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Text File | 1994-01-03 | 42KB | 890 lines

The following is a list of tips for the Pagemaker user who wants to go to the next step. This list is compiled from the donations and discussions of the people of the PAGEMAKR listserv. Thus, we must send thanks out to Cindy Stone and Jeff Bone, both of whom donated a great deal of the following tips. Please do not hesitate to contact the Pagemakr list if you desire more information. Most of the information is up-to-date for Pagemaker 5.0, but there are bound to be a few additions / corrections that I have missed. For those Pagemaker 5.0 users out there, check out the set of help pages Pagemaker has done on shortcuts. (Choose the "shortcuts" option from the Help menu.) A few notes before we begin, though. I have tried to accomodate both Mac and PC versions as best as I can. The general rule of thumb is that: CTRL = COMMAND ALT = OPTION Please note, though, that this is not *always* the case. Sometimes there is no parallel keystroke sequence or a completely different sequence of keys to represent a command on the Mac and the PC. Lastly, if you dare to consider yourself a Pagemaker Expert, take a look at the starred (*) items -- they are the least documented and most helpful of the tips listed in this document. For a taste of these right away, take a look at the "Assists" section under "Keyboard Shortcuts and Assists". Enjoy! Geof Peters [gwp@cs.purdue.edu] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: ------------------------- I) Keyboard Assists and Shortcuts II) Help with the Macintosh Scrapbook III) Using the PageMaker Desktop IV) Power Pasting V) Misc. Tips and Hints VI) Misc. Tips and Hints, Volume II VII) Misc. Tips and Hints, Volume III I) KEYBOARD ASSISTS AND SHORTCUTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the advent of the Mac and the GUI came the widespread use of the Mouse. At first, this cute little animal made it very easy move around in a graphic interface. But after more and more use, one usually finds that mouse begins to slow you down, and thus incenting you to move back to that primitive keyboard. Below is a nearly comprehensive list of all the keyboard shortcuts and assists available in Pagemaker. A shortcut is a sequence of key strokes that complete replicates a set of mouse movements, whereas a keyboard assist is the use of certain keys (usually Ctrl or Shift) that is used with a movement of the mouse. The following abbreviations will be used in this section: ^ = Control or CTRL key (PC) (Comm key equivalant) Alt = Alternate key (PC) (Option key equivalent) Sh = Shift key (PC and Mac) Opt = Option (Mac) (Alt key equivalent) Comm = Command or splat or rugbeater (Mac) (Ctrl-key equivalent) * = Especially useful shorcut / assist Finally, I do not have a Macintosh available at this time. So if any of the Macintosh sequences fail, please let me know. Assist Keystrokes ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generally the Shift and Control/Command keys are used to constrain or aid the current cursor. Some of the more common ones are: Shift + Tool: Use the Shift key with a drawing tool to make it "perfect". (This will draw perfect circles, perfect rectangles [squares], * and most importantly, resize graphics while maintaining * their aspect ratio) Shift + Pointer: Use the Shift key to select/deselect items in addition to the currently selected items. * Shift + Item: Use the Shift key while moving an item to move it only in a horizontal or vertical direction. * Shift + Specific Page Icon (at bottom of screen): Switches to that page number and sets the view of that page to 100%. * Ctrl/Command + Pointer: Use the Control/Command with the pointer to select items beneath the current select item without having to move one to the top. Alt + Any Tool: Use the Alt/Option key with any tool to get the "grabber" that allows you move your desktop around. (Use the Shift key to limit its movements) Now for some more tricky ones: * Shift + page icon: takes you to that page and fits page in window * Shift + "Revert" (from Edit menu): returns you to last mini-Save, rather than last Save. * Shift + "Edit" under "Define Colors" menu: brings up the Apple Color Wheel for Mac IIs. * Option + "Print...": Prints the document to a file. * Ctrl + "About Pagemaker" under "Help" will display your current filters under the Windows version. Shift + "About Pagemaker" under "Help" will give a list of credits to all those people at Aldus who made Pagemaker possible. * Ctrl + Shift + Resizing: If you are using a paint-type graphic (such as PCX or Line-Art [1-bit] TIFF files), you can resize the graphic to appear better on your printer, and avoid