RNS SUBMIT FORMATTING GUIDE

Transcription

1 RNS SUBMIT FORMATTING GUIDE

2 Introduction Following the launch of new RNS Submit, we have identified the Microsoft Word issues that most frequently affect the conversion quality of your announcements in the new system. This reference guide contains formatting tips that will help you to tackle those issues and achieve faster, more accurate announcement conversions. Essential Advice If you see any formatting problems once you have converted your announcement, always copy and paste your original Word file into a new WordPad and back into Word before converting again. Word may generate complex formatting in the backend of your file and this can often introduce hidden styles. Although not visible immediately, they will become apparent when the file is converted in RNS Submit, which uses a very structured new web technology called XHTML.You should be aware that formats such as auto-numbering do not transfer consistently when the Word file is converted. Note: WordPad would have automatically changed the bullet points. These will need to be redefined by deleting the old bullets and replacing them with fresh ones from the Word toolbar bullet icon. WordPad saves a lot of formatting time as it sets the file s style to Normal without changing the original cosmetics of the document, ensuring that the announcement is in a format suitable for display. If you experience problems with a conversion in the form of poorly converted auto numbering, always copy and paste your file into WordPad and back into Word again before conversion. Below, you ll find some formatting tips on how to correct the other most common issues that can arise when converting Word announcements. 01

3 8 easy steps to good formatting Following these basic steps should ensure that your announcements can be quickly and accurately processed in a format that is suitable for information vendors. Issue 1 I cannot see any of my table gridlines or underlines appearing in my conversion: Once an announcement is converted, the new RNS Submit tool automatically launches the Edit view of the release. This view will not show the full cosmetics of the announcement. To see what your announcement will look like when published in its rich format: Click on Review and Edit (at step 5 of the submission). Click on Preview from the Editor s toolbar. This will refresh the window with the true webpage view of your release showing the full cosmetics of your announcement. 2 In Preview Mode some of my table gridlines: don t appear appear with incorrect gridlines. Word may create unnecessary styles for tables. To ensure that the table gridlines show up before converting the file in RNS Submit: Open the original Word file. From the Word toolbar click on Edit> Select All> Copy. Launch WordPad by going to Start Programmes > Accessories> WordPad. In WordPad click on Edit > Paste. This will transfer the file into WordPad. (NB You do not need to make any cosmetic or material changes in WordPad). From the WordPad toolbar click on Edit > Select All > Copy. Launch a fresh blank Microsoft Word file. From the Word toolbar click on Edit > Paste. This will transfer the file from WordPad back into Word. Note The only change WordPad would have automatically made to the file is the change to bullet points. These will need to be redefined by deleting the old bullets and replacing them with fresh ones from the Word toolbar bullet icon. This can be easily and quickly achieved through a global Find and Replace. 02

4 3 The height of the line between sentences appears too high, or tables appear with rows overlapping: Use of Superscript or Subscript causes line height in text or cell heights in tables to increase when the Word file is converted to a webpage in XHTML. To correct this issue: Open the original Word file. Select the text and from the Word toolbar click on Format Font. A window will appear. Untick the font properties boxes for Superscript and Subscript. See image below: Note Where necessary, place brackets around text that is no longer in superscript. This is to ensure that the information will be read correctly e.g. TEST TM will then become TEST(TM) and not TESTTM. 03

5 4 5 Text converts with gaps: My bullet points convert inconsistently with some misaligned: Use of justified text causes white spaces to appear within the text when the Word file is saved as a webpage: Avoid using justified text if you experience this issue. This is often caused by unequal paragraph settings or inconsistent tab settings in the original Word file. To correct this issue: Open the original Word file. Highlight the section of bullets. From the Word toolbar, click on Format Paragraph. Ensure that the paragraph settings are appearing as 0cm and 0pt, with single line space and no hanging indents. See image below: 04

