Working smart with intelligent documents

[Rudi]

Hi all,

The purpose of this thread is to learn 2 things: (1) Working smartly in Word by taking advantage of Word's built in features and (2) To create intelligent documents which ideally would incorporate these features. I would like this thread to become a compilation of tips/tricks that can transform the average user/document into something special.

I am very keen to discover new (hidden) techniques in Word, and even though I am fairly familiar to its features I am sure there is a lot that I can learn.

What I consider as power-house features in Word is its:
1. Styles
2. Fields
3. Find/Replace
4. Macro's
5. Tables

CREATING A DOCUMENT

Step 1
So...creating a document (or more ideally, a template) would start with typing out the raw text.
TIP #1: is to first complete the typing of the entire document. In other words...NO FORMATTING, BREAKS or any additional details.

Step 2
Once the document is typed, then start with character and paragraph formatting. Format the headings and complete paragraph formatting like: Indents, line spacing and alignment.
TIP #2: When formatting the text, use Styles. Styles dramatically speed up the document formatting process in that you do not need to apply individual formatting (over and over) again. If a style needs to be designed...format the necessary text and save the selection as a style. (Remember to use Add to template) if you need the style for all new documents). Once the (heading) styles are assigned, it is VERY easy to remodel the document by simple changing the styles. (Update once for all text connected to that style!). Paragraph styles can be designed in the same way. (IE: if you want 1.5 line spacing with a 1cm first line indent and some orphan/widow control...create a paragraph with these attributes and save the selection as a paragraph style.)

Step 3
Once the entire document is typed out and formatted (as far as possible with styles), then control the pagination by using various breaks...
TIP #3: It is preferable to use "Next Page Section Breaks" and not Page Breaks as section breaks act like page breaks and conveniently divide the document into sections if one requires alternation page numbers or sectional page setup.
TIP #4: When dealing with section breaks... Start at the BEGINNING of the document, and format one section at a time. The more systematical you are...the easier it is to control. Most people get mixed up with "Same as previous" button. This is on by default...meaning that the current section will copy the section formatting of the previous. As long as you are systematical, you can then switch this off for the current section and set up new settings, like landscape page or different page numbers or headers and footers. Remember to switch it back on for the next section if that is the case.

Step 4
Once these three MAIN tasks are done...your document is about 90% complete. Other things that can be added to the document are things like FIELDS. Fields act like tags that insert information into the document from a source. Common fields are things like Date and Time details, info in headers and footers, page numbers, merge fields and the Table of Contents feature that uses Header Styles. Inserting fields is working smartly. Apart from these that I have mentioned...I am hoping to learn more other useful fields in this thread from other posters. It will be great to learn.

If you have more tips or tricks or advice to add to this post....PLEASE feel free. TX

PS: I have an excellent methodology I want to share about creating tables. This I will share in another post in this thread soon. As a matter of fact...I can also mention how to use TABS correctly. I find many people still do not understand the fundamentals of using TABS correctly. Hopefully what gets shared in this thread can be a great resource to clarify these fundamentals.

[HansV]

Thanks, Rudi, those are useful tips.

I don't quite agree with "TIP #3: It is preferable to use "Next Page Section Breaks" and not Page Breaks" though.
A section of a document can have its own page setup, pagination, headers and footers. If you merely want to force text to start on a new page, a section break is overkill. A page break will serve the purpose. Alternatively, you can tick the check box "Page break before" in the Format Paragraph dialog:

x78.png

This can be done for an individual paragraph if it's a one-off situation, or in the style definition if you always want the style to start a new page.

[curious]

Morning -

I completely agree with Hans. If you are editing a document with unnecessary 'Next Page section break,' it can become a nightmare. The less formatting the better - from an editing point of view -- in my experience.

[Wendell]

And I'm not sure I agree entirely with

TIP #1: is to first complete the typing of the entire document. In other words...NO FORMATTING, BREAKS or any additional details.

My approach is to select a body style that I want to use for most of the document, and then do the typing. That way I don't have to go back and apply that style afterward.

[Rudi]

I don't quite agree with "TIP #3: It is preferable to use "Next Page Section Breaks" and not Page Breaks" though.

I admit Hans and Curious...it does probably apply to the context of the document. If its a simple structure...then page breaks will do best. However...if it is a large document then my preference would be a next page section break over page breaks because of their flexibility. I understand the point you raise...and its good for us to understand the difference and balance between them.

Cheers for the replies.

[Rudi]

My approach is to select a body style that I want to use for most of the document, and then do the typing. That way I don't have to go back and apply that style afterward.

All my documents I start with the the style called "Normal". (Personally, I am not keen on most of Word's built in body text styles.)

TX for the comment though.

[Rudi]

CREATING TABLES (or structured forms)

Most people (AFAIK) who have to tackle the job of creating a large table (or what I call, a structured document or form) would dive into Word, and on a blank new page, will create a “monster” table of 12 columns by 40 rows. Then…they will fight the process of trying to design the necessary layout from a bombardment of rows and columns. It’s a frustrating and “back-breaking” procedure.

So…how do we go about creating a large form that is laid out in column and row format? (And PLEASE… do NOT run to Excel! This is the worst place to go to design a structured document!)

The secret is: ONE row at a time!

So, to start the process…

Get a hard copy of the form if there is a paper based copy. Alternatively, grab a blank page and a pencil and roughly sketch out the tables design. (Don’t spend long on this; it’s just to get a rough idea of the layout you intend to end up with.)