those horrible Jaggies and the nast Moire Patterns. First, choose the printer you will be using for your final print). Next, use the Ctrl/Command and the Shift key while you resize the paint-type image. The image will then "snap" to the different suggested sizes for that printer. This is one heck of a handy tip * Ctrl + Alt + Shift + "Place...OK": Use this to place uncompressed .TIF files and convert them to compressed version (maximum compression). This will create a new file in the same directory as the original TIFF file. Also, be sure to hold the Key combinations for at least two seconds before hitting the OK button in the Place dialog. * Ctrl + Shift + "Place...OK": Same thing as the previous one except that it uses moderate compression. * Ctrl + "Place...OK": Again, this is for Tiff compressing exept that this one *decompresses* the image. * Alt + "OK" : Many dialog boxes in PageMaker are nested, that is, opened and closed from within other dialog boxes. Using the "Define styles..." command, for instance, it's possible to display as many as five dialog boxes on the screen at the same time. To close all open dialog boxes at once, hold down Alt as you click "OK" or "Cancel." This shortcut, which works with most dialog boxes, is equivalent to closing each dialog box individually by clicking "OK" or "Cancel" in each one. * Alt + Shift : When forcing a screen redraw (by switching from "Fit in window" to "Actual size," for example), you can display graphics at high resolution by holding down the Alt and Shift keys as the screen begins to redraw. This feature works only when "Normal" is selected for "Detailed graphics" in the "Preferences" dialog box. * Ctrl/Command + "No Style" in the Styles Paletter: This will create a new style using the format of the paragraph that current contains the cursor. * Ctrl/Command + Spacebar will allow a variable zoom in Pagemaker 5.0. It even exceeds magnifications greater than 400%. Add the Alt/Opt key and you have zooming outs. * Ctrl/Command + Nudge will nudge things by ten times the normal amount. This of course only applies to Pagemaker 5.0. Control/Command Keys Shortcuts ------------------------------- Comm/^ A: Selects all (if you have nothing selected it selects all on items on the page and pasteboard.) Comm/^ B: Sends an item to back Comm/^ C: Copies the current item to clipboard Comm/^ D: Place command to place a text or graphic file on your page Comm/^ E: Edits the current story Comm/^ F: Sends an item to front Comm/^ G: Goto Page... Comm/^ H: Hyphenation Menu Comm/^ I: Open indents/tab dialog box Comm/^ J: Toggles guide lines Comm/^ K: Toggle for displaying color palette Comm/^ L: Checks the Spelling (Story Editor) Comm/^ M: Opens paragraph settings dialog box Comm/^ N: Opens a new publication Comm/^ O: Opens an existing PM publication Comm/^ P: Printing Comm/^ Q: Quit Comm/^ R: Toggles rulers on/off Comm/^ S: THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMAND -- SAVE!!!!!!! Comm/^ T: Opens type specifications menu Comm/^ U: Toggle for snap to column guides Comm/^ V: Pastes the contents of the clipboard into the document Comm/^ W: Fit in Window view Comm/^ X: Cuts the selected item to the clipboard Comm/^ Y: Toggle for displaying the Style Box Comm/^ 1: Actual (100%) View Comm/^ 2: 200% View Comm/^ 3: Define Styles dialog box Comm/^ 4: 400% View Comm/^ 5: 50% View Comm/^ 6: Toggles display of the Toolbox Comm/^ 7: 75% View Comm/^ 8: Find (story editor) Comm/^ 9: Find and replace/Change (story editor) Comm/^ 0: Fit in World Comm/^ ;: Index Entry * Comm/^ <: One suggested point size smaller (on selected text) (no shift) * Comm/^ >: One suggested point size larger (on selected text) (no shift) * Comm [space]: Toggles between pointer and your last tool. This only works for the Macs -- see F9 for PC version. Control/Command + Shift Shortcuts --------------------------------- Sh Comm/^ A: Automatic Leading (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ B: Bold (on selected text) (F6) Sh Comm/^ C: Center Align (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ D: Links Menu Sh Comm/^ F: Force Justify (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ I: Italics (on selected text) (F7) Sh Comm/^ J: Justify (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ K: Changes the text to All caps (on selected text) (PM 5.x+ only) Sh Comm/^ L: Left Align (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ P: Power Pasting (See separate section) Sh Comm/^ Q: No Tracking (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ R: Right Align (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ S: Strikeout (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ U: Underline (on selected text) (F8) Sh