Editing from the Top Down

When I'm editing on the computer (which is most of the time), I'm most effective when I edit from the "top down." What that means is that I don't start changing commas and semicolons until I've done some other, more comprehensive tasks:

1. If each chapter of a book is a separate document, I pull all of the chapters together using the Add Documents feature of our Editor's ToolKit program. I like having all of the chapters in one document so I can see and work on the whole book at once. Later, if I need to split the document apart again, I use the program's Split Documents feature. You can learn more about Editor's ToolKit here:

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

2. I apply my own document template. This template uses a font that's easy on the eyes and includes all of the styles I'm likely to need. You can read more about this here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1700934923

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1704544112

3. I replace directly applied formatting with paragraph styles. (Why more authors don't use styles to format their documents is beyond me, but that's the way it is.) If the author has been consistent, I can do this with Word's Replace feature, replacing 16-point Arial bold (for example) with Word's Heading 1 paragraph style (for example). If the author hasn't been consistent (which is usually the case), then I have to go through the document and apply at least some of the paragraph styles manually. The effort is worth it, however, because it means that the styles can be passed on to QuarkXPress when it's typesetting time or reformatted quickly and easily in Microsoft Word as needed. You can read more about this here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1705536230

4. After applying the heading styles (Heading 1 through Heading 9) in particular, I use Word's Outline View or Document Map to look at the structure of the document. Does it make sense? Are the different sections in some kind of logical order? If they're not, I can easily move them around in Outline View. You can read more about this here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1700396609

5. I run the document through our FileCleaner program to clean up double spaces, eliminate multiple carriage returns, remove any remaining directly applied formatting (but leave italic intact), and fix a host of other annoying (but common) errors. You can learn more about FileCleaner here:

http://www.editorium.com/14845.htm

6. Finally, I start editing the actual text of the document. As I do this, I watch for recurring errors. If an error shows up more than twice, I stop fixing it manually and take care of all of its occurrences in one fell swoop, using a macro or Word's Replace feature. I save my macros and find-and-replace strings for use on future projects, and I now have a large collection of these useful tools. You can learn more about macros and Find and Replace in past issues of Editorium Update--October 24, 2000, to November 21, 2000, and March 21, 2001, to June 6, 2001:

http://editorium.com/euindex.htm

You may not want to follow my procedures exactly, but you might think about the steps you take in editing and see if there are some "top-down" procedures you could follow that would improve your speed, efficiency, and comfort.