Temporary Hard Returns (THRt) in WordPerfect

Every once in a while, WordPerfect users find that the program refuses to perform a particular task and instead inserts a mysterious code that looks like so: [THRt]. This instruction, known as a Temporary Hard Return, can’t be deleted, but you can make it disappear — and make your document behave — by doing a few tweaks.

There are a few different reasons WP inserts a Temporary Hard Return code. Usually it means that some code that follows the THRt needs to be placed at the beginning of a line or on a new page.

An obsolete article from the Corel Knowledge Base provides an example that might help clarify how THRt codes work. (Try to ignore the fractured English, which is taken verbatim from the article.)

[THRt] Codes Appear in a Document and Cannot be Deleted
Article ID: 19484
Revision Date: November 02, 1998

Text inserted on a line followed by a paragraph formating code (IE., Table, Columns, etc) cause a THRt codes to appear in a document. This code cannot be deleted.

The THRt code is a Temporary Hard Return Codes. It is a paragraph formatting codes which act the same as [SRt] Soft Return codes. The code was entered by the program because whatever formatting follows that code must appear at the beginning of a line. This is working as designed.

For example: If the word “Test” is typed and a table is created directly after the word “Test” (with the cursor on the same line) a [THRt] code will be inserted after the word “Test.” This is because WordPerfect requires a table to begin on a new line. WordPerfect will remove the THRt code when the formatting is changed or in this instance the table is moved to a new line.

© Corel Corporation

WordPerfect also sometimes inserts a THRt if you type a word that is too long for the space allotted (such as in a narrow column) and you don’t have hyphenation turned on. It might help to turn on hyphenation (Tools menu, Language, Hyphenation, check the “Turn hyphenation on” box, and click OK) or bump the lengthy word down to the next line.

In other situations, changing or deleting the formatting that precedes the THRt code should remove the THRt code — because it no longer has a reason to exist. If that doesn’t help, try inserting a regular hard return [HRt] (by pressing the Enter key) or a hard page code [HPg] (by pressing Ctrl Enter) so that the stray formatting code that is causing the problem moves to the beginning of the next line or the next page.

Function keys acting funky? An F-lock keyboard could be the culprit…

Recently, a client of mine called me into his office and plaintively asked why he couldn’t get a certain familiar keyboard shortcut to work. I tried the shortcut myself, to no avail. Then it came to me: “Maybe he’s using an F-lock keyboard.”

I examined the keyboard and quickly discovered the notorious F-lock key.[1] One quick press, and the keyboard shortcut in question again worked as expected. The client was thrilled, and I was relieved.

Not all keyboard problems have such a simple solution. However, if the key combos that you rely on to perform your daily tasks suddenly stop working, suspect the F-lock keyboard. It’s easy to test and, if that is indeed the culprit, easy to fix.

Introduced by Microsoft in 2001, the F-lock keyboard gives users the option of changing the way the function keys — as well as keys such as Insert, Num Lock, Prnt Scrn, Scroll Lock, and Break — operate. Sounds useful, no? In theory, the idea that people can remap their keyboard by pressing a single button makes a certain amount of sense. The problem is that Microsoft chose to make the alternate keyboard (the one with the remapped keys) the default, requiring users to figure out (1) that the unexpected change in functionality is by design — i.e., nothing is broken, and (2) how to restore the conventional functions to the F-keys and the others that Microsoft has modified.

To make matters still more confusing, the default setting is considered “Off” rather than “On” (it might help to think of the standard functions being turned off unless you deliberately press the F-lock key to turn them back on again). And even after you restore the conventional settings by pressing the F-lock key, the keyboard might revert to the alternate settings if there’s a power surge or if you have to disconnect and reconnect the keyboard for some reason.[2]

Here is a list of the function key commands that go into effect when the F-lock key is “Off” (i.e., the default state of the F-lock keyboard):

F1 — Help (same as the standard setting)
F2 — Undo
F3 — Redo
F4 — New
F5 — Open
F6 — Close
F7 — Reply (to e-mail)
F8 — Forward (e-mail)
F9 — Send (e-mail)
F10 — Spell
F11 — Save
F12 — Print

When you purchase an F-lock keyboard (or a computer that comes with one), you’ll likely receive a disk that contains Microsoft’s “IntelliType Pro” software that allows you to remap the function keys yourself. I have no personal experience with this software, so I don’t know how user-friendly it is or isn’t.

