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Ten ways to insert 'boilerplate' and/or repeating items:
and in WordPerfect 10+:
and with:
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'Boilerplate' generally
refers to standard or routine blocks of text, which may include
graphics. It is sometimes called 'form language' and it rarely
changes (if at all) over time. It is inserted in various documents
as needed, and can be anything from several standard contract
paragraphs to a single signature block or company logo.
'Repeating
items' generally refers to either boilerplate (above)
or to unique, single-use material (text and/or graphics) that
needs to be inserted in several places in the current
document.
Both types of material can be
used in the same document. Here's how to create them with the
various tools available in WordPerfect.
QuickWords (Available
in WordPerfect 8 and later versions.)
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Need to quickly insert
boilerplate material? Try using QuickWords (click on Tools,
QuickWords).
QuickWords can insert more than
just small groups of words such as letter closings, scanned signatures,
or special phrases or paragraphs. They can insert tables, watermarks,
logos or other graphic images, and even one or more WordPerfect
formatting codes. And the size of an expanded QuickWord is not
usually an issue: Multiple pages of formatted material can be
stored as a QuickWord!
- See the QuickWords
page for more information and tips on using, managing, and
backing up QuickWords.
- You can also use a QuickWord
to create custom envelopes with multiple fonts or graphics in
the return address of an envelope. Click here
for more information about custom envelopes.
- QuickWords are stored in a separate
file (QW#XX.WPT, where # is the version number and XX is the
country or language code), and thus may be less likely to become
corrupted compared to QuickCorrect entries. But QuickCorrect
entries have some advantages, and can be used to help you "speed
type" (see below).
- If you have lots of QuickWords,
you can use a macro to list them and insert (and expand) them.
See PickList in the Library.
- To migrate QuickWords to a newer
version of WordPerfect, see Migrating
Quickwords to WordPerfect 12 (Corel Article ID: 755943; the
procedure is similar for other WP versions).
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QuickCorrect
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To quickly type a string of
text characters or a symbol such as ¥ into a document,
you can set up and use QuickCorrect to convert your easy-to-remember
entry into a desired string of characters or a symbol. Unlike
QuickWords, this method does not let you insert graphics, tables,
or large amounts of text into the document, or include new formatting
such as a new font or font attibute. However, it has the advantage
of being somewhat easier to remember than QuickWord abbreviations.
Moreover, QuickCorrect conversions automatically adjust for capitalization.
For example, an abbreviation for "president" might
be "prs"; typing "prs" will expand to "president,"
while typing "Prs" will expand to "President".
And unlike QuickWords, abbreviations expand even if they are
followed by a punctuation mark (QuickWords require a space, hard
return, or tab to expand.)
To set up QuickCorrect abbreviations:
- Click on Tools, QuickCorrect.
Then enter the 'Replace' and 'With' entries and click the Add
Entry button. Be sure the 'Replace words as you type' box is
checked.
- To enter accented letters
or other symbols in the 'With' field, use the <Alt> key
plus the numeric keypad to enter the proper numeric code found
in the Windows Character Map. The Character Map is located on
your Windows desktop, under Start, Programs, Accessories, System
Tools, Character Map. When it loads, simply choose a character
or symbol and copy/paste it into WordPerfect, or jot down the
<Alt> key combination shown on the bottom right of the
Character Map dialog and use it instead. For example, to enter
the Section symbol (§) in the 'With' field, press <Alt+0167>
on the numeric keypad. (You could use something like 'sss' in
the Replace field.)
- Note that you can also insert
symbols from the WP Symbols set (normally found in the top [Insert]
menu) by using <Ctrl+W> when the cursor is inside the 'With'
field.
NOTES AND TIPS
- "Un-doing"
QuickCorrect changes: Immediately
after QuickCorrect expands an abbreviation, press <Ctrl+Z>
or <Alt+Backspace>. (This works to undo the last change.
Try it with automatically underlined e-mail addresses or Internet
URLs!)
- Limits to QuickCorrect: Be aware that, unlike QuickWords, you
cannot insert graphics with QuickCorrect. Also, the sizes of
the QuickCorrect 'Replace' and 'With' entry fields are very limited.
- The 'With'
field. Charles Rossiter,
Corel C_Tech, concludes from testing that there are replacement
entry limits -- i.e., limits to the QuickCorrect "With"
field (the right-hand field) -- depending on whether the
replacements are copied-and-pasted into the field, or whether
they are manually typed into the field.
