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QuiltDiva
 
Posts: n/a
Default How do I get my default new document to always be our company let.

We have only recently made the switch from WordPerfect to Word and we are
still going through a steep learning curve. In WordPerfect you could place a
button on the toolbar for our firm letterhead. We could click on that button
whenever we wanted to create new correspondence. Is this function available
in Word 2002?

Jean M. Repik, Paralegal
  #2   Report Post  
Charles Kenyon
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Yes, it would be AutoText. You do _not_ want your company letterhead to be
on all new documents. It would get in the way with envelopes and labels,
both of which are based on normal.dot.

What you want is one or more custom document templates. Take a look at: How
to set up letterhead or some other document where you want one header on the
first page and a different header on other pages.
http://www.addbalance.com/word/headersfooters.htm This gives step-by-step
instructions. (It also has the following links)

Some other pages to look at:

Letterhead Tips and Instructions
http://home.earthlink.net/~wordfaqs/Letterhead.htm

Letterhead Textboxes and Styles tutorial
http://addbalance.com/word/download....StylesTutorial

Template Basics
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm

How to Create a Template - Part 2 - essential reading
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart2.htm

Word "Forms"
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordw...rces.htm#Forms and

Word for Word Perfect Users
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm if you are coming from a WP
environment (or even if you are not).

If you are interested in creating templates that will work with the letter
wizard or use that wizard, you should look at the chapter on Advanced
Document Formatting in Using Office 2003 (or whatever your version is),
Special Edition, by Ed Bott and Woody Leonhard. It has detailed instructions
including instructions on getting the fields you want from your Outlook
Contacts for addressing a letter. (Chapter 19 of SE Using Office 2003) You
should be able to get this through your public library or at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/IS...ncecheckbookA/

Finally, take a look at the letter templates that come with Word. While they
are no great shakes as letterhead, they do use styles and AutoText lists
very well. If you use the same style names that are used in those templates
in your own letterhead for the same parts of the document, you will have
better luck with using the built-in AutoText entries in Word.

Hope this helps,
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.


"QuiltDiva" wrote in message
...
We have only recently made the switch from WordPerfect to Word and we are
still going through a steep learning curve. In WordPerfect you could
place a
button on the toolbar for our firm letterhead. We could click on that
button
whenever we wanted to create new correspondence. Is this function
available
in Word 2002?

Jean M. Repik, Paralegal



  #3   Report Post  
Charles Kenyon
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I hope my previous post gets you going in the right direction on the
letterhead issue. As for the learning curve... here is some general info on
moving from Word Perfect to Word:

Word and Word Perfect work very differently from one another. Each program's
methods have strengths and weaknesses; but, if you try to use one of these
programs as if it were the other, it is like pushing on a string! You can
easily make a lot of extra work for yourself. If you are unwilling to take
the time to learn to use Word's methods, you should stick to using Word Pad.
You'll have a lot less grief, although you'll miss out on a lot of raw
power.

See http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...ordPerfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...AndGotchas.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...Converters.htm
http://businesssoft.about.com/comput.../blconvert.htm
for information on Word for Word Perfect users.

For mo
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart2.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart1.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Number...gExplained.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...latesStore.htm


Function Keys

In Word 2000 (or later) You can get the function keys to display in a
special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something like
pressing F3 twice in WP). The following macro will do this.
Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys()
Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True
End Sub

Word's Extend key (F8) gives something similar to block processing.


Formatting and Styles

Learn about Styles - really learn!
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm I resisted for years and now
regret every day of those years because although that string was still very
hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very important
projects tied to it! Once you understand styles and the Word concept of
organizing things into Chinese boxes everything falls into place and instead
of pushing a string, you can push a button that turns on the very powerful
text processing machine known as Microsoft Word and it will start doing your
work for you instead of running around behind you trying to undo what you
just thought you did.


Converting documents Word / Word Perfect

Some special characters in Word Perfect documents don't convert well to
Word. There is a macro to assist with this described at
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/...html#macroword and can be found
at http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/WPSymbolConv.bas.
This was prepared by Edward Mendelson.
Otherwise, look at the macro from http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=212396
Use these on _copies_!

