For example, if you wanted to find multiple spaces (to be replaced by a single space), you could enter a space followed by )Īnd you can transpose them with this replacement string:īut of course, that won't spell out the abbreviated months. You can use wildcard strings if you like, as explained in Editorium Update over the past several issues. In the 'Find What' box, type the string of characters or set the formatting you want to find. Go to the top of your document by pressing CTRL + HOME.ĭ. Here's where you're going to find and replace all of those items on your list:Ī. That means the macro recorder is now recording what you do. The macro recording toolbar will appear with two buttons-the first to stop recording and the second to pause recording if you need to. (You can't use spaces in a macro name.)Į. Type a name for your macro (something like 'ReplaceMyStuff') in the 'Macro name' box. Click 'Record New Macro' (in older versions of Word, click the 'Record' button).ĭ. Got your list? Let's do it (on some junk files, of course):Ĭ. (You can read last week's newsletter here. Do the stuff you want to record-in this case, find and replace all of the items on your list. To do so, just follow the basic procedure outlined in last week's newsletter:Ģ. If you're now doing such replacements manually, one after the other, you could record them all as a macro that you could run on any manuscript that needs it, saving yourself many hours over the course of a year. These might be picky little things like replacing multiple spaces with a single space, replacing underlining with italic, or replacing the word 'catalogue' with 'catalog' (or vice versa). If you've been editing in Microsoft Word, you've probably come up with a list of items you find and replace on every manuscript. Wilson, proprietor of The Editor's DeskTop (). Watch for a complex (and useful) example of recording a macro in next week's article, coauthored with Dan A. It covers basically the same procedure as last week's newsletter, but with an emphasis on finding and replacing problem items in an electronic manuscript. Today's article is the second in our series about recording macros.

Recording macros in word 2010