Macros inserted in menus

E

EMIC

Ok, I am at a loss here. I created a menu bar. On that menu bar, I inserted
13 menus, AB, CD, EF, GH and so on to include all the alphabet. Now, my wife
types in addresses and also long documents. She saves them individually in
word files. When I want to create the macro for her, I open a blank word
document and the one she previously save. I copy her text, and bring it into
a macro in the second documen using paste command. I then test the macro and
it works fine. I then insert the macro under the proper menu on the menu bar.
I test it there again using the menu bar and it works fine. Now here's my
problem. When I create a second macro using different text and different
names for the macro but the same procedure, the first macro that I had
created keeps changing to the second macro text. And the 2 macros have their
own identity, different names but now have the same text. It appears that the
second macro text replaces the first macro text.. I don't understand what I
am doing wrong. Can someone help me please and thank you very much. (Using
Word 2002 in Office Xp)
Emic **** (e-mail address removed)
 
C

Charles Kenyon

She should be saving the addresses in AutoText entries in a global template
that holds your menus. You would add the AutoText entries to your menus.
Macros and separate files are doing things the hard way. I suspect that you
are a refugee from Word Perfect land where such techniques are routine. With
that thought, here is some general info on moving from Word Perfect (or
another word processor) to Word.

Word and Word Perfect work very differently from one another. Each program's
methods have strengths and weaknesses; but, if you try to use one of these
programs as if it were the other, it is like pushing on a string! You can
easily make a lot of extra work for yourself. If you are unwilling to take
the time to learn to use Word's methods, you should stick to using Word Pad.
You'll have a lot less grief, although you'll miss out on a lot of raw
power.

See http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordPerfectConverters.htm
http://businesssoft.about.com/compute/businesssoft/library/blconvert.htm
for information on Word for Word Perfect users.

For more:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm


Function Keys

In Word 2000 (or later) You can get the function keys to display in a
special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something like
pressing F3 twice in WP). The following macro will do this.
Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys()
Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True
End Sub

Word's Extend key (F8) gives something similar to block processing.


Formatting and Styles

Learn about Styles - really learn!
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm I resisted for years and now
regret every day of those years because although that string was still very
hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very important
projects tied to it! Once you understand styles and the Word concept of
organizing things into Chinese boxes everything falls into place and instead
of pushing a string, you can push a button that turns on the very powerful
text processing machine known as Microsoft Word and it will start doing your
work for you instead of running around behind you trying to undo what you
just thought you did.


Converting documents Word / Word Perfect

Some special characters in Word Perfect documents don't convert well to
Word. There is a macro to assist with this described at
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/wptoword.html#macroword and can be found
at http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/WPSymbolConv.bas.
This was prepared by Edward Mendelson.
Otherwise, look at the macro from http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=212396
Use these on _copies_!

As for converting documents from Word Perfect to _use_ in Word... In a word,
don't plan on it. I would not recommend using converted documents long-term.
They will be filled with formatting anomolies that will get you at the worst
time. This is especially true of any documents containing automatic
numbering or bullets. Try recreating form documents in Word using the
following process:
In Word Perfect (if you still have it, in Word if not) save your files as
text files.
Use your converted files as references to show you how you want your
formatting to look.
Create a new document in Word and insert the text from the text file. Save
this new document as a Word template. Format it the way you want using
styles, not direct formatting. Save it again.
To use a template within Word, use File => New and pick your template. This
will create a new document for you.

Merge documents have special problems and should be recreated from text
files or retyped in Word. To convert data files, consider generating labels
in WP as a document, converting that to Word, and then using
http://www.gmayor.com/convert_labels_into_mail_merge.htm to get a new Word
data file.

Note that conversions usually do create documents that look passable and
print OK; the problems I'm referring to have to do with editing / making
changes, that is, using the documents long-term. (See below on reusing
documents vs. using templates.)

Conversion back to Word Perfect: There is a problem (in addition to the ones
mentioned for conversion _to_ Word) with Version 2002 (XP) and later of
Word. The conversion file only works for conversion _to_ Word, not from Word
to Word Perfect! Earlier versions went both ways. To fix this, you need to
find the old conversion file WPFT532.CNV from a Word 97 or Word 2000
installation and copy it to your new installation, replacing the file of the
same name. Note, the change making the file one-way was done as a security
measure. While I don't know of any problems the old file causes, keep the
new installation's file somewhere as a backup just in case.


Boilerplate and Forms

In WP a lot of people use macros to hold chunks of text - boilerplate. In
Word this function is filled by Templates, AutoText and AutoCorrect, not
macros. Follow the links at
http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebresources.htm#AutoText for more
information on these tools.

You can use FILLIN and ASK fields or UserForms to query the user. For some
form documents, Word's "online forms" work very well. For more about online
forms, follow the links at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm especially Dian
Chapman's series of articles.


Reusing Documents vs. Using templates

General practice in WP is to have a document and copy and edit it to create
a new document. This is not good practice in Word. In Word, construct a
good, tight, template for your documents and use that template when
constructing new documents. Among other things, this can avoid embarrassing
"metadata" (http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/metadata.htm) and things
like surprise headers and footers from creeping into new documents.

It's a lot of reading, I know. It's OK to chunk it down and do a bit each
day, but I would recommend that you make it a top priority to do that bit
each day. In the (short) long run, it will save you both time and grief.
 
E

EMIC

Yes, I agree with you that autotext is the answer. No doubt about that at
all. Now, the only other problem that I have is that we did about 20 autotext
yesterday. Today, they are all gone. So I assume again that I am mising
something. After she typed, we highlight, click on insert, autotext and give
a name of at least 5 characters long. Today, the day after, they are all
gone, not one to be found. What am I doing wrong?? Again, thanks a million
for your expert advices, I appreciate this site very very much.
 
C

Charles Kenyon

First, save your AutoText (and menu) to a separate global template rather
than normal.dot. See http://addbalance.com/word/movetotemplate.htm. I
suspect your problem is related to a bug in Acrobat 7 if you have that
installed or to a problem with how you are using normal.dot. (It should
_not_ be shared.)
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
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from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 

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