KnowWare
Get going with Word - 08-07-98 - 01:17
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© Copyright Michael Maardt
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© Copyright
.QRZ:DUH
Michael Maardt
mm@knowware.dk
www.knowware.dk
KnowWare
Get going with Word - 08-07-98 - 01:17
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*HW_JRLQJ_ZLWK_:RUG
Michael Maardt
1st edition, 1st printing, January 1998
© Copyright 1997 Michael Maardt and
:]^fFPaT, Ordrupvej 63C, DK-2920 Charl
mm@knowware.dk – www.knowware.dk
ISBN 87-90027-77-9
Printed in Denmark 1998 by OTM
Published by KnowWare
Translated from the danish by Anthony I.P.Owen
The KnowWare idea
KnowWare’s main aim is to assist you!
One of my goals is to spread easy to understand
knowledge at a fair price. Other publishers in
Denmark have been forced to reduce their prices to
keep pace with KnowWare. KnowWare is not
trying to maximize profit.
I publish KnowWare alone, and do not advertise. I
believe that good material at an economic price will
sell itself. The higher prices of other publishers can
be blamed on the large number of employees, high
marketing and advertising costs, which you, the
reader, have to pay for.
KnowWare began in Denmark in April 1993. Most
KnowWare titles are the largest selling books on
their subjects in Scandinavia.
KnowWare booklets are currently published in the
following languages: Danish, Norwegian, Finnish,
English, German and Portugese. Editions in
Swedish, French, Brazilian and Spanish are in
preparation.
The first English editions of KnowWare booklets
are being distributed in many different countries for
several reasons. One is to introduce you to the
KnowWare idea, another is so local publishers who
may be interested in republishing in their own
language, can see what we have available.
If you are interested in publishing KnowWare in
your country, please contact me at
mm@knowware.dk
Free bumper sticker
You can get a free bumper sticker measuring
approx. 5 x 60 cm: KnowWare’s Internet address
www.knowware.dk in white type on a clear
background.
Write or e-mail your address with the word
“bumper sticker”, and I will send you one (while
stocks last).
For further general information about KnowWare
Publishing, see KnowWare’s homepage at
www.knowware.dk
:]^fFPaT booklets
· Introduction to PC and computers (same as the
new title: Make Friends with your PC”)
· Get going with Word
· Get going with Excel
Coming
If these first 3 booklets sells well, other booklets
will be published. KnowWare has published more
than 30 different computer booklets on various
subjects: Windows 95, Word, Excel, Access,
Internet, WWW, Homepages and WebDesign,
Publisher 97, DOS, Windows 3.1 etc.
Book
Else Brundbjerg: “Isak Dinesen, Karen Blixen:
Woman, Heretic and Artist”, 300 p., (sold more
than 24.000 in Denmark) U$ 9.95
With best wishes, Michael Maardt, :]^fFPaT
The latest news, titles in preparation, tips, opinions,
lists of suppliers, title availiability in different
languages, etc. etc. can be found at the
:]^fFPaTb web-site www.knowware.dk
Introduction
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Is this booklet relevant to you?
If you have just started using Word and have no
experience with word processing generally, then
you will probably find some of this too difficult. If
you have had some experience with Word or other
word processors, then you should be able to use
most of the contents. Some of the subjects
(especially those towards the end) are quite
advanced.
This booklet is different to the majority of books
and manuals about Word. It deals with the core of
Word: styles and templates and how to use them.
This booklet is different
It was first released in Denmark under the title
Hands off my Word 6. I was tired of computer
books with boring titles, so I called it something a
little more exciting, though with a purpose. Word
can be configured and adjusted to your own
personal taste.
Over the last year I have worked intensively with
Word, using it every day, mainly in the production
of these KnowWare booklets. I have seen many
authors writing manuscripts and have seen the difficulties:
In the use of styles, but also configuring the
many options available and adjusting the way the
program works and appears. For this reason, this
booklet deals mainly with these subjects.
I will try to explain the underlying logic behind
Word; instead of simply running through a few
dozen functions, slavishly telling you just how each
one is used I will attempt, by concentrating on
styles and templates, to give a glimpse of the idea
behind the program.
The way computer programs are presented and
work are often a reflection of the way the
developers think, and we users often have to try and
think in the same way if we are to get the most out
of the program, or make it a bit easier when we try
to find the solution to some problem or other.
I often write in a very short, concentrated style.
This means that you will have to be active to understand
the points I am making. I have done this on
purpose, based on the respect I have for your
intelligence and willingness to try things when you
read, and also because this is how I believe
computer books should be written.
What do you think?
I would very much like to hear you comments about
this booklet, so that the next edition can be even
better. So take a few minutes to send a e-mail to me
(see page 2). And thanks in advance if you do.
)Important!
Everything you do on the basis of this guide and its
contents is at your own risk!
- I wish you many happy hours!
I hope that this booklet makes your word processing
more fun, and allow you create what you want,
faster and more enjoyably!
All the best
Michael Maardt
Options
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Options
Word can behave in different ways, or, to put it
another way: You do something, but the result can
be dependant on any one of Word's about one
hundred different options. You must have found the
automatic spelling check. If it is active, then every
word which is not recognised by the dictionary is
given a wavy underline. Most available options are
found under Tools, Options. As many of these
options affect the rest of the contents of this
booklet, I have chosen to begin with them, even
though they do not make for the most exciting
reading.
The dialog box shows three rows of four cards.
Looking like filing cards, each has an identifying
tab. When you select one card in a row which is not
‘at the front’, all four cards in the row come
forward. The cards move in sets of four, which can
be a little confusing at first.
Options, View
The View tab controls aspects of what should be
shown on the screen and how it should be shown.
Depending on whether you were in View Normal or
View Page Layout when you selected Options, you
will be offered different choices. My screen was set
at View Page Layout, which gave me the dialog
box above.
When you check Picture
Placeholders, a blank square is
displayed instead of the actual
picture or illustration. This lets the
screen scroll much quicker.
Text Boundaries, which are only
visible when you select View Page
Layout, displays the area at your
disposal when you write; this is
useful if you experience problems
squeezing text into a space,
particularly as it shows top and
bottom margins.
I will not discuss every option
because it would bog us down.
Clicking by a field and pressing F1
will give you a help window
containing a short description.
Style Area Width
Inserting a value here displays the style to the left
of every paragraph in Normal View.
Storing your documents
File Locations allows you to choose which
directories should be opened when you use File,
Open or File, Save for the first time after opening
a Word session.
If you select or double click the Modify button, you
can change the default directory for the various
types of files. When I open Word for the first time
to save a new document, I am automatically brought
into C:\KW, and the same happens when I open a
document. If I open a document from a different
directory, the latter that is chosen next time I select
File, Open.
Options
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Options, Edit
(The picture illustrates which options I use)
Use Smart Cut and Paste
If this is active, it deletes or adds spaces when you
delete or paste whole words. Try selecting a whole
word, without the preceding or trailing space, and
then delete the word. Voila, the unnecessary spaces
are removed along with it. Recommended.
TAB or BACKSPACE sets indentation
(Only in v. 7) If you have selected an entire paragraph
or the cursor is at the beginning of any line
except the first line, Tab or Backspace will indent
the entire paragraph. Recommended (but do not use
F8 to select the paragraph).
Drag and Drop text editing
Allows you to move or copy selected text using the
mouse.
Automatic word selection
If you begin to select using the mouse, then
continue selecting, whole words are selected
automatically. Recommended.
Use the INS key for paste.
Uncheck it. Use the Windows standard shortcut
keys: Ctrl+X for Cut, Ctrl+C for Copy and Ctrl+V
for Paste.
Overtype Mode
Uncheck it.
Typing replaces Selection.
If one or more words are selected and you press any
key, all selected characters are deleted and replaced
by whatever character you have typed. I do not
generally recommend using this, but could imagine
some situations where it may be useful. If some
numbers in a table have to be changed every month,
then tab can be used to move from cell to cell, and
the ‘old’ numbers are deleted immediately the first
new figure is typed. The advantage is that the
whole selection is immediately removed as you
begin typing.
It changes what I write!
If you have just started using this program and
discover that text automatically changes when you
write, you have not done something wrong. Ver. 7
has a range of automatic functions which you can
activate if you wish. Let’s take a look at them.
Microsoft made a big thing of these ‘intelligent’
functions, and one of them is a kind of automatic
proofreader, AutoCorrect, which corrects things for
you as you type. It does not spellcheck as you type
but it does perform a sort of automatic – but very
limited – find and replace. AutoCorrect and other
functions are grouped on the Tools menu.
AutoCorrect
Replace Text as You Type may or may not be
active. If you want to delete one of the replacement
words/phrases already shown, click on it and select
Delete. You add your own favourite typos by
writing the wrong and right text in the two fields
Replace and With, and choosing Add. If you have
selected text or graphics before choosing Auto-
Correct, the selected text has already been inserted.
When you close the dialog with OK and type the
first text, followed by a space or a new line, the
second text is inserted automatically (provided the
function is active).
Options
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You can use the function to expand abbreviations
for things you type often. If you frequently write
several long words or difficult words, you can give
these a short form. Example: if you often have to
type phrases like Encyclopedia Britannica, you can
abbreviate it, for example, to eb. Use your imagination!
This function is a more sophisticated variation of
the abbreviation function in version 2.0. You may
remember it used the F3 key to expand the short
form. It is actually still in the program but has been
enlarged and is called AutoText.
1 Change 'Straight Quotes' to ‘Smart Quotes’
2 Correct TWo INitial CApitals
3 Capitalize First Letter of Sentences
4 Capitalize Names of Days
The first requires no explanation (‘proper’ quotes
give your work a typeset look). I recommend the
second; it only works if the third letter is small.
IBM would not be changed. I don’t recommend the
third option because the program can’t always
know where a sentence starts. If an abbreviated
word such as lieut. Appears in the middle of a
sentence, the system gets confused. The fourth
option is handy for English-language text (but not
for many other languages)
What you put into AutoCorrect is available in all
documents.
Options, Save
Prompt to Save Normal.dot is the only option I’ve
checked. NORMAL.DOT is the name of a template
file discussed on page 35. I recommend you check
this. Although at the moment you may not know
what this is all about, at some stage you will be
faced with the cryptic and seemingly inscrutable
question shown in the box below. When you see it
be assured that you have decided on a specific
option which Microsoft considers so important that
you might want it to apply to all future documents.
It is for this reason that the program asks whether
you want certain fundamental changes stored in the
template, NORMAL.DOT, on which all documents are
based. The section on templates starts p. 33.
If you reply Yes, the changes you have made in the
template (you may or may not know what they are!)
will be effective in all future documents. If your
response is No, changes will not be transferred to
future documents.
Choosing the Allow Fast Saves option can be
hazardous because only the changes you have made
are appended to the document and saved. If Word
or Windows crashes at a critical stage, you risk
losing parts of your work. Microsoft itself advises
caution with Fast Save.
Although you may not yet understand the concept
of a template, I recommend that you make a backup
copy of NORMAL.DOT
(on a diskette would be fine!).
Options, General
General contains various diverse functions. I have
chosen Background repagination and Beep on
Error actions switched on, and have 9 in the
Recently used file list entries. This last option
means that at the bottom of the File menu you get a
list of the files you have saved recently, making
them easily accessible simply by typing a number.
Options
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Background repagination
Is only possible when in Normal View and is
reccomended. In contrast, in Page Layout View
Word will always repaginate when alterations are
made which may affect pagination. This very
irritating habit (especially with long documents)
cannot be switched off in Page Layout View. The
further you are from the beginning of a document,
the more patience it takes to work in Page Layout
View.
Mouse or keyboard?
In some situations using the mouse is the better
choice, but for the most part the keyboard is faster.
Throughout my Word ‘career’ I have tried to keep
my fingers on the keyboard, using the mouse only
when it seemed the best policy.
The choice, however, is not either/or but rather a
matter of avoiding continuous switching between
mouse and keyboard. During the actual typing
phase the emphasis is naturally on the keyboard.
This is the first phase in most wordprocessing
work, and the aim is to get as much written as
possible without having to think about formatting,
italics, layout, etc.
The second phase is proofreading, spellchecking
and some formatting, while the closing phase is the
final layout.
Keyboard techniques
Some people are inclined to waste time by doing
layout during the two early phases. It can be a
throwback from typewriter days, when it was
necessary to think carefully before you began
writing. Word processing is quite the opposite; you
don’t have to think about formatting and layout as
you write.
If you are typing something that has already been
chewed over and formulated, you can just bash on
without thinking too much! If you are creating text
from scratch, your aim is to write clearly and
comprehensibly, that is you must think, but not get
bogged down – you can always pretty up your prose
afterwards.
In Get the most out of your PC I stressed the
importance of being able to touchtype (typing
without looking at the keyboard). I strongly
recommend it. I want to spend a few lines of this
book addressing the way you and your fingers get
along with each other. I mean, when you press
Shift, Alt or Ctrl plus another key, how do you do it?
Specifically? Which fingers do you use for Ctrl+U?
I put my left little finger on the left Ctrl and my
right index finger on the U. I reach Ctrl+F with my
left hand: little finger and index finger. What about
Alt+P? I use my left thumb for Alt and my right
little finger on the P.
I don’t want to dictate which fingers to use for what
but I do want you to be aware as you write. It’s not
easy breaking habits but you can save a lot of time.
I’ll mention now and again which keys I use – you
can experiment, see if they are any use to you. An
example: I think it’s a good idea to save your
document regularly, manually not automatically.
I’m against saving at fixed intervals because it
breaks your train of thought. Better in my view to
develop the good habit of saving regularly.
In version 2 I used to save with Alt+F, S, which is
easy with your left hand. In version 6/7 Microsoft
has introduced Ctrl+S to standardize with the many
other programs.
Options
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Options, Compatibility
This contains some rather advanced options, many of which I don’t understand or know anything about.
I would recommend that you turn these points on:
· Suppress extra line spacing at top of page
· Suppress Space Before after a hard page break or column break
If you have formatted a heading style with Space before 12 points and it is at the top of a page (perhaps
because of a hard page or column break), there will be unnecessary spaces above it, which does not look
particularly good.
Print Colors as black on noncolor printers.
If you see greytones from a non color printer, it probably means that this text is colored in the document
with this option switched off.
Don’t balance columns for Continious section starts
Beside the strange capitalization and tortuous
grammar (forcing the user to think in a double
negative, switching an option on so that something
will NOT be carried out), the best way to explain the
difference is with these two pictures, which illustrate
two following sections, where the second is set as
continuous (see Section on page 26). The whole of the
first section is marked in both illustrations. The
picture on the right shows the option switched off. So
if you have experienced situations where a continuos
section in columns just will not work properly, maybe
the reason is buried down in this option!
Unfortunately this option is for the whole document,
not for the section.
Font Substitution
Notice this button, which can show whether the document contains fonts which are
not installed on your computer, either because they have been deactivated or because
it was set up for another printer or on another computer.
This picture shows that the printer font
Courier (W1) is not available on the
printer being used, but that Word will show
and print using the font New Courier
TrueType. Garamond will be replaced by
Default, that is Palatino (see the text below).
If I do not want this change (actually no real
problem in this case), I can use the Convert
Permanently button to force Word to carry
out a global replacement of this font - very
clever!
