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Learn how to edit more efficiently in Microsoft Word using the Quick Parts tool.
In this article ...
Do you edit in Word?
If you edit Word documents, and find yourself typing the same phrases, inserting standard text blocks or fixing the same formatting issues over and over again, Microsoft Word has a built‑in feature that can help you: Quick Parts.
In this article, we’ll look at what Quick Parts is, why it’s so useful, and how you can start using it today to edit faster and more consistently. Note: I work with the Windows operating system, so the instructions I’ve offered below align with that. What is Quick Parts?
Quick Parts is a Microsoft Word tool that allows you to store reusable pieces of content – such as text, tables, headers and formatted paragraphs – and insert them into your document easily.
You can think of Quick Parts as a personal library of ready‑made content. Once you save something, you can reuse it across documents without retyping or copying and pasting. This tool really comes into its own if:
Why Quick Parts makes editing more efficient
Using Quick Parts can significantly improve both your speed and accuracy when editing documents. Here’s how:
Whether you’re editing novels, reports, proposals, policies or meeting notes, Quick Parts helps you focus on content quality rather than repetitive tasks. Common editing tasks you can streamline with Quick Parts
Quick Parts is especially helpful for content you use frequently, such as:
In a nutshell, if you’ve ever thought, I’ve typed this before, that’s a strong sign it belongs in Quick Parts. How to create a Quick Part in Microsoft Word
Creating a Quick Part is simple and only takes a moment:
METHOD 1 (quickest)
METHOD 2
You can also assign a category to your Quick Part snippet if you wish:
Whichever method you choose, your content is now stored and ready to use whenever you need it.
How to insert a Quick Part while editing
Once you’ve saved Quick Parts, inserting them is quick and easy:
METHOD 1 (quickest)
METHOD 2
Whichever method you use, the content is inserted instantly with all formatting preserved. How to review or edit your Quick Parts
If you need to change the short name you’ve created, do the following:
A new pane will appear:
Tips for naming your Quick Parts
To get the most out of Quick Parts, use short, clear names that are easy to remember. Think also about how you can reduce the chance of the Quick Parts tool triggering an expansion inappropriately.
IN-PRACTICE EXAMPLE I edit crime fiction, thrillers and mysteries, and when I'm using the Comments tool, I like to give my author clear indications of which particular element of the editing process I’m focusing on. I do this quickly by using headings that I've set up as Quick Parts. Underneath a heading, I can then explain the problem and suggested solution. Plus, because the various headings in the comments are consistent, I can easily search for and review them by topic area. That helps me when I'm putting together a more comprehensive analysis in an editorial report. And to avoid the risk of Quick Parts kicking in when I don't want it to, I add a ‘z’ to my short names. Here are four topic-based headings I've set up in the tool:
Don't forget that you can save much larger blocks of formatted text into the Quick Parts too. Quick Parts versus third-party text-expansion tools
You might already be familiar with third-party productivity tools such as TextExpander. These can really shine when you want to use the same snippets across multiple programs – for example, email, web browsers and other applications.
As always, it comes down to your budget, needs and preferences. If you want something specifically for Word‑centric editing and formatting, consider the following:
If a separate tool would offer you more rounded support and you have the budget for it, that’s fine. You might even decide to use both in your editorial practice. Summing up
If you already edit extensively in Microsoft Word, the Quick Parts tool will help you reduce repetition, save time, maintain consistency and focus on what really matters: delivering clear, high‑quality content to your client.
And you won’t have to spend a penny more because it’s already part of Word! About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
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This outline of the proofreading, copyediting and line-editing process is one way of organizing your editorial workflow rather than bowling straight into a project.
What follows is my process – the steps I take and the order in which I take them. That doesn’t mean it’s THE process! You might prefer to organize yourself differently.
Editorial business parameters
My business model might look very different to yours. Here’s what you need to know about me when considering the process I outline below.
Proofreading designed page proofs
I no longer work on designed page proofs (PDF or hardcopy), but at the point in my career when I did, I used the checklist below.
Step 1. Project legalities
I carry out the project legalities as soon as the author and I have agreed to work together and decided on the project's time frame.
This part of the process protects me and my client, and ensures we have a mutual understanding of the project’s terms and conditions.
WHAT I DO
Step 2. File checking and organization
This work takes place as soon as the book file arrives. The checks ensure I can find the material, and that it’s usable when it’s time for the edit to begin.
WHAT I DO
Step 3. Template creation
This part of the process helps me get organized. I do it before the edit begins.
Step 4. Technical setup
Next up is some technical setup related to Microsoft Word.
WHAT I DO
Step 5. Styles
Now it’s time to assess the book file’s styling. Even though an interior formatter might work on the design at a later stage, I want to ensure that the different elements are formatted consistently.
Word’s styles palette is the tool of choice. If I decide to make changes, I can amend the style rather than trawling through the entire book file line by line.
If I’m line editing, the author might have done some or all of this work. If I’m proofreading, another editor might have done it.
After I’ve set up the styles, I apply them to the book file. Step 6. Chapter sequence check
Now that my chapter headings are styled, I can locate them in Word’s navigation pane and ensure the numbering is correct.
It’s not uncommon for authors to shift chapters around, and that’s where problems slip in.
WHAT I CHECK
Step 7. Front-matter check
I like to cast my eye over the front matter separately from the main edit.
The most exciting part of the project for me is the edit itself, so doing mundane but critical technical checks separately ensures my eye’s on the ball and I'm not making assumptions.
WHAT I TYPICALLY CHECK
Step 8. Macro run and style-sheet build
Next, I run a selection of pre-edit macros.
Editors use all sorts of different software and tools to complement their eye depending on the issues they need to check, the material they’re working on, and their clients’ needs. The macros I've listed below are not what you must use; they’re just my preferences.
I use what I learn to start filling in the project’s style sheet.
At this stage I’m making early decisions about spelling, hyphenation, capitalization and proper noun usage, and noting any red flags.
RED FLAGS INCLUDE
Even if I locate problematic language, I’ll not make any decisions about what needs to be done until the contextual edit begins and I can review it within the wider story arc. At this point, I'll just highlight.
I’ll also record initial observations that are key to the line edit.
INITIAL OBSERVATIONS
Step 9. The edit
Now it’s time to begin editing. This is the fun bit, what I've been hired for! It's the non-technical part of the job but the most time-consuming.
I work through the book file line by line and edit according to the agreed scope of the project.
WHAT I DO
Step 10. The part-way PerfectIt check
One third of the way through the line edit, I run PerfectIt again.
That’s because I’ll have made many new style choices that affect, for example, spelling, capitalization and hyphenation, ones that I didn’t pick up during my pre-edit macro run.
BENEFITS
Step 11. The technical tidy-up
When the edit is complete, I carry out another round of checks for layout, consistency, spelling and grammar – a final technical tidy-up to that ensures everything’s spit spot. A little Mary Poppins never hurt anyone!
WHAT I DO
Step 12. Style sheet check
Next, I review the style sheet to ensure that it’s fit for purpose.
Step 13. Create the editorial report
Now I create my editorial report. I use a detailed template that’s already populated with client-friendly summaries of the theory behind the edits (accessible via my course How to Write the Perfect Fiction Editorial Report).
WHAT THE REPORT INCLUDES
Step 14. Delivery and invoicing
Finally, I prepare the files for my client. It's time to show them what I've done and why I've done it!
WHAT I INCLUDE
After I’ve emailed the files, I issue an invoice for the outstanding fee. Some editors choose to send the files only after all monies have been paid. How you do it is for you to decide.
Wrapping up
So that's my way. I hope it'll help you streamline your process if you're unsure where to start.
Just bear this in mind: There's no one best way. We all work differently, and there are multiple ways to edit efficiently and productively. About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
Writing or editing in Microsoft Word on a PC? Save yourself time by learning these 27 keyboard shortcuts.
Read the shortcuts or download the PDF
If you don’t want to learn 27, learn just the first one: Save!
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
Are you spending too much time on your novel’s text design? Here’s how to use the Styles function in Microsoft Word to ensure the various elements are formatted consistently.
In this article
What is the Styles tool?
The Styles tool allows you to apply design consistency to the various text elements in your book. In a novel, you might want to create different styles for the following:
Microsoft Word has a handy suite of on-board styles, though it’s unlikely they’ll match your specific requirements. Modifying these is still a little quicker than creating fresh styles so take a look at the properties and work out what you’ll retain and what you’ll change. What properties can you influence?
You can influence every property of your text when you assign a style to it. However, in a novel, you’ll most likely focus on the following:
How to access the Styles tool
There are two ways to access the Styles function onscreen:
The gallery in the ribbon offers a preview of how the style appears. If I’m working with a lot of different text elements in a document, I find these visual clues useful when I want to locate a style quickly.
On smaller screens, less of the Styles gallery will be visible. To access the previews of all the styles in your gallery, click on the MORE arrow (circled). 
A new window will appear containing the full gallery.
Why you should format with styles
Using styles gives you control over design, consistency and formatting time.
