We have been on a bit of a 'bookmarks' kick over the past several months. Our last newsletter announced new tools that allows you recall bookmarked text from any document. Those who tried it and reported back gave it rave reviews.
We are expanding on that concept and intertwining it with Word's AutoText function. The result will be that you can simply type a piece of target text to your Word screen and AutoText will quickly expand it into the text you want. It will operate like other text expanders you have heard of, but Pathagoras' implementation runs completely within Word. (No ancillary programs required. This is based entirely in Microsoft's Quick Parts tool.)
This new tool will also tie into Word's 'Content Controls' to allow you to easily create in-document selectable lists of options.
While the tools described above are well developed in our alpha testing, we need some beta testers to help prove the concept and offer advice regarding documentation of the routines and screenage.
These tools, at least at the moment, lie on the advanced end of
the Word users' spectrum. Once fully implemented, we believe that everyone will find them easy to use. (If you do not place yourself in that 'advanced users' category, do not feel compelled to respond. That said, if you still want to try it, and are willing to devote some time learning some new concepts, don't hesitate to ask to test. If you know a super-user in your firm, maybe pass
this on.)
AutoText: I don’t like Microsoft's implementation of Quick Parts and its AutoText gallery (I explain why in the documentation. Suffice it to say that Quick Parts are hard to create, to edit, to update and to distribute to others.) That said, a good Quick Parts/AutoText library is
actually a fabulous tool for short text snippets, signature blocks, address blocks (we have 480 address blocks currently in use at our office), notary jurats and the like. You can also put an unlimited amount -- both in terms of quantity and size -- of other kinds of content
(boilerplate text, simple to complex Pathagorized Options and Optional
blocks) into your AutoText gallery. Since you can recall a particular AutoText item simply by typing just the first
several characters of the name, a whole new world of automation opens up.
Pathagoras' part in all of this is that we have made interacting with Quick Parts (including AutoText) much easier. Pathagoras can move large quantities of content
into the AutoText gallery with the press of a single button. We can, upon request move large quantities of content out of your AutoText gallery into easy to edit tables displaying that Quick Parts content. This latter tool allows you to edit, add and delete Quick Parts as easily as doing so with a regular document. And you can share your Quick Parts galleries with other Pathagoras users in the same way you can share documents. (Indeed, they are shared as documents to make working with them easy and intuitive.)
Outlook connectivity: Along the way to programming for Quick Parts, we discovered that we can just as easily help you to create Quick Parts/AutoText content for Outlook. (I have been asked for an Outlook version of Pathagoras for years. Well, this isn't really that, but it's the next best thing. But it is also a really big thing!)
If you
now use Quick Parts and want to use it better/faster/smarter, sign up to beta test our new Quick Parts
tools. Just respond to this email with “I’m interested in exploring Pathagoras and Quick Parts” and I will get back with
you.
Content Controls: These are very nice mini-screens placed within your documents which contain selectable content (multiple choice items, calendars, images, checkboxes and more). Pathagoras and Content Controls have always played nicely with one another (we discussed Pathagoras and Content Controls way back in 2016), but now with the improved Quick Parts creation tools, it's more than just playing nicely. It's synergy. One of the several Content Controls is a Quick Parts control, so your entire Quick Parts gallery built with the above tools can be fingertip/mouse-click close.
If you use and understand Content
Controls and want to expand the way you currently use them with your Quick Parts galleries, sign up to beta
test our Content Control tools. Just respond to this email with “I’m interested in using Pathagoras and Content Controls”
and I will get back with you.
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If you are interested in learning more about how Pathagoras is
expanding document assembly and automation possibilities, check out our ‘what’s
new’ pages in our Manual, starting here. |
