Tools > Track Changes > Accept or Reject Changes.

2. Click the Find button (or press F) to find the next correction.

3. Click the Accept button (or press A) to accept the correction. Click the Reject button (or press R) to reject it. Word will automatically go to the next correction. This has the advantage of speed but the disadvantage of not being able to review the text around the correction.

If you inadvertently reject a correction that you wanted to keep, click the Undo button to undo the rejection.

USING THE REVIEWING TOOLBAR

1. Click View > Toolbars > Reviewing. In the middle of the toolbar you'll notice two buttons with blue arrows on them, one pointing left and the other right. Click the button with the right-arrow to go to the next correction. Click the button with the left-arrow to go to the previous correction.

2. To the right of these two arrows are two more arrows, one with a checkmark and the other with an X. Click the one with the checkmark to accept the correction. Click the one with the X to reject (or stet) it. Word will *not* automatically go to the next correction. This is an advantage if you want to double-check the text around the correction but a disadvantage if you need to move quickly.

If you inadvertently reject a correction that you wanted to keep, press CTRL + Z to undo the rejection.

In Word 2002, you can limit your review to corrections by a certain reviewer. On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show. Then click "Reviewers" and clear the checkboxes except those next to the name of the reviewer whose changes you want to review. You'll find more information on tracking revisions in Word 2002 here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1710381892

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1711737396

After you've finished reviewing corrections, save the manuscript and send it to typesetting as usual.

Ah, but there'll still be a correction cycle because you'll want to review the typography in the typeset document. Well then, how about typesetting the document in Microsoft Word *before* proofreading takes place? That would eliminate the correction cycle entirely! You can learn more about typesetting in Word here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1708956278

Have you figured out some clever tips for streamlining the electronic production process? If so, I'd really like to hear about them, or just about your process in general. Please write to me here: mailto:editor [at symbol] editorium.com.

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

Seth R. Beckerman wrote:

There is a moderate list of web resources on the Council of Science Editors website:

http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/services_references.shtml

Alice Falk wrote:

The best place I've found for locating online works generally, not just references, is "The On-Line Books Page":

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

There are online classical texts on the Perseus site:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html

The site has fantastic search capabilities--look for a phrase in all of Plato's works at once! switch back and forth between Greek and English!

Thanks to Seth and Alice for these useful resources.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

Do you publish critical editions of classic texts? Would you welcome an easier way of handling the complex typesetting and formatting associated with margin references, Wadding numbers, variants, and citations? If so, you owe it to yourself to try Imprimatur. Imprimatur is a markup language interpreter used to typeset critical edition texts with almost unbelievable ease. The program takes an RTF file (saved from Word, for example) and almost magically formats it as needed. Even if you don't publish critical editions, this program is worth a look just to see the amazing techniques it uses to produce a typeset document in Word. You can learn more here:

http://www.geocities.com/imprimaturweb/

There you are, editing somebody's book in Microsoft Word.

If you were working 20 years ago, you'd be editing on paper. After you finished, a typesetter would retype the entire manuscript (including your changes) by hand and run out typeset galleys. Then you'd assign a proofreader to check the typesetter's work against your edited manuscript. But today, after being edited in Microsoft Word, the manuscript will *not* be retyped. In fact, it will *become* the typeset galleys. So what's the point of proofreading the galleys against the edited manuscript?

Using an electronically edited manuscript for typesetting is a good thing. It completely prevents all of the errors that would be introduced if a typesetter retyped it. But it also eliminates the opportunity to have someone comb through the text of a book *in a different way* from what the editor has done. Comparing galley proofs and manuscript point by point forces proofreaders to slow down, so they catch errors that editors overlook in a straight read-through.

If you've figured out the solution to this dilemma, I'd love to hear about it. In the meantime, what can you do as you edit electronically to prevent some of the errors a proofreader might catch in a copy-to-copy read-through?

1. Use your spell checker. As I've pointed out before, a spell checker won't catch correctly spelled words that are misused. It *will,* however, catch the most elusive of typos, and you should use it to full advantage for this purpose.

2. Use Microsoft Word's find-and-replace feature to standardize every inconsistent spelling, capitalization, and punctuation mark. You may want to use some of our programs (such as FileCleaner and MegaReplacer) to help automate this task. Please *don't* do it by scrolling through the file over and over again, hoping you'll somehow spot everything.

3. Mark typesetting spec levels with styles (such as Heading 1, Normal, and so on) to minimize the amount of formatting typesetters have to do by hand.

Does all of this electronic editing mean the death of proofreading?

Well, not quite.

The point of proofreading is to see if an error has occurred *at any point an error can be introduced* in the publishing process. So, in the old days, a proofreader basically checked every typeset character against the edited manuscript, because every time the typesetter's finger hit a key, there was a possibility for error.

Similarly, a proofreader checked every correction the typesetter made at galley stage, because for every correction there was also the possibility that the typesetter would introduce a new error.

In your electronic production process, you need to identify the places errors can be introduced. Then have a proofreader check those places. For example:

1. Try editing in Word with revision marks (tracking) turned on. Then have a proofreader double-check your revisions to make sure *you* haven't introduced errors during your editing. You'll be surprised at how many things turn up.

2. Have a proofreader check corrections made by authors or reviewers (unless, as editor, you do this yourself).

3. After typesetting, have a proofreader check formatting, widows, orphans, and breaks--all of the things that typesetters still impose on a manuscript even though they no longer retype it. In fact, you should have a proofreader check the final output for every medium in which a document will be published: print, HTML, Microsoft Reader, Adobe Acrobat, and so on. Publishing in different formats is like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to get.

4. Have a proofreader read slowly through the document looking for things you may have missed while editing. This isn't proofreading in the strict sense of the word, but I'm always glad to have a second pair of eyes review my work. Maybe you are too.