Technical information

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you can also setup a new replacement rule that, for example, replaces
“1/5” with “⅕” (see screenshot below). The “” fractions are included in
Character Viewer and can be custom added as required. For typing the
“¹” and “” and ”” characters, you can also use the Character Viewer. See
the instructions at the end of this article.
Click on the menu bar icon and select “Show Character Viewer”. A
window will appear and you select [1] “View: All Characters”, then expose
all [2] “qSymbols”, then select [3] “Numbers and Number Symbols”. With
your cursor in the appropriate place in your Word document “double-click”
the fraction to insert it into the document at the current curser point.
This works with all applications, not just Word, so is a handy tip to
keep around.
Fraction substitution in Word
Despite Word “doing its own thing”, there is an easy way to perma-
nently include fraction substitutions into Word. Clive Huggan has written
about how to format elegant fractions in his extensive document, “Bend
Word to Your Will” (see page 206). Download the document (free) here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html
Clive tells me that the notes apply to Word 2004; Word 2011 is
slightly different in many respects and he is working on a new edition
to come out next year. Irrespective of your version of Word, if you just
want to grab a fraction he has pre-formatted, go to page 208 of “Bend
Word to Your Will” and copy the example — it’s just below the couple
of lines of blue text. (This one is formatted for 12 point; if you prefer 11
point, there is another example below.) Then paste the fraction into your
Word document.
The example is a “half” fraction. Clive says “For other fractions, just
change the numbers. It’s easier to select by using the arrow keys on your
keyboard, e.g. by clicking at the beginning of the fraction and selecting
the first number by Shift-RightArrow. Then type the number you want (it
can be more than one digit if you wish). Then arrow-key your way to the
second number, following the fraction bar, and replace it.
To make your own, follow the instructions below the example.
If you need this fraction regularly and it isn’t in the very limited
range already included in Word’s AutoCorrect, it’s easy to create your
own AutoCorrect entry. That way, once you type the characters of this
fraction — e.g. 3/16 — then hit the space bar or a punctuation key, Au-
toCorrect will automatically convert it into an elegant piece of typography.
The instructions for doing that are under the heading “2. Setting up the
AutoCorrect entry”, further down page 208.
Clive told me some of the terminologies have been changed since he
wrote the notes for Word 2004. For example, in the Font window the tab
labelled “Character spacing” in Word 2004 is now “Advanced” in Word
2011. But it isn’t difficult to spot the change — and your reward will be
elegantly formatted fractions, no matter what their values.
Building Custom Fractions in Symbol and Text Substitution
Earlier I indicated that you could build a custom fraction in “Symbol
and Text Substitution”. To do so, click the ‘+’ (plus) sign near the bottom
left corner of the Language & Text window.
Enter the shortcut text in the ‘Replace’ column (in this case “1/16”).
Enter the expanded text in the ‘With’ column. Here you have to be
creative – firstly, in the “Numbers & Number Symbols” section select the
Superscript One ([4] above) then select Punctuation > Punctuation ([5]
above) and find the “Fraction Slash” (on my iMac it was on the 13th row,