Time is money, so when you do the job instead of asking other professionals to do it, your book budgets goes further. Perhaps you can invest a little more time or money on cover design, sales and marketing, or learning how to improve writing craft. Can you format manually? Of course, but you could be making a lot of unnecessary work for yourself. Scenario 1 You complete the writing, drafting, and editing, and get cracking on designing the layout. Now that there are 85,000 words in place, your thriller’s looking more like a textbook thanks to the font you’ve chosen for your main text: Arial 14. A serif font like Times New Roman would be easier on your reader’s eye. The problem is, you can’t select all the text in the file with CTRL A and change it in one fell swoop because that would affect the chapter headings and the emails your transgressor is sending to the police, all of which are formatted differently. Instead, you have to work through the file, locate the main text elements manually, and change the font. If, however, you’ve assigned a style to your main text, you can modify that font property in just a few clicks. The change will automatically change all the main text, and only that element, to your new font. Further down, I’ll show you how. Scenario 2 You’ve written 12 additional paragraphs for your book but they’re in another document. You copy and paste the writing into your book file. Now you have to manually format the new sections so that they match the existing work. If you’ve assigned styles, however, it’s as simple as cut, paste and left-click. Job done. How to create a style
There are several ways to create a style in Word:
1A. Manual method Open the styles pane and left-click on the A+ button in the bottom-left-hand corner. 
A new window will open (CREATE NEW STYLE FROM FORMATTING). Now you can give your style a name (1) and assign properties to the font, paragraph spacing and page flow (2 and 3).
1B. Manual method B
Alternatively, right-click on a piece of text that’s already formatted according to your preferences. A mini toolbar will appear. Click on the Styles button. 
A new window will appear. Left-click on CREATE A STYLE.
Name your style, modify if you wish, and left-click OK.
2. Updating method
Select a piece of text that’s already formatted according to your preferences. Now head up to the Styles gallery in the ribbon, or the Styles pane, and right-click on an unused style that you’re happy to update. Hover over UPDATE [STYLE] TO MATCH SELECTION, then left-click. 
How to modify a style
There are two ways to modify a style in Word:
1. Styles gallery Go to the Styles gallery in the ribbon and right-click on the style you want to modify. 
Left-click on MODIFY and amend the properties of your style. Note that this will change every piece of text assigned with that style.
2. Styles pane
Go to the Styles pane on the right-hand side of your screen and right-click on the style you want to modify. 
Left-click on MODIFY and amend the properties of your style. Again, bear in mind that this will change every piece of text with that style assigned.
How to assign a style to an element of text
If a piece of text isn’t formatted correctly, left-click the cursor on a word or in a paragraph, or select it by double-clicking.
Now head up to the Styles gallery in the ribbon, or the Styles pane, and left-click on the preferred style. Your style will be assigned. If you’re working on a smaller screen, you’ll probably find it easier to use the Styles gallery in the ribbon because it takes up less space than the Styles pane. To close the Styles pane and free up some screen real-estate, left-click on the X in the top-right-hand corner. 
Troubleshooting
Here’s how to fix some of the more common problems that arise when working with styles.
1. Styles gallery or pane isn’t visible If the Styles gallery isn’t visible, make sure you’re in the HOME tab in the ribbon. 
If the Styles pane isn’t visible, left-click on the small arrow in the Styles gallery.
2. Style not showing in gallery
If you’ve created a style and it’s not showing in gallery, head to the Styles pane and right-click on the missing style. This opens the MODIFY pane. Make sure that the ADD TO THE STYLES GALLERY box is checked. 
3. The gallery is cluttered with unused styles
If your gallery is busy with styles you don’t need to access, there are two ways to remove them. The quickest method is to right-click on an unwanted style, then left-click on REMOVE FROM STYLE GALLERY. 
An alternative is to right-click on the unwanted style and left-click on MODIFY. Then uncheck the ADD TO THE STYLES GALLERY box.
4. You’ve renamed a style but Word’s default name is still displayed in the pane
If you’re using the Styles pane to apply styles, the list might appear cluttered if Word’s default names are displaying, even though you've modified them. To fix, left-click on the OPTIONS button. 
Check the HIDE BUILT-IN NAME WHEN ALTERNATE EXISTS box, then left-click on OK.
Your list will now display with your modified names.
Heading styles and navigating your Word file
One of the advantages of using the Styles tool for a novel is navigation.
To access the Navigation pane, press CTRL F on a PC. Now, left-click on the HEADINGS tab. Any style based on one of the in-built heading styles will show up in the menu. 
I use this function when I’m editing and want to check that chapter headings (and subheadings) are formatted consistently, assigned the correct level of priority, and numbered chronologically.
Headings with arrows next to them indicate lower-level subheadings. You can expand or collapse subheadings by left-clicking on the arrows. Furthermore, if you want to shift a headed or subheaded section to another position in your document, left-click on the relevant heading and drag up or down the menu. Summing up
Styles let you focus on your writing rather than fretting about internal text design.
Applying a style to an element of your book file takes a fraction of the time required for manual formatting. And because any style can be tweaked, you get to change your mind as often as you like. If you have any problems with using Word’s Styles gallery and pane, drop me a note in the comments and I’ll do my best to fix the issue. Here's where you can watch a video tutorial. About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
Good proofreading practice means acknowledging that changing one word, or moving one line, can have unintended and damaging consequences throughout the rest of the book if we aren’t careful.
What are page proofs?
If we want to proofread for publishers, packagers and project-management agencies, or if we're checking self-publishers' print-on-demand books, we need to be comfortable with working on page proofs.
The proofreader will usually be asked to work on page proofs. What are they?
Page proofs are so-called because they are laid out as exactly as they will appear in the final printed book. If all has gone well, what the proofreader is looking at will be almost what the reader sees if they were to walk into a bookshop, pull this title off the shelf and browse through the pages.
The layout process has been taken care of by a professional typesetter who designs the text in a way that is pleasing to the eye and in accordance with a publisher’s brief.
In this case, the proofreader does not amend the text directly. They annotate the page proofs.
You might be required to work on both hard-copy page and PDF page proofs – it will depend on the client’s preference. You'll be looking for any final spelling, punctuation, grammatical, and consistency errors that remain in the text. However, you'll also expected to check the appearance of the text. Checks will include the following:
This isn't a comprehensive list but it gives you an idea of how this type of proofreading goes beyond just checking the text for typos. If your client hasn’t supplied you with a proofreading checklist, you can access this free one when you sign up for The Editorial Letter. 
CLICK IMAGE TO ACCESS
What's important here is that every amendment you suggest might have an impact somewhere else. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the amendment; it means, rather, that you need to be mindful of the consequences of your actions – the knock-on effects.
What are knock-on effects?
Professional proofreaders often refer to the indirect consequences of their mark-up as knock-on effects. A useful way of thinking about this is in terms of dominoes because it provides us with the perfect description of what’s at stake.
Imagine you've lined up four dominos: A, B, C, and D. You push over A and it pushes over B. B then knocks over C, which in turn causes D to fall. Domino D’s topple was caused indirectly by Domino A, even though A didn’t touch D. This process can occur on page proofs and can have serious consequences. The changes we make can, if we’re not careful, impact on the text flow, the pagination, the contents list, and the index. An example of knock-on effects
Here’s an example to illustrate the point. Imagine the publisher’s brief tasks the proofreader with attending to orphans and widows (those stranded single lines at the bottom or top of a page).
Solutions that involve instructing a typesetter to shuffle a line backward to a previous page, or forward to the next page, in order to avoid the widow/orphan might cause one, or all, of the following problems:
In all three cases, the proofreader has prevented one problem but caused others. Consequently, good practice involves more than blindly placing mark-up instruction on any given page. Thought needs to be given to how the problem can be tackled and the impact managed so that there is no knock-on effect. Spotting an orphaned or widowed line is not enough. We might also have to consider the following:
Summing up
If you’re considering training as a proofreader and want to be fit for the purpose of marking up page proofs, check that your course includes a component about knock-on effects.
Even when we are supplied with detailed briefs about an ideal layout, the publisher client expects us to be mindful of the consequences of our amendments. The proofreader’s job is to find solutions to problems in ways that don’t cause unintended damage. About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you think there's no place for macros in fiction editing, think again. Paul Beverley has collated a core group of macros that will have any fiction line editor, copyeditor or proofreader drooling! Self-publishing authors will love them too!
I don't use all of these (every editor has their preferences) but some of them are staples and save me oodles of time! 
For use with Microsoft Word
The macros featured in this article are designed to be used with MS Word files.
Some of them are best for when you’re looking at the whole text of a novel, while others are selective ... for use while you’re editing line by line. Macros that work with the whole text
These macros are ideal near the beginning of the edit, when you’ve put together the whole book in one single file, and you want to look for inconsistencies.
ProperNounAlyse searches the novel for any words that look like proper nouns; it counts their frequency, and then tries to locate, by using a variety of tests, and pairs of names that might possibly be alternative spellings or misspellings, e.g. Jayne/Jane, Beverley/Beverly, Neiman/Nieman, Grosman/Grosmann etc.
FullNameAlyse is similar to ProperNounAlyse, but it searches for multi-part names, Fred Smith, Burt Fry, etc.
ChronologyChecker is aimed at tracing the chronology of a novel. It extracts, into a separate file, all the paragraphs containing appropriate chronology-type words: Monday, Wednesday, Fri, Sat, April, June, 1958, 2017, etc. This file is then more easily searchable to look at the significance of the text for the chronology. WordsPhrasesInContext tracks the occurrence of specific names through a novel. You give it a list of names/words/phrases, and it searches for any paragraphs in the novel that contain them. It creates a separate file of those paragraphs, with the searched element highlighted in your choice of colour. CatchPhrase searches your novel for over-used phrases and counts how many times each phrase occurs. Macros for when editing line by line
FullPoint/Comma/Semicolon/Colon/Dash/QuestionMark/ExclamationMark
These macros change he said, you know ... into he said. You know ... or he said: you know ... or he said – you know ... and so on. FullPointInDialogue and CommaInDialogue These two macros change “Blah, blah.” He said. into “Blah, blah,” he said. and vice versa.
