Paperless Debate Manual 3.0

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Paperless DebateA How-To Manual

Aaron Hardy

Whitman College

8/20/2010


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WHATS NEW?......................................................................................................................................................................... 3

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

I WANT TO UPGRADE WHATS DIFFERENT? ............................................................................................................................................ 4

CONVERTING BACKFILES ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6

CO-AUTHORING ............................................................................................................................................................................... 7

SHORTCUT CHEAT SHEET ......................................................................................................................................................... 8

QUICK START GUIDE ................................................................................................................................................................ 9

REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

INSTALLATION .................................................................................................................................................................................. 9

FORMATTING FILES............................................................................................................................................................................ 9

PAPERLESS..................................................................................................................................................................................... 10

PORTING/CUSTOMIZING THE TEMPLATE .............................................................................................................................................. 10

BENEFITS OF PAPERLESS .........................................................................................................................................................12

DESCRIPTION OF PAPERLESS ..................................................................................................................................................13

REQUIREMENTS .....................................................................................................................................................................14

HARDWARE ................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

SOFTWARE

.................................................................................................................................................................................... 15INSTALLATION ........................................................................................................................................................................17

BASICS.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 17

SETTING UP THE DESKTOP ................................................................................................................................................................ 17

SETTING UP WORD ......................................................................................................................................................................... 19

ASSEMBLING A SPEECH ..........................................................................................................................................................20

STEP ONEOPEN A SPEECHDOCUMENT.......................................................................................................................................... 20

STEP TWOOPEN FILES .................................................................................................................................................................. 21

STEP THREESEND BLOCKS AND/OR CARDS TO SPEECH........................................................................................................................... 22

STEP FOURORGANIZE SPEECH ........................................................................................................................................................ 23

STEP FIVETRANSFER SPEECH .......................................................................................................................................................... 24

RECAP .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 25

SCREEN LAYOUT AND ORGANIZATION.................................................................................................................................................. 25

OTHER TEMPLATE FEATURES ..................................................................................................................................................27

PAPERLESS ORGANIZATION ....................................................................................................................................................28

FILE FORMATTING AND ORGANIZATION................................................................................................................................................. 28

DIGITAL TUB ORGANIZATION .............................................................................................................................................................. 28

BACKFILES ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 30

PRE-TOURNAMENT SETUP ......................................................................................................................................................32

IN-ROUND ..............................................................................................................................................................................33

PUBLIC RELATIONS .................................................................................................................................................................35

COMMON CONCERNS ............................................................................................................................................................37

THE DECISION TO SWITCH ................................................................................................................................................................ 37

PRIVACY/SECURITY.......................................................................................................................................................................... 40

MACRO PROBLEMS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 42

PRE-ROUND .................................................................................................................................................................................. 44

IN-ROUND .................................................................................................................................................................................... 45

MACRO LIST ...........................................................................................................................................................................48

KNOWN ISSUES ......................................................................................................................................................................50

FUTURE FEATURES/ADVANCED SUGGESTIONS .......................................................................................................................51


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Whats New?

IntroductionWhitmans paperless system has been completely revamped. With the advent of Windows 7, Word

2010 for PC, and a new version of Mac Word coming out some time this fall, it was time for a rewrite.

Since Whitman is transitioning entirely to Windows 7/Word 2010, these changes were borne largely ofnecessity. This manual has been updated to reflect both these changes, as well as things learned over

the last two years of doing paperless.

There are three big changes:

Styles Styles, formatting, and file format have been changed to take maximum advantage ofthe newest features available in Word 2010, and fix the cumulative legacy problems of a decade

with old versions of Word.

Macros Almost every macro, from formatting to paperless, has been rewritten from theground up. This fixes a host of small bugs, adds significant new functionality, and streamlinesthe workflow.

Interface The new template comes with a brand new user interface designed specifically forWord 2010/2007:

Important note: The new version breaks backwards compatibility with .doc files and previous versionsof the Whitman template. Fortunately, a converter is included for people with legacy backfiles. While

not perfect, it should help ease the transition for anyone considering an upgrade.

For the most part, these changes are evolutionary, not revolutionary at root, its still the same idea. A

few shortcuts for formatting your cards, and a couple macros to make copying, pasting, and organizing

your speeches faster and easier.

One last note When I switched Whitman to paperless in the fall of 2008, I made what I felt was a bold

prediction at the time that within 5 years a significant number of teams would be paperless. Instead,

it turns out I was being almost laughably conservative. In the span of one year, a huge percentage of the

college debate community has already switched, multiple new paperless platforms are available, and its

even making significant inroads in high school debate. Paperless works and the more people that do

it, the more obvious it becomes that its preferable to debating with paper.

As always, I welcome feedback in any form questions, feature requests, criticism, etcshould be

directed to me [email protected].
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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I want to upgradewhats different?

Heres a mostly comprehensive list of changes from the previous version of the Whitman template. It

looks like a lot, but most changes are either invisible to the user, or will be obvious for anyone whos

used to the old template. Playing around with the new interface should also be relatively self-

explanatory.

Style Names Old style names have been replaced to be more clear and logical. Mostimportantly, they are no longer custom stylestheyre actually ALIASES for modified versions of

Words built-in styles. This is a far superior model for the underlying structure of the document,

and helps eliminate a host of irritating bugs in the previous version. Anyone considering their

own template should take care to at least emulate this step. Linked styles have also been

disabled by defaultwhich should help stop the propagation of annoying char styles from

filling up your document.

Style Heading LevelsHats are now Heading 1, Block Titles are Heading 2 and tags areHeading 3. This is to take maximum advantage of the new Word 2010 Navigation Pane. This

has significant advantages over leaving both Hats and Block Titles as the same Heading level. It

also means that tags now appear in the Nav Pane. There is no longer a separate style for

cards its just normal text. This is logical from a document design perspective nothing in

the document should be normal text that isnt a card. It also frees the macros from reliance

on specifically named stylesthey will now work with ANY style thats based on the appropriate

heading level (1-3).

Automatic Page Breaks It is no longer necessary to use page breaks in the construction of apaperless file. If anything, manually adding page breaks just makes the macros work worse.

Instead, the styles have been set to include automatic page breaks where necessary. This

ensures that Blocks appear at the top of the page while in reading view, which makes it easier to

organize.

HatsShould no longer have a second blank line in them. This is because white space is nolonger necessary in Word 2010. Instead, having Hats as Heading 1 and Block as Heading 2

makes it extremely easy to understand and navigate the document structure using the

Navigation Pane.

Aesthetics Fonts have been changed to be more screen readable. While I have an attachmentto Times New Roman, the new Microsoft fonts really are easier on the eyes. This is obviously

easy to modify for anyone using the template. I also didnt bother with a header no one reads

it.

Keyboard Shortcuts Have been totally redesigned from the incoherent order they were inbefore. While easily modified if you want, this order has been designed to have both a logical

work flow and to proceed in order from largest to smallest.

Paste Special This macro has been rewritten to automatically strip out Lexis EnhancedCoverage. Its up to date as of August 2010, which incorporates changes that Lexis made to

how they display text that some previous macros were missing.


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Send To Speech Significantly rewritten. You can now use either Ctrl-Alt-Right, or preferablyjust the `/~ key, also known as the tilde (props to Alex Gulakov for that innovation). It now

behaves somewhat differently. If theres text selected, it will send that text (formerly Ctrl-Alt-

Left). If theres no text selected, it will instead send the current unit a Block, a Card, or a full

Hat. Is also error-trapped to try and stop you from sending to the middle of another card on

accident. If Word is in Full Screen Reading view, then the ` key instead inserts a marker for

marking cards.

