Stripping out/reformatting text written in caps

[Blue Velvet]

So I've got a huge text file in MS Access at the mo, which will probably be exported to Word before going to the the typesetters to make up a 500+ page directory...

...BUT MANY OF THE ENTRIES ARE WRITTEN IN CAPS LIKE THIS.

Any automatic way of reformatting this text rather than retyping these entries?

*sigh*

 

[beefy23]

So I've got a huge text file in MS Access at the mo, which will probably be imported to Word before going to the the typesetters to make up a 500+ page directory...

...BUT MANY OF THE ENTRIES ARE WRITTEN IN CAPS LIKE THIS.

Any automatic way of reformatting this text rather than retyping these entries?

*sigh*

Have you considered piping the file through a text editor like Smultron or TextMate - they both have functions to deal with the issue you refer to.

 

[skybolt]

Once it is in Word, you can highlight the offending text and then press Shift + F3 to toggle between all caps, no caps, or initial caps. Maybe that would work for your needs. Don't know if that works within Access or not, though.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

MS Excel can handle this task. Import the text file into Excel, apply the PROPER() function to all the values, then export the resulting data to MS Access.

 

[mkrishnan]

I think you should use SQL to add obligatory OMG!!!11111 and LOLZ and ROFLMAO's into the text.

Seriously, however, if you can use Word on a Mac, you might be able to make use of WordServices -- there are Initial Caps of Sentences and Initial Caps of Words converters in it. It installs into the Services menu item under "convert."

http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/freeware/services.html

 

[Blue Velvet]

Seriously, however, if you can use Word on a Mac, you might be able to make use of WordServices -- there are Initial Caps of Sentences and Initial Caps of Words converters in it. It installs into the Services menu item under "convert."

http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/freeware/services.html

Thanks for all replies.

This sounds ideal and relatively straightforward as we have MS Office 2004 on the Macs. I need a very quick and easy solution as this is a huge manuscript and about half of the entries are written like this. I'm just a humble designer, not an editor or text-wrangler...

I'll let you know how I get on over the next few days. Thanks, all.

 

[beefy23]

Thanks for all replies.

I'm just a humble designer, not an editor or text-wrangler...

we can't all be perfect . Hope the solution you chose works out though.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Seriously, however, if you can use Word on a Mac, you might be able to make use of WordServices -- there are Initial Caps of Sentences and Initial Caps of Words converters in it. It installs into the Services menu item under "convert."

Word Services works in any Cocoa application -- is Word one of them? Either way, it works in TextEdit, Pages, or any number of other applications.

Word Services is indispensable. I've had it for years. Can't live without.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Word Services works in any Cocoa application -- is Word one of them? Either way, it works in TextEdit, Pages, or any number of other applications.

Word Services is indispensable. I've had it for years. Can't live without.

Unfortunately, Word is Services-unaware. Not only is it a Carbon app, it seems to completely disregard the Services options in Mac OS X, for some strange reason. This is unfortunate, in my opinion, since, as IJ Reilly mentioned, Services are incredibly useful.

 

[mkrishnan]

Ahhh, I'm sorry, my bad.

However, the solution is even simpler.

MS Word -> Format Menu -> Change Case.

Voilà

Shame on me -- I forgot that was there.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Shame on me -- I forgot that was there.

I never knew it was there in the first place; shows how much I use MS apps. Better check to see whether it's also there on the work PCs so the copy doesn't have to sully the Macs until it's on its best behaviour.