StyleWriter4 New Features

7/31/2019 StyleWriter4 New Features

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StyleWriter4

NEWFEATURESGUIDE


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EditorSoftware StyleWriter4NewFeatures [email protected]

Contents

Upgradeinformation

Introduction

Usingthesenotes

CallingupStyleWriter

TextScreen

StyleCategoriesScreen

StyleWriterVersion4MajorChanges

TheWordlist

TheBog

Index

abetter

readability

formula

Pepencouraginggoodwritinghabits

AudienceandTask

NewCategories

o SpellcheckerandQuestionableCategory

o Informal

o Unusual

o Jargon

Abbreviations,Difficult,Phrases

o HighBogSentences

o HighGlue

Sentences

StyleWritersTextScreen

TextScreen

o StyleWritersStatistics

o WritingTaskandAudience

o StyleWritersTextColours

o StyleWritersSentenceSummary

o StyleWritersSentenceView

StyleCategoryScreen

StyleCategoryScreen

o PlainEnglish,JargonandSentenceAnalysis

o HighBogSentences

o HighGlueSentences

o Proofreading

o HouseStyle

o Userdefined

o Pep

o ExcludeQuoted

Text

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StyleWritersStatistics

StyleIndexortheBogIndex

InsertStatistics

in

the

Document

ShowStatisticalSummary

SaveStatistics

CustomisingStyleWriter

ChangingtheWritingTaskandAudience

SwitchingCategoriesOnorOff

SettingStyleWritersDefaultCategory

RemovingAdvicefromStyleWriter

Addingto

the

Spellchecker

AddingAdvicetoStyleWriter

o AddingPreferredCapitalisationCheck

ReviewingChangestoStyleWriter

WritingStylesCompared

Newsweek

GovernmentReport

PlainEnglish

Notesand

Tips

AccurateReadabilityStatistics

ChangingtheDisplayOptions

ResettingtheCategoryDefaults

WhatAdvicetoRemovefromStyleWriter

UsingtheNextButtonorClickingonHighlightedProblems

UsingUndo

UsingStyleWriterthroughtheClipboard

Using

Wildcards

with

Added

Patterns

UsingStyleWriteron64bitMachines

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Upgradeinformation

AsanexistingStyleWriteruser,youcanupgradeanddownloadStyleWriter4for:

EuropeanUnion=40+VAT=47

RestoftheWorld=$60(UnitedStatesdollars)

Beforeyoupayyourupgradefee,youcandownloadStyleWriter4anduseitfor14days.

WhenyoudownloadStyleWriter,youalsoreceiveaTutorandHelpFilethat

comprehensivelyexplainsthenewfeatures.

YoucandownloadStyleWriter4at:

http://www.editorsoftware.com/StyleWriter4/download

Within14daysyoucanupgradetoStyleWriter4bypayingtheupgradefeeat:

http://www.editorsoftware.com/StyleWriter4/upgrade

Whenyouupgrade,fillouttheformincluding:

1. Yourcreditcardinformation(Visa,MasterCardorAmericanExpress).

2. YourcurrentStyleWriterCustomerID,(threeletter+tendigitsuchas

AAA0809112222)onthebackofyourSoftwareforWritersCDwallet.

3. YoursitecodeforStyleWriter4(foundinthesamewayasthecurrentversion).

Emailus

at

[email protected]

if

you

cannot

find

your

Customer

ID.

4
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Introduction

StyleWriter4isamajornewversionofoureditingsoftware. ItisanaddontoMicrosoft

WordandcaneditWorddocumentsorclipboardtext.

Usingthesenotes

IfyouhavedownloadedStyleWriter4,youwillhaveaStyleWriter4helpfile. We

recommendyouopenStyleWritershelpfileSW4UK.chm(UKversion),SW4US.chm(US

version),SW4AU.chm(Australianversion)asyoureadthesenotestolookupanycross

references.

YoudonothavetouninstallyourcurrentStyleWriterifyoudownloadthenewversion.

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CallingupStyleWriter

YoucallupStyleWriterintheusualway.

1. OpenafileinWord(orsavetexttotheclipboard).

2. Clickthe

StyleWriter

icon

in

Words

toolbars

or

the

Add

in

tab

in

Word

2007.

Note: Installationcreatesanewfolderonyourharddrivesoyoucancontinuetouse

StyleWriterversion3(C:\SWWIN)astheycallupdifferentexecutablefiles.

TextScreen


YoullseethenewlookStyleWriterTextScreenpopupoveryourWorddocumentwhere

youcan

review

and

edit

your

text.

You

can

edit

your

Word

file

in

the

usual

way

by

clicking

onanyblueunderlinedalternativesormakingchangesinWordusingtheEdit/Resume

buttons.

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StyleWritersStyleCategoryScreen

HeresStyleWritersnewStyleCategoryScreen. Fromhereyoucanseethespecificissues

StyleWriterhasfoundinyourwriting. Youcanalsosetyourpersonalpreferencesatthis

screen.


CurrentStyleWriteruserswillnoticeseveralchangesinthesescreens. However,beforewe

describethesenewfeatures,hereisabriefdescriptionofhowVersion4improves

StyleWriterand

makes

it

amore

powerful

and

effective

editing

tool.

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StyleWriterVersion4MajorChanges

TheWordlist

Wehaveaddedagraded200,000wordandphrasedictionarytoStyleWriter,theWordlist.

Itgivesusahostofneweditingfeaturesandproofreadingtoolsandcoversmostofthewordsyouwilleveruseinwriting.

WehavegradedtheWordlistfromeasytodifficultdependingonthefrequencyoftheword

anditseaseofunderstanding. Eachwordalsohasacategorysuchas:

difficultoreasy

formalorinformal

jargonornonjargon

poorstyleorgoodstyle

technicalor

non

technical

unusualorcommon

AswellastheWordlist,StyleWriterhassomenewstylecategories:

UnusualWords

Abbreviations

DifficultWords

JargonPhrases

HighBogsentences(difficulttoread)

HighGluesentences(wordysentences)

Informal Spellchecker

Questionable

TheWordlistandnewstylecategoriesaddextrafeatures:

1.TheBogIndexabetterreadabilityformulaTheWordlistiscentraltoournewreadabilityformulatheBogIndex. Weve

nameditBogbecauseahighBogscoremeansthestylebogsdownreaders.

