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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).
Major advantages: QuickWords are very easy
to create, and they can insert more than just small groups of
words such as letter closings, scanned signatures, or special
phrases or "boilerplate" paragraphs. They can also
insert tables, watermarks, logos or other graphic images, and
even one or more WordPerfect formatting codes (e.g., columns)
-- or any combination of these things. And the size of an expanded
QuickWord is not usually an issue: Multiple pages full
of formatted material can be stored as a QuickWord!
Another advantage -- shared with QuickCorrect
(see next section below) -- is that
your hands need not stray from the keyboard, since QuickWord
abbreviations (i.e., the characters you type into your document)
are simple keyboard characters. There is no need to reach for
the mouse.
A disadvantage is that you might not be able
to remember all the QuickWord abbreviations you have created
(see macro solutions in the bullet list below).
- 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 created lots of QuickWords, you
can use a macro to list them and insert (and expand) them.
See, for example, the PickList
macro in the Library. Also see the tip (about recording a macro
to play a QuickWord) on the main QuickWords page here.
- 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 "1/27/08" 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.
Here's how:
- 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 -
- 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.
- PhraseExpress
- PURPOSE: PhraseExpress organizes your frequently
used text snippets:
- Expand abbreviations and common phrases as
you type.
- Launch applications by entering text shortcuts.
- Autocomplete phrases with the predictive
text feature.
- Quickly handle email responses.
- Works in any Windows program.
- NOTE: PhraseExpress seems to work well with
As-U-Type (above). If you use them simultaneously, to take advantage
of AUT's auto-correction, it is suggested that you use a different
phrase delimiter (e.g., "#") than those you might have
used in AUT.
- COST: Free for personal use.
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Barry MacDonnell's