Tips and Techniques for Publishing Professionals

If you've spent much time in user groups related to Microsoft Word, Macintosh computers, or technical writing, you've probably seen postings and articles by Geoff Hart, one of the most prolific, respected, and helpful writers and Word experts I know. And now for the big news: Geoff has released his long-awaited book Effective Onscreen Editing! You can learn more about the book here:

http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm

Effective Onscreen Editing is yet to be released in print form, but the PDF version is well worth acquiring--723 pages, exquisitely designed for on-screen reading. I'm going to want the printed version so I can study on my patio with a lemonade in hand, but the PDF offers some real advantages, not the least of which are the clickable hyperlinks to online resources and the ability to search the text (CTRL + F in Adobe Reader).

The book is extremely well organized and amazingly thorough, covering everything from determining your pay rate to preventing repetitive stress injury, from personalizing your software to implementing a practical backup strategy. I've included the basic table of contents below, but you can download the complete table here:

Click to access EOE-detailed-TOC.pdf

If you're editing onscreen, you can't afford *not* to buy this book. I give it my strongest recommendation--and besides, Geoff deserves your support. You can purchase the book here:

http://www.geoff-hart.com/ccart/

Many thanks to Geoff for creating this wonderful resource.

Contents of Effective Onscreen Editing

I. Overview and introduction

Chapter 1. My goal and approach in this book

Chapter 2. Advantages of onscreen editing

Chapter 3. Writing and editing are human endeavors

II. Mastering the tools

Chapter 4. Personalizing how your software works

Chapter 5. Moving around the document and selecting text

Chapter 6. Using revision tracking

Chapter 7. Inserting and deleting text

Chapter 8. Using the search tools (find and replace) to improve consistency

Chapter 9. Developing style sheets: a tool for consistency

Chapter 10. Using spelling and grammar checkers

Chapter 11. Automating your edits

Chapter 12. Editing in special situations

Chapter 13. Using the Internet to improve your editing

III. Identifying and overcoming barriers

Chapter 14. Coping when revision tracking isn't available

Chapter 15. Developing safeguards

Chapter 16. Solving the proofreading problem

Chapter 17. Coping with the human factor

Chapter 18: Putting the theory to work: a four-step implementation process

Appendix I. Developing a sound backup strategy

Elements of a backup strategy

Recovering the current version of your work

Recovering previous versions of your work

Protecting yourself against viruses and other malware

Protecting yourself against theft and damage

Appendix II: Protecting yourself from injury while using the computer

Aches and pains

Hand problems

Eye strain

Solutions

Appendix III: Changes made in Word XP, Word 2003, and Word 2004

Adapting the tips in the main text to work with these versions of Word

Further reading

Useful references

Helpful Internet resources

You'll find more information about Geoff himself at his website:

www.geoff-hart.com

And again, you can purchase the book here:

http://www.geoff-hart.com/ccart/

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

After reading the last newsletter on "The Need for Speed," Bill Rubidge wrote:

One suggestion I would add, since it is so basic, is: Learn to use the keyboard whenever possible, rather than the mouse. And I'm not necessarily suggesting learning and memorizing the keyboard commands--I'm just suggesting using the keyboard Alt keys to access the Word menus and move through them to the command you want and would otherwise access via numerous mouse moves and clicks. Once you display the keyboard commands (use the options to do this), learning to use the keyboard instead of the mouse is pretty quick.

Many thanks to Bill.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill reviews many free or cheap utilities and Web sites, both of general interest and of special interest to writers and editors. Among the writer's productivity tools recommended are:

* ToDoList (free task list manager)

* Smart Type Assistant (shareware abbreviation expander)

* Phrase Express (free abbreviation expander)

* WordWeb (free dictionary)

* Documeron (free quick access to recently used files)

* TinySpell (free text spell-checker)

* FileBox Extender (free quick access to recently used folders)

* TraxTime (shareware punch clock)

* Copernic Desktop Search (free)

* Screenshot Captor, FastStone Capture, and MW Snap (free screen capture tools)

For more information, visit the blog here:

http://jonathanstoolbar.blogspot.com

In my last few years as a corporate employee, I felt compelled to edit faster and faster while still maintaining accuracy. (Could it have had something to do with the many rounds of layoffs in the company?) If you're feeling the same squeeze, I have some suggestions that might help.

1. Choose the fast way over the easy way. That sounds paradoxical, but it's often easier to spend *ten* minutes making corrections manually than it is to spend *five* minutes recording and running a macro to make the same corrections automatically. Human nature, I guess. But if you can keep breaking through your own resistance to change, all those new techniques will soon become second nature, and you'll be working at a higher and faster level.

2. If you're still working on an old 233 MHz computer with 256 megs of RAM, get an upgrade, fer cryin' out loud! Buy a new computer--something fast, with, say, a 2GHz processor and at least 1G of RAM (I recommend, for now, sticking with Windows XP and Word 2000 or 2003). Over the past few years, desktop computers have become very powerful--and cheap:

http://www.techbargains.com/

The latest Macs make me drool, but they're on the expensive side:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

"But," you say, "I don't need a fast computer; all I'm doing is reading through one document at a time and making simple corrections." If that's true:

3. Learn how to automate as many tasks as you can; that's what computers are for, and that's why you need one that's fast. If you're still editing as you would on paper, learn how to use macros and wildcard Find and Replace. That will require an investment of time and effort, but you'll be amazed at the results.

http://www.editorium.com/euindex.htm (scroll down to "Macros and Programs").

http://www.editorium.com/euindex.htm (scroll down to "Finding and Replacing").

