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Read Part 1 | Read Part 2

Whether we like it or not, MS Word documents are the current default for submission to publishers and typesetters. Other programs promise that they can convert a file to .Docx cleanly but unfortunately that is rarely the case.

Before you start typesetting or submitting the book, I recommend you do a cleanup to avoid future issues and make everyone’s jobs easier.

Tips and Tricks

Keep in mind that these are for Microsoft Word and won’t necessarily work in other programs.

Useful Shortcuts

Shift-F3: Changes Capitalization

Shift-F4: Redoes the last action performed, example: bold another piece of text in another location without having to either hit the bold button or use CTRL-B

CTRL + Arrow Keys: This allows the user to skip between words instead of characters in the left and right direction, or switch between paragraphs instead of individual lines in the up and down directions.

CTRL + SHIFT + F9: This removes links.

CTRL + SHIFT + C: Copies formatting.

CTRL + SHIFT + V: Pastes formatting.

CTRL + ALT + 1, 2, or 3: Applies Heading 1, 2, or 3 (Does not work with 4, 5, or 6)

CTRL + H: Brings up the find and replace window.

CTRL + Spacebar: Empties the content in Find What & Replace With of Italic, Bold & Superscript settings

Ctrl + Shift + +: changes the text to superscript

Formatting Symbols

Word can let you see Formatting Symbols for where there is a space or a paragraph break. It allows you to be a little more precise.

Activate these codes on the Home Tab – Paragraph Formatting Symbols icon.

This will help you identify when a paragraph break has been used instead of paragraph spacing and will also show when there are non-breaking spaces, line breaks, or other formatting that could cause issues.

Note: This will apply to the computer that you are currently using. It will not move with the file. The symbols will also not show up when printing or creating PDFs; they are for reference only.

Highlighting

If you are losing italic or bold formatting when transferring from the RTF you can do a search and replace.

In “Find what” go to More -Format – Font and select Italic and in “Replace with” select Format – Highlight. Ensure that you have a colour selected in the highlighting box on the ribbon.

This will add highlighting to every Italics. Once the text is placed in the DOCX you can do the reverse and apply Italics to all highlights.

Note: You can change the colour of the highlight and highlight multiple styles this way. However, you can not search for specific colours for the search and replace. If you have multiple colours, you’ll have to search manually.

Navigation

The Navigation Pane is extremely useful in finding headings and move quickly in the document. Activate it by going to the View tab then selecting “Navigation Pane” in the Show category.

This is also useful for comparing heading structures between the two language versions of a document.

This will also allow for quick restructuring of a document or by right-clicking you can change the heading level of an entire section.

Programming Shortcuts

If you find yourself doing something often you can check if there is a shortcut key for it. Go to File -> Options -> Customize Ribbon -> Customize Shortcuts

The list is organized by tab and location of the command. It includes anything you can do in word. This is a great way to find a shortcut or create one. (Eg. As noted above you can apply heading styles 1-3 with CTRL + ALT + 1, 2, or 3. On my computer I have extended that to CTRL + ALT + 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

Note: This will apply to the computer that you are currently using. It will not move with the file.

Styles

Sometimes styles get lost or overwritten. You can use the Styles section in this document to fix them manually or you can import the proper styles from the template.

On the Home tab, go to the little arrow on the Styles section. This will open the styles dialog box. Click on the icon for Manage Styles

Click on Import/Export.

Close the Normal.dot template, Open the “Job Evaluation Standard – Template.dotx” template. Select all the styles you need to fix and click on Copy. Ensure the arrows next to Copy are pointing toward the new document and not the templates.

This will replace the styles and fix any overrides.

Note: This doesn’t always work well with list styles. You may need to redo those manually or use copy-paste formatting from Useful Shortcuts.

Style Inspector

If the Style pane is active you can click on a piece of text and it will highlight the style in the pane. If you don’t have the screen real estate, you can add a style inspector to your Quick Access Toolbar (The bar on the absolute top right of your word files).

Go to File -> Options -> Quick Access Toolbar. In Choose Commands from Select All Commands. Search for Style. There are a lot of options but the one you want has a text cursor icon next to it.

Add it to the bar. Now when you click on a piece of text the Style will show up on the top left of your word document.

Note: This will apply to the computer that you are currently using. It will not move with the file.

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Further Resources

• Why Your Book Needs a Layout Artist!
• Top 5 Word Processor Mistakes
• Top 5 Book Layout Mistakes
• Top 5 Ebook Layout Mistakes
• Powerpoint Presentation on formatting for authors (746 kb Power point file)

Read Part 1

Whether we like it or not, MS Word documents are the current default for submission to publishers and typesetters. Other programs promise that they can convert a file to .Docx cleanly but unfortunately that is rarely the case.

