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See also -
• HiLiteRL - Add highlighting to redlined text
• "Customizing WordPerfect ..." Tips on how to create or modify a toolbar, keyboard, menu, etc.
• Replace Codes - A macro to quickly
change text attributes (e.g., bold, underline, italics, large size,
etc.) by replacing, adding, or deleting a chosen attribute wherever it
appears in the current document (can also replace a text attribute with
highlighting)
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Background notes and tips...
■ Highlighting and highlighted are terms used in WordPerfect that refer to the result of applying a pair of special On/Off format codes ([Highlight(On)]..[Highlight(Off)]) around some text, which results in the text's background turning to a color.
This format feature can be accessed with Tools, Highlight, On. (Some users have created a toolbar button
for quick access to the Highlight On/Off feature) The effect is similar
to adding (e.g.) Bold or Italics to some text (which also requires
paired format codes), and it will be retained in the document when it
is saved.
This is an entirely different thing from what you see on screen when you simply select some text with mouse or keyboard and the text temporarily
turns white on a black or blue background. No format codes are
involved. It is merely a feature of Windows, not WordPerfect, and
disappears when you click the mouse or press a key.
While this may be obvious to some users, the similarity
between the two effects can confuse others when describing them in the
same way — i.e., as "highlighted text". Hence, selected text WordPerfect should be referred to as such (or with similar wording) to differentiate it from highlighted text.
This can be particularly important when describing format issues or
problems when you are working with others or seeking help on
WordPerfect peer-support sites.
■ WordPerfect has a manual
highlight tool (but which is more limited than the macros below): Tools, Highlight, On (mentioned above). See
the program's Help (F1) and search for "highlight". It's an On/Off
toggle tool, which can also remove existing highlighting from selected text with Tools, Highlight, Off.
■ Tools, Highlight, Print/Show
must be enabled on that sub-menu to see or print highlighted text. You can
turn it off temporarily if you want to print a document without the
highlighting.
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HiLite.wcm
(v1.0) [Replaces
the older HiLiteMenu.wcm macro]
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Purpose: Type some text ... highlight any block of text
... type some more ... highlight some more
(here, in a different color) ...
This macro immediately applies any one
of several user-chosen highlight colors to one or more selected blocks
of text, then returns the highlighting color back to the program's
default of bright yellow (or any other user-preferred default color)
when you dismiss the macro. This allows "marking up" many different
selections of text as easily as using a highlighter pen on a
paper document.
Basically, you need only -
[1] play the macro to display a dialog (which remains on screen);
[2] choose a color (the default is green if you don't choose anything);
[3] then select some document text (which immediately becomes highlighted);
[4] select some
more text (which becomes highlighted);
[5] click the Done button on the dialog when finsihed. Or if you are in a document, press <Esc>.
The
program's current default highlight color (e.g., yellow — but can be changed in the macro code: see tips below) will be
restored as the macro exits.
 Screen shot of
HiLite dialog (appears on the right side of your screen by default)
As noted, when you play the macro you can
continually select various words or several blocks of text and the
selections are highlighted almost instantly. You can change colors any
time for different purposes, and you can even switch among open
documents to highlight them, too!
There is also a choice on the menu,
"Remove All HL," that will remove all existing highlighting in the
document in one operation. (Sometimes this is useful even before
you begin your own highlighting for the session, to "clean" it up. Whenever you use it, a warning message is given so
that you can confirm this choice. [Important: If you also use the Redaction Tool (Tools, Redaction) see below.])
You can always remove highlighting from individual items by deleting their [Highlight] codes in Reveal Codes.
Notes and tips
¤ While the macro is in use you can single-click
once anywhere in the document to edit material in the document (i.e., type, delete,
etc.).
¤ IMPORTANT: Selecting text while this macro is running
will immediately highlight it in color and then selection mode for that block is turned off. So if you want to select text to copy it or to perform some other selection-related task you will have to click on the "Done" button to stop the macro first.
¤ Adding the macro to a toolbar button will make it easier and quicker to access. See here for instructions.
¤ Be aware that if you use the WordPerfect Redaction Tool (introduced in WordPerfect X4 and accessed with Tools, Redaction) while editing the current document, then the macro will detect any existing Redaction marks and pop up a warning message to alert you. [...More]
¤ For complete instructions, tips, and notes,
see the top of the macro's code. Click on
Tools, Macro, Edit (which opens the macro file for viewing and editing).
¤ See also HiLiteNew.wcm below
which offers a simple method to access a different color via a toolbar
button or shortcut key, and immediately return the highlight tool to
the default color.
