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Because I'm always interested in possible
single-source technology for Word, I installed the
free trial version of "Author Max." I cannot get the
conditional text part of it to work. I would
appreciate any information on how to get it to work.
The "Add or Delete Condition" opens a dialog box that
allows me to select a condition. When I select a
condition I am presented with another dialog box that
allows me to rename the selected condition. But
selecting a condition makes no difference to the text
on the screen - there is no color change, no
formatting change, nothing whatever to show me which
content has been conditioned and which has not.
I am unable to find any means of setting condition
markers. There are no tools for setting colors or any
kind of formatting for conditioned text.
The part of Author Max that does not pertain to
conditional text appears to me to be nothing more than
a toolbar that provides macros for doing some fairly
simple things. It seems to me to be just a way of
saving a few keystrokes, and I think it would be
unnecessary to anyone who is moderately familiar with
Word.
For example, one of the toolbar selections is labeled
"Paste unformatted." All it does is paste content from
the clipboard back into the document, with any
formatting removed. But you can do that yourself
already by just using the Edit > Paste Special menu
selection and clicking on "Unformatted text."
There's another button in the Author Max toolbar
labeled "Prop." This opens a dialog box that is
nothing more than a front end loader to the document
properties. And it does not even present all the
document properties that can be accessed and changed
through the File menu. I cannot imagine this function
having any use at all for someone who knows what the
document properties are.
I'm using Word 2003 running on Windows XP. If Author
Max requires any particular Word version or OS, the
company's info on their web site does not mention it.
About free methods for doing conditional text in Word
- I'd appreciate some info on them. I have my own
homebrewed methods but they're kind of clumsy. I'd
really like to find something both effective and
simpler.
--- Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>
wrote:
> There are also a number of *free* methods for
> creating conditional text
> in Word.
>
> BTW, Katriel, you might want to consider including
> an advertising
> disclaimer...
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Katriel Reichman
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 5:20 AM
> > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Subject: Conditional Text Question
> >
> > Have you tried conditional text in Word? Author
> Max should
> > give you basic capabilities
> (www.methodm.com/author-max).
> >
>
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> True single source, conditional content, PDF export,
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Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
