Paul Zuckerman

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Eclipse Tips - #5

Automatic Number Conversion

The Odyssey Begins
You are Not Alone

ECLIPSE TIPS

By Paul Zuckerman

Eclipse’s Automatic Number Conversion is a programming tour de force, a feature that makes intuitive the writing of numbers and getting them to translate the way they’re supposed to appear in your transcript. In the vast majority of instances, you write what you hear; the software does the rest. Eclipse obeys your rules for numbers: when they’re to be numerals, when they’re to be written out, when they’re to be mixed (as in $6 million). It knows a great many exceptions to the rules as well and will observe the exceptions if you want it to. In short, no matter how you write numbers -- whether you use the number bar, never use the number bar, are inconsistent about using the number bar – Eclipse will conform to your writing. It offers methods to account for oddball numbers and shortcuts for writing them (like distinguishing between the year 2001 and the quantity 2,001.) For those who work for multiple employers whose rules for numbers vary, it will even let you specify different sets of rules without requiring you to make any changes in the way your write the numbers. In other words, if Employer A wants the numbers 1 through 10 written out except when they’re measurements and dates and Employer B wants 1 through 9 written out, even for measurements but not for dates, and Employer C wants all numbers written out except when they’re dates, Eclipse will accommodate them all (and as many other employers and their rules as you might have) and – AND THIS IS BIG – you can write numbers the same way for each of them!

To invoke Eclipse’s number conversion, hit Alt U for User Settings and select the Numbers tab. Hit Alt N (or click with the mouse on the checkbox) to enable Number Conversion:

All the other items in the Numbers tab let you specify the rules for the Number Conversion to observe. Here’s what they mean:

Ignore Written Numbers. Check this item if numbers you write out are always to translate as words. For example, when you write THRAOE, under no circumstance would you want it to translate as 3 but only as three. Remember, when this item is checked, numbers you write out will not combine with other numbers. If you write 3/HUPB/THRAOE, your translation will be 300 three, not 303. If you write THRAOE/HUPB/THRAOE, you’ll get three hundred three. If Ignore Written Numbers is not checked, you’ll get 303 whether you write 3/HUPB/3 or THRAOE/HUPB/3 or 3/HUPB/THRAOE or THRAOE/HUPB/THRAOE or 3/0/3.) Once again, the only writers who should check this feature are those who always want written numbers to translate as words.

Process “and” as a Number. This feature is a double-edged sword. Sometimes the use of the word “and” between numbers is superfluous. Someone might say “three hundred and three” when he means “three hundred three.” If you check this item, Eclipse will ignore the word “and” if it appears in between numbers or number words (hundred, thousand, etc.) This means if you write 3/HUPB/APBD/3, Eclipse will ignore the “and” and translate the number as 303. However, if someone says, “I hand you Exhibits 300 and 3,” when this feature is checked, the translation will be “I hand you Exhibits 303.” Bottom line: Better stenographers ignore and do not write the word “and” when it’s superfluous and do not check this feature.

Force Measurements to Digits. Check this item if you want Eclipse to make any number which precedes a measurement word (inch, foot, pound, gram, liter, etc.) to become a digit, even if you would otherwise want a written number for such a value. For example, if you want Eclipse to translate “five picofarads” as “5 picofarads,” even though normally you’d want five to translate as a word (as in “I have five dogs”), check this feature. (Yes, Eclipse knows that a picofarad is a measurement, even if you don’t know what the heck it is.)

Minimum Quantity Size. Set this value to zero if you want numbers in the thousands-and-greater range to be delimited with commas between each set of three digits; for example, you want 3,334 and not 3334. If you did want 3334, set the value to 4. This means that quantities with four or fewer digits will not be offset with commas but quantities with five or more digits will. In other words, the Minimum Quantity Size value represents the largest number of digits in a quantity that will not translate with offsetting commas.

Extra Ordinal Formatting. Check this feature if you want numeric ordinals to translate with superscripted suffixes. If that term confuses you, consider the difference between 23^rd and 23rd.

