how can I type chemical equations and structures in word / office

[H Newsholme]

Could anyone tell me how to type chemical formulae and equations showing
bonds and electrons (such as in Lewis structures) using Word? Do I have to
use a drawing package? I have both Office 2007 (w XP) and Office ultimate (w
Vista) so guidance for either/both would be much appreciated.
many thanks

 

[Jay Freedman]

Could anyone tell me how to type chemical formulae and equations showing
bonds and electrons (such as in Lewis structures) using Word? Do I have to
use a drawing package? I have both Office 2007 (w XP) and Office ultimate (w
Vista) so guidance for either/both would be much appreciated.
many thanks

On the Insert ribbon, in the Illustrations group, click the Shapes button. In
that gallery you'll find tools for drawing lines and other shapes. For
electrons, you can make filled circles as small as possible, or use colons and
umlauts for electron pairs.

In general, though, you'll find that Word is not a good tool for this. A
graphics program -- even the lowly Paint program that comes with Windows -- will
be more productive. Save the results as .jpg files, and you can then import them
into Word by clicking the Picture button on the Insert ribbon.

 

[H Newsholme]

many thanks for your help
best wishes
Heather

On the Insert ribbon, in the Illustrations group, click the Shapes button. In
that gallery you'll find tools for drawing lines and other shapes. For
electrons, you can make filled circles as small as possible, or use colons and
umlauts for electron pairs.

In general, though, you'll find that Word is not a good tool for this. A
graphics program -- even the lowly Paint program that comes with Windows -- will
be more productive. Save the results as .jpg files, and you can then import them
into Word by clicking the Picture button on the Insert ribbon.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit.

 

[Bob Mathews]

Could anyone tell me how to type chemical formulae and
equations showing bonds and electrons (such as in Lewis
structures) using Word? Do I have to use a drawing package?

Heather, this isn't real difficult if you have MathType. If you'll
email me privately, I'll give you all the info you need. You can try
it out with the trial version if you want. Meanwhile, this blog post
and accompanying videos may prove helpful:
http://tcmtechnologyblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/lewis-dot-diagrams-in-mathtype.html

--
Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science, Inc.
bobm at dessci.com
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
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