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if you\u2019re a copyeditor, you probably use microsoft word, a desktop program introduced in the 1980s. or maybe you use google docs, a browser-based application that debuted in 2006. some of us switch back and forth.<\/p>\n
both programs are designed for writing and editing and reviewing, including tracking and commenting. this post won\u2019t get into tracking and commenting. instead, i\u2019ll consider how to do a couple of basic tasks, first in word and then in docs. if word gets to go first, that\u2019s because it has (many) more built-in tools than docs does. but there\u2019s usually a way to handle something in docs if you need to.<\/p>\n
note:<\/strong><\/span> i\u2019m using the desktop version of word 365 for windows. for google docs, i\u2019m using chrome. if you\u2019re using a different version of word (except for the scaled-down web version, which i didn\u2019t bother with here), or if you\u2019re using docs in a different browser\u2014or if you\u2019re on a mac\u2014everything should still work as described, but menu labels and keyboard shortcuts will vary.<\/p>\n let\u2019s say you\u2019re editing a manuscript and the author used underline<\/u> instead of italics<\/em>. it should be easy to replace the one with the other.<\/p>\n ms word:<\/strong> word users take it for granted that you can find and replace not just text but also formatting. here\u2019s how to find text formatted with an underline and change that formatting to italics:<\/p>\n the find and replace box should now look something like this:<\/p>\n google docs:<\/strong> in its native state, docs doesn\u2019t give you the option to find and replace formatting. however, there\u2019s a third-party add-on called advanced find & replace<\/a> that promises to do it. (it\u2019s free to try, but there\u2019s a small fee after a certain number of clicks.) in my tests the add-on found all the underlining but then added italics on top of it, making it a three-step process:<\/p>\n another option: open the document in word, do what you need to do, and then bring it back into docs.<\/p>\n it\u2019s often necessary to clear the formatting from a word or paragraph so that it matches the style of the surrounding text\u2014for example, when it\u2019s been pasted from another source (see next section).<\/p>\n word:<\/strong> in word, you can use the clear all formatting button (a capital a<\/em> with an eraser that lives in the font group under the home tab).<\/p>\n before you try it:<\/strong><\/span> for clear all formatting to be useful in word, the normal style needs to match the default style for the rest of the document. if it doesn\u2019t, right-click on the normal style in the styles group under the home tab. then choose modify to begin fixing the style. or put your cursor in a paragraph of regular text that\u2019s got the basic formatting you want and, instead of modify, choose update normal to match selection.<\/p>\n keyboard shortcut:<\/strong><\/span> in word for windows, either ctrl+spacebar or ctrl+shift+z should clear extra character formatting from selected text (like magic). but that leaves paragraph styles intact. to revert paragraphs to normal like the button does, you\u2019ll need to create your own shortcut. go to file > options > customize ribbon and choose the option to customize keyboard shortcuts. then, under the home tab category, find and select the clearallformatting command. enter your preferred shortcut and click assign. i use alt+0 (that\u2019s a zero).<\/p>\n docs:<\/strong> you can clear formatting in docs in three ways: (1) via the format menu, or (2) by clicking the t<\/em> with backslash icon on the toolbar, or (3) by typing ctrl+\\. however you do it, this tool works much like the clear all formatting button in word.<\/p>\n pasting without formatting works a lot like clearing all formatting but for pasted text. i find this one to be endlessly useful (and it can be set as your default in word; see below). for example, when i copy a book title from amazon into a reference list, i want it to look like the surrounding text\u2014not huge and bold.<\/p>\n word:<\/strong> here\u2019s how to paste without formatting in word:<\/p>\n make it the default:<\/strong><\/span> by default, word copies the formatting of the source text, but you can change this. go to file > options > advanced and change the options for cut, copy, and paste accordingly. if you want to paste without formatting by default, choose keep text only (which will match the formatting of the destination as described above).<\/p>\n docs:<\/strong> in docs, you\u2019ll find the option to paste without formatting under the edit menu; alternatively, you can type ctrl+shift+v. (as far as i can tell, there\u2019s no way to change the default behavior to always paste without formatting.) i like the keystroke because it\u2019s easy to remember, and it also works in gmail and in a surprising number of other environments.<\/p>\n for our last example, let\u2019s do special characters. let\u2019s say your manuscript includes an illustration credit for the persistence of memory<\/em>, the famous oil painting<\/a> by salvador dal\u00ed. the accent in \u201cdal\u00ed\u201d looks right, but you need to fix the dimensions: 24.1 x 33 cm. it\u2019s best to use a multiplication sign (\u00d7), not a lowercase x<\/em>.<\/p>\n word:<\/strong> there are many ways to insert a special character in word. here\u2019s what i usually do:<\/p>\n (and yes, that\u2019s the vomit emoji\u2014or u+1f92e\u2014among my recently used symbols. i was experimenting.)<\/p>\n a neat word trick:<\/strong><\/span> you can enter the unicode number directly into your word document and then type alt+x to turn it into the character. if that doesn\u2019t work, put \u201cu+\u201d in front of the number; that tells word to ignore any adjacent characters that may be throwing it off. the trick also works the other way around\u2014a handy way to find out the code point for any character directly from word. for example, if you put your cursor after the \u00ed<\/em> in \u201cdal\u00ed\u201d and type alt+x, the \u00ed<\/em> will be replaced by 00ed; do it again, and it will change back into the letter.<\/p>\n docs:<\/strong> go to insert in the menu to bring up the special characters dialog box. from there, you can type or paste \u201c00d7\u201d into the search box. hover over the result to confirm that it\u2019s the right character, then click to insert. or you can use the symbol > math category.<\/p>\n a third option is to try drawing the character in that empty box. but when i did that, it brought up ten different versions of an x<\/em>, including the letters x<\/em> and x<\/em> (in both latin and greek) and, confusingly, a \u201cmultiplication x,\u201d a character that\u2019s close but not what we want (it\u2019s part of the dingbats<\/a> set of unicode characters\u2014and it\u2019s too big). but that drawing box is a great way to explore\u2014and sometimes find\u2014special characters.<\/p>\n * * *<\/span><\/p>\n i hope this was a useful exercise. word obviously has the edge in features (or at least the desktop version does), and it can be endlessly customized. (for complex documents, it really has no competition.) but docs is nice for the same reason gmail is: if you have a browser (as we all do), you\u2019ve got all you need. except maybe an add-on or two (or three).<\/p>\n word cloud<\/a> by kheng guan toh<\/span>\u00a0\/ adobe stock<\/a>.<\/p>\n editor\u2019s corner posts at shop talk<\/em> reflect the opinions of its authors and not necessarily those of the chicago manual of style<\/em> or the university of chicago press.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ~ ~ ~<\/span><\/p>\n if you\u2019re a copyeditor, you probably use microsoft word, a desktop program introduced in the 1980s. or maybe you use google docs, a browser-based application that debuted in 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":12920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7],"tags":[27,221,222,95,97],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nfind and replace formatting<\/span><\/h2>\n
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clear all formatting<\/span><\/h2>\n
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paste text without formatting<\/span><\/h2>\n
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insert unicode characters<\/span><\/h2>\n
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russell harper<\/strong> (@cpyeditor<\/a>) is editor of the\u00a0<\/em>chicago manual of style online <\/em>q&a<\/a> and was the principal reviser of the last two editions of the chicago manual of style<\/em>. he also contributed to the revisions of the last two editions of kate l. turabian\u2019s a manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nthe chicago manual of style<\/em>, 17th edition<\/span><\/h2>\n
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