ProperToPronoun
This macro looks along the line to find the next proper noun, deletes it and types ‘she’. But if you then type Ctrl-Z, it changes it back to ‘he’. MultiSwitch You give this macro a list of changes that you might want to implement: Jane Jayne Beverley Beverly that which which that When you click in a word, and run the macro, it finds your alternate and replaces it. It also works with phrases and can also provide a menu of alternates: he said he opined he shouted he voiced she said she opined she shouted she voiced
To access the macro scripts, check out Paul's website: Word Macro Tools.
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
Can you proofread your own book? Here are some quick tips on formatting your Word file ... final tidy-ups to get your file in shape, and that accord with mainstream publishing standards.
A second pair of eyes
Truly, nothing beats a second pair of eyes on a piece of text, short or long. I know this all too well because I’m a professional proofreader and copyeditor, but I also write – books (yup, I've self-published four times), guides, booklets and blog posts.
And I miss stuff – not because I have a problem with grammar, punctuation or spelling, but because I’m too close to the text. I see my own writing in terms of the ideas I want to convey rather than the text in front of my eyes. That’s why I hire fellow proofreaders and editors to help make my written materials the best they can be. I don't expect those people to guarantee perfection but I do expect to them to ramp up the quality (and they've never failed me). Helping you manage costs
Here’s another thing I know – the better shape the file's in, the better the price. Editors and proofreaders are professionals and, though we love what we do, we have bills and mortgages too. So, very broadly speaking, the more intervention needed, the higher the fee.
There are things every writer can do to tidy up a piece of text by themselves, though. I’ve compiled them in one handy resource. The steps in this toolkit won’t replace a rigorous professional developmental edit, line edit/copyedit and final prepublication proofread, but they will help rid your file of some of the nasties! In the free booklet ...
Here’s what the booklet shows you how to do:
Just click on the image below to get your FREE copy! 
Hope it helps! And come back soon for more handy tips and advice designed especially for beginner writers.
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you’re an editor or proofreader who’s never once switched off Track Changes (TC) in the middle of an edit and then forgotten to toggle it back on again, congratulations – you’re a rare creature indeed!
Using a macro
Try using this macro: VisibleTrackOff4.
Even if you don’t like macros, don’t use macros, are wary of macros, this is one macro that you should consider installing anyway. Trust me. It's a lifesaver. By the end of this article, you’ll know how to ensure you never forget you’ve switched off Track Changes. I’ll show you the following:
How the macro works
In brief, VisibleTrackOff4 is an alternative TC on/off switch. You run this macro instead of using Word’s TC button.
I work in Windows 10 with Word 2016. On my screen, the TC button is accessible via the ribbon in the Review tab. Your view may be slightly different. 
When you use VisibleTrackOff4 (rather than the TC button shown above) to switch on TC, your page appears white, as usual. However, when you use it to switch off TC, your page turns yellow. As you toggle TC on and off, your page colour toggles too. If the page is yellow, you know TC is off. That’s something you can’t miss, and that’s why it’s foolproof.
To use the macro efficiently, you can do one of the following:
I’ll show you how to do all three in the ‘How to run it efficiently’ section below. How to install it
Here’s how to install the macro:
How to run it efficiently
To switch TC on and off efficiently using VisibleTrackOff4, you can do one of the following:
Create a shortcut key
Add the macro to your Quick Access Toolbar
Create a custom button in your ribbon (Word version 2010 onwards)
This is what your new button will look like:
Other versions
You don’t have to go for the yellow-page effect. There are other options. The installation and quick-access instructions are the same; only the script you’ll need to copy and paste is different:
Summing up
I prefer the yellow-page effect because it’s so obvious, and because it doesn’t interfere with my view of the text while I’m amending with TC off.
I also prefer to run the macro with a custom ribbon-based button because it’s right up there alongside Word’s TC button, which is what I’m used to. I’ve created a shortcut key so that I have choice in the matter. This comes in handy when I need regular access to the Styles tab and don’t want to keep switching the tabs on the ribbon. I urge you to try this macro. Remember, you need never again endure the frustration of having forgotten to switch on Track Changes! P.S. My colleague Adrienne Montgomerie was single-handedly responsible for showing me how easy it is to customize the ribbon so that you can easily and quickly access any command. Her article ‘Make a Custom Tab on Word’s Ribbon’ is a must-read if you want to increase your onscreen efficiency. And, as always, thanks to Paul Beverley for creating some brilliant macros, and for giving me permission to bang on about them via my blog! About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
MultiSwitch is another gem of created by my colleague Paul Beverley. This useful little macro speeds up onscreen editing and proofreading.
Switch around words with a single keyboard shortcut
To get the macro, visit Word Macro Tools.
In a nutshell, this allows you to switch around a word (or words) with a single keyboard shortcut. I use it to save time with every single Word-based project I work on. Imagine that you’re editing or proofreading a Word file in which the author repeatedly uses ‘which’ for restrictive relative clauses. You want to change it to ‘that’. This means carrying out three small actions: select, delete and retype. That’s not a problem if the issue occurs twice in a file, but if it occurs tens or hundreds of times, those seconds are going to add up and eat into your hourly rate. And let’s not get started on the ache in your wrist! Naturally, you might notice that a particular job has a number of similar niggles that you want to attend to, in which case this macro will be even more of a productivity-enhancer. MultiSwitch in action
To run MultiSwitch, you simply place your cursor before or in the word you want to change (in our example here, ‘which’), and hit your keyboard shortcut (I’ve assigned alt-3, but you can choose whatever you like). Then, bingo, the macro amends ‘which’ to ‘that’.
Here's a teeny-tiny video of me using MultiSwitch. This demo aims merely to show you where to place the cursor prior to hitting your assigned shortcut key command, and what you will see on your screen (a little flickering as the macro makes the switch). If you don’t know how to assign a keyboard shortcut, don’t worry – I’ll show you how later in the article. The beauty of MultiSwitch is that you need only one keyboard shortcut for a ton of different word switches. Here are a few examples from my switch list:
I love this macro for editing fiction because it's so quick to create contractions when I'm helping the author create a more informal narrative, or dialogue that's closer to natural speech. Further down, I explain how to create your list – it's a doddle. Or, if you'd like to save even more time, grab a free copy of my contraction switch list. You can edit it to include your own word switches. 
Installing MultiSwitch
Go to Paul’s website and download the macro.
Use Word’s navigation menu on a Mac (or Ctrl F on a PC) to open the Find function. Type ‘Sub MultiSwitch’ into the search field and hit ‘Return’ twice. That will take you to the start of the relevant script. Select and copy the script from ‘Sub MultiSwitch()’ down to ‘End Sub’. Still working in Word, open the ‘View’ tab and click on the ‘Macros’ icon on the ribbon: 
A new window will open.
If you don’t have any macros already loaded:
If you already have macros loaded (your TEST macro or any other):
This will open up another window: 
Don’t close this Visual Basic window quite yet – there’s something else you need to do first! Creating your MultiSwitch list
Now head over to Word. Open a new document and call it zzSwitchList. Create your list using the following style:
that which which that last past like such as less fewer Less Fewer it is it's Save it somewhere just as meaningful! Mine’s in my Macros folder, but you can save it wherever it suits you. Now close the document. You can amend this list any time you want to – just add or delete words as you see fit. Changing the MultiSwitch script
Now you're going to make a small amendment to the macro script so that it's personalized for you, so go back to the window into which you pasted the MultiSwitch script.
At the top of the script, you’ll see the following: Sub MultiSwitch()
The text in bold shows how I’ve customized the script to suit my needs – you need to put in your own location.
Now you can close the window by clicking on the ‘X’ in the top right-hand corner. Do the same with the general Visual Basic window too. Don’t worry if you get a message about a debugger – just press ‘OK’. Creating the keyboard shortcut for running MultiSwitch
If you don't know how to create keyboard shortcuts, this section's for you. If you do know how to do this, you don't need to read any further!
I'm working in Word 2016 on a PC. If you are too, the instructions are as follows:
(If you are working in a different version of Word, see pp. 14–15 of the ‘ComputerTools4Eds’ file in the Macros folder that you've downloaded from Paul’s site in order to install this macro. There, he provides details of the process for different versions of the software.) The image below shows how I assigned a keyboard shortcut to another macro called ‘UndoHighlight’. The steps are exactly the same. 
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you're starting out on your journey as a professional proofreader and you're marking up PDF proofs, this one's for you.
From paper markup ...
There was a time when if a publisher commissioned me for a proofreading project I could expect a large, heavy parcel of paper to turn up in the mailbox. The parcel would contain at least the final page proofs (see Not all proofreading is the same: Part I – Working with page proofs).
If I was required to proofread against copy, the parcel would also include the galley proofs (a printed copy of the pages of raw text supplied by the author on which the copy-editor had marked initial corrections). Paper proofreading is an expensive business before the publisher has even paid the editorial freelancer’s invoice. And it’s a double whammy – the client has to pay for the proofs (and possibly the galleys) to be delivered to the proofreader, and it has to bear the costs of the return postage. I’ve worked on large academic books in the past that incurred postage and packaging costs of over £70 per proofreading project. And let’s not talk about the cost of paper and ink. ... to PDF markup
It’s not surprising, then, that most publishers and project-management agencies have embraced cost-effective solutions. PDF markup has proved to be an effective alternative. Digital delivery costs nothing as long as the client and proofreader already have internet access.
