Inserting symbols, dates and dashes in Write by Zaweba

Not every character you need is printed on the keyboard. A copyright line, a degree sign in a recipe, a fraction or a foreign currency all call for something the keys don't show. Write by Zaweba has a symbol picker, a date and time tool and shortcuts for the characters people use most.

Insert > Symbol

The Symbol dialog under the Insert menu offers common symbols, the ones you have used recently and a set of special characters. Recently used symbols are the real time saver: if you write about temperatures or prices in euros every week, the symbol you need is right at the front after the first time.

Special characters cover the typographic marks that make a document look finished, the ones that are fiddly to type any other way.

Shortcuts for the usual suspects

Keyboard shortcuts type the copyright, registered and trademark signs, an ellipsis and dashes directly. Help > Keyboard shortcuts lists them alongside the rest of Write's shortcuts.

AutoCorrect also helps as you type. It turns (c) into the copyright sign, (r) into the registered sign and (tm) into the trademark sign, and it handles some arrows and fractions. If you wanted the brackets and letters as typed, undo straight after the change puts them back. Each correction can be turned off in Tools > AutoCorrect options.

Dates and times in UK formats

Date and time inserts the date or time using UK formats, so you get day, month and year in the order readers in Britain expect. There are two ways to insert it.

Typed in, the date becomes ordinary text. It will stay exactly as it is. That is right for letters, where the date shows when you wrote it, and for minutes and records.

As a self-updating field, the date changes to show the current date. That suits templates and documents that are printed again and again, such as a weekly checklist or a standard cover sheet, where the date should always be today's.

Be careful not to mix the two up. A letter with a self-updating date will show a new date every time someone opens it, which can cause confusion later about when it was really sent. When in doubt for anything that is a record, type the date in as text.

Tips for tidy typography

Use a real dash rather than a hyphen when a sentence needs one, and be consistent in how you use them. AutoCorrect takes care of much of this as you type.

Use the ellipsis character rather than three full stops. It is one character, so it always looks evenly spaced.

Use the proper fraction or degree characters where they exist. They look much neater in a recipe or a set of instructions than a slash or the letter o.

Fonts matter too. Some symbols exist only in certain fonts, and a symbol that looks right on your screen can show as an empty box elsewhere if the font is missing. Exporting a PDF embeds the fonts, so the page looks the same to everyone. When you send a .docx, sticking to common fonts keeps symbols safe.

These small touches add up. A document with the right symbols and well chosen dates looks careful and professional, and with the picker, shortcuts and AutoCorrect, it takes no extra time.