Errata

Microsoft Manual of Style

Errata for Microsoft Manual of Style

The errata list is a list of errors and their corrections that were found after the product was released. If the error was corrected in a later version or reprint the date of the correction will be displayed in the column titled "Date Corrected".

The following errata were submitted by our customers and approved as valid errors by the author or editor.

Color key: Serious technical mistake Minor technical mistake Language or formatting error Typo Question Note Update

Version Location Description Submitted By Date submitted Date corrected
Printed
Page 308
hot spot, hotspot

Change full definition to:

Do not use to refer to a hyperlink.

Use two words in content for a technical audience to refer to the specific pixel on the pointer that defines the exact location to which a user is pointing.


Use one word when referring to a site that offers Internet access over a wireless LAN.


Use one word when referring to programming elements such as the elements of the <bold>HotSpot</bold> class or when following the wording in the user interface.


[three items are bull list]

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 306
higher

Replace the lines from "It is all right to...." with:

It is all right to use higher to refer to display resolution. Do not use higher to refer to processor speed; use faster instead.

Microsoft style
1920 x 1200 pixels or higher resolution
a processer speed of 2.5 gigahertz (GHz) or faster


[please keep the formatting for Microsoft style]

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 162
Abbreviations of measurements

Change the first sentence to:
As a general rule, do not abbreviate units of measure except for kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB), which can be abbreviated when used with numbers

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 231
kilobytes and megabytes

Italics are missing. Update to:
Don?t use <ital>K</ital>, <ital>K byte</ital>, or <ital>KByte</ital>.

Don?t use <ital>M</ital>, <ital>meg</ital>, <ital>M byte</ital>, or <ital>MByte</ital>.

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 232
terabytes

Update to:
Don?t use <ital>T byte</ital> or <ital>TByte</ital>. Spell out on first mention. On subsequent mention, all right to use the abbreviation as a measurement with numerals. See TB.

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 230
gigabytes

Change to:
Don?t use <ital>G</ital>, <ital>G byte</ital>, or <ital>GByte</ital>. Spell out on first mention. On subsequent mention, all right to use the abbreviation as a measurement with numerals. See GB.

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 396
terabyte

Change definition to:
One terabyte is equal to 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, or 1,024 gigabytes.
Abbreviate as <ital>TB</ital>, not <ital>T byte</ital> or <ital>Tbyte</ital>. On first mention, spell out and use the abbreviation in parentheses. Insert a space between the numeral and TB, or hyphenate if the measure is used as an adjective.

<bold>Microsoft style</bold>
36 terabytes (TB) of data
36-TB database
When used as a noun in measurements, add of to form a prepositional phrase.

<bold>Microsoft style</bold>
This database contains 36 TB of information

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 372
root directory

Change definition to:
In content for software developers, use this term, not <ital>home directory</ital>, to refer to the directory or folder (indicated in MS-DOS with a backslash: \) from which all other directories or folders branch. Do not shorten to <ital>root</ital>when you mean the directory.

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 307
home directory

Change definition to:
Do not use. In content for software developers, use <ital>root directory</ital> instead to refer to the starting point in a hierarchical file structure. In MS-DOS and Windows, the root directory is indicated by a backslash (\). In all other content, use <ital>top-level folder</ital>.

Microsoft Press  Oct 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 119
code sample in lower third of page

Current:
// Displays a list of customer information in the console. public void
PrintCustomers(List<Customer> customerList)

Should be:
// Displays a list of customer information in the console.
public void PrintCustomers(List<Customer> customerList)

That is:
"public void" should not be on the comment line.

Beverly Robinson  Oct 02, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 42
First entry on page

Located in the first table entry "Spell out names of months." In the "More Information" column, for the sentence "For example, do not use 6/12/2010." The year should be 2011 to match the followup examples of June 2011 or December 2011.

Anonymous  Jul 06, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 394
Entry for "table of contents"

"contents" is in a larger font size.

Ed Heel  Apr 18, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 381
Entry for "should vs. must"

The paragraph beginning "Do not use should" should be indented because it's not an example.

Ed Heel  Apr 18, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 370
Entry for "restore"

There should be a full stop after "undelete".