Conventionalreadability

formulas

are

simplistic,

counting

characters

or

syllables

and

sentencelength. StyleWritersBogIndexisthefirstreadabilityformulatoworkona

gradedwordlistmakingitmoreaccurate.

TheBogIndexreplacesStyleWritersStyleIndexalthoughtheprogramstillrecords

theStyleIndexinitsstatistics.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:BogIndex:BogIndexExplained

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2.PepencouraginggoodwritinghabitsAspartoftheBogIndexmeasuringyourreadabilityandstyle,StyleWritermeasures

characteristicsofgoodstyleinyourwriting. WecallthesefeaturesPepbecause

theypepupyourwritingstyle.

Pepiswritingthatmakereadingeasierandmoreenjoyable. Itconsistsoflively

verbs,interestingnouns,people'snamesorconversationalstyleusingcontractions,

personalpronouns,questionsandshortsentences.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:pep

3.NewAudienceandMoreWritingTasksThenewreadabilitystatisticsandratingschangedependingonwhattypeof

documentyouarewritingandyourintendedaudience. Therearenow20writing

taskstochoosefromandthreeaudiencetypes: Public,InhouseandSpecialist. This

makesyour

StyleWriter

scores

and

ratings

more

sensitive

to

your

writing

task.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:WritingTaskandAudience

4.SpellcheckerandQuestionableCategoryStyleWritersspellcheckerworksinaconventionalway,comparingyourwordswith

its200,000wordlist. However,ifStyleWriterfindsawordnotonitslist,itlooksup

Wordsspellcheckerforsuggestedcorrections.

StyleWritersQuestionablecategoryimprovesthespellcheckerbyhighlightingwords

thatoftenfoolconventionalspellcheckers. Forexample,Microsoftsspellchecker

acceptsthe

following

sentences

as

correct.

Thesafeoptionistotaeonlythedrugsprescribedbyourdoctor. Yushouldalsoget

plentyofretanddinkliquidstorehydrateyourbody. Theremaybetinesthatyou

needtogobacktoyourdoctorifneitherthedrugsnorrestcurethesymptoms.

Pleasereadtheleaflet,designedtogivethepubicmoreadviceontreatingyour

problemswithmedicaldugs.

StyleWritersQuestionableCategoryhighlightssucherrorsandoffersspecificadvice

onthousandsofspellingrelatedissues,suchaspreferredspelling,Americanor

Britishspelling.

See:StyleWriter

Help:

Index:

Spelling

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Questionable

5.InformalHighlightsthousandsofinformalwordsthateditorswouldflagasinappropriatefor

mostbusinessandofficialwriting.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Informal

6.UnusualHighlightsthousandsofunusualwordsthatyoushouldconsidercuttingtoachievea

clearstyle.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Unusual

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7. JargonHighlightsjargoninthreeform:

Abbreviationsandacronyms,

Difficultwordsoutsidetheunderstandingofmostreaders,and

Jargonphrases

(adjustable

by

the

user).

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Abbreviation:Abbreviations

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Difficultwords

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Jargon:JargonPhrases

8.HighBogSentences(advancededitingfeature)Highlightsdifficulttoreadsentencestoencourageyoutoeditthemintoclearer,

morereadablestyle(adjustablebytheuser).

See:StyleWriterHelp:Contents:StyleWritersCategories:HighBogSentences

9.HighGlueSentences(advancededitingfeature)Highlightswordysentencesyoucanshorten(adjustablebytheuser).

See:StyleWriterHelp:Contents:StyleWritersCategories:HighGlueSentences

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TextScreen

TheTextScreenistheheartoftheStyleWriterprogram,showingyourkeywritingstatistics,

stylefaultshighlightedinthetext,graphicallypresentingyourstyle.

StyleWritersStatistics

Thestatisticsandratingsatthebottomofthescreensummariseyourdocuments

readabilityandstyle.

WordCount: Thewordcountletsyoukeepaneyeonyourdocumentslength.

BogIndex:

A

weighted

readability

score

for

more

than

200,000

graded

words,

sentence

lengthandstyleissues. Itgivescreditformanywritingfeatures(Pep)thatmakedocuments

easiertoread. Excellentwritingscoresbelow20ontheBogIndex.

AverageSentence: TheAverageSentenceLengthisanimportantstatisticinwritingstyle.

Easyreadingusesasentenceaveragebelow20,sometimeslowerdependingonyour

audienceandyourwritingtask. StyleWriterhighlightsyourlongsentences. Ifyoustillhave

ahighsentenceaverage,lookforwaystocutoutunnecessarywordsandphrasesorsplit

thelongsentencesintoshortersentences.

Passive

Index:

This

measures

one

of

the

most

common

style

faults

in

writing

overusing

passiveverbs. Toomanypassiveverbsmakewritingtedious,ambiguousandlongwinded.

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StyleWritercountsthenumberofpassiveverbs,dividesthembythenumberofsentences

andmultipliestheresultby100togiveaPassiveIndex.

PassiveIndex=Number of Passive Verbs

X100Number of Sentences

Scoresbelow20fortheBogIndex,theAverageSentenceLengthandthePassiveIndexare

thehallmarksofanexcellentstyle. YouwillnoticeStyleWritergivesyouaratingforthe

threemeasures. Theratingsare:

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

Bad

Unreadable

Gobbledegook

YoushouldalwaystrytogetExcellentorGoodforthethreemeasures.

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WritingTaskandAudience

Style,clarityandreadabilitydependonbothyourwritingtaskandyouraudience. Writing

instructionsforthepublicmustbemucheasiertoreadthanwritingtoaspecialistaudience

withrelevantexpertise. Similarly,writingagoodadvertisementisdifferentthanwritinga

studentessay.

