Introduction

Welcome to Buzzword, the first real word processor for the web. Buzzword makes it easy for you to create a document from any computer on the Web, share it with colleagues, and review and revise it as a team.

Buzzword works on any PC or Macintosh that is connected to the Internet and running Adobe's Flash Player. Buzzword runs from Virtual Ubiquity's secure servers, and your documents are stored there, so they are ... well, ubiquitous: always available on the Web. And always securely private, except from the people you invite to share them.

You'll soon find that Buzzword offers a distinct alternative to traditional word processors. For one thing, you do not have to install the product. For another, you'll be able to use Buzzword on any computer that is connected to the Internet and have your word processor and your files at your fingertips.

A third difference is that you'll find it easy and convenient to share documents with friends and colleagues without having to use email attachments. Because we store your documents on our secure servers, all you need to do is invite someone to share your document and you'll both have access.

Buzzword runs on any computer with Flash Player 9 that is running IE 6 or 7, Safari 2, Safari 3 (Macintosh only), or Firefox. This means that you can use Macintosh or Windows computers interchangeably. For example, you could start an essay at home on your iBook, go to the school library and work on it using a Windows machine, and then share it with a friend who uses either platform. You'll have the same file and the same product regardless of the platform you choose.

Note on Buzzword Preview Documentation

This Help is a preliminary form of our documentation. It will be refined and enhanced periodically to accommodate feedback from users, as well as to reflect new Buzzword capabilities. We welcome any feedback from you at feedback@buzzword.com.

Menus

Buzzword Menu

The Buzzword menu contains the following commands:

  • About Buzzword
  • Settings & Preferences...
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Sign Out

About Buzzword

The About Buzzword dialog box lists credits for the team that created the product. It also includes a version number and copyright notices for the spelling technology used in Buzzword.

Settings & Preferences

The Settings & Preferences dialog box allows you to manage account settings and set preferences. You can change the way your name appears, your email address, or your password. You can add an image to accompany your name on the Collaboration bar at the bottom of the screen and in the heading of lists by author. You can also choose which unit of measurement to use and whether to have misspelled words flagged as you type.

  • Your name: Enter the name that you want to appear to others when you share documents with them, and when you add comments to a document.
  • Your email: Enter the address you use (with your password) to sign in to Buzzword, and that others use when inviting you to share.
  • Password: Enter at least 6 characters that include at least one number and at least one letter.
  • Your image: You can upload any BMP, JPEG, JPG, GIF, PNG, or TIFF image no larger than 8MB. Click Change to upload the image from your computer; click Clear to have the default Buzzword image appear.
  • Units of measurement: Specify inches, centimeters, or points as the measurement that will be used on all your documents. The unit you choose will appear on the ruler in every document you create, and in the Page Setup dialog box, where you can specify margins.
  • Spelling: Choose whether to have misspelled words underscored in red as you type. Also, add words that the spelling checker may flag that are spelled correctly, such as technical terms, people's names, and so on. Click “Edit word list” to make changes to your custom word list. Type a word in the box and click OK to add it. Buzzword automatically alphabetizes the list.

Privacy Policy

This option takes you to the Privacy Policy on the Buzzword Web site, which describes how information that is collected about you is used and safeguarded.

Terms of Service

This option takes you to the Terms of Service on the Buzzword Web site, which outline the conditions for using Buzzword, such as age requirement and legal responsibilities.

Sign Out

The Sign Out menu option signs you out of Buzzword, and returns you to the Sign In screen.

Document Menu

When you have a document open, the Document menu contains the following commands:

  • New
  • Open
  • Close
  • Save
  • Save As...
  • Share...
  • Page Setup...
  • Print...

When you view a listing of your documents in the Document Organizer, other commands are available.

New

You can start a new document while you are still working on an open document. Click New and another window or tab opens, with a blank document.

Open...

You can open a document while you are still editing another document. Open... displays the Document Organizer in a new window or a new tab, where you can select another document, have both documents open at the same time, and move between them.

Close

When you are finished working on a document, click Close to go to the Document Organizer.

Docs icon Note: You can also close your document by clicking the Docs icon on the right side of the toolbar.

Save

You can use the Save command to explicitly save your document on the Buzzword server. Buzzword automatically saves changes to an active document at intervals based on time and level of activity, but the Save command allows you to save your document without waiting.

Synchronator Note: Another way to explicitly save your document is to click the Synchronator in the lower right corner of the Buzzword screen.

Save As...

The Save As command creates a new instance of the current document with a new name; it also lets you export documents to Microsoft Word (.doc), Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml), Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf), HTML zipped into a compressed file (.zip), or plain text (.txt) files.

To save a Buzzword document with a new name:

  1. With the document open, click Document, Save As...
  2. By default, the Type option is “Buzzword document.”
  3. Enter a name; by default, the name is the same, with the word copy appended; for example, your copy of "Notes for Thesis" would be named "Notes for Thesis copy." You can of course change this.
  4. Click OK.

Notes:

  • When you save a document under a new name, regardless of your privilege level, or role (author, co-author, reviewer, or reader), on the original document, you are the author of the newly created document.
  • The new document retains comments from the original version. However, the new document does not include collaborators from the original document — you have to add them explicitly.
  • The new document does not retain the version history of the original document.
  • Changes to the new document do not affect the original document.

To export a Buzzword document:

Note: Your browser may allow you to specify a particular location for saving all downloads or it may always open a dialog box that asks you whether to open the document or save it. It may also specify an application for opening the document.

  1. With the document open, click Document, Save As...
  2. Next to Type, click the File button.
  3. Select the type of file from the drop-down list and click OK.
  4. If you have specified a location for your browser to save downloaded files, the file is saved there. If not, the usual browser dialog box appears, asking you where you want to save this file.
    1. The Save As... dialog box opens, allowing you to browse for a location.
    2. Navigate to the location you want and click Save.

Note: The file will have the same name as in Buzzword, except that spaces will be replaced with underscores. For example, “Notes for Thesis” would be saved as “Notes_for_Thesis.”

Fonts that Buzzword uses are mapped as follows:

  • Adobe Garamond Pro to Georgia
  • Courier Std to Courier New
  • Cronos Pro to Trebuchet
  • Minion Pro to Times New Roman
  • Myriad Pro to Arial
  • News Gothic Std to Lucida Sans Unicode
  • Tekton Pro to Comic Sans MS

Note: In the Preview release, exported images that float with center or right alignment and an offset do not retain the offset in the resulting document, so if you have used these layout options, the exported document's layout may be different from the layout in Buzzword.

Share...

The Share dialog box lets you share a document by sending an email invitation. For people who already have Buzzword accounts, you can just assign the new collaborator a role: Co-Author, Reviewer, or Reader For more details about sharing, see Sharing Documents.

Page Setup...

The Page Setup dialog box allows you to specify margins and paper size. The units of measurement (inches, centimeters, or points) are set in Settings & Preferences, on the Buzzword menu. Page Setup also allows you to specify a different header and/or footer on the first page of the document.

Page Setup values are set only for the document you are working on. There is currently no way to save different default settings that you can apply to all your documents.

Page Setup

Print...

The Print command sends your document to the printer exactly as it's laid out on the screen, except for comments, which appear at the end of the printed document, beginning on a new page.

After choosing Document Print, you see a print dialog box that lets you specify paper size and orientation; select which pages to print; and turn printing comments on or off. Once you click OK, you see your usual operating system print dialog box where you can select the destination printer.

When the document prints, any comments appear at the end of the document, following the endnotes, if any. Comments are listed in the same order as they appear in the document itself, numbered to match the boxed reference numbers that appear in the right margin of the printed document, next to the text to which the comment applies. Identifying information — commenter's name, date and time of comment — follows each comment.

Note: For Macintosh users, when you print in Buzzword, an additional dialog box appears, as shown below.

Preprint dialog

Edit Menu

The Edit menu contains familiar commands, including the following:

  • Undo / Redo
  • Cut / Copy / Paste
  • Delete
  • Find
  • Check Spelling
  • Select All

Undo

You can reverse any editing action by selecting the Undo command from the Edit menu. Buzzword keeps track of the last 100 changes you’ve made to the document, so you can invoke the Undo command as many times as you need to return to just about any point in your editing session.

You can invoke the Undo command from the Edit menu, or by pressing Ctrl-Z (Macintosh Cmd key-Z on Safari).

Redo

If you have used Undo, but change your mind and want to reverse the Undo action, select the Redo command from the Edit menu. Redo works exactly the same as Undo except that it goes forward through your edits instead of backward.

You can invoke the Redo command from the Edit menu, or by pressing Ctrl-Y (Macintosh Cmd key-Y on Safari).

Cut / Copy / Paste

The Cut, Copy, and Paste commands function as with any word processor. Inside Buzzword they work with all text, tables, or images, or all three in one selection.

