AutoFormat works only in main text story??

Klaus Linke

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Jan 16, 2003, 7:57:54 AM1/16/03

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Hi,

(Word2000:) I use AutoFormat to clean up documents (fix quotes, fractions;
format hyperlinks; change "--" into N-dash).
Especially for fixing quotes, AutoFormat is a lot simpler and better than
any other way I know.

Now I get quite a few documents with text boxes, comments, headers,
footnotes..., and AutoFormat doesn't seem to touch these Story Ranges.

When I put the insertion point in a footnote, comment, text box or
header/footer, AutoFormat is greyed out.

Have I overlooked something simple, or is AutoFormat really limited to text
in the main text story range?

Greetings,
Klaus

Suzanne S. Barnhill

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Jan 16, 2003, 11:14:47 AM1/16/03

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I don't know the answer to this (but I'm glad you've pointed it out), but
I'll merely note that "--" is actually converted (sometimes unreliably) to
an em dash. " - " is converted (even more unreliably) to an en dash.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

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John McGhie [MVP - Word]

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Jan 17, 2003, 2:42:30 AM1/17/03

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Hi Klaus:

Yeah, that would be right. Most techniques built around the Find object by
default look only in the main text story.

Some you can force into the other stories by looping, but maybe not
AutoFormat. The TOC and Index generators are other examples: you cannot
force them into the other stories either.

Cheers

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Klaus Linke

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Jan 19, 2003, 9:14:20 AM1/19/03

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Hi Suzanne,

Thank you for your reply -- and for confirming my fears.

You're also right about the En/Em dash. It's done the way you describe even
in German Word, though Em-dashes are generally unknown here.

I'd written some long macros to clean up text some years ago, and forgotten
that I handled dashes myself instead of relying on AutoFormat (probably
because AutoFormat botched it).

Regards,
Klaus

Klaus Linke

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Jan 19, 2003, 9:17:54 AM1/19/03

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Hi John,

Specifying the StoryRange in a macro was my first idea, too. But I only get
error messages if I try.

And since the AutoFormat option is greyed out in the user interface if
you're not in the main text story (contrary to Edit > Find), I don't think
there's a work-around.

Now I know the problem, I can work around it... but it's a real nuisance.

Greetings,
Klaus

Suzanne S. Barnhill

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Jan 19, 2003, 9:53:08 AM1/19/03

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I assigned keyboard shortcuts to em and en dashes many versions back (when
AutoFormat As You Type was still a gleam in some developer's eye), and
they've become so habitual that I don't depend on AutoFormat As You Type for
those (wouldn't help for most instances where I need en dashes, anyway), but
I do use AutoFormat and have noticed that conversion of hyphens, ellipses,
etc., is spotty.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

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