StyleWriter

lets

you

select

from

20

writing

tasks

and

three

audience

types.

Theprogramthenadjustsitsmeasureandotherratingstoreflectthedifferenttaskand

audienceselected.

WritingTask: Toselectawritingtask,gototheWritingTaskdropdownboxinthemain

StyleWriterwindowandselectthetaskfitsthedocumentyouarechecking. StyleWriter

adjustsitsevaluationofyourdocumentbasedonthetaskyouselect.

Audience:Toselectatargetaudience,gototheAudiencedropdownboxinthemain

StyleWriterwindowandselectfrom:

Public

Inhouse

Specialist

StyleWriterchangesitsassessmentofabbreviationsandspecialisttermsbasedonthetarget

audience.

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WhenwritingforthePublic,specialisttermsandabbreviationscontributetheirfull

amounttotheBogIndex.

ForanInhouseaudience,Abbreviationscarryonlyhalfthepenalty.

ForaSpecialistaudience(experts),bothAbbreviationsandSpecialistwordscarryonly

halfthepenalty.

Tip: ThedefaultWritingTaskisGeneralWritingandthedefaultAudienceisPublic. You

canchangethedefaultbyselectingadifferentWritingTaskandAudiencewhen

thereisnodocumentloaded. Ifyouchangethesettingswithoutadocumentloaded

andcloseStyleWriter,theprogramremembersthetaskandaudienceyouchosethe

nexttimeyoucheckadocument

StyleWritersTextColours

HeresStyleWritersadviceandanalysisofaletter. Thetextontherightisthedocument

withsomeofthestyleissueshighlighted. Thecoloursrepresentdifferentstyleorusage

issues.

Thedefaultcoloursusedtohighlightdifferentissuesare:

See:

StyleWriter

Help:

Index:

Text:

Text

View

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Tip: Themoreyouseeinredandblueinyourtextthemoredifficultyourwritingstyle

hasbecome. Issueshighlightedingreyandblackdonotgenerallyaffectthestyleof

writing.

StyleWritersSentenceSummary

Thebottom

left

hand

graph

shows

the

Sentence

Summary

of

your

document.

TheredandbluecolumnandthegreencolumnontheleftshowtheSentenceBog,Word

BogandPep.

BogIndex=WordBog(blue)+SentenceBog(red)Pep(green)

A

clear,

easy

reading

style

should

produce

a

Sentence

Summary

graph

like

this:

Thisshowsthedocumentuses:

Alowaveragesentencelength

Nolongsentences(longestunder30words)

Goodsentencedistribution(normaldistributioninthewhiteareaofthegraph).

MorePepthanBog.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:SentenceView

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StyleWritersSentenceView

ThetoplefthandgraphshowstheSentenceView. Thisgraphsyourstylesentenceby

sentencethroughthedocumentlettingyouscanthedocumenttoseewhatsectionneeds

mostediting.

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ThelefthandsidegraphsStyleWritersassessmentofeachsentenceshowingthe

valuesitcontributestotheoverallBogIndex.

Tip: IfyouwanttoseeStyleWritersstatisticsforanysentence,simplyclickonthe

sentencedisplayedintheSentenceView. Youcanmovetothenextsentenceand

viewthestatisticsbypressingShift+DownArrow. Youcanmovetheprevious

sentenceand

view

the

statistics

by

pressing

Shift

+Up

Arrow.

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StyleCategory

Screen

TheStyleCategoryScreenshowswhatStyleWriterhasfoundinyourdocument. Italso

controlswhatStyleWriterdisplaysinyourdocument. Youcansetcategoriesonorofffor

thecurrentdocumentorforalldocumentsyoucheck.

ThesearethedefaultsettingsforStyleWriter. Thosecategorieswithatickintheboxare

onandwillhighlighttheprobleminthetext. Thenumberrepresentshowmany

occurrencesofthisissuethereareinyourdocument. Forexample,ittellsusthereare11

wordyphrases,fivelongsentencesandfivepossiblespellingerrors.

Toswitchacategoryonoroff,yousimplyclickthecheckboxnexttothecategory. Only

thosewithticksareshownintheTextscreen. Werecommendwhenyoufirstuse

StyleWriter,youkeeptotheDefaultsettings. Onceyouarefamiliarwiththeprogram,we

recommendyou

switch

Jargon

Phrases,

High

Bog

sentences

and

High

Glue

sentences

on.

Tokeepthesettingsyouchoosepermanently,clicktheSetDefaultsbutton.

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PlainEnglish,JargonandSentenceAnalysis

ThelefthandsideoftheStyleCategoryscreenrecordspoorwritinghabitscommonto

mostwriters.

TheJargongrouphasthreenewcategories,Abbreviations,DifficultWordsandPhrases.

StyleWritercomparesyourwordstoitsgradedWordlistandworksoutwhentohighlight

theseproblems.

Forexample,StyleWriterwithitsJargonPhrasescategorysetat>2willhighlight:

business

management

resource

classinventorymanagementsystem

convergentnetworksolutions

customerinteractiveprocess

deploymenttransformationprogress

explicitlylinkedprogramdeliverables

geographicalreferenceoutput

requiredmanualdeployment

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YoucanchangetheJargonphrasecategorytofindmoreorfewerexamplesofpossible

jargon. Settingthelevelat>2findsmorejargonphrases;settingthelevelat>4findsfewer

jargonphrases.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:DifficultWords

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Jargon:JargonPhrases

Note: StyleWriterdeliberatelyhighlightsabbreviationsandacronymsinyourwriting. You

canaddthoseabbreviationsandacronymsyoufeelyoumustuseinyourwritingstyle.

Wellexplainmoreaboutthisinthesection:CustomisingStyleWriter.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Abbreviation:Abbreviations

TheSentenceAnalysisgrouphastwonewcategories,HighBogsentencesandHighGlue

sentences. StyleWritercomparesthewriterswordstoitsgradedWordlistandworksout

whentohighlighttheseproblems.