Glue Numbers. The “glue” feature in Eclipse merits an article by itself. Suffice it to say that for those users who utilize the Glue feature, they can choose to make Eclipse glue numbers to letters by selecting this feature. It enables them to write, for example, Exhibit 3A or Exhibit A3 without writing a stroke to delete the space between the 3 and the A. (Just to whet your appetite, Eclipse users can also write Section 3561(a)(2)(B) or IBM or P-A-U-L or U.S.D.A. with far fewer contortions than those who use other softwares.)

Digits =. This feature allows you to command Eclipse to treat digit strings of varying lengths as particular types of numbers. By “digit string,” I mean a number that has no adjectives or descriptive words associated with it – just a plain, uninterrupted string of numerals. For example, if you wrote 5/SEFPB/8/SEUBGS, that’s a string and would translate as 5786 and is different than writing 5/THOU/SEFPB/HUPB/8/SEUBGS, which is a quantity and would translate (if you so chose) as 5,786. Note that it doesn’t matter if you write out the numbers or use the number bar or both if you don’t check Ignore Written Numbers. Strings will translate according to the settings you prescribe in the Digits = feature. To the left of the word Digits is a list of digit lengths with spin controls. To the right of the = sign is a pull-down menu with number types:

The example shows the process of assigning four-digit strings as Generic. There are more numeric types in the list than are shown at one time. Once you’ve pulled down the menu by clicking on the arrow button to the right of the field or by hitting Alt D (to select digits), Tab (to move to the field) then Alt Down Cursor Arrow (to pull down the list), you can use the cursor arrows or the scroll bar to see the complete list. Here’s a recommended list of settings for each digit size:

(You might think it doesn’t matter if you set 1, 2, and 3 digits as generic, for two/three and twenty/three would both translate as 23 and four/five/six and four/hundred/fifty-six would both translate as 456; but as we shall see in the discussion about Numeric Classes, such a setting would prevent 9/dogs from translating as nine dogs if you wanted quantities from one through ten to be written out. Eclipse would treat a one-digit number like 9 as a generic number; i.e., a number that is simply a numeral to which no processing should be applied, as opposed to a quantity.)

(Why Generic here, you ask, and not Quantity? If someone lives at 4789 Spruce Street, if you set 4 digits = Quantity, Eclipse would translate this is 4,789 Spruce Street. This illustrates the difference between Generic numbers and Quantities. Thus, as long as you write four/7/eight/nine or 4/7/8/9 or some combination of number strokes that include no word(s) such as hundred, thousand, million, dollars, cents, feet, grams, etc., associated with it, you will get a plain, unpunctuated string of numbers – Generic – and this is what enables you to write such things as addresses. Simply write the numbers and nothing else.)

(Beware: While this setting gives you the advantage of any seven-digit string translating as ###-#### without your having to write the hyphen, it also causes every seven-digit string to so translate. You may prefer to set 7 digits to Generic and write the hyphen manually to give you the option of having unadulterated seven-digit Generic strings or to use the number triggers that will be explained later.)

(Yes, you don’t have to do anything but write numbers to get 521-77-8995; but see the comment about 7 digits that explains the tradeoff.)

(Yes, John’s phone number will translate as (303)823-9785 and you didn’t have to write anything but the numbers to make it translate that way; but see the comment about 7 digits once again.)

Time. The setting you choose here determines what happens to round, top-of-the-hour times you write, such as 10:00 or 2:00. Note the choices in the pull-down menu:

If you define strokes in your dictionary for a.m. and p.m. (e.g., A*PL = a.m. and P*PM = p.m.), when you write numbers preceding those strokes, Eclipse will interpret them as times. Thus, if you write 9/23/A*PL, Eclipse will translate such strokes as 9:23 a.m. without your having to write anything to trigger the colon between the 9 and the 2. If you write 9/A*PL, the translation will follow the template you selected in the pull-down menu. For example, if you selected “9:00 o’clock a.m.,” that’s the translation you would obtain.

