White Space Cleanup

Screenshot of the Cleanup dialog box with arrows pointing at the sections 'White Space (whole document)' and 'White Space (font-sensitive)'
The white-space cleanup options on the eXtyles Cleanup dialog.

 

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Cleanup

White Space (whole document) and White Space (font-sensitive) are the sections of Cleanup that can remove extraneous spacing in your document

 

White Space (whole document)

When checked, the following Cleanup features will be applied to the entire document.

Cleanup Function

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Cleanup Function

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Remove Section Breaks

Generally, section breaks that have been used to enforce layout preferences in Word that are not relevant in an XML workflow should be removed; e.g., section-based page numbering.

However, you will want to retain section breaks when they are used to, for example, achieve landscape orientation for sideturn tables.

Reviewing your Word document prior to running eXtyles Cleanup will inform whether you remove or retain section breaks.

Remove Page Breaks

Page breaks are generally not needed in an XML workflow and can safely be removed.

Remove Column Breaks

Column breaks are almost always used to enforce a layout design in Word and they should be removed.

Remove space between a number and %

Removes unwanted space between a number and a percent symbol; e.g., 20 % → 20%

 

If you find yourself consistently checking or unchecking options on the Cleanup dialog you may want to reach out to eXtyles support to adjust your organization's default settings.

White Space (font-sensitive)

When checked, the following Cleanup options are run on the document.

Cleanup Function

Use

Cleanup Function

Use

Convert Tabs to Spaces

Changes tab characters to one space.

Importantly, you will want to review the Word document before selecting this option to identify whether you want to retain tabs in the file; e.g., if they have been used to separate a term from its definition in an abbreviations list.

Remove Multiple Spaces

Converts multiple spaces to one; e.g., two spaces at the end of a sentence will be converted to one.

Remove Start and End Paragraph Spaces

Removes space at the beginning or end of a paragraph.

This process removes leading and trailing spaces as well as nonbreaking spaces and soft returns.

Note that this step and Remove Multiple Spaces, when checked, are applied after Convert Tabs to Spaces, so that all extra white space is removed from the document.

Remove Blank Paragraphs

Deletes blank/empty paragraphs in the Word document.

Exclude Text in Font

These Cleanup features can be refined to exclude certain paragraphs that should retain whitespace (e.g., programming code, poetry, etc.). When checked, Exclude Text in Font allows you to choose from the dropdown which font to exclude during this portion of Cleanup.

To exclude or not to exclude:

Excluding paragraphs from white space–related Cleanup features is optional. You can still run all Cleanup features on all paragraphs in your documents if you prefer, by leaving the Exclude Text in Font checkbox unchecked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to use

Before running Cleanup, check your document for paragraphs or sections that eXtyles should skip during white-space Cleanup (e.g. verse/poetry, etc.) and make sure those paragraphs are in a font that is not used elsewhere in the document (and apply a font if necessary).

Check the box for Exclude Text in Font and choose your desired font from the dropdown menu. Run Cleanup as normal.

Screenshot of the Cleanup dialog zoomed in to the 'White Space (font-sensitive)' section with 'Exclude Text in Font' checked and the dropdown menu has the font Courier New selected
The Exclude Text in Font option of the Cleanup dialog.

 

 

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