Download
HILITE.ZIP (full suite)
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HiLiteDoc.wcm (v1.71)
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Purpose: Highlights words or short phrases (63
characters or fewer, including spaces) in a document based on -
• up to 10 words/phrases manually entered via a menu, or
• a master list of words
contained in a separate document.
An
option on the first menu allows choosing from one of 10 highlight colors. (After playing the macro the highlight color is returned to your normal preferred color.)
Screen shot of
HiLiteDoc
Note that one of the options in HiLiteDoc ("Automatic - Use a search word
file") requires a separate user-created
WordPerfect document containing search words.
Please see the simple
instructions at the top of the macro's code (open the macro as a normal
document or use Tools, Macro, Edit), or click on Help from the pop up
menu.
Note also that one of the checkbox options on a secondary macro menu screen — "Remove
existing highlighting before processing" — is enabled by default. This
was designed to prevent confusion on which text was processed by the
macro. (You can, however, select a different highlight color from the
primary macro menu screen, then disable that option. This lets you have
different highlight colors for pre-existing items and the items
processed by the macro.)
[Important: If you also use the Redaction Tool (Tools, Redaction) see below.])
Some
of the macro techniques (for advanced users):
(1) Employ a
separate document file (*.WPD) from which to sequentially read short
strings of data; then switch documents and search for the strings.
(Employ menu entry fields to do the same thing.)
(2) Use a help dialog
in a menu, accessed via a push button.
(3) Change information on a menu
without using callbacks. In HiLiteDoc, the top half of the main menu
changes according to a previous menu selection or if an "Other Menu"
button is pushed on the current menu.
(4) Write out information to a
separate WPD file.
For complete instructions, tips, and notes,
see the top of the macro's code. Click on
Tools, Macro, Edit, which opens the macro file for viewing and editing.
Related: For WordPerfect X6 and later versions: See the Corel macro, Simple search and highlight.wcm, which does something similar — but for just one search term at a time. And it only temporarily highlights the words/phrases it finds: When you dismiss its dialog ('X' on the dialog) the highlighting it applied is removed.
Using the Redaction Tool: Be aware that if you use the WordPerfect Redaction Tool (introduced in WordPerfect X4 and accessed with Tools, Redaction) while editing the current document, then the macro will detect any existing Redaction marks and pop up a warning message to alert you. [...More]
Download
HILITE.ZIP (full suite)
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HiLiteNew.wcm (v1.01)
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Purpose: Applies a user-specified highlight color
to a selected block of text, then returns the highlight color
back to the default (usually, bright yellow). (This is similar to
HiLite.wcm above but it's useful to quickly access single colors from a toolbar or
shortcut key.)
This makes it easy to
apply a different highlight color to certain text, but retain the
default color when highlighting is next applied with the Highlight
toolbar button.
Note: To
be able to quickly apply any of several different colors, you need to
use different copies of this macro — one macro per color. See Tips
below.
The WordPerfect program "remembers"
which color was last used, so you can always reset the Highlight
button's default color manually, but this macro makes it easier —
especially siince WordPerfect does not reset the default highlight
color between sessions. You can modify the macro's next-to-last command
to choose any default color.
For complete instructions, tips, and notes
see the top of the macro's code. Click on
Tools, Macro, Edit, which opens the macro file for viewing and editing.
Tips
☼ Several copies ("clones") of this
macro, each with a different highlight color and each assigned to its
own toolbar button or keystroke combination, allows the quick
application of different highlight colors to various parts of the same
document without impacting your default highlight color. (The included
macro is set to apply bright green highlighting to selected text.)
☼ To make copies of the macro that will
apply different highlight colors, see the instructions in the comment
area at the top of the macro's code. (Just open the macro for editing
with Tools, Macro, Edit. Make the required change per the instructions,
and then click Save & Compile from the macro toolbar.)
☼ If you select the same highlighted
item and play the macro again, the highlighting (only) will be removed.
It acts as a "toggle" switch.
☼ To play the macro(s) with a toolbar
button or keystroke, click here
for instructions. To edit the default toolbar button's icon, click here. [Note the tip there about using Corel
Presentations to use a more extensive color pallette, or create buttons
with shading, fills, etc. Note also that you can use text labels on buttons instead of icons on a toolbar; an example is found in a PDF article about creating a vertical toolbar here.]
