Hello! Welcome to our latest discussion thread. Our next article in Writing Magazine tackles the issue of navigating technology as a writer, including some of our favourite hacks and shortcuts for Microsoft Word. So… we’d love to know:
Use the read aloud function which lets your device play back your written work as computer-generated spoken words. Really great for proofreading and tuning into glitches in dialogue.
OMG! *... dare I say (stupid-simple)..... how did I "F!@°ö"'n miss that (1)......(?)..
I should send you flowers Gail.... xxoo.... That will work- Especially in my case, I write in a prose- rhythm as to each character in chapters i.e. the nemesis is different than the protagonist, vs, heroines +++. And I get busy w/work..... thats perfect! = listen/hear my own stuff read back to me to get the roles & waves= vision(s)- I'm trying to project in the MS......... Knee Down-Hand Up*.... BIG THX GAIL!
Most writers know the search and replace function in Word used for replacing names, words etc. But you can also use it for making punctuation and formatting changes. You have to go to the small arrow at the right of the 'find' sector (or 'advanced search') and you will get a list of all formatting instructions which you can change.
I like Control F, the search function, so you can pinpoint a certain part in a long manuscript, or if you suspect you've used too many exclamation marks or over-used certain words it finds all of them for you. It's good for both stuff you've written and for research (for example if you're searching a massive document not written by you, it's easy to see if it mentions a certain topic).
1. Always save each and every draft of your work under an new name or extension i.e NAME v2, NAME v3. Then you can refer to older versions later if needed. 2. Back up everything in triplicate regularly and on to different storage i google drive, USB & extended hard drive.
Does your version of WORD insist on using american spell checking - or is it just me that got that problem? One way to fix is to click on the 'review' tab at the top of the screen, then click the 'Language' button, and then under that the next 'Language' button, then choose 'Language preferences'... and there you can set your default for 'Office authoring languages and proofing' to English (United Kingdom).
A tip to using the "formatting brush" in Word that I didn't know existed till someone told me ... If you double click on the format brush, you can use it on scattered, multiple sentences, paragraphs etc. Then unclick the format brush once you're done. Also "F4" duplicates/repeats the action you've just done.
Live in the moment, use what you need, find the app(s) you like, keep it simple, it's easy to get tech overloaded, kinda like, getting sucked into the App Matrix......... At the end of the day its still the basics, writing, editing, spell-check, auto-correct, +++, bla, bla, bla..... Writing is still a - old- school-craft... Tech/software enhances that-assist & smooths it all out, but... there's no magic wand here... (unless you're at Hogwarts w/ Harry Potter & da-home-crew;)............. My strategy here is; do the best I can, then hand off my literary baggage to Helen & da-pwr-girlz... & let them rip through it... (I think they might have the magic wand... or.... in my case a scalpel & some gifted literary surgeons ).....
I see that as an investment in myself...........
Anyway......................
* Good question Cornerstones......... C-u-soon.....(still out on the edge here)....
I use Microsoft 365 with Word. I’m fortunate enough to get a large discount through my office’s home use program.
It saves everything to the cloud - aka someone else’s computer - meaning I can access it from anywhere on pretty much anything. PC, iPad, phone. This is handy as I use different devices for different reasons. An iPad is good for reviewing, not so for writing.
The auto back up means I can see any version, from any time. Yesterday’s version of this paragraph? Easy. What was it like last month? This.
Like others, when I get to a defined point, it’s saved with yymmdd in the name.
Finally, I use pro writing aid, which is very good at pointing out stupid mistakes. Mistakes that are hard to spot, like missing words, because I know what’s supposed to be there. Read Aloud is also good for this.
This isn't a tip but I would like to know if anyone else has the problem of Word not capitalising the beginning of each sentence? It's driving me mad!!
Hi Christine. Obviously most sentences do begin with a capital letter. But to set it for every sentence, go to "Review", then "Reviewing Pane", then "Advanced" and there's a list of items there - I think one of them is to not automatically correct what you type, so unclick the "tick" on that box - noting that this will remove that function for all auto correct options. The other option is to simply use the "Change Case" (Home tab) function. Hope this helps ...
Hi Cath. Thanks for this. I spent a whole morning with Microsoft support where they 'took over' my screen, checked all the settings, re-installed Word, then re-installed Windows and it still didn't fix the problem!!
Yet your suggestion to use Sentence case - which I never thought to try - works!! It means I won't have to keep overtyping all my paragraphs correcting the un-capitalised words!! Cheers :)
Use the read aloud function which lets your device play back your written work as computer-generated spoken words. Really great for proofreading and tuning into glitches in dialogue.
Read Aloud! Who knew? I didn't! Thank you!
OMG! *... dare I say (stupid-simple)..... how did I "F!@°ö"'n miss that (1)......(?)..