It’s not just good news for the client – the proofreader benefits, too. Those who live in rural areas might have to drive to their nearest post office. That’s time that they can’t bill for, not to mention the wear and tear on their car (though HM Revenue & Customs does have a mileage allowance). Even so, we all have better things to do. Visits to the post office aside, many proofreaders have found PDF proofreading to be a more efficient task than paper-based work. For those of us working for publishers on a fixed-fee basis per project, this means a better hourly rate. Given that some publishers haven’t increased their freelance rates for many years (or have done so but only minimally), such efficiencies can mean the difference for the proofreader between continuing the working relationship and waving goodbye to the client. Onboard tools
Most PDF editing software includes onboard commenting and markup tools for annotation purposes so that the proofreader can:
Stamps (digital proofreading marks) are another option. See 'The Proofreader’s Corner: Using the Stamping Tool for PDF Proofreading Mark-up', An American Editor, September 2015, for an overview of the subject. The Working Onscreen archive on The Editing Blog has other related content that may be of interest to new entrants to the field. Platforms include (but are not limited to):
The proofreader’s options for PDF markup, and pitfalls to avoid
Onscreen proofreading can save the proofreader and the client time and money, but there are a number of pre-project steps that should be taken to ensure that the final outcome is a happy experience for all parties.
Making assumptions based on your own preferences, or your colleagues’ experiences, could lead to readability and compatibility problems. Ask your client what they want Ask your client what their preferences are rather than making assumptions. Be prepared to be flexible. Some publishers have streamlined their production processes and have a strict set of guidelines concerning which annotation tools should be used for digital proofreading. Some clients will be happy for you to use digital stamps based on publishing-industry-recognized markup symbols. Others might insist on sticking to a particular PDF editor’s onboard comment-and-markup tools. Yet others may expect a mixture of both. Some may even want you to actually edit, rather than just annotate, the PDF (though this is very risky as it could interfere drastically with the layout of professionally typeset page proofs). I merrily used the onboard commenting tool for a Spanish business client for two years, assuming wrongly that she wouldn't have a clue what the British Standards Institution proof-correction symbols were. She then surprised me by asking whether I knew how to use the “more efficient standard proofreading markup language”. I was happy to oblige, using stamps, because it was quicker for me, but I’d wasted precious time for two years because I’d made a flawed assumption. Test the platform Once you've agreed with your client on how you will mark up the PDF, do a small test to check that both of you are seeing the same annotations and that the markup “sticks” during the delivery process. For example, I wanted to use the stamping tool in PDF-XChange on a project with a new client. We agreed in principle that this was acceptable.
File size Some marked-up PDFs can be huge. A client once sent me a PDF of 2,329 KB. By the time I'd stamped it, it was 25,395 KB (I zipped it down to 23,646 KB). If your email provider won’t handle large files, you will need to agree an alternative delivery system with your client. Examples could include setting up a shared file in Dropbox, uploading directly to the client’s ftp site or using the likes of FileZilla, or transferring via an internet-based service such as WeTransfer. Again, don’t assume that what suits you will suit your client. One of my project managers was happy in principle to use Dropbox (which I have) but then found out via her IT department that she wasn’t allowed to download the software to her PC. We had to work out an alternative. Up-to-date software Keep your software up to date. Perhaps Acrobat Standard or PDF-XChange Viewer worked for you and your clients three years ago. However, the clients you’ve inherited recently are working with different software or more updated versions of existing tools. Installing regular updates and upgrading to the latest versions can help to reduce the risk of compatibility and readability issues at either your end or your client’s. Resource guide
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
In this article, I show you how to create your own digital proofreading stamps for PDF proofreading and editing.  A caveat based on location I’m based in the UK so I’ll be referring to the British Standards Institution’s (BSI) BS 5261C:2005 'Marks for Copy Preparation and Proof Correction' throughout this article (readers can buy a hard-copy list of these marks from the Society for Editors and Proofreaders). You might be used to seeing different symbols to indicate the same instructions. That’s because, depending on where you live, different standards may apply. Compare, e.g., the Canadian Translation Bureau and BSI marks for a selection of instructions:  What matters is not which proof-correction language you use, but what your client requires. Recap of existing digital resources If you want to use the BS 5261C:2005 proof-correction marks to annotate a PDF, visit Roundup: PDF Proofreading Stamps (quick-access links). This provides the access links to a full set of downloadable PDF proofreading stamps in black, blue, and red, as well as the installation instructions. US stamps files are available via the Copyediting-L site, under the Resources tab. Scroll down to 'Diana Stirling’s (2008) editing marks for PDF documents (Zip documents)'. Finally, search the Editing Tools section of Katharine O’Moore-Klopf’s Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base using the key words 'PDF Editing Stamps'. This will bring up a number of other useful resources. Why might I need to make my own stamps?You might wish to create your own stamps for three reasons: Reason 1 The standard symbols required by your client might not be available for use on PDF. Use the resources in the above recap section in order to identify whether the mark-up language you want to work with is available digitally. Reason 2 The existing digital resources might include only the standard symbols developed by the original issuer (BSI, CMOS, CTB, etc.). However, I’ve sometimes found that I’m repeatedly making a particular amendment that isn’t covered by these standards. For instance, a nonnative-English-speaking author may use the word 'is' when the author means 'are' repeatedly in a file. Rather than annotating the PDF using the typewriter tool for the text, and using the Replace symbol (slash mark) for each correction, it could be more efficient to create a new stamp that incorporates the text and slash mark. In the stamps files I provide, I’ve created several nonstandard symbols that I thought would be of benefit to users, including:  Reason 3 For the sake of efficiency, you might wish to modify two existing standard digital marks. For example, I often need to change a hyphen to an en rule, and I have to stamp two symbols in the margin – the En-rule mark followed by the Replace mark. I decided to create a single symbol that incorporates both of these marks (this symbol is included in the digital stamps files that I make freely available here on my blog).  When we modify standard stamps in this way, we save time – every second we save stamping only one symbol rather than two adds up to significant increases in productivity. Creating your own stamps There are two ways to go about creating your own customized stamps. First method You can using a free snipping tool to copy a mark that you’ve drawn, typed, or found online. If I want to create a new stamp – for example, the 'change is to are' instruction mentioned above – I can use my PDF editor’s comment-and-markup tools to type the word 'are' and stamp a Replace symbol after it. Then I simply click on my snipping tool, select 'New', and drag the cursor over the marks I’ve made. I then save this as a PNG, GIF, or JPEG. The image is now available for upload into my PDF Editor’s stamps palette. In Windows 10, the snipping tool looks like this:  Where your snipping tool is located will depend on which version of Windows you’re using. The advantage of using a snipping tool is that it’s very efficient. I’ve pinned my onboard Windows snipping tool to the task bar at the bottom of my screen, so it’s always accessible. If you are using an operating system that doesn’t include a snipping tool, there are of alternatives available online. There are disadvantages to using this method:
Using the snipping tool to create stamps is recommended if you need a quick solution and you don’t think you’ll need to use the new symbol in future jobs. If you do think you’ll use your new symbol time and time again, it might be worth considering the second method. Second method You can use a DTP program such as Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign, and QuarkXPress, or a graphics program like CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator. I use MS Publisher because it’s included in my MS Office bundle. I’ve also found it quite easy to use – this is partly because it’s entry-level DTP software and partly because it’s an MS product so the functionality is quite similar to that of MS Word. Once you’ve drawn your new symbol in your DTP program, you need to save the document as a PDF. This can usually be done very simply, using the 'Save as' function. The image will then be ready for upload into your PDF editor’s stamps palette. The disadvantage of using this method is that it requires greater investment in time in the short run. I’d only recommend it if you are creating a stamp that you think will be useful for many jobs to come. The advantages of going down the DTP route are:
Using a DTP/graphics program is more time consuming but gives a more professional finish and is worth it if you think you’ll use the new symbol in multiple jobs. Saving and installing your new stamps If you have used the snipping tool to create a new GIF, JPEG, or PNG stamp, you can save it wherever you wish. I usually choose the Downloads folder. Then open your PDF editor and upload the stamp. Installing snipped images to PDF-XChange
Installing snipped images to Adobe Acrobat (v. 9)
Installing snipped images to Adobe Reader (v. XI) I haven’t found a way to import snipped stamps into Reader; the only option is to upload stamps that have been saved as a PDF, which isn’t possible with the Windows snipping tool at least. Given that PDF-XChange is still a very affordable editor, with outstanding functionality, I’d recommend trying it as an alternative to the free Adobe Reader and the rather more expensive Acrobat Professional. Saving and installing DTP-created images If you have used DTP software and saved your stamps in PDF format, you may need to save into a specific folder. The installation process is a little more complicated and will depend on the PDF editor you are using. If you are using PDF-XChange, Adobe Acrobat Professional, or Adobe Reader, carefully read the installation instructions I’ve provided on The Editing Blog. Related reading …
About Louise Harnby Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you proofread or copyedit fiction or non-fiction, or you're self-editing your own books, here's a macro that will highlight potential inconsistencies in proper-noun usage.
About this macro
ProperNounAlyse was created by my colleague Paul Beverley, and it’s just one of a huge number of macros available on his website: Word Macro Tools.
I've written this post for the person who doesn't use macros and is nervous about trying. I think it’s such a shame when a fear of tech leads to lost opportunities for those who want to increase productivity (which is great for the editorial pro) and improve quality (which is great for the client). Why bother? Three reasons
Reason 1
ProperNounAlyse is easy to install, even for those with absolutely no technical savvy, and quick to run.
Reason 2
It’s great for picking up inconsistencies in proper nouns (even double words, e.g. Louise Harnby vs Louise Hornby) while allowing you to maintain complete control over the text. This is because it’s not changing anything in the document you’re working on; rather, it works through the text in a Word document and provides a summary analysis of what it finds. That leaves you free to identify what needs sorting and what needs leaving well enough alone. I find it particularly useful when I'm proofreading fiction with lots of characters whose names may inadvertently end up being spelled slightly differently. A writer can become so immersed in the story they’re building that these kinds of slippages are easily missed. And even the best professional proofreader is only human, so using a little bit of simple tech to complement the eyes and brain makes good sense.
