pleading format macro

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A Leech - 10 May 2006 18:56 GMT

Does anybody have a macro to insert into an existing document that inserts
pleading format - line number and borders?? Or a suggestion to prevent
losing the formatting of a document when cut and pasted into the pleading
template? Unfortunately I get documents from somebody who doesn't use
styles. . . and I have to reformat everything when I paste into template.

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Suzanne S. Barnhill - 10 May 2006 23:19 GMT

Why not paste the document into one based on a template that includes the
line numbers and borders?

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Suzanne S. Barnhill
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Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
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> Does anybody have a macro to insert into an existing document that inserts
> pleading format - line number and borders?? Or a suggestion to prevent
> losing the formatting of a document when cut and pasted into the pleading
> template? Unfortunately I get documents from somebody who doesn't use
> styles. . . and I have to reformat everything when I paste into template.

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A Leech - 12 May 2006 18:29 GMT

Because the formatting is lost (italics, bold, spacing, etc.) styles are not
being used by the attorneys and when you are working on a large number of
documents at one time cutting and pasting, renaming and reformatting them all
is not really an effective use of time and there is always the risk of
getting interrupted and saving over something wrong. I CANNOT be the only
who is so frustrated with this in Word. I purchased a book specifically for
law firms to help with this and they do nothing but push their software and
give you instructions for the wizard, which is useless to me.

> Why not paste the document into one based on a template that includes the
> line numbers and borders?
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> > template? Unfortunately I get documents from somebody who doesn't use
> > styles. . . and I have to reformat everything when I paste into template.

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Suzanne S. Barnhill - 12 May 2006 19:58 GMT

If the new template contains the same styles you're pasting in, formatting
should not be lost. OTOH, turning on line numbering and a single-side page
border should not be that difficult. If what you want is the text box +
drawing line combination that's found in the Pleading Wizard, then why not
save that as an AutoText entry and insert it in the header of the existing
document?

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> Because the formatting is lost (italics, bold, spacing, etc.) styles are not
> being used by the attorneys and when you are working on a large number of
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> > > template? Unfortunately I get documents from somebody who doesn't use
> > > styles. . . and I have to reformat everything when I paste into template.

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A Leech - 12 May 2006 20:31 GMT

The attorney is not using styles - I have to reformat headings, double
indents, with cites, etc. It is difficult because there are several steps
and they are not lined out anywhere - it is assumed that the wizard is
adequate (it is not) and there are not specific step by step directions and I
would assume they are lengthy to get the format correct to specifics. We use
a double line on the left with numbering and a sinlge line right. To do that
over and over is ridiculous - working in a law office you would do this
repetitively day after day. Also, the line numbering spacing gets messed up
when inserting text and cutting and pasting.

I have tried autotext - it works on a new blank document, but not in a
document that is already created.

Also, we are emailing the documents to other attorneys and when we get them
back some have line numbers missing.

From the number of posts on this topic I really think your pleading wizard
needs some serious help and more instructions specific to attorneys and
staff.

> If the new template contains the same styles you're pasting in, formatting
> should not be lost. OTOH, turning on line numbering and a single-side page
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> > > > styles. . . and I have to reformat everything when I paste into
> template.

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Suzanne S. Barnhill - 12 May 2006 22:24 GMT

Well, it's not *my* Pleading Wizard. I didn't create it, and I've never used
it, nor would I. You'd be much better off creating a template that does what
you want and requiring attorneys to use it.

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> The attorney is not using styles - I have to reformat headings, double
> indents, with cites, etc. It is difficult because there are several steps
[quoted text clipped - 52 lines]
> > > > > styles. . . and I have to reformat everything when I paste into
> > template.

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Charles Kenyon - 14 May 2006 23:49 GMT

I concur in Suzanne's judgment of the pleading wizard. It certainly is much
more work than creating a custom template for your jurisdiction(s) and using
that template. If your attorneys used such a template, they would be using
styles, even if they knew nothing about styles, because you would put them
in the template along with some macrobutton fields to prompt for places they
should start typing. See
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/fields.htm#MacroButton,
http://www.gmayor.com/Macrobutton.htm and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/UsingMacroButton.htm for more
about macrobutton fields.

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Charles Kenyon

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Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!

My criminal defense site: http://addbalance.com
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> The attorney is not using styles - I have to reformat headings, double
> indents, with cites, etc. It is difficult because there are several steps
[quoted text clipped - 67 lines]
>> > > > styles. . . and I have to reformat everything when I paste into
>> template.

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<*(((><{ - 26 May 2006 00:47 GMT

LOL. Just try *requiring* an attorney to use it! LOL

Here's what to do:
    Make a pleading template just the way you like it.
    Make a macro to help with converting the mess you get from the
attorneys. Record things like this -- replace all italics with
highlight. Replace all bold with the STRONG style. Pray to go
there's no underlining.
    Open the attorney's file, run the macro, and save.
    Open a new doc based on your pleading template, insert the
macroed atty doc, and save.
    Now create a second macro -- replace all highlighting with Italic
or Emphasis style.

    I've fixed up hundreds of documents doing something similar. I
even collected all the documents into one big file, separated by
manual page breaks, ran the macros, got it into my template, saved it
as read only, then resaved each document.

    There must be a macro way to do this in batches. Hmmmm.

<*((((><{
Fishy@Ocean.Net

In the last exciting episode on Sun, 14 May 2006 17:49:01 -0500,

>I concur in Suzanne's judgment of the pleading wizard. It certainly is much
>more work than creating a custom template for your jurisdiction(s) and using
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/UsingMacroButton.htm for more
>about macrobutton fields.

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<*(((><{ - 26 May 2006 00:49 GMT

Oh, PS:
Stay late one evening. Go into each atty's computer, and change
their command keys around, so that Control+B will enter the "Strong"
style and Control+I will enter the "Emphasis" style. Etc. That way,
they'll be applying formatting without realizing it. :-)
Think they would catch on?

<*((((><{
Fishy@Ocean.Net

In the last exciting episode on Sun, 14 May 2006 17:49:01 -0500,

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