HighBogSentences

HighBogsentencesareoftendifficulttoreadbutdontnecessarilycontainotherstyle

faults. HighlightingHighBogsentencesletsyoueditsentencesaboveareadability

thresholdyoucansetdependingonyourwritingneeds.

Boginwritingisanythingthatmakesyourwritinglessreadable. StyleWriterkeepsascore

ofBogthroughoutthedocumentandcanhighlightthosesentenceswithahighWordBog.

Eachwordinyourdocumenthasaratingforeaseofreadingfrom0(nodifficulty)to4(very

difficult). WordBogincludesascoreforthestylefaultsStyleWriterhighlightssuchas

passiveverbs,

hidden

verbs

and

wordy

phrases.

StyleWriterdefineseachwordaseitherspecialistornonspecialistandtheformulaadjusts

itsscoreandratingfordifferentaudiences(Public,InhouseandSpecialist)andthetypeof

document.

Word Bog=(Style Problems + Heavy Words + Abbreviations + Specialist) X 250

Number of Words

HeresanexampleofaHighBogSentenceandaredraft:

Original: Themodelutilisedanexplicitlinkageofprojecteddeliverableswithbenefit

opportunitieswiththeincorporatedworkingassumptionsandqualityfactorsfor

threescenariopricingpoints.BogScore:16SentenceLength25words

Redraft: Themodellinkedtheprojectslikelybenefitswiththeworkingassumptionsfor

threepossibleprices.BogScore:1 SentenceLength15words

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SomeoftheBogwordsarestylefaultsshownindarkred. WheneditingHighBog

Sentences,youshouldtrytochangeanythingshownasastylefault(defaultdarkred)or

Bogword(defaultblue).

DisplayingHighBogSentences

Thedefault

for

High

Bog

sentences

is

Off.

Editing

High

Bog

sentences

is

an

advanced

editing

technique,especiallyasStyleWriterdoesnotofferalternativestothewordshighlightedin

blue.

ToturntheHighBogSentencecategoryOn,ticktheHighBogcategoryintheStyle

Categoriesscreen. StyleWriterhighlightsintheTextScreenanysentencewithaWordBog

scoreabovetheselectedlevel.

SettingtheHighBogThreshold

ThedefaultHighBogthresholdis>6,butyoucanvarythisbetween>3and>9,tosuit

yourwritingneeds. Thelowernumberselected,themoresentencesStyleWriterhighlight.

Tochange

the

threshold,

tick

the

High

Bog

Sentence

category

and

choose

alevel

from

the

list.

SettingtheDefaultforHighBogSentences

IfyoualwayswanttoseetheHighBogsentencesinyourtext,simplyticktheHighBog

Sentencecategory,choosealevelfromthelistandclicktheSetDefaultsbutton. Ifyou

wanttochangethethresholdbutstillwantHighBogSentencestodefaultOff,deselectthe

checkboxbeforeyouclicktheSetDefaultsbutton.

AsyougetbetterateditingHighBogsentences,trybringingtheleveldownto>5oreven

lower.This

helps

you

adopt

amore

readable

writing

style.

HighBogSentencesGraphed

TheSentenceViewalwayshighlightsHighBogsentencesabovethechosenthreshold,so

youknowifyouhaveHighBogsentencesandwhetheryouneedtoclicktheHighBog

button.

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HeretheHighBogsentenceisthebluesentenceontherighthandsideoftheSentence

Viewgraph. YoucanclickontoanyHighBogsentencedisplayedonthegraphand

StyleWriterwilltakeyoutothatsentence.

Displayingthe

High

Bog

Sentences

from

the

Toolbar

EditingtheotherstylefaultsStyleWriterhighlightssuchasPassiveVerbs,WordyPhrases

andHiddenVerbsreducestheBogwordsinthosesentences,soyouneedtocheckonly

forHighBogSentencesafteryouhavedealtwiththosestylefaults. IfyoudontsetHigh

Bogsentencesasdefaulton,werecommendyoufixanystylefaultsStyleWriterhighlights

andthenclicktheHighBogbutton(heavyweight)inStyleWriterstoolbar. Thishighlights

anyHighBogsentencesleftinyourtext.


HighGlueSentences

Gluewordsarethe200orsomostcommonwordsintheEnglishlanguage(excluding

personalpronouns). Theyarenecessarytolinknouns,verbs,adverbsandadjectivesinany

sentence. Mostwritersusetoomanygluewordsandalmosteverydocumentcouldbenefit

fromrunninganeditorialpenthroughunnecessarygluewords.

StyleWriterfindsHighGluesentencestohelpyouwritemoreconciselyandsoimprovethe

styleandclarityofyourdocument.

Original: IwasabletousethecontactsthatIhaveintheregionalofficeandspoketoa

numberofpeopleabouttheissuethathadbeenraisedofstaffmorale.

GlueWords:

58%

Sentence

Length

31

words

Redraft: Ispoketoseveralcontactsattheregionalofficeaboutstaffmorale.GlueWords:33% SentenceLength12words

StyleWritercannottellyouwhichgluewordstocut,butonceyouhavecutgluewordsfrom

afewsentences,youwillfinditeasytoeditHighGluesentences. Herearesometipsto

helpyoueditHighGluesentencesandtoavoidoverusinggluewordswhenyouwrite.

1. Lookforthenouns,verbs,adjectivesandadverbsinyoursentenceasthesewords

arethe

content

of

your

sentence.

2. Useactiveverbs.

3. Startmostsentenceswiththemainsubjectfollowedbyanactiveverb.

4. Startinstructionswithanactive,commandverb.

5. Placeeachadjectivenexttothenounitqualifies.

6. Placeeachadverbnexttotheverbitqualifies.

7. Cutanyunnecessarygluewords.

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HowStyleWriterFindsGlueSentences

StyleWritersWordlistworksoutthepercentageofgluewordsineachsentence. IfHigh

Gluesentencesison,StyleWriterhighlightsintheTextScreenanysentencewithgluewords

abovetheselectedlevel. Thedefaultsettingisover50percent.