Reason 3
While you’ll find it useful for paid work, it’s also a sharp little tool for providing insight into the state of a file you’re being asked to quote for. One of my colleagues routinely runs this in conjunction with another couple of macros in order to get an overview of the author’s consistency. I've taken a leaf out of her book and started using ProperNounAlyse in this way too. Installing ProperNounAlyse
After you've downloaded the macro from Paul's website, use Word’s navigation menu (or Ctrl F on a PC) to open the Find function. Type “Sub ProperNounAlyse” into the search field and hit Return. That will take you to the start of the relevant script. Select and copy the script from “Sub ProperNounAlyse()” down to “End Sub”. Paul’s helped us out by highlighting the name of each new macro. Still with Word open, open the “View” tab and click on the “Macros” icon on the ribbon. 
This will open up a new window.
If you don’t have any macros already loaded:
If you have macros loaded (your TEST macro or any other):
This will open up another window:
The installation is now complete. Running ProperNounAlyse
The macro in action
Below is a simple word list of proper nouns with lots of inconsistencies – differences in accent use, apostrophe use and spelling.
I run ProperNounAlyse on the document. It analyses the text and then creates a new Word file with the following results:
I’m provided with an at-a-glance summary of potential problems that I need to check. It may be that the differences identified are not mistakes, but I know what to look for.
“I don’t need to use techie tools … my eyes are good enough”
Macros don’t get tired. Macros don’t get distracted. I don’t believe any proofreader who claims they can do as good a job with their eyes alone as they can do with their eyes and some electronic assistance. It’s a case of using these kinds of tools as well as, not instead of, the eyes and brain.
I could have relied on my eyes to find all of the above problems, and in a small file I would hope to have hit the mark 100%. But if I’d been working on 100,000 words of text, and there were twenty key characters, a plethora of grammatical glitches, two major plot holes, numerous layout problems, and a mixture of hundreds of other inconsistencies regarding hyphenation, capitalization, punctuation and regional spelling variation, there would have been a lot of problems to solve; I want to utilize every tool available to help me do that. Yes, my eyes and brain are two of those tools. But using macros like ProperNounAlyse and others (PerfectIt, for example, just because it’s another favourite!) speeds me up, pure and simple, and massively reduces the chance of a miss. I ran ProperNounAlyse on a recent fiction proofread for an independent author who is a phenomenally good writer – great plot, excellent pacing, engaging characters. But he was so busy crafting the 95,000 words it took to build a fantastic story that he’d introduced a lot of proper-noun inconsistencies. That’s fine – it’s not his job to deal with these; it’s mine. It took me minutes, rather than hours, to locate them and deal with them. And I know I found them – every one of them. What will the client remember?
If you’re still reluctant to try out ProperNounAlyse (or any other editorial tool for that matter), consider this: What will the client remember? The three hundred mistakes that you spotted or the three howlers you missed?
When it comes to proper nouns, especially in large volumes of character-based editorial work, it’s too easy to miss a discrepancy. And character names stand out to readers. Taking just a few minutes to run a simple-to-use macro might determine whether your client thinks your work was pretty good or outstanding. Which of those is likely to gain you a repeat booking or a referral to another potential client? About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
In this article, I provide an overview of PDF proofreading mark-up using the stamping tool.
The age of digital markup
When I first started my business, I was strictly a proofreader and most of my work was on paper.
Back in 2006, I was working primarily for publishers. These clients often wanted me to proofread against copy rather than blind. That meant that I was receiving large packages through the mail containing not only the final page proofs but also the galley proofs. Postage costs were huge, though my clients bore the cost; but I still had to factor in the time I spent either waiting for couriers or hopping into my car and driving to the post office so that I could return the galleys and marked-up proofs. These days, things are different. Most publishers have embraced digital mark-up. Proofreaders are still required to work on final page proofs, and some clients still want them to annotate using UK-industry-standard mark-up language, but that can be done onscreen – using my PDF editor’s commenting and mark-up tools and the stamping tool. This saves the publisher money by eliminating postage costs and removing the need to print hundreds of pages of hard copy. It also saves the proofreader time ... and, for those of us in the business of editorial freelancing, time is money. Location and softare
Location
I’m based in the UK. If you’re from elsewhere, you might not recognize some of the symbols shown in this post. That’s not because the symbols are wrong, but because there are differences in mark-up language between countries. The British Standards Institution has issued the BS 5261C:2005 ‘Marks for Copy Preparation and Proof Correction’ (readers can buy a hard-copy list of these marks from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and that’s what my publisher clients expect to see. Your clients might have different expectations. Software Stamping tools can be used in a number of different PDF editors. My own preference is PDF-XChange (from Tracker Software). Some of my colleagues prefer Tracker’s PDF Editor. Others, still, use Adobe Acrobat Professional or Adobe Reader. If you’re not sure what suits you best, take advantage of the various free trials on offer. And check with your client about what their preferences are. For demonstration purposes, some of the screenshots in this essay are based on working in PDF-XChange. However, the underlying principles are the same. What are proofreading stamps?
Proofreading stamps are simply digital versions of the symbols you would draw by hand on a paper proof. Below is a screenshot of some of the BS 5261C:2005 symbols that UK proofreaders use.
The screenshot above shows a partial view of the PDF-XChange stamps palette. I’ve chosen to number the symbols, rather than naming them, because this allows me to change the order easily (see Onscreen proofreading tips: Reorganizing your stamps palette in PDF-XChange).
Each symbol in a palette can be selected and then stamped onto a PDF using the relevant tool, usually accessed through the PDF editor’s comment-and-mark-up toolbar. Below, the stamping tool in PDF-XChange is circled: 
Here’s what it looks like in Adobe Reader:
And, finally, below is a screenshot from Adobe Acrobat 9:
The answer is not actually as straightforward as one might hope! As far as I’m aware, my Irish and Australian colleagues find the BS 5261C:2005 symbols acceptable (feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken); in the UK, these BSI marks are absolutely considered standard.
However, my Canadian colleague Adrienne Montgomerie, in her essay ‘The Secret Code of Proofreaders‘ (Copyediting, October 15, 2014), points out that for editorial professionals in parts of North America ‘[t]he challenge is always whether or not the designer will understand the marks. It’s hard to say that there are standard marks.’ She goes on to illustrate the differences between the Canadian Translation Bureau’s Canadian Style guide marks and the marks preferred by the Chicago Manual of Style. The best advice I can give to novices is that they check with their national editorial society and their clients before embarking on this type of work. Why use mark-up language on digital proofs?
Using stamps isn’t the only way to mark up a PDF, of course. Some of my colleagues’ clients prefer sole use of the commenting and mark-up tools embedded in their PDF editors.
When I use the stamping tool, it’s because my client wants to see all the suggested corrections in the page-proof margin (just like with a hard-copy proofread) rather than in pop-ups (see the example later in this article under ‘What does a stamped PDF proof look like?’). Ask your client what they prefer. Why are why these little hieroglyphics useful?
Where can I find digital stamps?
If you want to use the BS 5261C:2005 proof-correction marks to annotate a PDF, you can find everything you need on this site in the Stamps archive.
In particular, PDF Proofreading Stamps (quick-access links) provides the access links to a full set of downloadable PDF proofreading stamps and the installation instructions. U.S. stamps files are available via the Copyediting-L site, under the Resources tab. Scroll down to ‘Diana Stirling’s (2008) editing marks for PDF documents (Zip documents)’. Finally, search the Editing Tools section of Katharine O’Moore-Klopf’s Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base using the key words ‘PDF Editing Stamps.’ This will bring up a number of useful resources that you might prefer to try. Where can I learn onscreen mark-up?
If you’re already familiar with standard proof-correction marks, and have used them extensively on paper-based projects, you might well be able to teach yourself to mark up onscreen with stamps. That’s how I went about building my digital mark-up skillset.
However, if you’re a novice or lack confidence, you might prefer more formal training that introduces you to using proof-correction language correctly and clearly (whether on paper or digitally).
What does a stamped PDF proof look like?
A PDF that’s been marked up using proof-correction stamps looks just like its paper cousin – the only difference is that it’s in a file on your computer rather than in a pile on your desk.
As you can see from the sample below, you can, of course, use the onboard tools. Here, I’ve added in a query for the author (using the Commenting function); if, however, my client had wanted all annotation to be viewable in the margins, I’d have created a separate query sheet to communicate my concern with the highlighted spelling issue. 
Summing up
Being able to offer this method of annotating a proof is a valuable business asset. It gives both you and your clients choices.
if you're going to be working with clients who want a traditional margin-based proofreading service (where all your annotations are made on the typeset page) but in a digital format, the ability to mark up using proofreading stamps will serve you well. About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
Have you ever thought about adding a second screen to your computer setup at home? If you’re never able to cram in everything you’d like to see on a single screen, investing in a second one might be the way to go. John Espirian discusses the value of increasing our screen real estate.
Switching between multiple files
As anyone who works in the editorial field knows, it can be difficult to work onscreen when one has to juggle lots of digital files. We often have to switch between Word documents, PDFs, web browser windows and lots more besides.
A single screen often isn’t enough to cope with all this at once, meaning we have to use the keyboard or mouse to jump between windows. If this sounds familiar, you could make your working life easier by using a second screen, which is what I and many of my editorial colleagues have done. 
Working with two screens can be a great timesaver
Before we go any further, here are a few general tips that could help you work better with your current setup.
