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how to find bold text

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:38 pm
by lahuizenga
Is there a simple way to find bold text using the find function?

Re: how to find bold text

Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:27 pm
by Icelander
lahuizenga wrote:Is there a simple way to find bold text using the find function?
I see none of the old hands here has answered your question, so I'll have a shot at it.

I haven't found anything faster than creating a Find Action.

1) Search for "Anything" with the attribute 'Face Bold' and Replace it with 'Found Expression' with the attribute Fill & Highlight 'Solid' and the background color 'Cyan' (or something similar). This will mark *all* bold text in the document with Cyan.
2) Save this as Find Action.
3) Next time you need this search, open FindSet (in the Edit menu or Shift + Command key + F) and run the Find Action.

Does this answer your question?

Re: how to find bold text

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 12:56 am
by lahuizenga
Yes thank you!

Re: how to find bold text

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:44 am
by miles11
lahuizenga wrote:Is there a simple way to find bold text using the find function?

Okay, here’s a simple way to find bold text:

1) Open your Find dialogue: Command-F. This will open the Find dialogue at the bottom of your Mellel document.
2) Click on the small triangle on the left side of the Find field (next to the word “Find:”)
this will open a drop down menu. Scroll to the very bottom of the menu and click on “Anything”. This will place an Anything Element into your Find text field. (You’ll see a small square box on the left side of the Find field).
3) Next, open your Character palette, using the menubar’s Window menu, or press Command-Option-8 (actually it’s written as the asterisk. Lol).
4) In the Character palette, click on the Face menu (top right). This will open a drop down menu. Select: Bold from that drop down menu.
5) Now you can close the palette, if you want it out of the way.
6) Go back to the Find dialogue at the bottom of your Mellel document and click on Next, or Previous to find all instances of Bold text in your document. Repeat as often as needed.

I hope these instructions are clear. Post back if you have any questions. As is often the case with these things, it’s much easier to actually do the search than to explain it.

Re: how to find bold text

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:12 am
by Icelander
miles11,

Is there any way to assign keyboard shortcuts to Find Actions?

Re: how to find bold text

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 12:30 am
by miles11
Icelander wrote:miles11,

Is there any way to assign keyboard shortcuts to Find Actions?
The only shortcut I could find is located in the Edit>Find submenu. At the bottom there’s a shortcut to bring up the Find Set dialogue, from which you can choose the Find Set you want to use.
That shortcut is Shift-Command-F
==
You can also use the Mac System Preferences to assign keyboard shortcuts. From what I’ve read, the xcuts can be assigned only to menu items. There’s a section explaining how to do this in the Mellel user manual.
==
You may want to download a copy of Skim (it’s a freeware PDF reader). I’ve made it my default PDF reader, so every PDF file I click on will open in Skim. Skim makes the Mellel user manual easier to navigate and read. Mellel’s Find options are pretty muscular, and it takes some study to get really comfortable with them. The Find section of the Mellel manual is about 35 pages long. I only use basic Find functions, so I am far from an expert. That’s why I rely on Skim and the Mellel manual.

Re: how to find bold text

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 7:10 pm
by Icelander
miles11 wrote:The only shortcut I could find is located in the Edit>Find submenu.
Thanks for your reply, miles11, but I'm not sure you understood the question.

Find Actions (= saved searches) are accessed through FindSets in the edit menu. We can, of course, assign a keyboard shortcut to the menu command FindSet because it's a menu command, but that was not my question.

Find Actions are NOT menu commands, and therefore we can't use System Preferences to assign a keyboard shortcut to them. I just thought that there might be some other way in Mellel to do it.