There are also a few hacks available, but I don’t recommend them for anyone other than advanced users — such as IT people — who understand (and are able to repair) the potential negative consequences of such hacks. (CAUTION: If you do decide to attempt a hack, it’s a good idea to back up the Registry and/or set a restore point beforehand so that you can roll things back to their previous state if something goes wrong during your experiments.[3]) Remember, the easiest fix is simply to press the F-lock key, which will toggle between the conventional F-key functions and what Microsoft refers to as the “enhanced” functions. If for some reason that doesn’t work (and it’s worth trying twice just to make sure[4]), it’s possible that something else is causing the problem.

For more information about the F-lock keyboard, see the links below:

F-Lock (short but helpful Wikipedia article)

Resolve unexpected Function (F1 – F12) or other special key behavior (Microsoft Knowledge Base article)

Microsoft Keyboards — F-Lock Key (Microsoft MVP Jason Tsang’s helpful post, which includes information about a couple of available hacks)

Function Keys (Older thread on WordPerfect Universe that deals with the F-lock keyboard and one possible hack)

new keyboard (Another older thread on WPU with userful information and links)
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[1] The F-lock key typically is located at the upper right side of the keyboard. However, there are several different F-lock keyboards in circulation, and the location of the F-lock key — as well as which specific alternate commands are available — depends on the make and model of your keyboard. Note that Logitech, Viewsonic, and other manufacturers besides Microsoft also make F-lock keyboards.

[2] This problem is less of an issue with the newer F-lock keyboards, which tend to retain the user’s preferred settings even after a power loss.

[3] If you don’t know how to back up the Registry and/or set a restore point, you probably shouldn’t attempt a keyboard hack. If necessary, your IT person probably can do it for you.

[4] Should the keyboard not work as expected, you might try closing out of all open programs and shutting the computer down, unplugging the keyboard, reattaching it, and rebooting.

Word 2007 pleading templates now available for a low introductory price

Bargain alert!

For a short time — between now and February 15, 2010 — we will be offering our basic pleading templates for Word 2007 for sale for the low introductory price of $9.50 each. After February 15, the price will go up to $15.00 per template (still a very reasonable sum for such an essential item!).

Note that this price applies only to our simple 24-point templates (you can choose between one that “suppresses” page numbering on the first page and one that doesn’t do so). The templates are not interactive, and they don’t contain codes for the file name and path. However, they do include a California Rules of Court-compliant footer (incorporating a page number code and the requisite horizontal line, plus a placeholder for the short document title) that is easy to modify to suit your needs. And, upon request, we will change the jurisdiction from the default — Los Angeles County — to the county of your choice.

If you are interested in buying a basic pleading template, drop us a note at our primary business address or at templates AT compusavvy DOT com. We’ll provide more information and instructions for completing the purchase. In the meantime, we will make images of both templates available on the CompuSavvy web site (and will provide a link here**) so that you can get an idea of what they look like before deciding to buy.

Please allow a few days for us to process your request.

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**Here is what the template with the page number “suppressed” on the first page looks like: Pleading With “Suppressed” Page Number

And here is what the template with the page number on all pages looks like:
Pleading With Page Number on All Pages

A workaround for X-refs not displaying when the Style Separator is used (Word 2007)

Last week, I received an inquiry from a lawyer who said his firm was experiencing a perplexing issue with Word 2007. The firm uses numbered heading styles plus style separators for “run-in” paragraphs — paragraphs where the text immediately follows the heading (that is, it starts on the same line as the heading rather than a line or two below).