Comm/^ V: Reverse (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ X: Normal Width (on selected text) Sh Comm/^ Y: Snap to rulers toggle Sh Comm/^ 9: Find the next occurence (story editor) * Sh Comm/^ (space): Normal type (on selected text) (F5) * Sh Comm/^ <: Exactly one point size smaller of font (on selected text) * Sh Comm/^ >: Exactly one point size larger of font (on selected text) Function Key Shortcuts ------------------------------ If one of these function keys does not work for you on the PC, try hitting the ALT key twice and then try again. Don't ask me why though! F1 : Help F2 : (nothing) * F3 : One suggested size smaller of font (^ <) * F4 : One suggested size larger of font (^ >) * F5 : Changes type to normal (Sh ^ [space]) F6 : Changes type to bold (Sh ^ B) F7 : Changes type to italic (Sh ^ I) F8 : Changes type to underline (Sh ^ U) * F9 : Toggles between pointer and last tool (Comm [space] for Macs) F10: Gains access to pull down menus * F11: Move to previous page * F12: Move to next page Sh F1: Pointer (arrow) (For Macintosh only) * Sh F1: Context sensitive help (For Windows only) Sh F2: Diagonal-line tool Sh F3: Perpendicular line tool Sh F4: Text tool Sh F5: Square Corner tool Sh F6: Round Corner tool Sh F7: Oval tool Sh F8: Cropping tool Misc. Shortcuts -------------------------- Sh [Enter] : A "Fake" carriage return (does not specify end of a paragraph) Clipboard related keystrokes -------------------------------- If you are moving from Mac to PC, don't despair! Pagemaker for Windows now supports both Mac and Windows Clipboard keystrokes: Option Mac #1 Win #1 Win #2 ------------ -------- -------- -------- Copy Comm C ^C ^ Ins Cut Comm X ^X Sh Del Paste Comm V ^V Sh Ins ViewReView (Views) ---------------------- There are 7 views of your publication in PageMakr (both Mac & PC's). They are, in increasing precision: View PC Mac -------------- ----- ------ * Fit in World Sh ^W, ^0 Com Sh W, Com 0 Fit in Window ^W Com W 50% View ^5 Com 5 75% View ^7 Com 7 Actual or 100% ^1 Com 1 200% ^2 Com 2 400% ^4 Com 4 Variable (see below) Pagemaker 5.0 supports a variable zoom that will zoom into areas beyond 400%. Hold down the CTRL/Com and the Spacebar, then drag your mouse to create a marquis box over the area to be zoomed into. CTRL-ALT-Spacebar (Com-Opt-Spacebar) is a zoom out key. The fastest way to move between "Fit in Window", 100%, and 200% is to use the secondary mouse button (Usually the right button). The secondary button by itself toggles between the first two modes, whereas if you assist the button with the Shift key, it will toggle between 100 and 200 percent. For those of you who do not have a second mouse button (like you Mac- users) here is what you do: Hold down the command and option keys (ctrl and alt keys for PC users) and click anywhere on the desktop. This will toggle between 100% and "Fit in Window". To toggle between 100% and 200%, hold down the shift key as well. ** To open all pages to the same view use the following assist: Hold down the Alt and Ctrl keys while you select a view from the menu. All pages will then be sent to that view. ** To preview all of the pages in the current document (as if it was a slide show), use this assist: Hold down the Shift key while you select the "Go To Page" command from the menus. Continue to hold the shift key until the first page is drawn. Immediate Help (Context Sensitive) ------------------------------------ ** Pagemaker has a pseudo-context sensitive help ability. First, press the following shortcut depending on your platform: PC: Shift-F1 Mac: Command-? At this point your cursor turns into a ?; select a menu item/option and help will appear for that subject. Wow! II) HELP WITH THE MACINTOSH SCRAPBOOK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The following is a posting from Cindy Stone] As a new mac user, I didn't know the difference between pasting something from scrapbook into PageMaker, and placing something from scrapbook into PageMaker. Thanks to Ken Weiss at UC Davis, a member of this list, I do now. I learned that you get different results when you paste as compared to when you place. If you have multiple items from PM that you copy into your scrapbook and want them back into PM they come back in differently. If you PLACE them from scrapbook (file/place or command D) you'll end up with all of the items joined together as a .pict which is great for stuff like sunken caps you want to text wrap. If you paste from scrapbook back into PM, them multiple items come back in as multiple items. Below is part of Ken's message to me and the steps to placing from scrapbook into PageMakr 4.0. Let me know (or better yet Ken if you don't understand).... To use the Scrapbook to PLACE: Here's the method Ken uses, with 100% success: 1. Select File/Place 2. Use the Place dialog box to open your System Folder (if you don't know how to do this, you should!) 