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President's Message

August, 2008

President's Comments

MACROS, why should we use them? Do they really decrease your editing time?

I can tell you that I love making and using macros. Macros are shortcuts. For instance, why correct a mistake in three steps when you can do it in one? I’m all about time management. What I suggest is that, while you’re editing, you pay attention to how many key strokes it takes you to edit the same mistakes. If you find that you’re making the same correction over and over, it’s time to make a macro. Gigatron has a list of premade macros, but they can be changed or enhanced. After you record your macro, you must remember to save it.

I have a list of all my macros and their key strokes on my desk. That way I can glance down at my list to refresh my memory on the key stroke. If I make a macro for a particular case, I’ll write that down on a separate piece of paper to refer to.

I’ll give you one of my favorite macros that I created. I named this macro “AddPeriodParagraph.” The macro puts a period at the end of the word your cursor is on (cursor can be anywhere on the word), paragraphs and caps the next word. You’ll notice in the code that I have “SaveFile.” I’ll insert that in some of my more frequently-used macros so that the macro also saves the file.

The code is:

Insert "."

SaveFile

Insert "[ParagraphBreak]"

ChangeParaGraphStyle Colloquy

When assigning a key stroke, I try to keep similar macros together and sequential. For instance, all my examinations are together, parentheticals, punctuation. It doesn’t always work, but I find I can easily remember the key strokes if I lump them together. That makes it easier to glance down at your list if you don’t remember the key stroke. Let me know if you need any ideas or help making macros. Like I said, I have quite a few and would be glad to share them or help you make a macro that would help in your editing.

I want to remind everyone that Dallas is coming up. I hope to see everyone there. Therese Casterline and Irene Beaupre have been working very hard to make this a terrific seminar. See y’all there.