However, when you paste something that you have copied from outside Buzzword, although you can copy and paste text or tables from any document, you can copy and paste images only from Web sites. You cannot copy images from desktop applications, such as Microsoft Word or PDF files, and paste them into Buzzword documents.

Also, always check for copyright restrictions when you copy from Web sites.

Note: Depending on the security settings at the Web site, you may be prevented from copying an image.

You can invoke these commands from the Edit menu, or you can use the following keyboard shortcuts:

Command Windows (IE and Firefox) Mac (Firefox and Safari)
Cut: Ctrl-X Macintosh Cmd key-X
Copy: Ctrl-C Macintosh Cmd key-C
Paste: Ctrl-V Macintosh Cmd key-V

When you copy an image from a Web site, highlight the image to select it, then use the keyboard command to copy it. Then use the keyboard command to paste the image into the Buzzword document.

Note: When you copy and paste images using Edit commands, you can copy many images at a time and paste them all into the document. Buzzword gives you a progress report on how many images have been pasted. If Buzzword cannot paste all the images, Buzzword indicates how many images have successfully pasted. If you cancel a paste operation partway through it, or the connection is dropped, Buzzword only counts the images pasted before the cancellation, and indicates how many in that sequence were not pasted for some other reason.

Delete

Delete removes the current selection, which can include text, images, tables, or all three kinds of entries.

Find & Replace

To use the Find & Replace commands, open the Find toolbar by selecting Find from the Edit menu or by using the shortcut Ctrl-F (Macintosh Cmd key-F on Safari). To dismiss this toolbar, click on the x at the far left.

Find toolbar

The Find command searches the document body, including any endnotes, but does not search comments, headers, or footers.

You cannot use Find to look for special characters such as:

  • Paragraph mark
  • Tab character
  • Manual line break
  • Manual page break
  • Field marker

Other Find Settings

You can refine your search by clicking the menu button Menu button(the down arrow to the right of the Previous button) for the following settings:

  • Match case: Buzzword only finds text that exactly matches the uppercase and lowercase characters in the Find box.
  • Whole word only: Buzzword finds only complete words that match the text in the Find box. Complete words are surrounded by spaces, periods, punctuation marks, or non-printing characters such as paragraph breaks.

Match case on Find toolbar

For example, if you want to search for every instance of “cat” regardless of whether it is capitalized or not, leave Match Case unchecked. If you only want to find “Cat” but not “cat” specify “Cat” in the Find box and check Match Case.

Whole word only is useful if you want to find all occurrences of “cat” but do not want to find “cat” in “caterpillar.”

Find searches from where you start to the end or to the beginning of the document, depending on whether you click Next or Previous. When there are no more occurrences to be found in that direction, a message appears under the Find box: “Buzzword has reached the end of the document.” or “Buzzword has reached the beginning of the document.”

End of document message

To continue the search at this point, click Next or Previous again. Buzzword continues the search from the beginning (or end) of the document.

If there is no exact match to your search criteria, a similar message appears below the Find box: “Buzzword has reached the end of the document.”

The Replace box replaces the found words with the word specified in the Replace box. You can replace words one at a time, or use Replace All to do it all at once. When you use the Replace All option, a message tells you how many replacements occurred.

Replacements status

Check Spelling

Note: Check Spelling is available only to authors and co-authors of a document.

As you type, Buzzword checks your spelling. Words that are not recognized are marked with a dotted red underline.
Spell check marker
At the same time, a counter in the lower right corner keeps track of the number of questionable words, identified as “flagged” words.

Spell check counter

If you notice a flagged word as you go through the document, you can move your mouse over the word and click on the red underline to display a list of choices.
Spell check choices
You have three choices:

  • Specify that your spelling is correct by clicking “word is OK always.”
  • Accept the existing spelling in only the current document by clicking “word is OK in this document.”
  • Select the correct spelling from the list of suggested spellings.

If none of these options is appropriate, you can correct the actual text yourself.

All instances of the spelling you have just selected will be accepted throughout the document. If you specify that your original spelling is correct, the word is also added to your custom word list and accepted in every document you create from then on. If you specify that the word is acceptable only in this document, the underline will be removed and the word will be accepted only in that document. In both cases, in this document the spelling will be accepted as correct no matter who opens it, you or a co-author.

When you correct a flagged word after you have clicked on it, the word will be highlighted when you finish; however, if you select Check Spelling from the Edit menu, you automatically move to the next flagged word. (If you want to stop checking spelling before the entire document is reviewed, just click anywhere in the document.)

When you first open a shared document, there may be a brief delay in removing the underline from words that have been accepted. When another user has control of the document (each collaborator has control of the document when actually editing it), newly accepted words cannot be checked.

Spell checking ignores the following kinds of words:

  • Words that contain numbers, such as 2007, W3
  • Words that are all uppercase, such as PTO, ASCAP
  • Words that consist of only one letter

Spell checking checks the following kinds of capitalization:

  • Words that require capitals, such as Friday, British, Mozart, are flagged if they are not capitalized.
  • Words that include capitals, such as iPhone, PostScript, rEady, are flagged. You can always add a word that is properly spelled with an inside capital to your word list.
  • Words that have been added to the word list as capitalized. For example, if you add “friend” to your word list, Buzzword will accept both “friend” and “Friend,” but if you add “Friend,” Buzzword will only accept “Friend.”

Spell checking does not check headers, footers, or comments.

Note: In the Preview release, spell checking uses only the rules of U.S. English. In upcoming releases, this feature will be expanded to include other languages.

Select All

To select the entire document, use Select All from the Edit menu, or Ctrl-A (Macintosh Cmd key-A on Safari). You can then use Cut, Copy, Paste, or Delete, or change any of the settings on the Font or Paragraph toolbars.

Insert Menu

Insert Table

To insert a table into a document, select Table from the Insert menu. (You can also use the toolbar.) Buzzword inserts a table with two rows and two columns. For more information on creating tables, go to Table Toolbar.

Insert Image...

To insert an image into a document, select the Insert Image command. (You can also use the toolbar.) For more information on working with images, go to Image Toolbar.

Insert Endnote

You can annotate your text with references, such as attributions, citations, and detailed discussions not suitable for inclusion in the text itself. Because these supplementary notes appear at the end of the document, Buzzword refers to them as “endnotes”; you may be more accustomed to seeing them as footnotes at the bottom of a page.

To insert an endnote, place your cursor at the point in the document where you want the reference to the endnote to appear; that is, at the end of the passage further identified in the endnote. Choose the Insert Endnote command. (If you select text and insert an endnote, the selected text will be replaced. It will not be underlined, as it is when you add a comment about selected text.)

A bracketed number, the reference mark, appears in your text and at the end of the document; your document immediately scrolls to this point, where you enter the text for the note.

The endnotes themselves appear beginning on the last page of the text of the document. If you would like them to appear starting on a new page, insert a page break at the end of your document.

As you continue to create endnotes, reference numbers are automatically numbered according to the order in which they appear in the document. This means that you can enter an endnote at the beginning of the document and all the reference numbers and corresponding numbers in the endnotes that follow are automatically incremented by one. Similarly, when you delete an endnote, all the endnotes that follow it are renumbered.

Note: Do not delete the reference number in the text; this will delete the entire endnote.

You can copy an endnote by copying the reference mark and inserting it at the relevant points in the text. The reference numbers will update automatically, and a new endnote will appear in the appropriate place in the list of endnotes at the end of the document. If there are differences among the endnotes, such as references to specific page numbers in the work you are citing, you can edit each endnote.

You can navigate from the text to the endnote that annotates it and from the endnote to the text. As you move your mouse over a reference mark, the mark is highlighted. Click on the reference mark to go to the linked endnote or text. If you are navigating from an endnote to its linked text, the cursor will appear right before the reference mark in the text.

Insert Comment

To insert a comment about the currently selected document text, choose the Insert Comment command. You can also insert a comment by clicking in the new comment bubble Comment bubble, which is in the right margin on the same line as the cursor. For more information on comments, go to Working with Comments.

Insert Link...

You can enrich your Buzzword documents by creating a variety of links: links to other Web sites, mail-to links to email addresses, links to FTP sites.

Note: You can also create useful connections between Buzzword documents by inserting a link from one — or more — documents in another. You can email a link to a Buzzword document, or send it in an instant message, or post it in a blog or on your own Web site. You must share any document you link to with your readers. When the reader clicks the link to a Buzzword document, he or she is asked to sign in before opening the document. See Sharing Documents for details.

To create a link in a Buzzword document, follow these simple steps:

  1. In the Buzzword document, put the cursor where you want the link to appear, or select text that you want to use to label the link.

    Note: You cannot use an image as a link.

