Word 5.5: Answers to Common Formatting Questions

• Microsoft Word for MS-DOS, version 5.5

SUMMARY

This article contains some commonly asked questions about Word formatting, which are followed by answers and explanations.

MORE INFORMATION

1. How can I insert a bullet or other special characters in a Word document?
   
   There are several methods for inserting special characters in a Word document. The following two methods explain how to insert special characters that are available on your printer, and how to create composite characters (for example, a vowel with an umlaut) within a Word document:

   Method 1: The Character Test Method of Finding Extended Characters

   1. Load the glossary file MACRO.GLY into Word and use the test_character macro (from MACRO.GLY) to print characters available for each font in the currently selected printer driver (CHARTEST.DOC should be located in the WORD subdirectory before executing the macro).
   
   
   
   2. If the character exists in one of the available character sets, note the ASCII code for that character. In your document, turn on the NUMLOCK key and hold down the ALT key while you type the ASCII code of the character on the numeric keypad. The character that appears on the screen may not look like the character you want to print.
   
   
   
   3. Format the character with the font containing the special character as indicated by the printout from the test_character macro.
   
   
   

   Method 2: The Nondestructive Backspace Method (Good for Umlauts).

   1. Type the first character.
   
   
   
   2. With the NUMLOCK key ON, press ALT+Keypad 8 for a nondestructive backspace. This character will look like a box with a circle in the middle.
   
   
   
   3. Press and hold the ALT key and type the ASCII code (for example, ALT+128) for the second character.
      
      Note: Formatting (such as subscript or superscript) added to the second character also must be added to the nondestructive backspace character.
      
      More information about printing special characters and the test character macro can be found in Appendix A of the "Printer Information for Microsoft Word" manual.
   
   
   



2. How can I change Word's default font and other default formats?
   
   You can change Word's default font and other default formats by modifying the automatic styles contained in Word's default style sheet NORMAL.STY, or whatever style sheet is attached to the document. A list of the available automatic styles can be found in the "Using Microsoft Word" version 5.5 manual on page 593.
   
   For example, to change the default font, change the font contained in the Normal Paragraph style. The font change made in the Normal Paragraph style will affect the font in every unstyled, unformatted, or Normal-style paragraph in your document.
   
   To change the font in the Standard Paragraph style, do the following:
   
   
   1. From the Format menu, choose Define Styles. This will display the attached style sheet with its currently defined styles.
   
   
   
   2. If a paragraph style titled "Normal" has already been defined, select the style. If not, choose New Style from the Insert menu. Select Paragraph in the Style Type field, and select Normal in the Style ID field. The Key Code: field and the Remark: field are optional. Press ENTER.
   
   
   
   3. With the Normal Paragraph style selected, choose Character from the Format menu and enter the desired font information. Press ENTER and confirm your changes in the style description.
   
   
   
   4. To permanently save your changes to the style sheet, choose Save from the File menu.
      
      Remember that only changes made to NORMAL.STY will affect every document by default. Changes made to other style sheets will only affect documents to which those style sheets are applied. More information about automatic styles and a step-by-step procedure for defining your own normal character font can be found on pages 592-595 of the "Using Microsoft Word" version 5.5 manual.
   
   
   



3. I have created a table in Word. The columns line up on the screen but are out of alignment when printed. What can I do?
   
   The Word screen displays text in only one font size (12 point monospaced). If your text is formatted using a different sized or proportionally spaced font, the screen display and the printed output may not look the same. The following five guidelines will help to ensure that your table will be aligned correctly when printed.
   
   
   1. Always set column positions by using custom tab stops. Choose Tabs from the Format menu to set custom tabs. Do not use spaces or a combination of tabs and spaces to align the columns. If columns need adjustment, do so by adjusting the custom tab stops.
   
   
   
   2. From the View menu, choose Preferences and select Show All. Doing this will allow you to see tab characters, spaces, and other characters in the text that may affect the table's alignment.
   
   
   
   3. Tabs are paragraph formats and can be set differently for each paragraph; therefore, terminate each line or row in the table with a newline character rather than a paragraph mark. This will ensure that tab stop adjustments will be consistent throughout the table. The newline character is inserted with the SHIFT+ENTER key combination, and is represented on the screen by a down arrow. The last line in the table should end with a paragraph mark.
   
   
   
   4. From the View menu, choose Preferences, and select Line breaks box. This will give you a more accurate screen display if you are using a small or proportionally spaced font. With Line breaks on, if more text can fit on a printed line than can fit on the screen, you may need to scroll to the right to see all of your document.
   
   
   
   5. Display the ruler by choosing Ruler from the View menu. If you have the Line breaks option turned on, the ruler may expand to display actual distances relative to the text. The ratio of number of characters to the ruler is determined by the font size of the characters. The ruler will also display the tab stops and alignments for the currently selected paragraph or paragraphs. More information about tabs and tables can be found in the "Using Microsoft Word" version 5.5 manual on pages 167-187.
   
   
   



4. I have tried creating tables by manually setting tab stops. Is there an easier way to create tables in Word?
   
   Four macros are included with Word that can make the process of creating tables much easier.
   
   The Table macro sets tab stops for a table after prompting you for the location of the first tab stop and the distance between consecutive tabs.
   
   The tabs macro sets tab stops for you after prompting for position and alignment information.
   
   The tabs2 macro automatically positions tab stops after prompting you for the number of columns in the table.
   
   The tabs3 macro prompts you for the number of columns in the table and the alignment of each column. It then sets tab stops, draws a box around the table, and draws vertical lines between the columns.
   
   All of these macros are included in the glossary file MACRO.GLY. To run the macros, you must first load this file by choosing Edit from the Macro menu, then choose Open Glossary. Select MACRO.GLY and press ENTER. The macros will then be listed as selections when you choose Run from the Macro menu.
   
   More information about this macro and others can be found on page 443 of the "Using Microsoft Word" version 5.5 manual.



5. I applied a style within a document but the formatting didn't change. What can I do?
   
   If style sheet formatting does not affect the text to which it has been applied, it's likely that the text has had direct formatting applied previously. Direct formatting overrides style sheet formatting.
   
   For example, if an area of text has been highlighted and formatted in a specific font, applying a paragraph style in which a different font is defined will not affect the character formatting of the text. The paragraph formatting will change to reflect the style, but the directly applied font formatting overrides the style font formatting.
   
   For style formatting to apply, it may be necessary to first remove directly applied formatting:
   
   To remove all previously applied character formatting, highlight the text and press CTRL+SPACEBAR.
   
   To remove all previously applied character formatting except for font name and font size, press CTRL+Z.
   
   To remove previously applied paragraph formatting and apply the Normal paragraph format, highlight the text and press CTRL+X.
   
   The style can then be re-applied if necessary.
   
   More information about combining direct formatting with styles can be found in the "Using Microsoft Word" version 5.5 manual on pages 591-592.

Additional query words: 5.00 faq

Keywords : kbusage
Version : MS-DOS:5.5
Platform : MS-DOS
Issue type :