I began using MasterSpec years ago when I started consulting. I looked into BSD, too, and I still recall hearing someone at my first SCIP meeting say how slow it was. I went with MasterSpec because it was much easier for me to edit words than to edit from a database, and because of the supporting documents.
I used BSD for the first time coming up on two years ago when I took a position in Seattle. BSD had been in place at that firm for about 18 years, and the specifiers in the Portland HQ raved about it. Personally, I thought it was a horribly slow program that crashed often, and had the worst spec language I had seen outside of many product guide specs.
When I took the position at the firm I am currently with, they had started exporting the BSD masters into Word with the intent of then setting the specs up in eSpecs. Within a couple of weeks after starting, I noticed we had a current MasterSpec subscription, and I proposed that instead of exporting BSD, importing into eSpecs (shudder) and still having crappy language, we should just start using MasterSpec. I am happy to report that that is what I’m using once again.
The firm still wants to get into eSpecs, and I ended up here (the discussion board, not this specific post) looking for comments about the program. I feel fortunate to have read a few posts about Visispecs (which was new to me), and I am now looking into that program as something to pitch to the firm.
A while ago I recorded and edited a macro to toggle the level change property and mapped it to Alt L.
Sub LevelChangeToggle()
If Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceBefore = 0 Then
Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceBefore = 12
Else
Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceBefore = 0
End If
End Sub
If you want to try that out but are not sure where to store the code, one easy way is Alt F8, type LevelChangeToggle, click Create, then paste the middle portion of the macro in. Switch back to your document, put your cursor in the offending paragraph, hit Alt F8, begin typing levelchangetoggle and run it. Running it once will toggle the level change format. Running it again will switch it back to however it was.
If that works for you so far then you can map it to a keystroke by right-clicking any toolbar and look for the options Customize… Keyboard… In Categories scroll to and click on macros. In Commands click LevelChangeToggle. Click in box for Press new shortcut key. Type Alt L (or whatever you like), then Assign, and Close, Close.
Kristi,
I think Chris has given you good advice. Our office is on a Mac OS, if you need help let me know.
Occasionally I have individual sections that behave oddly or lose their formatting altogether. For the worst offenders, I copy the text, insert it (as unformatted) into a clean, properly formatted template, and start over.
Our office is always on the lookout for a MSWord Wizard, specifically for Mac OS. If you know someone, please let me know.
Chris - Thank you! That reformatted the entire document to NOT have the space between the Letter and Number bullet.
ORIGINAL:
2.1 Welcome to ABC
A. Introduction
1. Into to Typing
2. Intro to Formatting
EDITED WITH PROBLEM:
2.1 Welcome to ABC
A. Introduction
Intro to Formatting
My question could have been more detailed … The master spec original has spaces between all bullets (Number to letter to number) But say I am deleting the #1… it removes my space there. How can I delete #1 and keep the space so that it will be consistent with the entire spec?
I do however like the look of the reformatted (per your Ctrl A, CtrlQ) I do have the time to reformat all 12 specs, but I am still curious on the fix for my problem
Thank you Chris, but I am by no means a “programmer” and that code you shared looks confusing to me. I expect to use Master Specs and pray it works the way it is meant to. LOL
Thankfully I do not have to do specs that often, so I am a bit out of practice and was thinking it was human error or a trick I needed to learn how to work around.
This forum has been great so far..
Thanks everyone! I am thinking that a quick reformat of all specs will insure consistency and make certain I haven’t missed anything.
Have a blessed day
This is getting into a question I have had for years with MasterSpec. There is a space between A. and 1. and no space between 1. and 2. But, 1. and 2. both have the same style name, PR2. There is no space under the text for A. (PR1). So, how do they get one style, PR2, to act differently in two different lines? Just wondering.
I like the 12 point space preceding the first subparagraph P2 and lower levels in the outline format, with single-spacing for any following subparagraphs of the same level. It groups the text nicely and does not waste space with a lot of 12-point spaces between the lower level subparagraphs.
In order to quickly add the 12-point space where I want it, I set things up as follows: I used the Customize Quick Access Toolbar function to add an Increase Space button on the left end of the top ribbon of Word. And then I created a keystroke to press that button - you can find instructions for creating keystrokes in the Help window of Word. Maybe a keystroke could even be created directly from the MasterWorks menu without making the Quick Access button. For me, my keystroke (Alt-4) is so quick I don’t find it time-consuming at all.
Don, it is the “Space Before” property in the paragraph formatting.
Greta and I are describing the same thing.
In my case I eliminate all the extra spaces which saves paper & extra bidding cost associated with thicker manuals, plus I never have to fuss with them except when I encounter a document that has them. In Greta’s case she probably uses her keystroke to add them some places.
And Ron, I do not recall a MasterWorks button or tool for toggling the extra space, which is why we both independently decided to invent one. Somewhere I saw one for reapplying a whole document’s formatting. I found it to not work in some cases so I was glad that I had my own macro for that too.
Chris, actually when I referred to adding the Increase Space button, I was linking to a command already on the MasterWorks menu, in the Paragraph box, when you select Spacing. But that was too many clicks for me which is why I created the button and later the keystroke.
Ahh, that make sense. I reverted to pre-ribbons Word since it is much faster, so I haven’t been watching at the way the more modern MasterWorks is set up, also I don’t use it now.
MasterWorks has a tool in the MasterWorks ribbon (added to Word when you start it) that can add or remove this “space before.” It is inconvenient to have to do this each time, but a single click takes care of it. (Well, actually, one click to drop down the command list, and one click to select one.) Look for the “spacing” button in the “paragraph” group of tools. You can also ignore this for the time being, and then fix everything at once with the “reapply spacing to document” sub-command under the “paragraph” command I noted above.
First, thank you for the macro Chris. I had a more complicated one that needed versions for each style.
I use the space above 1. because MasterSpec uses it and why change? That being said when I reformat an old section, a consultant or manufacturer’s section, it always wants to come out with no space between A. and 1. because PR2 does not have a space in the style definition. So, I made a MasterWorks style wizard to add the space. But recently, it seems that the style wizard is taking a long time to do its thing. So, maybe going with no space is the way to go. MasterWorks does have an option to remove spaces for Level 2 and below.
But, I still don’t know how they do two different things with one style.
