If you're like most Word users, you use only a few of the scores of fonts available to you in your documents. In part, that may be due to the inconvenience of not being able to see what an exotic font looks like before applying it.

Here's a Word 97 macro for creating a document containing samples of every font installed on your PC, neatly formatted and sorted alphabetically. Just follow these simple steps to generate the macro:

1. With a blank document on the screen, select ToolsûMacroûMacros.

2. In the Macros dialogue box, type ListFonts in the Macro name field, type Lists All Available Fonts in the Description field, and then click Create.

3. The Microsoft Visual Basic window will open. After the Sub ListFonts() line and the two comment lines inserted by Word, but before the End Sub line, type the commands illustrated. Use the <Tab> key to indent. (To save you some tedious typing, we have included the ListFonts commands in a text file on this month's cover CD: just copy and paste the text into the editing window, between the Sub ListFonts() and End Sub lines.)

CaptionRun this Word 97 macro to create a file with samples of every font on your PC. Rerun it whenever you add or remove fonts

Caption: Print the font list created by the ListFonts macro for handy reference

4. Select FileûSave Normal to save your macro in the normal.dot template, then select FileûClose and Return to Microsoft Word.

5. To create the font list, select ToolsûMacroûMacros, choose ListFonts in the Macro name list in the Macros dialogue box, and click Run. Finally, save the list to your hard drive and print a copy for reference. Rerun the macro whenever you add or remove fonts.