Setting Up Microsoft Word for Use in Publishing
March 26, 2008 – 3:16 pmOut of the box, Microsoft Word is set up for the most generic of users–someone who needs to type an occasional letter or compose a memo for the boss. It works well for such purposes, offering lots of automated corrections and formatting for someone who doesn’t want to think about such things. But for people who work in the publishing industry, Word needs considerable tweaking. For one thing, if you’re editing, typesetting, or indexing in Word, you don’t *want* all that automated stuff; you want *control.* No automatically capitalizing the first word of a sentence, for example, or setting the ends of ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) as superscript.
Unfortunately, the features that control these options are scattered hither and yon through Word’s user interface, and sometimes they’re buried surprisingly deep. To overcome the problem, then, here’s a macro that will do the trick. These are the settings I like to use. Your tastes may vary, but if so, I’d like to hear about your settings and why you keep them the way you do. Please send your comments here:
mailto:editor@editorium.com
If you don’t know how to use such macros, you’ll find instructions here:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17069228 55
Most of the items in the macro are self explanatory. Mostly, they correspond to options under Tools > AutoCorrect Options (and the various tabs in that dialog) and under Tools > options (and the various tabs in that dialog), so if you need to change anything back, you can do so there–or by changing the settings in the macro from “false” to “true” (or vice versa) and running it again.
And now, the macro:
‘—————————————
‘MACRO STARTS HERE
Sub SetUpWordForEditing()
With AutoCorrect
.CorrectInitialCaps = False
.CorrectSentenceCaps = False
.CorrectDays = False
.CorrectCapsLock = False
.ReplaceText = False
.ReplaceTextFromSpellingChecker = False
.CorrectKeyboardSetting = False
.DisplayAutoCorrectOptions = True
.CorrectTableCells = False
End With
With Options
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeApplyHeadings = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeApplyBorders = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeApplyBulletedLists = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeApplyNumberedLists = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeApplyTables = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeReplaceQuotes = True
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeReplaceSymbols = True
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeReplaceOrdinals = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeReplaceFractions = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeReplacePlainTextEmphasis = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeReplaceHyperlinks = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeFormatListItemBeginning = False
.AutoFormatAsYouTypeDefineStyles = False
.TabIndentKey = False
End With
With Options
.ReplaceSelection = True
.AllowDragAndDrop = True
.AutoWordSelection = False
.PasteSmartCutPaste = False
.TabIndentKey = False
.Overtype = False
.AllowClickAndTypeMouse = False
.PromptUpdateStyle = False
.FormatScanning = False
.ShowFormatError = False
.SmartParaSelection = False
.SmartCursoring = False
End With
With Options
.AllowFastSave = False
End With
With ActiveDocument
.EmbedTrueTypeFonts = True
.SaveSubsetFonts = False
.DoNotEmbedSystemFonts = True
.DisableFeatures = False
.EmbedLinguisticData = True
End With
End Sub
‘MACRO ENDS HERE
‘—————————————
Again, if you’re willing to share your favorite settings, I’ll include them in the next newsletter. Please send your comments here:
mailto:editor@editorium.com
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RESOURCES
Previously I’ve featured a couple of books that anyone editing electronically should have. If you still haven’t acquired them, I highly recommend that you do.
Making Word Work for You: An Editor’s Intro to the Tool of the Trade, by Hilary Powers
ISBN: 978-1-880407-22-6
Hilary Powers is an expert word-whacker and one of the most respected and successful freelancers I know. When Hilary talks, people listen. You can learn more about her book here:
http://www.the-efa.org/res/booklets.html
Here’s the “official” description: “Successful freelance editor Hilary Powers explains how to get the most out of Microsoft Word when editing manuscripts on screen. Among the subjects she covers are personalizing the program and the screen to meet your needs and taste, deploying Word’s custom features, domesticating Track Changes, creating and using macros and templates, coping with the snares and pitfalls Word users often encounter, and finding useful resources and program add-ins. With this guidance, editors can increase their page-per-hour throughput–and their income.”
Making Word Work for You is available from the Editorial Freelancers Association as a printed booklet and as a downloadable PDF file, both for a price that is less than a lunch at the food court in the mall. If your time is worth anything, you *must* read this book. Nobody–and I mean nobody–understands how to wring productivity out of Microsoft Word the way Hilary does. Don’t wait–get this book *now* and follow Hilary’s advice. You’ll be glad you did. You can buy the book here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/1175135
Many thanks to Hilary for providing such a valuable resource.
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If you’ve spent much time in user groups related to Microsoft Word, Macintosh computers, or technical writing, you’ve probably seen postings and articles by Geoff Hart, one of the most prolific, respected, and helpful writers and Word experts I know. And now for the big news: Geoff has released a *printed* version of his book Effective Onscreen Editing! You can learn more here:
http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm
The PDF version of the book is well worth acquiring–723 pages, exquisitely designed for on-screen reading, and, of course, hyperlinked and searchable. But it’s also nice to have the printed version so you can study on the patio with a lemonade in hand.
The book is extremely well organized and amazingly thorough, covering everything from determining your pay rate to preventing repetitive stress injury, from personalizing your software to implementing a practical backup strategy. You can download the complete table here:
http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/EOE-detailed-TOC.pdf
If you’re editing onscreen, you can’t afford *not* to buy this book–and besides, Geoff deserves your support. You can purchase the book here:
http://www.geoff-hart.com/ccart/
Many thanks to Geoff for creating this wonderful resource.
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HELP WANTED
If you need help with Word, there are actually lots of places to go. Some of the best include:
The Word-PC List:
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/word-pc.html
The McEdit list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/McEdit/
Microsoft’s Word discussion groups:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx#13
(Look in the lower right of the page.)
The Word MVP site:
http://word.mvps.org/
Woody’s Lounge:
http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=wrd
But if you can’t find what you need in those places, send your question here:
mailto:help@editorium.com
I’ll put your question in the newsletter to see if some astute reader knows the answer.
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I *love* SpamArrest. After unsuccessfully trying to fight the battle against junk email with a couple of top-notch programs, I decided to try SpamArrest, and I’m thrilled to say it’s actually won the war. Boy, has my email been quiet! When people send me an email message, they receive a message in return asking them to click a link to register themselves (a one-time operation) as someone who can send me email. Spammers, of course, won’t bother to do this, which basically means no more spam! It’s easy to preregister family, friends, associates, and email newsletters. The online program (no software installed on your computer) provides complete control over how spam is handled, and it’s very easy to use. You can try SpamArrest for 30 days at no charge. To learn more, click here:
http://spamarrest.com/affl?1403707
And if you decide to sign up, please do so through that affiliate link. Your support will help keep Editorium Update alive and kicking. Thanks!
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THE FINE PRINT
Editorium Update (ISSN 1534-1283) is published by:
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