  2. Choose Link... from the Insert menu. The Insert Link dialog box appears.

    Insert Link dialog

    Notice that any text you selected appears in the “Link text” box. If you do not first select text for a label, you must type something in the “Link text” box.

  3. Type or paste the URL, using Ctrl-V or Macintosh Cmd key-V, into the “Link URL” text box.

  4. Click OK.

The link will now appear in your document, and clicking on it will open the page or document you linked to.

To edit a link, move your mouse cursor over it. A tooltip will appear telling you how to edit the link text or the URL.

Insert Header/Insert Footer...

Use Insert Header and Insert Footer to create and specify headers and footers. When you select Insert Header or Insert Footer, the Insert Header or Insert Footer dialog box opens. Use the options to specify the header or footer information.

Alternatively, you can double-click on the top margin of the page to open the header dialog box, or on the bottom margin to open the footer dialog. If no header or footer exists, the appropriate dialog box opens. If a header or footer already exists, you can edit the header or footer directly.

Headers and footers automatically set a left-aligned region, a center tab stop, and a right tab stop so that text appears at the margins and centered on the page. If you change the page dimensions, you may need to adjust these tab settings.

When you first open the header dialog box, a header is supplied; similarly, the footer dialog box already contains a default footer. Both use fields that are available from the Insert menu. The Insert Header dialog box automatically supplies the page number as the center segment; Insert Footer supplies Date Last Saved in the center. For information about the fields that are available for headers and footers, see Insert Field.

Note: If you create a header or footer and then delete all the text, Buzzword retains an empty header or footer. To add text to an empty header or footer, just click in the area and type.

Any change you make to a header or footer is reflected in the header or footer for all pages in the document. The only exception is that the first page header or footer can be different from the ones on the following pages. To make a first page header or footer unique, click the check box next to “Insert a different header (footer) on the first page of the document” in the Header/Footer dialog box.

Text in a header or footer can be formatted, just like any other text in the document.

Insert Page Break

To insert a page break, choose the Insert Page Break command. This command forces a page break and places the next character at the beginning of the next page. Ctrl-Enter is the shortcut.

Insert Line Break

To move text at the cursor, or insertion point, down one line while keeping it part of the current paragraph, choose the Insert Line Break command. This command forces a line break and places the character following the line break at the beginning of the next line. Shift-Enter is the shortcut.

Insert Special Characters...

Characters that are not on most keyboards are available through this command, such as:

  • Characters from non-English languages, such as the letter “u” with an umlaut (ü), the acute accent (é) over the letter “e,” and so on —
    Currently Buzzword does not provide characters from alphabets other than the Latin alphabet, such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, or Hebrew, or from ideographic languages, such as Chinese.
  • Fractions and symbols such as currency symbols
  • Non-English punctuation and other punctuation that does not appear on the keyboard, such as the em-dash (—)

When you select Special Characters... from the Insert menu, the Special Characters dialog box appears:

 
Special Characters dialog

At the top of the box is a drop-down menu of fonts, showing the font that you are using. You can change to a different font if the special character you want is not in your current font, or if you want the character to appear in a different font.

On the next line is a row of boxes, each representing a different category of special character:

Non-English characters Non-English Characters
Numbers and symbols Numbers and Symbols
Punctuation Punctuation
Alphabetic characters Alphabetic characters

To insert a special character:

  1. If necessary, click on the box for the type of character you want.
  2. Move your mouse over the characters and click on the one you want.
  3. If you want to insert another special character, repeat the preceding steps. The Special Characters dialog box remains on the screen until you close it by clicking the cancel symbol in the upper right corner.

Notice that you can move the Special Characters dialog box wherever you want, so that you can see the result of your insertion. You can leave the Special Characters dialog open during your entire editing session; this is convenient when you are using special characters throughout a document.

Insert Field

Fields are a way to insert “computed” text into a document. A field automatically updates its value without you having to change it explicitly.

For the Preview release, Buzzword includes the following fields:

  • Document Name
  • Document Author
  • Date Last Saved
  • Page Number
  • Number of Pages

Page Number and Number of Pages fields can only be inserted in headers and footers — the others can be placed anywhere in your document.

Note: You can combine two fields in a header or footer. For example, you can combine text and fields to produce a footer that reads “Page 7 of 9.” To do this, you insert Page Number, then click in the header or footer where you have inserted it, type the word “of,” then select Number of Pages from the Insert Field dialog box.

Toolbars

Toolbar

At the top of the Buzzword screen, below the top level menu, is a panel that contains several toolbars. These stacked panels slide horizontally, revealing a series of commands that are grouped by functional area:

Font icon The Font toolbar is where you apply settings such as typeface and size, bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough, and font or highlight color. Table icon The Table toolbar allows you to insert a new table and contains icons that control the appearance of a selected table.
Paragraph icon The Paragraph toolbar contains icons that control paragraph alignment, indentation, and spacing. Comment icon The Comment toolbar contains controls to let you create, show, and hide comments.
List icon The List toolbar lets you create bulleted, numbered, and check lists and format them. Docs icon The Docs toolbar opens the Document Organizer, automatically saving and closing the current document.
Image icon The Image toolbar allows you to insert a new image and contains icons that control the positioning of a selected image.    

Note: Moving the mouse over any icon causes the icon to slide horizontally, revealing its label. Clicking on the label opens that panel completely.

A small drop-down tab provides further information on a particular icon or menu choice. It automatically appears as you move your mouse over the toolbar area.

Font Toolbar

Font toolbar

The Font toolbar lets you change the font and its characteristics: size, styles such as bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and color. You can also highlight text.

To make any change to the text, highlight the text you want to change or position the cursor where you want the change to appear, then click the appropriate icon. If a drop-down menu appears, click your choice.

To toggle bold, italic or underline you can also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-B, Ctrl-I or Ctrl-U.

For the Preview release, Buzzword provides seven fonts: Adobe Garamond Pro, Courier Std, Cronos Pro, Minion Pro (the default font), Myriad Pro, News Gothic Std, and Tekton Pro. When you click drop-down list next to the Font icon, a sample of each font appears.

Note: Because Buzzword is a web-based application, it includes its own fonts. When you share a document with someone, you can be sure that they see exactly the same document on their screen as you see on yours.
For information on using characters not on the standard keyboard, such as the em dash (—), see Insert Special Characters...

Sizes run from 8 points to 72, with the default set at 12 points.

You can format text as bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough — or any combination of the four.

To specify a color for the text, click the Text Color icon to display the palette. To specify a color for highlighting, click the Background Color icon.

Color Palette Notice the number that appears when you hover over a particular color. If you will want to match this color, make a note of the name of the row and the number of the color. In the example to the left, "hot 10" is selected.

The Background Color palette has an additional choice: “none,” which makes it easy to get rid of highlighting on selected text.

Paragraph Toolbar

Paragraph toolbar

The Paragraph toolbar lets you change paragraph alignment, line spacing, spacing above and below the paragraph, and indents.

Place your cursor anywhere in the paragraph, then click the appropriate icon. This will change the alignment, line spacing, and indents. However, to select a different amount of space above or below a paragraph, you must enter the number, then press the Enter key.

List Toolbar

List toolbar

Clicking the List icon reveals icons for creating bulleted, numbered, or check box paragraphs. Once you create a list, further icons appear: for setting bullet or number style; specifying outline level; “un-listing” or skipping one or more items inside a list; joining two lists; or splitting a list into two lists.

Creating and Ending a List

Click the Bulleted, Numbered, or Check icon to begin a bulleted, numbered, or check list. To apply numbering, bullets, or check boxes to existing paragraphs, highlight the text, then click the Numbered, Bulleted, or Check icon.

Note: You don't have to print a Buzzword document to check off an item in a list: anyone who can edit the document can click in a check box to update, for example, a shared list of tasks.

To end a list and return to unlabeled text with no additional indent, create a blank line, then click the appropriate List type icon, which is highlighted and acts as a toggle.

To undo an entire list, select the entire list and click the List type icon.

To turn the first or last item in the list into a paragraph that is part of the text, either put the cursor anywhere in the item and click the appropriate List type icon, or move the cursor to the beginning of the item and press Backspace (Windows) or Delete (Macintosh).

You can convert a range of list paragraphs to normal paragraphs if the range includes the first or last paragraph in the list. Simply select that range and click the highlighted List type icon.

Formatting a List

The Level arrows promote or demote a paragraph within a list. Buzzword follows the normal outlining conventions. As you promote or demote an item, it takes on the appropriate numbering and indent settings.

When you work with bulleted lists, the Style icon provides a drop-down list of bullet styles. When you work with numbers, the Style icon provides a drop-down list of number styles.