Editing
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Editing
Keyboard movements
A lot of your time is spent moving the cursor around in your text, and if you’re a beginner, all the many
possibilities listed below may seem a bit overwhelming. But take a look at them, try them, and come back
to this page later when you feel it’s time to introduce a few new tips and improvements.
I mainly use these keys for moving the cursor around in a document:
Home....................... beginning of line
End .......................... end of line
Ctrl + right arrow...... 1 word forward
Ctrl + left arrow........ 1 word back
Ctrl + up arrow......... 1 paragraph up
Ctrl + down arrow .... 1 paragraph down
local, short movements
Ctrl + Home ............. top of document
Ctrl + End ................ bottom of document
long-distance movements
In Page Layout Word may begin to
repaginate, which can take ages.
PgUp ....................... previous screen
PgDn ....................... next screen
Leafing through the document, getting a
general impression.
Alt + Ctrl + PgUp ..... previous page
Alt + Ctrl + PgDn ..... next page
The cursor lands on the first line of the page. I
use this most for Page Layout.
Go to ...
F5 activates this dialog box. If you type +4, the
cursor moves forward 4 pages. If you want to move
to a particular section, type S in front of the Section
number: S4 to jump to Section 4. S+3 moves
forward three sections. It is quicker than first
selecting Section, then writing a number.
One useful aspect of this and certain other dialog
boxes (for example Find) is that you can leave the
box temporarily without it disappearing from the
screen, which can be an advantage when you’re
searching out different parts of your document and
making changes before moving on to the next
point. When the box is active you can pull it out
over the edge of the screen so that only a strip of it
is left in view. This doesn’t obscure your view of
the text. Maybe you just need to press Enter and
the OK or Next button doesn’t have to be visible on
screen in order for Enter to work.
Now you can click in the text or press Alt+F6; the
box stays in place but is not active. This lets you
work normally in the text, and when you need to
Go to a specific page/section, you press F5 or click
in the box, which activates it but does not bring it
back to center screen. You don’t have to see the
whole box in order, for example, to press F5, +1
and Enter or make another selection and move
through the text. Click once again in the text, and
you are back editing; flexibility with an auxiliary
function hanging in ‘mid air’.
Advantage: you don’t have to repeat something you
have already typed in the dialog box. You can press
the two buttons Next and Previous (or Alt+T and
Alt+P) if you are working with Page or Section.
Next page corresponds to Ctrl+Alt+PgDn. You can
deactivate the function by pressing Esc, while the
box is active.
Editing
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View, Outline
If you have used many headings, you can use View,
Outline as a method of moving around quickly in a
large document. Outline view is usually used for
planning a document, but it can also be used in this
manner. Change to View, Outline, move the cursor
to the heading nearest the place you want to move
to, then choose (again) View, Normal (Ctrl+Alt+N),
or View, Page Layout (Ctrl+Alt +P). If you are fast
on the keyboard this makes it very easy to move
around in large documents.
Your previous three edits
Shift+F5 is an interesting feature: it alternates
between the three most recent places where you
have made changes in your text – even though you
may have closed the document or even the whole
program. It’s a handy tool in this situation: you
work at a place in your document until you’re
finished, and move to a completely different point
– but suddently remember an additional change at
the old editing point. If you haven’t made too many
changes in the new position in the meantime,
pressing Shift+F5 will take you back. Try it!
Find and replace
To avoid using unnecessary space on extra screen
illustrations, the figure shows the Replace function,
and I have clicked on the Search direction to
show the choices available. If you start with the
Find function, you can expand into the Replace
function at any time by choosing Replace. Even
though you may have chosen the Replace function,
you may still use the search function alone. I use
the search funtion a lot, so I have allocated F2 for
this (see p. 44).
When the function is activated, you can press the
downarrow or click on the small arrow next to the
Find What and Replace With fields. The function
remembers the last four searches (or replace) text,
so they are easy to choose.
You can find or replace particular formatting codes
(fonts, paragraph types, language or styles) or
special characters/codes. You simply click on the
button and choose. You can combine search
criterias and the box shows your choices. This is a
very advanced search/replace function. In this
example I am searching for the entire word ‘health’
which should be in 10 point Times New Roman. It
should not be italics, and it should be replaced by
the phrase ‘lacking illness’, in 11 point Palmsprings,
bold and underlined (this is only an
example!). While the insertion point is in either the
Search for or the Replace with field, try pressing
Ctrl+B, Ctrl+U or Ctrl+I. Try several times with
each shortcut in turn!!
This box has the same functions as the Go to…
box, that is it can be left on screen whether it is
active or inactive and you can keep using Alt+F6.
If you want to know how many times a certain text
appears in a document, then search and replace the
same text. Word will tell you the number of
replacements. To ensure that you are using exactly
the same text in both fields you can use Ctrl+C to
copy it from the Search for field and Ctrl+V to
paste it into the Replace with field. The Tab key
moves between the fields.
Selecting text
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11
Selecting text
Another thing you spend time on is editing text
once it has been keyed in. If you find the following
paragraphs a bit awesome, try a few of the suggestions
and come back to the subject when you feel
you’ve advanced enough to try a bit more.
If you want to do something (copy, move or delete)
with a piece of text, first you must select it, that is
select it in a special way. There are a number of
ways of doing this.
If you hold Shift down while you perform most of
the cursor movements listed under Editing, you
will select text. For example, if you hold Shift+Ctrl
down and press the ¬ or ®, you select a word at a
time. When I intend moving a few words, I use this
method to do the actual selection.
These are some of the ways of selecting text with
the keyboard. But the mouse can do some things
the keyboard can’t.
Selecting by clicking
selects
double click ...........word
Ctrl + click .............sentence
triple click ..............paragraph
When you move the mouse into the left margin it
changes appearance and then:
click ....................... line
double click ...........paragraph
triple click ..............whole document
Ctrl + click .............whole document
(Ctrl+5 on the number pad also selects the
whole document)
Selecting by dragging
When you drag the mouse across text/graphics,
everything is selected, until you release the mouse
button. Note: you can drag the mouse up or down
towards the edge of what you can see on the screen
and continue to drag past the edge – but be careful!
Suddenly things flash past your eyes at breakneck
speed!
Selecting with Shift+mouse
If you hold Shift down and click somewhere with
the mouse, the area is selected between the text
cursor (the insertion point) and the mouse cursor. I
use this method when I intend selecting a large area
and I can see the whole area on the screen. It’s a
good method if you want to select a large text area
accurately in one movement: the simplest way is
usually to click at the start of the selection, hold
down Shift and then click the end of the selection.
Extended selection with F8
It took me quite a while to work out not only what
was so good about F8, but also to get used to using
it. It has advantages over the other forms of selecting
text. Place the cursor somewhere in a paragraph.
Press F8, which turns on the select function
- shown by EXT on the status line. Pressing F8
extends the selection by steps: word, sentence,
paragraph, section (described later), and finally, the
entire document. These steps are very important
and interesting. If you can remember these, you can
easily select a section - maybe you want to move it
(see p. 26). Press Esc, followed by Shift+F5 to get
back to where you started.
Anotherpossibility: Press F8 again. Now you can
extend the selection just by pressing a key. Imagine
you are in the middle of a really long sentence,
which is in the middle of a paragraph containing
several sentences, and you want to delete the rest of
the sentence. Press F8 and then press the full stop
key. The selection is immediately extended to the
next full stop. Delete deletes the selection, and
switches off the selection function. Note that F8
locks the selection process until you press Esc or
do something with the selection. If you then want
to get back to the start of the selection area, press
O. There are several advantages in this rather
special form of selection: (1) it’s fast, (2) you can
do it with the keyboard and (3) you can use other
functions such as Find in order to reach the end of
the selected text (no other selection function in
Word permits this).
You may want to lock the selection function in
position at the start of the selected text because it
takes time to find the end of the text (maybe it is on
the next page or several pages away). This would
be a typical example where F8 comes in handy;
you’re sure of starting at the right place and don’t
have to hold Shift down.
Selecting text
Get going with Word - 08-07-98 - 01:17
12
You want to select a very large piece of text,
stretching over several pages. Start the selection at
the appropiate point with F8. You can use the
search function to jump all the way to the end of
the area. The great thing is that the selection block
remains active while you adjust the end of the
block with arrows or mouse.
I don’t like deleting or moving a huge chunk of text
I can’t see on the screen. It’s at times like these I
use F8 to be sure the selection process is locked on.
If you want to use the mouse to move the selected
text, you must first press Esc when you have
selected your text. This switches off the function,
but keeps the selection. Now you can drag your text
with the mouse.
Cut, paste, move and copy
Once you have selected something you can do
various things with it.
Cut
The simplest use of the selection is to remove it
with the Del key but it can also be cut, that is
deleted to a ‘buffer’ called the Clipboard. When
text is cut, it is removed and placed in safekeeping
until you need it. Use Ctrl+X, which you can easily
reach with your left hand. Your right hand mouse
button, then Cut, is another possibility. The letter X
(and the expression cut) was no doubt chosen because
it looks like an open scissor.
Paste
You’ll often find yourself cutting text and pasting
it in another place. Place the insertion point where
you want the text and press Ctrl+V. The contents of
the Clipboard is inserted.
Copy
Using Ctrl+C, you make a copy of the selected text
into the Clipboard. The selection remains in the
text (which it doesn’t, if you cut) and can now be
inserted elsewhere because the copy is in the
clipboard.
Delete words
Ctrl + backspace............. deletes word to left
Ctrl + delete..................... deletes word to right
If the insertion point is in the middle of a word,
these functions remove the remainder of the word,
backwards or forwards. If I am deleting several
consecutive words, I use these two functions a lot –
dab, dab, dab. It’s fast.
Cancel
As you work, you will make
mistakes or change your mind
– and it is nice to be able to
cancel the change. The program can unravel
several layers of mistakes. You can even undo the
undone (cancel what you have already cancelled).
You can cancel backwards and forwards.
It sounds complicated, and indeed it can be. In the
standard toolbar there are two buttons, the left of
which undoes your most recent change (Ctrl+Z is
the shortcut key). A second click undoes the
secondlast change, etc. By clicking several times
on this button (or pressing Ctrl+Z several times)
you can undo your changes one by one. Click on
the arrow to the right of the button and you can see
a list of the changes – up to a maximum of 100!
Unfortunately you cannot undo, for example, the
thirdlast change. If you click on the thirdlast, you
undo this one plus the secondlast and the last.
The right button remembers the things you have
undone and can recreate them. You can see a list of
them by pressing the appropriate arrow. It is quite a
jigsaw finding your way around the two lists if you
are looking for an old change.
I have removed these two buttons from my toolbar
because I only use Ctrl+Z.
Formatting
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Formatting
To understand the principles behind styles and
templates we’ll start with the formatting of text
(individual words) and paragraphs.
Place the insertion point anywhere inside a word
and choose bold, italic, underline or a corresponding
function. Flash! the whole word is processed.
No need to select the whole word.
Characters
Formatting is done at
various levels. The lowest
level is character: the appearance
of individual
letters, that is which fonts
or typefaces should you
use?
Some fonts can be shown as regular, bold or italic
or even both at the same time. You choose your
fonts from the drop-down list shown here. The
most recently used are shown above the line.
What size should letters or characters be? The
size of letters is measured in points. The previous
sentence starts with one word in 8pt, the next in 9pt
etc., until we reach be in 14 pt. There are lots of
other choices, as you can see if you choose Format,
Font or rightclick and then choose Font.
Underline
There are various
underlining effects to
choose from in this
dialog box. You can
have the simple single
underline. This is also available by clicking on the
U button on the toolbar (I use Ctrl+U). Another
choice is double underline but for special effects
you might want to try dotted underline.
If you do want to use underline, you might consider
using the option Words only. In this book no
underline has been used at all – except for these
examples.
There are more options for changing the
appearance spacing and position of the text.
Spacing
If you click on one of the small arrows next to
Spacing By, the program begins counting by 0.1pt
at a time. On the left, by Spacing, it will say either
Expanded or Condensed, depending on your
choice. This function controls t h e s p a c i n g
b e t w e e n l e t t e r s , which in this example I set
at 2pt.
Position
This relates to subscript or superscript text as in the
example H2O or m2. In both cases I chose a
movement of 3pt but, as you can see, it increases
the distance between the lines. Typographers call
this distance leading (pronounced ledding). The
solution to the problem is discussed under Format
paragraph p. 14, but you can also find a solution
via Tools, Options, Compatibility. Activate Don’t
add extra space for raised/lower characters.
Kerning
Is what you should be using if you think that two
letters are too far apart within a word, an effect
which is most noticable at large point sizes. Let us
use the word DAVID using captital letters at 24
points. Even in 11 point, as here, the distance
between the letters AV is visably larger than that
between VI and ID.
DAVID at 24 point. Now I select AV
and kern by 8 points: DAVID
Formatting
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Paragraph
The second level of formatting is paragraph.
Should text be fully justified or ragged? Most
books are written with a justified, that is straight,
right margin, which many people like. This booklet
has a ragged right margin. Professionals believe
that a ragged right margin makes the text easier to
read. With a ragged right margin the distance
between the words is the same in all lines. This
paragraph is formatted with an equally aligned
right margin just to demonstrate how it looks, in
contrast to the rest of the booklet, and funnyly
enough: it is nearly impossible to see any
difference in the spaces between the words, and
there was no need for any hyphenation. The
following paragraphs are formatted to reflect what
they are about.
First line indented
Most books are set according to this principle: the
first paragraph following a headline is fully leftjustified
(starts against the left margin), as this one is.
The second and subsequent paragraphs are
indented slightly, which helps the eye to move
from paragraph to paragraph. The text doesn’t take
on a hard, mechanical look.
Hanging indent
1 When all lines except the first are indented
slightly, the paragraph format is known as hanging
indent. This paragraph is an example.
Hanging indent is useful if the first line starts
with a kind of heading, which the eye can find
easily. A bibliography, for example, is often laid
out in this manner. As is bulleted text. For
effect, the number ‘1’ is followed by a tab.
Ruler
The easiest (!) way to manipulate all of the above is
via the Ruler, which is activated under the View
command.
The upper triangle on the left controls the indent in
the first line. The lower triangle controls the indent
of all other lines in the paragraph. The little square
underneath is equivalent to catching hold of both
triangles at the same time. The difficult bit is to get
hold of the bottom triangle or the square. Microsoft
has tried to ease the task a little: if you hold down
the Shift key, you can be sure of not catching the
square.
What is a paragraph?
It is important that you understand the following: a
paragraph is defined as the first character following
a carriage return up to an including the next
carriage return. A carriage return is inserted when
you press Enter. In Word this is known as a
paragraph mark. It is not normally shown on
screen. But if you click on the ( ¶ ) button
(Show/Hide), you will see all the paragraph marks
– and spaces, which are shown as dots.
Most·documents·are·formatted·on·the·following·
principle,·after·a·heading·the·first·paragraph·starts
·right·out·in·the· left·margin,·as·here¶
Notice that even a new, completely empty,
document contains one character: a paragraph.
A paragraph’s format is stored in the carriage
return at the end of the paragraph.
Because of this, you should be careful if you delete
a paragraph symbol between two different styles. In
version 6 it is the style of the next paragraph which
takes over, in version 7 it is the opposite, which is
more practical. You can try it for yourself. For the
same reason it is important where the cursor is
positioned when you press Enter. Is it at the end of
a paragraph (that is, just before the paragraph
symbol) or at the beginning of a paragraph?
Format paragraph
This dialog box is displayed by using Format,
Paragraph or by rightclicking and selecting
Paragraph.