SettingtheHighGlueThreshold

ThedefaultHighGluethresholdis50percent,butyoucanvarytheleveltosuityour

writingneeds. AsyougetbetterateditingHighGluesentences,trybringingtheleveldown

to46percent. Ifyouwanttosaveeverywordpossibleforexample,ifyouaredraftingan

advertisementorwanttocutwordsfromanarticletofitawordlimit,youmightwantto

lowerit

to

40

per

cent.

SettingtheDefaultforHighGlueSentences

IfyoualwayswanttoseetheHighGluesentencesinyourtext,ticktheHighGluecategory,

choosealevelfromthepercentagescaleandclicktheSetDefaultsbutton. Ifyouwantto

changethethresholdbutstillwantHighGlueSentencestodefaultOff,deselectthecheck

boxbeforeyouclicktheSetDefaultsbutton.

HighGlueSentencesGraphed

TheSentenceViewalwayshighlightsHighGluesentencesabovethechosenthreshold,so

youknow

ifyou

have

High

Glue

sentences

and

whether

you

need

to

click

the

High

Glue

button.

HeretheHighGluesentenceisthegoldsentenceontherighthandsideoftheSentence

Viewgraph.

You

can

click

onto

any

High

Glue

sentence

displayed

on

the

graph

and

StyleWriterwilltakeyoutothatsentence.

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DisplayingHighGlueSentencesfromtheToolbar

TheHighGluecategorydefaultstoOff. EditingtheotherstylefaultsStyleWriterhighlights

suchaspassiveverbs,wordyphrasesandhiddenverbsreducestheGluewordsinthose

sentences,soyouonlyneedtocheckforHighGluesentencesafteryouhavedealtwith

thosestyle

faults.

Fix

any

style

faults

StyleWriter

highlights

and

then

click

the

High

Glue

button(potofglue)inStyleWriterstoolbar. ThishighlightsanyHighGluesentencesleftin

yourtext.


Proofreading

StyleWritersrighthandsideoftheStyleCategoriesscreenhelpsyouproofreadyour

document.

WordUsage

StyleWritersWordUsagecategoriesofferadviceonmisusedandconfusedwords,

hyphenationandworddivision,genderspecificwriting,informalwordsandmanyother

problems.StyleWriter

does

not

know

whether

you

have

used

these

words

correctly,

but

considersthemworthhighlighting. Thoseshowningreyaredefaultoff.

Spellchecker

Workslikeaconventionalspellchecker,butlooksupMicrosoftWordsspellcheckerfor

suggestedcorrections. Thislookupfeatureisnotavailableifyouarecheckingyour

documentthroughtheclipboard.

Questionable

Advisesonpreferredspelling,inappropriatelanguageandflagswordsthatareusuallyerrors

thatfool

conventional

spellcheckers.

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Pep

LetsyouviewthePepinyourdocument. Settodefaultoffasitdoesnotofferyouany

editingadvice.

ExcludeQuotedText

Letsyou

exclude

any

text

in

quotation

marks

from

StyleWriters

analysis.

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CustomisingStyleWriter

WevedesignedStyleWritertohelppeopleeditanywritingintoaclear,conciseand

readablestyle. Indoingthis,wevesetupStyleWritersoitisaversatileeditorstool. You

can

customise

StyleWriter

in

many

ways.

ChangingtheWritingTaskandAudience

AttheTextScreen,youcanselectfromupto20tasksandthreeaudiences. Thedefaults

areGeneralWritingandthePublic. If,however,youarewritingatechnicalreporttoa

technicalaudience,youcansetStyleWritertothesesettings. Thisaltersthescoreand

ratingsfortheBogIndexandthenumberofHighBogsentenceshighlighted.

Ifmostofyourwritingisofoneparticulartask,suchasspeechestothepublic,youcanset

thetaskandaudiencetothesesettingsasyourdefault. OpenStyleWriterwithoutaWord

fileopenoranythingintheclipboard. Setthetaskandaudienceyouwantandclose

StyleWriter. StyleWriterremembersthesesettingseachtimeyouopentheprogram.

SwitchingCategoriesOnorOff

AttheStyleCategoryScreen,youcanswitchcategoriesonoroff.

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1. YoucanchangetheStyleCategorieshighlightedinthetextbyclickingthecheck

boxestoremoveorplaceatickineachone.

2. Youcanadjustthelevelof:

JargonPhrases(>3recommended)

Longsentences(>35recommended)

HighBog

sentences

(>6

recommended)

HighGluesentences(>50%recommended)

3. TheHouseStyleisanemptycategory. Itsthereforcompaniesandgovernment

agenciestoaddtheirhousestylerules. Individualscanalsoaddrulestothis

category.

Note: AlthoughyoucanaddtomostStyleWritercategories,werecommendyouadd

anythingyouwishtocheckasanaddedpatterntotheHouseStylecategory.

Inthisway,youwillalwaysknowthewordorphrasehighlightedwasaddedby

youandisnotpartofStyleWritersnormalchecks.

SettingStyleWritersDefaultCategories

HeresStyleWritersStyleCategoriesscreenwithfourkeybuttonshighlighted:

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AllOffButton

ClickingtheAllOffbuttonswitchesallStyleWriterscategoriesoffsoyoucanselectanyyou

wanttohighlight. Forexample,ifyouwantedtoconcentrateoneditingverbs,youcould:

1. ClickAllOff

2. Clickthe

check

boxes

for

Passive

Verbs

and

Hidden

Verbs

3. Edittheminyourtext.

TheAllOffbuttonisalsoatogglebutton. Youcanclickittotogglebetweenswitchingall

Categoriesonoroff.

GetDefaultsButton

ClickingtheGetDefaultsbuttonreturnsStyleWritertoeitherthedefaultsettingsofthe

programorthedefaultsettingsyouhaveset.