As for converting documents from Word Perfect to _use_ in Word... In a word,
don't plan on it. I would not recommend using converted documents long-term.
They will be filled with formatting anomolies that will get you at the worst
time. This is especially true of any documents containing automatic
numbering or bullets. Try recreating form documents in Word using the
following process:
In Word Perfect (if you still have it, in Word if not) save your files as
text files.
Use your converted files as references to show you how you want your
formatting to look.
Create a new document in Word and insert the text from the text file. Save
this new document as a Word template. Format it the way you want using
styles, not direct formatting. Save it again.
To use a template within Word, use File = New and pick your template. This
will create a new document for you.

Merge documents have special problems and should be recreated from text
files or retyped in Word. To convert data files, consider generating labels
in WP as a document, converting that to Word, and then using
http://www.gmayor.com/convert_labels...mail_merge.htm to get a new Word
data file.

Note that conversions usually do create documents that look passable and
print OK; the problems I'm referring to have to do with editing / making
changes, that is, using the documents long-term. (See below on reusing
documents vs. using templates.)

Conversion back to Word Perfect: There is a problem (in addition to the ones
mentioned for conversion _to_ Word) with Version 2002 (XP) and later of
Word. The conversion file only works for conversion _to_ Word, not from Word
to Word Perfect! Earlier versions went both ways. To fix this, you need to
find the old conversion file WPFT532.CNV from a Word 97 or Word 2000
installation and copy it to your new installation, replacing the file of the
same name. Note, the change making the file one-way was done as a security
measure. While I don't know of any problems the old file causes, keep the
new installation's file somewhere as a backup just in case.


Boilerplate and Forms

In WP a lot of people use macros to hold chunks of text - boilerplate. In
Word this function is filled by Templates, AutoText and AutoCorrect, not
macros. Follow the links at
http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebre...s.htm#AutoText for more
information on these tools.

You can use FILLIN and ASK fields or UserForms to query the user. For some
form documents, Word's "online forms" work very well. For more about online
forms, follow the links at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...nTheBlanks.htm especially Dian
Chapman's series of articles.


Reusing Documents vs. Using templates

General practice in WP is to have a document and copy and edit it to create
a new document. This is not good practice in Word. In Word, construct a
good, tight, template for your documents and use that template when
constructing new documents. Among other things, this can avoid embarrassing
"metadata" (http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/metadata.htm) and things
like surprise headers and footers from creeping into new documents.

It's a lot of reading, I know. It's OK to chunk it down and do a bit each
day, but I would recommend that you make it a top priority to do that bit
each day. In the (short) long run, it will save you both time and grief.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
"QuiltDiva" wrote in message
...
We have only recently made the switch from WordPerfect to Word and we are
still going through a steep learning curve. In WordPerfect you could
place a
button on the toolbar for our firm letterhead. We could click on that
button
whenever we wanted to create new correspondence. Is this function
available
in Word 2002?

Jean M. Repik, Paralegal



  #4   Report Post  
CyberTaz
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hello Jean-

It sounds like you had a) either a macro or a macro combined with a template
file that was b) being triggered by a custom button on your toolbar.

Unfortunately, they cannot simply be 'swapped over' to Word, but...

Both capabilities are readily available in Word, and there is more than
enough to get you up & running available in Word Help. You will also find
plenty of knowledgeable people willing to help out through this newsgroup
should you encounter any roadblocks.

Good Luck |:)

"QuiltDiva" wrote:

We have only recently made the switch from WordPerfect to Word and we are
still going through a steep learning curve. In WordPerfect you could place a
button on the toolbar for our firm letterhead. We could click on that button
whenever we wanted to create new correspondence. Is this function available
in Word 2002?

Jean M. Repik, Paralegal

  #5   Report Post  
QuiltDiva
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Thanks for your help. This should get me started in the right direction.

"Charles Kenyon" wrote:

I hope my previous post gets you going in the right direction on the
letterhead issue. As for the learning curve... here is some general info on
moving from Word Perfect to Word:

Word and Word Perfect work very differently from one another. Each program's
methods have strengths and weaknesses; but, if you try to use one of these
programs as if it were the other, it is like pushing on a string! You can
easily make a lot of extra work for yourself. If you are unwilling to take
the time to learn to use Word's methods, you should stick to using Word Pad.
You'll have a lot less grief, although you'll miss out on a lot of raw
power.

See http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...ordPerfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...AndGotchas.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...Converters.htm
http://businesssoft.about.com/comput.../blconvert.htm
for information on Word for Word Perfect users.