This is where you select things like line spacing,
for example Exactly 13pt to solve the problem of
the changed spacing we saw with H2O, which no
longer causes a problem.
The Spacing option lets you adjust space before
and after the paragraph.
Formatting
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When you click on the Text Flow tab you see four
options for avoiding undesirable page breaks in the
middle of text. The Help function here is quite
explanatory (but remember when the cursor is on a
blank line, it isn’t in fact a blank line – it holds a
carriage return, which contains the formatting of
the ‘paragraph’!).
Tabulator stops
Tab stops (on the ruler) are used to start, end or
center the text around a fixed horizontal point. If
you click the small left symbol several times, you
will see it adopt four different forms, representing
the four types of tabulator stops available when you
click on the ruler: aligned left, center, right and
decimal.
Rightaligned tab
In the following example I have set a rightaligned
tab in order to align the figures correctly.
1. A stitch in time saves nine 9
2. In for a penny, in for a pound 100
When you press Enter after the first line the tab
stop is preserved in the next line (= paragraph).
You remove a tab stop by pulling it with the mouse
into the typing area. It is possible to have a better
looking table with a dot leader but only by
selecting Format, Tabs ...
I have selected (part of) both lines and have clicked
on Leader no. 2, which inserts a row of dots from
the text to the numbers. The effect is a little more
‘printed’.
1. A stitch in time save nine ............................9
2. In for a penny, in for a pound ..................100
My default tab stops are set at intervals of 1 cm.
The original default was 1.27 cm (half an inch),
which I thought was a bit too much. I made the
change in my NORMAL.DOT template (se p. 35).
Decimal tabs
In the next example I have replaced the rightaligned
tab with a decimal tab and typed some
numbers containing commas and full stops. Note
that the figures (and full stops) are correctly
aligned.
1. Bank.......................................1,000,000
2. Cash .......................................2,556.23456
3. Know-how .............................4,522,322.33
The full-stop separator is not governed by Word
but by Windows. In Control Panel, International
(Regional Settings) under Number Format (bottom
right) the 1000 separator should be a comma and
the decimal separator a full stop – for Englishlanguage
text.
Borders
You cannot place a border around one or
more words, only around one or more
paragraphs. If you want the border to go
around more than one paragraph, these (or parts of
them) must be selected. The Format menu contains
the point Borders and Shading, which determines
the appearance of the border.
Formatting
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A Box is a single border, while a Shadow
simulates a real shadow, with the same thickness as
the border. The other tab, Shading, relates to the
percentage of fill and color inside the border, also
known as the shading pattern.
The distance from the border to the text is important
and can be selected only in the dialog box and
not via the toolbar we shall discuss in a moment.
The border around this paragraph is 3pt from the
text and extends slightly beyond each margin,
which is not always desirable. The vertical sides of
the border, left and right borders, have been made
deliberately thicker than the horizontal lines.
The distance is calculated in points but it is also
permitted to write, for example, 0.5 cm. The text
‘stands still’ while the border moves outward.
I don’t see why we haven’t been able to choose
whether it is the border or the text that moves.
In Word, a border is always wider than the column,
meaning it sticks out at both sides, which
apparently can’t be changed unless you indent both
sides of the paragraph (Format, Paragraph, Indent
left and right).
Most of these points can be adjusted quickly by
activating the border toolbar (click on the button
resembling a window).
You can also activate the toolbar by pointing your
mouse at any toolbar, rightclicking and selecting
Borders. These buttons make it easier to control
the lines in the border. When you sweep the mouse
across the buttons, they are named (left to right)
Top Border, Bottom Border, Left Border, Right
Border, Inside Border, Outside Border and No
Border.
Inside borders are relevant in tables.You can
remove/insert one or more of the borders simply by
clicking on the appropriate button, for example Left
Border. You can determine individually how thick
each border line should be by first selecting the
thickness on the dropdown list on the left. A border
consisting only of top and bottom borders is a
common way to emphasize a piece of text.
By means of the dropdown list on the right you can
select a grey shading, which is another way of
emphasizing a paragraph. Of course, it is perhaps a
little misleading to call it a border. It is more in the
way of fill.
This paragraph has been formatted with a solid
(100%) fill. The font switches automatically to
white-on-black.
I have discussed the four most common formatting
methods used in paragraphs: character, paragraph,
tabulator and border. If you leaf through this book,
you’ll see I’ve used different kinds of headlines. In
the table of contents you’ll see headlines divided
into different levels. I used four.
Fortunately, it is not necessary to sit and
meticulously format each individual paragraph.
Word offers a faster option. Each style of format is
stored under its own name. And when you want a
particular style, you activate it under that name.
That will be our next subject: Styles. But first a
quick look at formatting shortcuts.
Formatting
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Formatting shortcuts
UPPER/lower case letters
After selecting a piece of text you can use Shift+F3
to alternate between (1) lower case, that is small
letters (2) Capitals On Each Word, or (3) UPPER
CASE, that is capital letters. I use it so much, that I
allocated the function ChangeCase to F3.
SMALL CAPS
When you write text in small caps EVERY SINGLE
LETTER IS CAPITALISED BUT IN A SMALLER POINT
SIZE. Ctrl+Shift+K switches between normal and
SMALL CAPS. In this guide small caps are used for
filenames, for example NORMAL.DOT.
Original format
Ctrl+space resets the format of characters to that
which applies in the paragraph style. You will get a
better understanding of this once we have looked at
the section on styles but if, for example, you have
changed a word to italics in a larger size and all
capital letters, Ctrl+space resets it to its original.
Try an example: if before you type your next word,
which you want in italics, you activate italics, and
type your text, you can press Ctrl+space to return
to normal. I use it a lot as I write but also to change
a format I’ve decided against.
Ctrl+Q does the same, returns to the default format,
though only at paragraph level. If you have
problems getting out of a border, use Ctrl+Q.
Hyphen and space
Word distinguishes between a hard and a soft
hyphen and hard and soft spaces. Coca-Cola is the
oft-quoted example of a word containing a hard
hyphen, that is a hyphen to glue the two parts of the
word together to prevent them splitting at the end
of a line. You put in a hard hyphen by pressing
Ctrl+Shift+hyphen (which is actually Ctrl+_).
A soft hyphen is one that permits the word – say,
networking – to hyphenate at that point if it lands at
the end of the line. You insert a soft hyphen by
pressing Ctrl+hyphen.
A longer line, actually called an En dash (as it is
the same width as the letter ‘n’) and only used
between words or sentences) is inserted by pressing
Ctrl+Num - (the – on the numeric keyboard). An
even longer line, called the Em dash (as wide as the
letter ‘m’) is inserted using Ctrl +Alt+Num —
It doesn’t look too good in print when you type 2
cm or 5 minutes – and the digit is left standing at
the end of the line, lonely and forlorn. You can
keep them together by means of a hard space: press
Ctrl+Shift+space.
Have a look at Insert, Symbol, Special Characters,
or press F1 search for Shortcut keys or
Function keys.
Copying formats
If you want to copy a format - of either a
character, paragraph or style, then this
button or Ctrl+Shift+C can be used. Let us say that
you have formatted a word in a certain font, at a
different size and in italic, in other words, a lot of
different formatting choices at one time. Place the
cursor in the word which format you want to copy.
Click on the Format Painter button, which shows it
is activated by appearing to be pressed while at the
same time the cursor changes to a paintbrush.
You can either click on a single word or
select a larger text area, but when release
the mouse the formatting is copied and
the function is switched off. If you want
to copy the formatting to several places, start by
double clicking the button, which then stays
switched on until you click it again or press Esc.
Copying a paragraph format follows the same principle,
except that you start by selecting the entire
paragraph which formatting you want to copy.
Styles
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Styles
As you can see in this booklet, I have used different
headings. The table of contents on the back page
shows the divisions between the different levels. I
have used four levels.
Luckily I have not had to format every single
paragraph. There is a quick method for doing this.
Each formatting is stored under its own name, and
when you need a certain previously defined format,
called a style, then it is easy to activate it.
As far as I know Microsoft was the first to combine
several different formatting options (font, tab stops,
paragraph formats etc.) into one function. Word calls
this collection of individual item formats a style. On
the left of the formatting toolbar there is a field called
the style box which shows all the styles available in
the document you have open - see the illustration at
the bottom of the page. At the moment it probably
says Normal - a style which is also often called body
text.
If this is the first time you have come across these
terms and find it difficult to grasp what I am talking
about, do not despair - I felt the same when I first tried
to understand what it was all about. I would strongly
advise you to learn to use styles. If you cannot be
bothered, or have not got time, to read much in this
book, then just concentrate on styles.
(This section about styles could have been included in
the chapter on templates, but styles are so closely
related to formatting paragraphs and characters that I
chose to include it here.)
A personal comment
As a publisher I have seen many manuscripts written
using Word, and it became clear to me that the biggest
problem was understanding styles. Therefore what
Word calls styles plays a major role in this booklet.
Styles and templates are the essence of Word, the
inner logic of the whole program. Just like other parts
of using a PC, the whole thing is not so easy to grasp.
Unlike many others, I do not believe, or hope, that a
PC should be as easy to use as the remote control on a
television. A PC and its software are of another
dimension of complication. Attempts to simplify it (as
we have seen with Windows95), with the idea that
anyone can learn to use it, gives users less chance to
understand the underlying structure. It also makes it
less likely for programs to be used efficiently.
Some have a natural talent, others have no talent, but
can manage, and yet others find things difficult. And
there are people who have no interest at all in
computers. That is the way it is with everything in life,
and there is no reason on earth why we should all be
equally good with computers. Let’s drop this idea that
computers are the be all and end all of life. I am
attempting to get behind the facade and cover the
inner logic, the basic structure, the underlying levels in
this brilliant software. In all honesty this is important
for me, much more than some dummies guide which
just reels off instructions about a few dozen functions,
ending up making you an even better robot-like user
of Word, better than before maybe, but still just a
robot. If you do not understand why the program
behaves as it does, then I am afraid that is all you are,
a good robot, who one day might find yourself
replaced by a real robot which can do things faster
than and with less fuss than you can.
We are special, because we can reason, and therefore
be critical, because we are intuitive and creative,
which a computer or robot can never be. We need to
cultivate these talents. We should not try to be like a
computer or like a computer program, but remain
conscious beings who understand what we do and why
we do it.
If you have not used
styles, the easiest way
is trying this: Write
any paragraphs.
Drop down the
formatting toolbar as
shown in the picture.
This shows you the
names of the different
styles which come
supplied with Word.
Choose one, Heading 1, for instance. The
paragraph including the cursor will be formatted as
specified in Heading 1. If you want to go back,
press Ctrl-Z Try some of the other styles in the list,
like the other heading numbers.
Creating styles
I suggest that you type in the following three paragraphs
using your usual font, which is probably
Times New Roman.
First line indented
Much literature is set according to this principle:
the first paragraph following a headline is fully
left-justified (starts against the left margin), as this
one is.
Styles
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19
The second and subsequent paragraphs are
indented slightly, which helps the eye to move
from paragraph to paragraph. And the text doesn’t
take on a hard, mechanical look.
Before we do anything with these paragraphs we
will just take a look at a very useful help function.
Help
Click on this help button, or press
Shift+F1. The mouse cursor changes to the
symbol on the button, and clicking on a button, a
menu point or somewhere in the text will give you
an information box. This is a smart way to find out
about the formatting being used in a paragraph, a
table etc.
Esc switches off the function.
Here I have clicked on the first line I asked you to
write. If you find it difficult to understand the terms
(paragraph style, direct etc) shown in the picture
at the moment, then don’t study the illustrations in
the following descriptions. When you have
understood the concepts, then come back here and
you will be able to grasp this process better step by
step.
As you can see in the illustration (which I call an
info-box) there are two levels of formatting: paragraph
and character (font). Within each of these
levels there are both styles and direct formatting. In
the illustration both levels describe the standard
style called Normal, which is built into Word.
Word comes with several styles, and in each of
these Microsoft created styles both paragraphs and
fonts are formatted in a particular way. The Normal
style is a kind of ‘zero option’ style, but despite this
you should note that both paragraphs and characters
do have a format in it.
· Select the entire first line, including the
paragraph mark.
· Choose Format,
Character and
format it as bold, 10
point Arial and
finish by choosing OK. Choose Format,
Paragraph and choose a Spacing After of 6pt,
which gives bit of space between this and the
next paragraph. Unfortunately Word is limited
to jumping 6 points at a time in these fields, so
if you want 2 points spacing you will have to
write it in manually. You have now formatted
one paragraph, which in this case is only one
line, and the paragraph now looks like this:
First line indented
An info-click in the first line, which in this case
happens to be a paragraph, will show you this result
(right).
What you have just done is called a direct format
(an indirect format is done using a style). After you
have written something completely normal the info
box will show details of the paragraph style,
because there is only one existing paragraph style.
But you must get used to the idea that a paragraph
style also includes a font format. You just cannot
write without using a font, and that font has to have
a style! And in the same way, you cannot write a
paragraph without some form of paragraph
formatting, even if it only consists of No Indent
and Left justification.
Styles
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A paragraph style is a kind of ‘default’ or ‘underlying’
formatting applied to both the paragraph and
the font. If you add formatting over this style
format, this is called direct formatting. The difference
between the two is shown in the info-box: at
the beginning we could see from the font formatting
that the paragraph format font was Times New
Roman, 11 point and the language was defined as
English (UK). Now the top section of the info-box
has had a direct paragraph format added: Space
After 6 pt. The default or underlying paragraph
formatting has not changed, but an addition has
been made: Space After.
After a direct font format has been made, the Font
formatting has been changed and only shows that
the language is English (UK) because all the rest
has been changed directly to Arial, 10 point, Bold.
Select the entire second paragraph and format to be
another font. I have used Palantino. If you don’t
have that, then choose a font which looks different,
so you can see your changes easily. Now it looks
like this:
First line indented
Much literature is set according to this
principle: the first paragraph following a
headline is fully left-justified (starts against
the left margin), as this one does.
The second and subsequent paragraphs are
indented slightly, which helps the eye to move
from paragraph to paragraph. And the text doesn’t
take on a hard, mechanical look.
An info click in this paragraph shows that the font
has been directly set to be Palatino.
Place the cursor anywhere in the third paragraph
and format it with a first line indent set to 0.5 cm.
As you can see, the entire paragraph containing the
cursor uses the format.
A randomly placed cursor in a paragraph is enough
to tell Word which paragraph it should do
something to. You have now formatted some
paragraphs in a rather slow way, and your entire
text looks like this:
First line indented
Much literature is set according to this
principle: the first paragraph following a
headline is fully left-justified (starts against
the left margin), as this one is.
The second and subsequent paragraphs are
indented slightly, which helps the eye to move
from paragraph to paragraph. And the text doesn’t
take on a hard, mechanical look.
An info-click in the third paragraph shows a direct
paragraph format: First line indented by 0.5cm.
Let us imagine that you write a manuscript similar
to this book, where there are a number of these
types of formats. Word, as I have pointed out,
comes with a number of built-in styles (see the
illustration of the styles field on page 17). If these
styles fulfil all your needs, then there is no need for
you to read more about styles! But it is useful to be
able to change the built in styles, or make your
own. There are two different methods both for
changing an existing style and for creating a new
one.
Styles
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21
Creating a style: Trial and error method.