- "First, you can create
the QuickCorrect replacement entry by selecting text. Irrespective
of how much text you select, it is only the first 63 characters,
minus the number of space characters, which will be included
in the replacement text.
Or, in other words, the limit is 63 characters, with each space
counting as 2 characters.
- Second, you can create [a longer]
QuickCorrect replacement by typing in the replacement window
in QuickCorrect. The number of characters that can be created
manually for a QuickCorrect replacement also varies according
to the number of space characters. The limit is 126 characters,
minus the number of spaces. Or, in other words, the limit is
126 characters, with each space counting as 2 characters."
[Quote]
- HOWEVER ... There appears to
be a bug in QuickCorrect that can cause QuickWords to crash if
QuickCorrect replacement entries are longer than 20 characters.
There seems to be an adverse interaction between the two features.
This bug has existed since WP9, and Corel's support database
states: "In order to correct this issue you need to remove
any entries in QuickCorrect that are over 20 Characters in length."
Since the bug exists even in WP12, it's doubtful there will be
a fix for this. If you need to use expansions (the "With"
part of QuickCorrect entries) longer than 20 characters, you
could try the utility program, As-U-Type, described below,
which can expand up to 80 characters and works independently
from WordPerfect's QuickCorrect and QuickWords features (but
works well with them).
- The 'Replace'
field. With respect to
the QuickCorrect abbreviation in the (left-hand) "Replace"
field,
- "...there is a limit to
what can be entered in the left-hand "Replace" window.
That left-hand window can take 80 non-space characters, or 79
non-space characters and one space." [Quote]
- Because the QuickCorrect file
might be more prone to corruption than the QuickWords file, you
may want to limit the total number of items in QuickCorrect,
and use either QuickWords, the Corel ClipBook (see below), or
menu-driven macros instead. (Some users have reported that they
have several thousand entries in QuickCorrect, but such large
lists probably are harder to maintain than maintaining similar
sized QuickWord lists. See QuickWords
for more information and tips on using, managing, and backing
up QuickWords.)
- From a FAQ on WordPerfect Universe:
"The user word list (the list of words you have added while
running a spell-check), along with the list of your QuickCorrect
entries, is kept in a file called WT#XX.UWL (where # is the version
number and XX is the country or language code, e.g., WT11US.UWL).
... Note that these files may be stored in an "unexpected"
location, such as C:\My Documents\Corel User Files."
- QuickCorrect
is automatically turned off
for all open documents when you are editing a macro or conducting
a merge. If you need QuickCorrect under these circumstances,
or just need to be able to turn some QC features on and off,
see the QC macro in the Library,
or record your own macro and select the features you want toggled
on or off.
- [From WordPerfect's Help <F1>:]
When the "Correct
other mistyped words when possible"
check box is enabled, WordPerfect replaces typographical errors
that have only one possible correction without notifying you
of the change. Use this option only if you are confident that
a document uses words found in a standard word list. Unusual
spellings and proper nouns might be changed automatically when
you enable this option. (Most power users disable this setting.
They don't want strange "corrections" slipping into
important documents unnoticed. In any case, see the next note.)
- "Note that in the original
release of WPX3, correct words were flagged as spelling errors
if the option "Correct other mistyped words when possible"
was active. This has been remedied with Service Pack 1."
[Quote]
- Problems with
QuickCorrect changing a word into something you don't want? First, see the previous note (above).
Second, you can create an "exception" or a "skip
word" entry in your QuickCorrect list (which the spell checker
uses, along with its own dictionary):
- Open the spell checker (Tools,
Spell Checker; then answer "No" to "Close spell
checker?"); click the Options button; click on User Word
Lists (the User Word Lists dialog that opens should default to
Wtnnxx.UWL, where "nn"=your WP version and "xx"=your
language); either browse to the relevant QuickCorrect pair and
click it to select it, or if it's a new QC pair not yet in the
list, type the incorrect word in the "Word/phrase"
field, the correct word in the "Replace with" field,
then click the Add Entry button. Either way, be sure the pair
is selected, then -
- If you want multiple "correct"
entries for a word (e.g., the typographical error "adn"
could be either "and" or "DNA"), you can
make the spell checker stop and let you choose an alternate
word from the User Word List: Highlight the word and its replacement
in the User Word Lists dialog, click the Properties button, then
choose Exception Entry, then click OK.