What happens if you don’t write a stroke for a.m. or p.m. after a number? How do you make Eclipse interpret numbers which stand alone as times? Use the dictionary entry {#T} to trigger times. This definition may be a standalone dictionary entry or part of a composite dictionary entry. For a standalone entry, make up a unique steno stroke and define it as {#T}. To add a stroke to your dictionary without hooking up your writer, hit Ctl D. The virtual steno machine appears:

After entering your stroke (I’ve used K-BG as an example) hit Enter to define the stroke in the Global Window:

Place the entry in the main dictionary. You can now use this stroke by writing it before, in between or after numbers to trigger times. Thus, K-BG/9/28,

9/K-BG/28, 9/28/K-BG, TPHAOEUPB/K-BG/28, etc., all translate as 9:28. It doesn’t matter if you write out some numbers and use the number bar for others as long as you didn’t check Ignore Written Numbers. 9/K-BG and K-BG/9 and TPHAOEUPB/K-BG and K-BG/TPHAOEUPB will translate as the template you selected in the numbers tab for Time. In other words, if you selected “9:00 a.m.” as your template, then 7/K-BG will translate as 7:00.

Here’s a tip that will save you a stroke when writing times. The concept may be applied to other number types as well, as we shall learn. Suppose you decide to write the stroke 1-BG for 1:00, 2-BG for 2:00 . . . K-6 for 6:00, K-7 for 7:00, etc. Instead of defining each of these strokes as a numeral followed by a colon and two zeros (1:00, 2:00, 3:00, etc.), define them instead as follows:

No, I didn’t forget 11. You don’t need a dictionary definition for 11{#T} unless you write it in one stroke. Otherwise, 1-BG will work when 11:## times are written.

The beauty of these strokes is they may be written by themselves or with other numbers. For example, 3-BG by itself will translate as 3:00, 3, 3 o’clock, or 3:00 o’clock, depending on which Time template you chose. 3-BG/14 will translate as 3:14 no matter what Time template you chose. Now you can write any time by hitting any of the numbers in that time with a K or –BG, as appropriate, in the same stroke.

Those who do not use the number bar can achieve the same result. You could write, for example, WUPBG for 1{#T} and TWAOBG for 2{#T}, etc.

The bottom left quadrant of the Numbers Tab is labeled Number Classes and controls the translation of three kinds of numbers: Quantities, Currency, and Ordinals. Notice that when you click on the round circle next to the name of one of these classes, you may set the rules for its behavior.

In the example above, Quantity is selected and the pull-down menu called Write Out is displayed. A quantity is an amount of something. 1,528 cats is a quantity; 1528 Colfax Avenue is not. Write Out refers to the rule you want Eclipse to obey: when numbers should translate as words and when should they translate as numerals. The possible rules are: No Values, 1-9, 1-10, 1-12, 1-10 and even 10s (20, 30, 40, etc.), 1-100, 1-100 and even 100s (200, 300, 400, etc.), and All Values. Let’s assume you have not checked Ignore Written Numbers and have selected the Write Out Rule 1-10. This means that whether you write numbers using the number bar, write them out, or are inconsistent and may use one or the other method, Eclipse will translate quantities of 1 through 10 as words and any number larger than 10 will translate as a numeral. (If you have checked Ignore Written Numbers, then the rule Write Out 1-10 will apply only to numbers written on the number bar. If you want all numbers on the number bar to translate as numerals, select No Values.)

That’s fine most of the time, you observe, but what about January 4 and 6 feet? Won’t the rule Write Out 1-10 result in translations of January four and six feet? Eclipse already knows that numbers which follow months of the year are supposed to be numerals, no matter what Write Out rule you’ve selected. If you’ve checked Force Measurements to Digits, then all numbers that precede measurement words such as feet, inches, grams, pounds, etc., will also translate as numerals. In other words, Eclipse follows the rule you’ve chosen and knows the important exceptions. We shall see later how the exceptions Eclipse may not know can be handled.

To repeat, if you are a writer who always uses the number bar when you want numerals and always writes out numbers you want to be words, select No Values as your rule for Write Out. If you work for a firm that wants all numbers to be words, no matter how big the number, select All Values as your rule for Write Out. The Force Measurements to Digits exception will be followed if checked. If you also want months of the year to trigger words and not numerals (January four, February nine) define in your main dictionary the months of the year followed by {#W}; i.e. January{#W}, February{#W}, etc. If you want written out ordinals {January fourth}, define them this way: January {#W}{#O}. There are no spaces in these definitions and {#O} is the letter O, not a zero. See the section below called Templates and Numeric Classes for a detailed explanation.