1. Place the cursor in the first paragraph First line
indented and select the entire line.
2. Click on the name (Normal
in this case) in the style field
(or Ctrl+Shift+S), this selects
the name.
3. Overtype the existing style
name with a new name and press Enter. Don’t
be nervous, the Normal style will not be
deleted.
As if by magic you have created a new style
(though at the moment only in this document)
called Head. Unfortunately, Word gives you no
message to this effect. This style can now be
used for anything you want to format in the
same way.
Check to see if the new style is there with all
the others - click in the style field, or press
Ctrl+Shift+S, followed by E. Press Esc.
4. Place the cursor in the second paragraph and
repeat the operation (points 2 and 3), this time
calling the style Para1.
5. Finally do the same in the third paragraph and
use the style name Para2.
6. Check that your new styles are listed -
Ctrl+Shift+S then W and E to move up and
down, or use the mouse. Press Esc to close the
style field.
Type three new paragraphs, and just to experiment
a little, place the cursor in any of them, click in the
style field (or use the keys noted above) and choose
the three styles Head, Para1 and Para2 in turn.
The paragraph should be formatted instantly to
each of the three styles. First time I tried this I was
completely amazed. You have just used a style.
The advantage of this method is obvious: You can
see, step by step what the formatting looks like, and
when you are satisfied you can create the style. It is
good to use until you are familiar with styles.
In a moment we will create the same styles using a
method which I call the direct method, but first we
should just delete the styles we have just created.
Deleting styles
Choose Format, Styles (Ctrl+Shift+S+S) and the
shown dialog box appears.
This dialog box is mainly used for
· Creating a new style
· Editing an existing style
· Deleting a style
Styles are listed on the left, those displayed are
dependent on the choice you have made under List,
where three options are given:
1. The styles used, or edited, in the document,
2. All the styles included in the template the
document is based upon,
3. User defined styles, that is one you have
created yourself
2. Choose User-Defined styles, and your three
styles Head, Para1 and Para2 should be
displayed.
3. Select them one by one, choose Delete and
confirm with a Yes.
4. In the field at the bottom left, choose List, All
styles
Word does not warn you that you have used any
particular style in the document when you delete it.
The style is simply deleted and any paragraphs
which are formatted with it revert to the Normal
paragraph format, which in the case of the font will
be the Standard font, usually Times New Roman.
There is one other method to delete a style, - see
Organizer on page 47.
Styles
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22
Creating a Style using a dialog box
As described, you can create a style using Format,
Style (Ctrl+Shift+S+S). If you know precisely what
the style should consist of, this is the better method
because it is usually quicker, easier to manage, and
can implement the style, which the trial and error
method cannot do. To use this method successfully
means practising with the dialog box and all the
options for a while. You do not need to be in any
particular paragraph, your document can be empty.
You are now going to create the styles you just
deleted again. This is not to make you feel stupid.
Choose New and you will get the dialog box shown
above, which can do something which the trial and
error method cannot do. The program has already
given a temporary name of Style1 for your new
style. You can create two kinds of style under Style
Type: you can choose between Paragraph and
Character. The styles you created earlier were
Paragraph styles.
A character style is smart if you want to format
some text, but not the entire paragraph. It will pay
you to use a character style if you want to highlight
text using a certain font, maybe in italics and
maybe with another point size to the rest of the
paragraph. I have created a character style and
allocated it to a shortcut key Alt+A, which formats
the character to Arial, in blue (on my screen,
anyway) and in 10 point - and I just used it to
format the Alt+A above, which is blue on my
screen.
You are going to create a Paragraph
style. Type HEAD.
Now you have told the program the
name of the new style. Under the
name it says Based on. This is where you choose
your starting point, which is always an existing
style you will modify. Before choosing Format,
Style.... the cursor was in a paragraph with a
certain style, and by default this is the style which
is chosen as your ‘based on’ style, but you can
choose another if you wish. In fact, it is not quite
correct to say that you are creating a new style,
what you are actually doing is altering a copy of an
existing one.
To avoid having to specify too much, what you
should do is base your style on one which is similar
to the one you want. The next option is called Style
for Following Paragraph, which is the style which
should be used when you press Enter. It is very
useful to be able to define this. In this booklet I
have used four different heading styles.
The clever thing with all this is that I have been
able to specify all of this without formatting any
paragraphs manually. It happens automatically
while I write, except for the headings which I have
given shortcut keys to (Heading1=Alt+1 etc). I
have given the different styles different colors to be
able to distinguish them easily. I would strongly
recommend using colors with styles, it really makes
everything easier.
Using the Format button you can choose which
font, paragraph layout, tab stops and so on to be
included in your new style. You can also choose a
shortcut key - recommended for styles you use a
lot.
Styles
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23
Styles and shortcut keys
In the dialog box described above you will notice a
button marked Shortcut key. By using this, you can
allocate a shortcut key to your style, something I
always do as it is by far the quickest way to use
styles.
Using the Shortcut key button will take you to the
Customize dialog box, which is described more
fully on page 44.
Press the keys you want to use with the cursor in
the Press New Shortcut key field, and you will be
shown whether these keys are already in use by
another command. I pressed Ctrl+O to show what
happens if this is the case. The box shows the
present allocation, which is File Open. This is one
of the classic shortcuts, used by nearly all Windows
programs.
If the key combination is in use by another
command, but you want to replace it anyway, then
use the Assign button, and you have allocated this
shortcut key to your style, but lost the shortcut to
the ‘old’ command. If I had chosen Assign in the
example above I would no longer be able to use
Ctrl+O to activate the File Open command. You
can also try other shortcut combinations (delete the
first, using Backspace) and choose Assign when
you have found the one you want to use. The best
thing is that you can always remove shortcut keys,
or specify new ones, which is easiest using
Customize (see page 44).
Creating the style
After choosing Close you can
start defining the different
options. Exactly as in the
previous trial-and-error example
you choose each of the
formatting options shown, which
are (nearly) all precise copies of
the format dialog boxes you
have met when you used the Format… menu.
Every time you finish with one (for example Font)
then return to this dialog box and choose the next
(for example Paragraph) until you have defined
exactly how you want your style to appear. If you
look in the info box we saw earlier you can set up
the styles we defined there. Remember to choose a
Style for Following Paragraph!
Using a style
You have created three new styles. Make some
copies of the three paragraphs to play with. Format
the paragraphs back and forth with your new styles.
You can choose you styles from the styles field
using the mouse, or using shortcut keys if you have
defined any.
Editing a Style
This can be done in two ways. The principle is the
same as the methods used for creating a new style,
described earlier.
Trial and error method
You can use the same principle as before: place the
cursor in a paragraph which uses the style you want
to change. If you want to change the style’s font,
the entire paragraph must be selected, choose a
new font, but keep the paragraph selected! Make
your other changes - paragraph, tabulator and so
on, place the cursor in the style field, which marks
the name of the style, and press Enter. You will be
asked if you wish to redefine (change) the style
using the selection as an example, or if you will
Return the formatting of the selection to the style.
Styles
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24
You want the first. If you only wished to change
the paragraph formatting, you did not need to select
the entire paragraph. Just placing the cursor in a
paragraph is enough for Word to consider it
selected, even though nothing is actually selected,
but as we are considering a style which affects the
whole paragraph, the fact that the cursor is in the
paragraph is enough.
The advantage of this method is that you can try
your changes out on an experimental basis before
deciding that you will change the style itself.
You might already have seen this dialog box
accidentally. This would have occurred if you had
changed the paragraph formatting in a paragraph
using direct formatting, and later chosen the
underlying style name from the style field in the
formatting toolbar. Word wants to know what you
want to do.
Dialog box method
The second method is using the Style option on the
Format menu (or Ctrl+Shift+S+S, which means
hold Ctrl and Shift down and press S twice) Before
you chose this menu point, the cursor was in a
paragraph and the style used in this paragraph will
be selected. In the middle you see a picture (which
is not always so easy to see) together with written
information on the chosen style. If you want to edit
another style, all you have to do is simply select it.
Choose Edit, and you will see the same dialog box
you saw when you created a new style (see page
22). Change where you want to, and choose Close.
The changes will be made in the paragraphs which
are formatted with the style you have edited.
Why Styles?
Let us assume that you have used Word, but have
never heard of Styles. You have written hundreds
of pages of a long report for a client, and have
formatted every single paragraph ‘by hand’, in
other words, by direct formatting.
You actually only use three types of paragraph, so
now you hear about styles, learn how to use them,
create the three most used styles, give them three
shortcut keys, and set off to format all your paragraphs
with styles, which does not change their
format or layout at all, BUT… one day the client
contacts you and asks you to write the report using
the Bookman font, and also add a bit of space in
front of every paragraph, if that is possible. He
realises that it might take a long time.
You know how to edit a Style, so you open a
couple of dialog boxes, edit a little, and there you
are: the report is just how the client would like it. If
you want to know if this can also be done with
documents which have been saved, the answer will
come in a while.
As you know: If you have other paragraphs in a
document which also use a style you have edited,
those paragraphs will also be changed, which is
exactly what is supposed to happen. This is what is
so brilliant with styles. If you have formatted 1017
paragraphs with a certain style, and later on you
want to format every single one in a different way,
then all you have to do is change the style, which
actually formats all the paragraphs based on that
style (except those which have been directly
formatted).
Styles
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25
So, it is the Style which makes characters and
paragraphs look the way they do. A paragraph,
even if all it consists of is the paragraph mark, is
always formatted ‘with’ or ‘by’ a style.
As you also know, there are two forms of Styles.
Paragraph style: Consists of both paragraph and
character formatting
Character style: Consists of only character
formatting
It is a little confusing that Word calls the basic
style ‘paragraph style’, when as well as the
paragraph formatting information, it also includes
character formatting. The correct name would have
been ‘paragraph and character style’, but Microsoft
obviously thinks that this would have been too
much for us poor users, so they shortened it to
paragraph style. As well as these two methods of
formatting, there is also a third: direct formatting.
Mixing formatting
Those of you who are keeping up will maybe come
with a question now: What if I format a word with
a font style, and then by direct formatting? Which
is the strongest of the two: a font style or a direct
formatting?, which has the highest priority?
Let us take it right from the beginning: Word
contains a paragraph style called Normal, which
contains the font formatting Times New Roman, 12
point, which looks like this:
This is an example of the Normal style,
Times New Roman, 12 point.
Let us say that you have a character style formatted
as Courier, 12 point. You select the words ‘This is
an example of the Normal style’, so the example
looks like this:
This is an example of the Normal
style, Times New Roman, 12 point.
Now format the word ‘of’ directly as Palatino, 15
point:
This is an example of the Normal
style, Times New Roman, 12 point.
Format the word ‘of’ with another character style,
which formats it as Arial 10 point. What will happen?
Can a character style replace a direct format?
This is an example of the Normal
style, Times New Roman, 12 point.
The answer is yes. Direct character formatting and
character styles are equal. The last one to be used is
the winner, and the previous character style is
dumped, which we can prove by placing the cursor
in the word and pressing Ctrl+space, which resets
the character style to that specified in the paragraph
style. The word ‘of’ is again formatted in the
Normal paragraph style.
This is an example of the Normal
style, Times New Roman, 12 point.
Summing up: Styles and direct formatting
The order of precedence is as follows: Paragraph
styles are the ‘weakest’, but character styles and
direct character formatting are just as ‘strong’ as
each other. Paragraphs and characters are always
first and foremost formatted with a paragraph style,
which also contains a character (font) formatting,
which is perhaps a little confusing, but characters
have to be formatted in some way or another, so
character formatting has to be included in the paragraph
formatting. A character or direct formatting
can be placed ‘on top’ of the paragraph style,
almost as though it has ‘replaced’ the character
formatting which is included in the paragraph style.
Now you know a little about creating, editing,
using and deleting a style. You may have noticed a
check box labelled Add to template. When you
have understood what a template is, you will
understand what this is about and we will return to
it later.
Page Layout and Section 26
Page Layout
The next formatting level controls the appearance of the whole page: the size of the paper, margins,
headers with page numbers (as I’ve used in this guide), text columns, etc.
Unfortunately, Word has a number of different menu points (dialog boxes) dealing with the
appearance of the printed page. Moreover, the program operates with a concept unfamiliar to most
people – even though they may have worked with other word processors before.
If you have worked with Word for a while, you have probably noticed an option that turns up in a
few places: Apply To, the possibilities being This Section, This Point Forward and Whole
Document. One example of this option is to be found under File, Page Setup, where most of the
points require little or no explanation.
Tip: If you have the horizontal
Ruler on the screen (the one
showing measurements and tab
stops), you can double click
outside the margin area to
activate the Page Setup dialog
(if you do it inside the margin
area, the first click inserts a tab
stop). If you have the vertical
Ruler active, you can double
click on it with the same result.
Unless you know what a section
is, you don’t know what this is all about. So let us begin our discussion with section.
Section
In its simplest form, a section is simply part of the document. Having said that, we shall see in a
moment that it is also much more. Not all word processors employ the concept. Microsoft does. It is
necessary to make a new section when you want to have:
· pages with margins which differ from the rest of the document
· a change in the number of text columns
· different headers for different parts of the document (as is the case in this book).
When you make a change in any option relating to page layout, the dialog box assumes by default
that the change should apply only to This Section.
Typically, you are given this choice when you work with page layout, that is margins, columns or
page numbering. You cannot work in one column then switch to two columns without creating a
new section. In other word processors you can simply tell the program you want to work in two
columns and later, when that part of the document is finished, that you want to switch to one
column. The program inserts a code, changing the number of columns. But with Word it’s different.
Working with sections may appear troublesome in the beginning but as your documents grow in
length or you introduce special formatting on different pages, you begin to see the advantages of the
section. For example, you may have a 10-page document and want to write the first five pages in
two columns, the next two pages in three columns, and the remainder in two columns again. At the
same time you want to change the margins. You have to divide the job into three sections.
Another way to put it: if you change the layout of your page, you must decide how much of the
document should be affected by the change. Let’s look at some of the elements that make up the
layout or appearance of the page.
Section 27
Margins
You can adjust your margins in the Page Setup menu. If your viewing the document in Page
Layout View, a quick but less accruate methos is to drag the horizontal or vertical rulers. When you
move the mouse across a margin, the mouse pointer changes to a double-headed arrow. You can pull
the margins with the mouse. If you use this method, it applies only to the section in which your
cursor is placed.
Text columns
Version 6 introduced the option to
have several columns with
different widths. Now press Ctrl
Shift enter to change column.
To illustrate this, I am
giving these three
columns different widths.
The middle column is the narrowest, the two
others being of different widths (which I hope is
obvious to the eye!). I’ve used 9pt typeface
because the columns are so narrow.
First I wrote the headline ‘Text columns’. Then I chose
Insert, Break... (if you do it in the reverse order, the top
line of each column won’t align). Then I chose
Continuous, which prevents the text from jumping to a
new page. If you work in Normal View a column, page or
section break is shown on screen as a dotted line.
Then I chose Format, Columns, Three
and unchecked Equal Column Width.
If I had wanted a specific width for
each column in centimetres, I could
have selected this in the dialog box.
Instead I switched to Page Layout
View and activated the Ruler. Using the
mouse I could have pulled the column
margins to an approximate dimension –
in exactly the same way as normal page
margins.
