Nisus Writer FAQs: Various Features Explained

NOTE: this software is for Classic Mac OS (eg: OS 9) and cannot be used on Mac OS X.
Nisus Writer Classic is no longer for sale. This page is only for archival purposes.

Nisus Writer FAQs
Various Features Explained

Question:
Can I set a default font/size/style/etc. for new documents?

Answer:
Create a Nisus New File. Choose New from the File menu and set all the attributes as you want them to be. The attributes you set can include not only font, size, and style, as well as headers and/or footers, but also named and unnamed rulers, defined styles, whether or not the text bar is visible, whether or not invisible text is displayed, and so on. In short, pretty much everything. Now save your document as a stationery file, name it Nisus New File, and place it in the Stationery folder inside the Nisus Writer Tools folder. Nisus Writer then opens this stationery file every time you choose New from the File menu.

Nisus New File

Stationery

Nisus Writer Tools

Question:
Can I create my own customized floating tool bars?

Answer:
     Yes, if you have Resorcerer (you cannot do it in ResEdit because certain constructs in its FPAL template file do not exist). Standard resource-editing disclaimers apply (work on a copy of the file and do this at your own risk). The FPAL can be customized by cutting and pasting menu item names into the [MenuName] field according to the model: Menu Name:Menu Item Name (For example in FPAL 1289, Button #4 File:Print). The name you use must exactly match the names used in the MENU resource. Or you can use the menu and menu item numbers (example File:Print could be 257:15).
     To edit the graphic, find the "graphic (cicn)" that corresponds to the item you want to change and edit it (For example in FPAL 1289, Button #4 the graphic cicn ID is 5012).
     Note that a tool bar button can also perform a macro. Any "syntactically correct" macro argument can be entered in the Macro Argument field. To execute this you must also place "Macros:Execute Selection" in the MenuItem field. See the manual for macros' syntax.

Question:
Does Nisus have an Auto Envelope facility?

Answer:
Unfortunately, there currently is no auto-envelope facility. I will add this to the feature request list for you. (I have actually requested this myself, recently.) You can use mail merge to make a series of envelopes, if you have an address list (Data Document). You do need to set up your envelope stationery to do this, though. I will give you instructions on what to do.
Use the NRA Envelope templates if you have a pre-printed return address on the envelopes. Otherwise, you can use the regular Envelope templates to print the return address as well as the mailing address. Set up the Envelope stationeries this way:

Return Address name
R.A. address
R.A. city, state zip

<<Name>>
<<Company>>
<<Address>> <<City>>, <<State>>
<<Zip>>

Set up the NRA Envelope stationeries like so:
<<Name>>
<<Company>>
<<Address>>
<<City>>, <<State>> <<Zip>>

     If you are not using a Center Feed printer for manual feed for these envelopes, or if you have a special envelope tray, you may need to adjust the location of the inside (text) area on the Layout Page. You don't need to change the margins themselves. You can actually click in the center of the text area when on the Layout Page and drag that to another position, to adjust for your printer.
     You should save these documents as your own personal envelope stationeries. Next is the setup for the address list, or data document. You should set it up to match the stationeries, using the same field names. The fields can be separated by either tabs or commas. I am using commas here because I can't use/display tabs in an AOL message.
An example:
Name,Company,Address,City,State,Zip
Don,Nisus Software Inc.,107 S. Cedros Ave.,Solana Beach,CA,92075
John Doe,,555 First St.,Anytown,USA,55555
     Continue with your addresses, separating each by a return. For a blank field, like Companu in the case of John Doe above, just type an extra comma, defining that as an empty field. There are no space characters after any of the commas, unless you want those to appear in the document after the merge.
     If you want to set up your envelope to use the Company name as a variable, where there is no blank line if there is no Company name in the address, use the following setup in your Envelope stationeries:
<<Name>><<IF Company>>
<<Company>><<ENDIF>>
<<Address>><<City>>, <<State>> <<Zip>>
     If there is a Company field defined, the merge will add a return character and the company name after the Name. If there is no Conpany field defined, no return will be added, so there will be no space between the Name and Address.

