Tips and Techniques for Publishing Professionals

Last week I explained how to create your own toolbars in Microsoft Word. You can create your own menus, too, as a place to activate macros or Word commands. Here's how:

In Word 97 or later:

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Customize."

3. Click the "Commands" tab.

4. In the "Categories" box (on the left), click "Menu" (you'll probably have to scroll down to find it).

5. In the "Commands" box (on the right), click "New Menu" and hold down your mouse button.

6. Drag your new menu (represented by a gray rectangle) up to Word's menu bar and drop it (by releasing the mouse button) where you want it to go. It will be displayed on the menu bar with the name "New Menu."

7. Back down in the "Customize" dialog, click the "Modify Selection" button. The customization menu will appear.

8. In the box labeled "Name," type the name for your menu, such as "Macros," and press your "Enter" key to make the change.

9. In the box labeled "Save in," select the template or document where you want your new menu to live. This will probably be your Normal template (Normal.dot), which will make the menu available to any document. You could also select another template or document, however.

10. Click the "Close" button.

In Word 6 or 95:

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Customize."

3. Click the "Menus" tab.

4. Click the "Menu Bar" button (on the lower right).

5. In the box labeled "Name on Menu bar," type the name for your menu, such as "Macros."

6. In the box labeled "Position on Menu Bar," click the menu (such as "Edit" or "View") after which you want your new menu to appear. (You can also click "First" or "Last.")

7. Click the "Add" or "Add After" button. (You can also remove or rename menus while you're here, but if you do so, use extreme caution. It's not easy to get things back the way they were.)

8. Click the "Close" button.

9. In the box labeled "Save changes in," select the template or document where you want your new menu to live. This will probably be your Normal template (Normal.dot), which will make the menu available to any document. You could also select another template or document, however.

10. Click the "Close" button for the "Customize" dialog.

Once you've created your menu, you can add macros to it as described in the July 11, 2001, issue of Editorium Update, which you can read here:

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

I've assumed that you're probably going to keep your new menus (and toolbars) in your Normal template, but that's not the best place to keep them, since the Normal template can become corrupted (you should back it up frequently, just in case). It's better to keep your menus and toolbars (and keyboard shortcuts and macros) in your own add-in template, as explained in the June 20, 2001, Editorium Update:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707194086

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READERS WRITE

April Karys wrote:

Our authors frequently write "the Java programing language," and just as frequently leave out the "the." I'm looking for a wildcard that will identify only the instances of this phrase that occur without the "the" and then insert it. That way I won't have to go through manually for this one correction item, but can include a wildcard with the macro that's cleaning everything *else* up. Whew. Anyway, is this possible to achieve with wildcards? Is nothing impossible to achieve with wildcards? (Will one of them make me dinner tonight?)

I responded:

As far as I know, there's no elegant (wildcard) way to do what you're describing. You just have to grit your teeth and do a two-step find-and-replace. You *can* record it in a macro, however.

To achieve what you want:

Find: Java programming language

Replace with: the Java programming language.

And then:

Find: the the Java programming language

Replace with: the Java programming language

In other words, you'll be putting an extra "the" in front of some of your "Javas" but then removing them. That will leave *all* of the occurrences looking like this:

the Java programming language

That should do the job.

In the meantime, I'll be working on some wildcards that will make duck ? l'orange. 🙂

A few weeks ago, we talked about how to create toolbar buttons to activate your macros, but the fact is, you can create your own toolbars as well. Then you're not stuck with the toolbars that come with Microsoft Word. Here's how:

In Word 97 or later:

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Customize."

3. Click the "Toolbars" tab.

4. Click the "New" button.

5. In the box labeled "Toolbar name," type a name for your toolbar, such as "My Macros."

6. In the box labeled "Make toolbar available to," select the template or document where you want your toolbar to live. This will probably be your Normal template (Normal.dot), which will make your toolbar available to any document. You could also select another template or document, however.

7. Click the "OK" button.

8. Click the "Close" button.

In Word 6 or 95:

1. Click the "View" menu.

2. Click "Toolbars."

3. Click the "New" button.

4. In the box labeled "Toolbar name," type a name for your toolbar, such as "My Macros."

5. In the box labeled "Make toolbar available to," select the template or document where you want your toolbar to live. This will probably be your Normal template (Normal.dot), which will make your toolbar available to any document. You could also select another template, however.

6. Click the "OK" button.

7. Click the "Close" button.

Once you've created your toolbar, you can add macros to it as described in the June 27, 2001, issue of Editorium Update, which you can read here:

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

In our last newsletter, we talked about putting macros on toolbar buttons, but you may prefer putting them on menus instead. Here's how:

In Word 6 or 95:

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Customize."