For mo
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart2.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart1.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Number...gExplained.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...latesStore.htm


Function Keys

In Word 2000 (or later) You can get the function keys to display in a
special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something like
pressing F3 twice in WP). The following macro will do this.
Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys()
Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True
End Sub

Word's Extend key (F8) gives something similar to block processing.


Formatting and Styles

Learn about Styles - really learn!
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm I resisted for years and now
regret every day of those years because although that string was still very
hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very important
projects tied to it! Once you understand styles and the Word concept of
organizing things into Chinese boxes everything falls into place and instead
of pushing a string, you can push a button that turns on the very powerful
text processing machine known as Microsoft Word and it will start doing your
work for you instead of running around behind you trying to undo what you
just thought you did.


Converting documents Word / Word Perfect

Some special characters in Word Perfect documents don't convert well to
Word. There is a macro to assist with this described at
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/...html#macroword and can be found
at http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/WPSymbolConv.bas.
This was prepared by Edward Mendelson.
Otherwise, look at the macro from http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=212396
Use these on _copies_!

As for converting documents from Word Perfect to _use_ in Word... In a word,
don't plan on it. I would not recommend using converted documents long-term.
They will be filled with formatting anomolies that will get you at the worst
time. This is especially true of any documents containing automatic
numbering or bullets. Try recreating form documents in Word using the
following process:
In Word Perfect (if you still have it, in Word if not) save your files as
text files.
Use your converted files as references to show you how you want your
formatting to look.
Create a new document in Word and insert the text from the text file. Save
this new document as a Word template. Format it the way you want using
styles, not direct formatting. Save it again.
To use a template within Word, use File = New and pick your template. This
will create a new document for you.

Merge documents have special problems and should be recreated from text
files or retyped in Word. To convert data files, consider generating labels
in WP as a document, converting that to Word, and then using
http://www.gmayor.com/convert_labels...mail_merge.htm to get a new Word
data file.

Note that conversions usually do create documents that look passable and
print OK; the problems I'm referring to have to do with editing / making
changes, that is, using the documents long-term. (See below on reusing
documents vs. using templates.)

Conversion back to Word Perfect: There is a problem (in addition to the ones
mentioned for conversion _to_ Word) with Version 2002 (XP) and later of
Word. The conversion file only works for conversion _to_ Word, not from Word
to Word Perfect! Earlier versions went both ways. To fix this, you need to
find the old conversion file WPFT532.CNV from a Word 97 or Word 2000
installation and copy it to your new installation, replacing the file of the
same name. Note, the change making the file one-way was done as a security
measure. While I don't know of any problems the old file causes, keep the
new installation's file somewhere as a backup just in case.


Boilerplate and Forms

In WP a lot of people use macros to hold chunks of text - boilerplate. In
Word this function is filled by Templates, AutoText and AutoCorrect, not
macros. Follow the links at
http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebre...s.htm#AutoText for more
information on these tools.

You can use FILLIN and ASK fields or UserForms to query the user. For some
form documents, Word's "online forms" work very well. For more about online
forms, follow the links at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...nTheBlanks.htm especially Dian
Chapman's series of articles.


Reusing Documents vs. Using templates

General practice in WP is to have a document and copy and edit it to create
a new document. This is not good practice in Word. In Word, construct a
good, tight, template for your documents and use that template when
constructing new documents. Among other things, this can avoid embarrassing
"metadata" (http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/metadata.htm) and things
like surprise headers and footers from creeping into new documents.

It's a lot of reading, I know. It's OK to chunk it down and do a bit each
day, but I would recommend that you make it a top priority to do that bit
each day. In the (short) long run, it will save you both time and grief.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
"QuiltDiva" wrote in message
...
We have only recently made the switch from WordPerfect to Word and we are
still going through a steep learning curve. In WordPerfect you could
place a
button on the toolbar for our firm letterhead. We could click on that
button
whenever we wanted to create new correspondence. Is this function
available
in Word 2002?

Jean M. Repik, Paralegal






  #6   Report Post  
Graham Mayor
 
Posts: n/a
Default

See also http://home.earthlink.net/~wordfaqs/Letterhead.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




QuiltDiva wrote:
Thanks for your help. This should get me started in the right
direction.

"Charles Kenyon" wrote:

I hope my previous post gets you going in the right direction on the
letterhead issue. As for the learning curve... here is some general
info on moving from Word Perfect to Word:

Word and Word Perfect work very differently from one another. Each
program's methods have strengths and weaknesses; but, if you try to
use one of these programs as if it were the other, it is like
pushing on a string! You can easily make a lot of extra work for
yourself. If you are unwilling to take the time to learn to use
Word's methods, you should stick to using Word Pad. You'll have a
lot less grief, although you'll miss out on a lot of raw power.