A style separator is a sort of “hidden” paragraph symbol that tells Word to treat the text that follows as if it were in fact part of a different paragraph. That allows you, in effect, to apply two paragraph styles to the same paragraph. For example, you can format the beginning of a paragraph with the Heading 1 (or Heading 2, etc.) style, while applying Normal or Body Text to the remainder of the paragraph.[1]

The main advantage of using a style separator is that the text following the heading isn’t automatically pulled into the Table of Contents, a common problem with documents that contain run-in paragraphs. However, there is a glitch in Word 2007 — I’m not certain if prior versions behave the same way — whereby paragraphs that employ both numbered headings and a style separator seemingly aren’t displayed in the Cross-Reference dialog, preventing users from inserting a cross-reference to one of the numbered paragraphs.[2]

After a little research, I discovered a workaround (which was suggested by Word MVP Suzanne Barnhill). When you are working with numbered paragraphs, by default the Cross-Reference dialog opens with the “Reference type” drop-down (on the left side of the dialog) showing “Numbered Item.” However, when you click the drop-down, you’ll see additional reference types; the second one is “Heading.” If you choose that option, the numbered paragraphs that use style separators magically appear. You then can use the “Insert reference to” drop-down on the right side of the dialog to choose the appropriate option — “Heading number” if you wish to refer to the paragraph number or “Page number” if you wish to refer to the page on which the paragraph appears. (Watch out: The default is “Heading text,” which may or may not be the choice you want. Presumably most people intend to insert the heading number / paragraph number.)[3]

Note that when you change the “Reference type” to “Heading,” the Cross-Reference dialog won’t display numbered paragraphs that do not have heading styles applied to them. That shouldn’t be a major issue, though. You can switch back and forth between or among “Reference types” while inserting cross-references. The result will be the same as if all of the numbered paragraphs — including those using a style separator — appeared together in the dialog box.

This workaround seems like a simple and elegant solution to the problem. I am indebted to Suzanne Barnhill for the tip, which she proffered in an exchange in one of the Office KB Community forums.

Another workaround is to bookmark the headings that use style separators and then select “Bookmark” as the “Reference type.”[3] But this solution is somewhat more complicated and time-consuming than the first one. Also, because you can’t use punctuation (including periods) in bookmark names, you don’t have the option of using a logical name such as “Par2.3″ (though you could substitute something such as “Par2point3″). Still, the bookmark workaround does work and is worth keeping in mind should the “switch reference type” solution not be suitable in certain circumstances.

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[1] To insert a style separator at the cursor position (you normally place it immediately after a heading), press Ctrl Alt Enter. Alternatively, you can add a style separator icon to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) by doing the following: Right-click the QAT and click “Customize Quick Access Toolbar…,” then use the “Choose commands from” drop-down toward the top left of the Word Options screen to select either “Commands Not in the Ribbon” or “All Commands.” In the box below the “Choose commands from” drop-down, scroll about 7/8 of the way down and look for “Style Separator.” Click to select it, click the “Add” button, use the “Move Up” or “Move Down” buttons at the right side of the screen to move the icon to the left or right on the QAT if you wish, then click OK to save your settings.

[2] You can open the Cross-Reference dialog from either the Insert tab, Links group or the References tab, Captions group.

[3] To create the bookmark, select the heading or insert the cursor between the paragraph number and the style separator — not after the style separator! — and click Insert, Bookmark, then give the bookmark a name and click “Add.” When you go to insert a cross-reference to a bookmarked paragraph, click the “Reference type” drop-down, select “Bookmark,” click the bookmark you want to use, make sure “Insert reference to” is showing the appropriate option (probably “Paragraph number”), and then click the “Insert” button.

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to all of my readers for good health and happiness — as well as financial security, peace of mind, contentment, and the warmth of family and friends — in the new year. I hope that 2010 is your best year to date.

I also hope that the coming year bestows upon all of us the benefits of a more peaceful and environmentally sustainable world.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and patronage in 2009! I look forward to working with you — and, I hope, helping to resolve any lingering Word and WordPerfect issues that continue to perplex you — next year.

P.S. Do keep checking back for new substantive posts. I’m planning to add a couple over the long holiday weekend. I’m also contemplating whether to allow reader comments, although I’m not sure I’ll have time to respond at length.

Need a California pleading template for Word 2007?

Word 2007, unlike prior versions, doesn’t come with a Pleading Wizard. That fact has left some users in the lurch — especially people who are migrating to Word from WordPerfect. As a result, we periodically see requests on the web for a Word 2007 pleading paper template.

We happen to have a few different templates available, including a couple that use 24 points for double spacing and 12 points for single spacing. (One “suppresses” the page number on the first page; the other doesn’t.) As we prepare to offer the templates for sale — for a modest fee — we’d like to assess the demand therefor.