3. Click the "Menus" tab.

4. In the "Categories" list, on the left, find and click "Macros."

5. In the "Macros" list, on the right, find and click the macro you want to use.

6. In the "Change What Menu" box, find and click the menu you want to use ("Edit," for example, or "Insert").

7. In the "Position on Menu" box, find and click the menu item below which you want your new menu item to appear. (You can also select "Auto" [which lets Word assign the position], "At Top," and "At Bottom.")

8. In the "Name on Menu" box, type the name of your macro as you want it to appear on the menu. (This won't change the actual name of your macro.)

9. Click the "Add" or "Add Below" button.

10. Click the "Close" button.

In Word 97 or later:

1. Click the "Tools" menu.

2. Click "Customize."

3. Click the "Commands" tab.

4. In the "Categories" list, on the left, find and click "Macros."

5. In the "Commands" list, on the right, find and click the macro you want to use and hold down the mouse button.

6. Drag the gray rectangle to the Word menu you want to use ("Edit," for example, or "Insert"). The menu will expand so you can see its entries.

7. Drag the gray rectangle to the position where you want your menu item to appear.

8. Release the mouse button. Your new menu item will appear on the menu, displaying the name of the macro.

9. In Word 97 or later, click the "Modify Selection" button or right-click the menu item you just added. A menu will appear.

10. Use the menu items to change the appearance of your new menu item until you're happy with it (see the explanations below).

11. When you're finished, click the "Close" button.

Your new menu item will appear on the menu you selected, displaying the name of the macro.

Now you can click the menu item to run your macro.

Here's an explanation of the items on the "Modify Selection" menu:

* "Delete" deletes the selected button.

* "Name" lets you change the text displayed on the menu (without affecting the name of the macro).

* "Copy Button Image" copies the icon from a selected button or menu item.

* "Paste Button Image" pastes a copied icon to the left of a selected menu item.

* "Reset Button Image" resets a menu item to its default appearance, which is blank for a new menu item to which you've assigned an icon.

* "Edit Button Image" lets you create your own icons or modify existing ones. Be careful; it's easy to spend hours playing around in here.

* "Change Button Image" lets you select one of Word's built-in icons. I frequently use the smiley face to run a quick-and-dirty macro for a particular project.

* "Default Style" displays the icon and menu name for a menu item that has both an icon and a text name.

* "Text Only (Always)" displays only the menu item's name, hiding the icon if you've assigned one. (The "Always" means this will be true even if you drag the item to a toolbar button.)

* "Text Only (In Menus)" displays only the menu item's name on the menu (but not if you drag it to a toolbar).

* "Image and Text" displays both the icon and the menu item's name.

* "Begin a Group" separates the menu item from previous menu items with a thin, gray line.

* "Assign Hyperlink" lets you use the menu item to link to a Web page, a file, a picture, or other items, but that's a topic for another day.

When you close Word, the program will ask if you want to save the changes you've made to the Normal (or other) template. In other words, do you want to keep the menu item you've added? If you do, click yes (this will also save any other changes you've made to the template).

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READERS WRITE

Subscriber Brian Vicary wrote:

I have read with great interest your articles concerning Word macros--in particular your more advanced series dealing with creating macros and making them available automatically via add-in templates.

As part of our business I visit our clients' sites to install software and to perform updates when necessary. We supply a Word template with predefined macros to make the use of our software easier. On networks we prefer our template to be shared so that we only have one location to update. While this can be accomplished by pointing the Word Startup path to this shared location, it is often not possible if the users already have templates in their Startup folder. Often users already have slightly different Startup templates for their own use or do not need access to a particular template.

You can add templates using the Tools, Templates and Add-Ins option, but you have to manually activate them each time you run Word.

To get round this problem this is what I do:

1. Open Word and then close the blank document that is open.

2. Go to the Tools menu and select the Macro option; from there select the Record New Macro.... option.

3. Give the macro a name appropriate to the macro--for example, AddMyMacro.

4. Click OK to begin recording the macro.

5. Click the Tools menu and select the Templates and Add-Ins option.

6. Click the Add button.

7. Navigate to where the Template document is stored on the network and select it. It should appear in the Add-ins list with a tick.

8. Click the OK button.

9. Stop recording the macro.

10. Go to the Tools menu and select the Macro option; from there select the Macros.... option.

11. Enter the name AutoExec in the Macro Name box and click the Create button. This will open the Visual Basic Editor with the new macro AutoExec.

