Use CrossEyes to Prevent Ebook Formatting Problems

by Corina Koch MacLeod
@CKmacleodwriter

Hidden formatting in a Word document can cause lots of trouble in the ebook conversion process. In Word, what you see is not always what you get. This video will show you how to use CrossEyes—a format revealer—to reveal hidden formatting in a Word document.



CrossEyes is a free Microsoft Word add-in for Windows, and you can get it at Levit & James, Inc. Once you download CrossEyes, you’ll find it under the Add-Ins tab in the Custom Toolbars area in Word.

Have you ever worked with Word Perfect? If you have, CrossEyes works just like Word Perfect’s Reveal Codes feature.

If you’re not familiar with what codes are, CrossEyes will seem a little foreign to you at first, but with some practice, you can become adept at reading the formatting codes and deleting the ones you don’t want. It helps that the codes are featured in bright colours and colour-coded according to type.

CrossEyes window; codes are in colour (Click to enlarge)

A quick peek in the CrossEyes window tells you that in first line of the document paragraph, the author introduced a different font to the document. The font is similar to Times New Roman used elsewhere in the document, but with an unpracticed eye, or without the help of CrossEyes, it can be easy to miss. CrossEyes exposes the font so you can delete it.

To change a style in CrossEyes, double click on a coloured formatting code in the CrossEyes window, and hit the Enter key to select a new style. A Styles dialog will pop up, allowing you to choose another style option. You can also hit the Backspace key to delete a code, which will then delete the applied style.

CrossEyes Styles dialog box 

CrossEyes can also help you to see formatting that you can’t see, but that can cause problems for ebook conversion later on. If you click on the white space in a document, you’ll discover if different fonts are lurking, or if "illegal" ebook spacing (tabs and extra paragraph spaces) have been applied. You'll want to remove unwanted formatting so that it doesn’t alter text in undesirable ways later.

If you have a Word document that behaves in strange ways, or an ebook that's getting error messages after you upload it to a distributor like Amazon or Smashwords, CrossEyes will help you to see what’s going on.

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