3. Scroll through the file list in your System Folder until you find the Scrapbook File 4. Double click on the Scrapbook File 5. You will be returned to your PM document. Your cursor will change to something that looks to me like a hypodermic needle, with a number on it. The number represents the number of items in the scrapbook. Each time you click the mouse, another item from the Scrapbook will be placed into your document. To stop placing things before the Scrapbook is empty, click on any tool in the toolbox. Note that placing the Scrapbook is non-destructive -- it doesn't actually empty it out. Also note, if you just copied something into scrapbook, and now wish to place into PM so it comes in as a pict YOU MUST HAVE CLOSED THE SCRAP- BOOK WINDOW. (This was a problem for Cindy who uses multifinder... she kept getting error boxes saying active window/busy....) Ken krweiss@ucdavis.edu Cindy stonec@iubacs or stonec@iubacs.ucs.indiana.edu A minor addendum from Ken: Users of older versions of PM may not be able to see the scrapbook after they upgrade to System 7 on the Mac. That's because system 7 gave the scrapbook its own creator code (scbk) instead of the general system creator code (ZSYS). If you can't see the scrapbook in the Place dialog and you are running system 7, use a tool like ResEdit or DeskZap to change the creator code for the scrapbook file to ZSYS. The scrapbook will still work at the System level, will now work with PageMaker, but MAY NOT work with other utilities and programs that expect the scbk code. PM 4.2 and beyond require no such adjustments. III) USING THE PAGEMAKER DESKTOP ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I notice very few people take advantage of the capabilities of the desktop in PM; most people concern themselves only with the actual page. People also tend to get caught in a rut thinking that anything that they draw will be printed. Well, all of my PM docs have stuff out on the Desktop. (Use Fit in World to see *everything*) I tend to put notes out there, like a "To Do List" of things left to fix on the document, or perhaps the date and the hours I have spent working on the document. The big secret is the use of temporary hatched boxes that I store on the desktop. Lets say that I have two objects that have to be consistently the same distance apart (For instance, the space between text and a surrounding box.) I draw a hatched box that is that distance and then move it to the place in which I will verify the distance. I usually have several of these distance boxes with all different sorts of hatches to distinguish them. Yes, it is not perfect -- but at 400 percent, it is close enough for most of us (and it beats moving zero-pt and counting tick marks.) One note, however, about using the desktop. When you send the output to a Postscript printer, Postscript will include these off-the-paper items in its output and thus, increasing the print time and the size of the print file (if you are printing to a file). This increase in time should not be too significant. Here is my suggestion: if you are experiencing an inordinate amount of time in local printing or if you are sending an EPS file of the document use this workaround: create an extra blank page at the end of the document and move all of the desktop items onto that blank page. Then, when you go to print the document, simply do not specify that page. Geof. [Cindy's response:] Also, I have a bit of a comment on using the desktop inside PageMakr files for stuff. As a trainer, I frequently write notes in exercise templates for my students in a xt block and hang it just off the page to the side. Another thing I've learned to do when I'm do billable work for a paying customer (a rare occassion....) is to keep track of the number of hours, or number of rewrites/redo's of that page so that I can tell the customer how many times they rewrote it, or how many hours I had to spend it. This way instead of writing it down on a separate scrap of paper, it's saved with the file on the pasteboard area. If needed, I can drag the info onto a blank page and print it out for me or the customer. A colleague of mine takes this to the extreme. They have a little graph/grid that they paste in from their macintosh scrapbook to every billable PM file, and they use the line tool in PM to draw a line across the grid which represents every hour spent on the job! Whatever works.... IV) POWER PASTING --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Power Pasting ------------- To position duplicate