4. Spend a few minutes once a month researching new software that might make your life easier. There are wonderful programs out there, many of them free, and I'll try to feature some of them in the future. As a friend of mine says, "If you keep doing things the same way, life will never get any better." Of course, I recommend my own Microsoft Word add-ins:

http://www.editorium.com

For lots of other interesting ideas, check out LifeHacker:

http://www.lifehacker.com

5. Maintain your computer. How to do that is beyond the scope of this article, but there's plenty of information on the internet. I like Windows Secrets:

http://www.windowssecrets.com

6. Set your mouse and keyboard to run as fast as you can stand. I always have mine at full blast.

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1700849395

7. Don't use directly applied formatting. Do use paragraph styles.

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

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1711522967

8. Make sure you've got the final version of the document you need to work on. I can't tell you how many times I've edited something only to have the author say, "Oh, that was a preliminary version." Editing once is fast; editing twice is slow.

9. Educate your authors and clients. If old Professor Higgins always hits ENTER at the end of each line as if using a typewriter, pick up the phone, call the good professor, and explain why that's a bad idea. Don't just sullenly correct the same mistakes time after time. Why not give your authors a checklist of (1) things to do and (2) things not to do? It would make your life easier, and your work faster. I've included a few such items at the end of the instructions for my free Author Tools Template:

http://www.editorium.com/ftp/authortemplate.zip

10. Educate yourself. Spend one hour each week (I like Friday afternoon) learning one new skill or technique that would make your work easier and faster. You might consult my newsletter archive for some ideas:

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

Do you have other hints and ideas about how to speed up editing (while still maintaining quality)? If so, share the love:

mailto:editor [at symbol] editorium.com

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RESOURCES

Macro programs

Can't do what you need with Word macros? Check these out:

http://www.autohotkey.com/

http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/quicksilver

http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/

Word 2008, for Macintosh, isn't out yet but will be later this year:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-09MacworldPR.mspx

Like Word 2007 for Windows, it will feature the Ribbon interface, with all of the drawbacks I discussed in the previous newsletter:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1720752173

But there's one more drawback that will be utterly devastating: No more recording, programming, or even running of macros. In other words, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) will *not* be part of Word 2008. Here's the explanation given by one of the developers:

Saying goodbye to Visual Basic

Since I make a living writing Word add-ins, I'm unhappy about this, and I'm not alone:

http://www.macworld.com/2006/12/opinion/microsoft/

Power users--editors, typesetters, indexers, and other publishing professionals--are just out of luck on this one.

Solutions?

NeoOffice 2.1 is slated to support VBA:

http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=116

And VBA support is being developed for OpenOffice.org Writer--a very big deal:

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/VBA

http://www.openoffice.org/

You could also do what I'm going to do: Stick with Word 2004.

If you have other solutions, I'd love to hear about them:

mailto:editor [at symbol] editorium.com

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

After reading the last newsletter, India Amos (http://indiamos.wordpress.com/) wrote:

Thank you so much for writing this review. As soon as I saw Walter Mossberg's article, I was worried that the new version of Word would break ETK+.

So, it makes sense to me that integrated *programs* such as FileCleaner, NoteStripper, and QuarkConverter would continue to work with Word 2007 (phew!), but what will happen to all the specialized toolbars, if the new Word has no toolbars? I rely heavily on the FileCleaner buttons. Will I finally have to learn the keyboard shortcuts if I upgrade, or will there be still some buttony interface?

I responded:

They'll still be there, but only in the "Add-ins" section of the ribbon. And they can't be moved around, either. So you'll still be able to use the buttons, but you won't be able to move the toolbars anywhere else.

You'll find some screenshots of the Ribbon interface here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101679411033.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA100898951033.aspx

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

Rohn from Winnipeg wrote:

I feel your pain/pane with the "New & Improved" Office 2007 Ribbon UI. I haven't had a chance to try it myself, but what I've seen in demonstrations etc, doesn't impress me. I just came across this blog:

http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/10/09/58

It has a few dozen links (literally!) detailing the design of the UI by someone who worked on it.

The few links I've read so far have been interesting and informative. One of them describes why they limited customization, only approximately 1% of all users do any significant amount of customization (and he mentioned that it represents something like 130 million individuals!)

Another "interesting" site is some more M$ propaganda in Comic form promoting the Ribbon UI:

http://www.enchantedoffice.com/default.asp

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

Susan Daffron (http://www.logicalexpressions.com) wrote:

At the risk of sounding like a "me too," I completely agreed with your analysis of what's wrong with the tack Microsoft is taking with Word.

>This combination of making the interface more and more generic and

customization more and more difficult has, in my opinion, finally

resulted in a version of Word (2007) that is unfit for any but two sets

of users: the most basic, and the most advanced (programmers).<<

In fact, I'd venture to say that they are making this mistake with almost ALL their products.

