Worth Noting: EditTools 4.1 is Released

EditTools 4.1 was released last week. It is available at wordsnSync. This is a free upgrade for all current EditTools licensees. I encourage you to download and install the upgrade.

EditTools 4.1 includes numerous improvements to existing macros and a couple of new macros. Some of the noteworthy improvements are the making of various datasets editable, the ability to choose to remove only certain highlight colors, the addition of a clipboard macro, and the ehancing of the Search, Count, and Replace macro. Most of the improvements are discussed at the wordsnSync website in the information about each macro.

Purchasers of the Editor’s Toolkit Ultimate package (Editor’s Toolkit Plus, EditTools, and PerfectIt!) are also eligible for the free upgrade.

How these three macro products can be used in your editing practice was discussed int these previous articles: The 3 Stages of Copyediting: I — The Processing Stage; The 3 Stages of Copyediting: II — The Copyediting Stage; and The 3 Stages of Copyediting: III — The Proofing Stage.

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Worth Noting: EditTools v4 Patch Released

If you read my article regarding the release of EditTools version 4 with the new Wildcard Find & Replace macro (Macro Power: Wildcard Find & Replace) and either upgraded your EditTools, or purchased EditTools, or simply decided to give EditTools a trial run, it is important that you go to the wordsnSync downloads page and download and install the latest release, version 4.0.06.

You can tell what version of EditTools you are running by clicking About. It should read Build: 4.0.06.

Unfortunately, a couple of minor bugs and one major bug creeped into EditTools between the final beta and the release. (I’m always amazed at how bug creep works with software!) The 4.0.06 patch release fixes these bugs and adds a new feature to the Journal Manager. Now you can easily search your journal dataset.

If you are an editor and haven’t tried EditTools, you should give it a try. It is one of the tools in an editor’s armory that can increase efficiency and accuracy. I created the set of macros to help me in my editing, and I know from my own experience that these macros save a lot of valuable time.

EditTools is discussed in The 3 Stages of Copyediting: II — The Copyediting Stage. It is available at a discounted price as part of the Editor’s Toolkit Ultimate macro package, which includes PerfectIt from Intelligent Editing (see The 3 Stages of Copyediting: III — The Proofing Stage) and Editor’s Toolkit Plus from The Editorium (see The 3 Stages of Copyediting: I — The Processing Stage). More information about Editor’s Toolkit Ultimate is available at wordsnSync.

Macro Power: Wildcard Find & Replace

I’m a great believer in using macros for routine tasks when editing. I know that a macro cannot ponder whether a word should be capitalized or not. I understand that macros are dumb; macros can only do what they are programmed to do — nothing more, nothing less (which reminds me of Humpty Dumpty’s perspective on the meaning of words).

But macros can relieve me of the tedium of performing routine, mechanical tasks. To that end, I have spent thousands of dollars in developing macros for my editing business and in buying macros developed by others for use in my business. In earlier articles, I discussed Editorium macros (The 3 Stages of Copyediting: I — The Processing Stage), EditTools (The 3 Stages of Copyediting: II — The Copyediting Stage), and PerfectIt (The 3 Stages of Copyediting: III — The Proofing Stage). Today, I want to revisit EditTools because of a major revision that has occurred with the release of version 4: Wildcard Find & Replace.

Wildcards are the most powerful of all the search types that Microsoft Word can perform. Yet, for most editors, wildcards are difficult and dangerous. Jack Lyon, owner of The Editorium and author of many macros used by editors, wrote a great resource for learning about wildcards called “Advanced Find and Replace for Microsoft Word.” It is free and well worth taking the time to go through.

But even with Jack’s contribution to our knowledge, wildcards remain both mysterious and difficult for many editors. That’s where EditTools version 4 (which is a free upgrade for current owners of any version of EditTools) comes into play. Now everyone can make use of wildcards.

Wildcard Find & Replace is for novice, intermediate, and advanced wildcard macro users. For advanced users, it brings the capability to test a wildcard macro before using it on the whole document, as well as the capability to save wildcard macros for future use.

For novice and intermediate users, in addition to the capabilities to save and test wildcard macros, Wildcard Find & Replace can help you build both the find and the replace criteria. Users do not need to wonder whether they are writing the criterion correctly; you choose from menus what it is that you want to do, and Wildcard Find & Replace fills in the correct language.

For detailed information on how the Wildcard Find & Replace macro works, visit the Wildcard Find & Replace help page at wordsnSync. While at the wordsnSync website take a look at the other power macros included in EditTools.