Move Up/Down These macros have been rewritten to take advantage of the new documentstructure. They are still usable, although the preferable option is now usually to just drag and

drop using the built-in Navigation Pane.

Delete Block/Card/Hat Is now assigned to the vacated Ctrl-Alt-Left. This also fixes theprevious problem of Mac users lacking an end key.

Warrants Uses the built-in comments feature in Word to allow adding warrants boxes toindividual cards.

Speech Documents no longer need to be named Speech.doc. Instead, just need to have theword speech in the title somewhere. If multiple documents are open with the name speech, it

will send to the most recently opened.

New Buttons for starting a new speech document, automatically copying the currentdocument to a USB drive, and quickly switching through windows.

Timer Integrationits easy to start a timer from within Word. I recommend using AlexGulakovs excellent timer from Debate Synergy for this.

New File Format Now uses a .dotm file for the template, and .docx files for individualdocuments. Word 97-2003 .doc files are totally obsolete at this point.

Operating Systems The new platform only works in Word 2007 or Word 2010. This means itno longer runs natively in Mac Word 2004, and boot camp or parallels is required to use it on a

Mac. It also probably wont work in Linux for now. Ill make every effort to get it working on

Mac Word 2011 when it comes out. If you still need to run on Mac natively, dont upgrade.

File Converter since it breaks compatibility with previous versions, a rough conversion macrohas been included to help reformat your files in the new format. It doesnt always work, but for

many of our files seems to be working quite well.

Other MacrosAll have been rewritten. Theres a comprehensive list at the end of this manualwith descriptions of what each one does.


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Converting Backfiles

To ease the transition of upgrading to the newest version, a Converter macro has been included with

the most recent template. This will take a file produced in the previous version of Whitmans template

and automatically convert it to the new version, with correct formatting, file format, etc

To work, the new template must be correctly installed in the Templates folder. Then, you open the old

file and run the ConvertBackfile macro. For ease of conversion, its probably best to install

Debate.dotm as a global template, or copy the macro to your normal template so its easily available to

all opened backfiles, at least until everything is converted.

The macro will open a new document based on the new template, convert the old file into it, and save it

with the same name, but a .docx extension. If a file with that name already exists (or youre converting

a docx file), it will prompt you for a new name to save it.

The macro does the following things:

Replaces the old styles with new stylesfor example, converting the old Block Title to Block. Removes blank lines from the Navigation Pane Replaces underlining, cites, and emphasis with the appropriate formats Removes old styles from the document to stop them propagating Deletes all old char styles that can corrupt documents Deletes page breaks

Important Notethis macro is quick and dirty, and doesnt always work correctly. Its worth manually

checking your file to make sure everything looks intact. Its also set to ignore errors, so it might have

stopped half-way through the conversion. For the vast majority of our old files Ive tried it on, it worksgreat sometimes missing a badly formatted cite or two, but nothing that would prevent it working in

the new system. A few files, though, tend to crash the macro. Its included for your convenience but

isnt meant to be perfect.


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Co-Authoring

Word 2010 has introduced a new feature called Co-Authoring. Basically, it allows multiple users to

simultaneously edit a single Word document in real time, with tools for merging edits and keeping

things straight. Its like Google Docs, but within Word.

Taking advantage of co-authoring was a big part of our motivation to switch entirely away from previous

versions of Word. It solves one of the biggest problems Ive had as a coach of an entirely paperless team

being able to help pull cards and organize speeches before a round starts. It also allows for both

partners to simultaneously be working on the same Speech document.

Its a little hard to get your head around without seeing it in action but once you do, its obviously

awesome. Getting this set up can be moderately difficult, and is somewhat outside the scope of this

manual. It requires setting up a Microsoft Sharepoint server or integrating with their online Skydrive

cloud storage service. If youd like more information on it, feel free to contact me or just ask for a

demo the next time you see me at a tournament.


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Shortcut Cheat Sheet

Following is a list of all the keyboard shortcuts in the default version of the new Whitman template. Any

of these can be changed by the user.

FormattingF2 Paste Unformatted Text (and remove Lexis enhanced coverage)

F3 Remove Returns

F4 Hat

F5 Block

F6 Tag

F7 Cite

F8 Normal/Card

F9 Underline

F10 Emphasis

F11 Highlight

F12 Clear Formatting

Ctrl-8 Eight-Font Macro. Turn un-underlined text into 8pt font. Make sure theres SOME underlined

text in your paragraph first or it might turn the whole document into 8pt (can be undone)

Ctrl-Q Cite Request. Turns the current card into a cite-request ready format.

Paperless

` key Send To Speech. Sends selected text, or Block/Card/Hat. If in reading view, inserts a card

marker. Can also use Ctrl-Alt-.

Ctrl-Alt- Move Up

Ctrl-Alt- Move Down

Ctrl-Alt- Delete Block/Card/Hat

Ctrl-Shift-N New Speech DocumentCtrl-Shift-S Copy To USB

Ctrl-Tab Cycle Through Open Windows


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Paperless

Start a new speech document. Its just a new blank template document, but you can start one with the

button on the toolbar or by pressing Ctrl-Shift-N.

The ` Key is the new multi-function paperless button. It sends the current selection, or if nothing isselected, the current Block, Card, or Hat. In Reading view, it inserts a card marker.

Ctrl-Alt- and Ctrl-Alt-move units up and down in the document outline. Ctrl-Alt- deletes a unit.

When the speech is ready, save a copy to the USB drive using the button on the toolbar or Ctrl-Shift-S.

Porting/Customizing The Template

Realistically, most people will probably not want to use Whitmans template out of the box. People

have different preferences for keyboard shortcuts, fonts, etcA version of our template is even available

that removes references to keyboard shortcuts from the ribbon so you can customize it. Ive tried mybest to make the macros in the template as readable to a non-programmer as possible and as easy to

port as possible.

Heres what you need to know to port our platform to your own template:

Customizing Styles/Fonts: Open the Style Pane by clicking on the small arrow in the lower right corner

of the Styles part of the Ribbon. Right click on the relevant style name and select Modify. Change as

you wish. Changing the Normal/Card style will affect all the other fonts, because those styles are

based on Normal. Remember that the style names are ALIASES for Words built-in styles. I would

strongly recommend not creating new styles from scratch when designing a template.

Customizing the keyboard: Word Options Customize The Ribbon Customize Keyboard. Make sure

your template is selected in the Save Changes In box, then scroll down in the left box to find Macros

and Styles. Find the relevant macro or style in the right box to see the currently assigned keys, delete

them, and add your own. Note that the ` key cant be assigned manually that requires coding.

Copying Macros: You can use the built-in Macro organizer or you can cut and paste code manually in

the visual basic editor. I have tried to make the macros as portable as possibletheres no complicated

function calls. Theres just 4 easily understood code modules. Make sure to port the Ribbon module

if you want the ribbon to still work. Also, a couple macros need to have specific Microsoft reference

libraries installed. To do this, in the VB editor go to ToolsReferences and make sure Microsoft Forms

2.0 Object Library and MicrosoftScripting Runtime are checked for your project.

Customizing the ribbon: To be honest, this is probably unrealistic for most people. Unfortunately,

Microsoft doesnt make it easy to customize the ribbon beyond the very rudimentary tool in the Word

Options, which cant be used to change the Debate tab. To make changes to the Ribbons appearance

requires a working knowledge of XML programming, a good XML editor, a few byzantine and incomplete

reference sites, and an absurd amount of patience. If you want more details, feel free to contact me if

you just want something small changed, you might be able to talk me into doing it for you.


