Posts by Ugur Akinci
How to Use OpenOffice Writer's Powerful "Find & Replace" Function
© Ugur Akinci Imagine you have a 1,000 page document using Arial font in 50 of those one thousand pages. And again imagine that you’d like to use Arial Narrow in those pages. You can make the necessary font changes in a singşe move by using OpenOffice Writer’s (a free program) powerful FIND & REPLACE…
Read MoreTechnical Editing: Eliminate Passive Voice and Secondary Verbs for Clear Technical Writing
© Ugur Akinci You can eliminate a lot of deadwood from your technical writing by eliminating the passive voice and secondary verbs. Here is an example: ORIGINAL: “A decision was made at the Project Management level that the product should be released by the first of the new year.” “A decision was made” is…
Read MoreHow to Edit and Update the Subdocument Files in an OpenOffice Writer Master Document
© Ugur Akinci Editing and updating the subdocument files that make up an OpenOffice Writer Master Document is so easy. (1) Open your Master Document and its Navigator: (2) In the NAVIGATOR screen, select the subdocument you’d like to edit (Document 2 in the above example). Click the Edit button (second from left). This will…
Read MoreHow to Insert FIELDS into an OpenOffice Writer Technical Document
© Ugur Akinci OpenOffice Writer is the free equivalent of MS Word. Unless you have very particular needs, you can do a lot with OpenOffıce. One sophisticated feature OpenOffice shares with MS Word is the ability to insert FIELDS (variables) into your technical documents. Here are the basic steps: 1) Launch your OpenOffice Write document.…
Read MoreHow to Combine Multiple OpenOffice Writer Subdocuments in a Master Document
© Ugur Akinci OpenOffice Writer, a part of the free OpenOffice suite of office applications, has a pretty robust Master Document functionality. You can combine several separate subdocuments into a single bigger one by using an OpenOffice Master Document. The basic steps are straight forward, although OO offers an amazing array of options, a long…
Read MoreHow to Insert a Bookmark in a MS Word Document
To insert a bookmark in a Word document: (1) Open your MS Word document. (2) Insert your cursor where you’d like the bookmark to appear; or, select the texct that you want to bookmark. (3) On the ribbon, select Insert > Bookmark to display the Bookmark dialog box: (4) Enter a Name for the bookmark.…
Read MoreSpeed Up Your MS Word by Disabling Background Repagination Option
MS Word can use a lot of resources and thus slow down if your “background repagination” option is turned on. If you are working on a long document and if you feel MS Word is not responding quickly to your commands, you might try disabling background repagination. For MS Word 2007: Make sure your Word document is NOT…
Read MoreHow to Create an Instant and Good-Looking Document Cover in MS Word
You can create a nice looking cover within seconds by using MS Word. Method 1 1) Place your cursor in the beginning of your MS Word document. 2) From the ribbon, select Insert > Quick Parts >Building Blocks Organizer: 3) In the Building Blocks Organizer dialog box, click the on the label of the Gallery…
Read MoreHow to Use Titles and Subheadings to Group Similar Kinds of Procedural Tasks
Here is an example of how NOT to use a title when writing procedural steps: [TITLE] Follow these instructions: Calculate the exact amount of patent fee you need to pay to the United States Patent and Trademark Office by using the PF calculator. Itemize the fees for each individual application by using Form I. Convert…
Read MoreHow to Stress the Subject or the Object of a Title
There are ways to direct the attention of the reader to the subject or object of a title (or subtitle). ———————- QUICK RECAP: In the following sentence, “Shaun loves fish” “Shaun” is the SUBJECT and “fish” is the OBJECT. ———————- You can highlight a title’s subject or object by using active or passive voice appropriately. Here is how: METHOD…
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