12. In the sub for AutoExec, enter the name of the new macro you recorded above--for example, AddMyMacro.

13. Close the Visual Basic Editor.

14. Close and restart Word.

Now when Word starts, it automatically runs the macro AutoExec. This in turn runs the macro name you entered, AddMyMacro, which loads and activates the required template.

If you already have an AutoExec macro, just add a new line to it with the name of your macro. Any number of macros can be added this way, and you also have control over who loads what macros, as well as allowing them to maintain a personal Startup path.

You can also add the template in the usual manner without recording a macro, then record a macro of your activating it. The process is exactly the same, and the result is also exactly the same.

The only drawback can be the speed of the network if your macros are complex, but in practice I have not found this to be a major problem. Also, you have to get everyone to close their Word if you need to update any of the Add-on templates. However, this is true whatever method you use for sharing templates.

Hope this may be of interest to any of your readers.

Thanks very much to Brian for this useful tip.

If you've been recording your own macros (as explained in past issues of Editorium Update), you may be interested in putting them on toolbar buttons for easy access. Here's how:

1. Make sure the toolbar you want to use is showing. (You may need to click the "View" menu, click "Toolbars," and then put a checkmark next to the toolbar you want to display.)

2. Click the "Tools" menu.

3. Click "Customize."

4. Click the "Commands" tab. (In Word 6 or Word 95, click the "Toolbars" tab.)

5. In the "Categories" list, on the left, click "Macros."

6. In the "Commands" list ("Macros" list in Word 6 or Word 95), on the right, click the macro you want to use and hold down the mouse button.

7. Drag the gray rectangle (representing a toolbar button) to a suitable position on the toolbar you want to use. (In Word 97 or later, a black "I-beam" will indicate the position of your new button.)

8. Release the mouse button. A new button will appear on the toolbar. (In Word 97 or later, it will display the name of the macro.)

9. In Word 6 or 95, click the icon you want to use, or type in the text for a text button. Then click the "Assign" button.

10. In Word 97 or later, click the "Modify Selection" button or right-click the toolbar button you just added. A menu will appear. (In Word 6 or Word 95, you can display the menu by right-clicking the toolbar button.)

11. Use the menu items to change the appearance of your button until you're happy with it (see the explanations below).

12. When you're finished, click the "Close" button.

Now you can click the button to run your macro from the toolbar.

Here's an explanation of the items on the "Modify Selection" menu (some of these are not available in Word 6 or Word 95):

* "Delete" deletes the selected button.

* "Name" lets you change the text displayed on the button (without affecting the name of the macro).

* "Copy Button Image" copies the icon from a selected button.

* "Paste Button Image" pastes a copied icon to a selected button.

* "Reset Button Image" resets a button to its default appearance, which is blank for a new button to which you've assigned an icon.

* "Edit Button Image" lets you create your own icons or modify existing ones. Be careful; it's easy to spend hours playing around in here.

* "Change Button Image" lets you select one of Word's built-in icons. I frequently use the smiley face to run a quick-and-dirty macro for a particular project.

* "Default Style" displays only the icon for a button that has both an icon and a text name.

* "Text Only (Always)" displays only the button's name, hiding the icon if you've assigned one.

* "Text Only (In Menus)" displays only the button's name if you drag the button to a menu rather than a toolbar (yes, you can do that).

* "Image and Text" displays both the icon and the button's name.

* "Begin a Group" separates the button from previous buttons with a space (in Word 6 or Word 95) or a thin, gray line.

* "Assign Hyperlink" lets you use the button to link to a Web page, a file, a picture, or other items, but that's a topic for another day.

When you close Word, the program will ask if you want to save the changes you've made to the Normal (or other) template. In other words, do you want to keep the button you've added? If you do, click yes (this will also save any other changes you've made to the template).

If you've been recording your own macros, as explained in our past several newsletters, you've probably been saving them in your Normal template, where they'll be available to use with any document. The Normal template may not be the best place to save them, however. Since it's used a lot, it can become corrupt. (You should back up your Normal template frequently.) Also, saving macros in your Normal template makes it hard to keep them organized.

What's the alternative? Create your own add-in templates as a place to keep your macros. Doing so has several advantages:

1. It makes organizing your macros easy. You can keep all the macros for a particular project or task in a single add-in template.

2. It makes backing up your macros easy. Just keep copies of your templates in several locations.

3. It makes sharing your macros easy. Just give a copy of a template to a colleague or friend.

For information on how to use add-in templates, please see the past two issues of Editorium Update:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707012536

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707100224

So how do you create an add-in template? Here's the way I like to do it:

1. Create a new document in Microsoft Word.

2. Save the document as a Microsoft Word template, which has a ".dot" extension. Be sure to give it a name that describes the purpose of the macros you're going to store in the template (for example, Cleanup.dot or MyProject.dot).

