tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post82012721614553763..comments2024-03-27T10:02:56.747-04:00Comments on Fiction University: Seek and Destroy: Using MS Word’s “Find and Replace” to Save Your Sanity Janice Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-59275175869579596102014-07-28T20:01:17.174-04:002014-07-28T20:01:17.174-04:00Clarification: Autocorrect as you type will only c...Clarification: Autocorrect as you type will only convert characters typed *after* enabling the menu option, not retroactively, which is what Search and Destroy does.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-46667678861306683802014-07-28T19:59:40.287-04:002014-07-28T19:59:40.287-04:00Tony, thanks so much for your kind words, and for ...Tony, thanks so much for your kind words, and for the insights into Open Office and Scrivener. Just that one menu command you mention is great--I can't imagine why Word doesn't have these single-command options... you can set Autocorrect as You Type for smart quotes and to convert double hyphens to em-dashes, but I guess it never occurred to them that the ability to do a global with a single command would actually be more useful than 75% of the truly esoteric commands they have. LOL. And I know what you mean about characters being interrupted all the time, too! ;-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-29330031731910583792014-07-21T16:40:51.960-04:002014-07-21T16:40:51.960-04:00And here I thought the “typing a quote following a...And here I thought the “typing a quote following an em-dash yields an open quote instead of a close quote” was a Mac only problem! (My characters get interrupted a lot, LOL.) I find that in Scrivener, typing the quote mark, then backing up a space and adding the two dashes (converted then to an em-dash) does that trick.<br />But for any readers using Open Office: OO uses regular expressions for seek and destroy, and just as an example, the ^p has no equivalent that I can find. Otherwise, the techniques are similar to Word. But I’d make a strong recommendation for readers to look at Scrivener; it has considerable utility and flexibility (for example, a menu command to replace straight quotes with smart quotes—and reverse, if that’s what you need!<br />Thanks for the excellent run-down.tonylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15317371592063754371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-64164530579446896622014-07-12T21:09:18.952-04:002014-07-12T21:09:18.952-04:00You're so welcome, ChiTrader--I'm glad to ...You're so welcome, ChiTrader--I'm glad to have the opportunity to share these tips!<br /><br />Best,<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-67056020512713954432014-07-12T21:08:11.931-04:002014-07-12T21:08:11.931-04:00Thank YOU, Julie! It took me a while to work it ou...Thank YOU, Julie! It took me a while to work it out myself... but I'm a compulsive menu-poker and problem-solver. It does seem that MS and Apple software (and Scrivener too?) seem to be increasingly aligned. Terrific that these tricks are transferable!<br /><br />Best,<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-29969545020320955622014-07-12T21:05:54.893-04:002014-07-12T21:05:54.893-04:00Angela, thank you so much--and nice to see you her...Angela, thank you so much--and nice to see you here :) I'm glad this might be helpful to you... and, yeah--"brainwrecker" is dead on. Trying to fix some of these silly things can just melt one's brain. LOL<br /><br />Best<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-66122972977416819782014-07-12T21:03:56.098-04:002014-07-12T21:03:56.098-04:00LOL Harry!! Yup, that's the attitude ;-)
B...LOL Harry!! Yup, that's the attitude ;-) <br /><br />Best,<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-63446232552257337492014-07-12T20:51:50.811-04:002014-07-12T20:51:50.811-04:00Thanks for that sidebar, Marilynn--I have zero exp...Thanks for that sidebar, Marilynn--I have zero experience of Macs, so that's very helpful info :D<br /><br />Best,<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-91725872729935429922014-07-09T11:38:59.787-04:002014-07-09T11:38:59.787-04:00Thanks, Dario. Very helpful.
ChrisThanks, Dario. Very helpful.<br /><br />ChrisChiTraderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08156118145545539641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-20477226509287409302014-07-04T12:48:01.759-04:002014-07-04T12:48:01.759-04:00Heck, I never thought of doing this! I've only...Heck, I never thought of doing this! I've only used find/replace for words. I didn't realize I could use it for formatting changes. Thanks so much for these tips. I use Apple Pages, but there are a lot of similarities between the two programs.Julie Musilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02150454913885915017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-89820361553633824102014-07-04T12:08:47.343-04:002014-07-04T12:08:47.343-04:00These are awesome tips for helping the formatting ...These are awesome tips for helping the formatting process along. We often use Find and Replace for correcting words but it is good to know that this can be used to root out those pesky things that can make formatting such a brain-wrecker :-)Angela Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03324366495151363782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-24141027255155793952014-07-04T03:11:14.330-04:002014-07-04T03:11:14.330-04:00Dario Ciriello great tips thank you! I can now go...Dario Ciriello great tips thank you! I can now go back to drinking/writing...<br />Harry Sarkisianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02734703704447800714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-735820352800919482014-07-03T17:25:16.036-04:002014-07-03T17:25:16.036-04:00You can do all this in Mac Pages, too.You can do all this in Mac Pages, too.Marilynn Byerlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16720129999636676998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-35106563711001411162014-07-03T15:50:54.515-04:002014-07-03T15:50:54.515-04:00LOL! I know what you mean, Maria--the postits can ...LOL! I know what you mean, Maria--the postits can get totally out of hand (though they do have a certain decorative value :) Glad you found this post helpful!<br /><br />Best,<br />Dario<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-80787270418502186862014-07-03T12:45:09.575-04:002014-07-03T12:45:09.575-04:00You're so welcome, Angelica. I'm so glad t...You're so welcome, Angelica. I'm so glad to be able to help, because otherwise it's reach for the vodka bottle in the desk drawer, haha! I couldn't cover every eventuality, but armed with this knowledge, you can go on to figure out "Seek and Destroy" fixes for many issues. Don't be afraid to experiment :)<br /><br />Best,<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-5746244322890776442014-07-03T12:40:40.137-04:002014-07-03T12:40:40.137-04:00Thank you, Deb :) Although one can set "Auto...Thank you, Deb :) Although one can set "Autocorrect as you type" options to generate new smart quotes as you go, this is the best (and only) fix for existing quote problems. In an ms. with maybe a thousand or more lines of dialogue, fixing them one by one is... horrible. LOL.<br /><br />Best,<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-77462821810680359752014-07-03T12:36:19.382-04:002014-07-03T12:36:19.382-04:00Thank, Southpaw! Yeah, I was driven to experimenti...Thank, Southpaw! Yeah, I was driven to experimenting by despair in the first place LOL As a one-man indie publisher, I have to deal with formatting novel-length work all the time. Without these tricks, I'd be dead!<br /><br />Best<br />DarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-5154784630886909342014-07-03T11:53:20.516-04:002014-07-03T11:53:20.516-04:00OMG, this is invaluable! Thanks so much for summin...OMG, this is invaluable! Thanks so much for summing this up so clearly.Angelica R. Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09448717076699744259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-67667530276397296902014-07-03T11:14:32.866-04:002014-07-03T11:14:32.866-04:00Great tips! I've tried changing quotes and sma...Great tips! I've tried changing quotes and smart quotes, but didn't know how it worked. Thanks!Deb Salisbury, Magic Seeker and Mantua-Makerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01513482264195697450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-12122535300995600022014-07-03T08:30:44.225-04:002014-07-03T08:30:44.225-04:00That is a lifesaver. I never realized you could se...That is a lifesaver. I never realized you could search for formatting problems that way. Thanks.H. R. Sinclairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06715450637785127208noreply@blogger.com