6 6 Sometimes I get a failed conversion when I try to upload a file or after having made a change to my announcement in the RNS Editor: Very occasionally files may fail to convert in the tool. The most common causes and their solutions, are listed below: Cause a) Corrupt styles Solution a) Remove corrupt styles Some Word documents may become corrupt or refer to styles that are not properly defined. If any document fails to convert, Word provides an option under Open called Open and Repair. This will attempt to repair issues and the document should then convert: Open Word window. Click on File > Open. Click onto the file to highlight it in the Open box and choose Open and Repair. See image below. Word will then automatically repair the file. Re-save and re-convert in the RNS Submit tool. 05

7 Cause b) Unsupported fonts c) Password protection Solution Change font styles to standard Word fonts Some unsupported fonts may cause a document to fail to convert. When an organisation uses its own in-house style fonts, these may cause conversion to fail as they are not recognised as standard fonts: Set font styles to the standard Word fonts e.g. Times New Roman or Arial and then retry conversion of the file. Remove password protection If a whole file or parts of it are password protected, the conversion will fail as the tool is unable to automatically open the file for conversion: Remove the password protection from the file before conversion. d) Corrupt hyperlinks Remove corrupt hyperlinks Incorrect URLs that would give an error message if you were to paste the link into a web browser will cause a document to fail conversion. It is worth checking URLs if conversion is failing. Avoid pasting URLs into the RNS Editor as any problem with the URL may stop the document saving. To fix incorrect URLs launch the original Word file. Locate the URL in the Word file. Delete the corrupt URL and re-type with the correct URL. Note To check that a URL works, copy and paste it from your Word window into your web browser. The page should then display the information expected. If you click on the URL from the preview screen it will display the webpage requested. However, to return to the edit view of the announcement, you will need to exit the Edit screen and re-enter. 06

8 Cause e) Corrupt bookmark links Solution Remove corrupt bookmark links Check the original Word file for bookmark links by doing the following: Open the original Word file. From the Word toolbar click on Insert Bookmarks. A list will appear of all the links present in the file. Highlight each link and click on Delete. Ensure you also place a tick in the hidden bookmarks box to show all bookmarks present in the file. See image below: 07

9 Cause f) Embedded field codes Solution Remove embedded field codes Check for field codes by doing the following: Click on Tools > Options > View and place a tick in the field codes option box. See image below: This will reveal the codes and links in the file. See below for an example: 08

10 Cause Solution Highlight the field code and choose Delete to get rid of it. Type in ordinary text the information which is to be displayed in the announcement. OR The preferred solution is to copy the announcement from Word into WordPad and back into Word and upload the announcement. This retains the field codes text. Note To show/hide field codes/resultant text within the entire document, press ALT+F9. Alternatively, to show/hide field codes/resultant text for an individual field, press Shift+F9. g) Embedded macros g) Disable embedded macros If a file is produced with macros, the conversion will fail. To avoid this problem, you must: Open the file in Word. Word will give a prompt to Enable or Disable Macros. Click on Disable Macros. Resubmit the file to RNS. h) Changes made in the Editor h) Avoid making changes in the Editor Changes being made in the Editor (such as when trying to correct one or more of the issues from Word outlined above) may cause the validation of the file to fail when you click Next to continue the submission procedure: To avoid this, always make your changes in the original Word before conversion. 09

11 7 8 I have no Undo button to revert back to my original data if I have made a change in error: For your records: To avoid losing work each time you make a change in the tool, click on Update. This will save each change as you go along. If you make a change that is not required, instead of clicking on Update, click on Cancel. This will take you out of the Review and Edit Window. Click back in and you will find that your announcement would have reverted back to its last state when you last updated the document. If you wish to retain a hardcopy/softcopy version of your announcement as received, you should set up your page to print from the browser: For a hardcopy version: Open a view of the submitted document from the Status List. Press <CTRL><N>. Click on File > Print from your browser toolbar. We recommend that you use landscape. This is available from printing preferences. For a softcopy version: Open a view of the submitted document from the Status List. Press <CTRL><N>. Right click on the file. Choose View Source. Choose File > Save As. Choose All Files. Type the file name with.html as the file extension e.g. Announcement copy.html. Choose the location on your PC where you wish to update your copy. 10