With the growing number of computer tools available for proofreaders and editors, we can all work faster and therefore improve our earning capacity – and we can do a better job for our clients by producing more consistent texts.

But where and how can we learn the new techniques that are needed to make best use of the available tools? In my day-to-day work, I use dozens of macros, so for what it’s worth, maybe I can share my experience.

The thing I feel is that I’m not just using a larger number of macros, but have developed different types of macros – as a result, some of my ways of working have changed a fair bit.

Recently, I’ve been trying to “watch” myself working and analyse what I’m doing that might be different from someone who only uses very basic macros. Here are a few random thoughts.

• (This is for both proofreaders and editors) to avoid wasting time later, I try to be well prepared before I start my (one and only) read through the text. This means using analysis tools that alert me to some of the potential inconsistencies in the text. Certainly for book-size jobs, I spend quite a time looking at the brief and setting up my style sheet/word list/hyphenation list. It can be time-consuming, yes, but I find that it saves me time in the long run. The macros I use for this all have names ending ‘...Alyse’.
• For me, as an editor, the biggest single timesaver is undoubtedly scripted F&R. For this, I use FRedit, which can be used at a very simple level, as a tidy-up tool (double spaces, spaced hyphens, etc), but it can do some extremely powerful automatic changes to the text. (It comes with a library with some clever F&Rs that various people have supplied.) The point here is that the more changes I can make automatically, the less I am distracted as I read the text. I can concentrate on the meaning if I’m not constantly distracted by, say, trying to remember to change ‘non-linear’ into ‘nonlinear’.
• I’ve realised in my latest job that actually the other major timesaver for me is macros that do individual edits automatically. For example, if I spot a "3" in the sentence I’m reading, and I know that it should be "three", I click Alt-1 (number 1), knowing that the macro will look along the line from the cursor, find the rogue "3" and change it. But note that Alt-1 can be executed with just my left hand; while my right stays on the mouse, my eyes are fixed on the screen, and my mind continues to concentrate on the meaning of the sentence. OK, it means I have to remember the keystrokes for all these macros, but pianists uses all their fingers to press loads of keys with different timings, hardnesses, durations etc. How do they do that? Answer: it comes with practice.
  But there is one macro that can help cut down the number of different keystrokes you need.
  

• Probably second only to FRedit in terms of timesaving is MultiSwitch. It’s similar in some ways to FRedit, in that you set up a list, in a separate Wordfile, of all the changes you might want to make. So when I click on a word and press Alt-Q, the macro looks down my word list, finds the alternate word(s) and types it/them in; my hands, eyes and concentration again remains fixed.

Which tools do you use to improve consistency and introduce efficiencies?

About Paul Beverley 
Paul has over 25 years’ experience as a technical author, publisher, proofreader and editor, and has the highest available editing qualification: LCGI (editing skills). Paul is passionate about macros and has used his programming ability to complement his writing and editing skills. Through his series of Macro Chat posts, he aims to share his knowledge and open up a dialogue about the benefits of macros to anyone working with words. Comments and questions are always welcome so please do join the discussion. No question is too basic!

Visit his business website at Archive Publications, and access his free book at Macros for Writers and Editors.

My latest contribution to "The Proofreader's Corner" column of Rich Adin's An American Editor blog is now available. This time around, I'm looking at 4 Ps to instil belief in potential clients:

• Pictures: images of the editorial freelancer’s face
• Praise: testimonials from previous satisfied clients
• Portfolios: lists of completed projects (and/or client lists) that reflect the editorial freelancer’s experience and specialisms
• Professional practice: this includes professional-society memberships, relevant training and continuing professional development (CPD), and related educational qualifications and career history

You can read the article in full here: The Proofreader’s Corner: Editorial-Business Marketing — The 4 Ps of Persuasion

About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a professional proofreader, the curator of The Proofreader's Parlour, and the author of Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers and Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP). Visit her business website at Louise Harnby | Proofreader, follow her on Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, or find her on LinkedIn.