- If you want the spell checker
to skip any word in the user word list during spell checking:
Highlight the word and its replacement in the User Word Lists
dialog, click the Properties button, then choose "Skip word,"
then click OK.
- QuickCorrect
weirdness. When you type
(i), (c), or (r), do they change into other characters? Do dates
typed as "1/27/07" change to a numerical fraction?
Here are some remedies.
- More on QuickCorrect:
- Speaking only as a satisfied
customer ... you might also consider As-U-Type (http://www.fanix.com/).
If you are not a touch-typist (or even if you are), this little
utility program can correct typos and spelling errors as you
type. It even works alongside WordPerfect's QuickCorrect, and
can expand abbreviations like QuickWords -- in any Windows program,
such as your e-mail program. It "learns" from your
mistakes, it's easy to toggle on and off as needed (LShft+RShft
keys), and overall it's very easy to use. Free 30-day trial.
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Insert
> File (boilerplate files)
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Insert a disk file at the current
cursor location with Insert > File. If you do this often with
several files, you can record individual macros to bring the
files into the document. The macros can be played from a menu,
keystroke, or toolbar button; see here
for how to do this.
See also PickList
in the Library.
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Floating ("linked") table cells
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If you have created one or more
tables and need to have the contents of certain cells -- such
as a column's total -- appear in the text area(s) of your document,
use floating cells to duplicate the contents of those
table cells elsewhere in the document:
- Create a table with something
in the cell that you wish to have duplicated elsewhere in the
document with a floating cell.
- Position your cursor in the
text area, as desired. Click on Table, Create (or Insert, Table
in WP9 and earlier), Floating Cell, Create. In Reveal Codes you’ll
see a pair of codes -- [Flt Cell><Flt Cell] -- with the cursor between them. This is the "floating
cell."
- Use the Table Formula toolbar
that appears when you create a floating cell to insert a formula
in the floating cell, or insert the name of a table cell to reference
information in that cell.
- For example, if you have a single
table it will be named Table A by WordPerfect, and
if you have the phrase "New York" in cell B1 of that
table, then when you create the floating cell (step 2 above),
and the cursor is between the codes, click in the Formula field
in the toolbar and type this formula:
- then click the checkmark button
to the left of the Formula field. The contents of cell B1 of
the table should immediately show up in the floating cell. (You
might have to click the Calculate button to "refresh"
the floating cell.)
- A floating cell can be copied
or cut to a new location by opening Reveal Codes and selecting
the codes and the text between them. Then copy (or cut)
and paste in a new location.
- TIP (from David Wallis): "you can also
have one floating cell refer to the contents of another. That's
very helpful when you use numbers that need to be repeated in
various places in a document. If the number changes, you only
need to change it in one place in the document."
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Faux
variables and 'variable' Character styles
Faux variables (for WordPerfect 9 and 10)
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Jim
Shackleford's FAUXVAR9 macro (for WordPerfect 9/10) mimics
WordPerfect 10's new 'text variables' feature (described below).
[Quoted from the Other
Authors page:]
Need to insert identical
text in several locations that you can change easily and quickly?
Here's a macro for WordPerfect 9/10+ to do it (for other WP versions,
or to use a Style as an alternative, see below):
FAUXVAR9.ZIP (16,867 bytes) - A WordPerfect 9/10
macro that mimics WP10's new document variables feature. As Jim's
overview states:
"WordPerfect 10, part
of Corel WordPerfect Office 2002, introduced a new feature –
document variables. Document variables allow a user to create,
save, and retrieve variables which can be placed into a document.
This allows the user to simply change the value of the variable
in one place and have those changes reflected throughout the
document." [Ed.-
This includes variables inside headers, footers, notes, etc.]
"FAUXVAR is a WordPerfect
macro system which mimics the behavior of document variables
through the use of character styles. Up to 99 faux variables
can be used in a document. If you wish to create, edit, save
or retrieve faux variables, this macro will simplify the procedure.
You may still use WordPerfect’s built-in styles editor if
you desire."
He also states, "You
can use faux variables with WordPerfect 10. You may wish to do
this if you share documents with others with earlier versions
of WordPerfect."
NOTE: In addition to the method
Jim describes to edit a faux variable, you can also double-click
the variable's code in the Reveal Codes window.
Copy the macro and its two helper
files to your default or supplemental macros folder. You may
want to play the macro from a toolbar
button or key combination.
The macro has a Help button that
explains how to create and edit these variables.