If the number styles don’t provide the style you need, you can customize the numbering by selecting Custom... the last choice on the drop-down list. Using this command, you can specify text to place before and after the number. You can also specify the starting value for the list. A preview pane shows you the result.

Custom numbering dialog

Changing a Numbered, Bulleted, or Check Item to an Unlabeled Paragraph

You can create a list that includes items that are not numbered, bulleted, or preceded by a check box, but that have the same indent as the list items.

With your cursor in the item that you want to change, click the Skip icon.

To restore a bullet, number or check box to an unlabeled paragraph in a bulleted, numbered, or check list, place the cursor in that paragraph and click the Skip icon again. Each click of the Skip icon toggles between skipped and restored labeling.

The Skip icon indicates whether the current item in the list is included in the sequence:

Skip Bullet On Indicates that the current paragraph has skip labeling (bullet, number, or check box) set to on. The paragraph is not labeled.
Skip Bullet Off Indicates that the current paragraph has skip labeling set to off. The paragraph is labeled with a bullet, number, or check box.

Merging or Dividing Lists

The Continue List and New List icons allow you to join two lists into a single list, or to break a single list into two separate lists.

Continue List icon Continue List is available when the cursor is in the first entry in a list. It links the current list with a preceding list. If there are paragraphs between the joined lists, they are included in the list but are not numbered or bulleted, as if the Skip icon had been clicked for them.
New List icon New List is available within a list. It breaks the current list into two separate lists. The current paragraph becomes the first entry in the next list.

Note: The Continue List and New List icons effectively cancel each other. When you click the New List icon within a numbered or bulleted list, Buzzword treats the current paragraph as the first entry in a new list. From this position, clicking the Continue List icon joins the current list to the previous list.

Mixing Numbers, Bullets, and Checks in a List

Buzzword provides flexibility in building lists with both numbers and bullets. Every entry at the same level of a list must share the same bullet, number, or check style, but in a list with more than one level you can use bullets at one level, numbers at another, and checks at a third.

Image Toolbar

Image toolbar

When you first insert an image or select one, clicking the Image icon opens the Image formatting options. Use the Image icons to define the placement of the graphic image.

Inserting an Image

Image icon

To insert a graphic image, select the Insert Image icon on the Image toolbar. Alternatively, you can select the Insert menu, then choose Image. You can also copy an image from one place in the document to another or from a Web site using the copy and paste keyboard commands.

When you copy and paste images using the keyboard commands, you can copy many images at a time and paste them all into the document. Buzzword gives you a progress report on how many images have been copied. If it cannot copy all the images, or there is a problem with one of the images in a sequence, Buzzword will let you know how many have successfully copied and how many in the sequence were not copied.

Note: Depending on the security settings at the Web site, you may be prevented from copying an image. You cannot copy an image from a desktop application, such as Microsoft Word or a PDF file, and paste it into a Buzzword document.

For details on copying and pasting an image from a Web site, see Cut / Copy / Paste.

Image Types

Buzzword imports GIF, PNG, and JPEG images.

Anchors

An anchor ties an image to its place in the text. In the image below, the image's anchor appears just to the right of the image, in front of the first word in the text, “While.”

Image Anchor

The anchor is normally invisible. It only appears when you have an image selected. Use the anchor to mark the position of your image within the text. Once an image is anchored to the text, Buzzword determines its placement as specified in Modifying Image Placement below.

Resizing an Image

To change the size of an image, first select the image by clicking on it. A small handle appears at each corner of the image. Click and hold the handle, and then drag the corner. When the image is the size you want, release the mouse button.

Note: Resizing an image may affect its position on the page. For the most predictable results, we recommend using the handle on the lower right corner of the image for resizing.

Image Resize

Modifying Image Placement

You can modify the placement of an image on the page by simply clicking on the image, then dragging and dropping it to a new location. Note that the position of the anchor determines the placement of the image.

Controls on the Image toolbar help you determine how the image is positioned within a paragraph.

To modify the placement of an image inside a paragraph, click on the image to select it. In the Image toolbar, choose one of the five options.

Image Inline Wrap In-line, wrap text The image is anchored at the insertion point, and text wraps around it. If you type characters anywhere in the document before the insertion point, the image moves the same way that text moves when you insert text in front of it. Text aligns with the top of the image and wraps below it.
Image Inline No Wrap In-line, no wrap The image acts as though it is a typed character. The line spacing adjusts to make room for the image above the line. The bottom of the image aligns with the bottom of the line of text. No text wraps around the image.
Image Float Left Floating, left aligned The image is at the left margin of the page and text runs around its right edge. To move the image away from the left margin, either drag it or specify an offset (see Offsetting an Image from the Margin).
Image Float Center Floating, centered The image is centered between the margins and text wraps on either side. To move the image left, either drag it or specify a negative offset. To move the image to the right, drag it or specify a positive offset.
Image Right Floating, right aligned The image is at the right margin of the page and text runs around its left edge. To move the image to the left, drag it or specify a negative offset.

Offsetting an Image from the Margin

Image Offset The offset adjusts the amount of space between the image and the left or right margin, or the center of the page, depending on which placement mode you choose. For example, if you choose Floating left but don’t want the image right next to the left margin, you can use an offset to move it away from the margin. Text wraps within the offset area. Use positive numbers for an offset toward the right, and negative numbers to offset toward the left.

If you specify an offset that is too large for the available space, Buzzword pushes the image as far as possible but does not push it off the page. For example, if the page has 6” available, but you specify 10”, Buzzword sets the image at 6” but remembers the 10” setting so that if you change paper size to 14”, the offset uses the entire 10” space.

Hint: Aligning Images

To align a number of images it may sometimes be easier to place them inside a table.

Table Toolbar

Table toolbar

Insert Table Insert a table by clicking the Table icon, and then clicking the Insert Table icon.

Moving Within a Table

You can move within a table with your mouse and cursor or tab keys. Tab moves forward one cell at a time. Shift-Tab moves backward one cell at a time.

Modifying a Table

To select an entire table, click on its upper left corner.

Table, selected

When you select one or more cells in Buzzword, a context menu button appears Context menu button. Clicking on it displays a menu of commands that you can use on the selected cells. The specific commands that appear depend on the range of cells you select:

  • Cut Columns (Rows) – Deletes the column or row and places it on the clipboard.
  • Copy Columns (Rows) – Copies the column or row to the clipboard.
  • Paste – Replaces the selection with the contents of the clipboard.
  • Delete Columns (Rows) – Removes the column or row from the table.
  • Clear Contents – Clears the contents from the selected columns or rows.
  • Insert Columns (Rows) – Displays a dialog box where you can specify the number of columns or rows to insert, and their position.
  • Delete Table – Removes the table from the document.

Adding Columns or Rows

There are several ways to add columns or rows to the table. When the table is active, there are 4 plus sign buttons on it Add Column button. Clicking on a plus sign button adds a single column or row.

To add more than one column or row at a time, select where you want to insert the new columns or rows, click the context menu button Context menu button, and select Insert Columns or Insert Rows.

Modifying a Column or Row

Clicking on the context menu button Context menu button at the top of the column activates a menu that provides choices for cutting, copying, pasting, deleting, clearing the contents, or inserting a number of columns.

Table, selected with menu

Similar choices appear when a row is highlighted and you select this menu.

Table Row Selected menu

To resize a column, locate the cursor on a column edge, then press and hold down the left mouse button. A resizer indicates the width of the column. As you drag the column edge, the resizer shows the changing column width. Sizing rows works in the same way.

Note: When resizing rows, you are specifying a minimum row height. The height will grow to accommodate the contents of the cells.

Table Column Resize

If you select more than one column or row, and then resize, all the columns or rows in the selection take on the new size.

Applying Color to a Table

You can apply background color to one cell, a range of cells or to an entire table.

First select the cells, then on the Table toolbar, click the Cell color icon to reveal the color palette, then select a color from the palette.

Notice the number that appears in the left column when you hover over a particular color. If you will want to match this color, make a note of the name of the row and the number of the color.

To remove color, select the cells, click the Cell color icon, and select “none” from the palette.

Table Gridlines and Colors

In addition to changing the color of the cells, the Table toolbar has a control for changing the color of the gridlines. If you do not want gridlines to appear, choose “none” from the palette.

Indenting a Table

To change the indent of a table (i.e., move it horizontally), simply click and hold on the leftmost edge of the table and drag it to the position you want.

Using a Table to Add Captions to Images

Buzzword does not yet have a feature for adding captions to images, but you can use a table to get the same effect.

Create a two-row table for your image or images and captions. Insert your images into the cell(s) in the upper row, and use the table cell below each picture for the caption. You may want to turn off the display of table gridlines for this procedure.

Comment Toolbar

Comment toolbar

The Comment toolbar provides controls for displaying and adding comments.

