August/September 2005

Volume 46, Number 1

Solutions, Inc.

by Ron Arner

Some recent tips, how-to's, and advice from the Rocky Mountain Chapter Listserve:

Thread #1: Word AutoText Category Names

Can the name of a category of Autotext in Word be something other than a Word style?

A client wants a logical- and physical-layer template for equipment installation proposals. The proposal content depends on the product line to be installed and the end customer's preferences expressed before the proposal is prepared.

Hypothetical example: In one proposal, Product X might be installed and formatted; in another proposal, only installed. A formatting proposal has more deliverables and more tasks, so it needs more content.

Usability would be enhanced if the Autotext category names could reflect the product names rather than Word style names. All task statements have the same physical appearance even if their content differs. Same with deliverables.

Yep....

1. On the Tools menu, click Templates and Add-Ins.
2. Click Organizer, and then click the AutoText tab.
3. In the In box on the left, click the entry you want to rename, and then click Rename.
4. In the Rename dialog box, type a new name for the entry.
5. Click OK, and then click Close.

Thanks for taking a shot at it.

This procedure changes the name of the entry, not the name of the category. I hadn't noticed that entry names could change, but that's valuable by itself.

The category names appear beneath All Entries when the AutoText toolbar is displayed. By default the category names are Style names. As near as I can tell, there's no way to change them.

I'm going to try to work around this and will post a success story if one develops.

This article may be a good starting point for you. Good luck!

WD2000: Adding AutoText to the AutoText Menu This article describes how to add AutoText submenus (groupings), how to add AutoText entries to the AutoText drop-down lists, and how to use the AutoTextList field for easy access to these AutoText entries. Microsoft Word provides a set of...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;207925

Ah, ha! That's it: "It is not possible to rename the AutoText submenu. You must delete the AutoText entries that reside under the AutoText submenu, and you must then create a new AutoText submenu using a different or renamed style."

It's work-around time....

Thread #2: Graphical Display of Complex Schedules

Colleagues,

Do you have a favorite tool for displaying complex schedules?

I have a client who wants an at-a-glance display of his data backup schedule. The blocks of time need to be coded for identity and interdependence - can't run this backup until that backup is complete. He's been laboriously managing an Excel sheet, which yields a nice visual, but he wants something easier to maintain. He says he's done a lot of surfing and can't find a tool that will do what he wants.

Any ideas?

Sounds like you're looking for a PERT chart tool. PERT charts provide a graphical display of project tasks connected together in a network that looks like a flow chart. MacProject was an early PERT-based scheduling tool, unlike MS Project, which is Gantt-based. You can get PERT-like displays with MS Project, but they're awkward to work with. If you're willing to create and maintain your PERT chart by hand, you can build one in Visio 2000. I don't think MacProject is available anymore, and it only ran on Mac OS, so if you want to create and maintain your schedule in a dynamic scheduling tool, you'd need to use MS Project's "network diagram" (PERT) feature. Or you could try one of the PERT chart tools on the market (search for PERT charts in Google).

Thread #3: Adobe Acrobat 6.0 /Linking to a Specific Spot on a Page

I'm trying to link from a bookmark to a specific spot on a .pdf page (within a large doc). As far as I can see, I can only link to a page and not a spot on a page, even if I create a bookmark from selected text that appears at the bottom of a page.

Adobe provides the ability to link to a destination defined in an HTML page, but my source doc is MS Word.

Any suggestions or work-arounds??

Running XP Pro, MS Word 2002/XP.

In Adobe Acrobat's full Help, search for "named destination". Once your named destinations exist, right-click on the Bookmark and set the properties to named destination, then browse and select the specific destination.