☼ Here's an old example of a "Highlighting"
toolbar you could create yourself with Tools, Settings, Customize,
Toobars, Create, then click Macros, Add Macro to add buttons/macros
for each color. See the comments inside the HiLiteNew macro for more information.
Note
Be aware that if you use the WordPerfect Redaction Tool (introduced in WordPerfect X4 and accessed with Tools, Redaction) while editing the current document, then the macro will detect any existing Redaction marks and pop up a warning message to alert you. [...More]
Download
HILITE.ZIP (full suite)
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HiLiteRem.wcm (v1.03)
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Purpose: Removes highlights and (optionally)
removes the highlighted words.
HiLiteRem also can be used to clean up
documents containing comments, annotations, or other text that have
been marked up with highlighting.
Screen shot of
HiLiteRem.
When you choose the menu option to
"search for each item and prompt user with choice of action," a small
dialog lets you -
(1) remove just the highlighting from the item,
(2)
remove both the highlighting and the highlighted text,
(3) skip
the item, or
(4) quit the macro.
This should make it easier to
selectively edit a marked-up document.
Note: Be aware that if you use the WordPerfect Redaction Tool (introduced in WordPerfect X4 and accessed with Tools, Redaction) while editing the current document, then the macro will detect any existing Redaction marks and pop up a warning message to alert you. [...More]
Download
HILITE.ZIP (full suite)
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HiLiteRC.wcm (v1.05)
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Purpose: Replaces the color of
existing highlighting in the document with a different color, either
the current color that is specified on the WordPerfect toolbar (or
Tools menu) or the color specified on the menu that pops up.
A menu option allows pausing to confirm
individual replacements.
Screen shot of
HiLiteRC.
For modifications
see the top of the macro's code. Click on
Tools, Macro, Edit, which opens the macro file for viewing and editing.
Note: Be aware that if you use the WordPerfect Redaction Tool (introduced in WordPerfect X4 and accessed with Tools, Redaction) while editing the current document, then the macro will detect any existing Redaction marks and pop up a warning message to alert you. [...More]
Download
HILITE.ZIP (full suite)
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Related tips
☼ Do you often need
to remove highlighting from a single highlighted word
or section of highlighted text?
WP has a built-in "Remove
Highlighting" feature that you can add to a toolbar as a new button.
The button will be active only if
the cursor is directly on some highlighted text or if a selected block
of text contains highlighting.
Here's how to add this feature to a
toolbar:
- Right-click the toolbar and choose
Edit from the context menu. This will display the Toolbar Editor.
- Under the Features tab, choose
Tools from the "Feature categories" drop list.
- Scroll down in the "Features" list
and choose Remove Highlighting.
- Click on the "Add Button" button.
When the new button appears on the toolbar you can use your mouse to
drag it to a new location.
- Click OK, then Close.
☼ Do you need to
print a document without the highlighting?
Click Tools, Highlight and de-select
the option, "Print/Show".
Enable this option following the print run.
☼ Using the Redaction Tool (WordPerfect X4 and later) with Highlighting in the same document
Be aware that if you use the WordPerfect Redaction Tool (Tools, Redaction) while editing the current document and before finalizing the redactions, the HiLite macros on this page will detect any existing Redaction codes ([Redact:Mark]) and pop up a warning message to alert you.
Two reasons for the alert:
[1] Redaction mark-up codes [Redact:Mark] act like Highlighting codes [Highlight], and they can sometimes interact in a document.
For example, when a section of text is
first marked for redaction and then that section is also highlighted,
or previously applied highlighting to that marked-up section is
globally removed, the redaction codes might be removed.
Hence the macro's message suggests creating the final redacted document first, before removing any regular highlighting. Redaction
codes will not exist in the finalized redacted document, so there won't
be any conflict with normal highlighting — no matter how it is achieved —
in the finalized redacted document.
[2] Furthermore, there can be an issue using a search/replace operation for [Highlight] codes when [Redact:Mark]
codes are present: WordPerfect cannot tell them apart and will treat
them equally (or in a macro search, just stop processing when a [Redact:Mark] is found).
These are issues with the design of the WordPerfect Redaction Tool — described on WordPerfect Universe here (and in a detailed downloadable PDF here) — and not an issue per se with the HiLite macros on this page.
Tip:
As an alternative to the Redaction Tool, see the Redactor macro. It is designed to create a printed document with your redactions.
It works by converting redlined text (Format, Font, Redline) to black highlighting
-or- converts it to a white color -or- it can completely remove
("rubout") redlined text (and optionally clear Undo information). Also
see that page about removing metadata, which can contain confidential
information.
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