Click Show Comments to turn comment display on or off for screen display or printing.

When Show Comments is on, all comments appear and the comment bubble floats in the right margin in line with the cursor. Clicking on the comment bubble inserts a comment.

When Show Comments is off, comments are not visible and the new comment bubble does not appear in the right margin. To insert a comment in this situation, use the Add Comment control on the toolbar. After you insert a comment, Show Comments is set to on.

Docs Toolbar

Docs toolbar

Clicking the Docs icon takes you to the Document Organizer. When you do this, your current document is automatically saved and closed. If you accidentally click the Docs icon, don't worry; your changes have been saved, and you can return to the document simply by opening it again.

Additional Tools

These additional tools in the document window help you to work with your documents.

  • Ruler
  • Collaboration bar
  • Zoom control
  • Scroll bar
  • History bar
  • Spell Check Counter
  • Word Counter
  • Synchronator

Ruler

You can use the ruler to set tab stops and modify the indentation of a paragraph. When the ruler is visible, it extends from the left margin to the right margin of the document.

You can change the units of measurement from inches to centimeters or points by selecting Settings & Preferences from the Buzzword menu.

Ruler

Showing and Hiding the Ruler

Hidden ruler When not in use, the ruler peeks out just under the toolbars near the top left corner of your document.
Ruler stub showing Move your mouse over it to slide a bit more of it on screen.
Ruler showing Click to bring it fully on screen.

Note: You can re-hide the ruler by clicking on the “x” at either end of it.

Setting Tab Stops

Use the ruler to set and modify tab stops. By default, tab stops are set to every half-inch.

Tab stop settings apply to paragraphs, so if you are setting or modifying tab stops in an existing document, the tab stops only apply to those paragraphs you have selected. Tab stop settings are applied to the new paragraph that is created when you press Enter. This means that when you set tab stops in a new document, they apply to all successive paragraphs unless you change them.

To set a tab stop, select the paragraph or paragraphs to which the tabs apply. Click on the ruler at the point you want a tab. This inserts a new tab stop and deletes any default tab stops to the left.

To move the tab stop, drag it to the new location on the ruler. The moved tab stop applies to all selected paragraphs.

To change a tab stop to a different type — for example, changing a left tab stop to a center tab stop — click on the tab stop to select it, then click again to display a drop-down list for selecting Left, Center, or Right tab.

To remove a tab stop, click on the tab stop to select it, then click again to display a drop-down list, which includes the Remove command. Another way to remove a tab stop is to drag it off the ruler. Note that removing a tab stop may restore some default tab stops.

Indenting Paragraphs

Indent controls affect the current paragraph or the paragraphs you have selected. The ruler lets you set the following kinds of indents:

First Line Indent First line indent To set the first line indent to be different from the rest of the paragraph, you can drag the top box in the margin indicator (the left edge of the ruler). Notice that the part of the indicator you select is highlighted when you click on it. Drag the top portion to the appropriate location on the ruler.
Indent with Margin Indicator Paragraph indent To indent an entire paragraph, drag the margin indicators so they dock together, then move them as a single indicator.
Hanging Indent Hanging indent To set a hanging indent, move the top section of the left margin indicator right to separate the top and bottom sections. Drag the bottom half to the desired indent level, then drag the top half back to the original margin.
Right Margin Indent Right margin indent To set the right margin indent, drag the right margin control to the appropriate position on the ruler.

When the first line indent and the paragraph indent controls are at the same spot, they dock together and you can move them as a unit.

Indents in Tables

The ruler indent controls work in table cells the same way they work in paragraphs.

Collaboration Bar

The Collaboration bar, in the lower left area of the window, lets you share your document with other Buzzword users and gives you information about your collaborators.

Collaboration bar

If you are the author (or co-author) of a document, clicking the Share button lets you specify both the people with whom you want to share your document and how much control each person has. See Sharing Documents for details.

Note: You can invite someone who does not have a Buzzword account.

To the right of the Share button is a gallery of everyone who is sharing the document, with each person's icon, name, role and and a status icon indicating their activity with the document.

 

The status icon tells you if the person is currently viewing or editing the document or what version of the document, if any, have they opened.

By moving the mouse over any person in the gallery, you can get more details regarding their activity.

Collaborator Details

For users you are sharing with for the first time and who haven't yet opened the document, an additional line appears, letting you send a reminder.

 
Sending a new invitation

Click “Invite again”; a link to the document is put on your Clipboard so that you can paste it into the body of an email message or IM.

As an author or co-author, in addition to adding a collaborator, you can change the role of any other collaborator, or end someone's access to the document. Move the mouse over a collaborator and click the context menu button Context menu button to display the menu of roles.

Choices for collaborator

Choose the role for that person or choose Remove if you no longer want to share the document with them.

You can also remove a document from your list if you are no longer interested in it. If someone has shared a document with you, but you no longer want to see it, click the context menu button next to your own name and choose Remove.

Note: The Collaboration bar is also available in the Document Organizer — just click the icon next to a document's name, and the Collaboration bar will show who is sharing it.

Zoom Control

Zoomer collapsed To zoom in on the document or to zoom out to see more of it, move your mouse over the current Zoom value in the lower right corner of the work area.
Zoomer expanded The Zoom slider appears.
Zooming in Click and drag the slider's knob, or click anywhere on the slider to change the zoom value. Move the knob left to zoom out or right to zoom in, from 20% to 400% of original size.

Hint: To easily reset the zoom level to 100%, double-click on the current Zoom value.

Scroll Bar

Page Scroll bar

Buzzword introduces a new concept, the “Page-Segmented Scroll bar.” You'll notice that the document scroll bar is more than a slider; it's separated into numbered sections that represent the individual pages of the document. As usual, you can navigate by dragging the “thumb,” or slider, up and down the bar; using the up arrow, down arrow, and Page Up and Page Down keys, or clicking on the up and down arrows at either end of the scroll bar. In addition, you can go directly to the page you want by clicking on a page number.

As with ordinary scroll bars, the size of the thumb is proportional to the amount of the document that is visible. Notice that the “thumb,” or slider, on the scroll bar may cover the numbers of the pages that currently appear. If you have zoomed out or if the document's pages are very short, the thumb may cover more than one page number.

As the number of pages in a document increases, the area on the scroll bar that corresponds to each page decreases. At a certain point, the tickmarks disappear and page numbers are skipped: first only every other page number appears, then every third page number, and so on.

History Bar

Unlike most word processors, Buzzword not only saves the document as you work, it also retains almost all your recent versions, and many older ones. You can access previous versions by clicking the History icon in the lower right corner of the screen.

History icon

A time line of the versions appears, with the current version selected at the far left.

History bar

As you move your mouse over each version in the time line, you'll see who created it and when. Click on a dot to view a particular version of the document.

Note: Adding a comment to a document does not generate a new version. Versions only reflect changes to the text of the document itself. Even though many people may have added comments, there may be only one version of a document.

History bar

Roles determine what changes a participant can make to previous versions.

  • Regardless of your role, you cannot make a change to any version of the document while the time line is visible.
  • If you are the author or a co-author, you can make a previous version of a document the current, working document:
    When you are viewing a previous version of a document, click OK to revert to that version, then edit the document. The previous version is retained as yet another version, and you can return to it by using the History bar again. If you decide not to revert to that version, click Cancel.
  • Reviewers and readers cannot change anything about a previous version of a document.
  • All collaborators can view any previous version of a document, navigate through it, copy from it, print it, look for a word or phrase in it (but not replace any text), or use Save As to save the version as a new document.

Note: A version does not last forever. As you create more and more versions of a document, Buzzword automatically prunes previous versions using a formula that takes into account a number of factors, including the age of the version, the amount of time that elapsed between two versions, and the versions’ authors.

Spell Check Counter

A running count of misspelled words (or words that Buzzword has not yet learned) appears in the lower right corner as you type. At the same time, misspelled words are flagged with a red underline.

Spell check counter

Note: When you first open Buzzword, a question mark (?) may appear instead of a number. This means that Buzzword is loading the dictionary and has not yet spell checked your document.

You can correct the spelling of an entire document by clicking on the counter, which will take you to each flagged word in turn. When you click the Spell Check Counter, Buzzword checks from your cursor's position; if you have selected text, it begins the check after the selection. Spell Check goes to the end of the document, then back to the beginning. (If you want to stop checking spelling, just click anywhere in the document.)

At each flagged word, a list of choices appears.
Spell check choices
You have three options:

  • Specify that your spelling is correct by clicking “word is OK always.”
  • Accept the existing spelling in only the current document by clicking “word is OK in this document.”
  • Select the correct spelling from the list of suggested spellings.

If none of these options is appropriate, you can correct the actual text yourself. You will have to click the Spell Check Counter again to resume checking.

