MTips E-Zine

Newsletter for MT’s using MS Word

Vol 1 No 11 September 20, 2001

Laura Bryan Editor

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Table of Contents:

1. Feature Article: Can-do Macros

2. QuickTakes-Keyboarding Tips: Getting From Here to There

3. Technical Advice: Windows2000: What About Me?

4. Bloopers

5. Other Sites To See

Editor’s note: So, how are you doing? Really? I have stared blankly at my computer and my TV for hours over the last nine days, as I am sure many of you have done the same. There is no way to overstate the horror we have all witnessed, but neither can we overstate the good that we have seen as a result. My generation has never seen this outpouring of patriotism that older generations have experienced and sorely miss. And never has anyone seen so many people reaching out to each other and reaching out to God for comfort and hope. Did you realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ presented by Billy Graham at the National Cathedral on Friday reached the ears of more people at one time than ever before in history? The entire world was His audience! God is not a lucky charm in anyone’s pocket, not ours’ or bin Ladin’s, and Satan is no respecter of race or religion. My heart is heavy for all those who have lost, and my prayer is for us all. God, please bless America.

Laura

Can-do Macros

In the last issue, we discussed how and when to avoid using a macro. In this issue, we will suggest a couple of ways you CAN use the macro recorder.

Keep in mind when you are planning a macro that mouse movements within the document space are NOT recorded. For example, you cannot direct Word to place the cursor at the beginning of the document by clicking the mouse–you must use the command keys. If you have not done so already, this would be a good time to review keystrokes for moving around in a document (see below).

I like to use macros to speed editing and proofing tasks. A simple yet useful macro is one that will delete part or all of a sentence. The following examples take advantage of the Extend mode which is invoked using the F8 key. To delete an entire sentence, place the insertion point anywhere in a sentence, then turn on the macro recorder and record these steps: press F8 three times to select the sentence and then press delete. Turn off the recorder to end the macro. To create a macro that will delete the last part of a sentence, place the insertion point at the beginning of the text to be deleted. Turn on the recorder and record these keystrokes: press F8 once, press the Period key and then press Delete. Turn off the recorder to end the macro. Be sure to assign a shortcut key to these macros to make editing quick and efficient.

To use the macros, simply place the insertion point within the sentence. To delete the entire sentence, you can place the insertion point anywhere then press the shortcut keys. To delete the end of a sentence, place the cursor to the left of the text to be deleted before pressing the shortcut keys.

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QuickTakes-Keyboarding Tips

Getting From Here to There

When recording macros, you can use the mouse to click commands on menus and toolbars, but Word will not record clicks within the actual document. When planning macros, especially for editing, proofing or creating log sheets, you may find the following keystrokes quite helpful:

Home-places insertion point at the beginning of a line.

End-places insertion point at the end of a line.

CTL+Home-returns the insertion point to the beginning of the document.

CTL+End-sends the insertion point to the end of the document.

CTL+Up arrow-sends the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph.

CTL+Left arrow-moves insertion point to the beginning of the word.

CTL+Right arrow-moves insertion point to the beginning of the next word.

And, of course, holding down the shift key with any of the above combinations will select the text between the initial insertion point and the resultant insertion point.

Do you teach medical transcription?

Will your students be prepared to work with today’s technology?

Technical Advice

From Bob’s PCWerks

Windows 2000... What About Me?

I have had several requests for articles pertaining to the operating system Windows2000. Many of the tips and tricks I have mentioned in previous articles simply do not work in Windows2000. I thought it would be fun to give a few pointers to those people running this WindowsNT-based operating system, but first we really MUST do some semantic house keeping!

First, people are often confused about the difference between operating systems and productivity/word processing software. The operating system is the command interpreter between the user and the computer. The user interface for the operating system may be graphical, utilizing icons as in Windows, or based on command lines such as DOS or Unix. An operating system usually comes with a number of utilities or mini-programs called applettes (for examples, look at the many icons on the Control Panel under Start/Settings). Operating systems do not come with productivity software or word processors; these programs are added to the computer after the operating system is installed. Productivity/word processing software is designed specifically for a given operating system (e.g. WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS or MS Word 2001 for Mac). Below is a list of operating systems and word processors grouped by "family".

Operating systems:

MacIntosh

UNIX Family

*Unix

*Linux

*Red Hat

*Corel Linux

DOS Family

*DOS 3 through 6.22

*MSDOS

*IBM DOS

OS2 Family

*Microsoft OS2 1.4

*IBM OS2 2.0

*IBM Warp

Windows Family

*Windows 3.1

*Windows 95

*Windows 98

*Windows ME (Millennium Edition)

WindowsNT Family

*Windows NT 3.5

*Windows NT 4.0

*Windows2000 (yes, this is NT folks!)

Productivity Software and Word Processing:

Office Family (comes in several flavors such Small Business and Professional, which include various combinations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and others.)

*Office 2.0 up

*Office95

*Office97

*Office2000

*OfficeXP

Word Family

*Word for DOS 1.0 - 6.0

*Word for Windows 2.0 - 6.0

*Word95(Word 7)

*Word97(Word 8)

*Word2000 (Word 9)

*WordXP (Word 2002)

WordPerfect Family

DOS Products

*WordPerfect 5.1

*WordPerfect 6.0

Windows Products

*Word Perfect 5.2 For Windows

*Word Perfect 6.0 and 6.1 for Windows

*Corel WordPerfect 7.0

*Corel WordPerfect 8.0

*Corel WordPerfect 2000

With this reference, we will forge ahead next time with Windows2000: What About Me!

If you like the information in MTips Ezine, get it all together in the

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Create macros

Customize shortcut menus, toolbars and shortcut keys

Troubleshoot common problems

Back up critical files

And much, much more!

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This Week’s Blooper:

Thanks to Lois for sending in this blooper:

"the patient complained of right-sided weakness limited to the right side"!

And here’s a classic one:

"I have been following him because of his paranoia."

Other Sites to See:

The Family Practice Notebook-An ongoing compendium of the diagnosis and management of common medical problems seen in Family Practice.

MTWerks is your resource for using MSWord for Medical Transcription.

We hope you enjoy your subscription to MTips E-Zine. If you like the information here, check out our book "Make It Your Own-Productivity Manual for MS Word" which is full of ideas for working faster and smarter! Great for "Newbies" and Veterans, alike. To learn more about the book or the "Make It Your Own Productivity Seminar", see

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