The rule At Start allows you to inform Eclipse if your normal rule for when numbers are to translate as words changes if a number is the first word of a sentence. The list of rules in the pull-down menu for At Start is the same as the list for Write Out. If you work for a firm, for example, which normally requires one through ten to be written out but requires one through one hundred to be written out if the number is the first word of a sentence, set your Write Out rule as 1-10 and your At Start rule as 1-100. Eclipse will do the rest.

The Clarify rule designates the smallest order of magnitude of round numbers that will translate as part number and part word. An example serves to illustrate the rule: If Clarify is set as Million+, then 1,000 will translate as 1,000 but 1,000,000 will translate as 1 million and so will any round number above 1 million translate as a number followed by the appropriate word; i.e., 6 billion, 200 trillion. Numbers, which are not round, will ignore the Clarify rule. Thus, even if Clarify is set at Million+, 1,000,006 will translate just that way, 1,000,006.

Now that you’ve set your Quantity rules, click on the dot next to Currency. Write Out, At Start, and Clarify mean exactly what they meant for Quantity, but now you’re commanding Eclipse how to deal with dollars and cents. Does your translation require “five dollars” or “$5”? You may well want 1 through 10 to translate as words for Quantity but as numerals for Currency. If so, select No Values for your Write Out Currency rule. Select your rules for At Start and Clarify. (Most people use Million+ for all Clarify rules.)

An ordinal number refers to rank: first, second, third . . . 10^th . . . 29^th, etc. Click on the circle next to Ordinal and set your Write Out, At Start, and Clarify rules.

Now that you’ve told Eclipse your rules, here’s the payoff: Write numbers as you hear them. You don’t need any special strokes to get the numbers to translate as they’re supposed to look. Consider the following: If you were to attend a real-time seminar, you’d be told that you’d need five ways to write “thousand,” depending on its context. Sometimes it’s a word, as in “I have a thousand reasons.” Sometimes it’s delete space, comma, and three zeroes, as in 3,000. Sometimes it’s delete space, comma, two zeroes, and delete space, as in 2,004. Sometimes it’s delete space, comma, one zero, and delete space, as in 5,024. Sometimes it’s delete space, comma, and delete space, as in 8,368. You’d need five different steno strokes for the five possible definitions of thousand. What’s worse, you’d have to be adept at choosing the correct one for the number you’re trying to write. Of course, that’s the tip of the iceberg. You’d have the same problem for hundred (four strokes), million (eight strokes), billion (11 strokes), and – heaven forbid! – trillion (14 strokes). Sound difficult? It’s enough to make you want to be replaced by a tape recorder! Relax. Eclipse does the work for you. Eclipse knows all the rules for hundred, thousand, million, billion, and trillion. It knows where the dollar sign goes. It knows where the decimal point goes. It knows where the placeholder zeroes go. Thus, you can write $14,206,374.06 just as you hear it, just as people say it, and Eclipse will translate it correctly. All you need to do is make sure your main dictionary has the entries in it that lets do Eclipse do its work.

We’ll begin with the simplest requirement first: Numbers you write on the number bar do not need to be in your dictionary. Thus, even you write 189 by hitting those three keys at the same time, Eclipse will recognize them and that stroke does not need to be in your dictionary. There are some reporters who have some work-saving strokes that are nonstandard, however; and those strokes do need to be in the dictionary. For example, if you write 23-R when you want 32 (the theory here is that the R means to reverse the order of the two digits) you will need to define 23-R as 32 in your main dictionary.

Numbers you write out do need to be defined in your dictionary. If you write THRAOE for 3, it needs to be defined. Here’s how to decide if it should be defined as 3 or three. If you checked Ignore Written Numbers because you never want Eclipse to change a number you write out, define THRAOE as three. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter. If you’re letting Eclipse obey your rules for writing out numbers, either definition will work. If you write out all your numbers, you must enter all discrete numbers in your dictionary. For example, if you write TWUPB for 21, it must be in your dictionary as a discrete entry; but if you write TWUPB/THOU for 21,000, it must not be in your dictionary. If you write TWENT/WOPB for 21, that two-stroke entry must be in your dictionary as 21 or it will translate as 201. This may seem counter-intuitive at first, for you already have a stroke for 20 and one for 1, so why can’t Eclipse combine the two to make 21? The problem is the zero at the end of 20; Eclipse will not be able to replace the 0 with any other digit. So, too, a number-bar writer can’t write 20/1 but must write 2/1 to achieve 21. 20/1 will translate as 201.

