Formula Autobuildup in Word 2007
This is an introductory post to help users who want to create stunning technical documents in Word 2007. If you’ve typed Alt+= in Word 2007, you’ve seen a math-zone object inserted that says “Type equation here”. Actually you can type any mathematical expression there, even just a simple variable like x. If the expression's math zone is the only text in the paragraph, it'll be displayed in "display mode". Else it's displayed in the somewhat compressed "inline mode" as part of the paragraph (TeX's $$ vs $). As you type enough for an expression to be unambiguous, presto, it builds up right smack in front of your eyes! This process is called “formula autobuildup”, FAB for short, and expression ambiguity is determined by the UnicodeMath linear format documented in the Unicode Technical Note (UTN) https://www.unicode.org/notes/tn28/UTN28-PlainTextMath-v3.1.pdf. I recommend you read at least the introductory sections of this UTN. In general terms, formula autobuildup occurs whenever the user types a character that forces the text preceding the character to be the unambiguous linearly formatted text for a built-up expression as defined by the UTN. As such the character itself is not part of the resulting built-up expression. The UTN doesn’t state how already built-up objects are handled by the build-up code. For the most part, such expressions are just treated as parts of operands, but the build-up code does look inside some objects to see it they can be converted in some way. One example of this is that when a subscript object is being superscripted or a superscript object is being subscripted, the result is a subsup object. Try this kind of entry. It's the fastest way to enter equations that I've ever seen and I've been editing technical text ever since 1968.
Comments
Anonymous
September 08, 2006
Some really interesting things to note for the week:
New blog on Math in Office – Murray Sargent who...Anonymous
October 06, 2006
My name is Jennifer Michelstein, and I'm a Program Manager on the Word team. I mainly work on academicAnonymous
October 30, 2006
Hi, will there be a legal issue if I redistribute the rich edit support dll with my application?Anonymous
April 08, 2007
When I print (either Pdf or on a regular printer) equations made with the office editor the printing quality is realy miserable. Is there a way to set improved and better printing options?Anonymous
April 30, 2007
It is just not working. When I print I only get little stripes and no equitations. I tried with different printers hp 930c / canon ip4200 and a pdf printer: pdf995 and nothing works. I'm desperate.Anonymous
July 04, 2007
I'm getting the same problem as Uncle W. The save as PDF plug-in seems to generate a pdf that displays the formulas correctly, then this pdf can be opened and printed. This is a long workaround and is unacceptable. Has else anyone found a better fix for this?Anonymous
September 17, 2007
I have the same problem. My equations are shown correctly on the screen but are not printed. If I use the pdf tool provided by Microsoft, equations are shown correctly in the pdf-document. If I use other pdf-tools to create the pdf-file the equations do NOT show up in the generated pdf document. However, the problem exists ONLY on pages containing graphics files - I have tried different formats (BMP, JPG, PNG ....) with no luck. It is sad. The new eqaution tool is really, really great except for this problem that makes it virtually useless to me.Anonymous
October 11, 2007
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April 02, 2008
I am also in the same position. I just had to revert to 2003 format and redo most of the equations in a 65 page document because they would not print to PDF using Acrobat Distiller... Next time I'm using openoffice, a program that actually works. Shame on microsoft for charging an arm and a leg for a product that doesn't.Anonymous
May 11, 2008
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May 31, 2008
i think the problem is with the formatting algorithm of in-document images such as charts or pictures are causing the equations to not print. for me the equations printed out perfectly w/o having to convert to a different file format (using .docx) when i removed all the images. I just compensated by printing the document w/ the error but w/ the images then by adding space by typing enter then printing then printing the copy then pasting the images by hand for the document printed beforehand and then scanned/copied the document for a final document :)Anonymous
July 13, 2008
It's amazing this hasn't been corrected yet. The bug has been identified since last fall. I understand that the critical combination for failure is WindowsXP, The new equation editor, and a graphic on the same page as the equation.Anonymous
October 31, 2008
