Change WinWord margins on the fly
Turn off automatic numbering in Word 95
Select vertical blocks of text in WinWord
Mix WordPerfect DOS and Windows keyboards
Check spelling as you type in Word Pro
Change Ami Pro's default page size
Q Is there an easy way to change margins in the middle of a Word 6.0 for Windows document? I create many multipage letters, and I need to print the first page on company letterhead with one set of margins, and the subsequent pages on plain paper with another set of margins.
I know how to use Word's sections to set this up, but I'd like to be able to change margins on the fly without going through the hassle of creating section breaks.
- Alan Derwood
A This isn't too tough a job, really, as long as all you want to do is change margins. After opening a new document, select File-Page Setup, click the Margins tab if necessary, specify the margins you want for the first page, and click OK. Now, just type your document without worrying about margins.
When you're finished typing and editing, select Edit-Go To, type 2 in the Enter Page Number box, then click Go To. This moves the cursor to the top of page 2. Click Close.
Now, select File-Page Setup, and in the Page Setup dialogue box make any changes you wish in the margin settings. Next - and this is the critical step - click the Apply To drop-down list in the dialogue box and select This Point Forward. Click OK to apply the margins you specified to the second and following pages of your document.
Q I like some of the new things Word 95 can do, such as check spelling as I type and format fractions automatically. But I don't like the way it starts a numbered list whenever I type a number at the beginning of a paragraph. I often need to type several paragraphs under one numbered paragraph, and Word insists on inserting the next number in the sequence as soon as I press <Enter>. How do I stop this annoying behaviour?
- William French
A Automatic numbered lists, bulleted lists, and automatic fractions are all part of Word's AutoFormat feature. To enable or disable any of these features, select Tools-Options, click the AutoFormat tab in the Options dialogue box, then select or deselect its check box.
To turn off the numbered list feature, deselect the Automatic Numbered Lists check box and click OK to make this the new default.
If you prefer to keep the option on but want a quick way to stop the numbering while you work, just press <Enter> twice to start the next paragraph, or press <Backspace> to erase the automatically inserted number. Doing so turns off the numbering until you type a new number followed by a period, hyphen, or close parenthesis.
Q In Word 2.0 for Windows, I used to be able to select a vertical block of text by holding down the right mouse button and dragging over the text. I recently switched to WinWord 6.0 and found I could no longer use this technique. Is this capability gone for good?
- William H. Sell
A It's still there, but you have to do the job differently. Since Word 6.0 uses the right mouse button to call up a menu, the old right-click-and-drag technique won't work. Instead, you have to hold down the <Alt> key while you left-click and drag over the text. That will select vertical blocks of text, independent of line endings or other limitations. This is especially handy in tabbed text. You can then cut and paste or drag and drop the block in your document.
But note that this feature does not work in text formatted as a table. And Word 6.0 also dropped the old Tools-Calculate command, which added up a column of numbers selected as a rectangular block and stored the result in the Windows Clipboard.
Q I often type lists of telephone numbers in WordPerfect 6.1. I've tried using the number pad for this task, but whenever I press the minus key to insert a hyphen, the cursor jumps to a different location in the document. What's happening?
-Eric Fishbein
A Your problem stumped me for a long time. Then I remembered that WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS uses the number pad's plus (+) and minus (-) keys to move the cursor from the top to the bottom of the current screen.
You must have selected the WPDOS Compatible keyboard layout as your keyboard preference; WordPerfect is now giving you exactly what you asked for - and this includes those pesky number-pad cursor-movement keys.
:For a quick fix, select Edit-Preferences, then double-click the Keyboard icon. Select WPWin 6.1 Keyboard, click Select, then click Close. Now your number pad keys will behave the way you want them to, but you'll lose other WordPerfect for DOS keystrokes.
If you want to use WordPerfect 6.1's number pad keystrokes while preserving the rest of the WordPerfect for DOS keystrokes, you can do that too. Follow these steps to create a new keyboard template based on the WPDOS Compatible keyboard.
1. Select Edit-Preferences, double-click the Keyboard icon, then click Copy in the resulting dialogue box.
2. In the Select Keyboards to Copy list of the Copy Keyboards dialogue box, choose <WPDOS Compatible> and click Copy.
3. In the To section of the resulting OverWrite/New Name dialogue box, type a new name, such as numpad fix, for the keyboard you're about to create, then click OK.
4. In the Keyboard Preferences dialogue box, select your new keyboard name, then click Edit.
5. In the Keyboard Editor dialogue box, scroll down the Choose a Key to Assign or Unassign list and select the Num + entry. Click Unassign to remove the Move Screen Down action from the keystroke. Do the same for the Num - entry.
6. Finish by clicking OK, Select, and then Close.
This new, edited keyboard lets you keep the familiar WordPerfect 5.1 keystrokes, while using the minus key on the number pad to insert a hyphen.
Q After I upgraded from Ami Pro 3.1 to Word Pro 96 for Windows 3.1, I was looking forward to using the feature that highlights misspelled words as soon as they're typed. I selected Edit-Check Spelling to put the spelling toolbox on the screen, and then I started typing.
As I typed, though, the spelling box flashed and each character appeared highlighted until I completed a word. And sometimes the program slowed down so much that I could type several words ahead of the screen display.
As it is, the feature is useless to me. Is there a way to make it work better?
- Caroline Dark
A Sure. While displaying the spelling tool on the screen may seem like the way to perform as-you-type spelling checks, there is a better way. Unfortunately, it's not very well documented.
:First, remove the spelling tool from the screen by clicking Done. Now, select View-Show/Hide-Misspelled Words from the menus. From then on, Word Pro will highlight your misspellings as you type, but without flashing and slowing down. You can correct your errors by retyping as you go, or you can wait until you're finished typing and correct them later. If you don't want Word Pro to interrupt your concentration by highlighting misspellings, the latter option is best: After you've finished your document, select Edit-Check Spelling.
:Unfortunately, there's no way to make the Show Misspelled Words option the default, so for each new document you'll have to repeat the process of selecting it from the menu.
Q All the letters I create must be printed on legal-size paper. When I create a new document in Ami Pro 3.1, I have to reset the paper size every time with the Page-Modify Page Layout command. This is annoying, to say the least. Is there a way for me to force Ami Pro into using legal-size paper for all normal documents?
- Judith Ann Devos
A Default page-size settings, like most other document settings in Ami Pro, are stored in the program's style sheets. That's the key to fixing your problem. These two steps will change the default paper size to legal:
1. Open a new document, just as you would to create one of your letters. In Layout mode, select Page-Modify Page Layout and select Page settings, then select Legal in the Modify Page Layout dialogue box. Click OK.
2. Select Style-Save as a Style Sheet, and click OK. Click Yes when asked whether you want to overwrite the existing style sheet.
By George Campbell