Dear Esther,
I have tried and succeeded in doing both: setting a template in Word
but also tried to do the same and successfully set up a template in
Textedit. I'm so pleased with myself and grateful to all of you who
have helpd me. With best wishes
Simon
On 2 Dec 2008, at 14:30, Esther wrote:
Dear Simon,
I think that if you have access to Word, you can probably set up
formatting the way you like (tab markers for the start of your
return address, line spacing, page margins, alignment, fonts), then
change this to a Rich Text Format that you use as the basis for a
TextEdit style file. What I did was take a letter that was in the
form of a Word .doc file, open it in TextEdit, and then save it by
writing out a version in Rich Text Format so that I could examine
how TextEdit recorded its format setup. (As you say, it's not easy
to understand the various setup and formatting options described in
the help file for TextEdit without having a concrete example to use
as a reference.) Interacting with the ruler of that file let me
experiment with ruler markings. That file had just the single left
tab marker at the position of the return address. To save this as a
style file, interact with the Styles popup button in the ruler and
select "Other". Then press the "Add to favorites" button and supply
a name for the style. You can also check any of the boxes for
"Include the ruler as part of the style" or "include the font as
part of the style",
If you want to modify a default TextEdit file to be like the letter
style, and only have one left tab, you could interact with the
ruler, then VO-right until you come to the first left tab stop (at
0.5 inches) and interact. Hold down the right arrow key to move
this to the far right. It will sound a bit like clattering
typewriter keys by the time you get to the end, and the sounds will
change as you move through different regions. If you stop, and
you're past the region where the right page margin would be set (for
example, beyond 8 inches) then, once you've used Command-Shift-W to
wrap to page, you can VO-right in the ruler to pick up the first
left tab stop, interact, and move it left to the position you want.
The other left tab stops will be outside the page margins. Again,
you may need to move your right margin setting to match the
appropriate value for A4-sized paper. Once you're happy with your
setup, save this as a style file. You can try creating your letter
style file this way first. Then you can experiment with templates
that you create starting from formatted Word documents.
Alternatively, if your experiments with a sample letter formatted
Word document go well, you can just save that file as a style
template instead of starting from the default setting.
To use one of your saved style files when you open a new TextEdit
window to start typing a letter, choose the template from the popup
style button in the ruler.
There are probably better ways to do this, but this might get you
started. Basically, TextEdit supports quite a lot of features, but
doesn't have a lot of controls to automatically make all these
adjustments, so you're just saving style templates based on formats
generated in Word -- which does let you fiddle with all of these
settings.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Esther
On Dec 1, 2008, at 10:13 PM, Simon Cavendish wrote:
Dear Esther,
How do I move the left tabs to the edge of the page as you
helpfully suggest? Do I do that by interacting with each and
setting their value to the one coresponding to the position of the
right margin? Or is there a way of dragging them? It would be best
for me just to use one left tab press to avoid any confusion. I
guess once I've set up the template, I can save it, and I also
surmise that when I open a new untitled document, the ruler is
going to appear in its original default seting.
Forgive my ignorance in the above matters. I have read through the
help files a few times to make sure that there are indeed no
shortcut keys for fiddling with the tabs. But maybe I've missed
something.
Again, many thanks for the explanations. I'm excited to think that
once I've set up my template, I will be able to write my letters in
Textedit rather than booting into Windows and using Microsoft Word.
With best wishes
Simon
On 1 Dec 2008, at 22:10, Esther wrote:
Dear Simon,
I think there's only one left margin (head indent), and another
setting to set paragraph indentation (first line indent) plus the
right margin (tail indent). Apart from these ruler markers, there
are just the left tab markers. You can interact and move them.
If you don't want to use additional tab markers before the tab for
your return address, just move the additional tab markers to the
end of the page area (right margin). What happens when you turn
formatting on to "Wrap to Page" is that the head indent and tail
indent move to give you 1 inch margins. (This is for U.S. letter
paper that is 8.5 x 11 inches.) If you want to move the margins
further away from the right and left edges, you can. You may need
to do this if the margins are not well matched for A4 paper.
If you want to keep the left tab markers in place, you'll need to
count the number of left tabs you place before your return address
and press the correct number of tabs. The key settings are for
left and right margin if you want to change these, and to move
the tab you want to set for the return address to the correct
location.
Cheers,
Esther
On Dec 1, 2008, at 11:48 AM, Simon Cavendish wrote:
Dear Esther,
Thank you for these detailed and helpful instructions. I shall
follow them and report the outcome. I did think of using a left
tab and maybe right justifying the return address. My concern was
with the number of left margins in the ruler. I guess I just
change the value of the left margin and ignore the rest?
With many thanks again,
Simon
On 1 Dec 2008, at 17:14, Esther wrote:
Hi Simon,
There may be better ways to do this, but I took a letter in Word
and saved this as a Rich Text Format file. Then I opened this
with TextEdit and saved this as a style file that I called
"letter". In fact, examining this turns out to be pretty
basic. In minimal format, you use the page boundaries and a
single left tab that is placed to put your address on the right
hand side. The page boundaries here are the defaults you set
"Wrap to page" (Command-Shift-W) -- 1 inch in from the
boundaries of the window. Since I am using U.S. letter paper,
this means that the head indent and tail indent markers for the
ruler are set to 1.0 inch and 7.5, and these form the left and
right margins of my page (which is 8.5 inches wide). My single
left tab stop, which is used for my address or the closing, is
set for 5.9 inches.
By comparison, in the default setup for Rich Text Format, the
mode is "Wrap to window" (typing goes to the edge of the window
instead of starting or stopping at the "margins" of the page --
here, 1 inch to the left or right from the left and right limits
of the window). There are also
12 left tab stops (set every half inch from the left edge of the
window).
I don't think you need to use the right tab stop unless you are
typing in a language that flows from right to left, such as
Hebrew.
For the letter template I describe, I simply tab to start typing
the return address (5.9 inches from the left edge of the window,
or 4.9 inches from the left margin of the letter). The
recipient's address is set at the left margin, where typing
automatically starts, since I use "align left".
Hope this makes sense. To find out the margin and tab settings,
interact with the ruler. The head indent ruler marker will be 0
if you are in the default setting of "Wrap to Window". Use the
Command-Shift-W shortcut to toggle this setting or else go to
the Format menu and choose the option "Wrap to Page". Now when
you read the position of the head indent ruler marker it should
be 1 inch. Your right margin (tail indent) may be set up for A4
paper and have a different value from mine (7.5 inches).
Similarly, you will want to set the left tab stop for your
return address to a different value than 5.9 inches since A4
paper is narrower. You can interact and move one of the
existing left tab stops instead of setting a new one.
Maybe Anne has recommendations.
Cheers,
Esther
On Dec 1, 2008, at 4:56 AM, Simon Cavendish wrote:
Dear Listers,
I am trying to work with tabs in Textedit. I have read as much
as I was able to in the Voiceover help file on tabs and in
Textedit help files. I can set the value of the right tab
without a problem but I am not sure how to activate that tab.
When I press the tab button, how do I know whether I activate
the left tab or right tab? Has anyone got any more experience
on that? I'm trying to create letter template so that my
address is always on the right handside and so that I may input
the address of the recipient on the left.
Your experience and help would be welcome.
With best wishes
Simon