Hence, we’ve added a new poll that attempts to gauge the level of interest in buying a (simple) California pleading template for Word 2007. You can find the poll on the Polls page. We would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to respond (no hurry — just whenever you get a chance).

Many thanks for your feedback. To read more about the pleading templates, see this press release on the CompuSavvy web site.

In the meantime, we wish you all of the charms of the holiday season, as well as good health and contentment in the coming year!

Does WordPerfect have a “Track Changes” feature? Well, sort of…

Many people who use MS Word are accustomed to turning on the “Track Changes” feature when they want the program to mark revisions (insertions, deletions, and moved text) automatically as they type. This feature is highly customizable. It allows each user to select specific font colors, underlining styles, and other font attributes for text that is redlined, stricken, or moved. For example, I have set my Track Changes options so that insertions appear in blue with double underlining and deletions appear in red with a strikeout line (also in red).

Another convenient aspect of Track Changes is that when someone (whether the document author or a reviewer) positions the mouse pointer over revisions, a pop-up indicates who made the change, as well as the date / time and the nature of the modification.

Word users who also occasionally work in WordPerfect sometimes ask whether WP has a comparable feature. The short answer is, “sort of.”

The feature in WordPerfect that most closely resembles Track Changes is called “Document Review.” It serves some of the same purposes as Track Changes, but — be forewarned — not all of them. Nor does it work exactly the same way.

Before you test the feature, be sure to make a copy of your document, for two reasons: (1) so that you don’t accidentally overwrite a critical file, and (2) so that you have the option of keeping sequential drafts of the doc for purposes of comparing the drafts later on if you wish.

Once you have created a backup, open it into WordPerfect and click the File menu, Document, Review. You will see a dialog box that allows you to act as a reviewer or as the document author. Your first impulse might be to click “Author.” However, even if you are the author of the document, you can — and might want to — work on the doc as a reviewer. The advantage of doing so is that your revisions (insertions and deletions) will automatically appear in color as you work on the document — emulating, at least to a certain degree, the way that Track Changes works. If, instead, you choose to act as the author, your modifications won’t appear in color, but you will be able to go through the document and selectively accept or reject changes that other people have made.

To enable the quasi-Track Changes mode, click the “Reviewer” button. Doing so will open a Reviewer Toolbar that features a drop-down list of reviewers, plus a few buttons. The buttons at the left side of the toolbar let you (1) select a color for insertions or deletions, (2) enable or disable markings in the margin to flag lines that contain changes[1], and (3) display insertions and deletions in the normal text color (similar to the “Final” display option for tracked changes in Word). In addition, there are two buttons at the right side of the toolbar: one to close the toolbar and one to invoke WP Help (which is context-sensitive).

If your name is not already in the Reviewer List box, you’ll see a User Name box and a User Initials box. Type your name and initials. Then open the color picker and select a color. Make sure not to choose a color that has been selected by another reviewer (if any) in the list. (You can select a different color later on if you decide you don’t like the original color you chose.) Then go ahead and edit the document to your heart’s content. Make sure to save the revised document afterwards.

The first thing to point out about Document Review is that, whether you are working on the doc as an author or as a reviewer, your display options are significantly more limited than they are in Word. Your insertions and deletions always appear in the same color, differentiated only by the existence of strikeout lines through the deletions. (Individual reviewers can, and usually do, have their own unique color.) As mentioned above, you can change your revision color, but you can’t apply one color to insertions and a different color to deletions. Nor can you apply other font attributes, such as bolding, italics, underlining, or double underlining, to your changes.

Although WP Help appears to suggest that you can alter the appearance of insertions, deletions, and moved text, any changes you make via the File menu, Document Compare, Settings will apply only if you use the the Document Compare feature itself. They don’t appear when you are using Document Review.

Another difference between Word’s Track Changes feature and WP’s Document Review feature is that pop-ups with information about a particular revision and the person who made the change appear only when you are acting as a reviewer. If you click “Author” in order to view and accept or reject modifications that others have made, you won’t see any pop-ups. However, each reviewer’s markings display in his or her distinctive color, and you have the option of displaying only one particular reviewer’s changes (rather than changes made by all reviewers) by clicking the “View annotations from” drop-down and clicking that reviewer’s name.