The above described this second-best
method to illustrate what happens but
in fact it is even better to select Normal
View, create two section breaks
immediately after each other, and work in between them (in Normal View column, page and section
breaks are shown on screen as dotted lines). This ensures that changes are confined to the one
specific section. Another procedure is to:
type your text first, select it, and choose Format, Columns.
As you have selected a piece of text, you will not be asked: Apply to (1) this section etc., but apply
to (1) Selected Text (2) Selected Sections and (3) Whole Document. When you use the Selected-
Text method, section breaks are inserted before and after the selection.
Section 28
If later you want to change the distance between each column, then change to Page Layout View,
and activate the ruler. The arrow in the illustration points to the cursor, whose position decides how
the measurements are shown on the ruler. Click in different columns and different measurements
will be displayed. When the mouse is over the ruler and moves between two columns, on the
rectangular, probably grey, area, it changes to a double arrow. Before doing anything you can place
the mouse in three different spots:
on the left middle on the right
Don’t move the mouse! Hold Alt down and click the mouse without moving it.
You will be given the relevant information! Now you can drag with the mouse and the space
between columns, together with the column width, is changed depending on where you started. To
be able to do this, you must not have checked the Equal Column Width box (see the dialog box
shown earlier, which can be activated by double clicking on one of the grey rectangles).
PS Try double clicking in a single column of text in the following places:
1. In the upper or
2. the lower half of the horizontal ruler.
3. Outside the white area of the ruler or
4. over the small dividing rectangles (alternatively, hold down Alt and click and hold the mouse
steady over one of the small dividing rectangles). If you are curious, like me, then I suggest that
you try clicking different objects on the screen with and without the Alt key held down.
Inserting a section break
If you only want to insert a section break, that is create a new section, as far as I can see there is only
one way to do it: Insert, Break ...
The dialog box should have been labelled Section Break
and should not have contained the first two options: simple
Page Break and simple Column Break. I think Microsoft
should have made one dialog box for simple page and
column break, which does not involve a section break, and
another dialog box for section break, meaning a box
containing the four options at the bottom.
These four options stipulate where the new section should
start: at the top of a new page, on a new odd page, on a new even page or on the same page. The
latter is known as continuous.
Section 29
Editing a section break
When you want to edit a section break, place the cursor inside the section and select: File, Page
Setup, Layout, which gives you this dialog box:
I have clicked Section Start, showing the five options; four are the same as before, the fifth (New
Column) is new. It, too, should have been available in the previous dialog box, where you choose
where to start a section.Try using two columns, inserting a section break, and editing the switch
between continuous and new column to see the difference.
Warning: If you activate this dialog box by double clicking on the section break (in Normal View),
that is a double dotted line, please be aware of the following: the format of a section is stored in the
section break at the end of the section. I mentioned earlier that the style which controls the
appearance of a paragraph is stored in the carriage return at the end of the paragraph. The same
applies to a section. You can see section breaks while in Normal View but unfortunately you can’t in
Page Layout View, and the program gives you no warning if you are about to delete an allimportant
section break.
Be very careful if in Page Layout View you press Delete or Backspace close to a section break –
which you can’t see on screen!
Copying a section format
If you have made many format changes in a particular section (page layout, margin, columns, etc.)
and want to use the same format in another section, the easiest way is as follows:
First, switch to Normal View in order to show your section breaks (double dotted lines). The format
for the section you want to copy is in the section break at the end of the section. Select the section
break and Copy. Place the cursor at the end of the section you want to format, that is just in front of
the existing break separating it from the next section. Select Paste. Now you have two section
breaks after each other. Delete the second one.
I have tried copying a section break from one document to another, with terrible consequences. It
messed up everything.
Headers and footers 30
Headers and footers
Sections and headers/footers gave me the most
trouble in Version 2. Part of the problem is that you
can’t control all the variables in the same dialog
box. In addition there are two functions called
Page numbers. One is Page Numbers under
Insert. The other – also called Page Numbers – is
to be found under View, Header and Footer. If you
find the following confusing, in my opinion it’s
because the functions are not well designed. It’ll
probably be best just to do exactly what I write.
Page Numbers
We’ll start with a simple number on the page. Most
people like to number their pages in letters and
reports. Via Insert, Page Numbers we get
Position: the page number can be placed at the top
(header) or bottom (footer) of the page. I’m afraid
the distance from the edge of the paper is decided
elsewhere: in another dialog box shown earlier
(Page Layout p. 26).
Alignment: If you want a uniform appearance, you
can choose from among right, left or center. The
most common is right. This places the number in
the same position on all pages. If you want your
numbering as in a book (this one, for example),
alternating between right and left, you choose
Inside or Outside. Odd pages (1, 3, 5...) should
always be on the right. The alignment selected in
this book was Outside, that is the outside edge of
the page. In fact a frame is inserted to contain the
number. A frame is a graphic element and can be
positioned on the inside or outside edges.
The frame and number are inserted in a header, that
is an area at the top of the page. A footer sits at the
bottom of the page. The distance of the header
from the edge of the page is decided via File, Page
Setup. The funny thing is that you don’t need to
select Different Odd and Even in this dialog box
(Page Setup). This is one of the puzzles.
If you have selected right and later want to change
this to centered, you simply choose Insert, Page
Numbers again, and the new value replaces the
old.
Special pagenumber formats
If you want the numeral shown as your page
number to be different from the actual number of
the sheet (shown on the extreme left of your status
bar), choose Format which reveals
At the top you can choose Arabic numerals, letters,
etc., as your format. You may find it strange
referring to letters a, b, c, d ... or i, ii, iii ... as
numerals but that’s the way it is. In the figure I
have chosen to write 3 as the first page number,
which means that the numeral 3 will appear on the
first sheet, 4 on the second sheet, etc. If you know
your document will have two other pages labelled 1
and 2, this is a handy function – and the only way
to do it.
Notice at the bottom of the box, if you have several
sections (for example chapters in a book), you can
choose to have the pages numbered consecutively
or restarting in each chapter (you would choose
Start At).
The advantage of this method lies in its simplicity.
But you can only show and edit the actual
numeral, nothing else. You can’t see page
Headers and footers 31
numbering in Normal View, only in Page Layout
View. If you want more text in the header, you
must get inside it. If you want a graphic line (part
of a frame) or text, you have to activate Header,
described under View headers and footers below.
This is not an either/or situation, with two different
functions. The difference is in the format of the
page numeral.
View headers and footers
This section reflects my curiosity about what
actually goes on; but it is also an expression of my
problem in understanding it. So don’t worry if
things are a bit hazy in the first instance. When you
begin your own experiments with these things,
these lines should help.
I have chosen to describe Header but the same
principles apply to Footer. You can activate the
Header function in two ways.
Irrespective of whether you are in Normal View or
Page Layout View, when you choose View,
Header and Footer, the screen changes to Page
Layout View, or in Page Layout View you double
click the actual area occupied by the header, the
screen shows you an area enclosed in a dotted line.
This is the header area. At the same time you see a
Header and Footer toolbar.
The lower horizontal, broken line is the limit of
your top margin. If you have text on your screen, it
loses its intensity; it is inactive. You can now
format your header in exactly the same way as you
format any other text: fonts, paragraphs, tab stops,
frame, etc. Your header is a style as everything else
in your Word document is a style. Check in your
styles pane: it says Header.
1. The first button from the left switches between
header and footer.
2 and 3. The next two buttons move the cursor to
the previous or next section. If you have different
odd and even headers, your formatting can be
different. The sequence is: Odd header in Section
1; Even header in Section 1; Odd in Section 2;
Even in Section 2, etc. If your document contains
only one section, you will have a maximum of two
different headers: one for odd pages and one for
even. If in the dialog box Page Setup, Layout you
have not marked Different Odd and Even and only
have one section, you will only have one header.
The 2nd button from the right is pretty
straightforward. Try it. The 3rd from the right
activates the Page Setup dialog box, allowing you
to adjust the distance from the edge of the paper to
the header. I was complaining a little earlier that
you have to go through a variety of dialog boxes in
order to get to all the functions. This is an example.
The three middle buttons insert page number, date
and time (none of these buttons can insert the kind
of page number discussed in the previous chapter).
Be careful with the 4th button from the left:
Same as Previous! If you have several sections,
you will select the same format header as in the
previous section – which assumes, of course, that
there is a previous section, and that prior to this the
headers in the two sections were different. Unless
you give other instructions, when you create a new
section the program inserts the same header as in
the previous section.
This is one of the functions I have found most
confusing. Your problems start when you want to
change the text in a header or footer or create new
sections, adjust the formatting either in your header
or in the Page Layout. There are plenty of pitfalls.
To complicate matters still further, the header is
formatted by a style called Header, and it affects
everything you do!
Page 3 of 14
If in your header you would like to show the total
number of pages in the document – as I’ve typed
above – you activate the header, insert the page
number with the # button, " of "and the number of
pages via Insert, Field, choosing the category
Document Information and NumPages and OK.
Headers and footers 32
Deleting a header
You delete a header in the same way as any other
piece of normal text. Remember that your header
probably contains mostly fields and perhaps a text
frame. You can select a text frame with your mouse
when you see the little cross (point at the edge of
the frame). Not always easy. Once you’ve marked
it, you can delete it. If you select the page number
inside the frame and delete it, the frame is deleted,
too! You can only delete fields by selecting them
and pressing Delete or Backspace.
Two kinds of page numbers
I can only guess why Microsoft gave us two
different methods for the same purpose. The
programmers probably saw Insert, Page Numbers
as a simple solution while the other method was
provided to solve more complex problems.
When do you choose which?
If we’re only talking of the actual page number, the
choice is not so difficult. If pages are only to be
printed on one side of the sheet (like a business
letter), the page number is usually on the right, that
is no difference between odd and even pages. For
this book I preferred (after struggling to understand
it!) the page number obtained via Insert, Page
Numbers, formatting the page number as Outside
(the edge furthest from the binding). The necessary
frame is inserted automatically. That way I don’t
have to bother with different headers for odd and
even pages. The only – but important – difference
is that:
· Insert, Page Numbers inserts a frame
containing the field Page. The frame can be
formatted as Inside or Outside, and the number
can differ from the page number in the status
line.
· the # button inserts only the field Page, which
cannot by itself be formatted as Inside or
Outside, and this field always has the same
number as the page shown in the status line.
If after choosing one of these two methods you opt
for Insert, Page Numbers, the initial page number
is replaced by the new: formatted with a frame and
a newly selected position.
If you want different odd and even pages, you have
to select this option under Page Setup, and you
must format each separately, usually aligned left
and right respectively.
Apart from this difference, the same options are
available when you have created your header and
begin editing it. Above all else, the thing to
remember is that headers and footers are formatted
like any other piece of text. Toolbars are available
as normal.
I have split this book into many sections. This
enables me, for example, via Insert, Crossreference
to insert in the Header the text of a
headline from the section. I shall not be going into
detail on this point except to say that it is inserted
as a field. I hope you have sufficient information to
be able to insert page numbers, dates, headlines,
your own text, etc., in a header or footer.
Criticising page numbers!
It is not good program design that the user is forced
through so many functions and dialog boxes to find
out how it works. Some functions, for example
Page Setup, Headers and Page Numbers, have
been grouped more or less at random under
different menu headings. Headers should have
been placed under Format, where Page Setup
really also belongs. If you want to (and feel up to
it), you can in fact move them. See Adding a menu
function page 42
It’s a bit confusing, working out what happens
when you select different headers for odd and even
pages – and at the same time choose Outside and
Inside positions. Or put another way, although you
can choose different options in dialog boxes which
do not carry the same names, they perform the
same functions.
Where are we? ... here!
Let’s stop for a moment and gather our thoughts as
to how far we’ve come and where all these changes
will apply. In the beginning I found it difficult to
get any perspective on all this. So far we have been
working exclusively within our screen document.
The program was already equipped with a few
styles when you opened a new document. You have
made one or two yourself which you can use in the
document.
Templates 33
Templates
What if you want to use one or all of these new
styles in other documents, new or already in
existence? The latter is a little troublesome so we’ll
leave it for the moment. But getting your styles into
a new document is no problem.
If you were entirely ignorant of the term template
and were a little creative, you could save your
current document under a new name (that is make a
copy), delete all text in the copy and use the
remainder as the basis for a new document. This is
a perfectly legitmate option but it can be done in a
slicker fashion. The answer: templates. There is a
similarity between the relationship of the style to
the paragraph and of the template to the document.
A style can be used over and over again on several
paragraphs; a template can be used for several
documents.
A template is not a new concept. Word processors
have been using them even before the idea was
given a name. Example: you write many letters
with a similar content. They may be reminders to
your customers to pay their bills; the wording is
similar in each, only the dates and amounts differ.
Instead of writing the whole letter every time, you
quickly find a way to save time: you produce a
standard letter with a few XXX’s placed at
strategic points in the text, marking the places
where variable text is inserted in each letter. You
save it under the name REMINDER and bring it onto
your screen every time you need to send a
reminder. You search for xxx, make the necessary
adjustments and print the result, saving it under a
new name if necessary. The document you have
called REMINDER acts as a template (basis) for the
reminders you send out.
Earlier word processors had in fact a template of
sorts: it was the blank screen you started typing on.
But there was only this one ‘document’ so there
seemed little point referring to it as a template.
Every time you started a new document you were
given this one standard as your basis. You could
change it (default settings) but it was still just one
document.
But as often as not, at some time you accidentaly
saved an actual reminder, complete with information,
dates, etc., as the reminder you were
supposed to have as a template. Probably in
response to users’ appeals, Microsoft and others
produced a system to avoid this.
Software houses invented the term template as a
kind of protected document. You must follow a
special procedure in order to change a template.
You cannot make changes in a template easily or
by accident. It certainly carries more protection
than a normal document.
When Word starts, the program already has a
document open on the screen, which is based on a
template called Normal (unfortunately the waters
are clouded a little because Word also uses the
word normal for other parts of the program:
template, style, etc.).
Most modern word processors have several
standard templates. Every time you want to start a
new document you must choose which of the
templates you want to base it on. That’s why you
see this dialog box when you choose File, New,
which looks different in version 6.
A template is a particular type of file.
A document is always based on a template.
A template is a basis from which to work, a foundation.
It has a number of extremely interesting
features. You can store astonishing things in a
template. The normal font, styles and page setup
can differ from template to template. The buttons
on your toolbar are stored in a template – otherwise
you couldn’t use them. You can change the content
of your toolbars so that a particular kind of job can
be given a particular array of buttons. Your menus
can be changed, depending on the job at hand.
The remainder of the book is devoted to this
subject, which in my view is the most interesting
aspect of the program. Once you have learned
about and practised adjusting the various built-in
options, you can get lots more productivity – and
fun – out of your word processor. And that’s what
we’re all aiming for. I’m the first to admit that it
isn’t easy learning about templates. But once
Templates 34
you’ve grasped some of the basic principles you
can save time.
level
Template: NORMAL NONSENSE
Document: TRUST.DOC BELIEF.DOC SKI.DOC FREEDOM.DOC RUN.DOC
A template’s full name is a DOcument Template,
which is why the extension is .DOT. Word has a
separate directory specially for templates. In Word
6 it is \WINWORD\TEMPLATE, while for Word 7
it is called ..\TEMPLATES. Templates are kept
here in order to be available when you want to
choose a new one (File, New). Word comes with a
variety of different templates. If you want to reduce
the number of templates on view each time you
choose this function, you can do as follows:
I suggest you open each one of them and study it
briefly. Start with the ones that have no ‘wizards’
to guide you. Try them, see whether you can use
them for anything sensible. Make a note of the ones
you feel you are unlikely to need. Then rename
them by writing their extension backwards (.TOD).
