Category Archives: Word-Wrangling Wednesdays

Brain Hacks for Editing Work That’s Too-Familiar

Whether it’s your own writing, the nth look-through, or you’re doing all of the editing stages on a file, there comes a time when your eyes just can’t see what’s actually on the page anymore. Your brain compensates and autocorrects; that is NOT what we’re hoping for! Refresh your eyes and see what’s actually on the page by using these “brain hacks” that “special education” teachers shared with me. The audio below explains how and why these hacks work:

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Using ChatGPT to Write Wildcard Searches

a map "locator pin" styled as the MS Word logo
To learn more about using wildcards, check out Section 10.2 of Editing in Word 365.

Over on the Right Angels and Polo Bears blog, I’ve been testing the hot new AI out for editing. While it’s true that generative pretrained translators (GPTs) are advancing so fast that my post may be out of date by the time I edit it, the verdict remains that AI isn’t ready to take over copyediting jobs. In this post I find it can’t even write a useful Find & Replace sequence using wildcards. I’m sad about that, because writing those can be a brain twister!

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Q&A: Tracked Changes are hard to look at. Can’t we use something else?

QI find it hard to look at tracked changes; can editors use another method?

AIt’s an interesting question, and one that gives me feels, it seems. TL;DR — No! Don’t make other professionals put up with awkward kludges to assuage some initial discomfort. You get used to it, and let me share some better ways to ease the pain.

Why Publishing Pros Use Track Changes

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Remove Time Stamps from Changes and Comments

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Learn more about creating and running macros in Part 4 (Sections 28–31) of the book.

Did you work in the wee hours? Did you scramble to finish right before deadline? Do your tracked changes and comments reveal more than you feel is professional about your work habits? If clients can’t let this go or it’s bothering you too much, try this tiny macro that Samantha Pico commissioned that will go into the background coding and remove the time stamps, and only the time stamps from all tracked changes, leaving your beautifully branded user tag in place.

Macro that erases time stamps in Word

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For Your Eyes Only: Formatting That Boosts Editing

One thing that makes Amy Schneider such a darned fast editor is that she formats manuscripts to make editing easier. It’s weird-looking, but it’s temporary. With just a few clicks, Amy uses Styles to change what is on her screens (and she uses four) to suit her needs, and then back to the publishers’ submission requirements when she’s done.

a map "locator pin" styled as the MS Word logo
Learn more about using Styles in Section 11 of the book, or take the Word Essentials course, and for more tools that make reading easier on the eyes, see Section 35.
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Quickly Recreate a Custom Ribbon after Catastrophic Failure

a map "locator pin" styled as the MS Word logo
Find out more about creating custom ribbons in Section 33.4 of the book and in our courses!

Suddenly, my custom ribbon stopped working! We don’t ask Word why it does things, we just fix it or find a workaround. I found a quick way to copy over all my favourite functions onto a new custom ribbon, and ditch the one that was making Word crash every time I clicked on it. It’s as easy as drag and drop from the old ribbon to the new, once you’re into the “Customize ribbon” interface. I hope you never need it, but when you do, you can watch the solution, here!

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Upcoming Word Courses for Editors!

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Q&A: Can I make a list of in-text citations without a macro?

QIs there a way to make a list of all in-text citations without using a macro?

AYes, with a wildcard search!

Great question. Many editing checks could be done with such a list, and creating one is easy:

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Q&A: How can I tell what section of a document I’m in?

QI’m working in a document with dozens of headings and subheadings. I want to check which section I’m working in without having to scroll back up to find the heading. Is that possible?

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