3. Click the "Tools" menu.

4. Click "Macro" and (in Word 97 or later) "Macros."

5. Click the "Organizer" button.

On the "Macro Project Items" tab, you'll see two windows. The name of the template you just created should be displayed above the left window, which should be empty since the template doesn't contain any macros yet. If the name of your template isn't displayed, click the drop-down list under the window and select it.

The window on the right should show the macros available in Normal.dot (as indicated above the window). If the window isn't displaying Normal.dot, click the drop-down list under the window and select it. Then, do this:

1. Select the macros in Normal.dot that you want to copy to your new template. (To select several at once, hold down the CTRL key while clicking the macro names.)

2. Click the "Copy" button. The macros should now be displayed in the left window as being in your new template. (You can also delete or rename macros if you like.)

3. Click the "Close" button.

4. Save your new template, which now contains the macros you copied to it.

You've just created your own add-in template containing your own macros.

In upcoming issues of Editorium Update, I'll explain how to run macros by adding your own toolbar buttons, menu items, and keyboard combinations to Microsoft Word. If you want to get a head start, however, be sure to read today's Readers Write column, where subscriber David M Varner explains the importance of using keyboard combinations ("hot keys") and how to create them. Thanks, David!

Last week I explained how to add macros to Microsoft Word in a "global template" or "add-in." You can read last week's newsletter here:

http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707012536

The problem is, every time you start Word, you'll have to reactivate the global template before you can use its macros. Here's the procedure:

1. Click the "Tools" menu (the "File" menu in earlier versions of Word).

2. Click "Templates and Add-ins" ("Templates" in earlier versions of Word).

3. In the list of global templates and add-ins, put a checkmark in the checkbox for the template you want to use.

4. Click the "OK" button.

Wouldn't it be nice, though, if you could have Word add the template automatically? You can. Just follow this procedure:

1. Close Microsoft Word.

2. Copy the template you want to add automatically.

3. Navigate to Word's Startup folder.

4. Paste the template into the Startup folder.

5. Restart Microsoft Word.

The macros in the template should now be available for you to use, and they'll be available automatically every time you start Word.

If you don't know where the Startup folder is, here's how to find out:

1. Click the "Tools" menu (in any version of Word).

2. Click the "Options" menu item.

3. Click the "File Locations" tab.

You'll see the location of the Startup folder on the line labeled "Startup." (If you can't see the full path to the folder, click the "Modify" button.)

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READERS WRITE

David M Varner wrote:

Thank you for your recent information on macros. They are a big key to saving critical time on editorial tasks. I know that my assignments frequently incur midstream revisions; more accurately, frequent revisions (to subject matter as well as format) are the rule. So while macros may take a little time to create, you can zoom through those revisions so quickly that it is well worth knowing this function well. Glad to see your focus on macros.

I disagree, however, with your implicit vote for using Word's menu to implement macros. Sorting through menu items is generally somewhat awkward, especially with time constraints always looming. A pretty good short circuit for this snare is to use hot keys. Even if you prefer mousing in the menu, hot keys are a wonderful snap by comparison when considering time, and possibly crucial when a deadline is close. Having a stable of custom macros is not a bad idea either, if not inevitable.

Not only can you choose to assign hot keys while you are creating a macro, but you can also create hot keys for existing macros. I discovered the latter a couple of years ago while trying to remember the hot keys I had assigned to a certain macro. To my dismay, the answer was not to be found in the Macros dialog box--a strange oversight.

This oversight was so strange, in fact, I was convinced that macro hot-key assignments still must exist somewhere. Well, they do, and their location was not obvious, but not too far away. In short, I found them in the "Customize" dialog box. So, to find the forgotten hot keys you assigned to a macro:

1. Click "Tools" on the menu, then select "Customize" to access the "Customize" dialog box.

2. Click the "Keyboard" button to access the "Customize Keyboard" dialog box.

3. In the "Categories" field, scroll down to and select "Macros."

4. In the "Macros" field, scroll, if necessary, down to the macro you want and select it. Your assigned hot keys now appear in the "Current keys" field.

You can probably now figure out how to assign (or modify) hot keys to existing macros using the "Customize Keyboard" dialog box: Using the "Press new shortcut key" field, select "Ctrl," "Alt," and/or "Shift" keys in combination with other keyboard characters to make that hot-key assignment.