tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post7137128392817473525..comments2024-03-18T09:25:56.836-04:00Comments on The Write Conversation: Business Basics for Today’s Writer—How to Set Format Settings for Microsoft Word Edie Melsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-22393700024227967002013-06-14T15:46:57.227-04:002013-06-14T15:46:57.227-04:00Ah! Lightbulb on ~ thanks, Edie!Ah! Lightbulb on ~ thanks, Edie!Stephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09888191800120017375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-31400858453746849102013-06-14T11:33:37.655-04:002013-06-14T11:33:37.655-04:00Okay, then I'm all right. I know the centering...Okay, then I'm all right. I know the centering get off and I have to go back and manually do that, and I do use the tab key that's set to 1/2 inch. Thanks, Edie. Sandra Ardoinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09007790799568055828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-50141674088716356952013-06-14T11:01:50.793-04:002013-06-14T11:01:50.793-04:00Vie, I just answered this above, but I do mean JUS...Vie, I just answered this above, but I do mean JUST. I got a slow start today after getting in late last night. When you set it to automatically indent, all the centering is off by 1/2 an inch. MS Word, does NOT default to ignoring a first line indent when you hit center. <br /><br />I'm with you on the manual indent—that drives me NUTS!!!! But the tab indent keeps everything nice and even, without carrying over into any of the other functions. <br /><br />Setting the first line to auto indent doesn't create less work for me because then I have to go in and fix all the centering issues. I'm surprised you haven't had a problem with that.<br /><br />Thanks so much for taking time to comment and share your perspective. I love to hear from fellow editors and how they handle formatting issues! Blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-8172430443438445662013-06-14T10:51:33.360-04:002013-06-14T10:51:33.360-04:00Andrea, thanks so much for stopping by! I'm gl...Andrea, thanks so much for stopping by! I'm glad this is helpful. Blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-14600619617197607042013-06-14T10:51:08.819-04:002013-06-14T10:51:08.819-04:00Carol, thanks for this! Very helpful. I appreciate...Carol, thanks for this! Very helpful. I appreciate that you took time to share the info. Thanks so much, Blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-24343595780328604082013-06-14T10:50:14.639-04:002013-06-14T10:50:14.639-04:00Susan, sometimes I think MS Word goes out of the w...Susan, sometimes I think MS Word goes out of the way to make life difficult! LOL! Thanks for stopping by, Blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-17806944084554598822013-06-14T10:49:41.234-04:002013-06-14T10:49:41.234-04:00Sandra, it's fine to set your first line to au...Sandra, it's fine to set your first line to auto indent, but it will cause your any centering to be incorrect. When you center something, it will be 5 spaces too far to the right. It also must be removed by editors if they accept something you send them. And finally, it causes issues when you copy and paste MS Word documents into a website/blog compose window. <br /><br />As far as advising NOT to indent each paragraph manually, that's not true. As long as you use the default tab (it's set to 1/2 inch) to indent that is something editors WISH you would do. What we do NOT want you to do is to manually space over 5 characters at the beginning of each paragraph. <br /><br />Hope this helps, Blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-4535117538354954112013-06-14T10:45:41.120-04:002013-06-14T10:45:41.120-04:00Pat, that's the automatic default for MS Word....Pat, that's the automatic default for MS Word. It's a pain. As I said in the answer to Steph, it can cause major headaches when you copy and paste your blog post into the compose window and also must be removed by editors. Hope this helps, Blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-8578643349084615912013-06-14T10:43:46.895-04:002013-06-14T10:43:46.895-04:00Steph, you do NOT want it set to automatically ind...Steph, you do NOT want it set to automatically indent. If you do, then when you want to center something it's not correct—the indent makes it five spaces too far over on the right. It will also cause issues if you have a blog and copy and past posts into your compose window. And when you submit something, if it's accepted, the editor must remove the automatic indents. It just causes a lot of extra work. Hope this helps, blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-22830692138481265892013-06-14T10:43:30.989-04:002013-06-14T10:43:30.989-04:00Love this practical kind of help. Thank you! Bless...Love this practical kind of help. Thank you! Blessings.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17711716353412288240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-3073284068010966402013-06-14T10:41:06.683-04:002013-06-14T10:41:06.683-04:00Jennifer, it does make a difference and I hate the...Jennifer, it does make a difference and I hate the defaults in MS Word! Thanks for stopping by, Blessings, EEdie Melsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03902312441667526147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-20676318612197156752013-06-14T08:21:27.945-04:002013-06-14T08:21:27.945-04:00Thanks for this post. Good to know!Thanks for this post. Good to know!Ginger Harringtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04479224226521076806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-82993684057442303532013-06-13T22:49:02.708-04:002013-06-13T22:49:02.708-04:00Hi, Edie,
I'm curious as why you do not recom...Hi, Edie,<br /><br />I'm curious as why you do not recommend first line indent. I request that ms coming to me use that feature and not the tab to indent. So often, I'll get a ms that has a mixture of tabs and manual spacing (AAUGH!!). The first line indent is very important to me. Vie Herlockernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-23522158654863999322013-06-13T17:11:03.956-04:002013-06-13T17:11:03.956-04:00Thanks so much, Edie! Very helpful!
Blessings,
An...Thanks so much, Edie! Very helpful!<br /><br />Blessings,<br />AndreaAndrea Coxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13205589098502831236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-53002213137251084712013-06-13T13:10:57.713-04:002013-06-13T13:10:57.713-04:00Thanks, Edie. I'm running Word 2010 and here&...Thanks, Edie. I'm running Word 2010 and here's how I found the elusive paragraph settings: Go to the Home tab, then look for the Paragraph Section. It's listed at the bottom of the toolbar. Click on the little box in the lower right-hand corner of the Paragraph section, and the correct box will pop up. Maybe everyone else already knew this, but since it took me awhile to figure it out, I thought I'd pass along the info. Edie, these settings are going to make my life easier. Now I know why the computer was doing what it was doing -- It was the settings!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14122257337195088604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-26103712886571792013-06-13T10:55:11.543-04:002013-06-13T10:55:11.543-04:00Thanks so much for this tutorial. Formatting has b...Thanks so much for this tutorial. Formatting has been a challenge for me. I'm printing this out!<br /><br />Susan J. Reinhardthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07461276857852409546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-53485699238354417592013-06-13T10:44:58.111-04:002013-06-13T10:44:58.111-04:00Hi Edie. I'm confused. My spacing is always se...Hi Edie. I'm confused. My spacing is always set to 0, so I'm fine there. But under "Special" I always set "First Line." If I don't, I have to indent each paragraph myself. I thought that was what they advise against doing. Why use "None?"Sandra Ardoinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09007790799568055828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-6969228230193939192013-06-13T10:25:54.795-04:002013-06-13T10:25:54.795-04:00Thank you, Edie! I just checked and my after setti...Thank you, Edie! I just checked and my after setting was set a 10. How, I don't know.Patricia Bradleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03382033674042021556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-46924994767263957572013-06-13T09:59:14.152-04:002013-06-13T09:59:14.152-04:00When I followed your instructions, I lost my inden...When I followed your instructions, I lost my indent for the first line of every paragraph. Did I do something wrong? This is for a double spaced novel.Stephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09888191800120017375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907737240492304428.post-25213695660882347452013-06-13T09:38:10.474-04:002013-06-13T09:38:10.474-04:00Thanks! I found the spacing was set wrong...Thanks! I found the spacing was set wrong...Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04163521563641083919noreply@blogger.com