SetDefaults

Button

ClickingtheSetDefaultsbuttonletsyoudecidewhatyouwantStyleWritertohighlightwhen

youedit. Youcanswitchanycategoryonoroff(byplacingorremovingthetickinthe

checkbox)andalterthelevelofproblemhighlightedinthefollowingcategories.

JargonPhrases(>3recommended)

Longsentences(>35recommended)

HighBogsentences(>6recommended)

HighGluesentences(>50%recommended)

Onceyou

have

selected

the

settings,

clicking

the

Set

Defaults

button

tells

StyleWriter

to

use

thesesettingseachtimeyoucheckadocument.

AddCategoryButton

ClickingtheAddCategorybuttonletsyouadduptothreenewcategoriestotheprogram.

StyleWriterrecords

the

new

category

name

in

the

current

Added

Pattern

File

with

any

patternsandmessagesyouaddtothecategory.

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StyleWriterallowsuptofouruserdefinedcategories. SincethesearedefinedintheAdded

PatternFile,eachAddedPatternFilecanhavedifferentuserdefinedcategories.

Eachcategorycanholdupto2,047messages,andeachmessagecanhaveanalmost

unlimitednumberofpatternspointingtoit.

RemovingAdvicefromStyleWriter

YoucanremoveanyofStyleWritersadviceexceptPassiveVerbs. If,forexample,

StyleWriterhighlightsthedifferencebetweenpersonnelandpersonalandyouaresureyou

neverconfusethesewords,youcanremovethemfromtheprogram.

WhenStyleWriterhighlightsthewordpersonnel,clicktheappropriateicononthetoolbar.

Theremoveadviceiconisthemostpowerfulasitremovesthepatternfromtheprogram.

However,StyleWriterrecordsallchangesyoumaketotheprogram. Soifyoulaterdecide

youwantpersonnelbackontheprogram,youcanusetheReviewChangedPatterns

feature.

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AddingtotheSpellchecker

WhenStyleWriterseesawordthatisnotinitsdictionary,ithighlightsitasapossible

spellingmistake.TheAddtoDictionarybuttonletsyouaddthewordtothedictionary.

StyleWriterwillofferadefaultwordclassfortheaddedwordbasedonwhetherithasa

capital,is

all

uppercase,

mixed

case

or

lowercase.

lowercase: StyleWriterconsidersanylowercasewordasaHighBogwordifitisntin

StyleWritersdictionary,itwillbeaveryuncommonwordandwillslow

downyourreader. Thiswilladdtoyourreadabilityscore.

BeforeyouaddlowercasewordstoStyleWriterswordlist,askyourself

whyitsnotalreadyon. Itmightbeanunconventionalspelling,normally

capitalised,amadeupword,archaic,informalorhighlyunusual. Editors

alwaysthinkaboutchanginglowercasewordsthrownupbyaspellchecker

as

the

word

is

normally

questionable

or

unusual

and

outside

readers

normalvocabulary.

Capitalised: Aname,withnopenaltytoyourreadabilityscore. StyleWriteraddsa

Nametoitsdictionaryasonethatshouldalwayshaveacapital,soitadds

apatternthatwillfindthewordwithorwithoutcapital. Ifitfindsthe

wordwithoutacapital,itwillofferthecapitalisednameasasuggested

correction.

UPPERCASE: Anabbreviationoracronymthatwilladdtoyourreadabilityscore.

WhenStyleWriter

highlights

an

abbreviation

(whether

it

is

one

you

have

previouslyaddedoronethatfitsStyleWritersdefinition),itgivesthe

optionofaddingthewordasaMustuseabbreviation. Thistells

StyleWriter:Yes,Iknowthisisanabbreviation,butitsoneImustuseso

dontkeepshowingittome.

YoucanoverridethedefaultsettingandaddthewordasaName,aSpecialistWord,an

AbbreviationorevenanormalwordifyoubelieveitshouldnotaddtoyourBogIndex. To

dothisfromtheToolbar,clickthedropdownarrowbesidetheAddtoDictionarybuttonto

showthepopupmenu.

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AddingAdvicetoStyleWriter

OneofthemostpowerfulfeaturesofStyleWriterisaddingpatternsandadviceto

StyleWriter. ToaddapatterntoStyleWriter,usethedropdownmenuTools/AddPattern.

TheresextensiveadviceonaddingpatternstoStyleWriterinthehelpscreens. However,

itsworthnotinganewfeatureinVersion4,addingPreferredCapitalisationPattern.

WhenyouselectTools/AddPatterns,youwillgetaboxtoaddaword,phraseorpattern

youwanttocheck. Itslikeusingawordprocessorssearchandreplace. Butwith

StyleWriteryoucansearchandreplaceforhundredsofaddedpatternsandtheprogram

remembersthemfromonedocumenttothenext.

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AddingPreferredCapitalisationCheck

IfyouselectTools/AddPattern/AddPreferredCapitalisationCheck,fromthedropdown

menu, youcanthentypeinthepreferredformofthewordorphrase. Forexample,ifwe

wantedtocheckwealwayswroteHighGluesentenceswithcapitallettersexceptforthe

wordsentences,wewouldsimplytypeinthephrase: HighGluesentences.

Whenyoutabtogotothenextfield,StyleWriterwillthentakeoverandcodethepattern

foryou.

StyleWriterwillnowhighlightallformsofthewordshighgluesentencesunlessyouhave

usedthecorrectform:HighGluesentences.

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See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:AddingPatterns:AddPatterns

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:AddingPatterns:AddPreferredCapitalisationPatterns

ReviewingChangestoStyleWriter

Youcan

review

and

reverse

changes

you

have

made

to

StyleWriter

from

the

drop

down

menuTools/ReviewChangedPatterns. TheReviewChangedPatternswindowliststhe

categories,patternsandmessagesofchangesyouhavemadewhiletailoringStyleWriters

patterns.

