Write Defaults |
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The formatting of any file is determined by any format commands explicitly issued and, to the extent that none are issued, by your default settings. Most Windows word processors automatically write your system's default format commands into a file. The result is that the default settings in effect when the file was created will apply when the file is opened at a later date or on a different computer. Nota Bene does not automatically write the default settings into a file, but it does make this option available to you. To write the default format commands into an open file:
The default format commands will be inserted at the top of the file and will be visible in Show Codes View.
Note that whether or not the defaults are written into the file, any format commands explicitly issued in the document will always be reflected in the document. The following examples demonstrate the difference between writing the defaults into a document and not writing the defaults into a document.
Example 1: Nota Bene is shipped with Times New Roman, 10 point as the default font. Suppose that after writing several documents, you decide that you would prefer to use 12 point as the default font size. Your defaults can be changed by clicking Tools, Preferences and then double clicking on Fonts and changing the size from 10 to 12. If you do this, and then open one of the documents you wrote before changing the defaults, you will find that the font in the earlier documents now corresponds to your new defaults -- i.e., 12 point, not 10 point (this assumes that you did not explicitly set the font size in the document). However, if before changing your defaults, you had written the defaults into the document, then no matter what new defaults you choose, the old defaults (10 point in this example) would be reflected.
Example 2: Suppose your colleague writes a section of a joint paper and the default settings on her system are Times New Roman, 12 point and 0.5 inch tabs. You take the file from her to integrate into your document. Your document is written using Courier 10 point and 1.0 inch tab settings. If default settings are written into your colleague's document, then they will be reflected in the section she has written in your document and will need to be reformatted. If the default settings are not written into her document, then when you open her file on your computer, your default settings will determine the appearance of the file. Of course, any formatting commands that your colleague explicitly inserted in the document would always be reflected.
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