Printing an outline

[Cthomas]

I've seen posts on this subject, but frankly the answers are utterly
incomprehensible to me.

I worked for several hours on an outline today. When I print it, it
appears on the page in no format that remotely resembles an outline. I
understand that you can, using the numbered icons on the outline
toolbar, choose which parts of the outline to reveal and to hide.

I want to print the whole thing, and am stymied as to how to. Help!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

When you print from Outline View, you should get the exact same thing as
you see on the screen in Outline View.

What kind of format are you expecting, and what did you get instead?

And, what version of Word and OS is this? And, when you say worked on
an outline--can you give a little more detail about how you did this?

You might find this page on how Outline View works helpful--I suspect
that the problem has arisen because what you thought you were doing does
not match up with how Word works--and that would also account for the
incomprehensible answers. If you explain what you thought you were
doing, we can probably be more helpful.
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/usingolviewcontent.htm

 

[John McGhie [MVP Word, Word Mac]]

1) Construct your outline using the built-in Heading styles 1 to 9
2) Switch to Outline View (if you haven't already)
3) Choose the "9" icon ("Show level 9")
4) Print...

The Outline View is a special view constructed from the Outline Level of the
styles you used.

If you use the built-in Heading-series of styles, the Outline Levels are
fixed and correctly set.

If you have used other styles, you must set the level of each style manually
using Format>Style>Paragraph...

When you choose a "Show level..." number, Word shows all of the levels from
1 down to the level you select.

When you print, Word prints the outline as it appears (using the selection
you have chosen to view...)

If you have not used styles at all, Outline View will not work.

Hope this helps

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CS]

1) Construct youroutlineusing the built-in Heading styles 1 to 9
2) Switch toOutlineView (if you haven't already)
3) Choose the "9" icon ("Show level 9")
4) Print...

TheOutlineView is a special view constructed from theOutlineLevel of the
styles you used.

If you use the built-in Heading-series of styles, theOutlineLevels are
fixed and correctly set.

If you have used other styles, you must set the level of each style manually
using Format>Style>Paragraph...

When you choose a "Show level..." number, Word shows all of the levels from
1 down to the level you select.

When youprint, Word prints theoutlineas it appears (using the selection
you have chosen to view...)

If you have not used styles at all,OutlineView will not work.

Hope this helps

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

It's Cthomas, under a new alias.

What I was doing was composing an outline using "outline view." (It
actually works in a very intuitive way, but, as I see other people
have discovered, you're lost when you try to print.) That's evidently
not the way you do it.

I have tried to follow the instructions in Word, using John McGhie's
directions, but remain stumped. Can you walk me, in English, through
this step:


4. To add the next numbered heading, on the Formatting Palette, under
Font, click the arrow next to the Style box and select the style you
want.
5. To move a heading to the appropriate numbering level, do one of the
following on the Formatting Palette, under Font:
To demote the heading to a lower numbering level, select the
heading, and click Increase Indent .
To promote the heading to a higher numbering level, select the
heading, and click Decrease Indent .


I don't quite grasp what the "Formatting Palette" is. After I type in
my first topic, and I want to either add a second topic -- or a
subtheme -- I'm lost. Is line 4 here saying that I use the drop-down
menu under format, and pull down and open up "Font"? Then I select a
new style (meaning "bold," "italic," etc.)? What does that have do do
with creating a simple A,B,C. I,2,3. a,b.c., etc. outline?

And the "demote" and "promote" business only seems to work -- only
seems to be possible -- when you have the "outline view" in effect.
Yet that's how I wound up in trouble the first time around. I should
not be working in "outline view," correct?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Cthomas:

We tend to use real names in here (even if they are made up... It just seems
friendlier...)

OK, now you're getting ME confused There's two interfaces to the
formatting commands in Word 2004: the toolbars, and the Formatting Palette.

Where did you get this from?
"> 4. To add the next numbered heading, on the Formatting Palette, under

Font, click the arrow next to the Style box and select the style you
want.
5. To move a heading to the appropriate numbering level, do one of the
following on the Formatting Palette, under Font:
To demote the heading to a lower numbering level, select the
heading, and click Increase Indent .
To promote the heading to a higher numbering level, select the
heading, and click Decrease Indent ."

I I wrote it, I need to be shot: it's wrong...

First: You DON'T lose the Outline when you print, PROVIDED that what you
have there IS an Outline

You DID use the built-in styles named "Heading 1" through "Heading 9" to
format your headings, right? If not, it's probably not what Word knows is
an Outline, so the Outline tools won't work.

