Adding Dummy Text to a Document


When you're working on a document (particularly if you're collaborating with another user), you may need to set up the document's layout and formatting before the text is ready. Most document designers work around this problem by adding dummy text, which enables them to tweak the design without having to wait for the text.

Using the RAND Function

Word's RAND function enables you to insert dummy text automatically:

 =RAND(paragraphs, sentences) 

Here, the paragraphs value specifies the number of paragraphs of dummy text that Word will generate, and sentences specifies the number of sentences per paragraph. You can specify up to 200 paragraphs of up to 99 sentences each, or up to 99 paragraphs with up to 200 sentences in each.

For example, to generate five paragraphs with six sentences in each, you'd type the following formula at the spot in the document where you want the dummy text to appear, and then press Enter:

 =RAND(5,6) 

In all cases, Word simply repeats the following sentence:

 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 

This classic sentence is famous for containing all 26 letters of the alphabet.

Using the Repeat Command

There's another road to filler text that you might want to try. As you may know, when you type text in Word without performing any other action (such as deleting characters or applying formatting), Word stores all the text you've typed since the previous nontyping action. This means that you can also force Word to repeat the typing by selecting Edit, Repeat Typing, or by using the faster keyboard shortcuts: F4 or Ctrl+Y. For some quick filler text, type a few words and then press F4 repeatedly until the area you want is filled.

Even better, use that old document designer standby, the semi-Latin text snippet:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.

I've pasted this text into the Chapter01.doc example file.

From Here

  • For more on the Fill-in field, see the section "Personalizing Mail Merges with Fill-in Fields" in Chapter 6.

  • For the details on using Word for collaboration, see the section "Collaborating on a Word Document" in Chapter 7.

  • To learn how to customize Word's toolbars, see Chapter 10, "Customizing Office to Suit Your Style," particularly the "Creating Custom Toolbars" section.

  • For custom Word keyboard shortcuts, see the section "Creating Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in Word" in Chapter 10.

  • To learn how to work with the VBA Editor and create macros, see Chapter 11, "Maximizing Office with VBA Macros."

  • For more useful Word VBA macros, see the section "Word Macros" in Chapter 12.

  • For information on applying a digital signature to a project, see the section "Self-Certifying Your VBA Projects" in Chapter 14.



Tricks of the Microsoft Office Gurus
Tricks of the Microsoft Office Gurus
ISBN: 0789733692
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 129

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