graphics, copy the original, and then paste it. This creates a duplicate on top of the original. Move the duplicate where you want it, and then press Ctrl-Shift-P. This pastes a second copy in the same relative position as the first copy is to the original. Then repeat the Ctrl-Shift-P keystroke combination as often as you need to create more copies. You can use this trick to place duplicates in exactly the same position on different pages -- just copy the first duplicate to a new page, and repeat Cindy's response: Of all the tips Geoff posted, I can't emphasize power pasting (or duplicating) as a tip worth knowing. Ask yourself how many times you've need 10 lines equally spaced down the page for some one to write in comments, or 6 boxes equlaly spaced, and you didn't want them inline for some reason here's what you do to power paste: 1. Select the item(s) you want duplicated. 2. copy the item(s) to the clipboard (on the mac that's Command C) 3. power paste from the clipboard by pressing option + Command + V, this will bring the second set of item(s) in directly on top ofthe original. 4. Now move the pasted in set to the new location very carefully, watching your margins, rulers etc. 5. Now power paste again, Option + Command + V. Do this as many times as you need additional copies offset down the page, across the page whatever. Ciao -- cindy stone V) MISC. TIPS AND HINTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following tips are from a variety of sources, including the February 1992 issue of PC Computing (which appear in quotation marks.) Saved by the Temp (PC Computing) --------------------------------- PageMaker always keeps a temporary file of changes after every major action. If the document was unnamed, the filename will be something like ~PM4280E.TMP in the Windows temp directory (usually \TEMP). Macintosh users will have something like a "Pagemaker Temporary" Folder. Faster with fewer filters (PC Computing) ----------------------------------------- PageMaker is faster with fewer filters and how to get rid of them by commenting them out with semicolons in the ALDUS.INI file. What was news to me was that while holding down the Ctrl key and selecting "About PM" off of the Help menu, it will display a list of current filters. New Lines Aligned (PC Computing) ---------------------------------- "To start a new line without invoking the formatting for a new paragraph (in a two-line headline, for example), use the new-line character (Shift-Enter). This is especially useful when the current style calls for indents or a blank line before or after a paragraph -- the new-line character will break the line without adding spacing." Story-Edit Rotated text (PC Computing) ----------------------------------------- "You can't edit rotated text in the layout view, but you don't have to unrotate it to make changes. Edit it in the Story Editor instead." (triple click it to call up the S.E.) Quick Story Imports (PC Computing) ------------------------------------ (This one mentions the ability to place another PM document using the Place (^D) command. If you do this, PM will give you a list of the stories found in that file, with the option to place only the ones you wish.) ** A very good tip is mentioned here: use this placing ability to attempt to recover text blocks in a PM file that has been damaged in some way. True, Long-lasting double quotation marks (Cindy Stone) ----------------------------------------------------------- Want true quotes in PM ALWAYS - go set a default under the preferences and then under other for setting true typographers quotes always. Do this with no file open to for a program default. I've longed for typing subheads etc. with true quotes more easily than comand+shift+[. Drop Capping in Mac 4.2, and PC/Mac 5.0 (Cindy Stone) ------------------------------------------------- Drop cap tip - when you use the new drop cap feature in PM Mac 4.2, always wait until you're all done editing, then just prior to selecting the drop cap feature, place a tab after the letter to be capped. This is needed or your drop cap sits ontop of your first line of text. "Locking" everything on a page (Chaim R. Dworkin & Geof Peters) --------------------------------------------------------------- If you are a PM 5.0 user, try using the Aldus Addition PS Group It. If you, however, are pre 5.0 and want to lock everything on a page so that it will not move around there is a simple solution for Mac users. First block off the whole page, copy it to the scrapbook, and then place it back from the scrapbook to a new page. "Everything" is now a single bitmap instead of separate items on a page and can be sized as a group. If you are a PC user, you can print the page to a