Tip 1: Use the keyboard to switch between programs
When switching between programs, you can save time by ignoring the mouse and keeping your hands on the keyboard. If you aren’t already using these keyboard shortcuts, start practising them now:
Active Mac programs shown when pressing Cmd-Tab
Here’s how to use these key combinations:
Tip 2: Increase your screen resolution
Increasing your screen resolution really just means making everything appear a little smaller, which allows space for more items to fit into the viewable area.
Steps for Mac users
Mac screen resolution – options may look different on older machines
Steps for Windows users
* If your Control Panel layout isn’t similar to that shown in the image below, click Display and then Adjust resolution instead. 
Windows screen resolution
Your screen will work best at its ‘native’ (default/recommended) resolution, but the performance may be perfectly adequate at different resolutions.
Tip 3: Be wary of straining your eyes
Visit your ophthalmologist or optometrist and make sure you’re using the right eyewear, if any.
The above tips should help us get the best from a single-screen setup. Let’s move on and see how we can boost productivity by adding a second screen. Adding a second screen
The best advert I can give you for the benefits of having a second screen is summed up by the extended screenshot below, taken from my own desktop.
This image shows four quite wide pages side by side with space to spare. This makes for an excellent user experience and has been the perfect way for me to get things done more quickly than ever before. 
A view of my two screens – view full-resolution image (4.8MB)
Aligning and positioning screens
It’s important that your eyes are at the same level as the top of your screen(s). There’s a lot more information about how best to sit at your desk on Apple’s Eyes and Vision page. When using two screens, try your best to keep both at very similar levels, so that your view adjusts easily between them. A pair of good quality stands with adjustable height settings will allow you to equalise the heights of the screens. This adds to the cost but is best for your long-term health – plus you should gain a little storage space underneath the stands. Screen recommendations Here are my general recommendations if you’re looking to buy a second screen:
Making the connection Your screen will work best at its ‘native’ (default/recommended) resolution, but the performance may be perfectly adequate at different resolutions. Here are the commonest options:
Each port has a slightly different shape and size. Here are some close-ups to help you work out what’s what: 
For completeness, I ought to mention that Apple’s new MacBook laptops now use a USB-C port. This means yet another type of adapter and cable is required to connect these new machines to a second screen (and at around £60, Apple’s official adapter isn’t cheap). The latest MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops still support Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt.
My own choice
Summing up
Having looked at several options, I decided to go for a DisplayPort-compatible screen with a 3840 × 2160 maximum resolution. In practice, running the screen at 2560 × 1440 has been more than adequate.
What do you think? Have you added a second screen and wished you’d done it a long time ago? Post a comment below or catch up with me on Twitter. About John Espirian
John Espirian runs the LinkedIn consultancy, the relentlessly helpful® way to build your business on LinkedIn & online
Find John at espirian.co.uk or on LinkedIn.
In this post I show you how to reorganize the display of your digital proofreading stamps in PDF-XChange so you can improve the efficiency with which you work.
Where to get the stamps
The free digital stamps files I’ve provided here on The Editing Blog contain over 70 individual images, all based on the British Standards Institution’s “Marks for copy preparation and proof correction” (BS 5261C:2005).
The issue for many newbies is that the palette can appear cumbersome – we all work in different ways, and the symbols that we most often use may not be positioned in the most convenient place for our particular needs. Having the full palette open on the screen takes up a lot of space, even if, like me, you use multiple screens. I prefer to have my palette near the text because it’s quicker to access, thus increasing my efficiency: 
Decreasing the size of the palette is one option, and allows placement on the screen that won’t interfere with the text. However, this requires using the scroll bar on the palette in order to access the stamps located further down the palette, reducing efficiency further because not all the stamps are on display.
Reorganizing the stamps for your own needs
When I created the original stamps files, I ordered them according to what my specific needs were at that time. But my preferences have changed since 2012, and it’s not unusual for my current preferences to change on a job-by-job or client-by-client basis.
For example, one particular client for whom I work provides me with PDFs that frequently require the use of the Turn over character(s)/word(s)/line(s) symbol. This symbol is located near the end of the downloadable stamps files. This meant that when I first opened up the palette in XChange it appeared as follows (see highlighted area at the bottom of the image below): 
The solution is to move the frequently used symbol to the top of the palette for this particular client work. This is most simply done by renaming the stamp in a way that forces it into the required position. My preference is to name most of my stamps with numbers rather than descriptive names (see image above and compare the often-used Delete symbol (named 1) with the rarely used Change to small caps mark (named 9.83).
The beauty of renaming with numbers is that you have the freedom to move any stamp anywhere at any time. You can change the positions as and when you wish. For demonstration purposes, I’ve chosen to move the right-hand margin Turn over symbol to the top of the palette and place it next to the Delete symbol. A quick and simple process
Here's how to do it.
1) Left-click on the symbol you want to move. The area below the mark, where the symbol's name is located, will appear with an orange tint. 
2) Move your mouse to the top of the palette and left-click on the “Rename” tab. A window will appear, housing the stamp’s current name.
3) Type in a new numbered name that will force the stamp into the numerically ordered position you desire. In this case, I want the Turn over symbol to appear next to the Delete symbol. Delete is named “1”; the stamp to the left is named “0.52”. Choosing any number between 0.52 and 1 for Turn over will therefore ensure preferred placement. I decide to rename Turn over as “0.99”. I type in the number and select “OK”.
4) Note that the stamp has been renamed but it still hasn’t moved into its new position.
In order to force the repositioning, I need to move out of the currently displayed palette and then reopen it. This can be done in two ways. Either close the palette completely by clicking on the X in the top-right-hand corner of the window (then reopen via the menu: Tools>Comment And Markup Tools>Show Stamps Palette) …
… or switch to a different Collection and then move back into the original Collection in which you renamed your stamp. The Collections can be found on the left-hand sidebar of the XChange palette, and you can move this sidebar in and out of view by clicking on and dragging the thick grey line, as highlighted below.
5) When you reopen the palette and click on the appropriate Collection, you’ll see your renamed stamp positioned exactly where you want it. To move the Collections sidebar out of view, simply click and drag on the grey line. This will provide more space in which to display all your proofreading symbols.
Marginal gains for increased efficiency
If renaming stamps seems like a lot of effort for little reward, remember that marginal gains count for a lot with editorial work. This is why tools such as macros, shortcuts and find/replace are useful. The same applies to creating an efficient stamps palette.
Every second you spend scrolling to find the stamp you want adds up. Seconds become minutes, and minutes become hours. If you’re being paid per hour, and your client doesn’t have a top-line budget, it may not matter how long it takes you to do a job, nor that you’re working inefficiently. However, many clients do have a top line, and many editorial professionals are working for fixed fees. Efficiency matters. Furthermore, some of us need to attend to the way in which we use our hands, wrists and arms repetitively when working onscreen. Organizing a stamps palette in a way that is memorable to you, and enables the fastest possible access, speeds up the onscreen markup process and reduces physical strain. If you haven’t got round to renaming your stamps numerically, try it and see whether it makes a difference. About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you’re thinking about becoming a proofreader, it’s important to understand that this term can mean different things in different contexts and with different client groups. This article focuses on working with raw text.
Who are your clients?
What type of proofreading you want to do and which group of clients you want to be work-ready for will determine the choices you make with regard to training.
Some proofreaders work directly with the creators of the written materials – independent authors, students and business professionals, for example. These clients send Word files and the proofreader amends the files directly (often with Track Changes switched on so that the client can see what’s been changed). Others work for intermediaries such as publishers and project-management agencies. Here the author supplies the text files; then the in-house project manager (PM) organizes the various elements of the production process – including copyediting, proofreading, typesetting and printing. After copyediting and typesetting, the PM supplies page proofs to the proofreader, who makes annotations that identify where there are problems to be attended to. The proofreader does not amend the text directly. In Part I, I gave the new entrant to the field an overview of what it’s like to be a proofreader working with page proofs. Here in Part II, I consider proofreading that involves working directly with the raw-text Word files. Which clients prefer to work in Word?
Most of the proofreading done in Word stems from having been commissioned directly by the content creator – a business executive, a self-publishing author or a student.
Academic writers, particularly those submitting articles to journals and for whom your first language is their second, are also likely to send Word files. Only one of my publisher clients would ask me to proofread in Word. What is the proofreader looking for?
It depends on the client's expectations (see below: Disadvantages) and your terms and conditions. Certainly, when it comes to proofreading for non-publisher clients, the definition of proofreading starts to look unclear and the boundaries between this and copyediting become blurred.
Unlike with page proofs, we can't check the final designed layout of the file but we still need to read every word. Some of the issues dealt with in the list below would be acceptable to the proofreader working for an academic author but not when working with a Master's student. (Some clients might even want/expect a level of restructuring, rewriting and checking that a proofreader wouldn't consider to be within their remit.)
What are the advantages?
What are the disadvantages?
There are still legal issues to consider …
Even if you are working directly with the primary authors of the content, you still need to get their permission to upload their text to third-party sites if you want to utilize software that's not on your computer.
The files you've been sent from Indie authors, students and businesses are their property and they send them to you in good faith, so you must get permission for their content to leave your computer. What does this mean for training?
Knowing the software ...
