[Originally appeared 2000.]
Word of Law No. 23 promised a look at the use of AutoText as a resource for standardizing the formats of tables. What AutoText can do, and do very well, is provide a well-controlled source for new tables, fully formatted to the standards developed by the organization. What AutoText cannot do is change or clean up the format of existing tables.
The creation, organization and storage of a standard set of table AutoText entries should be considered a development activity. That is, either assign it to the Word developer or development team within an organization, or, if working alone or in a small group, undertake this task at some time when not engaged in production work.
The developer needs to prepare a global template that will make available to users the standard table AutoText entries. We recommend that these be in their own global template and not in Normal.dot. Then again, we recommend that virtually nothing an organization seeks to standardize should be in Normal.dot.
The critical step to making table AutoText entries work is to use a distinct Table style, as we have discussed in the earlier columns. That assures that the formatting of the table will not be disturbed by the variations in the parameters of other styles, such as Body Text. The developer should develop the standard table formats working in an empty clean template. Go ahead and save the template with a name such as “Table Source.” It would be a good idea to delete from the Table Source template all styles except Normal and the Table style or styles. Prepare a set of tables, fully formatted, including number of columns, fonts and font emphasis in the heading, first and last columns and rows, borders and shading. It helps to create different versions of tables for portrait and landscape pages. It may be helpful to copy fully formatted tables from completed documents into this template, but there may also be some difficulties. It is likely that those tables have not been formatted using a special Table style. Instead, use the completed tables as a model, but construct the standards tables from scratch.
Generally, the table samples that will become AutoText should not themselves have text in them. That will only create additional work for the users to change the text. If there are tables that are used very frequently with standard headings or first row entries, it may be useful to create AutoText entries specifically for them.
To save each table as an AutoText entry, turn on the AutoText toolbar and place the cursor anywhere within the table. Select the entire table. Use Table|Select Table in Word 97, or Table|Select|Table in Word 2000’s cascading table menu or (in the standard keystroke assignments) ALT and the 5 key in the number pad with NumLock off. Create the AutoText entry with the AutoText button on the left of the AutoText toolbar. Do not use the ALT F3 shortcut to create the AutoText entry. That will store it in Normal.dot, and we want these AutoText entries in the Table Source template. The AutoText button will bring up the AutoText tab of the AutoCorrect multitab dialog. Note carefully the selection in the “Look In” list box at the bottom of the dialog. Before you make a change that should say “All Active Templates.” For the purpose of saving these standard Table AutoTexts, the Look-in list box needs to be changed to Table Source.dot (assuming that you have used that name for this template). Be sure, when you are finished with development, to change the Look-in list box back to All Active Templates.
Naming the AutoText entries is a matter of taste. One good strategy is to start all of their names with “Table” so users can find them easily. The names should be selected to make it easy to expand them during typing. Thanks to the reader who suggested names such as “Table3p” to indicate a 3-column portrait oriented table. Then adept users can enter the AutoText by typing “Table3p” and F3 to expand the AutoText.
To help less adept users, the developer should consider modifying menus or toolbars to make the list of the standard table AutoText entries more accessible and better documented. One approach would be to modify the Table menu to add an entry for the organization’s standard table formats. The menu entry could be called “Insert [Organization name] standard table.” In Word 97’s Table Menu, this would fit logically right below the Insert Table entry. In Word 2000’s reorganized Table Menu, it would make more sense as an additional entry in the Insert submenu.
This menu of table AutoText entries could also be inserted in the Tables and Borders toolbars or its own special toolbar. The menu entries can be more descriptive than the AutoText names, especially if the AutoText names have been abbreviated for power typing, as suggested above. Be sure to include the abbreviated name in the description as well. Then the menu becomes part of the documentation for the table AutoText entries.
The text of the Table Source template can serve as its own documentation. After developing and formatting the standard table examples and saving them as AutoText entries, the text of the template can be expanded with explanation, notes and examples of the AutoText entries in use. It may be desirable to include in the Table Source template a macro that prints a copy of this text so that users can refer to it. That macro could be included in the special menu.
When complete and tested, the Table Source template should be included in the Word startup directory.
A note to developers: The AutoCorrect multitab dialog is called “AutoManager” in VBA. There is a dialog that shows only the AutoText tab. While doing this AutoText development, it may be less distracting to show that dialog. The following macro accomplishes the same effect as the AutoText button on the standard AutoText toolbar.
Sub AutoTextMultiTab() With Dialogs(wdDialogToolsAutoManager) .DefaultTab = wdDialogToolsAutoManagerTabAutoText .Show End With End Sub
This macro shows only the AutoText tab. Sub AutoTextOnly() Dialogs(wdDialogEditAutoText).Show End Sub
These work in both Word 97 and Word 2000.
Now, how many columns did I say it would take to cover tables?
This 2000 article originally appeared in Office Watch.Subscribe to Office Watch free at http://www.office-watch.com/.