Our company develops software and my husband is a programmer. Microsoft's development tools on the one hand have all these "ease of use" features built in now, yet have become SO complicated that trying to build a simple application is no longer simple.

In my case, like you I've been writing about Word for a long time now (although at a much lower level; my articles are generally for frustrated newbies). But I'm at the point where I want to completely stop. My favorite version of Word is 2000. (I almost never even open 2003 if I can help it.) The Task Pane was awful enough; I want to get off the bus.

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

Expert word-whacker Hilary Powers is writing--and will, in a few months, be publishing--a book on editing in Microsoft Word. The title? "Making Word Work for You: An Editor's Intro to the Tool of the Trade." Personally, I can hardly wait. I'll announce the book's publication with great gusto as soon as it becomes available, so stay tuned.

Hilary Powers (http://www.powersedit.com) wrote:

If you still have Word 2003 available, you can make Word 2007 give you most of the old interface. Here's a sneak preview from "Making Word Work for You: An Editor's Intro to the Tool of the Trade," due out soon from the Editorial Freelancers Association:

The next PC release, Word 2007, has--what joy--a completely different interface, sans menus, with (as of this writing) no company plan to make the old display available. To get around this, Cindy Meister, a Microsoft MVP, suggests taking the time in your pre-2007 copy of Word to create a menu template. . . . What you do is go to Tools, Customize and create a new toolbar, saving it in this template. Press Ctrl and drag each Word menu (File, Edit, Insert, and the rest, including any custom menus you've created) into the toolbar and save it. When the dread day comes, copy the menu template to your Word 2007 machine and list it with the add-ins, using whatever procedure that system turns out to require. All your Word menus, more or less as you know them now, should appear. Cindy adds, "Of course, no guarantees that all of them will work just like what you're used to. As of beta 2: Some things do map to the new interface; some don't have any effect at all. But most appear to continue to access current (Word 2003) interfaces." It's not a disaster; comments from beta testers indicate that most macros and add-ins continue to work properly in the new environment, and the new user interface has much to recommend it. Me, I'll probably upgrade eventually--but I'll give it at least a year or two to settle down first.

Many thanks to India, Rohn, Susan, and Hilary.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

ReferenceChecker checks numerical (Vancouver) and name+date-style (Harvard and APA) references in Word files. The website contains a download section where users can obtain a free, fully functional trial version:

http://www.goodcitations.com

Here it is, 2007 already. So it seems appropriate to look at Word 2007 and see if it's something editors and other publishing professionals might find useful. You'll find Microsoft's sales pitch here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/FX100487981033.aspx

You should know ahead of time that I'm jaded, biased, and curmudgeonly when it comes to Microsoft's upgrades to Word. My favorite version is still Word 95, and my next favorite is Word 2000. Word 2003 is acceptable.

And 2007? Here's a list of of what Microsoft considers the "top benefits":

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101650321033.aspx

Word 2007's big new feature is the navigation "ribbon," which actually is pretty handy and doesn't make you guess about what the features might be or which ones are available.

My big gripe with the navigation ribbon is that Microsoft has made it so difficult to customize:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms406046.aspx

And customization is really important for editors, indexers, typesetters, and other power users. Out of the box, Word is and always has been configured for the needs of the most basic users--people who need to write a letter, for example. That hasn't mattered much because Microsoft has made it so easy to customize. Users have been able to create their own menus and toolbars and set Word up to work exactly the way they need.

Not anymore.

With the navigation ribbon, all customization (unless you're a serious programmer) is limited to the Quick Access Toolbar above the ribbon. Customizations from existing add-ins are relegated to the "Add-ins" area of the ribbon and won't apply elsewhere. What in the world was Microsoft thinking?

What I *think* they were thinking is what they always seem to be thinking: "How can we dumb down this program even further?" No? Then explain to me the existence of the universally hated "Clippy," the Office Assistant. And why is a dog animation built into the Windows Search program? Why does a feature like "Automatically create styles based on my formatting" even exist?

The other thing they always seem to be thinking is: "How can we make customization harder for the average user?" Why do I say this? Consider the interface for Word 95. Menus were menus; toolbars were toolbars. Customizing either one was a cinch. Then came Word 97, in which menus and toolbars were different but really kind of the same, and much more confusing to customize. Then came Word XP, with that #@*$! Task Pane--which couldn't be customized at all. And now comes Word 2007 with its set-in-stone navigation ribbon.

Now consider the programming language for Word 95: WordBasic--which ordinary mortals (with a little study) could understand and use. Commands were simple. For example, the command to toggle bold formatting was this:

Bold

Then came Word 97, whose macro language was Visual Basic for Applications. Commands were complex. For example, the command to toggle bold formatting was this:

Selection.Font.Bold = wdToggle

Yes, it's more powerful. Yes, it's more consistent. No, it's not easier to use, and it made macro programming impossible for most people.

This combination of making the interface more and more generic and customization more and more difficult has, in my opinion, finally resulted in a version of Word (2007) that is unfit for any but two sets of users: the most basic, and the most advanced (programmers).