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Open Paperless ProjectIf you do decide to make your own template, its suggested that you do your

best to make it compatible with a new Open Standard for writing debate templates. Its called the

Open Paperless Project, and is designed to make peoples different templates work interoperably with

each other. The development of this standard is in progress For more information, check out the links

on the Whitman tech page.


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Benefits of Paperless

The benefits of debating without the need to lug multiple 50+ pound tubs of evidence all over the

country probably doesnt bear much further explication. But, as we made the transition, we found

ourselves continually unearthing new reasons we were glad wed switched. Just to mention a few:

Cost savings Probably the number one factor informing our decision to switch at Whitman.Obviously, it saves all the money spent on paper, printing, copying, expandos, and other tub-

related supplies. It also saves all the costs associated with checked baggage on airlines with

escalating fee structures, not an insignificant amount. Somewhat less obviously, it also saves

money on the size of rental vehicles needed for to transport the average team. While offset to a

degree by the increased costs of the requisite technology (laptops, etc...), the net cost savings to

our team just in the first year easily reach into the multiple thousands of dollars. In a time when

many budgets across the country are at significant risk of being cut, paperless may soon become

a necessity.

Ease of travel This should be obvious. Tubs weigh a lot, and airlines are evil.

At tournaments We have quickly found ourselves with a host of secondary benefits from thepaperless transition. We have more prep time before rounds due to not moving tubs, we can

more easily replicate standard work done in many different rounds, we get back to the hotel

earlier because we dont have to clean up, we can provide cite requests of every card read in a

debate within minutes, its somewhat less likely my students lose their files...The list goes on.

Environmental benefits These are probably not very significant in the grand scheme of things,and using more laptops might offset any benefits but it does save a lot of paper, ink cartridges,

increased weight on planes, etc...I wouldnt list this as an incontrovertible reason to switch, at

least without somebody doing some research but it might be a nice icing on the cake.

PR Whether the environmental benefits are real or perceived, the Whitman debate team hasreceived a ton of positive press from the school over the transition. Ive heard similar stories

from other schools who are switching. Theres never a bad time to impress the administration,

especially when money is tight.


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Requirements

Running paperless on the Whitman system requires very little a few laptops, a recent copy of

Microsoft Word, and at least one USB jump drive.

Since the entire system is built into a Microsoft Word template, a basic familiarity with how to usetemplates is assumed. If you need a refresher, there are many guides on the internet explaining the

details more in-depth.

Hardware

LaptopsRight now, were of the opinion that this is unworkable without 3 laptops per team.This is to facilitate sharing evidence with the other team via a viewing laptop. While

sometimes opponents have their own computers that they would rather use, its certainly not a

universal. Despite increasing paperless usage, the majority of our opponents still opt to use our

third laptop. I am sometimes asked what specs the laptops needed should have I would say

that essentially any machine capable of running Word will be more than sufficient. Weve runpaperless on 5 year old team laptops without any problems, both Mac and PC. More specific

info about software, operating systems, etc...is included below. But, if youre looking to

purchase some extra laptops for your team, the cheapest available will probably suffice.

USB Flash Drives Nothing fancy, any kind will do. Each team needs at least 2, although havinga store of extras on hand is advisable. Theyre easily lost, occasionally break, and are cheap

enough to buy in bulk. One caution try to buy drives which have a relatively thin profile.

Some of the wider versions can block access to other USB ports which can make using a mouse

or second drive difficult.

Power Supplies Given the paucity of available outlets in most classrooms (especially in highschools), its a good idea to make sure each team is carrying a 3 outlet power strip/surge

protector, a 3 prong plug adaptor, and a heavy duty extension cord (25 feet is probably

prudent).

Optional Hardware

Everything else we use isnt strictly required, but is recommended for contingency planning.

A portable podiumof some kind. Since theyre not bringing tubs to tournaments, the debatersfound they didnt have anything to put their computer on while they stood to speak. The best

solution weve found so far is a portable telescoping podium. We bought seven of these:

http://www.pctabletote.com/
http://www.pctabletote.com/http://www.pctabletote.com/


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The Template

The most recent copy of Whitmans template is available at

http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/tech/Debate.dotm. The macros needed for paperless could easily

be ported and modified from this document to your own template, or youre welcome to use ours.

The most recent version uses the new Word file format -- .dotm for the template and .docx forindividual files. Word 97-2003 .doc files are no longer supported or necessary.

Timer

One optional feature in the new template is the ability to start a timer from within word. You can use

any timer program you likejust name the file Timer.exe. I recommend using Alex Gulakovs Synergy

timer, also available from the Whitman website.
http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/tech/Debate.dothttp://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/tech/Debate.dot


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Turn off updates. Its recommended that you temporarily turn off any program which will try toupdate itself automatically, including Windows Update, just for the duration of the round (or the

tournament). This is to avoid the computer trying to reboot itself automatically, or popping up

annoying reminders about updates in the middle of a speech.

Turn off hibernation/standby/screen savers. You should set your computer to never go intosleep mode, hibernate, or turn the screen off, including when the lid is shut. This is usually

accomplished by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Properties. The power settings

are included on the Screen Saver tab, under the Power button.

Turn off any programs which could interfere with using the macros by utilizing hot-keys.Some programs running in the background of your computer may already have assigned certain

keystrokes that are used by the paperless macro. A prominent example is certain NVidia

graphics cards which assign hotkeys which rotate the screen. This can be turned off by right-

clicking the desktop, selecting Graphics Properties Hot Keys and selecting Disable Hot

Keys. Other programs may also exhibit similar behavior if macros arent behaving correctly,

check your computer for other hidden programs which might have hot-keys.

Consider a separate user account for paperless. Since most people will not want their screen setup the same way for every day use as for paperless, consider adding a separate account in

Windows used exclusively for debate. This will allow you to set up the desktop to your

specifications without interfering with everyday work.

Clear the desktop of non-essential items. Since the desktop is usually used to save Speechdocuments and copy them to the USB drive, its helpful to have it cleared of extraneous files.

Useful things to keep on the desktop include: A folder with the most recent tub, a shortcut to

the paperless Template, a folder for the current tournament, and a shortcut to your external

USB drive. See the screenshot above for a sample layout.

Setting Up Word

By default, Word 2010 displays the Quick Access Toolbar ABOVE the ribbon. This is a bad place for it. To

move it below the ribbon, right-click and select Show Below The Ribbon.

You also might want to clear the QAT of any default buttons. Word usually has a few at the far left that

appear before the custom Debate functions (underlined in Red).


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Word will then ask you where to save the new Speech document, which will automatically be named

Speech + anything you typed + the current date and time.

Important NoteIf you have multiple documents open with speech in the title, the macros will only

send to the MOST RECENT one you opened. This is to facilitate things like sending cards from your 2AC

speech document to a new 1AR document, for example.

Step Two Open Files

Open any files you want to use from your digital tub. This doesnt have to all be done at once you can

open and close files as you go, as long as your Speech document remains open, you can send things to it.

Note that any files you want to use in this process must have the requisite paperless macros included

in other words, they must be based on the same template, or have had the macros manually added.

The picture below shows 2 open files on the left side of the screen, ready to send to the blank Speech

document on the right.


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Step Four Organize Speech

After youve sent as many cards or blocks as you want to Speech, you just need to organize them as you

want to have them for your speech. There are two ways to accomplish this.

