Editorium Update

In our last newsletter, I explained how to use the “Find What Text” code to change formatted text in Microsoft Word. You can read that newsletter here:

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If you’re faced with a complex task using Microsoft Word’s Find and Replace feature, the “Find What Text” replacement code may come in handy. For example, let’s say you need to add italic tags |I| and |/I| around anything formatted with italic. (If you don’t understand HTML, don’t worry. You’ll soon see the point of this article.) You might think you’d need a macro to add the tags, but you don’t. You can easily do it like this:1. Open the document you want to tag.2. Open the Find and Replace dialog (click on the Edit menu; then click “Replace”).3. With your cursor in the “Find What” box, turn on italic formatting (CTRL + I) so that the word “Italic” is displayed below the box. Make sure the box itself is empty.4. In the “Replace With” box, enter “^&” (if you want, you can also set this box to “Not Italic” by pressing CTRL + I a couple of times).5. Click the “Replace All” button.Any italicized text will be surrounded by the HTML italic tags.The ^& code in the “Replace With” box represents the text you specified in the “Find What” box. In this case, that’s any text with italic formatting. What you’re saying is, “Find any text in italic and replace it with *itself* surrounded by HTML italic codes.”As a specific example, let’s take the following line, with asterisks indicating italic formatting:”This is a test to *see* what will happen.”When you use the Find and Replace procedure above, you’ll get the following result:”This is a test to see what will happen.”You can use the same principle to manipulate text in a variety of ways:* Put quotation marks around the titles of magazine articles that an author has italicized.* Insert a bullet in front of every paragraph formatted with Heading 3 style. (You knew you could find style formatting, right? In the Find or Replace dialog, click the “More” button [if available], then “Format,” and then “Style.”)* Insert “Chapter” in front of every number formatted with Heading 1 style.And so on. Any time you need to add something to unspecified text that’s formatted in a specific way, try using “Find What Text.”_____________________________________________________ THE FINE PRINTEditorium Update (ISSN 1534-1283) is published by:The EDITORIUM, LLCMicrosoft Word Add-Ins for Publishing Professionalshttp://www.editorium.comCopyright © 2008 by the Editorium. All rights reserved. Editorium Update and Editorium are trademarks of the Editorium.You may forward copies of Editorium Update to yourself and others (but not charge for it) and print or store it for your own use. Any other broadcast, publication, retransmission, copying, or storage, without written permission from the Editorium, is prohibited. Send reprint requests to reprints [at symbol] editorium.com Editorium Update is provided for informational purposes only and without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from infringement. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and use of this document. The Editorium is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation._____________________________________________________HOW TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBETo subscribe, send a blank email message to editorium-subscribe [at symbol] topica.com.To unsubscribe, send a blank email message to editorium-unsubscribe [at symbol] topica.com.We do not sell, rent, or give our subscriber list to anyone.____________________________________________________

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Last week we talked about using style “aliases,” which make it easy to apply styles in Microsoft Word. Even easier is using keyboard shortcuts. I don’t like the inconsistency of Word’s standard ones, so mine are set up like this:

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As I edit in Microsoft Word, I mark the various typesetting spec levels with styles, which will later be converted by our QuarkConverter program so they can be used as style sheets in QuarkXPress. However, I hate reaching for my mouse to apply styles. So, to make applying styles easy, I sometimes rename the styles with an “alias,” which I can quickly type using the keyboard. For example, if I had a style called “Block,” I might give it the alias of “b.” Here’s how it works:

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Conditional text is text that you want to appear only in a certain situation. For example, let’s say you’re using Microsoft Word to write two brochures for the new WidgetMaster 2000. One brochure is a sales piece; the other explains the product’s technical specifications. However, certain sections of both brochures contain exactly the same information.

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