More Please...Part 3

Click the graphic to display a larger version, and then press the Esc key to close it. 

In a previous post I promised to look at options on the Format drop-down.

Format Button on Find and Replace Dialog
Click in the Find or Replace field--depending on which text you want to affect--and then click the Format button to display a drop-down list of formatting options.

Select an option--for example, Font--to apply formatting options.

Depending on the field in which you've clicked to place your cursor, you might be affecting the Find or the Replace version of the text and the name of the corresponding dialog that appears. For example, in the sample above, the Font dialog is titled Replace Font because I click in the Replace field and the selections I'm making affect replacement text.

In the example above, I'm looking for every instance of plain text Tremé and I'm going to replace it with Tremé, which has bold and small caps without all caps applied. In a long document, 100 pages, Word will find every instance of Tremé and replace it with Tremé. 

Depending on what you've applied in your document, some or all of the options on the drop-down list will be of interest because you can sweep through a document and make massive changes in one sweep. 

Following is a list of the available options. If you're a longtime reader of this blog, the options corresponds to a dialog that you've already used. I'll add the links to the past posts. Remember that Word never presents a new dialog if it has an existing dialog...it just reuses the existing dialog...usually with a slight twist. However, if you've already used the dialog, you have a running chance of understanding what is happening when you see the dialog. 

Format Button Options

• Font = Select this option and you get the Find/Replace Font dialog, which has the same options on it as the Font dialog. You worked with this dialog in the post Format-->Font. I rarely use this option because I usually make changes using a style. However, if you under the gun, knowing how to find text with a narrowed search and/or making massive replaces on the fly might be helpful. 
• Paragraph = Select this option and you get the Find/Replace Paragraph dialog, which has the same options on it as the Paragraph dialog. You worked with this dialog in many posts, for example, the post Format-->Paragraph. Again, I usually affect paragraphs using styles; however, you should know that you can find/replace using Paragraph-related options.  
• Tabs = Select this option and you get the Find/Replace Tabs dialog, which has the same options on it as the Tabs dialog. You worked with this dialog in the post To Tab or Not to Tab. I rarely use this option. 
• Language =  Select this option and you get the Find/Replace Tabs dialog, which has the same options on it as the Language dialog. You worked with this dialog in the post Suppressing the Spell Checker with a Style. I rarely use this option. 
• Frames = I don't use frames...if you've hacked your way thru it, God love you...you're a patient soul. I never use this option. 
• Style = Select this option and you get the Find/Replace Styles dialog, which has the same options on it as your Styles list. Select a style that has been applied to the text. For example, if you are looking for the word settler and you want to find it in a Heading 1 title, select the style from the list and Word will only look for settler with Heading 1 applied to it. In a very long document, being able to target your find or replace can save you lots of time and trouble. Because I always apply styles to text (Always!), I use this option when finding and replacing.

• Highlight = Did you apply highlighting to your document? Highlighting areas of your document can help you when editing. If you want to find all highlighted text, don't enter anything in the Find field, select Highlight from the Format list, click the Find Next button and off you go to ever spot you applied the highlight. This option is most convenient when you're doing a final clean-up and you want to make sure you've removed all highlighting. I frequently use this option because I frequently use highlighting (different colors) to mark different areas of text that might need different types of attention. 

Next Post
In the next post we'll look at the options on the Special drop-down list.

I realize the Find/Replace posts are tedious. However, understanding how to narrow your find criteria and use your replace criteria to make changes on the fly can help you greatly when you're in a rush...or if you just want to learn to work more efficiently.

Surpressing the Spell Checker with a Style

Enough of the PDF nonsense...it's time to get back to styles. We're about half way through what you can do with a style.

Remember that we are making global changes. When you make global changes, you access the dialogs by right-clicking a style in the Styles (or Styles and Formatting) pane to display a pop-up. Select the Modify option to display the Modify Styles dialog. You can then click the Format button for a list options. Tonight, we're going to look at the Language option.

You've seen this dialog before in the post about suppressing the spell checker. In most instances, you're going to accept the default language. The item of interest on this dialog is the Do not check spelling or grammar option.

Making a choice here is tricky but make the right choice and you have a helpful style.

If you are modifying a paragraph style--a style that you apply to an entire paragraph, do not select the Do not check spelling or grammar option, because every place that you apply the style will get skipped by the spell checker. Not a good thing unless you have supreme confidence in your spelling.

If you are modifying a character style--a style that you apply to a few characters like a family name or place name, you may want to consider selecting the Do not check spelling or grammar option. When you apply the style to an oddly spelled family name or place name, not only do you get the spiffy formatting built into the character style but you also automatically suppress the spell checker. If you're careful about the spelling of the family or place name, using this option as part of a character style is another way to avoid being annoyed by the spell checker getting hung up on these types of names.

We're almost through all of the global changes via Modify Style/Format selections. After we've gone through all of the global changes, we'll start looking at the local changes, which are frequently used to tweak text on a page mostly to make it fit on the page better.

So bear with me. We don't have far to go. After we look at local changes, we'll talk about building templates.