1) Use the built-in Navigation Pane. In Word 2010, you can easily drag and drop any element right in

the pane. Since Hats are Heading 1, Blocks are Heading 2, and Tags are Heading 3, theyll appear

in a logical hierarchy that can easily be collapsed or expanded. Right-clicking on the navigation pane will

also allow you to Show Heading Levels to whatever level is most convenient. Unfortunately, the

Navigation Pane cant be controlled with macros so theres no way to write a keyboard shortcut to

expand or collapse levels.


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2) Keyboard shortcuts This is accomplished with two other macros. Ctrl-Alt-, which moves a

Block/Hat/Card up one level in the document hierarchy, and Ctrl-Alt- , which does the inverse. Note

that you cant move a card above or below the current block using the keyboard but you can while

dragging in the Nav Pane.

DeleteBlock. Theres also another macro which will delete the current card, block, or hat. By default,

this is Ctrl-Alt-. This allows you to quickly remove items which you determine in the process oforganization that youd rather not have in the speech document.

Taken together, these three macros let you quickly move blocks into whatever order you would like

them for the speech.

Keep in mind you can also organize blocks in the Speech document, change tags, highlight cards,

etc...and then return to sending more cards later. In practice, steps three and four blur together quite a

bit.

Step Five Transfer Speech

Once your Speech document is complete, organized, and youre ready to speak, you just need to copy

the file to your partner (for backup) and the other team (for viewing).

First, you should always remember to save the working Speech document before starting the transfer

that way if something crashes during the transfer you still have a complete copy. Its also important to

save the document on the local hard drive, not directly to a USB drive. This is because Word tends to

get angry when a drive is removed containing an open document.

The easiest way to do the transfer is to have a USB drive already plugged into the computer. Then, just

press the Copy To USB button (Ctrl-Shift-S). This will copy the current document automatically to the

root of the first found USB drive.

Its recommended that you first give the USB drive to your partner for them to copy to their desktop and

have open during your speech. This way, if the speakers computer were to crash during a speech, it can

quickly be replaced with the identical document on their partners computer.

The final step is to give the other team the Speech document which entails either giving the USB drive

to them for use on their own computers, or opening the relevant document on the 3rd viewing laptop.

Some teams also use a Dropbox account to transfer files between computers. This is a great solution

whenever the internet is working. If you explore this option, you should also have USB drives available

for backup, just in case.

Thats it youre ready to speak.


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Recap

Open a Speech document, and all needed files. There are only five macros needed to assemble a speech

paperlessly:

`/~ Key Sends any highlighted text, or one card, block, or hat at a time, depending on your cursor

Ctrl-Alt- Moves the current card, block, or hat up one position in the document.

Ctrl-Alt- Moves the current card, block, or hat down one position in the document.

Ctrl-Alt- Deletes the current card, block, or hat

Save your file, transfer it to a USB drive, jump it to your partner and opponents, and youre done.

Something not working? Macros seem broken? Check the Common Concerns section later in the

manual

Screen Layout And Organization

Most of my debaters find that it helps to conceptualize your desktop like a desk which movesworkflow from left to right. Starting with the taskbar along the left side, which keeps the open

documents organized, try to use approximately the left half of your screen for all the open files.

Then, keep Speech open on the right side of your screen. Even if you cant fit two windows

open side by side on your desktop, try to leave a little bit that doesnt overlap.

Use Draft view. This removes the header, footer, and extraneous white space from yourdocument view. Its better than Web view in my opinion because it doesnt make the text

unreadable long horizontally.

Use the Navigation Pane Most of you will be familiar with this from creating files electronically.In paperless debate, its importance is elevated even further. It functions like an index, allowing

you to see the entire file at once and makes moving around within a file substantially faster. It

also enables you to see where youre moving blocks to while using MoveUp and MoveDown. Id

recommend leaving the Nav Pane turned on in all documents, at all times.

Use Full Screen Reading view when actually giving your speech. Theres a convenient buttonfor it on the taskbar. This view will allow you to see one or two entire pages at a time, and

quickly move through your document by using the arrow keys to move a page at a time, instead

of scrolling or using Page Down. If only one page is visible, try shrinking the size of thedocument map horizontally until two pages appear. Note: When in Full Screen Reading view,

the ` key instead functions as a Speech Marker. Clicking in a card where you stopped reading

and pressing the key will result in a marker like this being inserted into the card:


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Full Screen Reading view:

Use the mouse wheel to zoom On many computers, holding down the Ctrl key while scrollingthe mouse wheel will cause Word to zoom in and out quickly. This can help you see more of the

document or an individual card easily, especially if youre working on a smaller screen.

You can quickly cycle through all open windows using the Windows button on the Debate tab,or using Ctrl-Tab:

Once you have the shortcut keys memorized, you probably wont need to constantly be lookingat the Debate tab in the ribbon. To hide it, double click the title. Then, you can just use the

Quick Access Toolbar. Double-click to restore it.


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Other Template Features

There are several other non-essential functions built in to the template. They are briefly explained here,

but are mostly self-explanatory.

WarrantsNew in this version of the template is an Add Warrants function that uses Wordsbuilt-in commenting functions to allow the addition of warrant boxes next to cards. Pressing

the New Warrant button while selecting a tag will add a new warrant. Warrants can be

hidden/shown or deleted using the options in the drop-down menu. To see them more easily,

you should use Full-Screen Reading view or Page Layout view.

Eight Font If you place your cursor in a card and use the Eight Font button or press Ctrl-8, itwill turn all NON-underlined text into 8pt font. Convenient for shrinking the size of a card to

make it more readable. Note that if theres no underlined text at all in the current paragraph

the macro tends to shrink everything in the rest of the document.

Auto-Underliner This button will turn on a macro which automatically underlines any selectedtext. To be honest, it doesnt work that well it doesnt un-underline text, so its easy to make

mistakes and underline too much. To stop it, press Caps-Lock. Remember to turn Caps-Lock

back off after stopping the macro.

Cite-Request This will turn the current card into a cite-request ready format. Can also beaccessed using Ctrl-Q. The drop-down menu will let you run a macro to turn the entire

document into a cite list useful for converting a speech document after rounds.

Timer This button will start a user-supplied timer. It will run any program named Timer.exelocated in the same Templates folder where you installed the debate template.

Remove Blanks this macro must be run manually but removes all blank lines that appear inthe document map.


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Paperless Organization

One of the most important aspects of ensuring that you can use the paperless system hassle-free is

effective file organization. Much like having dozens of reams of paper without indexes or block titles

thrown at random into a tub would make debating impossible, a single folder on your hard drive with

200 Word documents cryptically labeled updates.docx or politics.docx wouldnt fare much better.

Using digital evidence to its maximum advantage has two parts individual file organization, and tub

organization. Ill give a few tips for each.

File formatting and organization

Paying meticulous attention to how your files are constructed in Word is important to ensuring smooth

operation of the macros. This extends to making sure Blocks and Hats are formatted properly, the

Navigation Pane accurately reflects the files contents, etc...

No Page Breaksdont bother with inserting these manually. The styles are written to ensurethat Blocks and Hats will appear at the top of a page while in Reading View. But for fileconstruction, everything should just appear in a row in the document.

Use the Navigation Pane as your index. My debaters rarely create an index on their files anymore instead, they pay more attention to making sure the Navigation Pane is as organized as

possible. Especially for files under 100 pages, its easy to see most or all of the files contents

with a glance especially with liberal use of Hats for section headings. This allows large sections

of the file to be collapsed into Heading 1 and only expand the part of the file youre working

on.

Be careful about blank lines formatted as tag style. This happens most frequently whenpressing enter while on a tag and making a blank line above it. You basically want any

paragraphs which arent explicitly a tag, cite, card, etcto be formatted as normal. Making

this mistake wont break anything but you might find the Nav Pane is a mess with a bunch of

blank lines.

