# I know what I was trying to highlight, thanks... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 11, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987 "2006-11-11T07:14:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pseudopod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecd19e/32.png) [@Pseudopod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pseudopod)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/21 "2006-11-12T04:24:50Z")
Christ, try writing a play on MS word. It just couldn’t deal with whole sections tabbed inward, so it would spontaneously reformat big chunks of play. I was reading the final version the other day and realized I never did get it all right before I printed it and handed it in. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/22 "2006-11-12T05:09:36Z")
[QUOTE=Pseudopod] Christ, try writing a play on MS word. It just couldn’t deal with whole sections tabbed inward, so it would spontaneously reformat big chunks of play. I was reading the final version the other day and realized I never did get it all right before I printed it and handed it in. [/QUOTE] The “Word” solution for this, in fact for any formatted text, is to use formatting styles. It’s actually one of the things that (IMHO) Word gets right. You define a block of text as a specific style, and it remembers all the formatting for it. I’ve written several scripts and many many outlines using styles, using some styles that I’ve accumulated over the years. I strongly recommend you play with styles if you work a lot with scripts and whatnot. If you want some pointers, let me know. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/23 "2006-11-13T18:01:11Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet] I strongly recommend you play with styles if you work a lot with scripts and whatnot. If you want some pointers, let me know. [/QUOTE] :nods: I’ll aslo add that Ctrl+Z (i.e. Undo) will undo any autoformat action and the program is generally sensible enough to not try it again on that section. So just keep an eye on it and hit Ctrl+Z when it misbehaves, imagine you’re hitting clippy with a stick when you do it. Or just turn it off as suggested above. Word 2003 seems much less tweaky about these things, and once you get the hang of styles it does make life much easier (along with giving you a new tool with which to trash your work). Although I’d forgotten about the leaking highlighter which did almost cause me to do violence to various machines. SD ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/24 "2006-11-13T18:05:12Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] Death to the paperclip. [/QUOTE] [On the off-chance you guys haven’t seen the paperclip video.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=uDqybzt6bpQ) (Caution: link contains strong language in audio.) ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/25 "2006-11-13T21:25:36Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet] I absolutely detest the “reading mode” feature they’ve added to Word 2003 - so that when you open a Word attachment from Outlook, the document gets scrunched and reformatted so that it fits into a 2-page view on-screen - tiny text, mangled tables, oversized graphics. Yet another setting to deactivate on first use, on every workstation you use. [/QUOTE] How do you turn it off? It drives me crazy, but I don’t see anything obvious in Word or Outlook to get rid of it. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/26 "2006-11-13T21:46:16Z")
[QUOTE=Ceejaytee] How do you turn it off? It drives me crazy, but I don’t see anything obvious in Word or Outlook to get rid of it. [/QUOTE] It’s in Word. In Word: “Tools” menu -\> “Options” menu item (opens Options window). In “Options” window: “General” tab -\> “Allow starting in Reading Layout” checkbox (uncheck this). Close Word. Test by loading a Word document attachment from Outlook. You can turn this off for the current document only, by choosing a different view mode in the “View” menu. I have no idea what “reading layout” is supposed to accomplish. I mean, I’m able to read the document without it, right? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/27 "2006-11-14T00:14:21Z")
While we’re at it, can I take this opportunity to curse Microsoft’s Equation Eggitator? Every time you go from normal body text to an equation and back, it has to do this little jig that resizes the text about five times and uses every free resource the system has to do it. It’s enough to make me want to format all of my technical documents in LaTex, or better yet, write them up in _Mathematica_ and then distribute as a PDF…which I would then paste into a corporate-mandated Microsoft Word format. Screw the man. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/28 "2006-11-14T01:09:33Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] While we’re at it, can I take this opportunity to curse Microsoft’s Equation Eggitator? [/QUOTE] We can also curse the fact that the equation editor, as much as it sucks, does not install by default. This means that it won’t be available untill one hunts down the IT department drones for every machine one needs to use. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/29 "2006-11-14T09:27:47Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] This thread is seriously tempting me to write a game where the sole purpose is to inflict punishment on that :bleeeeeeep: paperclip. (:bleep: since this is not the pit) [/QUOTE] I find your notions interesting and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/30 "2006-11-14T14:04:42Z")
[QUOTE=Kevbo] We can also curse the fact that the equation editor, as much as it sucks, does not install by default. This means that it won’t be available untill one hunts down the IT department drones for every machine one needs to use. [/QUOTE] Yesssssss. My uni had a laptop-for-everyone requirement, but I ignored theirs and got my own (refurbished). You should’ve SEEN how jealous my classmates were that I had the equation editor installed, since none of the laptops (at a university that’s mainly known for their engineering departments!) OR the desktops on campus had it installed. Muahahahahaaaaa. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987/31 "2006-11-14T18:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet] It’s in Word. In Word: “Tools” menu -\> “Options” menu item (opens Options window). In “Options” window: “General” tab -\> “Allow starting in Reading Layout” checkbox (uncheck this). Close Word. Test by loading a Word document attachment from Outlook. [/QUOTE] Thanks! I had looked there, but got thrown by the fact that that option was in a different column than the rest of them. I was in tab/column overload. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-what-i-was-trying-to-highlight-thanks/379987.md?page=1)