All instances of the spelling you have just selected will be accepted throughout the document. If you specify that your original spelling is correct, the word is also added to your custom word list and accepted in every document you create from then on. If you select "word is OK in this document," the underline will be removed and the word will be accepted only in that document. In both cases, in this document the spelling will be accepted no matter who opens it, you or a co-author.

Spelling-checking does not cover headers, footers, or comments.

Notes: When you first open a shared document, there may be a brief delay in removing the underline from words that have been accepted. When another user has control of the document (each collaborator has control of the document when actually editing it), newly accepted words cannot be checked.

In the Preview release, spell checking works only with documents in English. This feature will be expanded to include other languages in upcoming releases.

Word Counter

As you create a document, Buzzword keeps track of the number of words. The word counter appears in the lower right corner of the working area. This count is always up-to-date, increasing and decreasing as you add and delete text.

When you move your mouse pointer over the number, the word “words” appears to make it clear what the number refers to.

Word Count

Note: Only the body of the document and the endnotes are included in the word count; comments, headers, and footers are not.

Synchronator

The Synchronator, located in the lower right corner of the window, indicates whether changes to your document have been saved to the server.

Synchronator, all changes saved Green pencil indicates that all changes to the document have been saved on the server.
Synchronator, some changes not saved Red pencil indicates that there are changes to the document that have not been saved to the server.

You can save your changes by clicking the Synchronator, or you can let the autosave feature do it for you.

Synchronator used to save

The Synchronator also lets you know whether or not you are currently connected to the Buzzword server. Please see Monitoring Connection to the Network for more details.

Note: The Synchronator is also available in the Document Organizer.

Working with Comments

You can make comments on your own document, or on documents that others share with you. This section describes how to add, edit, print, and manage comments in a document.

Adding a Comment

To add a comment, highlight the text you want to comment, then click on the bubble in the right margin.

New Comment Bubble

As you move your mouse over the icon, it expands and displays “Click to add a new comment here.”

New Comment box

Clicking in the new comment area opens a Comment box. Note that when your cursor is in a Comment box, the main document dims and a highlight appears on the text to which the comment applies.

Active Comment

Notice also that your comments are in a particular color. Each commenter is assigned a unique color. The color appears not only in the Comment box, but also as an underline indicating the text in the document to which the comment refers. In addition, each comment displays its author and the date and time it was created.

Comment Complete

Note: You can also add a comment via the Insert Menu, or via the Add Comment icon on the Comment Toolbar.

Editing and Deleting Comments

The document's author and co-author can change or delete any comment in a document. Reviewers can edit or delete only their own comments. Readers can view but not add or edit comments. For more on collaboration, see Sharing Documents.

To edit a comment, click on the comment you want to change. To edit, type in the Comment box. Comments are like documents: you can insert graphics or tables in comments just as you insert them in the body of the document.

To delete a comment, click the trash can icon in its lower right corner. If the trash can icon is not visible, you do not have author or co-author privileges for that comment.

Comments appear and print in the order in which they appear in the document, not in the chronological order in which they were entered.

Showing and Hiding Comments

By default, comments are visible in a document when you open it. You can hide them (and later show them) by going to the Comment Toolbar, and toggling the Show Comment icon.

Show Comments toggle

Printing Comments

To print comments, choose Print from the Document menu. Be sure to check "Print comments" in the Print dialog box.

The format of printed comments is different from their format on the screen. Instead of each comment appearing on the same line as the text to which it applies, a boxed reference number appears in the right margin at the line where the comment was entered. All the comments appear at the end of the document, each beginning with the boxed reference number that identifies the text to which it applies and complete with graphics, tables, author's name, date, and time the comment was created.

Note: You can print only the comments by specifying a range of pages that begins on the page after the last page of the document. For example, if you want to print only the comments for a 30-page document, specify from 31 to 99. You can check the number of pages by looking at the bottom number on the page scroll bar on the right.

The Document Organizer

Doc Organizer

The Document Organizer is a view of all the documents to which you have access, regardless of your role for these documents. Documents that other authors share with you automatically appear in your Organizer.

When Buzzword opens, the Document Organizer appears unless you launch Buzzword from an emailed invitation, which takes you directly to the document.

Docs icon
To get to the Document Organizer from an open document, click the Docs icon.

 
 

The Document Organizer has its own Document menu, with commands for working on a document as a whole. The commands on this Document menu are:

  • New
  • Open File...
  • Open
  • Open in New Window
  • Share...
  • Duplicate
  • Rename
  • Show Info
  • Delete

Use New to create a new document and Open File... to import a Microsoft Word, Microsoft Word 2003 XML, Microsoft Word 2007, RTF or plain text document. All the other commands are available from a context menu that appears when you select a document. For information on these commands, see Document Context Menu.

Notice that there is also a New Document icon in the toolbar area.

New Document icon

Selecting and Opening Documents

To select a document, single-click the document icon to the left of the document name, or move the cursor to the item, then right, until the down arrow appears. Click in the area between the name and the down arrow.

To open a document, single-click on the name or double-click the icon.

Selected Document

In the image above, the document named “Buzz's Notes on Beta” is selected.

Importing Documents

You can import any Microsoft Word (.doc), Microsoft Word 2003 XML, Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf) or plain text (.txt) document into Buzzword.

To import:

  1. Click the Document menu.
  2. Select Open File... A dialog box opens, allowing you to choose the file you want to import.
  3. Navigate to the file you want to open and click Open.
  4. The document opens in Buzzword.

Notes on how documents are converted.

There are a number of limitations on any conversion from one document format to another. This list covers some of the most significant limitations in the Preview release.

  • If you are importing a Word document with revisions (Track Revisions is on), you must accept or reject revisions before you import; Buzzword does not preserve revision markings.
  • Comments are not imported.
  • Since lists in Word include auto-numbered headings that may include many ordinary paragraphs, Buzzword does not import lists that include unnumbered or unbulleted items as true Buzzword lists, but retains the numbering and indenting.
  • Section breaks are treated as page breaks. If headers and footers are based on sections, this link is lost; the first header and footer that appear are used throughout the document.
  • Font size, color, and styles such as bold, italic, underlines, and strikethroughs are retained; all other variations, such as superscript, subscript, and small caps, are not supported in the Preview release.
  • Justified text (aligned on both left and right) is imported as left-aligned text.
  • Not every bullet symbol is supported in Buzzword; Buzzword uses its default symbol at each level.
  • Footnotes are converted into endnotes.
  • Fonts are generally mapped to one of the standard fonts Buzzword uses:
    • Sans serif fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Geneva, MS Sans Serif to Myriad Pro
    • Serif fonts such as Times New Roman, Times, Palatino, Book Antiqua, MS Serif to Minion Pro
    • Monospace fonts such as Courier, Courier New, Lucida Console, Monaco to Courier Std
    • Vertical fonts such as Impact, Charcoal, Lucida Sans Unicode to News Gothic Std
    • Cursive fonts such as Comic Sans MS to Tekton Pro
    • Old-style fonts such as Georgia to Adobe Garamond Pro
    • Novelty fonts such as Trebuchet to Cronos Pro
  • For imported images, the following wrapping and alignment are supported in the Preview release: inline with no wrapping; relative horizontal alignment to a character; alignment left, right, or center. All other types of alignment are converted to floating left with an offset that corresponds to the position in the original document.
  • Tables follow these rules:
    • All cells will have the same borders.
    • Cells that span columns or tables are divided into a single-column or single-row cell and the number of blank cells that will fill the column or row to match the maximum number of cells in that row or column.
    • Nested tables are preserved, but with a blank line preceding and following.
  • Fields other than the five that Buzzword supports (document name, owner, most recent date saved, page number and total pages in headers and footers) are converted to text strings.
  • Headers and footers aligned left for even-numbered pages are converted to right-aligned format.

Document Context Menu

Click the menu button Context menu button to the right of the document name to see a list of commands for the selected document.

Doc Context menu

  • Open launches the document in the current window.
  • Open in New Window opens the document in a separate browser window.
  • Share displays a dialog box where you can specify people with whom you want to share your document. See Sharing Documents.
  • Duplicate creates a copy of the document, and lets you give the new document a different name. Any comments in the document are also copied, but the new document does not retain the list of people sharing the document or the version history.
  • Rename makes the title of the document available to edit so that you can give it a new name. Unlike Duplicate, Rename keeps the both the list of people sharing the document and its version history.
  • Show Info opens a panel below the document that lists statistics about its history.
  • Delete permanently removes the document from your Organizer. It is also deleted for everyone who is sharing the document. Note that there is no recycle bin or any other way to restore a deleted document.
 

Displaying Info about a Document

Show Info iconYou can show additional information about a document by selecting Show Info from the document context menu, or by selecting the Show Info icon at the top of the screen:

Doc Info

Listing Documents

There are several ways to list your documents in the Document Organizer.

