One of the problems of editing on-screen is that punctuation marks are harder to see than on paper. Is that speck on my screen a period or just spray from my Diet Coke? (Sorry. Didn't mean to gross you out.) There's an easy remedy for this--one I like a lot. Just create a character style that's big and bold and colorful. Then record a macro to find and replace punctuation marks with themselves, formatted with your character style. Here's how:
Creating the Paragraph Style
1. Click the "Format" menu.
2. Click "Style" (in Word 2002, "Styles and Formatting").
3. Click the "New" button (in Word 2002, "New Style").
4. In the "Name" box, type a name for your new style--"Punctuation," maybe, or "Jots and Tittles."
5. In the "Style type" box, select "Character."
6. Click the "Format" button.
7. Click "Font."
8. If it's not already selected, click the "Font" tab.
9. Under "Font," select a font you'd like to use, but make sure it has easily distinguishable punctuation marks. Times New Roman is my all-time favorite for this purpose.
10. Under "Font style," select "Bold."
11. Under "Size," select something nice and big. Try 18 points for starters (for text that is regularly 12 points). You can adjust this as you like.
12. Under "Font color," select red or blue--whatever you like.
13. Click the "OK" button.
14. Click the next "OK" button.
15. Click the "Close" button (except in Word 2002).
Recording the Macro
1. Click the "Tools" menu.
2. Click "Macro."
3. Click "Record New Macro."
4. In the "Macro name" box, give your macro a name, something like "BigPunctuation" (no spaces allowed in macro names).
5. If you like, assign the macro to a toolbar button or keyboard shortcut by clicking the appropriate buttons and following the prompts on your screen.
6. If necessary, click the "Close" button. You should now see the macro recording toolbar with its two buttons, which means Word is now recording what you do.
7. Click the "Edit" menu.
8. Click "Replace."
9. In the "Find what" box, enter some punctuation you want to include--let's say a comma.
10. In the "Replace with" box, enter the same punctuation you included in the "Find what" box.
11. Click the "Format" button (you may need to click the "More" button before this is available).
12. Click "Style."
13. Select your new style from the list.
14. Click the "OK" button.
15. Make sure the "Search" box says "All."
16. Click the "Replace All" button. That will replace all of your commas with themselves but formatted with your new style.
17. Repeat steps 7 through 16 for each punctuation mark you want to format with your new style. I recommend periods, commas, semicolons, colons, single quotation marks, double quotation marks, hyphens, en dashes, em dashes, and anything else you have trouble seeing. Don't overdo it, though. The point is to *see* the little stuff, not to get lost in a forest of overgrown punctuation.
18. Click the "Tools" menu.
19. Click "Macro."
20. Click "Stop Recording."
Now run the macro (Tools > Macro > Macros > [select the macro] > Run), and it will format your punctuation so it's easy to see. Of course, the macro will remain available for future use--you don't have to record it every time you do this.
A possible drawback to all of this is that the enlarged punctuation may expand your line spacing here and there, making your document look kind of funny. But if you can live with that, you'll probably come to like working with those "big commas." Another drawback is that any new punctuation you *type* in the document won't be big, bold, and colorful--unless you format it with the new style or run the macro periodically, but that seems like a lot of extra work to me. There is another solution, but that's a subject for another day.
"How do I get rid of the big formatting after I've finished editing?" you're now asking. The easiest way is just to delete the style from the document. But don't forget to do it! Otherwise, your client will think you're pretty weird. Here's the procedure:
1. Click the "Format" menu.
2. Click "Style" (in Word 2002, "Styles and Formatting").
3. Select the style you created earlier to format your punctuation.
4. Click the "Delete" button (in Word 2002, you must first click the dropdown arrow on the right of the style's name).
5. When Word asks if you really want to delete the style, click the "Yes" button.
6. Click the "Close" button (except in Word 2002).
Now all of your perfectly edited punctuation will be returned to its regular formatting.
You'll thank me when you go to the optometrist.
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RESOURCES
Charles Kenyon's Microsoft Word FAQ includes an astounding amount of information about Microsoft Word. You'll find tips, tutorials, downloads, links, and lots of other stuff. Explore and enjoy!
http://www.addbalance.com/word/index.htm