I should send you flowers Gail.... xxoo.... That will work- Especially in my case, I write in a prose- rhythm as to each character in chapters i.e. the nemesis is different than the protagonist, vs, heroines +++. And I get busy w/work..... thats perfect! = listen/hear my own stuff read back to me to get the roles & waves= vision(s)- I'm trying to project in the MS......... Knee Down-Hand Up*.... BIG THX GAIL!
Most writers know the search and replace function in Word used for replacing names, words etc. But you can also use it for making punctuation and formatting changes. You have to go to the small arrow at the right of the 'find' sector (or 'advanced search') and you will get a list of all formatting instructions which you can change.
Yep* Learned the hard way to love that 1....(thx Robin)*
I like Control F, the search function, so you can pinpoint a certain part in a long manuscript, or if you suspect you've used too many exclamation marks or over-used certain words it finds all of them for you. It's good for both stuff you've written and for research (for example if you're searching a massive document not written by you, it's easy to see if it mentions a certain topic).
At the end of every day I send myself an email of that day's work. It gives me a recent back up copy that's accessible from anywhere.
1. Always save each and every draft of your work under an new name or extension i.e NAME v2, NAME v3. Then you can refer to older versions later if needed. 2. Back up everything in triplicate regularly and on to different storage i google drive, USB & extended hard drive.
Does your version of WORD insist on using american spell checking - or is it just me that got that problem? One way to fix is to click on the 'review' tab at the top of the screen, then click the 'Language' button, and then under that the next 'Language' button, then choose 'Language preferences'... and there you can set your default for 'Office authoring languages and proofing' to English (United Kingdom).
A tip to using the "formatting brush" in Word that I didn't know existed till someone told me ... If you double click on the format brush, you can use it on scattered, multiple sentences, paragraphs etc. Then unclick the format brush once you're done. Also "F4" duplicates/repeats the action you've just done.
I know nothing very useful. But my daughter likes Scrivener. Looks like a way of keeping things organised and creative at the same time.
Live in the moment, use what you need, find the app(s) you like, keep it simple, it's easy to get tech overloaded, kinda like, getting sucked into the App Matrix......... At the end of the day its still the basics, writing, editing, spell-check, auto-correct, +++, bla, bla, bla..... Writing is still a - old- school-craft... Tech/software enhances that-assist & smooths it all out, but... there's no magic wand here... (unless you're at Hogwarts w/ Harry Potter & da-home-crew;)............. My strategy here is; do the best I can, then hand off my literary baggage to Helen & da-pwr-girlz... & let them rip through it... (I think they might have the magic wand... or.... in my case a scalpel & some gifted literary surgeons ).....
I see that as an investment in myself...........
Anyway......................
* Good question Cornerstones......... C-u-soon.....(still out on the edge here)....
Kris-out*...............
I use Microsoft 365 with Word. I’m fortunate enough to get a large discount through my office’s home use program.
It saves everything to the cloud - aka someone else’s computer - meaning I can access it from anywhere on pretty much anything. PC, iPad, phone. This is handy as I use different devices for different reasons. An iPad is good for reviewing, not so for writing.
The auto back up means I can see any version, from any time. Yesterday’s version of this paragraph? Easy. What was it like last month? This.
Like others, when I get to a defined point, it’s saved with yymmdd in the name.
Finally, I use pro writing aid, which is very good at pointing out stupid mistakes. Mistakes that are hard to spot, like missing words, because I know what’s supposed to be there. Read Aloud is also good for this.
I use a date code: yymmdd for each version, so that it sorts chronologically in the folder and I don't have to give it a version number.
Emailing it is good and saving to to a cloud account or external hard-drive is a must.
I also write long-hand with a pen and then dictate onto word using Dragon software. That way I get a 'free' quick edit
This isn't a tip but I would like to know if anyone else has the problem of Word not capitalising the beginning of each sentence? It's driving me mad!!
Hi Christine. Obviously most sentences do begin with a capital letter. But to set it for every sentence, go to "Review", then "Reviewing Pane", then "Advanced" and there's a list of items there - I think one of them is to not automatically correct what you type, so unclick the "tick" on that box - noting that this will remove that function for all auto correct options. The other option is to simply use the "Change Case" (Home tab) function. Hope this helps ...
Hi Cath. Thanks for this. I spent a whole morning with Microsoft support where they 'took over' my screen, checked all the settings, re-installed Word, then re-installed Windows and it still didn't fix the problem!!
Yet your suggestion to use Sentence case - which I never thought to try - works!! It means I won't have to keep overtyping all my paragraphs correcting the un-capitalised words!! Cheers :)
Hi Christine - really glad that helped!
I also don't have a tip but am very much interested in learning form others.
I don’t have a tip would like to see discussion