Sort by Title List alphabetically
Sort by Author List by author; author's image appears with name at head of list
Sort by Role List by your Role (author, reviewer or reader)
Sort by Last Viewed List by date when you last viewed it
Sort by Last Changed List by date when last changed (by you or others)
Sort by Length List by size (in pages)

Document Organizer remembers the order you selected.

Sharing Documents

If you are the author or co-author of a document, you can share it with others for feedback.

To initiate sharing from the Document Organizer, select the document, then click the Share button on the left side of the Collaboration bar at the bottom of the screen. Your own name, role, and image (if you have selected one) already appear.

Alternatively, you can choose Share from the document title's context menu or from the Document menu at the top of the window.

If you have the document open, all you need to do is click the Share button or choose Share... from the Document menu.

Note: You must invite a person to share a specific document; you cannot set up a list of collaborators independently of sending them an invitation to share a document.

A dialog box appears where you specify information about the person with whom you are sharing the document:

  1. In the first line, type an email address or use the list of people with whom you are currently sharing documents. You can click the down arrow, or you can begin typing the person's name. Buzzword will match by first name, last name, or email address. When a match is found, the person's icon appears, confirming that you have entered the correct name. If you decide not to share with this person, you must delete the name.
    Note:
    You can invite someone who does not have a Buzzword account. The email this person receives will contain instructions for signing up for an account.
  2. Select the role: Co-author (someone who has complete control over the document except for deleting the document itself — can edit by adding or deleting content, rename, add and delete comments, and so on), Reviewer (someone who can leave comments), Reader (someone who can only read the document).
  3. As indicated by the checkmark, the default is to send invitations via email. If the invitee is in your list of available Buzzword users, sending an email invitation is optional since the document will automatically appear in their Document Organizer. You may want to remove the checkmark by clicking on it.
  4. Click on the next line and repeat these steps to invite additional colleagues. Note that you can invite one person as a reviewer and another as a reader.
  5. If you’ve chosen not to send any emails, click Share.
  6. If you’ve chosen to send email, click Next to see the email message box. You can use this box to customize your invitation message. Click Share to send the message and share the document.

Once you share a document — whether by sharing your document with someone or accepting an invitation to share someone else's — you can see at a glance when a document has been edited or commented on. A red ribbon and seal appear across the middle of the document's icon in your Document Organizer listing. For example, in the illustration in the Document Organizer section, the document "Buzzword Preview Primer" has been changed since the last time Tad Staley, whose Document Organizer this is, looked at it.

Documents that other authors share with you appear automatically in your Document Organizer. Because sending an email is optional, a document may appear in your Organizer without advance notice. All new documents are marked with a red ribbon and seal, just like changed documents.

For more details on the information that appears about each collaborator on the Collaboration bar and the actions you can take, such as changing the role you have assigned to a collaborator, see Collaboration Bar.

You can also remove documents that you are no longer interested in by moving the mouse over your own image on the Collaboration bar and clicking Remove.

Monitoring Connection to the Network

Buzzword stores your documents on a server and relies on your being connected to the Internet. It has facilities for protecting your work in the event that you lose your network connection. A small icon in the lower right corner, called the Synchronator, shows you the current status of your connection. If you position your mouse over the Synchronator, a small flag indicates whether you’re connected.

Synchronator showing connection White – connected
Synchronator showing lost connection Grey – not connected

Note: The Synchronator also spins when Buzzword is communicating with the server.

How Do I

Fonts

Change Font

Click the Font icon, select font.

Change Text Color

Click the Font icon, click the Text Color icon, choose color from the palette. Make a note of the row and number so that you can match this color.

Highlight Text

Click the Font icon, click the Background Color icon, choose color from the palette. Make a note of the row and number so that you can match this color. To remove highlighting, choose “none” from the palette.

Use Special Characters

From the Insert menu, choose Special Characters..., click the category of special character, click the character.

Paragraphs

Display the Ruler

Click the small tab that appears at the top left of the document. The ruler slides right when you move your mouse over it, then slides all the way across the top of the document when you click on it.

Change Line Spacing

Click the Paragraph icon, click the Single, One and a Half, or Double Spacing icon.

Change Spacing Before or After a Paragraph

Click the Paragraph icon, enter a number in the Spacing Above or Spacing Below box, click the Up or Down arrow.

Indent a Paragraph

Click the Paragraph icon, click the Increase/Decrease Indent icon or use the ruler. Drag the left margin indicators so that they dock together, then move them as a single indicator.

Create a Hanging Indent, or Indent the First Line of a Paragraph

Using the ruler, drag the upper half of the margin indicator left or right to the location you want.

Set Tab Stops

Click on the ruler, then click on the appropriate tab stop or stops.

Lists

Create a List

Click the List icon, click the Bullet, Number, or Check icon. To change existing text into a list, highlight the text, click the List icon, click the appropriate List type icon.

End a List

To end a list, create a blank line, then click the appropriate List type icon (Bulleted, Numbered, or Check), which is highlighted and acts as a toggle.

Undo a List

To change a list back to a series of paragraphs, select the entire list, then click the appropriate List type icon (Bulleted, Numbered, or Check), which is highlighted and acts as a toggle.

Change a List Item to a Paragraph Within the List

Move to the item that you want to format as a paragraph without a bullet, number, or check box, click the Skip icon.

To label a paragraph in a list with a bullet, number, or check box, move to the paragraph, click the Skip icon.

Indent a List Within a List

Move to the place where you want to begin a sub-list, click the List icon, click the right Level arrow. To reformat an item as part of the higher-level list, click the right arrow.

Change Bullet or Number Style

Click the List icon, click the Style icon, select a bullet or numbering style from the drop-down list.

Join Two Lists

Move to the second list, click the List icon, click the Continue List icon.

Divide a List

Move to the item you want to begin the new list, click the List icon, click the New List icon.

Images

Insert an Image

Click the Image icon, click the Insert Image icon, select a file; or copy an image from a Web site using the keyboard command (Ctrl-C for Windows, Macintosh Cmd key-C for Macintosh) and paste it using the keyboard command (Ctrl-V for Windows, Macintosh Cmd key-V for Macintosh).

Resize an Image

Click on the image, click on and drag any corner.

Position an Image

Click on and drag the image.

Tables

Create a Table

Click the Table icon, click the Insert Table icon.

Add a Column or Row

Select a column or row, click on the “+” sign. To add more than one column or row, click on the table, click the context menu button at the top to insert columns or at the side to insert rows, then specify a number and position.

Apply Background Color to a Table

Select the cells, click the Cell color icon, choose a color.

Change Color or Hide Gridlines

Select the cells, click the Gridlines color icon, choose a color. To hide gridlines, choose “none.”

Resize a Column or Row

Click on and drag a column or row border. To resize several columns or rows, highlight them and drag a border.

Select an Entire Table

Click on the square at the top left corner of the table.

Indent a Table

Click on and drag the leftmost border of the table.

Insert a Table Inside a Table

Click in a table cell, click the Table icon, click the Insert Table icon.

Documents

Create a Document

Click the Docs icon, click the New Document icon; from inside another document, click the Document menu, click New.

Open a Document

In the Document Organizer, click on the title of the document; in an open document, click the Document menu, click Open.

Save a Document

Click the Synchronator, or click the Document menu, click Save.

Close a Document

Click the Document menu and click Close, or click the Docs icon to return to the Document Organizer. Your document is saved automatically.

Import a Document

In the Document Organizer, choose Document, Open File... and navigate to the document you want.

Export a Document or Copy a Document to Your Desktop

Choose Document, Save As..., select the type of document, name it, click OK, click Save, select the location.

Share or Send a Document

Select or open a document, click the Share button in the lower left corner of the screen, fill in the fields in the Share Document box. The people you specify will receive email invitations. People who do not have Buzzword accounts already will automatically be asked to sign up.

Remind Someone to Open a Shared Document

On the Collaboration bar, move your mouse over the collaborator's icon until the “Invite again” line appears, click it, then compose an email and paste the link into it.

See Whether Someone is Editing a Shared Document

Look in the Collaboration bar to see whether the grid next to anyone's name is red.

See Who Has Read a Shared Document and When

Look in the Collaboration bar to see what kind of grid appears next to each name: solid white outline indicates that the person has read the current document; dotted white outline indicates having read an older version; an envelope indicates that an invitation has been sent but that your new collaborator has not yet opened the document. Moving your mouse over the person's icon shows the date and time. A green or red box indicates that a person has the document open or is editing it.

See Whether Someone Is Sharing a Document with You

In the Document Organizer, new or changed documents appear with a red ribbon and seal across the middle of the document icon.