When you review a document as the author, you will see a somewhat different Reviewing Toolbar — one with more commands than those on the toolbar displayed for reviewers. In addition to the familiar icons for toggling margin markings on and off and for displaying revisions in the normal text color, there are buttons for moving to (and selecting / highlighting) the previous annotation (WordPerfect terminology for an insertion or deletion) or the next one; for inserting (i.e., accepting) the current (selected) annotation, for inserting all annotations in the document, for rejecting (i.e., deleting) the current (selected) annotation, and for rejecting all annotations. At the right side of the toolbar, you will see Close and Help buttons.

As in Word, the revision marks — and the Reviewing Toolbar — will appear whenever you open a document that has gone through the Document Review process. The only way to make the markings (and the Reviewing Toolbar) disappear permanently is to review the document as an Author and accept or reject each individual modification, close the Reviewing Toolbar, and save the final draft.

If you haven’t accepted or rejected all of the revisions but the markings aren’t visible, it’s possible that you have closed the Reviewing Toolbar. To reopen it, simply click the File menu, Document, Review, then click Author.

Despite its inherent limitations, the Document Review feature can be useful. It allows you to mark insertions and deletions automatically as you type, rather than going back and manually adding strikeout and redlining (which, of course, you can do at any point — even in a document that has undergone a Document Review — by selecting the text and then applying the appropriate marks via the Font dialog or via the redline and strikeout icons on the Legal Toolbar[2]). Also, it lets the author circulate a document to various people for review and subsequently accept or reject modifications suggested by those reviewers.

The point is that Document Review isn’t 100% comparable to Word’s Track Changes feature, so it’s important to keep your expectations in check.

For a relatively lengthy discussion of the Document Review feature, see this WordPerfect Universe thread . It’s more than two years old and involves WordPerfect X3, but as far as I know, the conclusions (and instructions) remain valid.

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[1] By default, WP uses a “greater than” symbol (>) as the margin marker. If you want to use a different character, click File, Document, Review, and click to put a check in the “Place marker in margin of lines with edited text” box. When you do so, the “Marking character” box — normally grayed out — will become available. Type the character you’d like to use, then click either the “Reviewer” or “Author” button. (Don’t click “Cancel,” or WP will revert to the default character when you enable the mark margins feature.)

[2] To display the Legal Toolbar or any of the other toolbars that come with WordPerfect, click the View menu, Toolbars, locate the toolbar you want to use (you might need to use the scrollbar), click to put a check in the box next to the toolbar’s name, then click OK.

A few useful (but obscure) Word 2007 options

There are several default settings in Word 2007 that new users often want to change but have trouble locating. To make that task easier, here is a list a few of the configuration options my clients ask about most frequently. It’s far from comprehensive, and both the items I’ve chosen to discuss and the order of the list are somewhat random. However, the list should help you track down some of the key settings that Microsoft has tucked away in places you wouldn’t necessarily think to look.

Each of these settings can be found by clicking the Office button, then navigating to and clicking the Word Options button at the very bottom of the fly-out menu (under Recent Documents). If you prefer keyboard shortcuts, you can press the key combination Alt F, I. (In earlier versions of Word, most configuration options are located on various tabs within the Options dialog, which you invoke by clicking the Tools menu, Options.)

In Word 2007, the Word Options are grouped into categories and subcategories. Clicking a category in the navigation area at the left side of the screen produces several subcategories for that category. Depending on the category, you might need to scroll down to see all of the subcategories.

Remember to click OK before exiting the Word Options. Otherwise, Word won’t save your modified settings.

Options Listed Under “Popular”

When you first open the Word Options, you’re taken to the “Popular” category. One of the choices there that people sometimes want to disable is the Mini Toolbar. That’s the toolbar that, by default, pops up automatically when you select text — at first appearing as a faint, ghostly presence, and then solidifying when you move the mouse pointer over it. Many people like it, but if you don’t, simply uncheck it and OK out of the Word Options.

Options Listed Under “Display”

Clicking the “Display” category on the left takes you first to the “Page display options” subcategory.

My clients sometimes ask how to turn on the option that shows the top of a virtual page, including the margin area (i.e., where any header would appear), rather than hiding that portion of the page and having the first line of text appear immediately below the Ruler (if the Ruler is displayed). That is the setting at the top of this subcategory, the one labeled “Show white space between pages in Print Layout view.” To enable it, click to put a check in the box, then OK out.

