If you do paperless proofreading (as described in the newsletter for May 14), you’ve probably bumped into some of the same problems I’ve had with comparing documents (Tools > Track Changes > Compare Documents) and merging documents (Tools > Merge Documents). In particular, sometimes I’ll go to compare two documents and get the following message:
Last week’s article on paperless proofreading explained how to use Word’s Reviewing toolbar to review revisions in a merged document. It’s a great tool except for one thing: the need to locate and click those tiny toolbar buttons for every revision you want to find, accept, or reject. Wouldn’t it be nice to use the same commands from the keyboard? Here’s how:
I started in the publishing business as a proofreader, reading type set in hot metal on a Linotype machine. I’d compare the type against the edited manuscript and mark any discrepancies. Then back the type would go for corrections, with additional cycles of proofreading and corrections until the type was error free.