Question:
Nisus Hyphenation

Answer:
In Nisus Writer, we have 5 types of hyphens.

The first type is obtained by simply typing a Dash (minus sign). The dash inserts a hyphen at that point in the word and allows the word to break there; it is always visible. Double clicking on the word with this dash selects the whole word.
The second type is called an "en dash" (size of an n), it is available by typing Option Dash key. This is a non breaking dash that prevents hyphenation at that point in the word even with the hyphenation style applied (the word may break elsewhere). Double clicking a word with this dash selects only a portion of the word.
The Third type is called a "em dash"(size of an m), it is available by typing Shift Option Dash. This is a non breaking dash that prevents hyphenation at that point in the word even with the hyphenating style applied (the word may break elsewhere). Double clicking a word with this dash selects only a portion of the word.
The fourth type of dash is called a soft hyphen, it is available by typing Command Dash. This will cause hyphenation at that point in the word and appears only when needed. Double clicking a word with that dash selects the entire word.
The fifth type of dash is achieved by selecting the hyphenate style. This is the hyphen Nisus Writer places in the document when the hyphenate style is on. This has no ASCII value, and is not selectable through find and replace.

Question:
How do I add/use/remove the Word Services feature in Nisus Writer 6.0?

Answer:
According to Working Software Inc., its developers, the "Word Services Suite is a public, standard protocol, endorsed by Apple Computers. The Word Services Suite defines the standard language that Macintosh applications will use to communicate with one another for functions involving text. This communication ability allows any Macintosh application to use spelling checkers, envelope addressers, grammar checkers, hyphenators, Greek translators, and other utilities that operate on text as if they are built directly into the application itself."
Applications that are Word Services compatible include Working Software's own Spellswell, the Nisus grammar tool shipped with Nisus Writer 6.0 (located inside the Tools folder inside the Nisus Writer Tools folder,) and Mikhal (a Hebrew-English spelling checker/translator by Panergy soon to become available in an English localized version).
To add a Word Services application to the menus of Nisus Writer:

Choose Edit Word Services from the Editing Tools submenu of Tools menu.
In the dialog that appears, click Add and find the application you want to use. (The dialog only lists disks/folders and applications.)
Select the application you want to use and click Open.
When you finish adding applications, click OK.

To use a Word Services application from within Nisus Writer: Word Services applications work on Nisus Writer files. You need to have a file open before you start a word services application.

Choose the Word Services application's name from the bottom of the Editing Tools submenu of the Tools menu.
Follow the instructions in the documentation of the Word Services application.

To remove a Word Services application from the menus of Nisus Writer:

Choose Edit Word Services from the Editing Tools submenu of Tools menu.
In the dialog that appears select the application you want to remove and click Remove.
When you finish removing applications, click OK.

Question:
Negative Page Numbers in Nisus Writer

Answer:
     Taken from The Nisus Way, page 285, "Formatted Page Breaks":
     "You may want to restart page numbering at some point in your document. For example, you might have 'front matter' (title page, table of contents, etc.) numbered with lowercase Roman numerals like i-vii, after which you want the main body of your text to start on page 1. To restart page numbering, you use a special character called a formatted page break. This is just like an ordinary page break character, except that it also resets the page number variable. To insert a formatted page break, press the Shift key and choose Format Page Break... from the Insert menu (where Page Break normally is). The Page Number Format dialog box (Figure 10.16) will appear..." [I'll let you read from there.]
     For linked documents, of course, you'll need to go to the Page Setup dialog and enter the first page number of each portion.

Question:
How do I use your lame Zoom?

Answer:
Here's how it works.

To see a magnified view of the text surrounding your insertion point:

Choose the magnification you want from the Zoom submenu of the Tools menu.

You can resize this "windoid" and move it to any location no your monitor. Your text entry happens in the actual window behind the "zoom windoid". When you finish with the zoom window close it by clicking its close box.

If you leave the zoom windoid open when you save and close your document window the zoom windoid will open in the same location and magnification the next time you open zoom windoid.