Note that even with this option enabled, it’s possible to hide the white space by accident. If you are certain that you turned the option on but you’re not seeing white space between pages, move the cursor to the top of the virtual page — into the slim area between the document and the Ruler or whatever is immediately above the document — and, when the mouse pointer becomes a double-headed arrow (one pointing down and one pointing up), double-click. That should display the white space again. (Double-clicking in that area toggles between displaying and hiding the white space.)

It’s unlikely that you’ll want to change the other default settings under “Page display options,” but give them a quick glance just in case. Keep in mind that if you check any of the choices under “Always show these formatting marks on the screen,” those non-printing characters will display at all times — even if you click the paragraph symbol (pilcrow) in the Paragraph group on the Home tab in an effort to toggle them off. This is a potential “gotcha” to keep at the back of your mind.

Options Listed Under “Advanced”

There are a handful of settings listed in the “Advanced” category that you might want to change.

The “Editing options” Subcategory

One of these, hiding demurely in the middle of the “Editing options” subcategory, is “Use the Insert key to control overtype mode.” Surprisingly, this setting is turned off by default — which makes Word 2007 different from previous versions of Word and from nearly all other Windows programs, in which the Insert key toggles between Insert mode (where new typing bumps existing text over to the right, rather than replacing it) and Typeover or Overtype mode (where new typing actually erases existing text).

Upon reflection, it makes sense that Microsoft chose to disable this feature by default, considering how commonly people press the Insert key and end up overwriting existing text by accident. Still, considering what a radical departure this change represents, many people are caught off guard by it. If you want to enable the option, making Word 2007 behave more like traditional Windows programs, just click the first checkbox. Watch out, though: The second checkbox (labeled “Use overtype mode”) makes Typeover / Overtype the default, which is neither the norm nor the mode that most people prefer.

The “Cut, copy, and paste” Subcategory

Perhaps the most common question I get from clients about configuration options is how to disable the “Paste Options” buttons. By default, these little guys pop up whenever you paste text within a document or between docs. They’re designed to make it easy for you to control the formatting of pasted text — to ensure that it appears in the same format as the original text or in the same format as the text in the location where you’re pasting it — but, judging from my clients’ reactions, a lot of people find the buttons more annoying than useful. If you agree, click to uncheck “Show Paste Options buttons” and OK out.

The “Display” Subcategory

The Recent Documents list in Word 2007 allows for the display of a much larger number of docs than in previous versions of Word (where the maximum number was nine). If memory serves, the default setting is 20. You can change this setting via the “Display” subcategory of the “Advanced” Word Options by using the arrows (“spinners”) or by simply typing a higher or lower number under “Show this number of Recent Documents.”

Another useful option that you can configure in the “Display” subcategory is the one labeled “Style area pane width in Draft and Outline Views.” When you type a number higher than zero — and usually greater than 1 (meaning 1″) — Word will show the styles in use in your document in a narrow area in the left margin when you switch to Draft view. There are other ways to display the styles in your document (for example, you can add a button to the Quick Access Toolbar [QAT] that shows the style of the paragraph your cursor is in[1]), but this method has the advantage of showing all the styles in the document at a glance.

Another highly requested option that is located in the “Advanced” Category under “Display” is one that I’ve written about elsewhere in this blog, namely, the one that allows you to display a second set of “control buttons” (Minimize, Maximize / Restore, and Close) that affect individual documents, rather than the program itself. This setting is confusing for two reasons: (1) because the default setting hides the second set of control buttons — such that large numbers of people accidentally close Word when they meant to close a specific document; and (2) the wording of the option doesn’t give any indication whatsoever that the setting affects the control buttons.

The option is labeled “Show all windows in the Taskbar.” When it is enabled, as it is by default, each open document is displayed in the Windows Taskbar, which is well and good. However, the trade-off is that the second set of control buttons — the ones that affect the document rather than the program — is hidden. To display the document control buttons, you have to uncheck this option. But be aware that when you do so, individual documents will no longer display in the Taskbar.

Only you can decide which of the two alternatives you prefer. If you decide you’d rather see the document control buttons, consider adding a “Switch Windows” button to the QAT so that you have any easy way of displaying (and moving among) your open documents. (See footnote [1] below for instructions on adding buttons to the QAT.) Of course, you also have the option of using the “Switch Windows” command at the right side of the View tab, and if you like, you can cycle among your open documents by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl F6.