Modularize your files. Its helpful to walk a balance between creating files which are too large tobe easily digested with the Nav Pane, and files which are so small as to require dozens of

individual word files. An example is writing an affirmative where instead of creating a 1000

page aff file, you could create a file for answers to disads, a file for answers to CPs, etc...and

then keep them all in a separate folder, much like an expando.

Digital tub organization

Theres an infinite number of ways to organize your files on the computer but heres a basic run-down

of how weve done things so far, which has worked fairly well for us. The entire tub is stored on a

network server run by the college, which gives us access to it in our squadroom, as well as offsite using

FTP. If a similar setup is impossible, theres many other alternatives, such as designating one desktop as

the master copy, purchasing a Network-Attached Storage device, or even just using a gmail or dropbox

account.


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Our digital tub at Whitman is divided into four basic areas.

1) Archived Backfiles this is a separate folder, organized by year. Since each season gets a separate

folder, its easy to keep a record of each topic. The other three areas go in a separate folder for the

current year, which gets moved to the backfiles at the end of the season.

2) Files sorted chronologically This section has a subfolder for each tournament we attend. Each file

that comes out before that tournament has a copy placed here, to ensure we have a record of when

files were completed.

3) Files sorted by subject This constitutes the main part of the digital tub. It has around 15 folders,

almost all with subdivisions, into which every file thats produced is sorted. This includes folders for

Disads, Critiques, Case Negs, etc...Relevant backfiles are just sorted into the appropriate folders.

4) Private Tubsthis section has a separate folder for each team on our squad. Its designed to be a

place where each debater can put their own reorganized versions of files, highlighted copies of files,

personal blocks, a completely revamped version of the main tub, or anything else they see fit to do withit. Its also a place where they are encouraged to upload their Speech documents from each

tournament, sorted by round, so that they have a record of each speech given over the course of a year.

Heres a mock visual representation of the folder structure of our online tub. Indents represent a level

of subfolders:

Backfiles

2005 China

2006 Courts

2007 Middle East

etc...2008 Agriculture

000 Files By Tournament

1 Gonzaga

2 GSU

3 Kentucky

etc...

Case Negs

Biofuels

CAFOs

Dairy

etc...

CPs

Critiques

DAs

etc...

zzz Private Tubs

Whitman AA

Whitman BB

etc...


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1) The backward way. Theoretically, you could transfer the needed macros to your old template,

potentially make some tweaks to the code to account for formatting changes, and have it work. On the

other hand, this would require transferring the macros back into any different template that another

member of your team used, and then dealing with the programmatic difficulties involved when collating

blocks and formatting differences from a variety of different sources. Id recommend option b.

2) The forward way. Design a standardized template (or steal ours) that will be used by every member

of the team, and make sure it has all necessary macros. Then, paste any relevant backfiles into the new

template and resave them in the new format. A converter macro that might help with this process is

explained earlier in the manual


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In-round

After practicing with the whole paperless process a few times, Ive found most debaters are quickly

comfortable enough with it to not dread the idea of trying it in a competitive setting. That said, here are

a few suggestions (some duplicative with earlier tips) to make the in-round process go smoothly. Take

special note of the admonition below to save files to the hard drive before copying them to the USBdrive. In roughly chronological order:

Explain to your judge and opponents that youll be debating paperless, and what that mightentail for them. Explain the viewing computer, the USB jumping process, and any other

logistical issues. Since the whole notion of paperless debate is still relatively new for many

teams and judges, some are bound to have questions or concerns about the impact on evidence

sharing, length of round, etc...

Make sure you know if the other team wants to use their own computers to view your evidence,or would prefer to use the viewing laptopthey take time to plug in, set up, etc...so dont wait

until the round has already started.

If you have concerns about the other team stealing your evidence instead of just looking at iton the USB drive, talk to them about it in advance. You can also ask the other team not to look

ahead in the document while youre giving your speech if this is something which concerns you.

Plug in and set up when you get to the debate, immediately get both computers plugged in sotheres no battery problems. Figure out if you need extension cords, power strips, etcAlso, set

up your laptop stand in advance if you need it for a podium.

Get a USB drive plugged in to the computer in advance, with a folder open to quickly facilitatecopying to it from the desktop. This is important to facilitate rapidly moving files it can take a

long time for a computer to recognize a drive, open a folder, etc...

Both debaters should get a Speech document open on their computers. It should be saved onthe desktop. You can also use the top page of your speech document or a blank notepad

document to jot down coaching notes.

Minimize the number of open Word files. If youre clearly done with a file, close it. Word canpretty easily handle a large number of open documents, but the more you push it, the more

likely it is to freeze, or become unbearably slow. This is especially true right before youre about

to speak the most important time for your computer to not have tech problems.

Once youre done prepping your speech, save it. Then, copy it to the USB. Very importantnote: Do NOT save the file directly from Word on to the jumpdrive. If you do, Word sometimes

gets very angry when you remove the drive. The only tech problems weve had so far are

related to making this mistake.


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Work out in advance with your judge whether you can stop prep before doing the USBtransfer, or whether they consider that prep time. Trying not to irritate the judge is generally

good practice, never more so than when doing something alien to normal debate.

You should first hand the jumpdrive to your partner, who should copy it to their desktop andopen it on their computer as a backup. Then you should set up on your podium, give the

roadmap, etc... while your partner hands it to the other team or sets up the viewing laptop for

them.

Its helpful to maintain a consistent naming convention for all your speech docs, as well as aconsistent organizational scheme on your desktop and jumpdrive. Since every speech starts out

as Speech.docx it would quickly become impossible to keep them straight unless theyre given

more accurate names and organization.

Use Reading View during your speech as described above, this makes scrolling through adocument much easier, using only the arrow keys. Alternately, Page Up and Page Down should

always work to advance pages.

After the debate, you can politely remind your opponent and/or judge to delete their copies ofyour speech documents if anyone transferred them instead of leaving them on the USB drive.

Keep every speech you give. This makes writing blocks, sharing work and intel, etc...mucheasier.

What do I do if I have a catastrophic crash?If youve done everything right, there wont be aproblem. If something really insane happens, like in a speech, then you should be able to

quickly switch to your partners laptop if youve done the backup process correctly. In an

absolute disaster, you should beg for mercy from the judge while you figure out what went

wrong. Hopefully, theyll be nice


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Public Relations

In the very beginning of our paperless transition, Whitman proposed two community norms we

thought would help facilitate fairness during paperless debates, as well as alleviate some of the

concerns our debaters had. Neither norm was objected to by any of the people we debated over the

course of the year, and they seem to have been reasonably accommodated by most if not all of ouropponents.

I list them again here as no more than an ongoing requestits certainly the case that practices will

evolve along with the more widespread utilization of paperless debating, and these types of norms will

likely take care of themselves, in time. More importantly, we feel its the burden of the team pushing a

new practice (paperless) to bear the brunt of the responsibility for accommodation should anyone

disagree.

Nonetheless, we feel the following practices would be best for competitive equity:

The opposing team should, to as reasonable a degree as possible, minimize looking ahead inthe speech document to try and gain a competitive advantage by figuring out what will be read

later in the speech. This is especially applicable in rounds where something such as a new

affirmative is being read. While obviously only so practicable, we feel that an honest attempt is

still better than nothing.

Opposing teams or judges who opt to transfer the speech document to their personalcomputers should delete them at the conclusion of the debate. We feel that taking evidence

wholesale is the equivalent of taking a paper file. Wed hope the majority of the community

would agree that stealing files crosses the line, especially given the easy availability of cites.

