Category Archives for "Word XP/2002"

If you've ever had information typed up like this:

... and only needed to copy the stuff out of one or two columns:

As I mentioned in the previous post on Envelopes, even though formatting and printing envelopes and labels is a really basic word processing function, Microsoft Word inexplicably hides it from users on the Mailings tab.

Fortunately, if you're using labels from a major label vendor like Avery, you don't have to bust out the ruler and define the label format from scratch. But knowing how to choose which label format to use can be a bit tricky.

I've gotten a fair number of questions from readers about how to format pleadings with line numbers down the left, commonly known as Pleading Paper. Typically, they sound something like this:

My text never quite lines up exactly with the numbers on the pleading paper. What's the trick??

PLEASE work on the pleadings template!  I’m sure I and many others would pay bonuses for your guidance.

Pleading paper instructions would be fantastic! I mostly work in California state and federal courts, and our office just reuses old documents to keep the pleading paper formatting.  Unfortunately this brings along a host of other formatting issues, and while I'd love to be able to start from scratch I don't know how. Any help you could give would be terrific, thank you!!

I am not sure of the technical name for it, but years ago law firms had stationery with double lines on left side of a page and one line on the right. I know Word can duplicate it, but I don't how to add them or what it is called.  I will try the [pleading paper] template, but is there a way to remove the page numbering on the side?

I wish WORD was like WordPerfect in that we could just add the pleading format into the document after the document is completed. Anyway, if you could help me figure this out it would be great.  I recently added [a plug-in] to Word/Office which provides a host of automated functions, like cite checking, quote check, and table of authorities, which would make finalizing a brief a breeze.  However, if I can't get out of the WordPerfect format for my brief writing, I don’t see where all these extra functions will benefit me.

Okay, okay, I get it, I get it! Clearly, my standard reply (which I used so often that I actually created an entry in Quick Parts in Outlook for it) isn't getting the job done. So, while I would love to create a custom template (like I did for that last person above) for each and every one of you, there just aren't enough hours in the day!

So, in lieu of becoming a template factory, I'm going to show you how to make some common adjustments to those musty old the latest Microsoft templates (the 24-line template, the 25-line template, the 26-line template, the old 28-line template, the 2013 28-line template, or the 32-line template) all by yourself. And if you don't see your particular question addressed in this series, by all means leave it in the comments at the end, and I'll add the answer.

Update: Apparently, not so "musty and old" anymore! It looks like Microsoft has updated the pleading templates for versions 2007 and 2013. They also have 26-line and 32-line versions. I've updated the links above so they point to the new versions (the old ones no longer exist).

And Another Update: What Microsoft giveth, Microsoft also taketh away. It seems they don't supply these templates anymore. Fortunately, I had downloaded some of them the last time I encountered them, so the links should work now. Thanks to an eagle-eyed reader for alerting me to the change.

Since I don't work in California or any other jurisdiction that requires Pleading Paper formats, I'm not exactly an expert on all the ins and outs of the formatting requirements. However, some common themes are evident:

• Most have line numbering down the left margin​
• Some have one (and occasionally two) vertical lines down the left margin just to the right of any line numbers​
• Some also have a vertical line down the right margin as well​
• Some of these vertical lines extend the full height of the page; some only to the height of the main text (excluding headers and footers)​
• The number of lines that are numbered varies​
• Some formats have line numbers that extend into the footer; most do not​
• The line spacing is almost invariably funky (like, it can't just be double-spaced, it has to be 22.75 points or something)

In short, every time I look at Pleading Paper, I have a bad flashback of my one experience back in the late 1980s of formatting a U.S. Supreme Court brief. (And, for those of you who may be asking: yes, I did it in WordPerfect.)

The Microsoft Word pleading paper templates</a> that seem to be available mostly date back to the 2003 version of Word. (There's one 2007 version with 24 lines.) Clearly, nobody at Microsoft thinks these are worth updating, and Even though Microsoft has updated the pleading paper templates to 2007 and 2013 versions, they've apparently ditched the previous pleading creation wizard. So we are going to learn how to update these ourselves. (And by "we," I mean you. Because I already have.)

Of course, the 28- and 25-line/26-line/32-line templates work in different ways. (We wouldn't want to be consistent, now, would we?) The line numbers in the 25-line version (as well as the 26- and 32-line templates) are actually embedded in a Text Box placed in the Header. The vertical lines are also placed in the Header. The line spacing in the template is designed to match the line spacing in the Text Box so that the lines of text will align with the line numbers. (Try saying that last part three times fast.)

The old 2003 28-line version (assuming you saved it when it was available) uses Word's Line Numbering feature to place the numbers. And those vertical lines? They're Bar Tabs. (Insert your favorite alcohol-related joke here.)

If you use the template in the way that Microsoft seems to think you should (by simply opening a new document based on the template and then typing into it) the text will align with the numbers just fine. But, as we all know, lawyers love to cut-and-paste from old pleadings, and this is quite often where the formatting fun begins, particularly if the old text is coming from WordPerfect.

And if the court you're practicing in requires something other than those formats, then heaven help you.

First, let's take a look at the typical formatting of the standard templates:

So, to summarize:

• If your entire document including the case style and your signature block will be spaced identically (no switching to single space for any section of your document), then you can start with the old 28-line template and modify according to your needs.
• However, if in your jurisdiction the case style and/or signature block (or anything else) require single spacing, start with the 25-line template, since the numbering on the left side is embedded in a Text Box and therefore independent of the line spacing of the actual document text.

(And for those of you who are interested in using the Bookmarks feature of the 25 line template, click here for a tutorial.)