postscript file and then import that file. VI) MISC. TIPS AND HINTS, VOLUME II ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once again, one of the computer magazines have published a list of tips for Pagemaker users. This time it was in the October issue of PC Sources, page 516. These tips were specifically released for PC Pagemaker users, but should be applicable to both. Here are some excerpts from the magazine -- with all credit due to them. Everything is a direct quote except for my own comments that are delimited by [brackets]. Enjoy! -- Geoff. How can I save space when importing a .TIF file? --------------------------------------------------- Pagemaker lets you compress .TIF files as you place them. Hold down Ctrl-Alt-Shift as you click OK in the Place dialog box. This creates a separate compressed version of the image, and the last two letters in the file name will be modified. At that point, it will be safe to delete or remove the original. If you need to decompress the file later, place the compressed version and hold down Ctrl while you press OK in the Place dialog box. [This was a new one to me! Note also that Pagemaker 5.0 supports two forms of compression: moderate and maximum. Which one is used depends on whether or not the Alt is held down.] How can I even up the columns on the last page of my newsletter when there isn't enough text to fill the page? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a couple of ways for you to balance multiple columns of text. Easiest is to use the Pagemaker 5.0 Addition "Balance Columns". Another is to size each text block so they are the same size. Another faster technique that will help you is to draw a box with a line of "None" and a file [typo for fill] of "Paper". Then apply text wrap to it. To apply text wrap, select the pointer tool and then choose Text Wrap under the Element menu. Select the middle text wrap icon on the first line, and the left icon on the bottom line. Click OK, and return to the publication. Drag the top-dotted text-wrap boundary up until it forces the text to fill all the columns. For fine-tuning the fit in the last couple of lines, use track kerning. Select text in the last paragraph or so, and either tighten or space it out using the Track command under the Type menu. I've altered the margin settings using the File Page Setup dialog box, but the text didn't reflow to the new column width. Do I have to manually readjust the width of the window shades on each page? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Usually, yes, but there's a quick way to avoid most of the work by using Pagemaker's autoflow feature. Go to the page that has the first text block for the story, and click the text tool anywhere in it. Choose Select All from the Edit menu, then Cut. Click the cursor at the beginning of the column in which you want the text to start, and choose Paste from the Edit menu. PageMaker will fill the first column as far as it can. Finally, click the bottom window-shade handle to load the icon with the rest of the story, hold down the Ctrl key to activate the autoflow, and then click the loaded icon in the next column you want to fill. The rest of the text will flow in at the correct column width page by page. [A fairly obvious procedure, but PageMaker will not retain the previous locations of the old text block. For instance, if you are using only one of three columns each page -- that it will paste to all three instead of only one. In many cases manual adjustment will likely be easier.] How can I create type larger than 650 points? ------------------------------------------------ Using the following technique, you can create text up to 1,300 points in Pagemaker 4.0. First, select the text with the text tool and open the Type Specs dialog box from the Type menu. Make the text half the size you ultimately want it, and then, in the same box, set its position to superscript. Click the Options button and type 200 for the super-/sub=script size percentage and 0 for the superscript position percentage. Click OK twice to return to the publication. The 200 percent size adjustment doubles the size of your text, while the 0 percent position adjustment keeps the text on the baseline. [Another new one to me -- but I would love to know when you ever need to have a document in 1300 point type :)] Is there an easy way to get PageMker to print a job number, date, or other client information outside the page area of my publication? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. As long as your PageMaker page size is smaller than the print area of the paper, you can create a text block that hangs off the page. Type a text block containing the appropriate information anywhere on the page, then add several carriage returns above or below the text to create blank space. If you are using PageMaker 4.0 [or higher] and want the text to run sideways along the edge of the page, select the text block with the pointer tool and choose Text Rotation under the Element menu. Position the text block so that the extra space (which is where the carriage returns are found) is inside the page boundary, but the text is outside. Print as usual. PageMaker will print anything that has at least one handle positioned on the page. Be sure to print crop marks, so that the dangling text can be easily trimmed on the final job. The Crop Marks check box is in the Print dialog box. How can I speed up the viewing of the pages of a publication? ---------------------------------------------------------------- At any time, you can flip through the pages in a continuous cycle by holding down the Shift key and choosing Go to Page from the Page menu. To stop the cycle, click the mouse. Also, pressing the Shift key while you click on a page and automatically display it in the Fit in Window view. [These have been mentioned before] VII) MISC. TIPS AND HINTS, VOLUME III ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have come upon another list of desktop publishing tips -- this one was put out by Publish! and is called "101 Best Desktop Publishing Tips". It appears to be an annual event. I have included some of the Pagemaker specific excerpts here -- with all credit due to Publish!; if you are interested in more, I would suggest contacting the company directly. Everything is a direct quote except for my own comments that are delimited by [brackets]. Enjoy! -- Geoff. Format leading tabs ---------------------------------------------------------------- When using tab leaders, you may find the leader characters are the wrong size, or, if you have lists with different fonts, the tab leaders will vary from one line to the next, depending on the font. If you select the tab leaders and try to change them, the entire line of text will change. To format tab leaders in Pagemaker independently of the surrounding text -- to change size or font, for instance -- enter a space in front of the tab. Format the space, and you'll format the leaders. Quick New Styles ---------------------------------------------------------------- To quickly create a new style based on the formatting of an existing paragraph in Pagemaker, place the cursor anywhere within the paragraph, then press Command on the Mac keyboard or the Control key on a PC while also clicking on No Style in the Styles Palette, and then enter a name for the style in the resulting dialog box. Scaling Layouts ---------------------------------------------------------------- If you design a layout in Pagemaker consisting of several individual elements, such as sidebars or inserts, often the layout can be difficult to move and nearly impossible to scale. Here's how to get around it: [For the Mac only] Create the layout on a blank page; select Print and click on the Postscript button. Turn off all of the options and select Print PostScript to disk. Highlight the EPS button; if there is a placed graphic on the page, then select the Include Images option. Finally, choose the file name and click on the Print button. This EPS file can now be placed into a Pagemaker page and easily manipulated. [A note on this one: I have not tried this on a Macintosh and thus, do not know if this will create an encapsulated bitmapped-version of the layout in the EPS file. This would make it much easier to scale and position. Also, this method can be done on the PC by printing to a file (choose Setup for a Postscript printer) but I am positive that the bitmap-preview is not included.] New Paper Sizes ---------------------------------------------------------------- It's quite easy to edit PageMaker .apd files (on the Macintosh and PC) to add more page sizes. For example, the Linotronic .apd includes the page sizes "letter extra" and "letter transverse." "Letter extra" is necessary to print crop marks on a letter size page, and "letter transverse" rotates the page, thus saving film. What if you want to print crop amrks on a page that's printed transverse? You can create a new page size by typing in the dimensions (in points) in three different places in the .apd file. Open the Linotronic 100/300 .apd in any word processor and make additions to the file as indicated here: After @Comment: PageSize options appear in the "Paper" list box in the Printer-specific dialog. you'll see a list of paper sizes that looks like this: @PageSize LetterExtra: "statusdict begin 684 864 0 1 setpageparams end" @PageSize LetterTransverse: "statusdict begin 792 612 0 0 