auto highlight text

[Jonathan Horvath]

I have a somewhat large size document (250 pages) that is basically a script
for a play.

Is there a way to automatically highlight text so that the individual
characters can easily spot their lines?

Every speaking line begins with the character name and a colon ("John:").

In between the speaking lines are additional text, movements, etc... there
are about 8 main characters.

Thanks!

Jonathan

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Are you wanting to highlight all the dialog lines or specific ones for each
character!

 

[Jonathan Horvath]

all of them.

Are you wanting to highlight all the dialog lines or specific ones for each
character!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In that case, I would advise defining a style for the dialog that is
different from the rest of the document (this would be the efficient way to
create it in the first place--with specific styles for dialog, stage
directions, scene numbers, etc.) You can either make that style Bold or in a
larger font size or apply a background color (shading) to the text; actual
highlighting can't be defined as part of a style, but you can retroactively
highlight paragraphs in a given style using Find to search for the style and
then apply the highlight.

 

[grammatim]

If you want to hand each actor a copy with their own lines highlighted
(either with a Highlight color or with bold or larger size or some
such), you could do a Wild Card search where what you put in the find
box is the character's name and colon, then *^13 (which means
"everything until the next paragraph break"). Go to More and check
"Use wildcards." In the Replace box, go to More > Format and choose
your marking device -- Highlight color from Highlight, Bold from Font
(or type Ctrl-B), etc. Then test it by clicking Find Next and Replace.

NB I have NOT tried this; I'm extrapolating from similar instructions
given me here a few weeks ago.

If a speech could be more than one paragraph long, then in the Find
box, type whatever signals the break before the next character, such
as two paragraph breaks.

If you want to drive your cast crazy, you could use this method to
highlight each character's lines with a different color. (Up to 12
colors, IIRC.)

 

[Jonathan Horvath]

Yes, this worked. Thanks!

Jonathan

If you want to hand each actor a copy with their own lines highlighted
(either with a Highlight color or with bold or larger size or some
such), you could do a Wild Card search where what you put in the find
box is the character's name and colon, then *^13 (which means
"everything until the next paragraph break"). Go to More and check
"Use wildcards." In the Replace box, go to More > Format and choose
your marking device -- Highlight color from Highlight, Bold from Font
(or type Ctrl-B), etc. Then test it by clicking Find Next and Replace.

NB I have NOT tried this; I'm extrapolating from similar instructions
given me here a few weeks ago.

If a speech could be more than one paragraph long, then in the Find
box, type whatever signals the break before the next character, such
as two paragraph breaks.

If you want to drive your cast crazy, you could use this method to
highlight each character's lines with a different color. (Up to 12
colors, IIRC.)