Time-saving tricks in Word? Thread poster: Maria Danielson
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I just had to steam through a 30,000-word dissertation on logistics and distribution. Several words like "distribution" and "transport" and "warehouse" recurred frequently. I used the "autocorrect" feature in Word so that every time I typed "db", Word expanded it to "distribution"; "tp", "transport", etc. It saved me a lot of time.
Does anyone else have any tips like that that help when the deadline is tight?
| | | | | Find and replace | Nov 6, 2003 |
You can use the find and replace function although you have to be careful.
I usually use it to translate 'and' and 'the' but I use the additional search facilities such as match case and find whole words only. You can also search for fonts, styles, special hidden characters (for example, paragraph marks), etc.
| | | | PAS 
Local time: 10:05
Polish to English
+ ...
You can use the autocorrect feature to speed up your typing by e.g. typing usd to produce USD (currency). This way you don't have to hold the 'shift' key. Look for things you type often that require awkward keyboard combinations. Just remember not to add things which may mean something else in a different context (e.g. you can't autocorrect "wont" to "won't", because "wont" is also a word.
MS Word also autocorrects things like "dont" to "don't", "doesnt" to "doesn't" etc. (Unless yo... See more You can use the autocorrect feature to speed up your typing by e.g. typing usd to produce USD (currency). This way you don't have to hold the 'shift' key. Look for things you type often that require awkward keyboard combinations. Just remember not to add things which may mean something else in a different context (e.g. you can't autocorrect "wont" to "won't", because "wont" is also a word.
MS Word also autocorrects things like "dont" to "don't", "doesnt" to "doesn't" etc. (Unless you're George Bernard Shaw )Sometimes people don't remember this, but the apostrophe is one keystroke you save. They must add up eventually. View the list of autocorrections in the dialog box to see what Word autocorrects for you.
This doesn't apply in English very much, but you can autocorrect words that contain diacriticals. This saves you the bother of punching the alt+1234 combinations.
Learn all the formatting keyboard shortcuts and use them - bold, underline, justify left-right, copy, paste. This way you don't have to use the mouse.
Also learn the keyboard shortcuts for moving around the document - beginning/end of line, beginning/end of document, mark, delete word etc. etc. You can find them on the Microsoft website.
Program keyboard combinations for symbols you use often: legal paragraph sign, temperature degree sign (the little circle) etc. etc. You do this in the Insert symbol dialog.
That's all that comes to my mind now in terms of mundane typing activity. If all this was obvious, I'm sorry, but you asked
HTH
Pawel Skalinski ▲ Collapse
| | | | Hynek Palatin
Czech Republic
Local time: 10:05
Member (2003)
English to Czech
+ ...
| AutoText, shortcuts, macros | Nov 6, 2003 |
I use AutoText entries for larger pieces of text. I also recommend using keyboard shortcuts as much as possible. Ideally, you shouldn't touch your mouse at all. Define simple macros for frequently used operations (eg. Paste as Unformatted text - very useful when copying text from Trados concordance window) and assign them a shortcut.
By the way, Search and Replace could be very effective, but not when you work with Tr... See more I use AutoText entries for larger pieces of text. I also recommend using keyboard shortcuts as much as possible. Ideally, you shouldn't touch your mouse at all. Define simple macros for frequently used operations (eg. Paste as Unformatted text - very useful when copying text from Trados concordance window) and assign them a shortcut.
By the way, Search and Replace could be very effective, but not when you work with Trados or another CAT tool. ▲ Collapse
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Mueen Issa
Local time: 11:05
English to Arabic
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| in the toolbar, go to insert | Nov 6, 2003 |
auto text, and chose auto text. in the empty field insert whatever you want, a word, a phrase, even a paragraph, then click on add.
now whenever you start writing the same text, the same text will appear in a yellow box, just press enter, and voila.
| | | | | A noisy option? | Nov 6, 2003 |
Maria Danielson wrote:
...every time I typed \"db\", Word expanded it to \"distribution\";
Watch out next time you do an article on noise or loudspeakers then
Berni
(Putting up with the Decibel Level of our local Swimming Pool's noisy pump at the moment )
| | | | Maria Danielson
United States
Local time: 04:05
Dutch to English
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TOPIC STARTER | paste as unformatted text new to me | Nov 6, 2003 |
[quote]Hynek Palatin wrote:
Define simple macros for frequently used operations (eg. Paste as Unformatted text - very useful when copying text from Trados concordance window) and assign them a shortcut.
Thanks for this tip! I use Trados and didn't realise you can get around that nasty formatting problem when cutting and pasting.
| | | | | Intellicomplete | Nov 6, 2003 |
You might be interested in this very clever little application available from www.flashpeak.com. It has saved me more time than anything else since I started using it a couple of years ago.
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| Intellicomplete | Nov 6, 2003 |
Hi,
I think that the tool you are looking for is Intellicomplete. It can be used to complete words. In a typical software manual I use "herramientas" quite a lot as it is the translation of tools. Whenever I enter "h" the most commonly used words show up and I can choose a number. For example, 1 corresponds to herramientas, so I choose 1 and the software completes the word for me. This is a smart tool, so the words are sorted according to the number of times that you use them.... See more Hi,
I think that the tool you are looking for is Intellicomplete. It can be used to complete words. In a typical software manual I use "herramientas" quite a lot as it is the translation of tools. Whenever I enter "h" the most commonly used words show up and I can choose a number. For example, 1 corresponds to herramientas, so I choose 1 and the software completes the word for me. This is a smart tool, so the words are sorted according to the number of times that you use them.
This is the site you can download it from:
www.flashpeak.com/icomp/
It costs around $50 after the trial version expires.
Good luck. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Hynek Palatin
Czech Republic
Local time: 10:05
Member (2003)
English to Czech
+ ...
Maria,
Another tip for you: You can use CTRL+SPACE on selected text to remove formatting and apply current style.
| | | | | Search and Replace | Nov 6, 2003 |
Hynek Palatin wrote:
By the way, Search and Replace could be very effective, but not when you work with Trados or another CAT tool.
It depends. Sometimes I pretranslate the document (usually when I know there are many words that occur many times) and hide the codes. Then you can search and replace and it is very useful. But you must be careful.
| | | | Hynek Palatin
Czech Republic
Local time: 10:05
Member (2003)
English to Czech
+ ...
Marijke Singer wrote: Hynek Palatin wrote:
By the way, Search and Replace could be very effective, but not when you work with Trados or another CAT tool. It depends. Sometimes I pretranslate the document (usually when I know there are many words that occur many times) and hide the codes. Then you can search and replace and it is very useful. But you must be careful.
You are right, I oversimplified it. Sometimes it's better to search and replace and don't use Trados for that particular section. The user just has to understand what he/she is doing.
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