Information for MS Word Users

Users of Microsoft Word are amply rewarded in Nota Bene. You will have control over your documents such as you've never experienced before. NB is designed to give the demanding user unparalleled access to a document's layout settings. Documents saved in Word or RTF format are easily and accurately converted to Nota Bene, and the reverse is equally true. Documents related to academic work face the added complexities of scholarly layouts and citations, and Nota Bene's built-in style manuals provide researchers with unparalleled consistency and ease of use.

Users of Nota Bene's layout settings for academic work require virtually no user intervention: documents that take advantage of the Style Manual mechanism in NB are assured of the comprehensive layout requirements of the selected academic style manual automatically, including citations and bibliographies. Moreover, in the event that you need to submit your work to a reviewer requiring a different style manual, NB will convert the entire document to the new style with a few mouse clicks, including citations and bibliographies.

In order to take advantage of these facilities, here are a few brief and simple points to understand and tips for the best conversion of a document originally created in Word and meant to be an academic paper, article, or book chapter:

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The logic of NB's academic style lies in that all the layout settings for all style elements are placed at the very start of the file. Then, as you need to type in different regions of the document, the style elements for each region are simply implemented (this, among other things, gives NB documents unusually economic file sizes, on average of 33% smaller than their Word counterparts).

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For optimum benefits, after converting the Word document to NB and saving it in NB, strip as many of the different paragraph indentations as possible, with the goal of making all paragraphs unindented. Consider this converted document to be the intermediate "raw material" on its way to becoming a polished academic document.

•	Documents laid out with a style in NB, including academic style manuals, are started as new documents. In order to get optimal results, you will want to copy and paste your text from the converted Word document to the new NB document containing the Style Manual.

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Also for optimum automation of the reference apparatus, you should cite your references from the bibliographic data you enter in Ibidem. Citing by way of Ibidem ensures that the selected reference style is made automatically and consistently: all you do is click and Ibidem will keep track of everything according to the style's rules, including repeated instances of the same citations.

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Creating a document with a style manual is as easy as clicking on File, New and selecting the academic style manual you need. Once selected, you will be asked to fill in your information. Once you're finished, a new NB untitled document will be opened for you. It will contain no words — that's your job but behind that empty document are the dozens and dozens of rules governing every element of the text and the bibliographic references that the academic style requires.

•	Each time you need a new element in your work (e.g., headings at different levels, begin/end block indents), click on Insert, Framework Level, and the appropriate element. NB will implement the layout rules for that element automatically. All you do is type your contents.

•	Creating a new document with an academic style also means that your Ibidem references and bibliographies are synchronized automatically with the selected style of your document.

Remember: an NB document that uses a style manual operates as a seamless fabric from top to bottom — all its internal components work together and dynamically relate to each other. You are no longer using your computer as a glorified typewriter, with each paragraph operating on its own and unable to communicate with the rest of the document or with the citation database. NB is not a word-processor: it's a suite of research tools that enable you to research and write in the complex and demanding environment of the academic world.

The brief comparison table below will highlight some differences between Word and Nota Bene. In the meantime, welcome to the academic community of Nota Bene!

NB:

Built into the suite. Click on New, click on needed style manual, fill in dialogs, click OK. To use style manual, click on Insert, Framework Level, then the item/level needed. Headings are inserted along with the space for the body text. N.B.: When finished with a block quote (Block Indent Begin/End) click on Insert, Framework Level, Block Indent (Begin/End) once to follow with non-indented paragraph, twice for indented.

NB:	Built into the suite; selected style manual works seamlessly with Ibidem., the bibliographic db.

NB:	Built into the suite. Orbis links search results back to Ibidem and forward to author's document.

NB:	Changing layout takes effect at the point of change forward. (Totally unnecessary to change layout in documents using built-in style manuals)

NB:	Normally, 33% smaller than comparable Word files; results in faster editing and responsiveness.