Check Whether a Document Has Been Updated

In the Document Organizer, a document that has been commented on or changed appears with a red ribbon across it.

Change Access to a Shared Document

Click the person's icon on the Collaboration bar, click the context menu button, select a role, or select Remove.

Remove a Document That Someone Has Shared

Click on the context menu button next to your name on the Collaboration bar, choose Remove from the drop-down menu. You can remove yourself from any document, even if you are not an author or co-author.

Create a Link to a Buzzword Document

Open a document, copy the URL in the address box. You can then paste the URL into another Buzzword document, an email message, instant message, or to a blog or Web site. Note that only people that you have explicitly shared the document with will be able to access the document.

Insert a Link into a Document

From the Web site, copy the URL using Ctrl-C (Windows) or Macintosh Cmd key-C (Macintosh), select Insert Link, use Ctrl-V or Macintosh Cmd key-V to paste the URL in the second text box, edit the “Link text” if you want.

Edit or Remove a Link

Hold the Ctrl key (Windows) or Macintosh Cmd key key (Macintosh) and double-click the link to display the Edit Link dialog.

Annotate a Document

Place your cursor where you want the reference number to go, click the Insert menu, select Endnote, enter the text of the endnote.

Go Directly to an Endnote

Click the reference mark in the text. To go from an endnote back to the text, click the reference mark next to the endnote.

Check Spelling

Click the Spell Check Counter in the lower right corner, click each flagged word, click the down arrow at the end of the red underscore, choose the correct spelling.

Check Word Count

Look at the Word Counter in the lower right corner; when you move your mouse over it, the number will be followed by “words,” so that you can be sure what the number refers to.

Word Count

Add Page Numbers

If there is no header or footer, just double-click on the top or bottom margin, select Page Number from the header or footer dialog. If there is a header or footer, click the Insert menu, move to the Field option, select Page Number.

Rename a Document

Select a document, click the context menu button Context menu button, click Rename.

Delete a Document

Select a document, click the context menu button Context menu button, click Delete. Remember that this action deletes the document permanently; it cannot be recovered.

Comments

Insert a Comment

Click on the bubble in the right margin and enter your comment.

Find the Text a Comment Refers to

Click the comment; the document is dimmed except for the relevant text, which is underlined in a color that matches the border of the comment.

Keyboard Commands

There is a table for each operating system:

Windows

 

IE

Firefox

Save document

Ctrl-S

Ctrl-S

Search document

Ctrl-F

Ctrl-F

Print

Ctrl-P

Ctrl-P

Insert a tab (outside a table)

Tab

Tab

Start new paragraph

Enter

Enter

Insert a line break

Shift-Enter

Shift-Enter

Insert a page break

Ctrl-Enter

Ctrl-Enter

Extend selection forward or backward one character at a time

Shift-Left or Right arrow

Shift-Left or Right arrow

Extend selection forward or backward one word at a time

Ctrl-Shift-Left or Right arrow

Ctrl-Shift-Left or Right arrow

Extend selection up or down one line at a time

Shift-Up or Down arrow

Shift-Up or Down arrow

Extend selection up/down by paragraph

Ctrl-Shift-Up or Down arrow

Ctrl-Shift-Up or Down arrow

Extend selection to beginning of line

Shift-Home

Shift-Home

Extend selection to end of line

Shift-End

Shift-End

Extend selection to beginning of a body of text (document, comment, header or footer)

Ctrl-Shift-Home

Ctrl-Shift-Home

Extend selection to end of a body of text

Ctrl-Shift-End

Ctrl-Shift-End

Extend selection up or down by a screen

Shift-Page Up or Page Down

Shift-Page Up or Page Down

Select the entire body of text (document, comment, or endnote)

Ctrl-A

Ctrl-A

Copy a selection

Ctrl-C

Ctrl-C

Cut a selection

Ctrl-X

Ctrl-X

Paste a selection

Ctrl-V

Ctrl-V

Delete backward one character at a time

Backspace

Backspace

Delete backward one word at a time

Ctrl-Backspace

Ctrl-Backspace

Delete forward one character at a time

Delete

Delete

Delete forward one word at a time

Ctrl-Delete

Ctrl-Delete

Undo an action

Ctrl-Z

Ctrl-Z

Redo an action

Ctrl-Y

Ctrl-Y

Change the font of a selection to bold (or remove bold from a selection)

Ctrl-B

Ctrl-B

Change the font of a selection to italic (or remove italic from a selection)

Ctrl-I

Ctrl-I

Add an underline to a selection (or remove the underline from a selection)

Ctrl-U

Ctrl-U

Navigate forward or backward one character at a time

Left or Right arrow

Left or Right arrow

Navigate backward or forward one word at a time

Ctrl-Left or Right arrow

Ctrl-Left or Right arrow

Navigate up or down one line at a time

Up or Down arrow

Up or Down arrow

Navigate up or down one paragraph at a time

Ctrl-Up or Down arrow

Ctrl-Up or Down arrow

Navigate to beginning of line

Home

Home

Navigate to end of line

End

End

Navigate to beginning of a body of text (document, comment, header or footer)

Ctrl-Home

Ctrl-Home

Navigate to end of a body of text

Ctrl-End

Ctrl-End

Scroll document up or down by a screen

Page Up or Page Down

Page Up or Page Down

Navigate to next cell inside a table

Tab

Tab

Navigate to previous cell inside a table

Shift-Tab

Shift-Tab

Macintosh

 

Safari

Firefox

Save document

Macintosh Cmd key-S

Ctrl-S

Search document

Macintosh Cmd key-F

Ctrl-F

Print

Macintosh Cmd key-P

Ctrl-P

Insert a tab (outside a table)

Tab

Tab

Start new paragraph

Return

Return

Insert a line break

Shift-Return

Shift-Return

Insert a page break

Ctrl-Return

Ctrl-Return

Extend selection forward or backward one character at a time

Shift-Left or Right arrow

Shift-Left or Right arrow

Extend selection forward or backward one word at a time

Ctrl-Shift-Left or Right arrow

Ctrl-Shift-Left or Right arrow

Extend selection up or down one line at a time

Shift-Up or Down arrow

Shift-Up or Down arrow

Extend selection up/down by paragraph

Macintosh Cmd key-Shift-Up or Down arrow

Ctrl-Shift-Up or Down arrow

Extend selection to beginning of line

(Fn)-Shift-Home

Shift-Home

Extend selection to end of line

(Fn)-Shift-End

(Fn)-Shift-End

Extend selection to beginning of a body of text (document, comment, header or footer)

Macintosh Cmd key-Shift-Home

(Fn)-Shift-Ctrl-Home

Extend selection to end of a body of text

Macintosh Cmd key-Shift-End

(Fn)-Shift-Ctrl-End

Extend selection up or down by a screen

(Fn)-Shift-Page Up or Page Down

Shift-Page Up or Page Down

Select the entire body of text (document, comment, or endnote)

Macintosh Cmd key-A

Ctrl-A

Copy a selection

Macintosh Cmd key-C

Macintosh Cmd key-C

Cut a selection

Macintosh Cmd key-X

Macintosh Cmd key-X

Paste a selection

Macintosh Cmd key-V

Macintosh Cmd key-V

Delete backward one character at a time

Delete

Delete

Delete backward one word at a time

Ctrl-Delete

Ctrl-Delete

Delete forward one character at a time

(Fn)-Delete

(Fn)-Delete

Delete forward one word at a time

Macintosh Cmd key-Delete

Macintosh Cmd key-Delete

Undo an action

Macintosh Cmd key-Z

Ctrl-Z

Redo an action

Macintosh Cmd key-Y

Ctrl-Y

Change the font of a selection to bold (or remove bold from a selection)

Ctrl-B

Ctrl-B

Change the font of a selection to italic (or remove italic from a selection)

Ctrl-I

Ctrl-I

Add an underline to a selection (or remove the underline from a selection)

Ctrl-U

Ctrl-U

Navigate forward or backward one character at a time

Left or Right arrow

Left or Right arrow

Navigate backward or forward one word at a time

Ctrl-Left or Right arrow

Ctrl-Left or Right arrow

Navigate up or down one line at a time

Up or Down arrow

Up or Down arrow

Navigate up or down one paragraph at a time

Ctrl-Up or Down arrow

Ctrl-Up or Down arrow

Navigate to beginning of line

Home

Home

Navigate to end of line

End

End

Navigate to beginning of a body of text (document, comment, header or footer)

Ctrl-Home

Ctrl-Home

Navigate to end of a body of text

Ctrl-End

Ctrl-End

Scroll document up or down by a screen

Page Up or Page Down

Page Up or Page Down

Navigate to next cell inside a table

Tab

Tab

Navigate to previous cell inside a table

Shift-Tab

Shift-Tab