Your strokes for hundred, thousand, million, billion, etc., should be defined in the dictionary as words. For example, HUPB = hundred; THOU = thousand. Eclipse will automatically know when they’re words and when they need to be turned into zeroes, or commas and zeroes, how many zeroes, and where they go. This means you don’t need more than one stroke for these words; but if you’re used to writing, say, THOU and THO*U and THOURBGS, etc., for the various definitions of thousand you used to have to write, change all their definitions to the word thousand. They’ll all work no matter what the context.

You don’t need different strokes for the word dollars and the dollar sign. If you have different strokes, define them all as the word dollars. Eclipse knows the difference between “I have a few dollars” and $1,000,005. This raises an important point: Do not write the dollar sign before the numbers; write it when you hear it said. Eclipse will change the stroke from the word into the sign and move it to the beginning of the number.

Don’t write a decimal point if you write dollars or your stroke for a dollar sign (defined as the word dollars) when you hear it. For that matter, you don’t need to write a stroke for cents if you write dollars. For example, if you wrote 6/TKHRARS/4, or 6/TKHRARS/4/SEPBTS (if SEPBTS were defined as cents), both would translate as $6.04.

The intelligent decimal point. Make up a stroke to use as a decimal point. (If you are able, write the word point and the decimal point with different strokes; i.e., POEUPBT for point and POEU or PO*EUBPT for the decimal point. This avoids the confusion in sentences such as “Point 1 is that you don’t understand” and “He sold .1 grams of cocaine.”) Define the decimal point stroke as {DECIMAL}. You can now write the same stroke for “I lost 6.4 pounds” and “She ran .6 miles.” Eclipse knows if the decimal should be joined to the previous number or needs a space before the previous word.

You may have entries in your dictionary that will foil Eclipse’s Number Conversion. They must be removed. For example, if you’ve defined 5/HUPB as 500, Eclipse will not be able to lop off either of the zeroes to combine it with other numbers. Such an entry would cause 5/HUPB/3 to translate as 5,003 and 5/HUPB/27 to translate as 50,027. {Suppose, however, you have a way to write 500 in one stroke – say, 5-G. You can still use the stroke. Define it as 5{}hundred. There are no spaces in this entry. The double braces instruct Eclipse to handle what’s on either side of them as if you had written two discrete entries, enabling it to combine the elements with other numbers.)

You can easily search for and delete the number entries from your dictionary that should not be there. Hit F9 function key, the dictionary edit command, then Enter. This will open your main dictionary. Hit F5 function key, the search command. Check selection 9, Numbers:

Hit Enter. Eclipse will take you to the first entry in your dictionary that has a numeral in it. If it falls in the category of an entry that will foil the number conversion, either change its definition if it’s a stroke which you intend to write, or hit the Delete key on your keyboard to remove the entry. To search for the next number, hit Ctrl L, the Locate Next search command. Repeat this process until you’ve examined all the Number entries in your dictionary with an eye toward modifying or deleting entries that will interfere with the Number Conversion process. Be sure (as you should any time you add or remove dictionary entries) to back up your dictionary when finished.

Now that you’ve set up the Numbers dialogue to follow your rules, how do you do the same for multiple employers who have varying requirements for the translation of numbers? The procedure is to create as many additional user settings files as needed. To create a user settings file, hit Alt U for User Settings and select the Save Settings button. (Do not select Create New User! This selection is chosen only when setting up a different reporter on your computer.) You will be prompted to type in the name of the settings file you are about to create:

Hit Enter after typing in the name of the new settings file. The User Settings dialogue will remain on the screen, but you will now be working in the newly created settings file. Select the Numbers tab and follow the steps previously outlined to change the rules by which Eclipse will translate numbers in this settings file. Create other settings files as needed. Note that you can change the selections in any of the ten tabs in the User Settings dialogue for any of your settings files – paragraph formatting data, document formatting data, translation behavior, screen colors, etc. The User Settings dialogues allow you to customize Eclipse in each and every settings file you create. In the future, whenever you enter Eclipse you will see the User Information Files dialogue:

Simply select the appropriate settings file for the work you’re about to undertake and Eclipse will apply the setup you’ve designed for that settings file. To switch among settings files while Eclipse is open, there is no need to close and reopen the software. Hit Alt U for User Settings and select the Load Settings button. The User Information Files dialogue will appear, enabling you to work in a different settings file.

