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!<\/p>\n
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:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.topica.com\/lists\/editorium\/read\/message.html?mid=1707012536<\/p>\n
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:<\/p>\n
1. Click the \"Tools\" menu (the \"File\" menu in earlier versions of Word).<\/p>\n
2. Click \"Templates and Add-ins\" (\"Templates\" in earlier versions of Word).<\/p>\n
3. In the list of global templates and add-ins, put a checkmark in the checkbox for the template you want to use.<\/p>\n
4. Click the \"OK\" button.<\/p>\n
Wouldn't it be nice, though, if you could have Word add the template automatically? You can. Just follow this procedure:<\/p>\n
1. Close Microsoft Word.<\/p>\n
2. Copy the template you want to add automatically.<\/p>\n
3. Navigate to Word's Startup folder.<\/p>\n
4. Paste the template into the Startup folder.<\/p>\n
5. Restart Microsoft Word.<\/p>\n
The macros in the template should now be available for you to use, and they'll be available automatically every time you start Word.<\/p>\n
If you don't know where the Startup folder is, here's how to find out:<\/p>\n
1. Click the \"Tools\" menu (in any version of Word).<\/p>\n
2. Click the \"Options\" menu item.<\/p>\n
3. Click the \"File Locations\" tab.<\/p>\n
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.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
_________________________________________<\/p>\n
READERS WRITE<\/p>\n
David M Varner wrote:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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:<\/p>\n
1. Click \"Tools\" on the menu, then select \"Customize\" to access the \"Customize\" dialog box.<\/p>\n
2. Click the \"Keyboard\" button to access the \"Customize Keyboard\" dialog box.<\/p>\n
3. In the \"Categories\" field, scroll down to and select \"Macros.\"<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 […]<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-67","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-macros","7":"h-entry","8":"hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3gfno-15","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":620,"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions\/620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}