Two other issues bear mentioning in relation to paperless teams interacting with the non-paperless

world, especially judges.

Prep Time Some judges have expressed concern that the process of jumping files, setting upcomputers, etc...takes too much time. In particular, they seem to be frustrated that it appears

as if the paperless team is stealing prep while waiting for something such as a Word document

to open on the viewing computer. While a legitimate concern, I think it is misplaced, for several

reasons. First, after a season of debating with seven paperless teams, I can say that Ive noticed

zero difference in the average length of time it takes to conclude our debates vs. rounds

involving only paper. Secondly, I would say that paperless more frequently saves time, by

eliminating the stolen prep involved in giving each teams evidence back to each other,

searching under desks for piles of misplaced 2NC cards, or looking for the lost CP text. My

hunch is that this time is significantly greater in the world of paper, but judges are used to ittaking place, while they are not used to the time involved in jumping files.

Tech problems While we have yet to have any truly terminal tech problems in the middle of around, its probably inevitable that it will happen at some point, if not to us than to some other

debate team making the transition. To a certain extent, this cant be avoided but its probably

worth thinking through how the judge should deal with it. If a few debates a year have to

conclude 5 minutes later while a debater gets one free reboot, it seems worth the myriad


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other benefits it brings to the debate community. In general, I would just hope for patience on

the part of the judges and debaters when this problem inevitably arises.


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Common Concerns

When told they would be debating paperless at their next tournament, my debaters immediately raised

a host of questions and concerns, most of which seemingly took the form of what ifs. This section will

hopefully answer the most commonly asked of these. Much of the advice given here is repeated

elsewhere, but this is an attempt to present it in a form more easily accessible when something goeswrong.

The Decision To Switch

What do I do if my computer crashes?

This is far and away the most frequently voiced concern. As mentioned earlier, 14 debaters at Whitman

debated an entire year without a crash but it is probably inevitable at some point. First, keep in mind

that its important to minimize the chance of a crash by practicing good preventative care on your

computer. Ensuring your operating system is up to date, that youre running anti-virus software, andthat the machine is physically well taken care of will go a long ways towards avoiding any problems.

That said, if it does happen, there are several backups in place. Since each debater puts their speech on

a jump drive and gives it to both their partner and their opponents, there should be at least 2 other

computers looking at the current speech at any given time. After doing contingency drills with my

debaters, they can swap out a crashed laptop in no more than a few seconds. If a computer crashes

before the speech, a reboot will usually solve the problem and if the debater has been saving

regularly, not much work should be lost.

This concern is also not really unique to paperless anymore many teams flow on their laptops, or

frequently read a card or two during a debate. While not as catastrophic as the previous examples, the

debate community at large will have to eventually develop a set of norms surrounding how judges and

competitors deal with the occasional crash.

Cant we switch half-way and still use some paper or printers?

Its obviously possible to develop a debating method that falls somewhere in-between fully paperless

and relying entirely on tubs. Several suggestions have been made, such as printing evidence before

each speech, printing the evidence for the judge after the round, carrying only the most frequently used

files in one tub, carrying everything in tubs except a few backfiles, etc...

At Whitman, we toyed with all of these ideas, but ultimately decided that they defeated much of the

purpose for us. Since the primary motivations for our switch were to eliminate baggage costs, printing

costs, etc...and simplify the process of traveling with a large number of teams, creating another

headache by making each team carry a printer, for example, wouldnt have met our needs. While Im

sure that some teams will effectively implement a hybrid system, we have no regrets about our decision

to remain completely paperless.


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Theres lots of paperless implementations out now, which should I pick?

Totally up to youtheres advantages and disadvantages to any system you decide on, and Im sure that

the more teams that go paperless, the more options youll have. Even better, design your own from

scratch and mix and match the pieces that work well for you. Ultimately, most versions of paperless are

pretty similar, so its hard to go wrong.

There are a lot of different needs and opinions on how various functionality should be implemented,

how the macros should behave, etcI would guess that most teams will want their system to behave

differently in at least some ways than ours.

My goal has been to make our system both as simple as possible, minimizing the number of macros,

things to remember, etcwhile ensuring that its as powerful as possible. Ive also tried to incorporate a

wide variety of suggestions, new features, and bug fixes sent to me by other people. As other people

venture into the paperless world and come up with innovations, Ill definitely keep tweaking our

template.

Ive also done my best to make our system as portab le as possible encouraging people to take it and

make improvements of their own. My code isnt particularly decomposed by design. Its a little less

computer programmer friendly, making it somewhat less generalizable and maintainable. But, I think it

also makes it easier to understand in a sequential fashion for people who arent programmers. It also

has the advantage of a certain type of simplicity all the truly relevant code is contained in about 6

macros. If object-oriented programming and the difference between a function and a subroutine are

lost on you, this could be an advantage to figuring out whats going on under the hood

The only exception is the custom ribbonthats gonna take a working knowledge of XML.

If any of the following three things are true:

You need to run paperless natively on a Mac (using Mac Word 2004) and cant use boot camp orparallels to run a new version of Word

You need paperless to work in older versions of Word like Word 2003 You really want to run paperless on Linux using WINE

Then you should stick with the previous version (2.0) of Whitmans macros. Its the only cross-platform

solution that I currently know of.

What about Debate Synergy?

Again, up to you. In some ways, the functionality of the Whitman template overlaps with that ofSynergy, especially the new version. In other ways, theyre designed to do totally different things.

Whitmans system isnt designed to integrate with Excel, because none of my students flow on the

computer. Similarly, both programs take a different approach to implementing some of the same basic

functionalitylike sending to Speech. Try out both and see what you like and what you dont like.


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Several features of Synergy are totally awesomeand Ive borrowed liberally from them in designing

this new version. On balance, Synergy is a great program it ultimately comes down to a matter of

taste.

Certain aspects of Synergy dont appeal to me as much personally for example, Im not a fan of the

Virtual Tub system,because I think its clunky and encourages a block-dependent view of file

organization, and too many proliferating word files. If I coached a high school team, I also think I might

view this functionality differently. Again, up to you.

Its worth keeping in mind that Synergy is designed to work with ANY debate template installed on top

of it. It provides a floor that can be added to with other templates. So if theres something in Synergy

that you particularly like, its possible to use both systems simultaneously.

Can these macros be written in Applescript?

Some similar capabilities have been replicated by Brad Bolman and Peter Vale, but its nowhere near as

fully-featured as a Windows based solution. Copies of their work is available from Whitmans tech page.As I find out more about the project, Ill try and keep this manual updated.

Cant we just use a printer before each speech?

I think that it could work for some, and it's obviously each team's prerogative I'd be curious to hear

how well it works for teams that try it. Some of our opponents through the year have opted to print our

Speech documents, and seemed to have few problems.

For our part, we considered the printer route pretty extensively and decided against it for several

reasons. First, the logistics of each team carrying a printer are significantly more of a hassle than onespare laptop per team. A laptop fits in a backpack, a printer doesn't. Printers small enough to carry

tend to print very few pages per minute and require cartridge replacement every couple hundred pages.

Even with the perfect printer, it requires locating boxes of paper, toner, etc...for every tournament,

which is a hassle were glad to have left behind. Second, printers just aren't very reliable even less so

than computers, and they hold up to travel abuse very poorly. We had a hard time keeping one team

printer working, full of ink, and not jammed when we used paper I'd hate to try it with seven. Lastly,

printers present a unique set of tech problems, like stalled print queues, incorrect drivers, or spooling

errors which just add to the potential for things to go wrong during a debate.