Am I wrong? Responsible comments to the contrary are welcome. Please send them here:

mailto:editor [at symbol] editorium.com

And now for a few comments on some of Word's new "benefits," as listed on Microsoft's website:

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

Spend more time writing and less time formatting.

A new, results-oriented interface presents the right tools when you need them, making it easy to format your documents quickly. Now you can find the right features in Office Word 2007 to make your documents communicate more effectively. Using Quick Styles and Document Themes, you can quickly change the appearance of text, tables, and graphics throughout the entire document to match your preferred style or color scheme.

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

This actually is a pretty neat feature for people setting type in Word, but it's more sizzle than steak, in my opinion.

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

Quickly assemble documents using Building Blocks.

Building Blocks in Office Word 2007 can be used to assemble documents from frequently used or predefined content such as disclaimer text, pull quotes, sidebars, cover pages, and other types of content. This will help ensure you don't spend needless time recreating content or copying and pasting between documents; it also helps ensure consistency across all of the documents created within your organization.

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

This could be useful for some editors.

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

Save as PDF or XPS directly from Office Word 2007.

Office Word 2007 offers you a choice for sharing documents with other people. You can convert your Word documents to Portable Document Format (PDF) or XML Paper Specification (XPS) format without the addition of third-party tools to help ensure broad communication with users on any platform.

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

Great!

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

Master your document review processes using Office Word 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

With built-in workflow services in Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can initiate and track document review and approval processes from within Office Word 2007 to help accelerate review cycles across your organization without forcing people to learn new tools.

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

This could be very useful in a publishing office that actually uses SharePoint Server.

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

Remove tracked changes, comments, and hidden text from your documents.

Detect and remove unwanted comments, hidden text, or personally identifiable information using the Document Inspector to help ensure that sensitive information doesn't escape when your documents are published.

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

This is a much-needed fix; I wouldn't call it a new feature.

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

Use the tri-pane review panel to compare and combine documents.

Office Word 2007 makes it easy to find out what changes were made to a document. A new tri-pane review panel helps you see both versions of a document with deleted, inserted, and moved text clearly marked.

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

Now we're talking! Editors should find this very useful.

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

Reduce your file sizes and improve corrupt file recovery.

The new Ecma Office Open XML Formats offer a dramatic reduction in file size as well as improvement in recovery for damaged files. These new formats provide a tremendous savings to storage and bandwidth requirements, and reduce the burden on IT personnel.

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

There shouldn't *be* file corruption in the first place.

One final thought. Microsoft notes, "In our experience, every custom solution continues to work in the 2007 Office system."

That includes the programs I offer at the Editorium. In spite of my snide comments in this article, I'm extremely grateful to Microsoft for making this so, and to Wordmeister (and Word MVP) Steve Hudson for holding their feet to the fire.

I've recently needed to help several people convert Microsoft Word text boxes to text. Is there something in the wind? Whatever is going on, if you're having to copy and paste, copy and paste, to get that text out where you can use it, you'll appreciate the following macro, which pulls text-box text out as regular text and styles it with a character style named "OnceABox," colored red for easy identification. To (eventually) get rid of the red, just delete the character style. (Thanks to Geoff Hart, David Chinell, and Janna DeVore for inspiration.)

If you don't know how to use such macros, you'll find instructions here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1706922855

If you have lots of documents that need to be converted, you might consider running the macro with my MultiMacro program:

http://www.editorium.com/14844.htm

And now, the macro. Enjoy!

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub ExtractTextBoxes()
Dim NoStyle As Boolean
Dim aStyle As Style
Dim aShape As Shape
Dim i As Integer
'Check for "OnceABox" character style
NoStyle = True
For Each aStyle In ActiveDocument.Styles
If aStyle.NameLocal = "OnceABox" Then
NoStyle = False
Exit For
End If
Next aStyle
'If necessary, create "OnceABox"
'character style
If NoStyle Then
ActiveDocument.Styles.Add Name:="OnceABox", _
Type:=wdStyleTypeCharacter
With ActiveDocument.Styles("OnceABox").Font
.Color = wdColorRed
End With
End If
'Style textboxes and convert to frames
For Each aShape In ActiveDocument.Shapes
If aShape.Type = msoTextBox Then
i = i + 1
aShape.Select
aShape.ConvertToFrame
Selection.Style = _
ActiveDocument.Styles("OnceABox")
End If
Next
'Clean and delete frames
For i = ActiveDocument.Frames.Count _
To 1 Step -1
With ActiveDocument.Frames(i)
.Borders.Enable = False
With .Shading
.Texture = wdTextureNone
.ForegroundPatternColor = _
wdColorAutomatic
.BackgroundPatternColor = _
wdColorAutomatic
End With
.Delete
End With
Next
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

Following up on my February 9 article on Microsoft's seeming inconsistency regarding tracked changes, Ed Nelson sent this interesting comment:

We must accept the changes, but reject the inserts to get equivalent results, the omission of the text under consideration.

Sometimes the problems we see come from outside circumstances conflicting with the way our mind sees the issue in the first place. Here's what I'm trying to get at:

We may see the issue as being "What is this command going to do to the text before me?" And what the commands do *does* seem opposite to each other. But if we see it as "What will this command do to the established procedure?" the resuilt isn't so weird. To overcome the Insert process, the new text gets omitted. To overcome the prior editorial correction, the new text (a different item in this case) also gets omitted.