(You can make Outlining work with other styles, but you have to manually set
the Outline Level property correctly for each style: it's too much work, I
just don't bother Use the built-in styles and format them to your
taste. It works then )

Now: "What you see is what you will print." Display the document in
Outline View (Use View>Outline to do that).

When the Outline View appears, Word automatically displays the Outlining
toolbar. Open View>Toolbars and ensure that the Outlining toolbar has a
check mark beside it. If it hasn't, put one there (it's the only toolbar
that reveals the commands you need).

On the left end of the Outlining toolbar are two buttons, labeled "Promote"
and "Demote". Use those to adjust the levels of your headings to form your
outline. Each time you click one of those buttons, you change the style
applied to the heading paragraph. That's how Word makes outlines... For
anything else that happens, Word relies on the properties of the styles
applied to the text. The "indenting" has no significance, and neither does
the "formatting" -- it's the name of the style that matters.

You will also see + and - buttons. If you click in a heading and hit "+" it
expands that heading to show you the text under it. If you hit "-" it
closes it up again.

To the right of the + and - buttons there is a set of black numbers. Click
on those to choose the lowest-level heading that will be visible when you
are in Outline View.

To the right of the word "All" there's a "Show first line only" button. If
that is depressed, when you expand a section you will see only the first
line of each paragraph. When it's not, you will see all of each paragraph.

To the right of THAT button is an A/a button. When that is depressed, the
outline will appear with the headings formatted in the font of their style.
When it is not, all text is shown in the default body font.

Now: Whatever you see in that view is what is going to print when you use
File>Print. If you use Command + p, or Print Preview, you get a different
result. You must use File>Print to print an Outline.

If you prefer to work with the Formatting Palette, look on the Standard
toolbar for the A button. Click that to reveal the Formatting Palette. If
you reveal the Formatting Palette, the Promote and Demote buttons are in the
Bullets and Numbering section, labeled "Decrease indent" and "Increase
indent".

These buttons are actually multi-function macros. If you are in Outline
view, the indent buttons change the styles on your outline headings to allow
you to work with an outline. If you are not in outline view, they change
function and instead add or remove indenting from the paragraph selected.
They have two other functions: let's not confuse things right now.

There you go: it WOULD be nice if Microsoft would put this stuff in the
Help, because I'm getting sick of typing it out (in Office 2007, they have,
so hope springs eternal...)

Outline View is perhaps the MOST powerful tool in Word. It is an
artificially constructed "View" of the document, and it's What You See Is
Nothing Like What You Are Going To Get" It's like "Normal" view, it's a
special view built to show document professionals the things they need to
see when working with 1,000-page documents.

One of the benefits of it being unattractive is that newbies will click
right out of it fairly quickly. Because the destruction the unskilled can
cause in Outline View is where the US Military got the idea for nuclear
bombs But in the hands of careful people creating structured documents,
Outline View is like driving a V-8

Hope this helps

It's Cthomas, under a new alias.

What I was doing was composing an outline using "outline view." (It
actually works in a very intuitive way, but, as I see other people
have discovered, you're lost when you try to print.) That's evidently
not the way you do it.

I have tried to follow the instructions in Word, using John McGhie's
directions, but remain stumped. Can you walk me, in English, through
this step:


4. To add the next numbered heading, on the Formatting Palette, under
Font, click the arrow next to the Style box and select the style you
want.
5. To move a heading to the appropriate numbering level, do one of the
following on the Formatting Palette, under Font:
To demote the heading to a lower numbering level, select the
heading, and click Increase Indent .
To promote the heading to a higher numbering level, select the
heading, and click Decrease Indent .


I don't quite grasp what the "Formatting Palette" is. After I type in
my first topic, and I want to either add a second topic -- or a
subtheme -- I'm lost. Is line 4 here saying that I use the drop-down
menu under format, and pull down and open up "Font"? Then I select a
new style (meaning "bold," "italic," etc.)? What does that have do do
with creating a simple A,B,C. I,2,3. a,b.c., etc. outline?

And the "demote" and "promote" business only seems to work -- only
seems to be possible -- when you have the "outline view" in effect.
Yet that's how I wound up in trouble the first time around. I should
not be working in "outline view," correct?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi CS/CThomas, etc, whatever--

What does that have do do
with creating a simple A,B,C. I,2,3. a,b.c., etc. outline?

And the "demote" and "promote" business only seems to work -- only
seems to be possible -- when you have the "outline view" in effect.
Yet that's how I wound up in trouble the first time around. I should
not be working in "outline view," correct?

Side note to clear up a possible confusion--and I think a common one.