If you want to proofread in Word, you'll need to be proficient in using it. Word is one of the most powerful pieces of word-processing software available, and there's a huge amount you can do with it if you want to proofread (or edit) efficiently. You might therefore need to supplement your proofreading training with learning that focuses on using macros, making the best of Find/Replace and wildcards, using Track Changes, and Microsoft Word usage in general. There's still the issue of how much to interfere ... If you do end up proofreading for a publisher client who wants you to work in Word, it will be necessary to consider the issue of when to leave well enough alone, as discussed in Part I. However, independent authors looking for a proofreader may actually be expecting a deeper edit and will be disappointed if you're not prepared to rewrite sentences for them. If you've not had experience of, or training in, editing, you may find that a 'proofreading' project ends up being a bigger bite than you can chew. One of my colleagues feels that specific training in editing isn't always critical when working with business clients, whereas for self-publishing novelists it would be very important. I'm inclined to agree. One person might be relatively comfortable suggesting improved sentence construction to a business client but very wary of doing so with an author of fiction. What this shows is how blurry the edges can become and how important it is to have a detailed conversation before you begin a project. I often encourage independent fiction authors looking for a proofreader to consider commissioning editing first. Editors with both editing and proofreading skills are better placed to take on jobs for non-publisher clients that fall in the editing camp, or somewhere between editing and proofing (proofediting). If you think you'll end up straying beyond the realm of proofreading, you might consider adding copyediting courses into your training mix. Think about what type of client you're going to be working for to help you decide what's appropriate. Summing up …
Proofreading isn't some catch-all phrase that means the same thing to every client group. What you actually do, on which medium, how much you interfere, the extent to which you can use complementary tools, and the expectations of the client will differ greatly.
This means a range of competencies will need to be acquired depending on whom you’re working for. Your training will need to match the requirements of various client groups – a publisher’s expectations in terms of industry-recognized standards will be different from a business executive’s or student’s, so take care to research any proofreading training syllabus carefully to make sure it’s providing you with the skill set relevant to your target client group. Your training should suit your needs, your business plan, your objectives – and what will be right for one person may not be right for another.
Read this article's sister post: Not all proofreading is the same: Part I – Working with page proofs.
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you’re thinking about becoming a professional proofreader, it’s important to understand that the term 'proofreading' can mean different things in different contexts and with different client groups. This article focuses on working with designed page proofs,
Who are your clients?
What type of proofreading you want to do and which groups of clients you want to be work-ready for will determine the choices you make with regard to training.
Some proofreaders work directly with the creators of the written materials being proofread – independent authors, students and business professionals, for example. These clients send Word files and the proofreader amends the files directly (often with Track Changes switched on so that the client can see what’s been changed). Others work for intermediaries such as publishers and project management agencies. Here the author supplies the text files; then the in-house project manager (PM) organizes the various elements of the production process – including copy-editing, proofreading, typesetting and printing. After copy-editing and typesetting, the PM supplies page proofs to the proofreader, who makes annotations that identify where there are problems to be attended to. The proofreader does not amend the text directly. Here in Part I, I give the new entrant to the field an overview of what it’s like to be a proofreader working with page proofs. In Part II, I’ll consider proofreading work that involves working directly with the raw Word files. What are page proofs?
Page proofs, traditionally defined, are so called because they are laid out exactly as they will appear in the final printed book. If all has gone well, what the proofreader is looking at will be almost what the reader sees if they were to walk into a bookshop, pull this title off the shelf and browse through the pages.
The layout process has been taken care of by a professional typesetter or interior formatter who designs the text in a way that is pleasing to the eye and in accordance with a publisher’s brief. Page proofs from publishers and project management agencies are usually either in paper or PDF format. When working on paper, you'll likely still be supplied with a PDF (which comes in useful when using digital tools). In addition to the bulk of the typeset text, page proofs include the following elements: page numbers; running heads; a contents list; copyright information; cataloguing data; figures, tables and any other finished artwork; bibliography; and perhaps an index. The jacket may or may not be included, but there’ll usually be a title page and a half-title page. To reiterate, the pages have been professionally designed, so your job is not only to check for any final grammar, spelling or punctuation errors that have slipped in during the production chain; you're also tasked with ensuring that the appearance of the book is consistent and correct according to the instructions given to the typesetter by the client. Thus, you'll need to carry out a range of checks to ensure the following:
This isn't a comprehensive list but it gives you an idea of how this type of proofreading goes beyond just checking the text for typos. Download this free proofreading checklist if your client doesn't supply you with one. 
Where are you in the chain?
The proofreader is one person in a fairly lengthy chain. Different clients work in different ways but the following is not uncommon:
The process is often further complicated by the ebook creation process. Text might be digitized at different stages of the process. What does this mean for your working methods?
You're not actually changing anything … You can use digital tools to complement your eye – various scripted macros, consistency checkers like PerfectIt, and reference-checking software like ReferenceChecker.
To use these tools you need to strip text from a PDF of the page proofs, place it in a Word document, and then run your digital tools. Any mistakes flagged up, however, need to be marked up on the page proofs – that is, on paper or PDF (as agreed with the PM). You don’t get to change the actual text – you only get to make marks on it (usually those little hieroglyphics that constitute, in the UK, the BS 5261C:2005 proof-correction symbols). But you're checking everything … Recall, too, that you're paid to check every word and every page. Relevant software is a brilliant addition to any proofreader’s tool kit, but it will only go so far because the proofreader’s job goes beyond error-checking. We’re looking for layout problems, too, because we’re working on designed text – the first draft of the final page proofs. There are legal issues … you can only use software tools that are already sitting on your PC. This is because of confidentiality issues. All my publisher PMs consider it unacceptable business practice for me to send the page proofs (or the text stripped from them) to a third party, as the following direct quotes demonstrate:
What does this mean for training?
If you want to proofread for publishers, it’s likely that you’ll be working on page proofs. This means you’ll need to learn to use the industry-recognized mark-up language effectively and efficiently, and you’ll need to be able to carry out the necessary design and layout checks.
If your training course doesn't teach you how to mark up using the relevant symbols or what to look out for in terms of layout problems, it’s probably not the right course to make you fit for publisher work. Furthermore, you’ll have to learn not to interfere beyond your brief. Not all publishers want every single inconsistency attended to. Amendments made at page-proof stage are expensive to implement so many publishers ask for 'minimal' correction. How they define 'minimal' will vary so you’ll need to work according to a clear brief. And if you’re not given a clear brief, you’ll need to ask for one. Assumptions about your remit are to be avoided – what one PM considers unworthy of change will be considered an essential error by another! The business of knowing when to leave well enough alone and when to interfere is one of the trickiest issues to deal with, so doing a course that has an assessment element is a good idea if you are working with page proofs and publisher clients. Summing up …
Proofreading isn't some catch-all phrase that means the same thing to every client group. What you actually do, on which medium, how much you interfere, the extent to which you can use complementary tools, and the expectations of the client will differ greatly.
This means a range of competencies will need to be acquired depending on whom you’re working for. Your training will need to match the requirements of various client groups – a publisher’s expectations in terms of industry-recognized standards will be different from a business executive’s or student’s, so take care to research any proofreading training syllabus carefully to make sure it’s providing you with the skill set relevant to your target client group. Your training should suit your needs, your business plan, your objectives; and what will be right for one person may not be right for another. In Part II ...
In Part II, I look at proofreading for clients who want you to work directly on the text in Word; how the line between editing and proofreading can become blurred; and how this might influence the type of training you do or the work you choose to take on.
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
This roundup provides quick access to all the PDF proofreading markup articles posted on The Editing Blog.
Installation instructions
How to create your own stamps
American proofreading stamps
Onscreen work
Free proofreading stamps
Music notation stamps
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you’re proofreading onscreen, either with my proofreading stamps or your software’s comment and mark-up tools, it’s worth spending a few minutes to set up the various onscreen elements in an ergonomic fashion as well as familiarizing yourself with basic keyboard shortcuts.
Making onscreen work easier
Some aspects of onscreen work are speedier – searching for and implementing global changes, for example – while moving between the various mark-up tools is not as quick as using a hand and pen. There are, however, things you can do to compensate and make your onscreen experience more effective.
1. Make the toolbar work for you
Shift the most-used elements on your toolbar so that they are near to each other and on the side of the screen with which you operate your mouse. These elements might include the typewriter, mark-up tools, text tools, and stamp and save buttons. Use your mouse to click, hold and drag the elements across the toolbar ribbon.
2. Use the stamps palette
Use stamps of proofreading symbols to complement the comment box and mark-up tools in your PDF editor. You can create your own or use the sets I’ve already developed. They’re available free of charge here. If you’re unfamiliar with these, see PDF Editing: Making the Most of the Stamps Tool.
Remember to keep your stamps palette open; it will save you time when selecting each stamp you want to use. In XChange you can minimize the size of the symbols as they appear in the palette (see the highlight in the screenshot to the left). This enables you to see a greater number of stamps while you are working without having to scroll up and down the palette. In Acrobat, the palette is not as user-friendly, so use a second screen to get the best of the display. In XChange, number similar stamps sequentially so that they appear in a logical order. This will make it easier to find the stamp you need, particularly if each palette contains a lot of symbols (If you’ve downloaded my XChange stamps simply change the number-name in order to re-sequence them). It's useful to keep your palettes of different-coloured stamps separate so that the palettes don't become overly cluttered. Again, this will enable you to locate the stamp you need more efficiently. 
3. Hook up a second screen
I generally use a laptop, but I hook up my old desktop screen to enable me to use two screens at once when I’m doing onscreen work. This works well on three counts:
4. Utilize basic keyboard shortcuts
These are my preferred keyboard shortcuts when working with PDFs. There are many, many more but I like these because all but one can be managed easily with one hand.
Alt Tab: this is one of my most-used keyboard short cuts and is especially useful if you only have one screen to work on and need to flit between different programs or files. Ctrl S: save Ctrl C: copy Ctrl X: cut Ctrl V: paste Ctrl Z: undo Ctrl A: select all Ctrl Shift F: opens search window 5. Bookmark key pages
If you refer back to the same key pages time and again and your client hasn’t already bookmarked these (contents, part titles, chapter first page, bibliography, index etc.), it’s easy to do it yourself and will save you time. Use Ctrl B to open the bookmark function in Acrobat, PDF-XChange or PDF-XChange Viewer and name your page.
