5 Keyboard Shortcuts You Didn’t Know You Needed
Keyboard shortcuts are just about the quickest route to efficiency for anyone who works with words. (I dare say, they’re a step toward efficiency for anyone working on a computer. My colleagues in the...
View ArticleOn-screen editing course starts Oct 30th, online
In fall 2012, I taught teaching 3 classes related to editing: marketing for the freelance editor, half-day seminar in Ottawa editing in the educational market, half-day seminar in Ottawa (all 3...
View ArticleGet rid of the annoying formatting pop-up when you paste in Word
That tiny icon that pops up whenever you paste something into a Word file can get pretty annoying for an editor. It obscures the text, gets clicked on inadvertently. It’s really just technology getting...
View ArticleTackling paralysis with soft edit and Note Stripper
When footnotes are a formatting nightmare, Note Stripper saves the day. End notes too. Also, Adrienne sings “soft edit” to help reduce her panic tackling a paralysing job. Press play below or subscribe...
View Article5 tips for editing your own work
Five brain hacks for tricking yourself into seeing text with fresh eyes are covered in this episode, an adaptation of Adrienne’s post on copyediting.com. While originally written for editors, these...
View ArticleHow to column on Copyediting.com (keyboard shortcuts for selecting text)
Today I start writing another weekly column at Copyediting.com. It covers tech tips to make your editing more efficient, effective, and (ultimately) profitable, and (occasionally) some interpersonal...
View Article10 Ways to Navigate a Word Document
Still scrolling through a long document using the arrow key? Flying right past what it is you are looking for, getting a bad case of “clicker finger”? Try these 10 other ways to navigate a Word...
View ArticleHow to Get a Word Count from a Live Multi-page Website
Sometimes the cart is pushing the horse, and a client wants a quote on copy editing a live (or about to go live) website. Getting even a rough word count from a live website is problematic. I asked...
View ArticleThe argument for making changes silently, not tracking them
I espouse making routine copy editing changes silently; that is, without tracking them in Word. From editors, I hear a few common concerns about this: What if the client wants to see every little...
View ArticleHow to change font size in Word’s Reviewing Pane Sidebar
Tired eyes, tiny type? Bump up the font size in the Reviewing Pane to read Comments and tracked changes with less strain. One way is to change the zoom setting in the Reviewing Pane. This doesn’t...
View ArticleThree alternatives to macros
Scared of macros? Here are three alternatives, today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com. You can learn more about them in my four-week course. The alternatives are autocorrect Scrapbook /...
View ArticleHow to See and Insert Non-Printing Characters in Word
Reveal and insert non-printing characters to control and troubleshoot formatting in MS Word. Do you know what these symbols mean? ¶ · o ? ¬ ¤ Find out today — and learn how to make them, too — in my...
View ArticleHow to Find Non-Printing Characters in MS Word
This week in my How To column at Copyediting.com we look at how to find those hidden light-blue non-printing characters using Word’s Find function rather than your tired little eyes. If you have to...
View ArticleHow to Find Out What a Character Is in Word
Need to get more than this from Word? Wondering what character that really is in your Word document? Has the writer used the proper degree symbol (°) or some hack like superscripting a lowercase o...
View ArticleComputer tools for copy editors: macros
The few macros I use have made my editing better and faster, but I still only use about three consistently. What am I missing out on? Illuminate me! Tell me what your macros do. My macros currently do...
View ArticleTips for Word’s Reviewing Pane and Comments
Two tech tips for you today, for working with Word’s tracked changes. One relating to comment balloons, and the other for simplifying the reviewing pane to reduce your stress level while simultaneously...
View ArticleLOTW 7, 2015
Picks from the interwebs this week for my word-nerd peeps. make Word custom dictionary from your style list (not sure this works on a Mac) PARSNIP for respect headline cap styles cheat sheet best...
View ArticleLOTW 11, 2015
Picks from the interwebs this week for my word-nerd peeps. audio-reader plug-in for Word search v discover — how users are finding content these days Book Sales Stats and Facts Audio V Print and a...
View ArticleEditing World News: updated software
The editing community is atwitter with news of the latest release of PerfectIt — a Word add-in many editors (and non-editors) use to automate mechanical consistency checks in manuscripts. Earlier this...
View ArticleWord Count Comparison
Different word processing software will give you a different word count in the very same document. I look at some of the variations today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com. I created a very...
View ArticleWord Tool to Check Document Structure
Visualize the structure of a complex document and navigate it too, using Word’s Document Map Pane. I explain how, today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com. *Each version of Word varies slightly,...
View ArticleUse Word’s Outline View to Check Document Flow
Do you follow that editing principle of “parading your topic sentences”? Today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com, learn about Word’s Outline View and how it can help with this task. Visualize...
View ArticleStrategies for Leaving No Check Behind
Strategies to note and track copyediting tasks — today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com. Related to in this piece: Checklist for editing visual components Checklist for editing captions...
View ArticleIncrease Productivity with Multiple Views
Open multiple views into a single document. I show you how today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com. Works in Word, Excel, Acrobat, and more. Multi-faced sculpture by Joel Cooper, used under CC...
View ArticleWhy We “Maggie” a Doc(x) to Rescue It
“Is that you?” Maggie Secara often gets asked. “Yeah, that’s me,” she says. “What can I say? I’ve never been a verb before.” Find out why you might Maggie a document, today in my How To column at...
View ArticleHow to Sort Lists in Word
How to use that little Sort button today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com. Photo by Schristia, used under CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
View ArticleLittle-Known Word Shortcuts
Word shortcuts you won’t want to live without. Today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com. Go to the last edit point Switch between the last 4 places edited Select word, sentence, paragraph or cell,...
View ArticleMake a Custom Tab on Word’s Ribbon
A custom Ribbon tab is a great productivity alternative to memorizing shortcuts for those who are more visually oriented. This option is now available for Mac users of Word, as well as Windows users,...
View ArticleAutomate Routine Editing with Macros
Macros, what are they good for? Some pretty fly stuff, actually. Find out in my post at Copyediting.com, and here: Webinar: Macros Without Tears — Thursday, April 20, 2017, 11 am–12:30 pm EST Course:...
View ArticleThis Hack will Find a Needle in a Haystack
Ready your cape: this morning’s editing tip is super-hero QA. No fire extinguisher required. You can see the gaps even when the table is this small, right? Read the post once your cape is secure. Photo...
View ArticleHow to Reply to Comments in Word
Comments, and how to reply to them in Word. Who doesn’t know this? Read, and see what you didn’t know. My productivity tip today, in my How To column at Copyediting.com.
View ArticleHow to Use the Windows Version of MS Word, for Mac Users
Are you facing a Windows computer with panic? Not to fear, the quick tutorial below will set you in the right direction. Thankfully, the Word environment is a lot more consistent across platforms than...
View ArticleTyping Special Characters
Beyond the letters of the alphabet and the numerals 0–9, there is a whole world of characters and symbols available on your computer. Today in my column at Copyediting.com, we look at 5 ways to access...
View ArticleKeep the Tracked Changes in Pasted Text
It’s easy to paste text with tracked changes in MS Word 365 (2016) for Mac or Windows. Watch the demo here or see the 4 written steps and 1 troubleshooting tip in my How To column today at...
View ArticleCreating Hyperlinks
Some kind of standardization is creeping across the software. Creating a link on screen takes similar steps across Word, Google Docs, and WordPress. You can read this handy tip in my column today at...
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