Before you start typesetting or submitting the book, I recommend you do a cleanup to avoid future issues and make everyone’s jobs easier.

Search and Replace

This is something you need to think about and double check before applying to your document.

A search and replace can be a powerful tool to clean the document but could also add errors. Always scan the document first.

Before each Search and Replace, save your document. They can crash word.

Open the Search and Replace dialogue box (CTRL+H)

Double Spaces: Enter two spaces in “Find what” and one space in “Replace with”

Double spaces are not necessary with standard fonts. Certain magazines and publications will request them so make sure before running this search.

Double Paragraph Breaks: In “Find what” enter ^p^p and in “Replace with” enter ^p

The goal of this search is to remove the extra paragraphs that are often used instead of line spacing.

Sometimes an author will use a blank line as a divider. Make sure the search doesn’t remove these.

Space at the beginning of a paragraph: In“Find what” enter ^p and space and in “Replace with” enter ^p

This removes empty spaces that mess with the formatting of the text.

Soft paragraph breaks: In“Find what” enter ^l and search for them. These can show up as forced line breaks or sometimes two of them are used instead of a paragraph break. Double check and replace those that aren’t needed.

Soft returns are useful with titles, poems, or songs but cause mischief with justification.

The search and replace codes in Word are the same as those in InDesign but not the same as Google Docs or other programs.

Visual Inspection

As tedious as it can be to scroll through a document several times, it’s important to look through the document before you send it for submission or send it to typesetting.

Errors like losing dividers, losing Italics, or odd spacing can crop up despite the previous steps.

Give it another look and fix any further issues.

Read Part 3

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Further Resources

• Why Your Book Needs a Layout Artist!
• Top 5 Word Processor Mistakes
• Top 5 Book Layout Mistakes
• Top 5 Ebook Layout Mistakes
• Powerpoint Presentation on formatting for authors (746 kb Power point file)

Whether we like it or not, MS Word documents are the current default for submission to publishers and typesetters. Other programs promise that they can convert a file to .Docx cleanly but unfortunately that is rarely the case.

Before you start typesetting or submitting the book, I recommend you do a cleanup to avoid future issues and make everyone’s jobs easier.

Headings

Headings are the most important accessibility and technological feature of any document. They separate the file, inform the reader, and are used to generate a table of contents.

Use Heading 1 as the title of the book. This is best practice and will make converting it easier.

Ensure that the rest of the headings flow in a numerical order. Eg Part = Heading 2, Chapter = Heading 3 OR Chapter = Heading 2.

Never skip a number and always ensure they are properly nested.

W3 Schools has more information on the proper way of using Headings.

Often files will not have headings but will have text that looks like a heading. In this case, make sure to turn them into headings.

A chapter should start on a new page. Add a page break before the chapter.

Avoid these common heading errors:

• Formatting the text (bold, larger size) instead of using heading styles
• Using heading styles to format text (bold, larger size) when the text isn’t a heading
• Using different colours, sizes, or fonts for headings of the same level

Tip: Using the Navigation Pane will allow you to see all the headings and their levels at the same time.

Styles

A lot of conversion programs (looking at you Apple) will create and add all sorts of styles. In a regular book, there should be only Normal or Body, and Headings. Poetry, songs, and other non-standard text may require their own Styles. Anything else should be removed.

In Word, under the Home tab, there’s a section called Styles. If you click on the arrow that points down and to the right, you’ll open the Styles panel.

In the Styles panel, click options and a dialogue box will appear. Under “Select styles to show:” choose “in use” and under “Select how list is sorted” choose “Alphabetical”.

This will show you all the styles that are currently in use.

You can right click to delete styles and they’ll default to Normal or Body. Be aware however, that this sometimes removes Italic or Bold. Be careful.

Tables, images, and lists

In a standard fiction book, there shouldn’t be any tables. For accessibility reasons, tables should only be used for showing data. If for some reason there must be a table, ensure that there is only one row of headings, and if needed, a column of headings.

If the book must have images, ensure you have a description of the image in your text or a proper alt text for the image.

This is only if the image is important to the text, like an illustration. If the image is purely decorative then it’s not necessary.

Bulleted or numbered lists are rarely needed in fiction but if they are used, always ensure you use the list function in word.

Read Part 2

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Further Resources

• Why Your Book Needs a Layout Artist!
• Top 5 Word Processor Mistakes
• Top 5 Book Layout Mistakes
• Top 5 Ebook Layout Mistakes
• Powerpoint Presentation on formatting for authors (746 kb Power point file)