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'Variable'
Character styles (for
WordPerfect 9 and earlier)
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For earlier versions of WordPerfect
(i.e., WP9 and earlier) that do not have the Insert > Variable feature, you can use a style to duplicate this
feature:
Create a Character style
that contains the text you want to appear in various places in
your document. Then just apply the style in each location (no
need to type the text at those locations since it is already
"inside" the style itself). Here's how.
- Click on Format, Styles, Create.
This brings up the Styles Editor.
- Give the new style a name and
brief description. Choose "Character" as the Type.
Be sure to check the box, "Automatically update style when
changed in document."
- In the Contents field of the
Styles Editor, enter (or paste) your text. Format it if desired.
- Click OK, then Close, to return
to the document.
In the document (in an empty
area), click Format, Styles, and choose the new style in the
left pane, then click Insert. (Or, even easier: select the style
from the drop list on your property bar.)
The text should appear in the
document, but if you look in Reveal Codes, all you'll see is
a pair of [Char Style] codes. Click on any one of these codes
to bring up the Styles Editor, make any changes, then close the
Styles Editor. The change should appear wherever the style was
applied.
NOTES
- This use of a style is basically
the same idea behind the new Variable feature of WP10/11.
- There appears to be a limit
of about 4,000 characters that you can use inside a variable
or style's Contents field.
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Clipboard
extender (Available in WordPerfect 10.0.0.518 and
later versions.)
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Use the Corel ClipBook
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- From ClipBook's Help: "Corel
Clipbook is a utility that works with any Windows application
to store multiple items, called clips, in an unlimited number
of clipboards. Clips can be text, sounds, and graphics. Clipboards
can be shared with other users over a network."
- For a "How To" introduction
to the ClipBook, see this
thread on WordPerfect Universe.
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Text
variables (Text variables
are included with WordPerfect 10 and later versions.)
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Need to insert the same
block of text in several locations -- and be able to make
global changes easily and quickly, wherever it appears? Use a
'faux variable' macro, 'variable'
character style, or (in WP10 and later versions) a text variable:
- "[Text]
variables allow you to mark text that you know will change, for
example dates, version numbers, or client names. WordPerfect
allows you to create a variable. Once you have created a variable
you can insert it in [multiple locations in] a document, edit
it, or delete it. You can also chose to display the variables
in a document." (Corel WP10
Help file.)
- To create a text variable
(WP10 and later versions),
click on Insert,
Variable, Create and type
(or paste) the text into the Contents field, then insert the
variable where needed. (The limit seems to be about 4,000 characters.)
You can format the text from the Variables Editor menu, insert
graphics, etc.
- To insert a variable in your document: Position the cursor
where you want to insert the variable. Click Insert, Variable. Choose a variable from the Variables list. Click
Insert.
- Alternative: You can add a button to a toolbar that
will allow picking and inserting an existing text variable into
the document. See the TIP below.
- To delete an instance of
a variable at a particular
location, delete its [Variable] code in the Reveal Codes window.
- To edit a variable click Insert, Variable, <choose the variable>,
Edit.
- Alternative: You can also double-click on any existing [Variable]
code in Reveal Codes, or
directly on the visible variable text, to bring up the Variables
Editor. Make your changes, and your edits will instantly appear
in all iterations of that particular variable when you exit the
Editor.
TIPS
- Insert variables with a toolbar
button: Right-click the toolbar and select Edit from the context
menu. In the Toolbar Editor that appears, choose the Feature
category "Insert," and scroll down in the list to "Variables."
Choose it and click on Add Button to add the button to your toolbar.
(You can drag the new button to another toolbar location.) Once
you have created one or more variables, they will be available
from the new button to insert at the current cursor location.
- Starting with WP11, you can
visually "mark" variables in the document with View, Variables; this applies temporary (blue) >arrow brackets<
around each variable.
- You could type a placeholder
text string (e.g., "PARTY-1"; "HUSBAND'S NAME";
etc.) in each newly created text variable in a custom template
or other saved file, then insert them where needed. Then you
could simply edit any instance of a particular variable and change
the placeholder (e.g., change "PARTY-1" to "John
Smith"). You can enable View, Variables
during the editing phase to more easily find the variables in
situ; then turn off this feature before printing.
- To make any unused variables
even more visually evident in both the Variables dialog and in
the document itself, use an "all Caps" placeholder
with brackets, such as "[<-HUSBAND'S-NAME->]".
This should make editing and proofreading the document easier.