Also, its pretty intangible but we enjoy that we don't still have one foot in the paper door.

How do novices adapt to this system?

To be honest, Whitman does not have a large novice contingent, so I admit that I can't speak very

directly to these concerns. But, from working with the least experienced parts of my team and with high

school novices learning paperless, my experience so far has been that novices are even better at using

the system than more experienced debaters. The technological sophistication of the average 18 year


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old has skyrocketed in the past five years, and the younger students on my team tend to be much better

at using a laptop and quickly digesting electronic info than my older students. Im fairly optimistic that

novices could quickly adapt and learn paperless they also tend to have problems keeping large stacks

of paper organized.

Can this work on Linux, or with Open Office?

Not yet. Open Office isnt good enough yet. Its pretty close to replicating most of the needed

functionality, but support for macros is still pretty lagging, and its lacking Draft View, which is a deal

breaker. Hopefully in years to come this becomes a more viable option.

Im also very confident that porting the whole VBA code base into Open Offices native macro format

shouldnt be that hard. In many ways, its better than VBA but the other failings of Open Office make

this a very low priority right now.

What if I want to use the older version of Whitmans macros?

Still downloadable (along with old versions of the manual) from Whitmans tech page.

What resources are currently available for paperless?

The first place to start is at Whitmans tech page. It has the most recent version of our template, this

manual, etc

http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/61tech.htm

Theres also an open wiki set up by JP Lacy with links to a ton of other helpful stuff:http://paperlessdebate.wikispaces.com

You should also look into the Open Paperless Projectits an emerging Open Standard for encouraging

debate template interoperability. The idea is to allow cards to be cut and pasted between differing

templates, while ensuring that they all work seamlessly regardless of which implementation of paperless

people choose to use. You can find links to more information about this project at the links above.

Privacy/Security

Wont people steal your Speech documents and keep all your cards?

Probably. First, we choose to have a more optimistic view of the debate community, and assume until

proven otherwise that our opponents will ask us for cites rather than wholesale take our evidence.

While Im sure that some of the people we debate will lack scruples, I prefer to believe that this practice

is not widespread.

More importantly, even if it happens frequently, it doesnt confer much of a competitive advantage to

the team who chooses to do so. In an era of massive caselists and prolific cite requests, access to any
http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/61tech.htmhttp://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/61tech.htmhttp://paperlessdebate.wikispaces.com/http://paperlessdebate.wikispaces.com/http://paperlessdebate.wikispaces.com/http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/61tech.htm


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piece of evidence read in a debate is already a matter of a few minutes work. I think that this concern

also buys into the myth that not letting your opponents see your evidence somehow confers an

important strategic benefit. In reality, most debates are won because of superior technique,

argumentative capabilities, or ethosnot because the other team didnt have a chance to digest your

evidence. Ive frequently told my debaters that if we prepare effectively, we should be able to give the

other team access to all our files for an hour prior to the debate and not have it affect our chances to

win. Either way, I cant isolate a single debate that any of my 7 teams lost this year due to file stealing.

What happens if I break a new (advantage/disad/etc...) and dont want to give it to the other team

before my speech?

There are several solutions to this problem. First, take care with labeling the block titles in your Speech

document something less descriptive than the argument name, such as New Advantage. Combined

with asking the other team not to scroll ahead since youll be breaking something new should go a

long way towards restoring the strategic benefit of a few extra minutes of surprise. Secondly, you

could save the new argument to a separate word document on the jump drive, and ask the opponent to

only open that file once you reach that part of your speech. Finally, you could theoretically bring apaper copy of just your new argument.

Much like the concern about stolen Speech files, I think this falls under the category of scarier in theory

than in practice. This ranked near the top of my debaters concerns before doing paperless now, they

no longer even bother with any of the aforementioned solutions (except perhaps changing block

titles). It became clear to them that the extra minute in which the other team doesnt know what your

new advantage is just doesnt have much tangible bearing on the debate.

Wont people read ahead in the Speech document and gain a competitive advantage?

This concern is pretty much the same as the previous two not as frequent or as big of a deal as people

seem to expect. If anything, this works in the other direction our experience has borne out that

opponents who have tried to read ahead have been much more likely to stop flowing, miss arguments,

or even waste speech time answering arguments which were never made.

Doesnt sharing USB drives so widely present a virus risk?

Yes. Ensuring that each computer is up to date with current anti-virus and spyware software is an

important element of ensuring paperless is as safe as possible. Its also recommended that the USBdrives used for paperless be used exclusively for that task if they are kept clean and wiped before each

debate (or at least before each tournament), the virus risk can be minimized. Im fairly certain none of

our computers has contracted a virus this year as a result of paperless and in this age of widespread

file sharing, other risks seem much higher.


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Macro Problems

My macros arent working at all.

Most of the time, this is because your macro security settings are set too high. See the Installationsection for more specific information on how to enable macros.

If this fails to fix the problem, ensure that the file youre using was made using the correct template

especially when converting old files for use with paperless, its easy to forget to use the template and

paste them into a regular Word document.

You should also check to make sure that you have the paperless template installed in the Word

Templates folderif you are using a file which doesnt have the macros built in, it might be looking for

the wrong file.

My macros keep disappearing from my document.

There are a variety of reasons why you might open a document originally created in the debate

template and find the macros are mysteriously missing. Most common is probably that your template is

incorrectly installed, and youve moved your file to a different folder than it was created in. Make sure

that a copy of the template (Debate.dotm) is located in the correct Templates folder, and that Word

knows it exists. More complete instructions can be found in the Installation section above.

The other most common cause is that the file was PRODUCED on a computer with an improperly

installed template. This means it is looking for its parent template in the wrong place. To fix this, go

to Word Options Add-Ins, and select Templates from the Manage drop-down box and click Go.

Then, in the top box for Attached Template click browse and select Debate.dotm from yourTemplates folder. This will add the template to your document and should fix your problem.

Other possible culprits include:

Macro security settings make sure these are turned to low or "off" in Word. Sending a file through email gmail and other software can strip macros for security reasons. Saving as the wrong type of file save as Word 2003 .doc files. Some other security program like anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc...

One suggestion (with credit to Adam Symonds) is to put a copy of the template in Words Startup

folder. The location of that directory will alter depending on your exact software setup. To figure out

where it is:

In Word 2003: Go to Tools -- Options -- File Locations, Select STARTUP, then click Modify.

In Word 2007: Office Button -- Word Options -- Advanced, scroll to the bottom, click File Locations,

select STARTUP, then click Modify.


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If you cant find any other solution, one workaround you could consider is incorporating the macros

directly into your normal.dotm file then they would be available to any file you opened no matter

what.

I was using a macro, and then got an error message. It says Microsoft Visual Basic Run Time Error

4198, Command Failed and gives me the option to End, Debug, or Help.

Almost every way you can break the macros has been error trapped in the code, and youll get a

message telling you what to do. When you get this message, it just means that youve done something

the macro didnt know how to handle. Fortunately, you havent hurt anything it just means that

whatever you just tried to do didnt complete properly.

If you click End or press E, youll be returned to Word and can try and figure out what you did

wrong. If you press Debug on accident, youll be sent into the Word VBA debugger, with a lot of

cryptic looking code instead of your Word document. To exit this, just close the window and click OK

when told this will stop the debugger.

If you find a reproducible error that crashes a macro, please let me know and Ill do my best to fix it.

I emailed a file to another team member, and the macros stopped working.

