The Age of Revisions

Vi Davis
PLS
Cherish the past. First there were manual typewriters. Words came slowly and with many smudges. Then came electric typewriters, followed by electronic typewriters with memory stored on dozens of rectangular cards. Finally, the computer arrived. Words flowed and carbon paper disappeared from the land...and computers appeared in the offices of attorneys and the AGE OF REVISIONS began.

Call me a Type A personality, but in this day of planes, trains and automobiles, I want to get to where I am going fast. I get uptight waiting 30 seconds for a traffic light to turn green or waiting a few minutes on the runway for my flight to take off.

The same goes for my computer - I don't even like to wait for it to boot up. I have a friend who tells me that she doesn't need to know about how the engine works-she only needs to drive it - but I am constantly telling her that she needs to shift gears at times - she cannot continue to drive in first gear and wait for someone to give her instructions on when to shift into high gear. Be creative.

I used to be envious of another friend who had a word processor with a graphics screen because she could see fonts and graphics right on the editing screen while I had to use view document to see them. Then I realized how much speedier my text screen was than her graphics screen. Usually, text screens are faster than graphics screens. But, that's not the only advantage text screens have over graphics screens - many WordPerfect users like the clean, no-nonsense look of a text screen.

Whether you are a 5.1 user with a text screen or a 6.0/6.1 user who can choose between a speedy text screen or a fancy graphics screen, you may be surprised to learn just what your text screen can do. Since the legal profession is a text generating profession, I cannot see any of us stopping in the middle of a brief to insert a graphic of a car speeding down the street, driven by Satan, chasing church lady down the street to make a point.

The same is true for WordPerfect. It is OK to listen to what other people are using, but it is more important for you to experiment and find the WordPerfect tools that fit your needs. Just because the computer industry is telling you to switch to Windows, that is not a good reason for you to give up the DOS environment if it is doing what you need.

Hopefully, some of the things I have addressed in this article as well as past articles will induce you to investigate the many capabilities that are untapped in your word processor, and to encourage you to explore all the power it offers. The Real Message Is Quite Simple - THINK MORE, TYPE LESS. Write down your goals-what you expect your computer to do for you. Map out how you think you are going to get there-what you need to do or to learn to accomplish it.

Then in the words of Star Trek, "Make It So"

Get In Line!
Have you ever been totally frustrated when trying to line up a column of numbers, such as dollar amounts) in a document and when you get through, they are quite "wiggly" in appearance with the decimals not lined up. Try this trick. When you are ready to start your columns, you can line up a decimal tab by pressing (Ctrl+F6) and you will see the words Align char = . Continue to hit (Ctrl+F6) until you are ready to start entering your numbers. As entered, they will line up with the decimal point. or you can reset you tab stops to match your columns.

When you go into Format (Shift+F8), (1)(8)Tab Set, you will see the following:

Delete EOL (clear tabs); Enter Number (set tab); Del (clear tab);

Type; Left; Center; Right; Decimal; .=Dot Leader; press Exit when done.

You can clear all the tab stops, setting only the necessary stops and using the "D" to set your decimal stops. This is good if you are typing a document that has a number of columns.

You can also align other characters such as colons in memos, etc. by using the Decimal/Align Character feature. To start, go to a blank screen.

5.1 Press Format (Shift+F8), (4) Other, (3) Decimal/Align Character. Type a colon (:) (or other symbol that you would like to use as your alignment feature) and press (Enter) three times. Now move to the section below titled 5.1/6.0 to continue.

6.0 Press Format (Shift+F8), (6) Character. Type a colon (or other symbol) and press (Enter) twice. Now move to the section below titled 5.1/6.0 to continue.

5.1/6.0 The following is an example of how you might use this Decimal/Align Character to create a memo form. Continue by pressing Center (Shift+F6), then typing Memo and pressing (enter) three times. Now press Decimal Tab (Ctrl+F6), type To:, then press (Tab). Type the recipient's name. On the next line press Decimal Tab (Ctrl+F6), type From:, press (Tab), then type the sender's name. Notice how the colons line up perfectly, even if you are using a proportionally spaced font (which most of us do). Just remember to set the decimal align character back to a period (.) or your decimally aligned numbers will not line up properly in the rest of the document.

Want a Date?
Would it be easier to view all of today's files grouped together, instead of having to hunt for them alphabetically? Listing your files in order of date will do this for you-and it is possible to do in 5.1+ (not 5.1) and 6.0/6.1. In 5.1+, press List Files (F5),(Enter),(5)Switch Display Mode, (3) Sort List by (3) Date/Time. In 6.0/6.1, press File Manager (F5), (Enter), Sort/Setup (Shift+F1), (1) Sort file List by, (3) Date/Time (Enter).
Did I Do That?-If So, When?
Searching for files by the file date is a great time-saver. Not only is this another way to mark files for backup, moving, copying or deleting, it is also hand when you can't remember what you called that file you were working on yesterday, two days ago or last week.

To search for files that were last used after a specific date in 6.0/6.1, press File Manager (F5), QuickFinder (F4), (Tab, (4) File Date Range. Press (A) After, type the date you want to search from, such as 01/01/97, then press (Enter) twice. The files are displayed in order by date.

Note: The initial release of WP6.0 and the WP6.0a interim release do not allow to search for files by file date, but you can sort the files by file date. To do this, press File Manager (F5), (Enter), Setup (Shift+F1), (1) Sort list by (3) Date/Time and (Enter).

To search for files that were last used after a specific date in 5.1, press List Files (F5) and (Enter). Press (9) Find, (5) Conditions, (3) Revision Date, type a date next to From, such as 01/01/97, then press (Enter) three times.

Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to hearing any comments and/or suggestions for future articles.

Viola (Vi)Davis, PLS, is a legal assistant and LAN administrator with the Fort Worth firm of Wallach & Moore, P.C.

TEXAS PARALEGAL JOURNAL
Spring 1997
©1997 Legal Assistants Division, State Bar of Texas

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