Tim, to implement m'learned colleague John's suggestion you could create a
style for body text that included either English, Spanish or Portuguese
language as part of its characteristics. If you did that, there would be a
big advantage in invoking such a paragraph style via a keyboard shortcut.
For example, I would create the Spanish style "body text spanish,bts" and
would subsequently invoke it by keying Command-Shift-s followed by bts
followed by the Return key. It's far quicker than using the mouse. And if it
were Portuguese the style would be "body text portugues,btp".
For the significance of the ",bts" suffix see pages 96-97 of some notes on
the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are
available as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html). Have a poke around
other references in there and you'll get the fuller picture if you aren't
expert already in styles.
[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]
[Also note: In Word 2008, which I don't use yet, some of the information may
not apply, or may be accessible through a different interface. If that
causes problems, post back and someone will help you further.]
I base all other styles except headings on my body text style so that if I
want to change any characteristics of things such as sub-paragraphs,
quotations etc I only need to modify the body text style. Take a look at the
definition of my style "bt" by looking in Format menu => Style while you are
in "Bend Word to Your Will". Mine is set to English (Australian) -- that's
where you would have your particular language.
These techniques save a vast amount of time if you are developing serious
documents. All the regulars here use similar techniques. It's what Word is
exceptionally good at!
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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I don't work for Microsoft; nor do any of the other regulars here. We're
simply users of Word who help other users in a voluntary capacity. If you
want to give feedback to Microsoft about their products, you should send it
to them via the Help menu => Send feedback.
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