Some of the templates have an associated wizard
and are recognisable from their .WIZ extension.
When you open one of these, you are asked one or
two questions and your answers are fitted into the
final document. It saves you a bit of work. Try
these, too. If you don’t feel they’re useful, rename
them with a .ZIW extension.
If later you want to use any of these ‘useless’
templates, simply give them their original .DOT and
.WIZ names back.
Creating a new template
Although I have not described the process of
creating templates, I think nevertheless it would be
a good idea at this stage to set one up so that you
can see where and how they are used. You will no
doubt then be able to create one or two new
templates for yourself if you need them for special
purposes.
The following is quite safe. I recommend that you
carry out the instructions even though you do not
yet fully understand what a template is.
Choose File, New and in the bottom right-hand
corner of the dialog (where it says New) choose
Template, OK. The title bar (above your editing
screen) now shows Template1. You have opened a
copy of the NORMAL.DOT template and the program
has given it a temporary name: Template1. Just for
the sake of experiment, make a template for your
normal letters, that is showing your name, address,
etc. Insert a letterhead and format your margins,
etc., to suit your letters.
When you’re finished, choose Save and type a
completely new name. The program has
automatically chosen the directory in which
templates are stored. I suggest you name your new
template NONSENSE because that will place it
alphabetically close to NORMAL. The program
automatically adds the extension .DOT. Choose OK
or press Enter. Close the file via File, Close (or
Ctrl+F4).
Now open a new document via File, New. Your
new template is listed as one of the options. When
you choose it, you start a document in which your
letterhead is already in place. You can create a new
template in two other ways:
· Open an existing template file (for example
\WINWORD\TEMPLATE\NORMAL.DOT), make a
few changes, and save it under a new template
name.
· Save a document as a template. If you have
written a major document containing many new
styles, macros, etc., saving its structure as a
template can be an excellent thing to do. Before
saving it, of course, you should delete the actual
text content of the document – but remember to
Templates 35
save it under a new name; don’t save the empty
document in place of the real document! Switch
to \WINWORD\TEMPLATE, choose File type:
Document Template, write a new name, and
click OK.
Very important: In the Save As dialog box you
must choose File Type: Document Template,
otherwise the program won’t register the fact
that you are saving the file as a template.
I shall now describe something that may not be too
easy to understand at this point but I shall provide
an example in the hope that it will help explain
what you can save in a template - when this
happens, and when it doesn’t!
Save NORMAL.DOT?
Sooner or later, you will see the following screen
message, usually while closing a document or just
before closing the program. If you never see this
particular dialog box but instead notice on the
status line the words Saving NORMAL.DOT, it is
almost certainly because the option Prompt to
Save Normal.dot is unchecked as described under
Options, Save, page 5.
I recommend that you re-read that section and
check Prompt to Save Normal.dot. If Word throws
this cryptic question at you, at least you’ll know
you have changed something in the template and
have the opportunity to decide whether the change
should also apply to future documents (although
you are given no inkling of what the change
consists of).
I recall the first time I came across this question; I
was totally dumfounded. It was in version 2, and
the message was even more cryptic than it is now. I
had changed something – and had no idea what
would happen whether I answered yes or no. That’s
when I became interested in templates, especially
the NORMAL.DOT template.
You base your documents on the NORMAL
template. Merely typing your very first document is
making a document based on the NORMAL
template. The question pops up typically if you
have amended a style, created a macro or set up or
changed one of the many things a template can
contain.
The ‘normal.dot’ question baffles the beginner and
is probably one of the worst aspects of the program.
Microsoft has made a big thing in its advertising of
what it calls the ‘intelligence’ of this and other
program mes. If the program really was intelligent,
it would know what user changes had caused it to
ask this question and would describe the change(s)
in understandable language.
Changing a template
I would like you to do something (quite safe!) to
see ‘the question’. But first check that you have
checked Tools, Options, Save, Prompt to Save
Normal.dot. After entering the program do nothing.
In other words, you have an empty screen, the
program has opened an empty document based on
NORMAL.DOT. Hold the Alt key down and drag a
toolbar button slightly. For example, the Centering
button. Pull it just enough to one side that you
move it away from its neighbor. Release the mouse,
leaving the button in its new position (you may
move it back if you wish). You changed your
toolbar – but the important thing is: toolbar
changes are stored in the template.
Press Alt+F4 to close Word. As you have not
written anything in the document, you aren’t asked
whether you want to save. Then comes the
question:
Changes have been made that affect the global
template, NORMAL.DOT. Do you want to save
those changes?
I suggest you press Esc. The strange thing about
this question is:
· why was it asked simply because you moved a
button in one of your documents? The answer is
that the toolbar is one of the elements saved in a
template.
· you didn’t open the NORMAL.DOT file. How can
changes occur in this file?
This brings us to one of the crucial points about the
program. If you grasped the point about having a
template as a basis for individual documents,
obviously it makes sense to have different
templates for different kinds of documents. The
question is: how do we make changes in our
templates? In this case, we’re talking about the
NORMAL template, that is the file
..\TEMPLATE\NORMAL.DOT. There are two
fundamentally different methods.
Templates 36
Direct
You can open the NORMAL.DOT file (or any other
template), make your changes and save the file.
This is the best method because you can change
everything and control all your changes.
Indirect
You saw a few moments ago how to make indirect
changes in NORMAL.DOT. You had opened a
document based on the NORMAL template and made
a slight change that can differ from template to
template. The program ‘guessed’ that you might
want the change available in future documents
based on the NORMAL template. The change we
made was minor. It could well have been a change
in the Normal style or in a macro.
The strange thing in my view is that the template or
file is in fact open to change but this is presumably
because templates are always open in the
background. I have a mental picture of templates as
containers with a semipermeable membrane that
allows certain elements to pass through for storage
in the template. That’s why, in several places in the
program, you’ll see buttons or boxes enabling you
to store your choice either in the template your
current document is based on (Add to template,
Save in template, Standard, etc.) or in the
NORMAL template.
The NORMAL template is always open in the
background, even though you may just have one
document open and it is based on another template.
When you open a document based on a template
other than NORMAL, this template and NORMAL are
always open, ready to receive changes.
The template contains page layout, styles, toolbars,
menus, macros, etc. It is the ‘face’ that the program
presents to the user.
You communicate with the program via the various
elements of the template.
The first problem is to find out which elements can
be stored and which can’t. Unfortunately, the
program doesn’t help us here (for example by
indicating it in its various dialog boxes). The
second problem is to find out the conditions that
must apply before elements are saved. I’ll be
looking at this after the description of the template
elements.
A little later I will also examine some of the more
complicated options for changing templates. I will
start by describing the contents of a template. If
you are a beginner, it may be a little while before
you feel you have a firm grip of the different
aspects of the template. You will probably in the
beginning work on documents, making your
changes here rather than directly in the underlying
template.
Imagine this situation: you are working on a
biggish document or a special document, changing
styles, page setup, maybe making a few macros,
etc. At some stage it occurs to you that it might be
useful if many of your changes could be used in
other contexts, in other documents. It would be
nice if you could copy the new styles, macros, etc.,
either to another template or to other specific
documents. It is possible. I will show you how.
Macro 37
Template elements
In addition to the necessary formatting for Page
Layout a template can contain
Styles – Autotext – Macros – Toolbars – Menus
Let’s look at these, without storing them in a
template. It’s best to experiment a bit first, then you
can store things in a template later.
If while working in a document based on the
NORMAL template you change something that turns
out to be a template element, Word asks when you
leave the program whether you want the changes
saved in NORMAL.DOT. If you answer Yes, all such
changes are saved, and all new, future documents
opened on the basis of NORMAL will contain these
changes. If you are unsure about the consequence
of these changes, I suggest you make your
experiments in a document based on your new
NONSENSE template. In other words, select File,
New, Nonsense and OK. You are now in a
document based on your new template, and you can
experiment to your heart’s content without causing
any ‘disasters’! Isn’t that comforting? If you do
this, your variation of ‘the question’ will refer to
NONSENSE.DOT instead of NORMAL.DOT – provided
you remember to stipulate that the change should
apply to this template. Who said life was easy?!
I wrote earlier that I would explain why the section
on styles was not placed here. Styles are the only
one of the five elements which can be stored both
in a document and in a template. The other four
elements can only be stored in a template!
Macro
Macros are a science in themselves – but very
practical at the same time. If you frequently repeat
a combination of keystrokes, functions or mouse
clicks, you can have a macro record them, remember
them and play them back for you. An example,
you may want to switch two words, with your
cursor placed on the first of these.
I have already described a macro, although few
people call it a macro. In my opinion, a style is a
macro. It executes several functions at the same
time. But Word calls it a style. When you write
computer programs, you divide complex functions
into smaller parts in order to combine them in
different ways.
One of the advantages of this shows itself to be of
benefit to us users. In earlier days, software producers
decided how the various functions of a program
would work and gave the user no means of
changing the function or creating new ones. In the
past few years there has been a tendency for users
to want to adapt programs to their own style or to
conform with special wishes.
This means bigger programs – but giving us more
opportunity to adjust functions to our personal
taste. Obviously it takes a lot of time to learn but it
does give us greater flexibility. In Word these small
component parts are called commands.
When you select a menu point or click on a button,
you activate a command or perhaps a combination
of several commands. Stop for a moment and
choose Tools, Macro, Macros Available In and
Word Commands. You’ll see scores of commands.
Some of these commands are to be found in menus,
others on buttons, others are in the deeper layers of
dialog boxes, while some are not available unless
you choose to make them available. Maybe you
can’t find a particular function (though it exists),
but Microsoft has given preference to some
commands over others.
That was perhaps a bit of a general ramble but the
intention is to help you with some background
knowledge to help understand the program’s
‘logic’.
Recording a macro
Let’s make a macro! We’ll do the one that switches
two words. Place your cursor inside the first word
or between the two words.
Double click REC on the status line (stands for
Record Macro) and write the name of your new
macro: switch. It’s a good idea to type a few
Macro 38
words under Description at the bottom of the
dialog box to help you to remember what the macro
does. There’s another advantage, which will
become apparent in a moment.
When you have finished recording the macro,
you’ll naturally want to use it. It would be
convenient if you could activate it via a toolbar
button, a menu or a shortcut key. This option is
available in this dialog box, but you don’t need to
use it. Simply choose OK and continue (you
continue reading page 38).
Important: Again, note the heading Make Macro
Available To. Choose your template (it’ll be the
one in which the macro is saved if you reply Yes to
‘the question’).
Macros linked to toolbar buttons
If you choose this option, you are presented with
part of the Customize menu, and if you look
carefully above the word Description you’ll see
you’re asked to drag the selected macro up to one
of your toolbars. As soon as you start to drag, an
extra square appears at the mouse pointer.
You place the square in one of your toolbars – and
release the mouse.
The button is now in place but it does not yet show
which function it activates.
Now you see the following dialog box.
This gives you a variety of things to choose from.
In the top left-hand corner you see the current
choice, Text Button, while at the bottom you see the
macro’s name, Switch.
You can do various things:
· If you choose Assign, ‘switch’ is inserted as
the Text Button Name, and you are ready to
record your macro. Continue reading
Recording, page 38)
· If you click one of the small icons and choose
Assign, the icon is placed on the button, and
you are ready to record your macro as soon as
you have clicked on Close. Continue reading
page 38
The final option for editing is one of the few places
in the program (besides actually writing something)
where you can have a bit of fun and exercise your
creativity. If you choose Edit before selecting an
icon, a icon editor is activated and here you can
draw your own icon. If you select an icon first and
then choose Edit, the icon editor opens to reveal the
one you have chosen, which can be edited as you
wish. It’s quite easy.
Macros linked to shortcut keys
If you choose to assign the macro to a shortcut key,
you are given another version of the Customize
dialog box. The cursor rests in the field Press New
Shortcut Key. The principle is exactly the same as
already described under Styles and shortcut keys p.
23.
You select whatever shortcut key you think
appropriate. Obviously, it should be easy to
remember. I might choose Alt+Y because the letter
Y resembles a fork which I can stick into the two
words – and flip them over! If the key combination
is already in use, you will be told.
The program comes complete with many shortcut
keys. The Ctrl key often features in these, whereas
Alt is seldom used. Choose, for example, Alt+Y. If
you press a key you regret, remove it with
Backspace and try again.
Macro 39
Recording
The dialog box closes, and this mini
toolbar appears on the screen.
The left-hand button (Stop) is the one
you click when you have finished recording your
macro. The right-hand button (Pause) is for
temporarily halting your macro session, without
stopping the macro
You still have your cursor in the first of the two
words? Ctrl+O to position the cursor at the beginning
of the word. Hold Shift as you press
Ctrl+U. The word is selected. Ctrl+X to cut the
word. Ctrl+U and Ctrl+V to paste the word in
place. Click the left-hand button (Stop) on the
macro box. Your macro has been recorded.
If you chose to place the macro on a button and
have the status line showing at the bottom of the
screen, when you pass the mouse pointer across the
button you see – in addition to the macro name in
the little box – the description in the status line –
why I suggested a description.
Describing a macro
If you want to change or insert a macro description,
choose Tools, Macro, select the macro, and insert
the description. But as – oddly – there is no OK or
Close button you must click on Cancel, which acts
in this case as the acceptance button!
Deleting a macro
In the Tools menu choose Macro, select your
macro, choose Delete, and close by pressing Enter
or clicking Close.
Repeating a macro
I am not too familiar with editing a macro but I
have often created a macro which I wanted to run
many consecutive times. Instead of pressing a
shortcut key or clicking a button 300 times, it is
relatively easy to amend the macro to run a specific
number of times.
Choose Tools, Macro, select the macro, and choose
Edit. This brings you into the macro editor. You
now see the individual commands that make up the
macro. The programming language is WordBasic
(which I have not studied in any detail), a variation
of the old BASIC programming language. Drawing
upon old BASIC experience, I discovered how to
get a macro to repeat a number of times.
In the second line under Sub Main type
FOR N=1 TO 300
and in the secondlast line before End Sub type
NEXT which causes the macro to run the number
of times you state in the first line. The letter N can
be any letter. Close the editor with Ctrl+F4 and
reply Yes. I have frequently worked on large text
files, typically printouts from a database, and often
this required the same conversion change in every
line. So it made sense getting the macro to repeat
itself the same number of times there were lines.
Macro on a toolbar
See Customize p. 44.
Macro on the menu
See Adding a menu function p. 42.
Toolbar
A toolbar contains buttons which
perform certain functions. A function
can be a simple command, a complex
function or a macro. When you install
the program, Word has a Standard
toolbar and a Formatting toolbar,
which you have no doubt already
studied and discovered that the name
of each individual function is shown in
a small square as you run the mouse
slowly across the button. At the same
time a longer explanation is shown in
the status line at the bottom of the
screen.
Show/hide a toolbar
You have probably also tried pointing the
mouse at a toolbar, pressing the right mouse
button, and showing or hiding a toolbar. If
not, give it a try. You can also use the right
button for your second click.
Note: with all object menus (also called
shortcut menus) in Windows programs you
can also use the right mouse button for the
second (selection) click, which is easier to
use.
