Working on an index this week, I needed to ensure that pagination of the document I was indexing matched another document in which pagination had already been set. Because of the complexity of the material, I had to do this manually and visually, paging down in document 1, switching to document 2, paging down again, and then switching back to document 1. What a pain! It wasn't long before I found myself writing a macro to move down a page in both documents at once. Here it is, short but sweet:
'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub PageDownInSynch()
Documents(2).Activate
Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToPage
Documents(1).Activate
Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToPage
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE
If you don't know how to use macros like that one, you can learn how here:
For the macro to work, you must have two documents open in Word at the same time, and the process works best if you've sized and arranged the two documents vertically side by side. (Our Editor's ToolKit program includes an "Arrange Documents" macro that will do that for you instantly and automatically.)
For best results, assign the macro to a keyboard combination so you can quickly run it over and over with the touch of a key. You can learn how to do that here:
http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1713088939
Now you can page through your documents, adjusting pagination as needed with manual page breaks (CTRL + ENTER). You'll probably find other uses for the macro as well. Enjoy!
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READERS WRITE
William T. Buckley wrote, "This is not a huge issue, but it does come up once in a while, especially in limited-space conditions. How do I produce a circled-c 'circa' sign or symbol, not to be confused with a (c) copyright symbol? I've looked at several grids and character maps, and don't find anything like what I need."
I was unable to find such a character, even in Unicode fonts. Do you, gentle reader, have an answer?
Preston Earle wrote, "Thanks for the improved Title Case macro. Is there a way to modify the macro such that it ignores a list of all-caps words like USA, NASA, MS (as in MS Word), and, perhaps, state abbreviations?"
I've now modified the macro to do this. Here's the new version:
'MACRO BEGINS HERE
Sub TitleCaseHeadings()
'Created by Jack M. Lyon
'
For h = 1 To 9
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
myHeading$ = "Heading" + Str(h)
Selection.Find.Style = ActiveDocument.Styles(myHeading$)
With Selection.Find
.Text = ""
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdStop
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute
While Selection.Find.Found = True
Selection.Range.Case = wdTitleWord
For Each wrd In Selection.Range.Words
Select Case Trim(wrd)
Case "A", "An", "As", "At", "And", "But", _
"By", "For", "From", "In", "Into", "Of", _
"On", "Or", "Over", "The", "Through", _
"To", "Under", "Unto", "With"
wrd.Case = wdLowerCase
Case "Usa", "Nasa", "Usda", "Ibm", "Nato"
wrd.Case = wdUpperCase End Select
Next wrd
wrdCount = Selection.Range.Words.Count
Selection.Range.Words(1).Case = wdTitleWord
Selection.Range.Words(wrdCount - 1).Case = wdTitleWord
strLength = Selection.Range.Characters.Count
For i = 1 To strLength
If Selection.Range.Characters(i) = ":" Then
Selection.Range.Characters(i + 2).Case = wdTitleWord
End If
Next i
Selection.Find.Execute
Wend
Next h
MsgBox "Finished!", , "Title Case Headings"
End Sub
'MACRO ENDS HERE
The line that makes the difference is this one:
Case "Usa", "Nasa", "Usda", "Ibm", "Nato"
Feel free to modify that line to suit your needs. The items I've included are just examples. Notice, though, that for the macro to work, you must type your items not in all caps (USA) but in title case (Usa). That's because the macro has already put the whole *line* in title case, so you're now specifying words in title case that you want to be in all caps.
Many thanks for the help, questions, and suggestions.
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RESOURCES
SoftSnow offers some very interesting software that may come in handy if you're involved in electronic publishing or converting documents to HTML. Book Proofer and HTML Book Fixer look especially interesting:
http://www.softsnow.biz/index.shtml
