Crabby Office Lady

The best way to avoid the swath of an editor's thick red pen is to make sure the copy you send is perfect. But if perfection isn't possible, Microsoft Word 2002 offers a variety of editing tools to ensure harmony between writer and editor.

They're our best friends and our worst enemies. They're the monkeys on our backs and the guardian angels on our shoulders. We love them, we hate them, we can't live without them. That's right, folks: They're our editors — as well as our reviewers, collaborators, and anyone else who has free rein to review and critique our docs. And since it harkens back to the olden days to use those archaic proofreading marks (is that the roar of flame mail in the distance I hear?), there is a faster, smoother, and more efficient way to work together.

You and your editor have many different ways to collaborate using editing tools in Microsoft Word 2002. Below are a few features that are most commonly used. As you become familiar with them, you just may find yourself exploring how to better hone your editing process.

Employ the basics: Spelling and grammar

If you're the writer, before you hand over that piece of your soul to your editor, making sure that your words are spelled correctly and that your sentences make sense structurally serves to speed up the editing process.

To run the spelling and grammar checkers automatically

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
2. Select the Check spelling as you type check box.
3. Select the Check grammar as you type check box.
   
   Note  You can always choose to turn off the grammar checker or the spelling checker. There is no law saying that they both have to be on. Between you and me, that grammar checker can be a bit of a taskmaster.

"But how," you may ask, "How does Word know how to spell all those words, and what if I have some special made-up words because I'm writing a science fiction novel and don't want the spelling checker to get all hung up on these words of creative genius?"

I have two words for you: Custom dictionary. (If J.R.R. Tolkien were alive today, I'll bet he'd have one doozy of a custom dictionary.) With this handy little feature, you can add any word (including made-up words such as "Snerfaloid" or "BetagammaC3po") and the spell checker will breeze right over them.

To add your own words to the dictionary

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling and Grammar tab.
2. Under Spelling, click Custom Dictionaries.
3. In the dictionary list, select the dictionary you want to modify, and then click Modify.
4. Click Add for each word or abbreviation you want to add to the dictionary.
   
   Note  You can also create a brand new dictionary, just for the purpose of this novel you're writing. In step 3, click New, give your dictionary a name, and start adding words.

There is another, perhaps quicker way of adding to your custom dictionary:

1. Type the new word once.
   If the spelling checker doesn't recognize the word, a red squiggly underline will appear underneath it.
2. Right-click the word, and on the shortcut menu, click Add to Dictionary.

Leave your mark: Keep track of changes

Let's see things from both sides now: A writer has handed off his best work to you, the editor, and now the fun begins. Rather than plod through a hard copy and fill it with little proofreading symbols (which might be mistaken for hieroglyphics), why not turn on the Track Changes feature (great name for it, eh?) so that each change you make can be seen, accepted, or even (gasp) rejected?

When the piece is returned to the writer for review, each insertion, deletion, and formatting change that the editor or reviewer made is tracked. As the writer, when you review tracked changes, you can accept or reject each change. You also have the option to reject all changes or accept all changes at once. (Accept all changes — that's a good one! Oh, I slay myself.)

Here's the best part of it all: As the editor, you can display your edits the way you want (by picking font colors, formatting options, and so on), and as the writer, you can customize your own display and view the edits the way you want. Both of you end up working in a way that suits you, and if all goes well, the document becomes a crisp, clean piece of art and no tantrums are thrown on the way there.

To track changes so everyone understands what's working and what isn't

1. Open the document you want to revise or review.
2. On the Tools menu, click Track Changes.
   When the Track Changes feature is enabled, TRK appears on the status bar at the bottom of your document. When you turn off change tracking, TRK is dimmed.
3. Make the changes you want by inserting, deleting, or moving text or graphics.

To change the font color and formatting of tracked changes

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Track Changes tab.
2. To change the color and formatting options of your tracked changes, in the Track Changes options section, choose the color and formatting you want.

There are other options you can fool around with in that dialog box — you have to play around with all of them to see what works best for you.

Try ballooning with Word (or don't)

To preserve the layout of your document, Word shows some markup elements — insertions, deletions, formatting changes, and clever comments — in the text of the document. It displays others in balloons that appear in the margin.

 Balloons show insertions or deletions, formatting changes, and comments.

"Balloons?" you say. "I find them irritating and childish." Well, just hold on, Crabby. You can set it up so that comments (as well as insertions, deletions, and other editing changes) also show up in the Reviewing Pane at the bottom of your screen:

• On the Reviewing toolbar, click Reviewing Pane.
  
  Note  To show the reviewing toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Reviewing.

Now you can have balloons and the reviewing pane. However, if you are still miffed by balloons (Is it a circus thing? Do clowns scare you?), you can just turn them off completely:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Track Changes tab.
2. Under Balloons, clear the clear the Use balloons in Print and Web Layout check box.

Juggling editors: When your document becomes an editing party

Some of you have all the fun: You get to work with multiple editors. It's possible to identify and review quickly the changes made by the people who reviewed/butchered your document. You can display changes or comments by reviewer or by type, and you can also print a list of changes made.

To display changes or comments by reviewer

1. Make sure the Reviewing toolbar is showing: On the View menu, point to Toolbars and click Reviewing.
2. Click the Show button, point to Reviewers, and clear all check boxes except for the ones next to the names of the reviewers whose changes and comments you want to show.
   
   Tip  To select or clear all check boxes for all reviewers in the list, click All Reviewers.

What if you just want to see formatting changes and don't give a whit about the comments?

To display changes or comments by type

• On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show and select the check box next to the type of change that you want to display.

To print a list of changes made

(This last option might be especially useful in creating a list of bones you want to pick with the reviewers.)

1. Open or switch to the document that contains markup.
2. On the File menu, click Print.
3. In the Print what box, click List of markup.

And there you have it. You're on your way to a smoother, more civilized editing process.

"Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers." — T.S. Eliot

About the author

Annik Stahl, the Crabby Office Lady columnist, takes all of your complaints, compliments, and knee-jerk reactions to heart. Therefore, she graciously asks that you let her know whether this column was useful to you — or not — by entering your feedback using the Was this information helpful? tool below. And remember: If you don't vote, you can't complain.