iWork '09: The Missing Manual

Tracking Changes

As you’ve seen, Pages provides a whole arsenal of tools to help spot, prevent, and correct errors in your text. In the end, though, these automated services can go only so far. No matter how cleverly programmed, a bucket-of-bolts wordbot is no substitute for the critical eye and creative mind of a living, breathing human editor. That’s especially true when you move beyond mechanical considerations of spelling or typos and into more writerly concerns of style and substance.

GEM IN THE ROUGH: Lightspeed Typing with Text Substitution

Although turned off when you first start using Pages, the Symbol and text substitution option in Auto-Correction Preferences is a hidden powerhouse of productivity. The pre-loaded list of corrections might make you think that this feature is useful only for doing subtle typographic corrections to turn (c) into © or 1/2 into ½. While those are handy enough, text substitution becomes really powerful when you tailor it for the words, phrases, or even paragraphs that you use all the time.

For example, as Chief Sidekick Officer of superhero outfitter Up & Away, you notice that you frequently start letters with the same sentence: “Thank you for your interest in Up & Away’s sidekick placement services. We have a long tradition of finding the perfect match for solo heroes and aimless boy wonders. With our help you’ll be part of a dynamic duo in no time.” Whew, that’s a mouthful, and it’s tough to muster fresh enthusiasm to type that paragraph every ...