Contradictory procedures are both being overcome. Consistent, No?

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

In the March 24 newsletter, Ed Millis asked for help with the final checking of a document, including, as he wrote, "ensur[ing] all tables and figures are numbered correctly and correspond to their text mention, mak[ing] sure every paragraph has the proper indent and reference (every (a) has a (b), and it's not (b) when it should be (2), and I didn't overlook any abbreviations."

The generous and brilliant Eric Fletcher responded:

I run into similar types of issues as described by your reader Ed Millis, but would never consider printing the document! IMHO, viewing it on the screen is not only less wasteful of paper, but with a few tweaks, you can focus specifically on the particular issue.

I would use Find & Replace's wild card feature to highlight all elements contained within parentheses, then put the file in normal view (zoomed up quite large so I could lean back and do my review with mouse only . . . ), use the Find dialog to find the first instance of a highlight, then use the downward pointing icon in the lower left of the vertical scrollbar to skip through and review all of the others.

For abbreviations, you can pull everything in all caps to a second document, then sort it and look for anomalies. Use Find with wildcards to look for the pattern "[A-Z]{2,5}" (to get all instances of 2-5 capital letters) but choose "Find All" instead of the normal Find. This will select all instances. Drop out of the dialog and Ctrl-C to copy. Make a new document and Paste: you will have a complete set of all found items. When sorted, abbreviations that don't look right are easy to spot.

In fact, for this application, I typically set the abbreviations in their own character style so I can pull them for generating an acronym list. Some abbreviations don't follow the all caps rule ("SoS/E" is a recent example in a book I'm working on for example), but if I have a button to attach the style, it is easy to do as I encounter it. Then, later, I can pull anything tagged with the "abbreviation" style to help create the acronym list.

I have a little macro that helps me correct all other instances of a selection and set them in a character style. I needed it to set Latin names in a document where they needed to be ignored for spell check, but were inconsistently spelled and presented in the supplied content. For example, "tuberosa" was sometimes "tuberaso" but both needed to be tagged as my "Latin" style. As I review words that had been set in italics (Find, Ctrl-i), and came across a word I had not yet set, I can select it and click my SetLatin button. The VBA code presents "tuberaso" (selected) in a dialog and lets me type in "tuberosa". When I click Okay, it uses the VBA Replace all to fix any other instances throughout the document. What makes this particularly helpful is that I have the "Latin" character style set in a temporary colour (say purple) so that as I progress through the document, terms I've dealt with show up distinctly because they are coloured. I then reset the colour to automatic within the style definition before I complete the job. Here's the code I use (it can be modified to fit other requirements):

[Editor's note: I've broken lines so they'll work when copied from this email newsletter. Also, before using the macro, you must create a character style named "Latin." You should take seriously Eric's suggestion to modify the macro to fit other requirements; this macro could be a very useful tool for many purposes.]

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub SetLatin()
' Proposes to replace the selected string
' with whatever you type in,
' and applies the Latin character style
' to each instance.
'
' Set up to deal with correcting
' all instances of italicized words
' in a scanned document (e.g., Latin names)
' because they can be both misinterpreted
' and need to be set in italics consistently.
Dim strReplacement As String
strReplacement = _
InputBox("Replace all instances of [" & _
Selection.Text & _
"] with whatever is entered below, " & _
"and also set each with the " & _
"Latin character style.", _
"Set all like this as Latin", _
Selection.Text)
If strReplacement <> "" Then
With ActiveDocument.Range.Find
.Text = Selection.Text
.MatchWholeWord = True
.Replacement.Text = strReplacement
.Replacement.Style = _
ActiveDocument.Styles("Latin")
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll, _
Forward:=True, Wrap:=wdFindContinue
End With
End If
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

The advantage of using code like this is that it doesn't change what you have set in the Find & Replace dialog. If I did it within the dialog, I'd need to remember to turn off the style the next time I used the dialog. I have several little chunks of code for such things, and it can really improve the efficiency of reviewing.

Incidentally, my temporary colour method can also be very handy for setting styles. If the main body styles area all defined to be based on, say, Body Text, I can set its colour to green. Then, as I tag the content by whatever method, the paragraphs with my styles attached will show up in green so I can concentrate on the non-green content. This is particularly useful if you use either Find & Replace to help tag, or use the "Select all instances" option available from the Styles and Formatting task pane. Either way enables you to assign styles "blindly," but with the colour, you can see what remains to be tagged manually as you review.

This is probably only peripherally relevant to Ed's question, but hopefully some of it will apply!

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

Many thanks to Ed and Eric.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

Are you writing for the web, or editing text to be published on the web? You'll find the Web Style Guide to be an invaluable aid:

http://www.webstyleguide.com/

In our last episode, I provided a macro to make a list of misspelled words found in a document. You'll find the macro here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1720027612

So you've got your list; now how do you use it?