The work you’ve done so far will enable Eclipse to translate the vast majority of numbers you write with no special effort from you beyond writing what you hear, as you hear it. This will dramatically cut down your editing time and make you a significantly better realtime writer. Inevitably, there will be numbers you’ll encounter which will require some extra effort from you to make them translate correctly. Fortunately, Eclipse makes available several methods and strategies that will make dealing with even those problem numbers significantly easier than you might expect.

The following table is a list of dictionary definitions for strokes you can employ that force numbers of particular types:

Remember our earlier discussion about Time and the {#T} dictionary syntax? All the items in the table may be used in the same fashion: You can make up standalone strokes for the ones you use and/or combine them in composite strokes to force numbers of a particular type. Here are some examples:

Make up a standalone stroke (perhaps R*PB} and define it as {#R}. If you hit that stroke before, between, or after numbers, you will force a Roman numeral. Thus, R*PB/4/2, 4/R*PB/2, and 4/2/R*PB all will translate as XLII.

Define the phrase or brief you write for Roman numeral (perhaps RO/PHAPB/TPHUPL/RAL) as Roman numeral{#R} in your dictionary. RO/PHAPB/TPHUPL/RAL/16 will translate as Roman numeral XVI.

Devise strokes for composite numbers that you want to force Roman numerals. (Perhaps 1-R, 2-R . . . R-5 . . . 10-R, etc.) Each would be defined as the number plus {#R}. For example, the steno stroke 1-R would be defined as 1{#R}. There are no spaces in this entry. To trigger a Roman numeral, you need write only one of the numbers in a string with the R. For example, 1-R/HUPB/8 and 1/HUPB/R-8 would both translate as CVIII.

Any of the triggers can be used in similar ways, as standalone strokes or parts of composite entries. Notice, too, that {#O} (that’s not a zero but the letter O) forces ordinals. This means you don’t need a different stroke to force the ordinals 101^st, 22^nd, and 93^rd. You could make up a stroke like *D = {{#O} and write it before, in between or after any number and Eclipse would turn it into and ordinal with the correct suffix.

Note that if you use {#M} for money instead of having a stroke(s) defined as dollars, you will have to write the decimal point before the cents. For Americans (Eclipse is used for foreign languages, too, with other types of currency), it’s easier to write dollars and or cents than to use the {#M} trigger.

Use Eclipse’s Conflict Logic and number triggers to create intelligent entries that save you hours of editing. For example, if you write KPEUBT for the word exhibit, define that stroke as \exhibit\Exhibit{#N}. At first, you’ll have to pick between Choice 1, exhibit, and Choice 2, Exhibit{#N}. Eclipse will learn when exhibit should be capitalized (both when the stroke is followed by a number or a capital letter) and when it should not; but beyond that, it will force numbers to be numerals instead of words when they follow that stroke. Eclipse will by itself change KPEUBT/THRAOE into Exhibit 3. Make a similar entry for the plural of such words. In other words, whether you write one stroke, KPEUBT, or two KPEUBT/S, that entry should be defined as \exhibits\Exhibits{#N} and will work the same way. You can apply the same strategy for words like \section\Section{#N}, \unit\Unit{#N}, or a simplified version of it to words which don’t require conflicts: page{#N}. This entry will employ the {#N} portion of its definition if the next stroke is a number, turning page four into page 4, even if you’ve set your Quantity Write Out rule to write out, say, 1-10.

If you write a series of numbers requiring a trigger separated by commas in a sentence, you need write only the first one with the trigger. For example, to write, “Please look at Roman numerals I, IV, IX, and XX,” if you’ve written a trigger using any of the methods described to force the first number to translate as a Roman numeral, the rest in the sentence will follow suit. Be sure to write the commas, however; otherwise, Eclipse will see all consecutive numbers as part of one big number and translate it as such.

