TIP: "Styles" In User Tools

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

As I work more and more with User Tools, I, like many of you, find myself wishing for more text editing/word processing tools. At the same time, I realize that this is a low priority for the makers of Accordance, probably for good reason. But I recently came up with a workaround for one of the things I miss--the ability to define and reuse styles (color, size, etc.)--and I thought I'd share it, in case it is of use to others.

 

One of my most frequently edited User Tools is one with study notes for the current year in the Revised Common Lectionary. I have a fairly consistent structure that I use each week, and I wanted the formatting for any given heading level to be unique from other heading levels, but also to be consistent each week. I used the Copy>Style Only command, but scrolling to an example of the right heading was a nuisance.

 

Then it occurred to me to create a sample structure at the end of my User Tool, laying out each section and giving it the proper formatting.

 

Now, all I have to do is copy the sample structure, paste it in, and start taking notes. When I need to add sections at a particular level, I just select the right sample text, use command-[ to copy the style and command-] to paste it where needed.

 

Putting the sample at the end of the User Tool works for me because I'm usually adding stuff to the end of the tool. If this is not the case for you, you could create a User Tool containing the styles you want and open it as a separate window (or tab) to have easy access to it.

 

P.S. I've attached a screen shot...my attempt to insert it in the message itself didn't work.

 

StylesWorkaround.tiff