The way *I* recently used it on a multivolume typesetting project was to automatically fix a bunch of archaic (along with just plain wrong) spellings. Here's what I did:

1. Sorted the misspelled words alphabetically.

2. Removed duplicates.

3. Put each word beside itself, separated by a pipe symbol, so the lines looked like this:

fulfil|fulfil

fulness|fulness

kanyon|kanyon

4. Corrected the spelling of the words on the right side of the list:

fulfil|fulfill

fulness|fullness

kanyon|canyon

5. Used the list with my MegaReplacer program to automatically replace the misspelled words on the left with the correctly spelled words on the right--in all the chapters of all the volumes. Whew! More on MegaReplacer here:

http://www.editorium.com/14843.htm

Of course, it would have been nice to have a macro that did steps 1 through 3 for me (sort misspelled words, remove duplicates, put each word beside itself). So I made one. And I'll share:

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub MakeCorrectionList()
'Define variables
Dim Para1$
Dim Para2$
Dim aPara
'Sort words alphabetically
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.Sort
'Delete duplicate words
Selection.WholeStory
For Each aPara In ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
Para2$ = aPara
If Para1$ = Para2$ Then
aPara.Range.Delete
Else
Para1$ = Para2$
End If
Next
'Duplicate list side by side
'with pipe symbol separating
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.ConvertToTable _
Separator:=wdSeparateByParagraphs
Selection.Copy
Selection.InsertColumnsRight
Selection.Paste
Selection.Tables(1).Select
Selection.Rows.ConvertToText _
Separator:="|", NestedTables:=True
'Add code indicating Match
'Case and Whole Word Only
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = "^p"
.Replacement.Text = "+&^p"
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute _
Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

If you don't know how to use such macros, you'll find instructions here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1706922855

That last bit, "Add code indicating Match Case and Whole Word Only," is for use by MegaReplacer, and it will add +& at the end of each entry. In addition, at the bottom of the list, you'll get one final carriage return preceded by +&. You should delete that line before using the list with MegaReplacer.

You may find other uses for the macro as well--or at least pieces of it. For example, this part will delete duplicate paragraphs (i.e., single words on a line) in any list:

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub DeleteDuplicates()
'Delete duplicate words (i.e., paragraphs)
Dim Para1$
Dim Para2$
Dim aPara
For Each aPara In ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
Para2$ = aPara
If Para1$ = Para2$ Then
aPara.Range.Delete
Else
Para1$ = Para2$
End If
Next
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

And the following part will create a two-column table with the list of words in each column. You can then use the table as the basis for an index concordance. More here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1716989880

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1714146574

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1717207977

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1717249352

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
'Sub MakeConcordanceTable()
'Duplicate list side by side in a table
Selection.WholeStory
Selection.ConvertToTable Separator:=wdSeparateByParagraphs
Selection.Copy
Selection.InsertColumnsRight
Selection.Paste
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

Niquette Kelcher wrote:

I have a wildcard question for you that I haven't been able to figure out. I'd like to supply the answer to my students, who have been trying to figure it out with me.

If I have a manuscript with "Titles in Quotations Like This", how do I italicize the title AND get rid of the quotation marks at the same time? My incorrect approach is as follows -- it italicizes the text but doesn't get rid of the quotation marks. I feel I'm missing something obvious!

Find: "*" (use wildcards)

Replace: ^& (Ctrl + I)

Your help would surely be appreciated!

I responded:

You'll need to put the asterisk inside parentheses so it functions as a "group":

Find: "(*)" (use wildcards)

Then use the "Find What Expression" code as the replacement for the text found by the group:

Replace: 1 (Ctrl + I)

More information here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1706365638

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

Ed Millis wrote:

I write/edit technical report documents. I am not in charge of creating them; they are simply emailed to me or handed over on a CD, and I get to insert data and format to a fine finish. Either the document or the data can come in any format or mixture of styles, including web page and Excel file, and with or without automatic bullets, lists, and indents.

So the first thing I do is reformat everything to a Normal style, no automatic anything, and set my tabs. Then, as I go through the document, I apply formatting or style to create headings and table or figure labels.

The last thing I do with one of these reports (often up to 200 pages) is print out a low-resolution non-color copy so I can go over it with pen in hand to ensure all tables and figures are numbered correctly and correspond to their text mention, make sure every paragraph has the proper indent and reference (every (a) has a (b), and it's not (b) when it should be (2), and I didn't overlook any abbreviations.

Has anything crossed the desk of the Editorium that might make dealing with those last items a bit easier?

I responded:

No. But it's an interesting question. I'll look into it.

Not having been able to find an answer, I appeal to you, gentle reader. Do you have a solution for Ed?

Many thanks to Niquette and Ed.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

Need an online style guide for easy reference? Try the Wikipedia Manual of Style:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style

Need something more thorough? Try the Guide to Grammar and Style, by Jack Lynch at Rutgers:

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/

I've been working on a really big set of really big books that use odd, archaic spellings. Wanting to modernize those spellings, I decided to create a macro that would list every word that Microsoft Word sees as misspelled. You'll find the macro a little farther down, but before using it, you'll need to tell the macro where the misspellings are to be recorded. There are three options:

OPTION 1

List the errors at the end of your document.

OPTION 2

List the errors in a new document.

OPTION 3

List the errors in the document in the next window, such as a new, blank document you've already created.