The suggestion from Jan Rames really helped me out. Thanks! Here is a more detailed explanation in case anyone else winds up here looking for a solution: All you need to do is insert a drawing canvas and place the image inside the drawing canvas. Then your equation(s) should print fine. To do this, go to Insert->Shapes, then look all the way at the bottom of the flyout and there is an entry for "New Drawing Canvas". If you paste in your image and then use the crop handles, they will snap to the image border and everything prints okay without having to redo any of your equations.Anonymous
December 12, 2008
I have tried recently MS Word 2007, and I agree it's pretty quick to type math into. But I wouldn't say it's the fastest. It is faster than LaTeX if you know how to handle the FAB sustitutions, but doesn't beats using MathType with a good setup of hotkeys (i haven't yet found how to customize hotkeys for 2007's math mode). I've used intensively Mathtype with MS Word XP. Also I found cumbersome the edition of some equation already typed, if you have to correct some error. Maybe I'm just too used to MathType's Tab-Key navigation system... And I'm also annoyed by the fact that there is little control about how the equations would look, besides inline or shown mode (how can you setup equations side by side, but in shown mode? I don't know -- with Mathtype, that's pretty easy to do). Still, I think 2007's math editor is a very good improvement, and I encourage everyone to use it. There's a lot of room for improvement there.Anonymous
February 10, 2009
Hi Dear All Really this technique for typing mathematical equation is fantastic. before this i was in trouble in typing equation and finding shortcut keys in help but MS word 2007 do not have shortcut keys like 2003. this is very easy and quick. here i also want to write thanks to "Karen" who asked this beautiful question and to Patrick Schmid who answered this question. Patrick Schmid; really we are positively surprised by knowing this, thank you very much. byeAnonymous
February 10, 2009
hi i want to ask you that when i save a file the equation editor is no more active after saving a doc in office 2007. I can not edit equation in a save mode. for this i have to open new-doc and then copy paste. please help me in this. thanksAnonymous
May 18, 2009
Jan Rames and EJ, LOVE YOU!!!!! i was desperate, until i found your solution! it works! it realy works!Anonymous
October 24, 2009
Thanks for the post Ran James. This works. I have been trying to write documents with figures and equations on different pages. Yikes! It took me a while to find this. Adding some search phrases: Equations don't appear Equations do not appear Equations disappear acrobat pdf pdfwriter microsoft word 2007Anonymous
November 13, 2009
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June 24, 2010
Hi. The workaround from david0128 worked just fine!! The word 2007 formulas are printed in pdf as well as directly to the printer. Thank youuuuuuu!Anonymous
August 16, 2011
I have av problem with the autocorrect. I insert a equation in word from MatLab with the use of anf ActiveX handle. Then MatLab tell word to set the equation in proffesional mode. But when I do it from MatLab Word does not seem to reconginize the commands that start with "" such as "int" or "sum". Same happens if I write a macro that puts all the equations into professional mode. If I run it from Word it works fines. But if I run the macro from MatLab the same problem occurs. It is almost as if AutoBuildUp works but no Math AutoCorrect. Why does this happen? Is there a way to force Word to use Math AutoCorrect on the equations?Anonymous
October 14, 2011
My new Office for Mac automatically converts subscripts but not superscripts (i.e. ˆ2 stays as is and doesn't become a power). How do I fix this?Anonymous
October 14, 2011
The superscript expression needs to be followed by an operator of lower precedence than the ^ to build up. If you don't have any such operator, use a space. So to type in the Pythagorean Theorem in a math zone, type a^2+b^2=c^2<space>Anonymous
December 13, 2011
how to enter theta with a single dot on the top of it?Anonymous
December 13, 2011
thetadot<space><space>. Note that you don't need the two spaces if you follow theta dot with any operator other than space. So thetadot+phidot=0 doesn't need any spaces.Anonymous
January 06, 2012
Typing in place is a lot easier than using a mouse. The only way to type out symbols in place is Unicode for many of the characters, isn't it? I find this method of entry is not really gered to typesetting. Why don't you have a mode that does LaTeX expressions. You double click and it gives you a double paned window where ypou can enter linear on one side or LaTex on the other and the formats auto-convert.Anonymous
January 06, 2012
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January 10, 2012
Hello KB, as Murray has already mentioned, you might want to try my notation that is introduced in Murray's 11/2011 post. It's easier and faster than LaTex.