When you work in Outline View, Word applies Heading 1, Heading 2,
Heading 3, etc to create a hierarchy for your document. If you are
typing in outline view, you should pretty much *only* be typing your
headings and subheadings. As you hit tab or Promote or Demote, Word will
apply the appropriate heading style to your text.

However, Word does *not* create an II.A.1.a etc outline in outline
view. It only applies the built-in Heading styles. If you want the
headings to be numbered and indented and show the II.A.1.a in your text
in regular view, then you need to modify the heading styles so that they
automatically apply the II.A.1.a. *II.A.1.a are merely the outer
trappings of the fundamental hierarchy* and not everyone uses them (I
never do)--they are not an inherent part of an outline, but are just
cosmetic. I think this is where your original confusion arose. You
wanted to see II.A.1.a and did not understand that for Word, those are
not the be-all, end-all of an outline.

I think reading these three links may help clarify the situation:

Why You Should Use Built-in Headings (this will tell you a lot about how
Word works and understands the structure of a document)
http://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

How Outline View Can Save You Hours
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/usingolview.htm

Setting Up Outline Numbering (how to get Word to automatically apply the
II.A.1.a)
http://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

 

[Charles T. Shay]

Hi CS/CThomas, etc, whatever--



Side note to clear up a possible confusion--and I think a common one.

When you work in Outline View, Word applies Heading 1, Heading 2,
Heading 3, etc to create a hierarchy for your document. If you are
typing in outline view, you should pretty much *only* be typing your
headings and subheadings. As you hit tab or Promote or Demote, Word will
apply the appropriate heading style to your text.

However, Word does *not* create an II.A.1.a etc outline in outline
view. It only applies the built-in Heading styles. If you want the
headings to be numbered and indented and show the II.A.1.a in your text
in regular view, then you need to modify the heading styles so that they
automatically apply the II.A.1.a. *II.A.1.a are merely the outer
trappings of the fundamental hierarchy* and not everyone uses them (I
never do)--they are not an inherent part of an outline, but are just
cosmetic. I think this is where your original confusion arose. You
wanted to see II.A.1.a and did not understand that for Word, those are
not the be-all, end-all of an outline.

I think reading these three links may help clarify the situation:

Why You Should Use Built-in Headings (this will tell you a lot about how
Word works and understands the structure of a document)http://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

How Outline View Can Save You Hourshttp://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/usingolview.htm

Setting Up Outline Numbering (how to get Word to automatically apply the
II.A.1.a)http://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

Okay, I've settled on this name. It's close enough to my own to pass
-- and I'll be darned if I parade my ignorance in full view of the
world.

The details of this I'll have to absorb, but I think I'm on the right
path. I will expose my ignorance once again, but I'd never clicked on
"format palette" before; I'd always used the drop-down "format" route.

The quote you queried came from "Help" in Microsoft Word -- you did
not write it, John, so you're off the hook.

It's interesting that one is supposed to edit one's outline using
Outline View -- if I understand you correctly -- but not to create the
Outline directly, using it. It seems designed to create outlines from
scratch, which is why I imagine people like me get confused.

Thanks for the tips: I'm a journalist and have a story due Tuesday.
We'll see if I have the guts to try making an outline again in Word,
while under the gun. (Probably not.)

 

[John McGhie]

Hiya Charles:

Be careful NOT to give us any latitude with your name -- you know what
happens in newsrooms when you do that

If I gave you the impression that you can't create an outline in Outline
View, allow me please to retract it

As an ex-journo myself, I regularly create outlines in that view. However,
my outlines are multi-level: with three levels of sub-heads.

Outline View is the bee's knees for that, BUT while creating an Outline in
Outline view, you cannot type any text. Only the headings.

So you would type:

This is the first heading
This is the second heading
{tab} This is a sub heading
And another subheading
{back tab} A third main heading
{tab} A third sub heading...

Etcetera.

Word will automatically apply Heading 1 style to the "headings" and Heading
2 style to the sub-headings.

Then you flip into Page Layout View to ad your text under each heading

Then (if you are as disorganised as me...) you flip back to outline View to
move your sections around. Each time you select a heading in Outline View,
Word also selects all of the text under it, down to but not including the
next heading on the same level.

I used to be a wire agency journo, and had to repackage each story five ways
for five different outputs. The Outline View is just amazingly powerful for
completely reorganising an article in seconds.

As Daiya mentions, if you have numbering on your Heading-series styles, Word
will keep it and show it in Outline View. But I do not recommend doing ANY
formatting in Outline View, the risk of lurid disasters because the
selection mechanism changes functionality is too high

Cheers

Okay, I've settled on this name. It's close enough to my own to pass
-- and I'll be darned if I parade my ignorance in full view of the
world.