Then… in Word, open a blank new page and insert a table of 4 columns by 2 rows. THAT IS IT! (All tables of any design can be created from a 4col X 2row starting point, using the process described below.)
TIP #1: Use the TAB key (and SHIFT + TAB) to jump through the table…not the arrow keys. The secret with TAB is that when you tab out of the last cell in the table…it adds a new row automatically. (This is why you do not need to “count” the amount of rows in a table that you need to reproduce on the computer)

Next… Select the first row and merge or split the row into the amount of cells you need. And then type the text into those cells. Then move onto row two…select it and merge or split the row into the necessary cells…and type in the text. As you tab out of the last cell, it adds a new row to the bottom. Select this row and merge/split to the desired cells, and type in the text. Continue this process until you have completed the table structure…ONE row at a time!!! (As easy as that!)
TIP #2: The secret to word tables is merge/split. You have FULL control over that line in the table by simply merging/splitting the rows into the cells you need.
TIP #3: Splitting is more powerful than merge. IE: You can use split cells to merge cells if you simply split into less cells than currently selected.
NOTE: You will hardly ever need to insert or delete columns in a table as merge/split can control this already. You can also split a cell into multiple rows if needed too.
REMEMBER: Excel can merge cells, but a single column cannot be split! This is why Excel is not the right place to create large tables.

If you need to add a new row of content in the middle of the table, just right click on the row and from the context menu, you can choose: Insert | Row | Above or Below. Once the new row is inserted, you can select the row and merge/split as needed.

When the table structure is complete and the text is inserted, then you can spend all your time on the formatting of the table. Bolding and sizing text, shading the cells and adding borders to the table is the common thing to do.
TIP #4: You can also create a style for your table using the styles dialog box. When the dialog is open, choose the style type drop down and select TABLE STYLE. Design the style using the dialog.

If you have any more tips on tables…please add it to this thread too. TX

[HansV]

Some things to keep in mind:

• Rudi only mentions splitting/merging cells horizontally. If you're trying to model a Word document after a paper form, it may also be necessary to split/merge cells vertically, so you can't always work with a single row.
• Once you start splitting/merging cells, the concept of "row" and "column" becomes rather vague - if you try to select a row or column, the result may not be what you expect.

If you really need to emulate a paper form, splitting and merging cells may be unavoidable. Otherwise, it's best to avoid doing so. Sometimes you can create the desired visual effect by applying borders. See the screenshot below:

Table.png

[Rudi]

Sometimes you can create the desired visual effect by applying borders.

Thats an interesting tip Hans. (Personally, a little more work that simple split/merge)...but a great tip. Cheers

[curious]

Save yourself enormous time by creating an Autotext entry after you have the basic structure of the table (before adding text).You don’t have to select the entire table, a few rows will do.
(Insert/Autotext). If you need to reconstruct the table or use it again, run the Autotext entry.

[Guessed]

This is an interesting thread.

I am also with Hans on disagreeing with tip #3. I never use section breaks for a simple page break and also avoid the hard page breaks where I can. The section breaks introduce needless complications (page setup, page numbering, headers x3, footers x3) and inflate file sizes. Hard page breaks also lack the finesse that I prefer to use. If subsequent edits to text above where you place the page break would actually remove the need for that page break then you have created a problem in trying to fix a problem.

Instead, I use a combination of paragraph style attributes (the 4 pagination options) along with local formatting with these same pagination options. The secret is to understand the reason WHY you want to place a page break there. By addressing the problem rather than the symptom you will get a document that is much more robust and able to handle subsequent edits without heavy repagination effort.

• If you want a heading to stay with the subsequent text - modify the style to include 'keep with next'
• If you want a heading to always start at the top of a page - modify the style to include 'page break before'
• If you want a caption to stay with the preceding graphic - create a paragraph style on the inline graphic above to 'keep with next'
• If you want a bulleted list to stay together - add a local formatting 'keep with next' to all except the last paragraph
• If you want a long paragraph to stay together - add a local formatting 'keep lines together'

Another tip I would add to the table formatting is a quicker way to insert a new row. Put your cursor to the right of a table row (outside the table) and press enter to insert a new row under the current row. If you want this row to then move above the current row, press Shift-Alt-UpArrow.

[AlanMiller]

Rather a late addition to this thread, but just a couple of sundry tips I've hit on over the years.

CREATING TABLES (or structured forms)
Then in Word, open a blank new page and insert a table of 4 columns by 2 rows.

I find it best to start a blank document with a hard return above the table. This can be removed later, but makes for navigating to the very start of the document (not inside the table) much easier - for inserting body text later, before the table for instance.

I agree with Hans's tip on using invisible borders on cells in a consistent grid, in preference to split/merge. The problem I've found with the latter seems to be the confusion that results from successive split/merge operations on the same cells. I also like to leave the split/merge operations until the very last (if I use them) once all the content is established.
But maybe that's just the way I do it

I have also found that somethimes it's easier to create several tables to emulate a form layout. Often there are distinct upper/body/lower layouts in paper forms. In such a case, several tables seperated by hard returns is easier to manage. With some borders invisible, these hard returns just blend in with the printed layout. These individual "separator" hard returns can also be done in a miniscule font so as not to add noticable white space.

I still find a table offers the best control for inserting a graphic. I usually insert an "overkill" 3x3 table, which offers placement options for left/centre/right, room for accompanying text and the bottom row for caption. Once complete, delete redundant rows/columns, split/merge and set border formatting appropriately. YMMV of course, if you are using built-in Caption styles etc.

I have been an avoider of table styles, largely for the reasons detailed by Shauna Kelly here for instance. Again, maybe I'm missing something that might make them "play nicely". Cindy Meister seems to have lookeed exensively at the issue, falling back largely on VBA to "control" the process - Automating Word Tables for Data Insertion and Extraction - lotta work for a table though!

Alan