Some email programs or online mail services have been found to strip all macros from Word files when

sending them as an attachment, presumably as a security feature. If you find this happening to you,

try sending the Word document in a zip file, or with a temporarily modified file extension, such as

File.dco instead of File.doc.

I pressed the macro hotkey, and my screen suddenly rotated 90 degrees.

This occurs on certain laptops using a particular graphics card software package. To get your screen

back to normal, press Ctrl-Alt-. Then, right click on your desktop, select Graphics Options Hotkeysand select Disable hotkeys.

How do I change the macro hotkeys?

You can set Word to use any key combination you choose for each macro in lieu of the default hotkeys.

Open the actual template file (Debate.dotm) and then go to Word Options Customize the Ribbon and

then press the button for Customize Keyboard. EnsureDebate.dotm is selected in the Save Changes


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In box, and then scroll down in the left box to Styles and Macros the macros and styles that

appear in the right box will then list their associated keyboard shortcuts and allow you to change them.

Keep in mind that the ` key cannot be assigned using this method. Neither can Ctrl-Tab.

Move Up/Move Down dont work correctlyit doesnt move what I expect it to.

First, check the position of your cursor remember that the Move macros are designed to automatically

select what to move based on whether youre currently in a card, block, or hat.

If not, then this is likely caused by improperly formatted blocks in your source documents. This arises

most frequently when attempting to use backfiles which werent formatted in the paperless template.

Turn on Show Formatting, and look into how the stuff youre trying to move is formatted odds are

good youve just accidentally formatted something incorrectly.

For exampleif you have a bunch of blank lines in a block formatted as tag without any text, youll

sometimes have to run MoveUp or MoveDown several times to move a card down below the next

actual card.

Word stops responding with one of the macros all I get is an hourglass.

This is probably caused because a macro is in an infinite loop. Im pretty sure this wont happen,

because any circumstance where an infinite loop is possible has been coded around. But, if all else fails,

you can manually stop a macro by pressing Ctrl-Break. Break is also sometimes labeled Pause on the

keyboard.

I get a Code execution has been interrupted error when I run any macro.

This usually happens after having pressed Ctrl-Break, and VBA can get grumpy. Try pressing Ctrl-Break

again. Its also worth pressing Debug and manually pressing the Stop button in the VBA Editor. This

error is quite rare, and frequently doesnt have an exact cause.

Pre-Round

How do we integrate backfiles produced in other templates?

This is largely discussed above in the section on File Organization the short version is that you shouldbe able to adapt the macros to work in most templates. Either you can integrate the macros back into

your old files so that you can send them as-is to a Speech document, or you can cut and paste files from

the old templates into a new template document. This will likely give rise to some small aesthetic

problems, such as incorrect font sizes but in general, paperless functionality should remain intact.

Also read the section on the Converter macro above.


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How do I mark a card while giving a speech?

While in Full Screen Reading View, click on the part of the card where you stopped and press the ` key.

It will insert a marker, like this:

My debaters have also taken to saying marked at xxxxxx when marking to let the other team know

where they stopped if theyre following along. In practice, this system has presented no problems that

Im aware of.

What if I send over more cards than Im going to read to my Speech document?

This is no different than giving the other team a block with multiple cards but only reading the top one.

Some responsibility is on the other team to flow the speaker and pay attention to which cards are read

or to clarify in cross-ex if theres any confusion. This also provides an incentive for the opposing team to

follow along in real time, rather than skip ahead. The speaker can also opt to keep a file or two open ontheir computer to read a few extra cards should they have time and then jump those last couple cards

to the other team during cross-ex.

What about using Dropbox for transferring files instead of USB drives?

Dropbox can be very useful, and in some circumstances could replace using a USB drive. However,

weve found that many tournaments we attend have pretty spotty internet access, so having USB as a

backup is probably wise. There are also logistical difficulties with a large number of people using

Dropbox simultaneously (finding the right file, files named similar things, etc). Id be interested to hear

if anyone uses this as their primary file transfer mechanism.

I sent something to my Speech document, and now it looks weird (bigger font, out of order, etc...)

Keep in mind that both Send macros will send your selection to the current insert point in the Speech

document. Odds are good that you accidentally had the cursor in a Block Title or other area of

formatted text and Word attempted to apply that formatting to everything you sent. Try pressing

Undo and then resending the blocks to the bottom. This is now largely error-trapped to prevent you

from doing itbut its still possible to get around.

Doesnt paperless make cite requests super easy?

Yes. Theres even macros built in to our template to make it go faster.

CiteRequest. Put the cursor inside any card text and press Ctrl-Q. This will automatically reduce the card

to just first and last sentences, ready to be sent as a cite.


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Macro List

All of the included macros in the template are listed here with a brief description, for reference

purposes.

All of the paperless macros were coded by hand using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications. I make noclaim that these are written as efficiently as they could be, nor that they are particularly elegant and in

some circumstances Ive sacrificed elegance on purpose for straightforwardness.

The macros are divided into four code modules Format, Paperless, Advanced, and Ribbon.

Format PasteText Pastes the current clipboard contents as unformatted text, and automatically strips

out Lexis Enhanced Coverage links.

RemoveReturns Removes hard and soft returns from the current selection. EightFont Sets all non-underlined text in the current paragraph to 8pt font. Highlight Toggles highlighting on and off. AutoUnderline Turns on an auto-underliner. Caps-Lock turns it off. Written that way to avoid

reference to the Windows File System Object, which should make it more likely to work on a

Mac when it comes out.

Paperless SendToSpeech Sends the current selection to Speech, or the current card, block or hat. If in

Reading view, inserts a card marker.

MoveDown Moves the current unit down one slot in the document hierarchy. MoveUp moves the current unit up one slot in the document hierarchy. NewSpeech Opens a new Speech document based on the Debate template and names it

based on user input and the current date/time CopyToUSB Copies the current document to the root of the first USB drive StartTimer Starts a user supplied timer, named Timer.exe in the Word Templates folder SwitchWindows Cycles through currently open windows. DeleteHeading Deletes the current card, hat, or block.

Advanced CiteRequest Turns the current card into a cite-request ready format. CiteRequestDoc Turns the whole document into a cite list. RemoveBlanks Removes blank lines from appearing in the Navigation Pane. ShowCommentsToggles showing or hiding Word comments, used for warrants boxes. AttachTemplateAttaches the debate template to the current document to fix lost macros.

Would be most useful placed in a Global Template or normal.dotm to be available to fix files.

ConvertBackfile Converts a file produced in a previous version of the Whitman template tothe new version. Rough and possibly buggy, but useful.


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Ribbon Onload Required subroutine that deals with opening the custom ribbon tab. RibbonMain Main control subroutine for the Debate tab. Just routes which button was

pushed to the correct other macro. Connects with the built-in XML code designing the ribbon.

AutoOpen Ensures documents based on the template open in Draft View with the Nav Paneturned on.

AutoNew Ensures new documents created from the template open in Draft view with the NavPane turned on.

Applescript Versions

Brad Bolman and Peter Vale of Pembroke Hill have developed a working implementation of paperless

for Applescript. The code is too lengthy to include here, but all the relevant scripts are available from

Whitmans tech page:

http://www.whitman.edu/rhetoric/61tech.htm

Brad says that: The difference with Applescripts is that, unlike Macros, they cannot be attached todocuments so each user must move the Applescript into their scripts folder and then assign it a hotkey,

but that can be done with the template. However, since both systems contain nearly all the same

class/items/etc. this should make it possible for Mac users to use their computers in debates even

running Word 2008.

Peter says that: we have finally created 4 Applescripts that can automatically select a section of text in

between two page breaks and then send that to Speech