[ANN] "Bend Word to your Will" -- April 2005 edition free download

[Clive Huggan]

Klaus,

Renewed thanks for your suggestion of 23 April!

Now that Beth, Daiya and Paul have established the change in the Favourites
option in the later OS X versions (I have 10.3.8, so I wasn't seeing the
option you described from 10.2.8 either), I have added your point to page 96
of "Bend Word to Your Will", essentially in terms of Beth's post of 23
April:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FINDING / CHANGING THE TEMPLATE ON WHICH A DOCUMENT IS BASED

Within Word, you can locate templates to attach/detach them to the document
you have open via Tools menu -> Templates and Add-ins. The template's name
and location shows in field at top left. To change the template on which the
document is based, click on the "Attach" button and navigate.

I made up a button on a toolbar titled "Tplt?" to open the "Templates and
Add-ins" window using a very simple macro.

If you create a variety of Word templates for different purposes, you will
probably find it convenient to gain quick access to them via the Finder.
There are several ways to do this:

* Via the Favourites folder in the Sidebar that appears to the left of each
Finder window: if you don't have the Favourites folder in the Finder's
Sidebar, drag it (~/Users/[your user name]/Library/Favourites) to the
Sidebar, where its alias will display as a heart icon. Then open the My
Templates folder (for its location, see "Which files to back up" on page 50)
-> Command-l to make an alias -> drag the alias into the Favourites folder
in the Sidebar.

* For even more direct access, drag the My Templates folder to the Sidebar,
where an alias will be created.

* Or drag the folder to the Dock, where an alias will be created.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Clive,

We (Klaus, Daiya, Paul & I) had some correspondence about this off list.
Sorry you didn't get copied on it! The upshot was (*highly* paraphrased and
somewhat opinionated ...

1) It's easier to just add a folder (like My Templates) directly to the
Sidebar or the Dock.

2) The only advantage to using the Favorites folder would be if you have a
lot of folders you want easier access to and don't want to clutter up the
Sidebar or Dock with them.

3) The best way to make an alias is to option-command-drag from the original
to the location where you're putting the alias. It makes an alias with no
"alias" appended to the name. (From Paul)

4) Another option which we tend to forget is that you can place an alias of
any folder on your desktop for easy access.

Hope this helps.

Beth

 

[Clive Huggan]

Inline.
CH
===

1) It's easier to just add a folder (like My Templates) directly to the
Sidebar or the Dock.

Yes, that's the 2nd and 3rd bullet points. But for me it would not have such
a high priority as a competitor for space -- my view is rather like Daiya's
in that regard. I listed the Favourites option first because it may trigger
the question, in the mind of someone who hasn't yet put a Favourites folder
in the Sidebar, as to what other things they can put in there too.

2) The only advantage to using the Favorites folder would be if you have a
lot of folders you want easier access to and don't want to clutter up the
Sidebar or Dock with them.
Exactly.

3) The best way to make an alias is to option-command-drag from the original
to the location where you're putting the alias. It makes an alias with no
"alias" appended to the name. (From Paul)

Yes, I use that often enough. But if you select the item before you hold
down the Command and Option keys, you get an "open hand" rather than an
alias, which can confuse, so I went for the Command-L fallback. It also
supports my preference in this case to have "alias" appended, because it's a
reminder that the actual "My templates" folder isn't in there when you do a
search in the Finder -- best to minimize the chance of error with backups
especially.

4) Another option which we tend to forget is that you can place an alias of
any folder on your desktop for easy access.

Not on my desktop -- most of the time, there's no room left!

The *top* of Finder windows is another location.

C
==

Hope this helps.

Beth

* Via the Favourites folder in the Sidebar that appears to the left of each
Finder window: if you don't have the Favourites folder in the Finder's
Sidebar, drag it (~/Users/[your user name]/Library/Favourites) to the
Sidebar, where its alias will display as a heart icon. Then open the My
Templates folder (for its location, see "Which files to back up" on page 50)
-> Command-l to make an alias -> drag the alias into the Favourites folder
in the Sidebar.

* For even more direct access, drag the My Templates folder to the Sidebar,
where an alias will be created.

* Or drag the folder to the Dock, where an alias will be created.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

Not on my desktop -- most of the time, there's no room left!

The *top* of Finder windows is another location.

I think you're missing the point, Clive? And maybe Beth, too, since she
added "the dock" of her own volition.

The point about using the sidebar is that any folder in the sidebar _appears
in the "Open" and "Save" dialogs_ in every app in Panther. So you can always
get to it in one click from those dialogs, just like Favorites in Jaguar. In
fact it's easier and less cluttered. Certainly the Finder toolbar and the
dock are handy, but not from Open dialogs (the original topic here) nor Save
dialogs, which are similar.

As far as I'm concerned, the Sidebar is better than Favorites with that
silly heart. ;-)

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

I *was* missing the point! Of course that's true and I never even noticed
it. Very helpful.

Beth

 

[Clive Huggan]

I think you're missing the point, Clive?

Not really, Paul -- just being sociable in responding, albeit carelessly, to
Beth. ;-)

My Favourites folder tends to contain things I work on less often but which
are deep down. I put most things I work on often in the sidebar, for the
reasons you mention -- and I remove them once the project is over to stop
the list getting too long.

