How to automatically format the 1st 4 characters of sentence

  • Thread starter Michael_Randall
  • Start date
M

Michael_Randall

Hello,

I have a document that I created using all styles and formatting. I would
like to create a "note" style that will automatically bold the word Note at
the beginning of the sentence when I apply the style to it. Additionally, it
would be great to be able to type a sentence and when I apply the note style,
the word "NOTE" appears in front of the sentence.

Is this possible?
 
H

Herb Tyson [MVP]

Only in numbered and bulleted lists. Don't know which version of Word you're
using, but in the AutoCorrect options dialog box, click the AutoFormat as
You Type tab, and under the Automatically as you type options, note the
"Format beginning of list item like the one before it" option. This does
what you want, but only in numbered/bulleted lists.

By clever use of white coloring for the number font and changing the
indents, you can make a list look like normal text. But, there are no
"stability" guarantees.

But, personally, I find using Word's list formatting to be rather fragile,
and not worth the effort.

What I do for Notes... is use an AutoText shortcut. I preformat my note,
including the word Note in bold and any punctuation that follows the word,
with a space (not bold) following the word Note so that when I type there,
it's not bold; then format the note as I want it to appear (for my purposes,
I format using a style that include shading and left/right indentation).
Then, when I want a note, I type the word note and press F3. This can also
be done using an AutoCorrect entry, but if you go that route, I'd use an
abbreviation as the name rather than an actual word that gets used in other
contexts.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

After reading Graham's comment that "text bullets" don't work in Word 2007,
I can begin to see the reason for your elaborate workaround of "clever use
of white coloring for the number font and changing the indents." In earlier
versions, you can make a "numbered" list with no numbering, just the text. I
use this for Q&A (see http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/QandA.htm).



Herb Tyson said:
Only in numbered and bulleted lists. Don't know which version of Word you're
using, but in the AutoCorrect options dialog box, click the AutoFormat as
You Type tab, and under the Automatically as you type options, note the
"Format beginning of list item like the one before it" option. This does
what you want, but only in numbered/bulleted lists.

By clever use of white coloring for the number font and changing the
indents, you can make a list look like normal text. But, there are no
"stability" guarantees.

But, personally, I find using Word's list formatting to be rather fragile,
and not worth the effort.

What I do for Notes... is use an AutoText shortcut. I preformat my note,
including the word Note in bold and any punctuation that follows the word,
with a space (not bold) following the word Note so that when I type there,
it's not bold; then format the note as I want it to appear (for my purposes,
I format using a style that include shading and left/right indentation).
Then, when I want a note, I type the word note and press F3. This can also
be done using an AutoCorrect entry, but if you go that route, I'd use an
abbreviation as the name rather than an actual word that gets used in other
contexts.
Click to expand...
 
H

Herb Tyson [MVP]

I've just about given up using Word's built-in bullets and numbering for all
but the simplest needs. The feature is simply too fragile, and it has not
matured over time.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com


Suzanne S. Barnhill said:
After reading Graham's comment that "text bullets" don't work in Word
2007,
I can begin to see the reason for your elaborate workaround of "clever use
of white coloring for the number font and changing the indents." In
earlier
versions, you can make a "numbered" list with no numbering, just the text.
I
use this for Q&A (see http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/QandA.htm).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.
Click to expand...
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

I don't ever use the "built-in bullets and numbering" if by that you mean
bullets or numbering applied by using the Bullets or Numbering buttons. I
use only bulleted/numbered styles (List Bullet, List Number, etc.), modified
as necessary.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

I haven't had that experience, but I do modify the numbering using the
Outline Numbered tab of the Numbering dialog in accordance with Shauna's
principles (always go in through the Level 1 style, etc.).
 
H

Henk57

Coming back to Michael's question, I suggest a different approach.

You can use a separate style for the comments. For notes, I use
Text_for_Notes style, with a different font color, and paragrap
settings that discriminate from the body text, including a box aroun
it. The Text_for_Notes also is slightly indented (with left and righ
indenting) and has surrounding space settings. I also have given it 5
grey shade. In this way it stands out clearly from the body text, an
if you use it for a single purpose ("notes") I think the distinctiv
style settings are a label in its own right, and the word "Note" can b
skipped. In case it must, you can of course type the word "Note" as
heading in the box, making it bold. Obviously, you can define thi
"Text_for_Notes" without a frame, formatting it to your taste.

Alternatively, you can make a table with the appropriate settings an
formatting. By way of example, make two columns and split the firs
horizontally. In the left upper cell place a pictogram, eg a
exclamation mark in a triangle, in the left lower cell put "Note". Th
right cell can be used to contain your text. Just c/p this empt
"table" to a separate document for future use. Everytime you need it
c/p in yr text document and type the text in the right cell. FWIW, yo
can make variants, like "warning", "idea", or whatever you like, wit
different colors, settings, pictos. Also, you may like to line th
first two cell to be positioned in the left margin so they stand ou
even more - this can be useful in a user manual for instance.

I hope this makes sense and you can use the concept behind it
Michael.
 
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