Microsoft Office Forums

Go Back   Microsoft Office Forums > >

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-28-2020, 09:21 AM
George Pond George Pond is offline Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Windows 10 Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Office 2019
Novice
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 4
George Pond is on a distinguished road
Default Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character

I would like to keep track of what each character has been saying.



For example, a character, Jimmy, might say, "Neat-o. I like that." Later in the story, Jimmy might say, "That's swell." Another character, Janey, might say, "Golly!". Later in the story, Janey might say, "This is really childish dialog!"

As author, I would like to tag Jimmy's speech with "Jimmy", and Janey's speech with "Janey". Later I would like to be able to retrieve all of Jimmy's speech in one place. Ideally, each tagged item would be on a separate line:

Neat-o. I like that.
That's swell.


Then I might do the same for Janey:

Golly!
This is really childish dialog!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-28-2020, 11:50 AM
Charles Kenyon Charles Kenyon is offline Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Windows 10 Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Office 2019
Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
Posts: 9,081
Charles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant futureCharles Kenyon has a brilliant future
Default

There is nothing build into Word to do this directly.

You could mark them using the Index feature and use that to pull them together.
Indices - Complex Documents
The main category would be the character name.
The dialog itself would be the entry.


That is the closest to an automatic feature I can think of.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-28-2020, 08:12 PM
Guessed's Avatar
Guessed Guessed is offline Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Windows 10 Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Office 2016
Expert
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canberra/Melbourne Australia
Posts: 3,932
Guessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant futureGuessed has a brilliant future
Default

If you applied paragraph styles to the dialog for each character then you could easily create a series of Tables of Contents to list each character's dialog (optionally including the page where it occurs).

You might even go so far as to associate an outline list level to each character so that you don't need to type the speakers name, just apply the style which includes the characters name as a paragraph prefix. See attached example where you can use Alt-Shift-Left or Right arrow to change between characters.
Attached Files
File Type: docx ScriptwritingExample.docx (13.3 KB, 7 views)
__________________
Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-28-2020, 11:57 PM
macropod's Avatar
macropod macropod is offline Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Windows 7 64bit Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Office 2010 32bit
Administrator
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Canberra, Australia
Posts: 21,956
macropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond reputemacropod has a reputation beyond repute
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by George Pond View Post
As author, I would like to tag Jimmy's speech with "Jimmy", and Janey's speech with "Janey". Later I would like to be able to retrieve all of Jimmy's speech in one place.
Well, if you colour each person's speeches, a macro could be used to create a list of them by speaker. A simple example:
Code:
Sub Demo()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim StrOut As String
With ActiveDocument.Range
  With .Find
    .ClearFormatting
    .Replacement.ClearFormatting
    .Font.ColorIndex = wdBlue
    .Text = ""
    .Replacement.Text = ""
    .Format = True
    .Forward = True
    .Wrap = wdFindStop
    .Execute
  End With
  Do While .Find.Found
    StrOut = StrOut & vbCr & .Text
    If .Information(wdWithInTable) = True Then
      If .End = .Cells(1).Range.End - 1 Then
        .End = .Cells(1).Range.End
        .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
        If .Information(wdAtEndOfRowMarker) = True Then
          .End = .End + 1
        End If
      End If
    End If
    If .End = ActiveDocument.Range.End Then Exit Do
    .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
    .Find.Execute
  Loop
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
If StrOut = "" Then StrOut = "Nothing"
MsgBox "Found: " & StrOut
End Sub
The above code simply captures all standard blue text and displays it in a message box. More complex code could be used to accept user input for RGB colours (but then it's be your responsibility to keep track of what you've used - and to use them consistently.
__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-01-2020, 11:27 AM
George Pond George Pond is offline Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Windows 10 Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Office 2019
Novice
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 4
George Pond is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Guessed View Post
If you applied paragraph styles to the dialog for each character then you could easily create a series of Tables of Contents to list each character's dialog (optionally including the page where it occurs).

You might even go so far as to associate an outline list level to each character so that you don't need to type the speakers name, just apply the style which includes the characters name as a paragraph prefix. See attached example where you can use Alt-Shift-Left or Right arrow to change between characters.
Thank you for your answer! It will work for me. I don't need to do the list-level thing but creating paragraph styles for each character, then creating a custom TOC is perfect for keeping track of who is saying what kind of thing. The page numbers are useful... and having a TOC with the information makes it easy to jump to that place in the .DOCX and make revisions.
Gomer Pyle USMC Thank You Thank You Thank You - YouTube
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-01-2020, 11:29 AM
George Pond George Pond is offline Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Windows 10 Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Office 2019
Novice
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 4
George Pond is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles Kenyon View Post
There is nothing build into Word to do this directly.

You could mark them using the Index feature and use that to pull them together.
Indices - Complex Documents
The main category would be the character name.
The dialog itself would be the entry.


That is the closest to an automatic feature I can think of.
Thank you for taking the time to reply! I was blown-away by the creative solutions, and so quickly. I wound up using paragraph styles and a custom TOC, which is working well for me.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-01-2020, 11:30 AM
George Pond George Pond is offline Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Windows 10 Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Office 2019
Novice
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 4
George Pond is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by macropod View Post
Well, if you colour each person's speeches, a macro could be used to create a list of them by speaker. A simple example:
Code:
Sub Demo()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim StrOut As String
With ActiveDocument.Range
  With .Find
    .ClearFormatting
    .Replacement.ClearFormatting
    .Font.ColorIndex = wdBlue
    .Text = ""
    .Replacement.Text = ""
    .Format = True
    .Forward = True
    .Wrap = wdFindStop
    .Execute
  End With
  Do While .Find.Found
    StrOut = StrOut & vbCr & .Text
    If .Information(wdWithInTable) = True Then
      If .End = .Cells(1).Range.End - 1 Then
        .End = .Cells(1).Range.End
        .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
        If .Information(wdAtEndOfRowMarker) = True Then
          .End = .End + 1
        End If
      End If
    End If
    If .End = ActiveDocument.Range.End Then Exit Do
    .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
    .Find.Execute
  Loop
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
If StrOut = "" Then StrOut = "Nothing"
MsgBox "Found: " & StrOut
End Sub
The above code simply captures all standard blue text and displays it in a message box. More complex code could be used to accept user input for RGB colours (but then it's be your responsibility to keep track of what you've used - and to use them consistently.
Thank you for taking the time to reply! I was blown-away by the creative solutions, and so quickly. I wound up using paragraph styles and a custom TOC, which is working well for me.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Detecting that previous character doesn't exist (i.e., present character is first in document) Robert K S Word VBA 15 08-01-2016 09:33 AM
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Replace a random character with the same character RickLegrand Word 7 07-23-2015 06:35 PM
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character How can select from a specific character to another character mohsen.amiri Word 2 02-19-2015 11:38 PM
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Track Changes Author Not Showing UP ronksmith Word 1 05-19-2012 10:35 AM
Author wants to tag and retrieve dialog for a character Where can I see the Word2007 doc properties (author,...)? pstein Word 1 03-26-2012 03:01 PM

Other Forums: Access Forums

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:55 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
MSOfficeForums.com is not affiliated with Microsoft