Overview

The eXtyles Auto-Redact function automates common, time-consuming Word edits so that editors and copy editors don’t have to spend time making repetitive or minor edits. The Auto-Redact function automatically performs a complex set of text substitutions in a document to bring it into compliance with some of the predefined publication styles and standards of USGS.

Auto-Redact substitutions are based on user-defined rules. Your custom eXtyles configuration is based on detailed customer-specific information gathered from USGS and implemented by the eXtyles configuration team. Rules related in some way to each other (e.g., rules dealing with abbreviations of units of measure or rules that convert British spelling into American spelling) are assembled into eXtyles "dictionaries." There are three categories of dictionaries:

General dictionaries, which apply to all documents processed by eXtyles
Publisher-specific dictionaries, which apply to all documents of a specific publisher
Publication-specific dictionaries, which apply to all documents of a single publication within a publisher group (e.g., to a single journal within a publisher family)

eXtyles automatically loads the correct dictionaries based on the document information you have supplied during the activation and normalization process.

In this section

Using Auto-Redact

There are two stages of Auto-Redact available on the eXtyles ribbon: Auto-Redact and Late-Stage Auto-Redact. Auto-Redact should be run immediately after paragraph styling. The process will apply a set of rules that make editorial changes to the content of the document. Late-Stage Auto-Redact should be run after eXtyles Advanced Processes (e.g., Bibliographic Reference Processing, Citation Matching, etc.) and before XML Export. These rules will provide additional cleanup and perform some simple checks that will ensure that your document is ready for XML Export.

Auto-Redact

Perform the following steps to apply the Auto-Redact rules to a document:

1. Select Auto-Redact from the eXtyles ribbon

The following dialogue will appear:

Warning

Note that by clicking the "Yes/No" toggle in the Active column in this dialogue, you can disable Auto-Redact dictionaries from running on a given document. However, Inera strongly advises against this. If you find that you frequently would like to turn off any given dictionary, please contact extyles-support@inera.com.

Likewise, you can access the content of the Auto-Redact dictionaries by clicking "Edit" in the Edit column of the dialogue. Inera strongly advises against this. If you have an itch to edit any of the Auto-Redact rules that run on your content, contact extyles-support@inera.com and inquire about the eXtyles Administrator Training courses we offer (in which we teach you how to scratch that Auto-Redact itch).

2. Click OK to process the document

The changes eXtyles makes to your content during this Auto-Redact stage are not tracked (e.g., by Word's Track Changes function). But, fear not. You can still easily view any changes that were made to your content using eXtyles's Compare to Baseline function.

Remember, Auto-Redact is a safe and efficient way to quickly make routine editorial changes to your content; it is a thoughtful set of rules that are, among other things, context-specific. For example, Auto-Redact will avoid making changes to quoted material and references.

3. Click "Compare to Baseline"

Whenever you run Auto-Redact, eXtyles will automatically make a backup copy of your manuscript. Having a backup copy allows you to use Compare to Baseline immediately after Auto-Redact to review the changes that are made by eXtyles. Inera recommends that the first several times you use Auto-Redact you do a Compare to Baseline check of the changes. After performing this check several times, you may feel confident enough in Auto-Redact that you omit the Compare to Baseline check from your workflow. However, you may also find that you prefer to continue this check, as it is a quick and easy way to proof Auto-Redact changes.

Warning

Do not edit the baseline comparison file (or the baseline file itself). The baseline comparison file is just for you to use for comparison purposes. Always make your changes in the working Word document. If the document title reads Compare Result 1 and there are changes tracked in the document, you’re looking at a comparison document. If you want to adjust or reject one of the Auto-Redact changes, close or minimize the comparison document and make your edits in the working Word document.

If you find that during editing you are making the same changes over and over (either manually or via Word's find-and-replace function), let us know! There's a good chance we can write an Auto-Redact rule (or two) to automatically make those changes for you.

Late-Stage Auto-Redact

Late-Stage Auto-Redact can perform more focused editorial cleanup by leveraging the styling that has been applied to the document via eXtyles Advanced Processes. For example, Late-Stage Auto-Redact can change hyphens to en-dashes specifically in volume numbers in references. It can also warn when a specific piece of content might not be styled correctly; for example, if the References heading has been styled as a Head 1 rather than a References Head.

Perform the following steps to apply Late-Stage Auto-Redact to a document.

1. Select Late-Stage Auto-Redact from the eXtyles ribbon

The following dialog will appear (note that there are fewer dictionaries than in the Auto-Redact menu; this is as expected):

2. Click OK to process the document

As with Auto-Redact, the changes eXtyles makes to your content during Late-Stage Auto-Redact are not tracked (e.g., by Word's Track Changes function). Again, you can still easily view any changes that were made to your content using eXtyles's Compare to Baseline function.

3. Click Compare to Baseline and/or Review New Word Comments, if Any

As with Auto-Redact, you can use Compare to Baseline to review any changes made to the text by Late-Stage Auto-Redact. Additionally, Late-Stage Auto-Redact will warn, in the form of a Word comment, when specific text may be incorrectly styled. In the following example, the References head has been styled as Head 1 (rather than References Head).

Review the comments and make any style changes that might be necessary.

It is important to review and address all comments that are added to the document by eXtyles processes.