setpageparams end" add the following line: @PageSize LetterExtraTransverse: "statusdict begin 864 684 0 0 setpageparams end" After @Comment: PageRegion gives the printable aread of each paper option. you'll see a list that looks like this: @PageRegion LetterExtra "0 0 684 864" @PageRegion LetterTransverse "0 0 612 792" add the following line: @PageRegion LetterExtraTransverse "0 0 684 864" After @Comment: PaperDimension gives the total paper size of each option. you'll see a list that looks like this: @PaperDimension LetterExtra "684 864" @PaperDimension LetterTransverse "612 792" add the following line: @PaperDimension LetterExtraTransverse "684 864" Save the file in text-only format and restart your computer. When you open the print dialog box and choose the Linotronic .apd, the new page size will appear. Shaping text flows into figures ---------------------------------------------------------------- Here is an interesting tip from Bruce Patterson on how to direct the flow of a text block into a certain shape" Talking about things that everybody might know. Here is one I like to do with the text wrap gadgets. Take the text wrap gadgets and swap them over. (left to right and right to left). Then you drop some text into it and it stays on the inside of the wrap thingys. I have done this heeps of times when I have been setting a paragraph in the shape of a heart. You import a heart shape, swap the text wrap gadgets and then shape the text wrap gadgets to the heart. Just close up the blind on the text drop it inside and pull the blind back down and it jumps to the shape of the heart. Lots of fun. Creating tables in PM ---------------------------------------------------------------- Monte Olsen donated this tip on creating evenly space lines on a page: I have to make lots of tables. I use the indent tool and interactively adjust columns with it. I use any of the tabs (decimal, left, right, center) depending on the data in each column. If I need to put a rule in anywhere, I simply use the rules option under the paragraph formatting tool. It's much better and easier than using a separate graphic for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that the graphic will always move with the text. My addition: There are lots of things you can do with either inline graphics, the rules capability, or by using tab settings with underscore leaders. Play! Horizontal and Vertical Rules ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bruce Patterson gave us this tip: There was a couple of ways of doing lots of horizontal rules in PM4 you could draw a line, copy it to the copy buffer and then put the text cursor in a block and paste the line in as an inline graphic. You pressed return and did it again as many times as you needed lines. This was great for altering lines because the spacing between the lines could be altered by changing the linespacing. The second way which is better is to press a lot of carriage returns and then mark them as a text block. You go to the paragraph command and select rules you can pick the weight you want and exactly where it lines up in relation to the base line. This method let you alter the linespacing like the first method but the really nice thing about it is you can alter the line length by altering the text block width. For vertical rules: PM5 lets you put text to any angle and still work with it while it is at that angle. So if you set some lines and then rotate the block 90 degrees you get vertical lines. You can then place your cursor on a line that you want more space in and use the paragraph command to add space above (to the left) of it. The nice thing about this is when the customer comes back and says can you take 5mm out of there and put it in there that is exactly what you do (via the paragraph command) and all the other rules will jump across in relation to it. You can still alter the length of rules if you have used the rules in the paragraph command. The only I will say against it is it isn't that obvious what you have done to someone else loading up your document. How to fake perspective: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Kevin Alexander adapted this tip from a Quark XPress book: To make a picture look as if it's lying horizontally, open the Control Palette (Command ' on Mac), change the rotation to -15 degrees, the picture skew to 45 degrees, and the vertical scaling to 70%. Voila! The effect is usually more pronounced if you've got a 1 or 2 pt border around the image. It works best with EPS files, but you can try it with bitmapped images. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have a tip, post it to the group or let me know so that we can include it in our listing! Thanks! Geof.