There are nine user-definable templates or formats. Their triggers are shown in the table as {#1} through {#9}. You create them by hitting Alt U for User Settings and selecting the Numbers Tab. The bottom right quadrant of the tab is the location of the User templates:

The example above shows the creation of the No. 2 template. The area next to “2:” has been clicked to highlight it. Then the field under the word Templates was clicked, and ##.###-### was typed. This template was designed for a case where bank accounts numbers were frequently mentioned and they all were punctuated with a period after the first two digits and a hyphen after the fifth. Notice that the user also set 8 digits = User 2 in the digits = section of the tab. This means that if the reporter were to write a string of eight unbroken digits, they would automatically translate according to the syntax of the template. The reporter could also make dictionary entries, standalone or composite, using the {#2} syntax as an alternative way to force the template onto digits. By using this method and leaving setting 8 digits = Generic in the Numbers tab, the reporter loses the automatic translation of eight digits being forced to match the template, requiring the use of the trigger instead, but gains the benefit of having either type of translation appear as needed. In other words, an eight-digit string translates as a generic number but an eight-digit string written with the trigger before, between, or after the numbers translates according to the template’s format.

Eclipse will automatically hyphenate singular case measurements. For example, if you write TPAOEUF/PHAOEUL/RUPB, Eclipse will translate these strokes as 5-mile run, inserting the hyphen for you in its proper place. This feature, however, necessitates your creating dictionary entries for plural measurement words if you write plural word forms using a second stroke. For example, if you write PHAOEULS for miles, you would naturally have that entry in your dictionary; but if you write PHAOEUL/-S for miles, as an Eclipse user you wouldn’t expect to have to place that word in your dictionary because Eclipse knows how to attach suffixes to root words and automatically adjust the spelling of the new word if needed. In other words, if you write plural endings as a separate stroke (for example, by hitting final S or Z defined as the suffix {^s}), you need not have such composite words in your main dictionary. Ordinarily, if you write the word inch followed by my stroke for the {^s} suffix, Eclipse would automatically form the word inches without my having to global inches into my dictionary. However, if you wrote TPAOEUF/EUFRPBLG/-S, Eclipse would translate these strokes as 5-inches instead of 5 inches, because in order to determine whether a hyphen is need, Eclipse sees the word following the number and determines if it’s a measurement word. Because EUFRPBLG is singular (Eclipse doesn’t “see” the final –S when making this determination), it hyphenates the phrase. The solution is to define EUFRPBLG/-S in your main dictionary as inches. Eclipse will now see the plural form of the word and omit the hyphen. Create similar entries for all plural measurement words.

Some people use shortcuts to write composite numbers in one stroke; for example, 10-DZ for $10, HUPBDZ for hundred dollars, THOUDZ for thousand dollars, 5-G for 500. These strokes work beautifully in Eclipse provided they’re correctly defined in the dictionary. If 10 –DZ is defined as 10 dollars or ten dollars or $10, it will not properly combine with other number and number words. For example, Eclipse couldn’t successfully translate 1/HUPB/10-DZ as $110 but would translate it as 100 10 dollars, seeing 10-DZ as a discrete word. Instead, define 10-DZ as 10{}dollars. There are no spaces in this entry. The double braces instruct Eclipse to treat what’s on either side of them as separate entries, just as if you had written separate strokes. With this definition, Eclipse will successfully combine such a composite stroke with other numbers and number words. Thus, THOUDZ works when defined as thousand{}dollars. Written without numbers, it will translate simply as the words thousand dollars; written in conjunction with numbers and other number words, it translates as needed. For example, 5/HUPB/THOUDZ translates as $500,000.

With the turn of the century, many writers have experienced what I call “The Millennium Problem”; they can’t get correct translations of years in the 2000 series. If you simply write 2/THOU, it translates as 2,000, and 2/THOU/4 translates as 2,004. Remember our discussion about Quantity vs. Generic? 2/THOU/3 is a Quantity, because Eclipse interprets the word thousand as a trigger for quantity and follows your rules for Quantity in the Numeric Classes section of the Numbers dialogue. Here are several solutions for writing years in the 2000 series. Choose the one that’s easiest for you. Of course, you can use all of them. The more weapons in your arsenal, the better you’ll write.

If you wrote 19/9/8 for 1998, apply the same thinking to 2000 series years: Write 20/0/4 for 2004. This is a four-digit string, and because you have 4 digits = Generic set in your Numbers tab, Eclipse translates accordingly.

