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I'm setting up a template pleading caption for our law firm. After using
several different models, it seems the one employing columns is probably the most effective and requires the least amount of "tweakage" from end-users. However, if one cuts and pastes a caption set up this way into a new or existing document, Word converts the continuous section breaks to next page breaks. So now I'm trying to come up with the best solution that will prevent user-breakage of the caption. So far, possible solutions include (a) amending users' normal.dot in page layout so that section starts will be continuous by default (probably unacceptable because of other problems it would cause); (b) telling users to paste text into the pleading caption document rather than attempting to paste the caption itself to another document (not everyone will remember this); and (c) telling users to 'select all' -- rather than highlight just the caption -- and paste that to the desired document. (For some reason I cannot fathom, the breaks don't convert if one 'selects all'... perhaps this is the key to the problem? Or is it just a software bug?) I'm just trying to create a template that will work well for everyone and I don't wind up with a half dozen calls a week to the help desk about an extra page break that can't be deleted without compromising the caption. Suggestions and alternatives are welcome. -- Application Support Specialist Columbus, Ohio |
#2
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You'll find tables work much better than column for captions. (I do have a
criminal discovery demand that uses columns for the text, not the caption, but that is an unusual case.) http://addbalance.com/usersguide/tables.htm. Don't amend your users' normal.dot. Normal.dot should never be shared and customizing it's layout can compromise your ability to create labels in Word. Use custom pleading templates that already have captions built into them. I generally construct a new one from my general one for each case and put the caption for the case into the template for that case. This gets around the cut and paste. I suspect, that like many people in law offices, you are a refugee from Word Perfect land. 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. 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. I hope you find this lengthy extra information useful. -- 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. "Jennifer Hunt" wrote in message ... I'm setting up a template pleading caption for our law firm. After using several different models, it seems the one employing columns is probably the most effective and requires the least amount of "tweakage" from end-users. However, if one cuts and pastes a caption set up this way into a new or existing document, Word converts the continuous section breaks to next page breaks. So now I'm trying to come up with the best solution that will prevent user-breakage of the caption. So far, possible solutions include (a) amending users' normal.dot in page layout so that section starts will be continuous by default (probably unacceptable because of other problems it would cause); (b) telling users to paste text into the pleading caption document rather than attempting to paste the caption itself to another document (not everyone will remember this); and (c) telling users to 'select all' -- rather than highlight just the caption -- and paste that to the desired document. (For some reason I cannot fathom, the breaks don't convert if one 'selects all'... perhaps this is the key to the problem? Or is it just a software bug?) I'm just trying to create a template that will work well for everyone and I don't wind up with a half dozen calls a week to the help desk about an extra page break that can't be deleted without compromising the caption. Suggestions and alternatives are welcome. -- Application Support Specialist Columbus, Ohio |
#3
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Actually, I'm not a refugee from Word Perfect at all. I just prefer using
columns to a table for pleading captions. The main advantage is in using columns with column breaks is that the case number and judge's name will always be at the top of the caption on the right side. (The case name is generally placed opposite or at the end of the first plaintiff's name and the judge's name is usually two or three lines below that. If instead of columns you use a table, when you have a number of plaintiffs or include their addresses, the additional data in the left columns will likely cause the case number and judge appear much further down the page than you'd want [or even on a subsequent page], in which case the user would have to move that data to cells higher in the table.) Keep in mind that I'm trying to work out the best solution for a template with a wide variety of users, many of whom don't know anything about tables, columns or any other features beyond the most basic in Word. The less manipulation that's required of the end-users, the better. In most cases, creating a pleading caption with three columns (the center one just for colons, pipes, parentheses or the user's preferred center character) being the most effective. "Charles Kenyon" wrote: You'll find tables work much better than column for captions. (I do have a criminal discovery demand that uses columns for the text, not the caption, but that is an unusual case.) http://addbalance.com/usersguide/tables.htm. Don't amend your users' normal.dot. Normal.dot should never be shared and customizing it's layout can compromise your ability to create labels in Word. Use custom pleading templates that already have captions built into them. I generally construct a new one from my general one for each case and put the caption for the case into the template for that case. This gets around the cut and paste. I suspect, that like many people in law offices, you are a refugee from Word Perfect land. Here is some general info on moving from Word Perfect to Word: snippage of WP--Word info. "Charles Kenyon" wrote: You'll find tables work much better than column for captions. (I do have a criminal discovery demand that uses columns for the text, not the caption, but that is an unusual case.) http://addbalance.com/usersguide/tables.htm. Don't amend your users' normal.dot. Normal.dot should never be shared and customizing it's layout can compromise your ability to create labels in Word. Use custom pleading templates that already have captions built into them. I generally construct a new one from my general one for each case and put the caption for the case into the template for that case. This gets around the cut and paste. I suspect, that like many people in law offices, you are a refugee from Word Perfect land. 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. 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. I hope you find this lengthy extra information useful. -- 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. "Jennifer Hunt" wrote in message ... I'm setting up a template pleading caption for our law firm. After using several different models, it seems the one employing columns is probably the most effective and requires the least amount of "tweakage" from end-users. However, if one cuts and pastes a caption set up this way into a new or existing document, Word converts the continuous section breaks to next page breaks. So now I'm trying to come up with the best solution that will prevent user-breakage of the caption. So far, possible solutions include (a) amending users' normal.dot in page layout so that section starts will be continuous by default (probably unacceptable because of other problems it would cause); (b) telling users to paste text into the pleading caption document rather than attempting to paste the caption itself to another document (not everyone will remember this); and (c) telling users to 'select all' -- rather than highlight just the caption -- and paste that to the desired document. (For some reason I cannot fathom, the breaks don't convert if one 'selects all'... perhaps this is the key to the problem? Or is it just a software bug?) I'm just trying to create a template that will work well for everyone and I don't wind up with a half dozen calls a week to the help desk about an extra page break that can't be deleted without compromising the caption. Suggestions and alternatives are welcome. -- Application Support Specialist Columbus, Ohio |
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