The details of this I'll have to absorb, but I think I'm on the right
path. I will expose my ignorance once again, but I'd never clicked on
"format palette" before; I'd always used the drop-down "format" route.

The quote you queried came from "Help" in Microsoft Word -- you did
not write it, John, so you're off the hook.

It's interesting that one is supposed to edit one's outline using
Outline View -- if I understand you correctly -- but not to create the
Outline directly, using it. It seems designed to create outlines from
scratch, which is why I imagine people like me get confused.

Thanks for the tips: I'm a journalist and have a story due Tuesday.
We'll see if I have the guts to try making an outline again in Word,
while under the gun. (Probably not.)

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi John -

<snip>

BUT while creating an Outline in
Outline view, you cannot type any text. Only the headings.

<snip>

Is there some dreaded malady about doing so?

Why not use the Demote to Body Text button - or better yet, I've assigned
Control+Shift+B to the command. I don't recall any mishaps that could be
traced to having done so.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

It's interesting that one is supposed to edit one's outline using
Outline View -- if I understand you correctly -- but not to create the
Outline directly, using it. It seems designed to create outlines from
scratch, which is why I imagine people like me get confused.

No, you don't understand me correctly. I'm not even sure you read my
post, in fact. You can create an Outline directly--it's just that it
doesn't apply the numbered outline automatically, it works behind the
scenes to add a structured hierarchy to your headings. Neither "Format"
nor the "formatting palette" necessarily have anything to do with this.

Maybe you should explain what you want to see happen, and we'll try to
help you get there. DO NOT SAY "I want an outline". Explain what you want.

Daiya

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bob:

Well, you know that feeling when you see the flight instructor strapping on
a parachute?

There's no reason you can't do it, but it's not a suggestion I would make to
a user trying to find his feet with Outline View.

If you know what you're doing, if you know what Outline View does and
doesn't show you, if you now what's safe and what isn't... No reason in the
world you shouldn't be brave

I just feel that I need to adjust the advice I give in here to the
circumstances of the original poster. I am more than happy to give advice
on advanced usage of the tool to people who are already skilled at building
structured documents to a deadline.

I guess I made a judgement call that this was not one of those cases --
perhaps I did the original poster a disservice

Cheers

Hi John -

<snip>

<snip>

Is there some dreaded malady about doing so?

Why not use the Demote to Body Text button - or better yet, I've assigned
Control+Shift+B to the command. I don't recall any mishaps that could be
traced to having done so.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Bob:

Well, you know that feeling when you see the flight instructor strapping on
a parachute?

You mean the point at which you picture yourself as a mouse determining
which pocket of his flight suit would be most easily accessible?

There's no reason you can't do it, but it's not a suggestion I would make to
a user trying to find his feet with Outline View.

I see what you mean. Actually, doing the "headings only" in Outline View is
certainly a preferable approach. Adding the body content later in another
view typically makes for a much more sensible workflow.

Perhaps I took the statement too literally - I've come to respect your
commentary enough to accept that when you say "cannot..." the fact is that
you *cannot*

If you know what you're doing, if you know what Outline View does and
doesn't show you, if you now what's safe and what isn't... No reason in the
world you shouldn't be brave

Brave??? Naïve - ignorant, perhaps - but surely not _brave_... Or is that a
generic "you"? ;-)

I just feel that I need to adjust the advice I give in here to the
circumstances of the original poster. I am more than happy to give advice
on advanced usage of the tool to people who are already skilled at building
structured documents to a deadline.

Am in complete agreement - that's why I thought there may be something I was
missing about demoting to body text in Outline view. In the time I've spent
in this group I've gained insights about a number of features which I had
taken for granted previously only to find here that they aren't quite ready
for "prime time"... Just wondered if this might be one of them.

I guess I made a judgement call that this was not one of those cases --
perhaps I did the original poster a disservice

I believe - FWIW - that your call was spot on. In fact, I don't think he has
had an opportunity to become familiar with the use of Styles at all, based

No matter of disservice, whatsoever -- just intrigued by the one point

Cheers

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bob:

You mean the point at which you picture yourself as a mouse determining
which pocket of his flight suit would be most easily accessible?

Yeah, that one

Perhaps I took the statement too literally - I've come to respect your
commentary enough to accept that when you say "cannot..." the fact is that
you *cannot*

So I blew it "You can, but you may wish to carefully consider the fact
that by doing so you substantially reduce your safety margin. A misplaced
selection in Outline View can potentially overtype, reformat, or delete an
entire chapter, and such change may be invisible to you at the time because
you are in Outline View. Your boss, however, is quite likely to notice
later..."

