These additional tools in the document window help you to work with your documents.
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.
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When not in use, the ruler peeks out just under the toolbars near the top left corner of your document. |
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Move your mouse over it to slide a bit more of it on screen. |
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Click to bring it fully on screen. |
Note: You can re-hide the ruler by clicking on the “x” at either end of it.
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.
Indent controls affect the current paragraph or the paragraphs you have selected. The ruler lets you set the following kinds of indents:
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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. |
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Paragraph indent | To indent an entire paragraph, drag the margin indicators so they dock together, then move them as a single indicator. |
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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. |
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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.
The ruler indent controls work in table cells the same way they work in paragraphs.
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.
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.
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.
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 to display the menu of roles.
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.
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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. |
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The Zoom slider appears. |
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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.
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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. |
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.
A time line of the versions appears, with the current version selected at the far left.
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.
Roles determine what changes a participant can make to previous versions.
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.
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.
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.
You have three options:
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.
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.
Note: Only the body of the document and the endnotes are included in the word count; comments, headers, and footers are not.
The Synchronator, located in the lower right corner of the window, indicates whether changes to your document have been saved to the server.
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Green pencil indicates that all changes to the document have been saved on the server. |
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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.
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.