Thank you for pointing this out -- I had forgotten it. I have now added it
to "Bend Word" and changed the order of recommendations.

And maybe Beth, too, since she
added "the dock" of her own volition.

The point about using the sidebar is that any folder in the sidebar _appears
in the "Open" and "Save" dialogs_ in every app in Panther. So you can always
get to it in one click from those dialogs, just like Favorites in Jaguar. In
fact it's easier and less cluttered. Certainly the Finder toolbar and the
dock are handy, but not from Open dialogs (the original topic here) nor Save
dialogs, which are similar.
Exactly.

As far as I'm concerned, the Sidebar is better than Favorites with that
silly heart. ;-)

De gustibus non disputandum est. I'm not enamoured of it either ...

Cheers,

Clive
======

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

Not really, Paul -- just being sociable in responding, albeit carelessly, to
Beth. ;-)

My Favourites folder tends to contain things I work on less often but which
are deep down. I put most things I work on often in the sidebar, for the
reasons you mention -- and I remove them once the project is over to stop
the list getting too long.

Then just add your Favourites folder (which can be located anywhere and be
called anything) to the Sidebar and leave it there! You can go as deep as
you like to search within it. You can't add new files to Favourites using
right-click, but (as mentioned earlier) you can drag any file to this
Favourites folder in the sidebar (or to a desktop alias or the dock). You'll
then find the file within the Favourites folder item in every Open and Save
dialog. And you can still add individual folders to the sidebar on a
temporary basis if you wish, of course, for quicker access.

Thank you for pointing this out -- I had forgotten it. I have now added it
to "Bend Word" and changed the order of recommendations.

Glad I made some sense...


--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Then just add your Favourites folder (which can be located anywhere and be
called anything) to the Sidebar and leave it there!

Yep. That's what I do. I never remove the Favourites folder, of course. But
I like to put other folders/docs for current projects directly into the
sidebar if I'm using them frequently, and to remove them when the priority
drops.

You can go as deep as
you like to search within it. You can't add new files to Favourites using
right-click, but (as mentioned earlier) you can drag any file to this
Favourites folder in the sidebar (or to a desktop alias or the dock). You'll
then find the file within the Favourites folder item in every Open and Save
dialog. And you can still add individual folders to the sidebar on a
temporary basis if you wish, of course, for quicker access.

There will be some people watching who will find this most valuable; and
it's covered in my new notes, thanks to your earlier counsel.

Glad I made some sense...

You did ;-)

Clive
=====

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Then just add your Favourites folder (which can be located anywhere and be

called anything) to the Sidebar and leave it there! You can go as deep as
you like to search within it. You can't add new files to Favourites using
right-click, but (as mentioned earlier) you can drag any file to this
Favourites folder in the sidebar (or to a desktop alias or the dock). You'll
then find the file within the Favourites folder item in every Open and Save
dialog. And you can still add individual folders to the sidebar on a
temporary basis if you wish, of course, for quicker access.

I wasn't missing the point either. But I have 30+ items in my Favorites
folder, and that would be a pretty uselessly cluttered Sidebar. So, yes my
Favorites is in the Sidebar, and yes, having the sidebar in the Open/Save
dialogs works better than just Favorites (or even an Apple Menu . And no,
it doesn't have to be the ~/Library/Favorites folder, since it's not
integrated into the OS anywhere (aside from that heart), you can make your
own. (this would all be easier if it were integrated into the OS, but
whatever, Paul and I have had and finished that debate.

Anyhow, a few additional points. If you drag an item onto Favorites in the
Sidebar, the actual item moves, so remember to option-command-drag if you
only want the alias in Favorites.

I have recently tried duplicating the Sidebar on the upper toolbar of every
Finder Window. This lets me keep the Sidebar closed in the Finder, saving
me a column, but still have it accessible in the Open/Save dialogs. I think
I mostly prefer it this way. I also managed to set Finder windows to open
set to Favorites.

And I like the heart. In fact, when I also had Favorites in the Dock, I was
annoyed I couldn't get the heart to show up, I had to go looking for a close
duplicate. But I enjoy icons, I use them to differentiate--e.g., if for some
reason I were looking in ~/Library, I have changed the icons on the
Preferences, Fonts, and Scripts folders to make them stand out, since those
are the only ones I'm likely to be messing with (of course, since I have
~/Library/Prefs in Favorites, I don't go in ~/Library so often). Similarly,
I gave the MUD folder in ~/Documents a custom icon to make it stand out,
since I often expect to be digging in there.

Daiya

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Beth:

You don't -- you drag the folder to the left column of the Finder ion Column
View. Same thing -- it sets a Favourites or Alias to the location.

Cheers

In Word 2004, Klaus, where in the File>Open dialog do you see either "Add to
favorites" or "From:"?

Other possibilities, Clive: You can drag the Favorites folder
(~/Library/Favorites) to the Finder's Sidebar (where its alias will display
as a heart icon . Then again, you could just drag the My Templates
folder (or any other folder) to the Finder's Sidebar for even more direct
access. And of course you could also drag the folder to the Dock.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410