Ed Heel  Apr 18, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 369
Entry for "registry, registry settings"

"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" should be split into two separate lines.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Should be two lines:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Ed Heel  Apr 18, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 352
Entry for "patch"

Maybe the word "legacy" should be avoided, in line with your own advice.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Change to: "This term has been replaced by specific update types such as..."

Ed Heel  Apr 18, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 352
Entry for "pane"

"annotation pane" is italic but "Score pane" is not. I don't know why.

Note from the Author or Editor:
It should be italicized. Also, we don?tuse quotes for examples, so this should be: ...use lowercase for pane names, as in the annotation pane. If a pane is labeled.... as in the Score pane.

Ed Heel  Apr 18, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 350
Entry for "over"

I think that "You need Windows XP or over." instead of "You need Windows 7 or over." would make your point better.

Ed Heel  Apr 18, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 332
Entry for "manual"

"guide" should be italic.

Ed Heel  Apr 17, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 329
Entry for "log on ..."

Should "When you are finished" be "When you have finished"?

Note from the Author or Editor:
Change to ?When you have finished.?

Ed Heel  Apr 17, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 326
Entry for "-like"

"But" should be "but".

Ed Heel  Apr 17, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 42
Section 'Names and contact information', table

Introduction, page xxi, states, "Italic is used to call attention to word or phrases used as words rather than as a functional part of a sentence."

The table refers to boxes (entry fields) on a form. To conform to Microsoft style, the names of the boxes should be italic. Some examples:

Row 3 guideline: "Use title not honorific..."
The words 'title' and 'honorific' should be italic.

Row 5 guideline: "Use postal code instead of ZIP code."
The words 'postal code' and 'ZIP code' should be italic.

Mike Unwalla  Apr 17, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 291
"Microsoft style" examples near the bottom of the page

Should "When you are finished" be "When you have finished" instead?

Note from the Author or Editor:
Change to ?When you have finished.?

Ed Heel  Apr 16, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 21
Section 'Make text scannable', item 'Lists', Microsoft style

In the example that is intended to show a bulleted list, bullets are missing from the list items.

Mike Unwalla  Apr 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 284
Entry for "drive"

The last bullet point does not have a full stop at the end.

Ed Heel  Mar 26, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 237
Entry for "above"

Maybe the last example should be changed to "Windows Vista and above", especially in the light of your recent guidance not to use "and later".

Note from the Author or Editor:
Delete the last sentence, ?Do not use above to mean later, as in Windows Vista and later.? The larger point is not just to avoid using ?above? when we mean ?later,? but not to say this at all, in favor of spelling out specifically which versions we mean.

Ed Heel  Mar 23, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 230
Entry for "inches"

The inch sign should be straight, not curly, quotation marks.

Ed Heel  Mar 22, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 226
Entry for "S+S"

The comments include "software_plus_services" instead of "software-plus-services".

Note from the Author or Editor:
"software-plus-services" is correct

Ed Heel  Mar 22, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 223
Entry for "NA, N/A"

Typo in Acronym column: "N/A or".

Note from the Author or Editor:
"or" should be deleted

Ed Heel  Mar 22, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 223
Entry for "MS, MSFT"

Typo in comments: "MSFT is all right it use".

Note from the Author or Editor:
Should be "MSFT is all right to use".

Ed Heel  Mar 22, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 206
"Capitalization" section

I don't understand why use of the same source for both printed and online documentation affects capitalization. It's not clear to me how the guidance and the reason for the guidance are related.

Note from the Author or Editor:
I don't know what that first clause refers to, I'd just remove it: "Use all lowercase for all index entries..."

Ed Heel  Mar 19, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 194
Program code example

"constant+1" should be surrounded by straight quotation marks instead of curly ones.

Ed Heel  Mar 19, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 194
1st paragraph

The quotation marks that you have described as "straight" are actually curly.

Ed Heel  Mar 19, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page xxiii
in "Contact the Microsoft Editorial Board," the first sentence

The sentence says that readers can send feedback to mms@microsoft.com. But that method didn't work. When I tried to send a message (I tried both from a personal email account and from a company email account), I received this message:

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

mmstyle@microsoft.com
Your message wasn't delivered because of security policies. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please provide the following diagnostic text to your system administrator.