See:StyleWriterHelp:Index:Patterns:ReviewChangedPatterns

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StyleWritersStatisticsStyleWritersmainstatisticsareintheStatusBaroftheTextView. TheyaretheBogIndex,

theAverageSentenceLengthandthePassiveIndex. Theprogramalsoworksoutarating

foreach

of

these

important

measures.

You

can

also

change

the

Bog

Index

displayed

to

the

StyleIndexofVersion3,butwerecommendusingtheBogIndexasitisamore

comprehensivemeasure.

Tip: Youshouldaimforthreegoodorexcellentratingstoproduceanexcellentwriting

style. Scoresbelow20foreachofthethreemeasuresisalsoasignofaclearand

concisewritingstyle.

TheratingsandtheBogIndexvaryaccordingtothewritingtaskandaudienceyouhave

selected

in

the

main

window.

If

you

have

chosen

to

Exclude

Quoted

Text

in

the

Style

Categoriesscreen,wordsandsentencesininvertedcommasareexcludedfromthe

readabilitymeasures.

TheStyleIndexortheBogIndex

IfyourightclicktheBogIndexintheStatusBar,youcanchoosebetweendisplayingthe

BogIndexandtheStyleIndex(StyleWritersmainmeasureofwritinginVersion3). We

recommendyoudisplaytheBogIndexasitisamorecomprehensivemeasureandincludes

everythingmeasuredbytheStyleIndex.

34
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InsertStatisticsintheDocument

TheInsertStatisticsinDocumenticonsendsStyleWriterskeystatisticstodocument. In

MicrosoftWordtheyappearatthestartofyourdocument. InWordPerfect,theyappearas

afootnote.

Page: 1[SW1] Statistics Example1.doc, 120 words

Original, 25 Sep 2009 13:04Bog Index 180 Dreadful for a LetterAverage Sentence 28 BadPassive Index 75 Bad

Tip: IfyouclickInsertStatisticsinDocumenticonwhenStyleWriterhasfinished

analysingyourdocument(thedraft)andagainwhenyouhavefinishedediting,the

beforeandaftereditingstatisticsappearinthedocument.

Thisfeatureletspeoplesetminimumwritingstandardsindocumentscirculated. For

example,somegovernmentagenciessetaminimumBogScoreforallcirculatedcommittee

reports. Committeemembersdonotreadreportsunlesstheyhavethreegoodorexcellent

ratings. Anotheruseistosetastylestandardtomakesureanychangestothedocument

byathirdpartytoimprovecontent,doesnotraisetheBogIndexandmakethedocument

lessreadableorclear.

ShowStatisticalSummary

TheShowStatisticalSummaryicondisplaysyourstatistics,ratingsandtargets.

Tip: IfyouwanttoseetheformulausedtocalculatetheAverageSentenceLength,the

PassiveIndex,theStyleIndexandtheBogIndex,clickthe+signtotheleftofeach

measure.

Asyoueditthedocument,StyleWriterupdatesthestatisticsintheRedraftcolumnand

revisesthe

ratings.

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SaveStatistics

Youcansavethestatistics,boththeoriginalandtheredraftintoatabdefinedtextfilein

theStyleWriterfolder.

Tosavethestatisticsyouwanttorecord,clickthecheckboxintheSavecolumn. Youwill

alsoneed

to

choose

Save

Statistics

to

Archive

File

in

the

Save

Options

screen.

YoucanopenthetextfileofstatisticssavedandcopyandpastethemintoanExcel

spreadsheet.

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WritingStylesCompared

Letscomparedocumentsofdifferentwritingstandards. Thefirst,fromNewsweekshowsa

professionaljournalistswritingstyle. Thesecondisfromagovernmentreport,typicalof

thousandsproducedeachdaybywriterswithlittleornoprofessionalwritingtrainingand

withnoonetohelpeditthestyle. ThethirdisamodelofplainEnglish.

Newsweek

StyleWritertellsusthisisexcellentwriting. IthasthreeexcellentscoresintheStatusBarat

thebottomofthescreen. ThereislittlehighlightedinredintheTextsectionandthe

SentenceSummaryshowsagoodspreadofsentenceswithnolongsentences(inthegrey

areaofthegraph). TheSentenceViewalertsustotwoHighBogsentencesandsomeHigh

Gluesentences(explainedlater). Soevenifyouuseanexcellentstyle,StyleWritercanstill

improveyourwriting.

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GovernmentReport

Heresthetypicalwritinginagovernmentreport. StyleWriterratesthisasonlyaverage,

withpooraveragesentencelength,althoughtheuseofpassiveverbsisundercontrol. The

SentenceSummary

shows

us

there

is

high

Bog,

little

Pep

and

long

sentences.

The

Sentence

ViewshowsfewplainEnglishsentences(white)andproblemsinmostsentences.

StyleWritercanofferthisauthormucheditingadvicetoimprovethestyleandclarityofthe

document.

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PlainEnglish

Finally,heresanexampleofanawardwinningplainEnglishleaflet.

Thisisthestylereaderswant. TherearenostylefaultsandplentyofPepinthedocument

directquestions,personalpronounsandshortsentences. Itsnoteasytowritethissimply

andeffectively.

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NotesandTips

AccurateReadabilityStatistics

StyleWritermeasuresyourwritingstylebylookingatsentencelength,wordchoiceandstyle

issues.

To

get

the

most

accurate

statistics

and

measures,

we

recommend

you:

Useuppercaseonlyforabbreviationsandacronyms.

Followthemoderntrendofwritinguppercaseabbreviationsandacronymswithout

stopsorperiodsbetweentheletters. Forexample,preferUSAratherthanU.S.A.

Avoidusingunusualabbreviatedforms. Forexample,preferexecutiveratherthan

exec.

Avoidwritingheadingsinuppercase. Usemixedcaseorsentencecaseandusebold

andfontsizetoshowthehierarchyofheadings.

Dontputspacesattheendofheadingsorbulletpoints.

Dont

put

full

stops

or

periods

at

the

end

of

headings

or

bullet

points

(unless

the

bulletpointisafullsentence).

Dontoverusebulletspointsandlists.