Brave??? Naïve - ignorant, perhaps - but surely not _brave_... Or is that a
generic "you"? ;-)

"If one knows..."

Cheers

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones]

"Bees Knees"?? You sound older than me. and I am 58.

Hiya Charles:

Be careful NOT to give us any latitude with your name -- you know what
happens in newsrooms when you do that

If I gave you the impression that you can't create an outline in Outline
View, allow me please to retract it

As an ex-journo myself, I regularly create outlines in that view. However,
my outlines are multi-level: with three levels of sub-heads.

Outline View is the bee's knees for that, BUT while creating an Outline in
Outline view, you cannot type any text. Only the headings.

So you would type:

This is the first heading
This is the second heading
{tab} This is a sub heading
And another subheading
{back tab} A third main heading
{tab} A third sub heading...

Etcetera.

Word will automatically apply Heading 1 style to the "headings" and Heading
2 style to the sub-headings.

Then you flip into Page Layout View to ad your text under each heading

Then (if you are as disorganised as me...) you flip back to outline View to
move your sections around. Each time you select a heading in Outline View,
Word also selects all of the text under it, down to but not including the
next heading on the same level.

I used to be a wire agency journo, and had to repackage each story five ways
for five different outputs. The Outline View is just amazingly powerful for
completely reorganising an article in seconds.

As Daiya mentions, if you have numbering on your Heading-series styles, Word
will keep it and show it in Outline View. But I do not recommend doing ANY
formatting in Outline View, the risk of lurid disasters because the
selection mechanism changes functionality is too high

Cheers

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

People used "bees Knees" back when I was about 6 but went out of favor
when I got Middle High school (Grade 8). ;-)

We speak a different version of English down here, Philip. Even youngsters
like John use "bee's knees"... ;-)

Clive
=====

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie]

Still in use down here: I saw it in an advertisement the other day...

People used "bees Knees" back when I was about 6 but went out of favor
when I got Middle High school (Grade 8). ;-)

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Charles T. Shay]

Hiya Charles:

Be careful NOT to give us any latitude with your name -- you know what
happens in newsrooms when you do that

If I gave you the impression that you can't create an outline in Outline
View, allow me please to retract it

As an ex-journo myself, I regularly create outlines in that view. However,
my outlines are multi-level: with three levels of sub-heads.

Outline View is the bee's knees for that, BUT while creating an Outline in
Outline view, you cannot type any text. Only the headings.

So you would type:

This is the first heading
This is the second heading
{tab} This is a sub heading
And another subheading
{back tab} A third main heading
{tab} A third sub heading...

Etcetera.

Word will automatically apply Heading 1 style to the "headings" and Heading
2 style to the sub-headings.

Then you flip into Page Layout View to ad your text under each heading

Then (if you are as disorganised as me...) you flip back to outline View to
move your sections around. Each time you select a heading in Outline View,
Word also selects all of the text under it, down to but not including the
next heading on the same level.

I used to be a wire agency journo, and had to repackage each story five ways
for five different outputs. The Outline View is just amazingly powerful for
completely reorganising an article in seconds.

As Daiya mentions, if you have numbering on your Heading-series styles, Word
will keep it and show it in Outline View. But I do not recommend doing ANY
formatting in Outline View, the risk of lurid disasters because the
selection mechanism changes functionality is too high

Cheers








--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

John,
Thanks. I haven't delved back into this minefield in a while (used the
old paper-and-pen, note-cards outline for my last column), but this
advice looks very promising. I'm beginning to get it.
One question: You must switch from outline view to page layout view to
add text -- not, say, to "normal" view? Is that just your preference
or is that mandatory?
Best,
Charles

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Charles:

To add text, anything "but" Outline View.

Normal view is best for professionals and for major documents. It shows you
more of the control characters so you can see what you are doing properly,
and it is much faster with documents over 1,000 pages.

Page Layout View is better for proofing: it's 99 per cent WYSIWYG. But it
is power-hungry, and slow above 200 pages.

For production editing, use Print Preview. Amazingly power-hungry, but as
accurate as screen resolutions will allow.

Cheers

John,
Thanks. I haven't delved back into this minefield in a while (used the
old paper-and-pen, note-cards outline for my last column), but this
advice looks very promising. I'm beginning to get it.
One question: You must switch from outline view to page layout view to
add text -- not, say, to "normal" view? Is that just your preference
or is that mandatory?
Best,
Charles

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]