Word - Options - Proofing - need different options saved for different types of material

[mimiproof]

I'm a professional proofreader and work in different areas (legal transcripts, literary, scholarly). The proofing options required for these areas are very different, but there doesn't seem to be a way to save different sets of options. I tried to set options with a custom template, but the next time I opened Word with just the normal template those options were in normal as well. It is really cumbersome to have to set options every time I open a different type of document. And in one use, I do a file compare, bringing in RTFs, and I need the options there as well. Is saving separate proofing options even possible? TIA

[#2]

Hello @mimiproof ,

if you set a template for each proofing field, you need to open the text in exactly that template. Which you can't do, because the text is already in a document based on Normal.dot, right?

Open a new document based on your particular template (say legal transcript) and then paste the legal text into that template. Knowing legal documents and their notoriously difficult automated numbering, I can see a number of issues raising from that too.

Or, you can invest time and separately record a macro for each separate set of proofing conditions, so that when you open your text, you just run a particular macro to set-up the correct environment.

On second thought, I think the macro might be the preferable option.

[#3]

@Lenka_Kerumova 

Thanks for your response. I did try the template approach. It doesn't work. The settings stuck and were the same when I reopened Word with the default template. It appears that macros are the only way to go.

[#4]

@mimiproof 

As you have noticed, you can't specify a different set of proofing options for different documents or templates.

What you can do is mark text in a document (or template) so that it won't be checked for grammar or spelling errors, which may or may not be helpful in your specific document(s). 

For an overview of spellchecking in Word, see http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/MasterSpellCheck.htm.

[#5]

@Stefan_Blom I appreciate the suggestion, but this isn't a matter of marking text in a specific document. This is a matter of having options for a type of document. I need to be able to switch options when doing work with documents that have specific characteristics that differ from other types of documents I work with, and those characteristics have to be addressed through options to avoid the proofing/editing functions' picking up the characteristics as errors not bypassed via "ignore all." I'm coming to the conclusion that what I need to do is code macros in VBA to specifically set options. I'm not a VBA expert, but I do have the background to pick it up to do that coding. However, one should not have to be a coder to be able to create a specific set of proofing/editing options and really save them in a template where that set is unique to that template. This is a big failing on the part of Microsoft application development, where it does not consider how users who happen not to be programmers can get around slogging through options every time they need to tweak them (and it is a slog, very user unfriendly, IMHO).

[#6]

@mimiproof 

At the moment, what you are asking for simply isn't possible. Selected proofing options are "global," that is, they apply to the Word application as a whole.

You can post feedback for Microsoft; see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-office-2b102d44-b43f-....

[#7]

Exactly. That "global" aspect is based on the assumption that users do not need flexibility -- ever -- in the materials they work on. That is a terrible, narrow assumption. I think the developers in Redmond too often make assumptions based on their own narrow world and don't address the real world. Sigh! Thank you for that feedback link, though. I'll put my two cents' worth in there. Much appreciated.