Notes: StyleWriterignoreswordsnotinsentencesandrecordthemasnonsentences.

TheydonotcounttoyourAverageSentenceorBogIndex. ThismeansStyleWriter,

forexample,inletters,countsonlythewordsinthebodyoftheletterinitsstatistical

analysis,givingmoreaccuratestatisticsthanconventionalreadabilitymeasures.

ThereisamajordifferenceinAmericanusageonabbreviatedwordscomparedto

the

United

Kingdom

and

Australian

usage.

For

example,

in

American

the

standard

formofwritingshortenedwordsisAve.ratherthanAveforavenueorRd.rather

thanRdforroad. StyleWriterexcludesallcommonabbreviatedformswithfullstops

orperiodsfromdefiningtheendofasentence.

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YournewCategorySummaryscreenshouldlooklikethis:

YoucanswitchtheJargonPhrases,HighBogsentences,Highgluesentencesand

AbbreviationsdisplayedinyourtextonorofffromStyleWriterstoolbarinthetextscreen.

WhatAdvicetoRemovefromStyleWriter

Werecommendyouonlyaddpropernouns(redunderlined)andacronymsand

abbreviationsyoufeelyoumustusetotheSpellchecker. Wealsorecommendyouonly

removeWordUsage(black)andProofreading(grey)issuesfromStyleWriter.

UsingtheNextButtonorClickingonHighlightedProblems

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WithStyleWriter,youcanmovetothenextproblembyclickingtheNextbuttonorbyusing

themousetoclickonaproblem. UsingtheNextbuttonhastheadvantageofshowingyou

anytextthathastwoormoreproblemsassociatedwithit.

UsingUndo

YoucanusetheUndoicontoreversethelastchangeyoumadeinStyleWriter. Tocarryout

theUndocommandmorethanonce,clickEdittogotoyourwordprocessoranduseyour

wordprocessorsUndocommand.

UsingStyleWriterthroughtheClipboard

WehavedesignedStyleWritertoworkwithMicrosoftWord. ItwillalsoreadWordPerfect

files. However,ifyouwanttochecktextcreatedinanotherapplication,youcaneither:

1. SaveacopyofthefiletotheclipboardandpasteitintoWordorWordPerfect. Edit

itand

then

copy

and

paste

it

back

to

the

original

application.

2. SaveacopytothefiletotheclipboardandopenStyleWriter. Theprogramwill

checktheclipboardtext.

Notes: Checkingfilesthroughtheclipboarddoesnotgiveyouthesameeaseofuse. For

example,suggestedalternativesdonotappearasblueunderlinedtextforimmediate

replacementandStyleWritercannotlookupMicrosoftsspellcheckertofind

corrections.

StyleWriterVersion4doesallowyoutocheckfilessenttotheclipboardofany

length(previously

limited

to

about

ten

pages).

Tip: IfyouregularlyuseStyleWritertosaveclipboardtext,werecommendyou:

1. PlaceashortcuttoStyleWriteronthedesktop.

2. CopyfilestotheclipboardusingCtrl+AandCtrl+C.

3. CallupStyleWriterbyclickingthedesktopicon.

Note: InpreOffice2007,youcanuseStyleWritertoeditOutlookfilesbysettingWordto

beyouremaileditor.

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UsingWildcardswithAddedPatterns

WhenyouaddapatterntoStyleWriter,youhavewildcardstomakethepatternsmore

powerfulbypickingupwordvariantsormoreprecisebybeingcasespecific.

The*wildcard: Matchesanynumberofletters,hyphensorapostrophesinawordor

differentwords

in

aphrase.

The@wildcard: Matchesuptooneletter,hyphenorapostrophe.

The#wildcard: Matchesahyphen,spaceornocharacter. Itsmainuseistofindwords

writtenwithahyphen,asonejoinedwordorastwoseparatewords.

The.wildcard: Matchesahyphenorspace. Itsmainuseistofindwordsthatshouldbe

joinedasoneword.

The^wildcard: Matchesahyphenornocharacter. Itsmainuseistofindwordsthat

shouldbetwoseparatewords.

The~wildcard: Matchesaspaceornocharacter.

The!wildcard: Matchesanoptionals.

TheSwildcard: Matchesanoptionalswithorwithoutanapostropheoneitherside.

Itpicksupsingular,pluralandpossessivenouns.

The=wildcard:

Matches

any

number,

including

decimal

point

and

commas.

The\modifier: Matchesonlythatexactcharacter.

The&modifier: Matchesonlywithanuppercasecharacterwhenplacedafteralowercase

letter.

The%modifier: Matchesonlywithalowercasecharacterwhenplacedafteralowercase

letterunlessatthestartofthesentence.

Note: Ifyouuseawildcardwhenaddingapattern,amessageappearsaskingyoutoconfirmit. If

youmeanttomatchexactlythatcharacter,gobacktothePatternfieldandinserta

backslash(\)beforetheexactcharacter.

StyleWriteron64bitMachines

StyleWriterVersion4Betaiscompatiblewithuseon64bitmachines.

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Contactus

EditorSoftware: [email protected]

Youcan

download

StyleWriter

4at:

http://www.editorsoftware.com/StyleWriter4/download

Withinthe14daytrialperiod,youcanupgradetoStyleWriter4bypayingtheupgradefee

at:

http://www.editorsoftware.com/StyleWriter4/upgrade

Technicalsupport

Ifyouhavecomments,questionsorerrorstoreport,pleasesendthemto

[email protected]: StyleWriter4followedbyaspecific

descriptionoftheproblemorissue.

LetusknowifyouhaveaproblemrunningStyleWriteronanyfileoriftheprogramdoesnot

workasyouexpect. Pleaseattachacopyofthefiletoyouremailandifpossible,senda

screenshotoftheproblem.

TheerrormessageTheprogramisnotlicensedtorunmeansyouhaveusedupyour14day

trialand

you

need

to

pay

and

register.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

StyleWriter4 New Features

Documents

Transcript of StyleWriter4 New Features