Toolbar 40
Moving a toolbar
Point anywhere within the toolbar but not at a
button (easiest between two buttons or at the end of
the bar). Drag the toolbar anywhere on the screen
and release the mouse button. The Toolbar changes
to a window with a title bar, and probably has a
different layout.
If you don’t like the
result and want the
toolbar back in place,
double click on the
title bar or in one of the
‘vacant’ areas. With
the toolbar floating on the screen you can also
shape the window in the normal Windows manner.
It’s a matter of habit. If you have been using the
program for a length of time in its standard form,
that is toolbars horizontally at the top, it would
seem impossible to adjust to the buttons being
elsewhere.
I suggest you try a few different layouts.
Personally, I prefer my lines to be rather more than
half a screen wide. That way I get a better feel of
the text at a convenient size. While I key in the text
I have the righthand margin drawn in towards the
middle but in the final layout phase or before
printing, of course, I move it back to its proper
place. Try experimenting with different screen
arrangements to find the one you like best. There
are plenty of options.
Taking buttons off a toolbar
Hold Alt down, drag the button away with the
mouse and release the mouse. In the Customize
mode you don’t need to hold down Alt.
Moving toolbar buttons
Hold down Alt, drag the button with the mouse to
its new position. If there is a gap between the
button and its neighbour, it allows the toolbar to
take different shapes (length and breadth) when it
is floating on the screen. In the Customize mode
you don’t need to hold down Alt. If you change
your mind you can close Word and answer No to
‘Save changes in Normal.dot’
Extra toolbars
Rightclick anywhere on an existing toolbar. Choose
Toolbars.
The option for showing the shortcut keys (new in
version 7) requires that Show Tooltips is checked.
Choose New and write a suitable name. You are
given a blank toolbar line, and you enter the
Customize mode automatically. This is the only
place you can create a new, or delete an existing,
toolbar. In the same way as menus contain points
that are related, it is a good idea to make new toolbars
containing related buttons. Another good
feature, described on p. 47, is that your personal
toolbars can be copied between templates.
These are some of the buttons on my toolbar:
I have edited the two on the left and made them
different colors, I use them most ‘at a distance’ to
preview a format. The alignment buttons 3, 4 and 5
I have edited to make them clearer. 6 is a macro
which closes a file without saving or asking.
7=File, Close, 8=File, Page Setup, 9=Show rulers,
10=Customize, 11=Organizer, 12=Tools, Macro,
13=Options, 14=a macro which toggles picture
placeholders on and off., 15=a macro which toggles
text boundaries on and off (remember I am
Danish).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Menus 41
Menus
Adjusting and changing menus is not easy. It is not
impossible. I chose to make a new menu for my
macros. Macros are fine but whether you have
them on shortcut keys or toolbar buttons it can be
difficult remembering where they are – and
especially what they do.
If you have 20 macros on your toolbar, it takes a
little time to sweep across all of them with your
mouse while at the same time reading their descriptions
on the status line. It therefore struck me as a
good idea to make a new menu for all my macros
so that I could quickly find them at a glance (even
their shortcut keys) and they are easier to read
because menu lettering is large and clear.
You should be able to do the following, if you want
to make a new menu. If you are unsure, wait till
later. Or skip the idea.
Creating a menu
Again rightclick on a toolbar and choose
Customize. Be aware of the box in the lower right
corner: Save Changes In. If your active document
is based on a template other than NORMAL.DOT and
you want to save your changes in that template,
select it. Otherwise changes will be saved in
NORMAL.DOT. When you select Menus, you get
this:
Click on the button on the right, Menu Bar, which
opens another dialog box. The marker is in the field
Name on Menu Bar. Type: &Macro. The & sign
means that the following letter (M) will be
underlined in the menu and can be activated in
combination with Alt key. The menu will show
Macro and this can be activated by Alt+M.
When you have typed the first letter of the menu
name, the Add button comes to life. The program
suggests Last, meaning that the menu will be
placed to the right of Help. Choose Add, Close and
return to the previous dialog box. The only thing
you have done is add a heading to your menu bar.
Nothing more.
Removing a menu
While we have an empty menu consisting only of
the heading Macro, why don’t you remove it – then
create it again? Just for the practice!
Back to the Menu Bar button and into the little
dialog box, arrow down and select Macro. Now it
is possible to Remove the menu item. When you
click Remove, you get a firm warning that all the
points in the menu will be removed if you say Yes.
The programmers obviously didn’t think it was
worth checking to see whether in fact in this case
we had any points on the menu. If you don’t want
to remove it, choose No or press Esc. At least you
know now how it is done.
If you have removed the menu point, go ahead and
create it again!
Renaming a menu
Unfortunately you can’t click the name and have it
jump up to the Name on Menu Bar field for
editing. You must write the new name, select the
point on the Position list, and then click Rename
and click Close all the way back. By abbreviating
menu names you can make room for more menus
on top of the screen.
Menus 42
Adding a menu function
It’s about time we added some points to our empty
Macro menu. This’ll take concentration! If you
don’t have any macros, make two or three simple
ones before we proceed.
First, click on the Change What Menu list and
select the Macro menu. It moves up for editing.
Under Categories, some items are merely a
subdivision of many commands. One of the
categories is All Commands containing all
commands available in Word.
You can, of course, choose to insert commands
other than the macros I suggest. Under Categories,
move down to Macro, and your available macros
will be listed in the middle of the dialog box.
If you switch to another category, you will see
other options. Go ahead and experiment. But be
careful that it still says Macro in the Change What
Menu field.
Click on the first macro and choose Add. Continue
with the rest of your macros. If you want to
experiment with changing the order, the activating
letter, the name, etc., feel free! With a bit of
patience you’ll learn a lot.
You can make changes in the bottom line Name on
Menu. But you will need to have the command
marked as shown in the illustration. In this case: I
added the macro called ‘switch’, chose Add, and
the menu point appeared as switch. Later I went
into Customize, found and marked the macro’s
name in the top center field. In the Name on Menu
the name appears automatically. Now I change the
name. The button Add (marked with the mouse
arrow in the illustration) changes to Rename,
which I choose. The macro is still called “switch”,
but the menu point is now called, what you type.
Finally, close and test your new Macro menu.
You can see the name and, if there is one, the
shortcut key. If you move through the menu with
the E without activating any macro, you can see
the description in the status line. The difference
between this and Tools, Macro is that you are
shown the shortcut keys at the same time. I like this
touch. Many will be like me, only able to remember
5-10 macros. Here, you can look up those shortcut
keys you don’t use so often.
Draft
If you miss the Draft function (which was removed
in this version from the View menu), you can insert
it. Rightclick any toolbar and choose Customize.
Click Menus, under Categories click View – and
the commands available under View are revealed
in the middle of the dialog box. Scroll down to
ViewDraft, select it, select Add and finish by
choosing Close. Check that Draft is now on the
View menu.
Context menus
The quick menus that pop up when you rightclick
can also be edited. This is mentioned by neither the
manual nor the Help function. Depending on what
and where you click, you will activate a certain
menu. You can click on normal text, a headline, a
field, a picture, etc. Each object has its own context
menu!
Menus 43
In my opinion the quickest way to activate a
command is via a context menu, called either by
rightclicking or by pressing Shift+F10, and if you
often use the same command it is worth spending
some time finding out how to add a command here.
Word 6 introduced context menus, and now they
have appeared throughout Windows 95. As the
illustration shows, if you scroll sufficiently far
down the File menu, a lot of options are shown,
followed by (Shortcut). These are all context
menus. They can increase the efficiency of the
program immensely.
I immediately attached
my most common
functions to Text, which
appears when you click
on ordinary text
With a little bit of
practice you’ll find it’s
not so difficult editing
these menus. But it is
important only to have
those points on the menu
that you use often. Don’t overdo it; with too many
menu entries it becomes confusing.
The context menu gives me everything I need when
I rightclick on a picture. The figures are scaling
controls in whole percent, so I easily can scale a
picture. I have changed some of the menu points
myself so they are easier for me to understand, and
have used ------->>>>>> to show that this
command formats the text frame to left or right in
relation to the column.
After choosing Customize, choose Menus. On the
left the categories are listed. If you choose one of
the categories which has the same name as drop
down menu you will find the same commands here,
but you will also find a number of others which are
similar. The last point before the separator is All
Commands, which lists all the commands
available in Word.
I work mainly with the
keyboard (see another of my
booklets Escape from the
mousetrap), but most of my
editing is done like this: I
position the cursor using the
mouse and work on the text
either with the right mouse
button or shortcut keys –
which have been defined so
that I can easily reach them
with my left hand.
This shortcut or object
menu activated by a rightclick
can also be activated
by Shift+F10, and after this
you can use the uparrow or
downarrow, or the marked
letter, followed by Enter.
Where are we now?
We have now been through the five basic elements
contained in a template: formatting (including
styles), AutoText, macros, toolbars and menus. We
have been in the Customize dialog box a number
of times. It is the function that binds these many
options together. The Customize function can be
reached from a number of dialog boxes.
Customize 44
Customize
The Customize function (rightclick a toolbar)
enables you to make some pretty fundamental
changes in the way you operate Word. Bear in
mind that the program is ‘simply’ a bunch of
commands which you can activate in various ways.
Specifically, you can enter the same dialog box via
a button, a menu or a shortcut key. I have already
mentioned some of these commands. The purpose
of Customize is to let you, the user, assign a
function to one of the three methods of activation:
· a menu entry
· a button
· a shortcut key
Customize can also be used to modify these three
tools. People are different and take a different
approach to things. Some prefer working via menus
and menu entries, others like buttons, and still
others make use of shortcut keys; it depends on our
personal strengths and weaknesses: habits,
keyboard versus mouse, good or bad memory, etc.
I have devoted a large part of this book to these
options because in my opinion they are what make
this program as good as it is. If you can see how to
exploit their potential, you will save yourself a lot
of time in your future work. I hope I manage to
help you learn to use these possibilities at your
fingertips.
When you enter Customize, you see on the left a
range of Categories (see following picture); the
ones above the horizontal line are groups of
commands. Microsoft has chosen to assemble
certain commands under, for example, File, Edit,
View, etc. Click on the View category, and you’ll
see in the middle of your screen the buttons
associated with the various commands.
The horizontal line you see further down the
Categories list divides these groups of commands
from Macros, Fonts, AutoText and Styles. If you
click on one of these, you will be given a list of the
active or installed functions which can be associated
with one of the three tools. Irrespective which
function you choose – whether macro, font, an
already defined button, a command that has not
(yet) been given a button, a style, etc. – you can
link it to a menu, a toolbar or a shortcut key.
Important: again you should be aware of the Save
Changes In option. Which template should
changes be saved in if you answer Yes to ‘the
question’? If you are working in a document based
on a template other than NORMAL.DOT, which has
different buttons in its toolbars, the toolbars change
immediately the moment you select Customize
because the standard ‘reaction’ of the program
(default) is to store things in the NORMAL.DOT template
unless otherwise instructed.
Adding toolbar buttons
I have clicked on the button showing a
magnifying glass. A description is
given at the bottom of the dialog box.
You can click on the different buttons
for an explanation. If you don’t
understand the text, drag the button
onto a toolbar and test it.
I strongly recommend that you drag
the magnifying glass up alongside the
button showing the zoom percentage. It beats me
why Microsoft hasn’t included this button in its
standard setup by building it into NORMAL.DOT
from the outset.
When you click on it and drag downward, an arrow
appears along with the zoom percentage. When you
release the mouse, you fix the percentage. It’s an
excellent solution. It’s a useful tool for changing
the zoom percentage.
Customize 45
Find a good command
If you are feeling adventurous, you can leaf
through the different categories, clicking on
buttons to see if there’s anything interesting. It’s
probably easiest to choose the Category All Commands
and browse until you spot something
unusual. Click on one of the commands and type a
letter. The cursor jumps to that letter.
Unfortunately you can’t spell your way to a
command but keep pressing the same letter (for
example ‘f’) and the cursor jumps to all commands
starting with that letter.
If you take a moment to see what Microsoft has
chosen to call its various commands, you’ll notice
they are arranged in groups (categories)
corresponding to the menus. As I commented
earlier, it isn’t always easy to understand why a
command has been placed in a particular category
(menu). See What’s the command? p. 45.
If Toolbars is the active tab, commands can be
dragged directly to any toolbar. When you release
the mouse, you’ll see whether Microsoft has
already earmarked an icon for that particular
command. If so, choose Close, and you have a new
command on your toolbar.
If Microsoft hasn’t decided on an icon, you have
the chance to be creative and produce a userdefined
button.
I chose the command MarkIndexEntry, a function
that marks words to be included in an index. If I
click on an icon and select Assign, the button on
the toolbar will adopt that appearance. If I click
directly on Assign (without selecting a button), the
text will be placed in the toolbar button. In this
case, it’s a bit lengthy. But you can edit it into a
shorter version.
Finally, the option that is probably the most enjoyable
of all is that of first selecting an icon, then
clicking Edit. You enter the icon editor – a simple
tool to use.
What’s the command?
Having decided which command or dialog box you
would like as a button, menu point or shortcut key,
you then have a problem: what’s the name of the
command? Let’s say you often produce broken
lines round a frame.
Ctrl+Alt+plus (the large grey key on the extreme
right) changes the mouse pointer to the symbol a.
Click a menu entry or a button, and Customize
appears automatically, showing the name of the
command. I chose Format, Borders and Shading
and was given
the name of the command. I don’t always understand
programmers’ logic; this screen only allows
us to assign a shortcut key. You can’t use it to
assign to a menu or a toolbar – but at least it is an
easy way to discover the name of a command.
Then, of course, you can open Customize and put
the command on a menu or toolbar. Strange.
Customize 46
Changing a button icon
With Customize active
you can rightclick on a
toolbar button.
I had to experiment a
bit to discover how this
option worked. I
recommend that you do your testing on some
buttons set up specially for the purpose (and
remember you can always leave the program
without doing permanent ‘damage’ by saying No to
‘the question’). Start by dragging a few buttons to a
toolbar to have something for experimenting.
If you choose Copy Button Image, you will copy
the image on the button to the clipboard. When you
then rightclick on a second button and select Paste
Button Image, you give this second button the
stored image instead of its original. Rightclick it
again and choose Reset Button Image, if it is
available. You can reset a button if it originally had
an icon. You can’t reset a button with text on it.
Choose Button Image means that you can choose
from among the few images that Microsoft has
provided. Edit Button Image opens the icon editor.
The best is that you can copy from the clipboard,
which means that you can design a picture in
another program, copy it to the clipboard, and then
add it to your Word buttons using Paste Button
Image.
Expanded
Formatting the distance between letters is a fine
way to emphasis text. If, for example, you want a
button which sets the distance between letters at 2
pt, you proceed as follows:
Select Customize, and among the categories select
All Commands. One of these is Expanded. In the
lower right corner you can stipulate a width, for
example 2 pt. Drag the command to a toolbar and
release your mouse. The text on the button will be
as shown.
Expanded enables you to
determine the d i s t a n c e
between the letters in your t e x t (it adds 2 pt to
their width). I applied 2 pt Expanded to two words
in the previous sentence.
Templates – again 47
Templates – again
Ever since we began the subject Templates, we
have been working with templates and the structure
of the program. I took you through the creation of a
template, editing an existing template (particularly
the NORMAL template), and discussed the important
components normally contained in a template:
toolbar, macros, etc. We also looked at how these
could be manipulated. I hope you’ve stuck with me
this far – although I am aware it has been tough
going! The chapter you are reading now is pretty
advanced. If you have had some problems
understanding everything up to this point, don’t be
downhearted if you have to give up now! If you are
having trouble getting to sleep, maybe you can use
the next couple of pages .... zzzzz!
