Switches in Word

This is an extract from MS-Word’s help file …

The following format instructions determine the use of uppercase and lowercase letters; number formats — for example, whether “9″ is displayed as “ix” (roman numerals) or “ninth” (ordinal text) and character formats (character formatting: Formatting you can apply to selected text characters.). Format switches also retain a field result’s formatting when the field is updated.

Capitalization formats
The following is a list of switches and items that they capitalize:

\* Caps
The first letter of each word
For example, {FILLIN “Type your name:” \* Caps } displays “Julie Tanner” even if the name is typed in lowercase letters.

\* FirstCap
The first letter of the first word
For example, {COMMENTS \* FirstCap } displays “Weekly report on sales”.

\* Upper
All letters
For example, {QUOTE “word” \* Upper } displays “WORD”.

\* Lower
All letters are lowercase.
For example, {FILENAME \* Lower } displays “weekly sales report.doc”.
Note: This switch has no effect if the entire field that contains the switch is formatted as small capital letters.

Number formats
The following is a list of number switches and their results:

\*alphabetic
Displays results as alphabetic characters. The result has the same case as the word “alphabetic” in the field code (field code: Placeholder text that shows where specified information from your data source will appear; the elements in a field that generate a field’s result. The field code includes the field characters, field type, and instructions.).
For example, { SEQ appendix \* ALPHABETIC } displays “B” (instead of “2″),
and { SEQ appendix \* alphabetic } displays “b”.

\*Arabic
Displays results as Arabic cardinal numerals
For example, { PAGE \* Arabic } displays “31″.
Note: If the Number format setting in the Page Number Format dialog box (Page Numbers command, Insert menu) is not Arabic, this switch overrides the Number format setting.

\*CardText
Displays results as cardinal text. The result is formatted in lowercase letters unless you add a format switch to specify a different capitalization.
For example, { = SUM(A1:B2) \* CardText } displays “seven hundred ninety”, and { = SUM(A1:B2) \* CardText \* Caps } displays “Seven Hundred Ninety”.

\*DollarText
Displays results as cardinal text. Microsoft Word inserts “and” at the decimal place and displays the first two decimals (rounded) as Arabic numerators over 100. The result is formatted in lowercase letters unless you add a format switch to specify a different capitalization.
For example, { = 9.20 + 5.35 \* DollarText \* Upper } displays “FOURTEEN AND 55/100″.

\*Hex
Displays results as hexadecimal numbers
For example, {QUOTE “458″ \* Hex } displays “1CA”.

\*OrdText
Displays results as ordinal text. The result is formatted in lowercase letters unless you add a format switch to specify a different capitalization.
For example, { DATE \@ “d” \* OrdText } displays “twenty-first”,
and { DATE \@ “d” \* OrdText \* FirstCap } displays “Twenty-first”.

\*Ordinal
Displays results as ordinal Arabic numerals
For example, { DATE \@ “d” \* Ordinal } displays “30th”.

\*roman
Displays results as Roman numerals. The result has the same case as the word “roman” in the field code.
For example, { SEQ CHAPTER \* roman } displays “xi”,
and { SEQ CHAPTER \* ROMAN } displays “XI”.

Character formats and protecting previously applied formats
The following are character formatting switches and their results:

\*Charformat
Applies the formatting of the first letter of the field type (field type: The name that identifies the action or effect the field has in the document. Examples of field types are AUTHOR, COMMENTS, and DATE.) to the entire result. The result of the following example has bold formatting because the “R” in “REF” is bold.
For example, { REF chapter2_title \* Charformat } displays “Whales of the Pacific”.
Note: To add this switch, type it in the field code (field code: Placeholder text that shows where specified information from your data source will appear; the elements in a field that generate a field’s result. The field code includes the field characters, field type, and instructions.) or in the Field codes box in the Field dialog box (Insert menu, Field command).

\*MERGEFORMAT
Applies the formatting of the previous result to the new result.
For example, if you select the name displayed by the field { AUTHOR \* MERGEFORMAT } and apply bold formatting, Microsoft Word retains the bold formatting when the field is updated when the author name changes.
Note: When you insert fields by using the Field dialog box (Insert menu, Field command), the \*MERGEFORMAT switch is included by default. You can turn this option off by clearing the Preserve formatting during updates check box in the Field dialog box.

Smart keys in MS-Word

Here are some of my favourite short keys in MS-Word …
<Ctrl + N> ..  New Document
<Ctrl + O>  ..  Open a Document
<Ctrl + F6> ..  Switch Open Documents

<Ctrl + Shift + N>  ..  Remove all styles from paragraph
<Ctrl + Shift + spacebar>   ..  Will prevent two words splitting over two lines and move them onto the next line.