6. Use a snipping tool to make your own quickie stamps
If you are constantly using a particular combination of mark-up symbols in a piece of work (e.g. you have to change A to Å many times), you can make your own quickie stamp using a snipping tool. Windows supplies this, but if your operating system doesn’t there are plenty of free alternatives online. Pin it to the task bar at the bottom of your screen to access it quickly.
In the case given above, you would use the typewriter to print Å on your PDF, followed by the replace-slash stamp. Use your snipping tool to draw round both marks and save. Then import your new stamp into your palette. Now you only have to make one click, not two, in order to make the margin mark. 
Related articles
To access the stamps files, see the article Free Downloadable Proofreading Stamps. For a more detailed look at using stamps for onscreen work, go to PDF Editing: Making the Most of the Stamps Tool. For installation instructions, click here.
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
If you don't have the full paid-for versions of, say, Adobe Acrobat or PDF-XChange, you can still use my proofreading stamps.  A colleague explains ...My colleague Sara Peacock demonstrated the stamps. She said: The stamps work with [the free] Adobe Reader, but the proofreader will need to ensure that whoever creates the PDF enables comments before sending it, otherwise the comment tools that are needed (as well as the stamps, the pencil tool, the strikeout tool, and so on) won't be accessible. For years, I've used PDF XChange, though I now have the paid-for version. The stamps palette is much clearer, for one thing, and uploading the stamps is quicker, too. I'd recommend giving Viewer a try, even if you're a die-hard Acrobat user! Even better, XChange Viewer allows you to upload them all in one go. Note: Always check with your client first to make sure the PDF reader you're using is compatible with their workflows. How to get the digital PDF markup stamps
 A sample of just a few of my proofreading stamps. Tips for using stampsTips
 PDF-XChange Viewer: screenshot of stamps palette and minimizing tool. About Louise Harnby Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
Want to annotate a PDF with digital proofreading marks? Below are my free proofreading stamps files in red, blue and black. They conform to British Standard BS 5261-2 (2005).
Essential resources
You will not have to resize these stamps – I've designed them to work with the font size that most book files use. Simply upload them into your PDF editor and you’re ready to go!
What users are saying ...
A sample of just a few of my proofreading stamps
Click on the buttons below to download the PDFs files containing the stamps, then head over to the installation instructions. Now with transparent backgrounds
UPDATE 5 JUNE 2020. All the stamps now have transparent backgrounds, which means they can be placed on top of greyscale and colour pages and boxes, and squeezed between text without blocking out the elements.
Learn about how to mark up PDFs like a pro
Want to learn how to mark up page proofs with my stamps and other markup tools? Check out Denise Cowle’s course, Proofreading: How to Mark Up PDF Page Proofs.
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
This article contains installation instructions for most versions of Acrobat and PDF-XChange. Scroll down the page to find the set appropriate for the platform you're working with.
No advanced tech knowledge required!
Rest assured that you don't need advanced technical knowledge to install the stamps. In fact, you don't need any technical knowledge at all! You simply need to be able to follow the instructions as they are given.
Use the right instructions!
I've updated this post several times since it was first written in 2012 as new versions of software have been released.
Please follow my instructions to the letter. I've provided installation support to a number of users in recent years. On every occasion, problems occurred for one of the following reasons:
Again, please ensure that you follow the instructions step by step before you contact me to report that you're having problems. If you do need to contact me, please tell me the following:
Download the stamps
The first step is to DOWNLOAD THE STAMPS, whichever set of instructions your are using.
PDF-XChange Editor 8.0
Instructions correct as of 4 January 2020 and apply to Windows 10, Office 365
PDF-XChange Editor 6.0
My colleague Helen Mortimor has kindly provided the following installation instructions for use with Editor 6.0:
PDF-XChange Editor 3.0
My colleague Steve Hammatt has kindly provided the following installation instructions for use with Editor 3.0:
PDF-XChange Pro and the free Viewer 2.0
One of the main benefits of using PDF-XChange Viewer is that you can import all my stamps in one go. Video tutorial. For those of you who'd like to watch a tutorial of the steps outlined below, here's a video demonstration in which I talk you through the process, step by step, while actually downloading a set of stamps onto my own computer.
NB: This is the squeaky-chair edit, a limited-edition version created especially to provide the feel-good factor for editorial freelancers whose home offices benefit from well-oiled swivel-seating arrangements! Written instructions
* Can't find the AppData folder? If you can't find the folder, the most likely reason is that the Application Data (or AppData) folder (a hidden folder) is invisible on your computer.
Acrobat 9 (Standard and the free Reader)
The first time you do this you’ll have to write in a category (e.g. Red Stamps). When you import a second stamp you can simply select this option. You can also name the stamp if you wish but I didn’t bother, choosing instead to leave the default New Stamp. When you have uploaded all your stamps and are ready to start marking up your document, select Show Stamps Palette from the stamp icon in the ribbon menu and a box will appear. If you have different categories (e.g. Blue Stamps) you can select these from here. Acrobat <9 (Standard and the free Reader)
The first time you do this you’ll have to type in a category (e.g. Red Stamps). When you import a second stamp you can simply select this option. You can also name the stamp. When you have downloaded all your stamps and are ready to start marking up your document, select the drop-down menu from the stamp icon in the ribbon menu, and the categories you have created will be listed along with the defaults. You can then select the stamp from the category you require. Acrobat X
My colleague Jenny Macgregor has very kindly put together some instructions for downloading my proofreading stamps into Acrobat X. Here's her advice...
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
Instructions correct as of 5 December 2021
Tips
Here are a few tips to bear in mind when using stamps. Search the Stamps archive for other useful articles and resources.
PDF-XChange Viewer: screenshot of minimizing tool and stamps palette.
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
Discover tips for marking up PDF page proofs using digital BS 5261-2 (2005) symbols.
Options for PDF markup
These days, it's commonplace to be asked to edit and proofread onscreen. If you're editing in Word, all well and good; you can amend the text directly. If you're tackling designed page proofs, you'll probably be working on a PDF. Stamps can help.
The PDF editor's onboard markup tool is one option. Using custom stamps is another, and that's what I'll be exploring in this article. Why use custom stamps?
Even in the standard versions of most PDF editors (as opposed to their freely available readers), the tools can be restrictive.
Punctuation errors can be a major problem – the insertion and deletion tools for punctuation marks (and even single letters) are often ambiguous, with the highlight or strike-out line appearing to ‘spread’ further on the page than would be the case on a traditional paper mark-up. About the digital markup stamps …
I created a set of custom stamps that can be imported into my PDF editing software (I have both PDF-XChange and Acrobat).
The stamps are based on the current BSI proofreading symbols and once downloaded can be imprinted onto the page, giving the proof the appearance of its paper cousin. No more clunky comments and digital sticky notes, and say goodbye to ambiguous highlighting. Now you can keep the comment boxes in reserve for queries to your author or in-house editor. The following is a sample of just a few of my stamps. 
Which software is compatible?
I’ve tested the stamps on Adobe Acrobat (standard version) and PDF-XChange and can confirm that they can be imported (other PDF editors that have stamping functions, such as Foxit and PDFill, may also be compatible.
However, always check with your client to make sure that the PDF reader you're using is compatible with their workflow. What if you only have a free reader/viewer?
You don't need to have the full paid-for versions of Acrobat or XChange in order to use the stamps.
You can use your free Acrobat Reader as long as you ask the person who has created the PDF to 'enable comments'. With PDF XChange Viewer, you don't even need to worry about enabling comments – the stamps will work on your PDF as soon as you have uploaded them. An additional benefit of Viewer is that you can import all the stamps in one go. Can you use the stamps with a Mac?
The stamps files are PDFs so it doesn't make any difference whether you're working on a PC or a Mac.
Rather, the most important thing is that you have the Mac version of your PDF editor, e.g. Acrobat for Mac. What does the marked-up proof look like?
I’ve been delighted with the results, as have many of my clients. The marked-up proofs using the stamps are much clearer to read, as the two examples show.
There are only four amendments in Example 1, the comment-box version. Imagine how much time it would have taken to select the text, choose the relevant option from the Text Edits menu and write the instruction to the typesetter if all the amendments in Example 2 had been made without using stamps. And if the typesetter opened up all these comments boxes, what a mess it would have been. 
Example 1: Using the comment box only.
Example 2: Using customized stamps.
Creating stamps
Creating the stamps is the fiddly part and the most time-consuming.
Getting the correct size, so that you don’t have to resize each stamp when you’re working on a set of proofs, takes a little time and, of course, creating each individual stamp can seem painstaking. However, the job only has to be done once and I’ve been using mine for a couple of years now. It’s worth spending some time playing around with your designs early on in order to make life easier for yourself later. I’ve created stamps in red, blue and black because my clients have different requirements. I used Publisher to create the stamps, but you could use any software with a drawing tool. Set up each stamp on a separate page. Once you’ve drawn all your stamps convert the file into a PDF. Want to use the stamps I've already created?
I’m happy to share with colleagues who have the same commitment as I do to improving skills and supporting our industry’s professional standards.
To access your copies of my stamps, click here – there's no charge. If you're using PDF-XChange (I'd recommend you do so), make sure you select the stamps labelled "XChange". Note: Please note that my stamps are based on proofreading symbols as defined by BS 5261-2 (2005). If you are working outside the UK, not all of the symbols may conform to those you are used to working with. Importing customized stamps
About Louise Harnby
Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.
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