You'll specify the number of your option in the following line in the macro:

myOption = 1

If you use option 3, you can use my MultiMacro program to run the macro on a whole folder full of documents, which will give you a nice, long list of misspellings at the end of your MultiMacro list (assuming your documents have misspellings). More information here:

http://www.editorium.com/14844.htm

Once you've got that list, you can use it to *automatically* fix the misspellings. How? Stay tuned; I'll reveal the secret (and give you another macro) next week.

And now, here's the macro:

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub ListSpellingErrors()
Dim myDoc As Document
Dim myErrorCount As Integer
Dim e As Integer
Dim myOption As Integer
'*****************
'CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING
'THREE OPTIONS:
'OPTION 1
'List the errors at the end of
'your document.
'OPTION 2
'List the errors in a new
'document.
'OPTION 3
'List the errors in the document
'in the next window, such as a new,
'blank document you've already created,
'or a MultiMacro list.
'Specify the number of your option
'in the following line:
myOption = 1
'*****************
'Macro specifies the current document:
Set myDoc = ActiveDocument
'Macro tells Word the document hasn't
'already been spell-checked
'(whether it has or not):
myDoc.SpellingChecked = False
'But if you want Word to remember
'spell-checking you've already done,
'put an apostrophe in front
'of the command above, which turns
'off the command.
'Macro counts the number of errors
'in the document:
myErrorCount = myDoc.SpellingErrors.Count
If myOption = 1 Then
Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory
ElseIf myOption = 2 Then
Documents.Add
ElseIf myOption = 3 Then
If Windows.Count >= 2 Then
WordBasic.NextWindow
Else
MsgBox "Only one document open."
GoTo EndMacro
End If
End If
'Now type the misspellings into
'the specified location:
For e = 1 To myErrorCount
Selection.TypeText Text:=myDoc.SpellingErrors(e)
Selection.TypeParagraph
Next e
If myOption = 3 Then
WordBasic.NextWindow
End If
EndMacro:
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

If you don't know how to use such macros, you'll find instructions here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1706922855

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

Eric Fletcher wrote:

In your February 24 Editorium Update, you quoted Alan Shepard's note about images being messed up, and then a tip about printing without images. I am a big promoter of using only linked rather than embedded images. This not only keeps a Word document smaller but also leaves the source image unchanged. Moreover, if you have all linked images saved in a specific folder relative to the documents, you have the means to manage some otherwise complicated print issues.

For example, if I need to produce a publication for both screen viewing (or low-res print) and a high quality photosetter (offset press, for example), I prepare the images in the best quality for the latter and save them in a folder below where the Word documents are being saved (I use "art/highres"). I then copy the images "up" one level, and prepare the Word document with links to the named images within the "art" folder. This lets me print in the best quality possible for the photosetter, but can really bog down a lower resolution printer--and makes screen refresh irritating and unnecessarily slow.

So here's the trick: To prepare the lower-res version, I then use a batch function of an image editor to make copies of all of the high-res images in a more suitable resolution and save them to a different folder (I use "art/lowres") without changing their names. I then copy everything from this folder up into the "art" folder, replacing the high res versions. The links within the Word documents now point to lower-res versions of the same named images (i.e., a field like { INCLUDEPICTURE "art/c03f12migration.tif" d } will point to whatever image is named "c03f12migration.tif" in the "art" folder, so Word will use that image when the page is recalculated for display or printing).

Using the same approach, I could have the batch routine in my image editor alter the images to retain the dimensions but remove all content (turn lightness to 100% for example) and resave to a third folder ("art/nores" maybe?). Copying these images up to replace the ones in my target "art" folder would then result in a document linking to "empty" images--and since the sizes would be the same, any text flow would not be affected. (This would mimic the placeholder behaviour Word provides through the Options View dialog.)

Word can do a lot, but it was never designed to be an image processor.

Many thanks to Eric!

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

The fabulous (in my opinion) Wikipedia uses some excellent "misspelling" lists to maintain consistency. You, too, can use these lists, if you want to. They're available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_common_misspellings

The lists could be used (with a little tweaking) with my MegaReplacer program:

http://www.editorium.com/14843.htm

Back in January 2003 I published an article called "WordPerfect Weirdness," which featured a macro for converting "special" characters (dashes, quotation marks, and the like) in a file imported from WordPerfect to Word. You can read the article here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1711839353

Unfortunately, the macro isn't reliable with more recent versions of Word, and I needed an updated version (some of those authors are still using WordPerfect). If you need one too, here it is (for PC or Macintosh; yes, it still has some WordBasic in it):