If you write THOU for thousand, define in your main dictionary THO*U (or some unique stroke that suits your fancy) as thousand{#G}. This entry will serve both to recognize the magnitude of the number (thousand) and force a Generic, not Quantity, translation. Thus, 2/THO*U/4 will translate as 2004 but 2/THO*U translates as 2000. The beauty of this entry is it works as a trigger for any numbers. For example, you could write a section number of a statute in the thousands by writing 1/THO*U/1 to obtain 1001.

The following solution requires the fewest strokes: Make up a steno stroke and define it as 2{}thousand{#G}. I use 2-Z, but it can be anything that’s easy for you to write. Hit your stroke followed, if necessary, by the ending number of the year you’re trying to write, and now you’ll write no more than two strokes for any year in the 2000 series. For example, when I write 2-Z, one stroke, it translates as 2000. 2-Z/3 translates as 2003. 2-Z/10 translates as 2010. If you write statutory citations in the thousands magnitude, make up similar strokes. For example, 1-Z could be defined as 1{}thousand{#G} and works for writing Section 1000, while 1-Z/2 translates as 1002.

Ordinal numbers written as words present a problem for those who have not checked Ignore Written Numbers in the Numbers dialogue. If you write, “Wait one second,” Eclipse will combine the two strokes when translating them, yielding “Wait 12th.” The solution? Define your stroke for second as {second}. Automatic Number Conversion will ignore any word defined in braces. You may wish to do the same for ordinal words from first through ninth to prevent translations such as “He was eight first, then he was nine” from becoming “He was 81^st, then he was nine.”

In the Translation tab of User Settings is a checkbox called “Tie Related Items.” If you enable this feature, when translating, Eclipse automatically places its lock-space character, ~, between many word combinations that should not split at the end of a line when there is insufficient room to accommodate the entire phrase. For example, Mr. Smith becomes Mr.~Smith (provided you’ve defined your stroke for Mr. as just that, Mr. and no more. Don’t worry: The ~ does not print or appear in ASCII files.) Eclipse will also apply the lock space character between month names and numerals (January~5), measurements (6~feet), and number trigger composite entries (Roman numeral~IV, where the phrase Roman numeral appears in the dictionary defined as Roman numeral{#R}. If you want all three elements to lock, define Roman numeral as Roman{~}numeral{#R} to achieve Roman~numeral~IV.) Do not add lock-space characters to number triggers or phrases that contain them. Remember our earlier example about KPEUBT defined as a conflict, \exhibit\Exhibit{#N}? When Choice 2 is selected by Eclipse, it will automatically lock the word Exhibit to the number which follows to prevent their splitting at the end of a line (Exhibit~3).

If you don’t employ Eclipse’s Automatic Number Conversion or run across an entry which translated incorrectly and needs to be fixed, you can utilize Eclipse’s manual Number Conversion dialogue to convert numbers from one form to another. Suppose a number translated as 3035748962 in your transcript and you want to convert it into a phone number. Place the cursor on the 3 and hit the F7 function key (or m if you use Hyperkeys) to mark the number. Hit Ctrl Shift 3 (also denominated Ctrl #) to invoke the Number Conversion Dialogue:

The Input line is what’s currently in the transcript. The Output line will preview the result of what you select from the number types shown. To select a number type, you can click the appropriate circle with your mouse or hit the underscored letter or digit of the type you want (P for phone, for example). Now click on the OK button or hit enter; the number in your transcript will be converted into the number type you selected.

You can create macros to carry out the steps of hitting the mark command, Ctrl Shift 3, and the desired letter or number in one command. Some of that work has already been done for you if you use the default Eclipse Hyperkeys, as follows:

Note that the letters in the chart above are capital letters, not lower case. To convert 1225 into 12:25, place your cursor on the 1 and hit Shift T.

Writing numbers used to be a nightmare for reporters. If you wrote what you heard, getting the numbers in their correct form required copious editing. If you wanted numbers to translate correctly as your wrote them, you had to create, memorize, and correctly strike innumerable strokes – an undertaking sure to produce a migraine headache. Eclipse’s Automatic Number Conversion takes the pain out of writing numbers. After a small amount of setup, you should be able to write what you hear as you hear it and let Eclipse do the work. Once again, Eclipse proves to be a formidable time machine: It gives your time back to you!