Diagnostic information for administrators:

Generating server: microsoft.com

mmstyle@microsoft.com
#< #5.7.1 smtp;550 5.7.1 RESOLVER.RST.NotAuthorized; not authorized> #SMTP#

Original message headers:

Received: from mail82-db3-R.bigfish.com (157.54.51.81) by mail.microsoft.com
(157.54.80.25) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 14.2.283.4; Wed, 7 Mar
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Received: from mail82-db3 (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail82-db3-R.bigfish.com
(Postfix) with ESMTP id 7CECE1A0AD8 for <mmstyle@microsoft.com>; Wed, 7 Mar
2012 20:39:56 +0000 (UTC)
X-SpamScore: 0
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From: Laila Millar <laila.millar@centrify.com>
To: "mmstyle@microsoft.com" <mmstyle@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 12:39:49 -0800
Subject: ebook or online version of fourth edition?
Thread-Topic: ebook or online version of fourth edition?
Thread-Index: Acz8oaKdK2wwoesrS22/TsUjlfFudg==
Message-ID: <9C50C7EBEE767343AB45090430D1E3A101029EABEDFC@exch-07.centrify.com>
Accept-Language: en-US
Content-Language: en-US
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Return-Path: laila.millar@centrify.com

Note from the Author or Editor:
Oops! We are working to get this fixed. The email address will be active no later than November 1, 2012.

Laila Millar  Mar 16, 2012  Nov 01, 2012
PDF
Page 169
1st graphic

To follow Microsoft style, the first callout should say "On the File menu, point to Send to, and then click where you want to send the file or folder."

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed, PDF
Page 165-166
Special characters table

For the greater than sign and the less than sign, the Name column says "such" instead of "such as".

The double, curly quotation marks are described simply as "quotation marks", not "curly quotation marks", which is inconsistent with how you describe single, curly quotation marks.

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed, PDF
Page 165-166
Special characters table

The character shown in the 4th row looks identical to that shown in the 5th row. Presumably, one is meant to be a typographer's, or curly, apostrophe and one a straight apostrophe.

Further down the table, the inch mark should really be straight quotation marks instead of curly quotation marks.

Near the end of the table, the quotation marks all look the same, that is, they are all curly.

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 162
3rd bullet

Strictly speaking, the HTML codes for the multiplication sign should end with a semi-colon. Maybe you missed this out deliberately to avoid it being confused with the punctuation of the sentence.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Add the semicolon and use italics for the two codes: "In HTML, the multiplication sign is specified as &times; or &#0215;."

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed, PDF
Page 95
"Bold formatting", 1st cross-ref

There is no full stop at the end of the sentence. This happens in many other cross-ref sentences as well.

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 157
"Not Microsoft style"

It's not clear to me from the advice that you have given in this subsection why "9,600 baud" is not Microsoft style.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Text should say: In general, use commas in numbers that have four or more digits, regardless of how the numbers appear in the interface. When designating years and baud, however, use commas only when the number has five or more digits.

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 145
"Formatting" section, 1st paragraph

The first sentence implies that these guidelines apply only if you're using a design template, but surely they apply even if you don't use a template.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Yes, the design templates statement is just a "by the way" type of comment. Move it to the end of the Formatting section, changing it to "If possible, create a design template to standardize the tables in your content."

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 144
1st bullet

Ah, I've got it! "Place information about the item in the left column in the subsequent columns." should actually be "Place information about the item THAT IS in the left column in the subsequent columns." You should follow your own advice about optional pronouns on page 34!

Note from the Author or Editor:
Revise: ?In the subsequent columns, place information about the item that appears in the left column.?

Ed Heel  Mar 09, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 136
"Organizational guidelines", 2nd bullet

What are "the rules for outlining"? It's not mentioned elsewhere in the manual, as far as I can tell. Is this a part of general knowledge that I'm missing?!

Note from the Author or Editor:
Delete the first sentence of the second bullet.

Ed Heel  Mar 08, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 127
5th paragraph

"used bold formatting" should be "use bold formatting".

Ed Heel  Mar 08, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 123
End of "File names and extensions" section

The cross-refs for more info include a cross-ref to the section in which the cross-refs are included.

Ed Heel  Mar 08, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 121
"Command syntax" intro

The intro implies that typing commands or running programs at a command prompt is not using a user interface. However, this IS an interface. It's just that it's not a GRAPHICAL user interface. Maybe the start of the first sentence should be changed to say "Although computer users today use the graphical user interface ..."

