MS Word querie

[Handley_Page]

In my case, version 2003.

Have you ever had a useful piece of software which can frustrate you almost without measure?. I'll bet the reason is that what you call it is not what the so-called 'help' file calls it.

As if that's not enough, I have yet to find a decent comprehensive book on it (well, at a price I don't mind paying, anyway).

I've set something and I don't know what it's called or where to find it. I am writing a Technical Manual, so there are many headings, sub-headings and so on. I have a document which, when I highlight a heading (to, say, underline or embolden), it does that to the rest of the paragraph.

Which bloody switch is ON when it should be OFF. ?

 

[sr71plt]

I'm helpless with Word Help, yes. But before computers it took me twenty times longer to get anything done--so I look at the balance.

 

[PennLady]

Hmmm. I use Word 2003 and feel your pain. I've switched off a lot of automatic stuff and rarely use the styles included for outlines, hierarchies, etc.

It sounds like you may have a line break instead of a paragraph break, and that's why when you apply a style to one line, it affects the entire graph. If you don't have them on already, you can see if you have a line break by making Word display non-printing characters on the screen; a line break looks like the arrow used to show an "Enter" key.

To display them, go to Tools, then Options, then click the View tab. In the middle of that is a section called Formatting Marks. Click in the squires to toggle the display of the characters on and off.

That's my best guess at the moment, anyway.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Handley, do you think you could switch horses, so to speak in midstream?

Word sucks, and everyone agrees. It was never meant for authoring.
Myself I use Scrivener, which is for OSX-- but there are many alternatives these days. And most of them will save in Word formats for you...
https://www.google.com/search?q=book+writing+software

 

[3113]

Handley, do you think you could switch horses, so to speak in midstream?

Word sucks, and everyone agrees. It was never meant for authoring.
Myself I use Scrivener, which is for OSX-- but there are many alternatives these days. And most of them will save in Word formats for you...
https://www.google.com/search?q=book+writing+software

And you can transfer what you've got into that other program. Most such programs will let you migrate what you've already got into them. So you can give Scrivener a 30 day free trial and see if that works better.

Open Office is another option.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

Which bloody switch is ON when it should be OFF. ?

I hate Word with a passion, only using it for Smashwords, where it appears it is the only product that produces final results that agree with what you see on the screen.

Go into Preferences or wherever the bloody thing is, and turn off all the auto-correct, auto-this and auto-fucking-that.

It sounds a bit like it thinks you want to change the style (which would apply to the paragraph) rather than the word itself.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

I agree with the O/P about word in general. I now have word 2010 and let me tell you word 2003 is far better. 2010 drives me up the wall. I hate it.

Mike

 

[lovecraft68]

I have 2007 and it seems a little easier to get around on.

But 2003 must have been considered the "better version" for some reason as Smashwords and some other places want your story submitted as a 2003 so I write in 07 then save as 03.

 

[sr71plt]

I have 2007 and it seems a little easier to get around on.

But 2003 must have been considered the "better version" for some reason as Smashwords and some other places want your story submitted as a 2003 so I write in 07 then save as 03.

Contrary to Microsoft's wishes, offices (including publishers) are slower to upgrade than individuals are (the cost of an upgrade times the number of computers they have). Most of the mainstream publishers I edit for haven't upgraded beyond 2003 yet. I have 2007 on my main computer but have to step everything down t0 2003 to send to publishers.

 

[R. Richard]

I've set something and I don't know what it's called or where to find it. I am writing a Technical Manual, so there are many headings, sub-headings and so on. I have a document which, when I highlight a heading (to, say, underline or embolden), it does that to the rest of the paragraph.

Which bloody switch is ON when it should be OFF. ?

I use OpenOffice. I suspect that what I use in OpenOffice wil also work in Word. What I do is to set up a paragraph type for each of my different types of headings. When I select a paragraph type for a heading, it automatically adjusts the font, size, bold, underline, whatever. I then use a type style for the rest of the paragaph. The type style automatically adjusts the font, size, line spacing, whatever.

 

[lovecraft68]

Contrary to Microsoft's wishes, offices (including publishers) are slower to upgrade than individuals are (the cost of an upgrade times the number of computers they have). Most of the mainstream publishers I edit for haven't upgraded beyond 2003 yet. I have 2007 on my main computer but have to step everything down t0 2003 to send to publishers.

Yeah words pricey. Even just to buy it for home, I don;t think its worth spending the money on 2011 or even 2010.

My laptop came with a trial of the newest version, but I didn't like it.

I installed 2007 and for the first couple of months kept getting pop ups for the new version I think it was mad!

 

[sr71plt]

By the way, if you are setting up a manuscript to go to a publisher, don't put any of that fancy styling and formatting in it all (none, nada). You aren't the book designer; they are. And the first thing they will have to do with your manuscript is to find and strip all of that styling out so that the files will go into their production system where they can start working with it to their own designs.

