Microsoft Word Macro For Story Submissions

[ShyChiWriter]

Hey all,

This has taken longer than expected - but I finally think I've got a decent macro for preparing work you've written in Microsoft Word to get ready for submission.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: People who prefer writing in Microsoft Word.

I've written this in Word 2003. I'm guessing it will work in Word 2007, and possibly earlier versions - but I've only tested it out in 2003.

PURPOSE: To allow you to write utilizing bold, underline, and italic in Microsoft Word and then export it easily with Cut and Paste into the story submission form.

SUPPOSITIONS: It is generally good form to have written your document with two hard returns between each paragraph.

INSTRUCTIONS:

• In Microsoft Word
• Tools
• Macro
• Macros
• Under Macro Name - type in SubmitReady
• Click Create

You'll be brought into a code screen and your cursor will be where I've put the smiley face

Sub SubmitReady()
'
' SubmitReady Macro
' Macro created 6/21/2010 by Your Name
'

End Sub

• Now - paste in the code between the two lines of astrisks below into where your cursor is - right above End Sub

**********************************************************

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Do
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = ""
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = True
.Font.Italic = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute
If Selection.Find.Found = False Then
Exit Do
End If
Selection.Font.Italic = wdToggle
Selection.InsertBefore "<i>"
Selection.InsertAfter "</i>"


Loop

' Bold text surrounded by <b> </b>

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Do
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = ""
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = True
.Font.Bold = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute
If Selection.Find.Found = False Then
Exit Do
End If
Selection.Font.Bold = wdToggle
Selection.InsertBefore "<b>"
Selection.InsertAfter "</b>"
Loop

' underline text surrounded by <u> </u>

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Do
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = ""
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = True
.Font.Underline = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute
If Selection.Find.Found = False Then
Exit Do
End If
Selection.Font.Underline = wdUnderlineNone
Selection.InsertBefore "<u>"
Selection.InsertAfter "</u>"
Loop


**************************************************************

• Click on File
• Save Normal
• Click on File
• Close and Return to Microsoft Word

Your macro is now saved in your normal document (that's your base document).

CAUTION: Before you run this ALWAYS save your work. I HIGHLY recommend using the 'save as' feature and saving it as 'Story -marked up' or something, so you are working in an entirely different doc.

Now, when you are ready to run the macro:

• Tools
• Macro
• Macros
• Select SubmitReady
• Click Run

Your doc should now be plain text with <i><b>, and <u> (and their closing codes) around the text that was italic, bold and underline.

If this proves helpful - you can always assign this macro to a set of keys like ctrl-alt-g (for go) or something.

You should now be able to cut and paste the document into the story submission form. The nice thing is, the form allows you to preview your story and see how it should be formatted. Be sure and do so to spot weird characters, centered text, etc.

Again, be sure and save your file in advance!

I hope this proves helpful. If anyone else out there is a code jockey (which I'm certainly not), feel free to make suggestions, improvements, etc.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

And for the computer-literate, it should be a great help. For this old bear, unfortunately, I'll just make my changes in docs.google and the paste the thing. That's the simplest way for me. However, for you youngin's, go for it!

 

[sdsioux]

yikes, a little too confusing for me

 

[TE999]

Well, I'm impressed...confused, but impressed.

I've always submitted my stories as MSWord.doc's via e-mail to Lit...easy as pie.

 

[sr71plt]

I think I have a much simpler system.

Highlight text
Click Control/A
Click Control/C
Go to box in Submit template
Click Contro/V
Click the "Submit Now" button.
Done

 

[DG Hear]

I've used Coral word and now have microsoft works. Type it up, copy and paste.
I do put the < italics> for italics, bold or whatever. Works for me.

 

[ShyChiWriter]

Wow,

Glad I made the effort to post this up - seriously.

Just to be clear - this is a one time installation. The steps I showed are not an a per-story basis. Once this is installed, you never need to install the macro again.

From there forward, all you need to do is run the macro and it preserves any bold, italic, or underline formatting you may have put in quite easily with ctrl-i, ctrl-b, or ctrl-u while typing.

You can then use the same steps outlined by SR71PLT to paste the story in.

Didn't think I would have to justify why I'd post this - but here's why:

• I've had three or four stories in the past that got rejected because I'd posted a Microsoft Word file and it was corrupted or had formatting issues that couldn't be overcome by Manu and company. With a 5-7 day turnaround on stories, that really adds up if you have to resubmit.
• I realize it is a lot of work for Manu or their story processor to churn through the submissions. Submitting via pasting into the story submission form saves them time and allows all of us to see our stories up more quickly.
• I much prefer italics and bold for emphasis over ALL CAPS, which is the only option if you are doing a straight cut-and-paste. Yes, I can scan through the document and add in the marks, but that is fairly tedious and I thought finding a way to automate that process would prove helpful.

This is a handy macro, trust me. It can be used to submit stories here, or for submitting clean text to blogs, or even modified to allow users to submit to forums like this while still typing in word.

If anyone would like to use it and wants help, I'm more than happy to assist you getting it installed.

For everyone else - I never meant to intimate that this was how you should do it. I thought I made it clear who the target audience was in the top of the post.

 

[evanslily]

I can see how this could be handy for some, so yes, thank you for taking the time to put it up. But given I have a nasty tendency to overuse italics at the best of times, I think I'll give it a miss. Kudos to you for having a bash at writing a macro though.

I write pretty much exclusively in Word but I've got round the whole formatting of italics issue by putting them into my Word document as I go. I've instructed auto correct to translate my typing of "<" into <i> and if I type ">", it replaces it with </i>. It looks a bit funny on the page, I s'pose, but it's quick and easy and I don't have to think about it when it's time to submit.