[Taxacom] Dichotomous key in MS Word

[Gary McDonald]

In response to those asking about software for creating dichotomous 
keys, I use MS Word to do the formatting, but create all of the 
couplets myself.

To create a dichotomous key, I use the styles feature of MS Word 2002 
with paragraph numbering to number the couplets, and cross-references 
to link the appropriate couplets.  It's a little complex to try to 
explain, but if  you open the attached portion of one of my keys in 
Word you can see how I have created the key.

You can display the styles list on the right of the screen by 
clicking on the styles icon in the menu bar at the top of the 
screen.  When you put the cursor in a portion of the key, the style 
in use will be outlined in the list on the right, then when you put 
the cursor over a style in the list on the right, the commands in 
that style will be visible.

The first half of a couplet is the style "heading 1" which has a 
hanging indent so the number will be to the left of the text, and a 
right tab with period leader to put the scientific name (or next 
couplet number) on the right side of the page.  There are also 
formatting commands in the paragraph style to keep the lines of the 
couplet together on the same page and to separate the couplets from each other.

The second half of the couplet is the style "couplet char" and is 
separated from the first by inserting a "text wrapping break", this 
prevents the second half from being automatically numbered by the 
paragraph numbering feature.

I use a non-breaking space (ctrl shift space) between the genus and 
species names so they will not break on two lines.

To insert the appropriate number on the right, that leads to the next 
couplet, use a tab and then go to "insert, reference, cross 
reference" and there will be a list of all the current couplets, just 
choose the appropriate couplet and the number will be inserted.  (The 
<reference type> should be "Heading" and the <insert reference to> 
should be "Heading number").

Once the styles are created, you can easily add couplets anywhere in 
the key by simply typing them in and choosing the appropriate style 
("Heading 1" for first part of couplet and "couplet char" for the second part.

After adding or deleting couplets, use select all (ctrl A) to select 
all the text and then right click and choose "update field" to update 
all the numbers.

When the scientific name is too long to fit on the same line as the 
last line of the couplet text, you need to use a "text wrapping 
break" ( same as between parts of a couplet) and then a tab and the 
scientific name to put the name on the right on the line below the 
couplet text (the tab should be set for right tab with period leader).

Pressing alt F9 will reveal the codes that Word uses for cross 
referencing, pressing it again will hide the codes.

Click on the "paragraph symbol" in the menu bar to display some of 
the formatting codes in the key (e.g. the "non-breaking space" and 
the "text wrapping break").

I know this may sound a little complex, but once the styles are 
created to your satisfaction, creating or updating a key is 
easy.  The page I have attached is part of a 140 couplet key that was 
updated from a 102 couplet key.

Hope this is useful,
Gary McDonald


Gary McDonald
Long Marine Lab, 100 Shaffer Rd., Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Email mcduck at ucsc.edu---------Phone: (831) 459-2015---------Fax: 
(831) 459-3383