 

[lovecraft68]

By the way, if you are setting up a manuscript to go to a publisher, don't put any of that fancy styling and formatting in it all (none, nada). You aren't the book designer; they are. And the first thing they will have to do with your manuscript is to find and strip all of that styling out so that the files will go into their production system where they can start working with it to their own designs.

I write in "default" style.

Mobi pocket converts that to kindle and for smashwords the "traditional" style converts it to what they want for that "meatgrinder" thing they have.

I don't write with any bells or whistles.

I don't feel like wasting the time to learn and as you said, which confirms something another author told me, its not worth it anyway.

 

[Handley_Page]

Were it strictly for Lit, I think I'd use Jarte or maybe Open Office (I have both). But the 'others' in the loose association I occasionally work with all use Word of one version or another, so switching horses, so to speak, is not much of an option.

The answer is, apparently, buried deep in "Styles & Formatting".

I think I'll re-load Word 97. At least I could DO things with it.

 

[estragon]

The Tower of Babel is alive and well and still undergoing construction.

 

[Brandie69]

I've always felt we should simply have mailed Osama bin Laden a copy of Word.

It would have crippled the whole organization.

 

[sr71plt]

I've always felt we should simply have mailed Osama bin Laden a copy of Word.

It would have crippled the whole organization.

He was using Word--the day he died.

 

[gentledemands]

I have 2010. Yes, I bought the upgrade *fumes*. What a piece of.... anyway.

I ended up with a freaking line on the bottom of the page. It wasn't a footer it wasn't anything I tried. I searched online. Asked a pile of people... not a hope in hell.

I ended up putting it in Jarte, a text editor and saved it as an rtf. Closed the program, opened it again and pasted the text into a new word doc and.... THE FUCKING LINE WAS BACK!

Deleted the rtf file, pasted it back into Jarte, saved it as a txt file. Closed the program and reopened it, pasted it into a new word doc and ... the line was gone (of course with any other formatting I had done).

Now I write using Jarte and rtf file format. No automatic correction in the way, it's not flagging every fifth word, my text all stays black. I like word for spell check but I always proof my work as well—twice before I submit it. Word won't pick up homophones (not that there's anything wrong with that).

For the people at Microsoft of course "What?" is a sentence fragment you FUCKING MORONS!

 

[3113]

Were it strictly for Lit, I think I'd use Jarte or maybe Open Office (I have both). But the 'others' in the loose association I occasionally work with all use Word of one version or another, so switching horses, so to speak, is not much of an option.

Actually, it is an option. All those other programs will transform what you create on them as a Word document for other Word users to see and read. Otherwise we Scrivener folk couldn't use Scrivener as publishers all want the story in Word. We write up the story in Scrivener then export it to our desktops as a word document. Then we send it on. Easy.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Actually, it is an option. All those other programs will transform what you create on them as a Word document for other Word users to see and read. Otherwise we Scrivener folk couldn't use Scrivener as publishers all want the story in Word. We write up the story in Scrivener then export it to our desktops as a word document. Then we send it on. Easy.

Exactly. Every software developer knows that they have to include Word compatibility, or they will have to give everyone their money back.

I've double checked, and my "save for Word" files look just fine on other people's PCs

 

[Brandie69]

A useful tip for MS Word

When some Bill-Gates-inspired formatting insanity infects your work, do the following.

"Select" all of the text in the file. You can use the mouse to do this, or Edit -> Select All.

With all of the text highlighted, place the mouse over any part of the highlighted text, and right-click.

Choose "copy" from the menu that appears.

Open a new, blank Word document.

Now, depending on the version of Word you are using, you might have to try one of three things. What you're trying to get to is a menu that gives you the option of "Paste Special." This may be by clicking the down-arrow under the "Paste" icon on the menu bar. Or it might be Edit -> Paste Special. Or it might be by right-clicking inside the empty new document (this last one probably works in most versions).

When you click on Paste Special, another little menu will appear. From it, choose "Unformatted text."

Now, mind you, this will take away any special formatting you have done, such as italics. It will just be the words you typed, nothing else.

In my day job, where I write reams and reams, and wrestle with Word constantly, "Paste Special -> Unformatted text" is my BFF.

 

[sr71plt]

Or you can just copy it to Notepad, which rips out all styles and formatting, and then back to Word and start all over again.

 

[TxRad]

Or you could just use Word 2000, which has a hell of a lot less bells and whistles.

 

[lovecraft68]

Or you could just use Word 2000, which has a hell of a lot less bells and whistles.

The bells and whistles had to be added to justify selling new versions.

 

[R. Richard]

One thing that I would like to point out. Way back when, there was what was called a "Mac document." It was a word processor document that had several fonts, in several sizes within a one page word processor document. In addition, there were sub-fonts, such as italics, bolds , super-scripts, sub-scripts, etc.
One font should do it. Titles or chapter headings might be in bold and/or larger font size. If you're writing scifi, you might use another font for alien speech, but only one more font.
JMHO.