It's also worthwhile to note that, in some states, law schools and law libraries make templates available online. (See https://saclaw.org/wp-content/uploads/form-pleading-paper.rtf as an example.) Those might give you a better start than the standard Microsoft templates.

One of the most basic functions in Microsoft Word is printing envelopes and labels. You'd think that such a basic function would be pretty intuitive. It's not. One of the most frequent questions I get from longtime WordPerfect users is, "Where on earth are the envelopes (or labels) in Word?"

After you've redlined a document using Track Changes (and maybe even inserted some comments and printed some review copies) you'll need to accept or reject the various marked changes in order to finalize the document.  Here's how.

First, get all the changes visible by choosing Final Showing Markup on the Review tab (versions 2007 and 2010) or All Markup in versions 2013 & 2016:

(Wait - you don't see that on your screen? Go to the Review tab and click the drop-down shown above.)

Now, turn Track Changes off.  In Word 2007 and up, you can either go back to the Review tab and click Track Changes to turn it off:

... or you can toggle it off at the Status Bar (you did fix your Status Bar, right?):

If you're just going to accept all changes in the document, then this is easy-peasy.  Just click the drop-down next to the Accept button with the check-mark and choose Accept All Changes in Document:

Similarly, if you're going to reject all the changes, use the button with the red "X" mark and do the same thing:

If you're going to accept some changes but reject others, it's a little (but not much more) complicated.

What if you (or your attorney) don't want to actually change a particular section of a document, but just want to ask a question, point out a problem, just plain make a comment?  Word's Track Changes feature can help you do that.

You'll remember the trust Track Changes toolbar (Word 2002-2003) and Review tab (Word 2007 and above) from our previous lesson:

See that button that looks like a sticky note or a speech bubble?  That's the Insert Comment button.

Just place your cursor where you want to insert the comment and click New Comment.  You'll get a balloon out to the side - just start typing your comment there, and click outside of it when you're finished.

What you'll end up with looks like this:

Notice, too, that this same button allows you to edit previous comments and delete them. In the later Ribbon-based versions of Word, there's also a way to respond to comments left by others and to mark them "resolved".

As with everything to do with Track Changes, be sure you've removed all comments before sending a document via email (unless you're distributing it for someone to review the comments).  One of the best ways to do that is to use Document Inspector to clean out all metadata (which will accept all Track Changes revisions and remove all comments in the process).

If you have any questions about ensuring that no tracked changes or comments are saved in documents being distributed outside your firm, please contact your firm's systems administrator or IT person.

Once you know how to turn on Word's Track Changes feature, you may want to be able to see the document in its original state and with all the changes without having to accept or reject changes (or what I often hear referred to as a "clean" copy).  Here's an easy way to do that (with some caveats):

After all, it would be convenient, wouldn't it, to be able to print the document in its "final form" without losing your redline?

Briefly, if you want to show (and print) the document in what would be its final version (without having to accept all the changes and lose your revision history), this is the choice you'd make in the Markup dropdown in the Track Changes area of the Review tab:

Caveat: Don't confuse hiding the redlining with accepting/rejecting the changes. Those are not the same thing.  If you plan to email the document, please be sure that all changes have been accepted or rejected and all comments deleted. You can use Word's Document Inspector or check with your systems administrator or IT person and ask if your firm has what's called a "metadata cleaner."  This will keep the document from saving any hidden changes that might prove embarrassing to you or your firm.

If you want to be able to track what changes have been made to a document, then you want to use the Word feature called (big surprise here) Track Changes.

Here's a little tutorial on how to turn on Track Changes in Word (both the menu-based versions 2002 and 2003 and the Ribbon versions 2007 and up), plus some notes about the feature's little quirks you'll want to watch out for.

Track Changes makes it easy to figure out what's changed in a document since the last draft, since turning it on automatically redlines the document as you type.

To turn Track Changes on, go to the Tools menu and click on Track Changes:

This will bring up the Track Changes toolbar:

Notice that the icon second from the right looks like it's been pressed and has distinct lines around it.  That indicates that Track Changes is on.   Here's how it looks when Track Changes is turned off:

See the difference?

To turn on Track Changes in the Ribbon-based versions of Word, go to the Review tab, click on Track Changes, then click Track Changes:

But here's the easiest way to turn on Track Changes (assuming you have your Status Bar all pimped out): just toggle it on with one click here:

You'll really see the difference once you start typing:

And there's also the tip-off at the bottom of the screen, in the Status Bar (you'll see "TRK" lit up in versions 2002-2003 and "Track Changes: On" in the Ribbon-based versions).

There are a few things to keep in mind with Track Changes:

One of the things I'm on a rant about these days is loooooong documents.  Complicated documents, like 20+ page contracts and appellate briefs and stuff like that.

Why?  Because they always seem to need special stuff inserted in them.  Like custom headers and footers.  And level-1 and level-2 and level-out-the-wazoo headings.  It's enough to make your head spin.

But if you've got mad skills and you plan your document right, a lot of this stuff becomes easier.  Like putting in a simple table of contents, for example.

Ever needed to be able to change the page numbers in the middle of a Microsoft Word document (an appellate brief, for example)?  Like, switching from Roman numerals to Arabic numerals or just not having page numbers at all?

Don't tear your hair out, my pretty.  Help is here!

The secret to doing this is found in the Word feature called Sections.  Sections will (among other things) allow you to have distinct headers and footers on different pages of the document.  So, using that appellate brief as an example, you can have no page numbers showing up on your cover page, those little lower-case Roman numerals (you know, i, iv, ix, etc.) on the pages with the table of authorities, etc., and start yet again with regular Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) when the main part of the brief starts.