I read this whole thread and realized that I have lots of tips to add.
To en dash or to double dash? Some companies want the en dash while others want the double dash. The easy way to take care of that is this: Format, AutoFormat, Options and then on the AutoFormat tab you tic the box "Hyphens (--) with (–)"
Now for it to work as you type, you also need to go to the AutoFormat As You Type tab also and tic the same box.
Boxes tic'd means en dash (–), boxes not tic'd means double dash (--). Also when you do en dashes this way, they don't change, as you're typing, from double dash to en dash until after you type the next word and then hit the space bar, then it changes.
To single space or double space after the period? Some companies want 2 and some want 1. To ensure you do it right. Go into Tools, Options, hit the Spelling & Grammar tab, then click on Settings and there under
Require is "Spaces required between sentences:", your choices are 1, 2 or don't check. The only reason I mention this is because it took me forever to figure out and find out where this was. I knew it was in there somewhere, but it took me a while to find it.
I found an autotext program that is awesome. And I know you can do a lot of this in the AutoCorrect of Word, however this program goes beyond the capabilities of just substitution. The program is Phrase Express and you can get it at
Autotext - Clipboard Utility - Snippets Organizer. It is free for personal use. If you use it a lot, like I do, you will get a pop up box asking you to buy it for commercial use. If you ignore the box, you can still type and it won't pop up again, as long as you leave it open. If you plan on sticking with using it, I would recommend purchasing it, as I will be doing. I would also recommend turning off automatic updates until you purchase it.
I find this program so invaluable. I have, probably, over 300 phrases set up in it. One of the nice things is the ability to set up phrases on the fly. You type it, highlight it, hit ALT+CTRL+C and the new phrase box pops up. You just click on what keys or characters you want, whether you want it as rich formatted text or plain text and hit enter. Then every time you hit those keys or characters your phrase will automatically pop up.
For example, I type for QT and since they're all voicemail messages, there are a lot of predictable phrases. Like "call me later" or "how are you?" or "give me a call when you get a chance". For all these phrases and a lot more, I set up the first letter of each word as the trigger: cml = call me later, hru = How are you?, and gmacwygac = give me a call when you get a chance. You just type your trigger letters and when you hit the space your phrase appears.
Another very handy feature is the ability to configure macros (sort of). A good example is timestamps for Express Scribe. Another poster said she's configured "CTRL+T, CTRL+V, CTRL+X" to post and format the time. That is 3 different steps/keystrokes. With Phrase Express, I have set it up so I just type SHFT+CTRL+V and it pastes the timecode formatted to how I need it. In this case it's 00:00:00 format. One of the things Express Scribe won't do is put the extra 0 in the front, so you either have to put it in manually or configure it with a program.
You can turn PE off & on at will by holding CTRL & clicking the PE icon in the task bar.
You can also view all your phrases by clicking on the PE icon and then clicking on Settings. You can view, modify, add or delete any phrase from here.
Another trick I use for Express Scribe is for when I'm using the F-keys to play/stop, etc. I've cut little square stickers in half and colored them. Green goes on the F9 to play, red goes on the F10 to stop and I'm going to put a sticker on the dash button too because I keep hitting the 0 or = instead of the -. These are visual "at a glance" aids which have helped me immensely.
I use Word 2002 on a laptop with Windows XP. Hope this will help someone.