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.
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.
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.
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!
Continue reading Quickly Recreate a Custom Ribbon after Catastrophic FailureYou already know Word. You feel pretty comfortable using it to edit manuscripts. Now it’s time to make the most of it! This is the advanced class you’ve been asking for.
Join colleagues for five self-paced lessons then meet up live once each week and chat in Slack about successes and challenges. Get real-time help with the features.
Class starts
Jan 19, 2023
See the full lesson list on the course site.
We’ll vote on the best meeting time for Thursdays, then set it. Can’t make a live session? No worries! All material is available when you are.
Need to learn more about the essential Word features and tools? Open the next course, below.
Join fellow editors in this 4-week course on the essentials of Word for editors, starting Jan 19th, 2023. Hit the editing desk at full speed!
Class starts
Jan 19, 2023
*Not much has changed since the 2016 version of Word, beyond how it looks. Users of older versions of Word will get a lot out of this course too.
Beyond the basics of:
See the full course syllabus at Archer Editorial Training!
Each week at noon Eastern on Thursday, we’ll gather in our exclusive Slack channel to check in, problem solve, and talk about that week’s lesson. The lessons are available for you to view, review, and complete at any time.
Each lesson has a short reading, a video demo or two (for Mac and Windows, both), and an exercise. There is no grading, only learning opportunities. We concentrate on using the tools, not on the language of the materials.
There will be one wrap-up check-in after the 4th lesson, to address any lingering questions or insights.
Not to worry! The course materials are always available on Archer Editorial Training and our course Slack channel will be available any time. Instructor support lasts throughout the course and lesson access never expires! The instructor will check messages and posts daily.
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:
Continue reading Q&A: Can I make a list of in-text citations without a macro?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?
Continue reading Q&A: How can I tell what section of a document I’m in?QI think the author made subtle changes to the Styles when they were revising. Things like the space above the Style and its exact colour. How can check?!
Continue reading Q&A: Detect Changes to StylesAs we get used to working with Modern Comments, best practices will emerge and fewer snafus will occur, we hope. For now, I’m finding those who aren’t fully indoctrinated yet are confused by seeing resolved comments, not to mention that they make outstanding queries harder to spot amid the clutter. This post explains how to get rid of only the resolved comments without clicking Delete thread on every single one.
Continue reading Delete Resolved Comments OnlyWith the introduction of the Editor pane, Word changed the look of Spellcheck. But you can still access the classic Spellcheck interface by adding it to the Quick Access Toolbar! You can see that at the very top of the image above.
Here’s how:
Continue reading Launch Classic Spellcheck
