Try out some of the unique features of Nisus as you read these instructions:
Features are grouped according to menu categories.
To show the position of the insertion point and the changed file indicator (small pencil only visible if the file is changed), click on this icon. After you click, the arrow will point to the Master Ruler icon. If you then click on the Master Ruler icon the arrow will point to the black region which when dragged will split your screen horizontally. Double-click this black region to unsplit. You can also split your screen vertically by dragging this black region (near the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen). Double-clicking will also unsplit. To show the vertical ruler click on the ruler icon on the far left, here.
Choose Catalog from the File menu. You will see the Catalog window. It is used as an alternative to the standard Open… dialog. Nisus is the only word processor to incorporate this facility. You can select several files (Command-Option click to select noncontiguously) and open them simultaneously. Using the Catalog you can search through unopened files, switch glossaries, macro files, or dictionaries, delete, rename or move files from the Catalog. The Catalog file names can be copied, and it can be searched for file names with key words. Modeless, the Catalog is available at all times.
Browse through all the menus and note how they change when you press the modifier keys (Shift, Option, Command) one at a time and in combination.
Pull down the File menu; stop to see what is inside the Get Info window; check out the preferences which enable you to customize Nisus to your very special needs. Choose Layout Page and click on the different icons, starting left to right. You can see a preview of the document while it is being edited. Using Layout Page, you can reposition text on the page, change the margin limits, and lay out the page in two-up or side-by-side format. Notice the Layout menu; display the text in columns, too.
The Edit menu allows you to change selections. Select some text; change the case; insert variables. Here you can "Zap Gremlins" and eliminate "garbage" characters in text imported from other operating systems. Nisus lets you delete these nuisance characters automatically, making Nisus especially useful in mixed computing environments. The Undo can undo up to 32,676 actions made during an editing session (you might, however, need more memory). The editing preferences allow you to set the number of undos. For your convenience Nisus has 10 fully editable Clipboards. You can also append (press the Shift key and watch the menus change) the copied selection to the contents of a clipboard.
Pull down the Tools menu and choose Find/Replace. Click and hold the Normal Search pop-up menu to see the other possibilities. These include PowerSearch+ (GREP for those who know what that is), the most powerful pattern matching facility of any word processor, allowing the user to specify either a literal or a more general search pattern. Get introduced to PowerSearch with its pull down menus, a user-friendly version of this unique text pattern matching system. The Find/Replace facility can be font, size, and style- sensitive even in parts of words; text or graphics copied to the clipboard can be pasted into the Find/Replace dialog. Note also the appearance of the Search Method menu. Nisus also offers the ability to mark text. Once you have set a marker, you may jump to it using the Jump To submenu of the Tools menu, or cross reference to its page, paragraph or line number or to the marked text itself anywhere in the document.
Browse through the Tools menu. The Spelling… facility is modeless. You can keep it on-line at all times without interrupting editing. American English (shipped standard) British English and many European language dictionaries are available. Nisus also offers a Thesaurus with an on-line dictionary. (Available with American English, British English and German.) Words in the thesaurus not only have synonyms and parts of speech but also related words, antonyms and meanings. (This demo does not include the Dictionary or Thesaurus so these features are not available on this demo.)
Some words have been indexed in this text. To see which words have been indexed choose Text Hilites from the Display submenu of the Tools menu. See what else can be displayed: Line Numbers, Space, Tab & ¶, etc. Obviously you chose Show Invisible Text - to make it go away, choose Show Invisible Text again- (Tools menu - Display submenu )the check mark will disappear and so will this message!
Nisus can add a selection of text to the index or add it to a table of contents with a single command. Choose Make Index from the Format menu. In the dialog, click to generate an index. Indexing can be for a single occurrence or for all occurrences of the selected text. The Nisus Glossary can store text and graphics. Users can replace a single abbreviation, or an entire selection, with the definition(s).
Open another file and look at two files with Sync. Scrolling from the Edit Tools submenu of the Tools menu. Play with the choices of the Windows submenu.
Nisus Macros can record menu commands, keystrokes and mouse clicks, and they can also be edited and typed. Use the supplied macro. The first character of each paragraph will become a Size 18 in Bold Style. Undo that action, (Edit menu). Macros can execute when chosen from the menu, or they can execute automatically when Nisus starts, when Nisus opens a file, when the user switches into Nisus from the MultiFinder®, or even when the user double clicks while holding down a modifier key. This allows the user to tailor Nisus to his or her needs.
Nisus saves the text completely separate from the formatting information. The text part of a fully formatted document can be opened and edited in any program or desk accessory that is capable of importing a plain text file.
Nisus is the only word processor that allows you to draw Graphics directly into text and place a picture over or under text or have text wrap around it. This method allows you to insert graphics precisely on a page, with no trial-and-error. Go to the Tools menu and choose Graphics Palette from the Display submenu or click on the Graphics icon located just below the Master Ruler icon near the top of the vertical scroll bar. You are now in the Graphics Sheets. Experiment with the tools and check the Graphics Menu to see all the features.
Nisus is the only word processor to handle Multiple Screens on a Mac II intuitively. When you open a file or dialog, Nisus places it on the same screen as the mouse pointer. Some more examples of convenience features: press the Option key and click on the control bar of your window to get the Macros menu; use the Command key instead to get the windows menu; when you are in a Clipboard window, you get the Clipboards Menu with the Option key and the document windows with the Command key.
If you have any questions please call our general number (619-481-1477) and ask for tech support.