Although this list isn’t exhaustive, I hope that it goes a long way toward helping you reconfigure Word to make it work the way you want it to.

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[1] To add a “Style” box to the QAT: Right-click the QAT, then click Customize Quick Access Toolbar…. When the Word Options opens, navigate to the “Choose commands from” drop-down on the left and click it, then select “All Commands” (the default is “Popular Commands”). Scroll down about 5/6 of the way until you find “Style” (not “Styles,” plural). Click to select it, then click the “Add” button toward the center of the screen. To move the style box left or right on the QAT, click the up (left) or down (right) button. Then click OK to save your settings and close the Word Options.

To add a “Switch Windows” button to the QAT: Right-click the QAT, then click Customize Quick Access Toolbar… When the Word Options opens, navigate to the “Choose commands from” drop-down on the left and click it, then select “View Tab” (the default is “Popular Commands”). Scroll down until you find “Switch Windows.” Click to select it, then click the “Add” button toward the center of the screen. To move the style box left or right on the QAT, click the up (left) or down (right) button. Then click OK to save your settings and close the Word Options.

Note that you might find it useful to move the QAT below the Ribbon, if you haven’t done so already. When you do so, it will expand all the way across the screen, allowing you to add quite a few icons to help you carry out the tasks you perform most frequently. To reposition the QAT, right-click it and click Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon.

My Lyon 2010 calendar is now on Amazon!

The good news is that my calendar is available on Amazon — you can buy it via this link. The bad news is that, although they just posted the description, there aren’t any previews available on the Amazon page.** However, you can preview four images from the 12-month wall calendar on the Lulu.com page. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the main advantage of buying from Amazon is that its shipping costs typically are lower than Lulu’s, although Lulu does offer discounts from time to time, particularly on weekends.

I’ll repeat the description here:

A paean to Lyon, France, showcasing the city’s natural beauty as well as some of its architectural landmarks and monuments. Photos of the historic town center known as “Vieux Lyon,” with its cobblestone streets and medieval towers, alternate with serene images of a sprawling park at the north end of the city and of the majestic Saône River. Toward the end, the calendar depicts some of the shimmering displays that dazzle tourists and residents alike during the Festival of Lights every December. Both American and French holidays are listed.

All photographs © 2006/2008 Jan Berinstein.

PLEASE NOTE: Proceeds from the sale of this calendar will be split 50:50 with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).

Please let your contacts — Francophiles and others — know about the availability of the calendar on Amazon.

I think the photos capture the essential charm and scenic majesty of Lyon. I hope you enjoy them.

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**Addendum as of 12/15/2009: I’ve just uploaded three additional images from the calendar to the Amazon page, in essence creating a preview. I might add one more at some point in the next couple of days. Also note that Lulu has provided a number of coupon codes on this page; be sure to look at the entire page. These particular coupons expire on December 24th.

My Lyon 2010 calendar will be available on Amazon soon!

As of next Wednesday, December 9, my Lyon, France 2010 wall calendar will be available for purchase from Amazon.com as well as from Lulu.com. That’s great news, given that shipping charges tend to be lower on Amazon (and that the company frequently offers free shipping if you reach a certain threshold — for instance, by ordering multiple items such as holiday gifts).[1]

I don’t have a specific link yet, but I’ll post one as soon as it’s available. And presumably you’ll be able to locate the calendar on or after next Wednesday simply by searching for my name on Amazon.

I’m planning to mail some postcards about the calendar to French businesses early next week. In the meantime, if you know anyone who might be interested (whether or not they have some type of “French connection”), please pass along the news about the listing on Amazon. Let them know that I’m donating 50% of the net proceeds from sales of the calendar to a good cause — The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society — and that the calendar, which represents a unique personal vision of one of the loveliest cities in Europe, makes a great gift.

For previews of four of the twelve months, you can visit the calendar’s page on Lulu. (I’m not certain, but I doubt that previews will be available on Amazon.)

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[1] Note that Lulu often runs promotions, especially on weekends, whereby you can obtain substantial discounts on items you purchase there by entering a coupon code at checkout.