'THE MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub FixWPWeirdness()
' Courtesy of The Editorium (www.editorium.com)
Dim a
Dim i
Dim FalseChar$
Dim TrueChar$
Dim ThisChar
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
'Check for platform
a = InStr(WordBasic.[AppInfo$](1), "Macintosh")
For i = 1 To 6
'Set find and replace variables
Select Case i
Case 1
FalseChar$ = "C"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(209)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(151)
End If
Case 2
FalseChar$ = "B"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(208)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(150)
End If
Case 3
FalseChar$ = "A"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(210)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(147)
End If
Case 4
FalseChar$ = "@"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(211)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(148)
End If
Case 5
FalseChar$ = ">"
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(212)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(145)
End If
Case 6
FalseChar$ = "="
If a Then
TrueChar$ = Chr(213)
Else
TrueChar$ = Chr(146)
End If
Case Else
End Select
'Find and replace characters
With Selection.Find
.Text = FalseChar$
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = True
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute
While WordBasic.EditFindFound()
ThisChar = Asc(WordBasic.[Selection$]())
If ThisChar = 40 Then
WordBasic.EditClear
WordBasic.Insert TrueChar$
End If
Selection.Find.Execute
Wend
Next i
End Sub
'THE MACRO ENDS HERE

If you don't know how to use such macros, you'll find instructions here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1706922855

For ease of use, you might want to attach the macro to a keyboard shortcut, as explained here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1713088939

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

The newsletter for February 9 featured an article called "Macros for Intuitively Reviewing Tracked Revisions":

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1719923701

After reading the article, Hilary Powers wrote:

Regarding your tracking-review macros: I think they'd drive me crazy. Maybe I've been doing this too long, but my thought process runs purely to "keep this change" and "don't keep this change" without reference to whether the underlying text will thereby be restored or removed.

This probably works for me because I never, ever review each and every revision and decide upon its fate individually.

When I go through an edited manuscript after the author has indicated what should happen to it, I first move from one of the author's comments or adjustments to the next, eyeballing for the author's tracking color. In each case, I fix that part of the manuscript so it does what the author wants (which may or may not be precisely what the author asked for). In the process, I try to delete all the queries I've put into the text.

Then I simply approve all the changes remaining in the manuscript, holus bolus--after which I have a whole array of very quick scans to make sure that no queries escaped and nothing else bad happened as a result.

For me, that's intuitive.

Many thanks to Hilary.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau offers interesting occupational and salary information for writers and editors:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/print/ocos089.htm

When I was in first grade, a magician came to our school, and I've been interested in magic ever since. One thing I've learned is that magic is largely psychological; it depends heavily on what magicians call "misdirection"--getting the audience to look at or think about something that furthers the magician's deception.

This principle can be used in software, too, as I recently discovered when putting together my Author Tools template:

http://www.editorium.com/ftp/authortools.zip

Microsoft Word is notorious for getting automatically numbered lists out of whack, but the Author Tools template handles them quite nicely, mostly because of a little trick--Word's ability to reset the start of a list.

If you've used Word's automatically numbered lists, you've probably noticed that *any* lists in the document are actually part of the *same* list. So, if you make a list like this--

1. Bread.

2. Peanut butter.

3. Pickles.

--and then type some unnumbered text after it, as I'm doing with this paragraph--then the next list you make will look like this:

4. Chihuahuas.

5. Dachshunds.

6. Basset hounds.

The second list is numbered with the first, but obviously it shouldn't be. Fortunately, you can reset the numbering (and apply a numbered style) with this macro:

Sub ListNumberedStart()
With Selection.Paragraphs
.Style = "List Number"
With .First.Range.ListFormat
.ApplyListTemplate .ListTemplate, False
End With
End With
End Sub

If you don't know how to use such macros, you'll find instructions here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1706922855

For ease of use, you might want to attach the macro to a keyboard shortcut, as explained here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1713088939

And now for the magical misdirection: Instead of using the macro to *restart* an existing list, use it every time you need to *start* a new list. If you need to continue an existing list, use Word's automatic numbering feature (which you'd usually use to start a list). Notice that this is exactly the opposite of what you might think should happen. But presto! It works!

By the way, when I talk about Word's automatic numbering feature, I am *not* talking about the buttons on the formatting toolbar, which will cause you no end of trouble. Instead, I'm talking about using paragraph styles that *include* the numbering--in this case, the one named List Number.

Rumor has it that Word wizard and MVP Steve Hudson is helping Microsoft solve their numbering problems for the next release of Word. I sure hope so.

More on Steve's stuff here:

http://www.geocities.com/word_heretic/

_________________________________________

READERS WRITE

Aaron Shepard wrote:

"I came across a bad problem in Word 2004 for Mac. Unlike Windows versions and former Mac versions, this one antialiases all imported graphics, and will even change black-and-white line art to grayscale to do it. That means fuzzy charts and diagrams when printed. It's a scandal.

"The only way to avoid it is to insert art as EPS. On the Mac, that also enables you to place a CMYK graphic!"

Recently on the Word-PC List, Kristen Ebert-Wagner asked how to keep Word from printing graphics--in other words, how to print text only. I suggested that she try importing the Word document into OpenOffice.org Writer and printing from there:

http://www.openoffice.org

Kristen reported:

"It works! OfficeWriter distinguishes between graphics and drawing objects and, furthermore, allows you to include and/or exclude either in printing. Word offers this option for drawing objects only. Thanks--this is a fast, easy solution."

I thought this might be worth passing on for others who are faced with the same problem.

Many thanks to Aaron and Kristen.

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

Wondering about the upcoming release of Microsoft Office 2007? You'll find the official explanation here:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx

But if you want the inside scoop, see Jensen Harris: An Office User Interface Blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/default.aspx