- If you use such text placeholders,
you will want to delete any unused variables from the
final draft. This is easily done with the Variables dialog's
Delete button.
- Specify which variables you
want to display (i.e., those in the current document and/or those
in the default template) in the Variables list by clicking Options, Settings, and enabling an option in the "Available
variables list" area. [Settings also lets you save the variables
to either the current document, default template (not always
the best idea unless you truly have frequent use for them in
a wide variety of new documents), or an additional objects template.]
- Find a particular variable (and
move the cursor to it) with Edit, Go To, <variable>, <select variable
name>. Note that you cannot
find text in variables with Edit, Find and Replace, since the
text is inside the variable itself, which is a style.
[But see next tip.]
- Create a WordPerfect Comment (Insert, Comment, Create) at the top of the document
(or other convenient location) and insert one instance of each
created text variable into the Comment. You can then modify any
or all of them more easily by simply editing the Comment and
double-clicking a variable, since they will be conveniently located
in one (non-printing) location.
- Related tips:
- Use a two-column table inside
the Comment, with instructions or copy-and-paste examples in
the left column, adjacent to each text variable in the next column.
Simply read the instructions, double-click the adjacent text
variable and edit it, read the next instruction, double-click
the next variable and edit it, etc.
- A template macro can
be used to immediately open this special Comment when a document
based on the template is opened or edited. For more on template
macros, see here.
- You can use a variable as a
chapter title or section title and also insert the variable in
a header or footer (or anywhere it is needed).
- Once the variable is created
and inserted in the body text area, you can make the chapter
or section title into a formatted paragraph style (in the body
text area of the document) by selecting both of these
new codes in Reveal Codes, and applying a heading style (e.g.,
Heading 1) to them from the Text property bar's Select Style
drop list. This will not only add formatting to the title, it
will allow the title to show up in a Table of Contents. (The
variable's title displayed in the header or footer will not be
formatted with the paragraph style. Use normal formatting methods
in such structures.)
- If you change your mind about
the title, just edit the variable with Insert, Variable, <variable
name>, Edit. When you change the Contents field, you will
change what is displayed in the document.
- If you want the title of each
section of the chapter to show up in a header (a/k/a "running
heads," "dynamic headers"), see the macro, DYNAHEAD.
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Other
utility programs
- As-U-Type
by Fanix Software
- PURPOSE: If you are not a touch-typist
(or even if you are), this little utility program can correct
typos and spelling errors as you type, using one or more user-created
lists as well as several standard dictionary lists (US, UK, CA,
AUS).
- COMPATIBILITY: It works very
well alongside WordPerfect's QuickCorrect, and can make corrections
in any Windows program (such as your e-mail program).
- "QUICKCORRECT"-LIKE
FEATURE: Its automatic correction feature can expand an abbreviation
up to 80 characters, and you can create your own correction lists
to load/unload as needed.
- "QUICKWORDS"-LIKE
FEATURE: The program can also expand text abbreviations into
long blocks of text just like WordPerfect's QuickWords (but unlike
QuickWords you cannot include graphics or WordPerfect formatting
codes in the expansions). The abbreviations are called "Shortcuts"
in As-U-Type, and you can have different shortcut lists for different
purposes, and load/unload them as needed.
- OTHER FEATURES: AUT learns from
your mistakes, and can be automatically turned off in specified
programs or manually toggled on and off as needed (LShft+RShft
keys). Very easy to use, even with its many features.
- COST: Free 30-day trial; US$39.95
to register.
- TypeItIn
by WavGet
- PURPOSE (quoted from their website):
"TypeItIn lets you define buttons that will type in any
information you want into any application. You can use TypeItIn
to fill out forms on the web, or process forms at work. It's
a great tool for applications where you frequently type the same
thing like creating HTML code or writing standard letters or
emails. Another great use is for entering user names and passwords.
You can also launch applications or web sites with the click
of a button. You can create up to 1000 password protected groups,
each with up to 200 buttons. TypeItIn can automatically type
in the time, date, month, or day of the week too. In addition,
you can also Record your own typing to automatically create buttons."
- NOTE: If you also use As-U-Type
(above), TypeItIn will prevent As-U-Type's auto-correction feature
from working while TypeItIn is active. Solution: Load each from
the Windows launch bar as needed, then unload them from the system
tray. Both actions take just a mouse click or two.
- COST: Free 30-day trial; US$19.95
to register.
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Barry MacDonnell's