Paragraph indention

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jdfrostbooks
Posts: 3
Joined: 2010-04-25 15:28:38

Paragraph indention

Post by jdfrostbooks »

I am considering publishing an ebook. The people at Smashwords discourage using the tab key or the space bar for paragraph indention. They prefer using Word's ruler bar indent feature. There is something about setting an indention feature to .33 inches. How do I set indention using Nisus Writer Express. I am using version 3.3.2. Is there a way to select my current tab indentions and replace them with this .33 indention without losing the current paragraphs in my document.
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mrennie
Posts: 173
Joined: 2004-11-10 07:31:31

Re: Paragraph indention

Post by mrennie »

Hi,

to get rid of all the tabs in a document, bring up the Find window (Cmd+F), make sure PowerFind Pro is selected in the dropdown field labelled "Using", then enter "\t+" (without the quotation marks) in the "Find what:" field. Leave the "Replace with:" field empty, and then click on Replace All. All your tabs have now been removed.

To set an indent, select all the paragraphs you want to indent, bring up the ruler (View>Show rulers), and double-click any of the blue buttons in the ruler. A new dialogue will pop up, and you can enter any value you need. You should be able to find more information in the user guide, which you can access from within the Help menu in the menu bar.

Depending on how many paragraphs you need to select, this procedure can be quite tedious, and you might actually want to combine these two methods for faster results. Here's how: bring up the Find window, then enter "\t+", while making sure that PowerFind Pro is selected. Click on Find all. All the tabs in your document are now selected. Bring up the ruler, then set the indent, as described above. When you have done that, bring up the Find dialogue again, and this time, choose Replace All. Your document should now meet the publisher's standards.
jdfrostbooks
Posts: 3
Joined: 2010-04-25 15:28:38

Re: Paragraph indention

Post by jdfrostbooks »

Thank you. I'll give this a try and get back to you.
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xiamenese
Posts: 543
Joined: 2006-12-08 00:46:44
Location: London or Exeter, UK

Re: Paragraph indention

Post by xiamenese »

I haven't used express in a long time, and don't have it on this machine, but I assume it's like Pro in this. Put your cursor in one of the paragraphs, then click the Style view ... the third button at the top right. On the left of the ruler, you'll find the margin setting with a downward pointing blue pentagon above the line, and an upward pointing one and a little round "pill" below the line. Drag the one above the line to the right to give the indent you need. Give the paragraph a name ... unless it already says "Normal", in which case, leave it. Then go back to Page View, or Draft View, whichever you prefer.

If your style is called "Normal", and your paragraphs are all in "Normal", they'll all have the indent. If you want to check, go to the styles palette ... pencil selection in the drawer, normally. If they're not, just go down through your paragraphs and choose whatever you've called your standard paragraph in the Style view.

If you need to make any changes to the paragraphs afterwards, just go to the Style view, select the style and make the changes there. All paragraphs with that style will change automatically.

And get rid of the tabs as mrennie suggests ... though if you have used tabs elsewhere, in the "Find what:" field, type \n\t+ and in the replace field, type \n Then choose "Replace All"

Mark
jdfrostbooks
Posts: 3
Joined: 2010-04-25 15:28:38

Re: Paragraph indention

Post by jdfrostbooks »

I get the first part fine. I can enter in the top of the find window \t+ which rids me of all the tabs, but there has to be something in the replace window. Putting \n there adds another line or something--no indent in any case. Clicking the blue buttons doesn't work in relation to the find/replace window. I'm not sure what to enter but I think something has to be physically entered in the replace window. Thanks.
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martin
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Re: Paragraph indention

Post by martin »

The part you might be missing is that you want to adjust the ruler in the document itself, eg: once you've found (and thus selected) all the tabs using Find All (but not replaced them), adjust the indentations via the ruler. Only afterwards should you then wipe out all the tab characters by replacing them with nothing.
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