Ed Heel  Mar 08, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 39
First para, under Testing for jargon

MSTP should be changed to Microsoft Manual of Style.

MSTP refers to the earlier version of this book, which was the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.

Microsoft Press  Mar 07, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 109
8th row, 2nd column

"Italic" is shown twice. I assume that 's because it can be used either for new terms or emphasis, but I think that this looks odd. It might be better to split this row into two: one for new terms, one for emphasis.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Rewrite as below:
Italic on first mention of a new term, unless your project style sheet specifies otherwise. Use italic formatting for emphasis sparingly.

Note Italic type does not always show up well online. If necessary to accommodate low-resolution monitors, enclose new terms in quotation marks.

Ed Heel  Mar 07, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 108
12th row of table

The second example contains a double backslash.

Note from the Author or Editor:
This is a typo. It should be a single backslash: MyFiles\Accounting\Payroll\VacPay

Ed Heel  Mar 07, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 103
4th bullet

What is meant by "program input"? You could argue that "April 1" in the previous bullet is program input because in that case you're inputting text to a program that is displaying a Date box.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Replace the bullet with "In content for developers, use a monospace font for code examples and output text."

Ed Heel  Mar 07, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 103
Top

The examples of Microsoft style do not use bold formatting for the labels.

Ed Heel  Mar 07, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 96
6th row of table

"system defined" should be hyphenated, as in the row above.

Ed Heel  Mar 06, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 129
Bulleted list

The first list item includes all the subsequent list items.

Ed Heel  Mar 02, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 140
in step 3 of "Microsoft style (infinitive phrase)

In Step 3 of the "Microsoft style (infinitive phrase)" example, "... and then click OK." I believe 'OK' should be in bold as it is in Step 3 of the identical example above.

Mike Blake  Feb 24, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 59
3rd bullet

On page 59 you state in the 3rd bullet "Remove the checkmark" yet on page 263 in the alpha section, you state that "check mark" is two words.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Should be check mark.

Mike Blake  Feb 21, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 67
Paragraph just above screenshot

"The following illustrations show examples of toolbars." should be "The following illustration shows an example of a toolbar."

Ed Heel  Feb 21, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 64
Last paragraph

This paragraph says "... refer to unavailable commands and options ..." However, on the previous page, it says "Do not refer to a menu command as a choice or an option."

Note from the Author or Editor:
remove "option" from that paragraph: In general, refer to unavailable commands as unavailable...

("unavailable" is ital)

Ed Heel  Feb 21, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 37
1st line of new subsection

I think that the word "and" is missing between "comprehension" and "make".

Ed Heel  Feb 17, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 36
3rd row of table

The second bullet is not an example so it should be a normal paragraph instead. Also, bulleted lists are not used elsewhere in the table for examples anyway.

Note from the Author or Editor:
2nd item shouldn't be a bullet

Ed Heel  Feb 17, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 8
2nd table, 4th row

"preforming" should presumably be "performing".

Ed Heel  Feb 17, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 39
Third bulleted item under "Testing for jargon" heading

Review the phrase "it is may be all right" in the following sentence:

If the term is used in newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, or in
general interest magazines, such as Time or Newsweek, it is may be all right to use for some
audiences.

It seems as though the sentence should read:

If the term is used in newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, or in
general interest magazines, such as Time or Newsweek, it may be all right to use for some
audiences.

Anonymous  Feb 15, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
Printed
Page 80
3rd row (Group box), Definition column

'prograrms' instead of 'programs' in first sentence in table cell

Jeff Sneddon  Feb 15, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 20
2nd row of table on the left

Incomplete text in the left side of the 2nd row in the table:

"To learn about a complex
task or feature in an we"

Note from the Author or Editor:
Needs to be changed to ?To learn about a complex task or a feature in an application?

Robert Levy  Feb 08, 2012  Nov 16, 2012
PDF
Page 35
3rd paragraph

"The style of the source language has significant impact on the quality if the translation and how well the translated content can be understood."

Should read:
"The style of the source language has significant impact on the quality of the translation and how well the translated content can be understood."

To clarify, ?if? should be changed to ?of?.

Microsoft Press  Jan 27, 2012  Nov 16, 2012