The nature of this subject is probably why many
authors omit it – or push styles and templates into
appendices at the end. This gives the reader the
impression the subject is of minor importance. On
the contrary!
For safety’s sake, let me just repeat a few words of
caution. If you intend making changes in the
various elements of your template, it is most
important that:
· you have checked Prompt to Save Normal.dot
· you are aware of which template your active
document is based on.. Check this by choosing
File, Templates.
· you remember, if you are working with a
document not based on NORMAL.DOT, to choose
whether you want changes saved in the
document template or in NORMAL.DOT (the
choice occurs in a number of dialog boxes).
If you have in fact checked Prompt to Save ..., you
will always be asked whether changes should be
saved. If you have opened a document based on a
template called LETTER, then amended relevant
components, you will be asked before you leave the
program whether you wish to save the changes in
template LETTER – if you have indicated this
template in the dropdown box I mentioned on
several occasions. This storage procedure can be
forced without closing Word by selecting File,
Save All (Save All means saving all documents,
templates, etc., in which changes have been made).
It corresponds to closing the program – except that
you don’t close the program.
Early in the chapter on templates I wrote ‘Imagine
this situation: you are working on a biggish
document or a special document, changing styles,
page setup, maybe making a few macros, etc. At
some stage it occurs to you that it might be useful if
many of your changes could be used in other
contexts, in other documents. It would be nice if
you could copy the new styles, macros, etc., either
to another template or to other specific documents.’
Copying to templates/documents
Perhaps the most practical and sophisticated
function in this version of the program is the one
enabling us to take components which we have
created in one document or template and transfer
them to other documents/templates. Example: you
have created a style which is saved in a particular
document. It’s a beauty! And you would like to use
it in all other documents based on NORMAL.DOT.
You have no doubt – like me, until I discovered a
solution – saved various things in NORMAL.DOT but
would actually have wished to save the change in a
different template. Help is at hand!
Remember the semipermeable membrane between
a template and its documents which I tried to create
an image of (Changing a template p. 35) when we
were discussing the indirect method of changing a
template? The porousmembrane idea goes a step
further to encompass all templates and all
documents:
You can copy any element in a template to another
template.
Styles can be copied without restriction between
templates and documents.
We’d better look at a dialog box that does this.
Stick with it! We’ve come through most of the
sophisticated stuff together!
Templates – again 48
Organizer
Once again, I am dissapointed that this function is
hidden away as a sub-section of some of the normal
dialog boxes. I suspect that Microsoft considers it
so advanced for most users that it has been pushed
quietly into the background. Personally, I think it is
easily digested if you have gained an understanding
of the template and template elements, which are
listed on the tab cards of the dialog box. But in the
beginning it can be as difficult for users to
understand as files and directories used to be. From
this point of view I understand Microsoft. It can be
dangerous.
You don’t find this function as a menu entry. Nor
as a button on the toolbars the program provides as
standard. I have found it as an option under File,
Templates and Format, Style and Tools, Macro
but I have also set up a button on my own toolbar.
The function is Organizer.
When you activate it, the lefthand window contains
elements from the active document, the righthand
window contains the basic template. In the
illustration you can see I am working with the file
WORD7A2.DOC based on NORMAL.DOT. The Styles
tab card has been selected. In this document I have
created the character style menu-key formatted
with 10 pt Arial, which you have seen throughout
this book. I stipulate 10 pt to be sure of the size
(otherwise I could simply have formatted with the
Arial font alone).
If I want to copy this style to NORMAL.DOT, I
simply click Copy.
Warning: Check before you copy that the name
does not already exist in the other template. If it
does, it will be replaced (overwritten) by the
incoming style. But the program does give you a
warning before completing the copy.
I can also delete and rename a style here.
The big news is that on the left and right of this
dialog box you can open either a template or a
document. If you have created a style in one
document, you can copy it to another. Click on the
other tab cards: AutoText, Toolbars and Macros.
Note that the lefthand side switches each time to
the document template. This gives us the answer to
the intriguing question:
What can be saved in a document without the
necessity of saving in a template, and what must be
saved in a template in order to be accessible to all
documents?
Templates – again 49
Styles are special
Styles are the only element that can be saved in a
document without having to be saved in a template.
You can, if you wish, create a string of styles in a
particular document – and they will exist only in
that document. The name of a style in one
document can also appear in other templates and
documents with an entirely different content. You
can change the content of standard styles (Normal,
Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3) in a
document without saving them in the document
template. The program will not ask (as it did in
version 2) whether changes should be saved in the
template.
You can also use the Organizer to save the style. If
you use Organizer to copy a style to a template or
document in which the style name is already in use,
you should be careful. This corresponds to
overwriting one file with another. You can use the
Organizer box to ‘inquire’ before you copy.
Particular care must be displayed with styles and
macros. When you click on a style or macro, you
can read a description at the bottom of the box.
The three others
AutoText, Toolbars and Macros can be saved only
in a template. In the case of toolbars you can only
edit those you yourself have created. You can’t
change the ones supplied as standard with the
program.
The warning about being careful when you transfer
an element from one template to another also
applies here. If you copy something from one
template to another and the name already exists,
you overwrite the element to which you copy. I
wouldn’t advise doing this without carefully
checking the consequences, especially when you
are copying styles. The fifth element in a template,
menus, is not included in the Organizer. I don’t
know why.
New basic template
Let’s say that when you started using Word, you
made a few documents based on the NORMAL
template. At the time, the Normal style was Times
New Roman 10 pt. Since then you have changed
the content of that style; it is now Palatino 11 pt.
You retrieve the old documents and want the
Normal style to contain Palatino 11 pt. You must
retrieve each of the old documents in turn, open the
dialog box File, Template and check Automatically
Update Document Styles.
But beware that you know which styles are in the
documents, and how the new styles will affect the
old document. If you regret your decision, you can
avoid damage to the old document by closing it
without saving!
This dialog box, too, can be used for something
else. You can change the template on which the
document is based. The button to look for here is
Attach. You are attaching a new template to an
existing document. As already mentioned, a
document simply cannot exist without the
foundation of a basic, associated template. In the
illustrated dialog box you can see I have added a
further template, KWFAX.DOT. This can be useful in
the situation where you have written a certain
macro which is only saved in a certain template: in
this case KWFAX.DOT. In this way you can access
elements like toolbars, macros and so on in other
templates.
Templates – again 50
Probably few people will need to use this facility
but it doesn’t take many documents based on the
NORMAL template before it gets critical if you use
many different styles and macros.
Let’s say you’ve created five documents. Three of
them become more and more alike as regards
content, the two others also resemble each other but
in a different way. It might be a good idea at this
stage to create two new templates, attaching the
three documents to the first and the two documents
to the second. I hope this book contains enough
information to do the job but my solution would be
as follows:
Open one of the three files, delete its contents and
save it in \TEMPLATE as a template (file type:
Document Template) with a new template name,
for example INVOICE. Via File, Templates base the
three documents (using Attach) on the new
template INVOICE. And click on Automatically
Update Document Styles, thus ensuring
uniformity in all three documents. Follow a
corresponding procedure with the two other
documents that are alike.
Your imagination
your creativity, and your curiosity, etc., are the only
factors that limit you in trying out new ideas. I
hope I have helped you gather enough information
to do what you want to!
Have fun!
I am always happy to receive comments, so if you
would like to send me a couple of lines, my e-mail
address is mm@knowware.dk
Michael Maardt
Notes 51
Character
formatting
Moving the marker
Bold ............................... CTRL+B a character to the left ..... ¬
Italic............................... CTRL+I a character to the right ... ®
Underline ....................... CTRL+U a line up .........................
Underlining words only . CTRL+SHIFT+W a line down .................... ¯
Double underline ........... CTRL+SHIFT+D a word to the left............ CTRL + ¬
Subscript ........................... CTRL+ = a word to the right ......... CTRL + ®
Superscript ........................ CTRL+ + to the end of the line ...... END
Capital letters................. CTRL+SHIFT+ A to the beg. of the line ..... HOME
Small caps...................... CTRL+SHIFT+ K a paragraph up ............... CTRL +
Font................................ CTRL+D a paragraph down .......... CTRL + ¯
Font size......................... CTRL+SHIFT+P a window full down....... PageDown
Increase font size ........... CTRL+SHIFT+X a window full down....... PageUp
Decrease font size.......... CTRL+SHIFT+Y to the end of the doc.. .... CTRL+END
Hide text ........................ CTRL+SHIFT+H to the beginning of the doc. CTRL+HOME
Remove direct text
formatting ......................
CTRL+SPACE
Paragraph
formatting
Marking
Cantered......................... CTRL+E a character to the right ... SHIFT+®
Right align ..................... CTRL+R a character to the left ..... SHIFT+¬
Left align........................ CTRL+L the end of the word........ CTRL+SHIFT+®
Justify............................. CTRL+J the beginning of the word CTRL+SHIFT+¬
Enlarge indent................ CTRL+M the end of the line .......... SHIFT+END
Shrink indent ................. CTRL+SHIFT+M the beginning of the line SHIFT+HOME
Hanging indents............. CTRL+T a line down .................... SHIFT+¯
Remove hanging
indents............................
CTRL+SHIFT+T a line up ......................... SHIFT+
single line spacing ......... CTRL+1 to the end of the doc. ..... CTRL+SHIFT+END
double line spacing ........ CTRL+2 to the beginning of the doc.. CTRL+SHIFT+HOME
1½ line spacing.............. CTRL+5 the whole document....... CTRL+A
Remove direct
paragraph formatting .....
CTRL+Q
Other functions
Cut ................................. CTRL+X New paragraph .............. ENTER
Copy .............................. CTRL+C New line ........................ SHIFT+ENTER
Paste............................... CTRL+V Hard page break ............ CTRL+ENTER
Redo............................... CTRL+Y New column/break column CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
Exit ................................ ESC
Notes 52
Notes 53
Index 54
abbreviations, 6
Allow Fast Saves, 6
Alt+F6, 9
AutoCorrect, 5
automatic proofreader, 5
carriage return, 14
clipboard, 12
colour, 16
column and section, problem, 8
Columns, Text, 27
Control Panel, 15
Ctrl+Z, 12
default tab stops, 15
dialog box stays on the screen, 9
Document Template, 35
dot leader, 15
Extended selection, 11
F5, 9
fill, 16
find, 10
font, missing, 8
Footers, 30
Frames, 15
hanging indent, 14
Headers, 30
hyphen, hard, 17
hyphen, soft, 17
last saved files, 6
leading, 13
line spacing, 14
Macro, 37
Menus, 42
normal.dot, 6
Original format, 17
Page numbers, 30
paragraph, 14
Paragraph format, 14
paragraph mark, 14
Picture Placeholders, 4
point size, 13
Quotes, 6
replace, 10
reset character format, 17
Save NORMAL.DOT, 6
Section, 26
separator, 15
shading pattern, 16
Shadow, 16
Shift+F5, 10
Shortcut key
macro, 38
point size, 13
SMALL CAPS, 17
space, hard, 17
space, soft, 17
special characters/codes, 10
standard letter, 33
style
Character, 25
Paragraph, 25
styles, 13
Tabulator stops, 15
template
direct changes, 36
indirect changes, 36
save, 6
templates, 13; 15; 33
Text Boundaries, 4
Toolbars, 39
UPPER/lower case letters, 17
wizard, 34
6Tc_V^X]V_fXcW_F^aS
describes Version 7 and covers Version 6
Options ..............................................4
Options, View .................................4
Style Area Width .............................4
Storing your documents...................4
Options, Edit ...................................4
Use Smart Cut and Paste...............5
TAB or BACKSPACE sets
indentation. ................................5
Drag and Drop text editing ...........5
Automatic word selection .............5
Use the INS key for paste. ............5
Overtype Mode .............................5
Typing replaces Selection. ............5
It changes what I write! ...................5
AutoCorrect ..................................5
Options, Save ..................................6
Options, General .............................6
Background repagination..............6
Mouse or keyboard?......................7
Keyboard techniques.....................7
Options, Compatibility ....................8
Print Colors as black on
noncolor printers........................8
Don’t balance columns for
Continious section starts............8
Font Substitution...........................8
Editing ...............................................9
Keyboard movements......................9
Go to ... .........................................9
View, Outline..............................10
Your previous three edits............10
Find and replace ............................10
Selecting text ...................................11
Selecting by clicking .....................11
Selecting by dragging ....................11
Selecting with Shift+mouse ..........11
Extended selection with F8 ...........11
Cut, paste, move and copy ...............12
Cut.................................................12
Paste ..............................................12
Copy..............................................12
Delete words..................................12
Cancel............................................12
Formatting ......................................13
Characters ........................................13
Underline ....................................13
Spacing .......................................13
Position .......................................13
Kerning .......................................13
Paragraph .........................................14
First line indented .......................14
Hanging indent............................14
Ruler............................................14
What is a paragraph?...................14
Format paragraph...........................14
Tabulator stops ..............................15
Right-aligned tab.........................15
Decimal tabs................................15
Borders ..........................................15
Formatting shortcuts.........................17
Copying formats ............................17
Styles ................................................18
Creating styles ...............................18
Help.............................................19
Creating a style: Trial and error
method. ....................................20
Deleting styles.............................21
Creating a Style using a dialog
box..............................................21
Styles and shortcut keys.................23
Creating the style.........................23
Using a style................................23
Editing a Style ...............................23
Trial-and-error method................23
Dialog box method......................24
Why Styles?...................................24
Mixing formatting .......................25
Summing up: Styles and direct
formatting ................................25
Page Layout......................................26
Section...........................................26
Margins..........................................27
Text columns .................................27
Inserting a section break..............28
Editing a section break ................29
Copying a section format ............29
Headers and footers..........................30
Page Numbers .............................30
View headers and footers............31
Page 3 of 14 ................................31
Deleting a header ........................31
Two kinds of page numbers ........32
Criticising page numbers! ...........32
Where are we? ... here!................32
Templates ........................................33
Creating a new template ................34
Save NORMAL.DOT?................35
Changing a template ......................35
Template elements ...........................37
Macro...............................................37
Recording a macro.........................37
Macros linked to toolbar
buttons..................................... 38
Macros linked to shortcut keys... 38
Recording...................................... 39
Describing a macro..................... 39
Deleting a macro ........................ 39
Repeating a macro...................... 39
Macro on a toolbar ..................... 39
Macro on the menu..................... 39
Toolbar ............................................ 39
Show/hide a toolbar.................... 39
Moving a toolbar ........................ 40
Taking buttons off a toolbar ....... 40
Moving toolbar buttons .............. 40
Extra toolbars ............................. 40
Menus.............................................. 41
Creating a menu ......................... 41
Removing a menu....................... 41
Renaming a menu....................... 41
Adding a menu function............. 41
Draft ........................................... 42
Context menus .............................. 42
Customize........................................ 44
Adding toolbar buttons ................. 44
Find a good command................... 44
What’s the command? .................. 45
Changing a button icon................. 45
Expanded.................................... 46
Templates – again............................ 47
Copying to templates/documents.. 47
Organizer.................................... 48
Styles are special ........................ 48
The three others.......................... 49
New basic template .................... 49
ISBN 87-90027-77-9
.QRZ:DUH