See http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...ordPerfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...AndGotchas.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...Converters.htm
http://businesssoft.about.com/comput.../blconvert.htm
for information on Word for Word Perfect users.

For mo
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart2.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart1.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Number...gExplained.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...latesStore.htm


Function Keys

In Word 2000 (or later) You can get the function keys to display in a
special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something
like pressing F3 twice in WP). The following macro will do this.
Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys()
Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True
End Sub

Word's Extend key (F8) gives something similar to block processing.


Formatting and Styles

Learn about Styles - really learn!
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm I resisted for years
and now regret every day of those years because although that string
was still very hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and
had some very important projects tied to it! Once you understand
styles and the Word concept of organizing things into Chinese boxes
everything falls into place and instead of pushing a string, you can
push a button that turns on the very powerful text processing
machine known as Microsoft Word and it will start doing your work
for you instead of running around behind you trying to undo what you
just thought you did.


Converting documents Word / Word Perfect

Some special characters in Word Perfect documents don't convert well
to Word. There is a macro to assist with this described at
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/...html#macroword and can
be found at http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/WPSymbolConv.bas.
This was prepared by Edward Mendelson.
Otherwise, look at the macro from
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=212396 Use these on _copies_!

As for converting documents from Word Perfect to _use_ in Word... In
a word, don't plan on it. I would not recommend using converted
documents long-term. They will be filled with formatting anomolies
that will get you at the worst time. This is especially true of any
documents containing automatic numbering or bullets. Try recreating
form documents in Word using the following process:
In Word Perfect (if you still have it, in Word if not) save your
files as text files.
Use your converted files as references to show you how you want your
formatting to look.
Create a new document in Word and insert the text from the text
file. Save this new document as a Word template. Format it the way
you want using styles, not direct formatting. Save it again.
To use a template within Word, use File = New and pick your
template. This will create a new document for you.

Merge documents have special problems and should be recreated from
text files or retyped in Word. To convert data files, consider
generating labels in WP as a document, converting that to Word, and
then using http://www.gmayor.com/convert_labels...mail_merge.htm
to get a new Word data file.

Note that conversions usually do create documents that look passable
and print OK; the problems I'm referring to have to do with editing
/ making changes, that is, using the documents long-term. (See below
on reusing documents vs. using templates.)

Conversion back to Word Perfect: There is a problem (in addition to
the ones mentioned for conversion _to_ Word) with Version 2002 (XP)
and later of Word. The conversion file only works for conversion
_to_ Word, not from Word to Word Perfect! Earlier versions went both
ways. To fix this, you need to find the old conversion file
WPFT532.CNV from a Word 97 or Word 2000 installation and copy it to
your new installation, replacing the file of the same name. Note,
the change making the file one-way was done as a security measure.
While I don't know of any problems the old file causes, keep the new
installation's file somewhere as a backup just in case.


Boilerplate and Forms

In WP a lot of people use macros to hold chunks of text -
boilerplate. In Word this function is filled by Templates, AutoText
and AutoCorrect, not macros. Follow the links at
http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebre...s.htm#AutoText for more
information on these tools.

You can use FILLIN and ASK fields or UserForms to query the user.
For some form documents, Word's "online forms" work very well. For
more about online forms, follow the links at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...nTheBlanks.htm
especially Dian Chapman's series of articles.


Reusing Documents vs. Using templates

General practice in WP is to have a document and copy and edit it to
create a new document. This is not good practice in Word. In Word,
construct a good, tight, template for your documents and use that
template when constructing new documents. Among other things, this
can avoid embarrassing "metadata"
(http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/metadata.htm) and things like
surprise headers and footers from creeping into new documents.

It's a lot of reading, I know. It's OK to chunk it down and do a bit
each day, but I would recommend that you make it a top priority to
do that bit each day. In the (short) long run, it will save you both
time and grief. --

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
"QuiltDiva" wrote in message
...
We have only recently made the switch from WordPerfect to Word and
we are still going through a steep learning curve. In WordPerfect
you could place a
button on the toolbar for our firm letterhead. We could click on
that button
whenever we wanted to create new correspondence. Is this function
available
in Word 2002?

Jean M. Repik, Paralegal



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