Debate Synergy is a software suite by Alex Gulakov which
aims to create synergy between multiple aspects of the debate process. It
requires Windows versions of Word and Excel 2010, or Word and Excel 2007, or
Excel 2003 for just the flowing template. Mac users should use Bootcamp or
Parallels to run Windows. It has features for everyone-such as for research,
paperless, judging, and flowing.
Debate Synergy takes advantage of the new Office 2007 interface to offer more
than just macros. Fans of Word 2003 can still choose to use the original Word
2003 interface in Word 2007. It integrates easily with existing templates, is
very customizable, has a single easy-to-use toolbar, a few intuitive shortcut
keys, and does not require lengthy adjustments or learning. There is no reason
to delay installing this; get Word 2007 or 2010 for Windows and don't miss out.
HOW TO INSTALL
Unzip the Debate Synergy .zip file and make sure Word and Excel are closed before installing.
WORD
Open a file explorer window, and type into the navigation bar:
%AppData%\Microsoft\Templates
Over write the Normal.dotm file in this folder with the Normal.dotm file from the Debate Synergy folder.
TIMER
Copy Debate Synergy Timer.exe to any location on your computer.
To create a desktop shortcut, you may right click and select Send To > Desktop.
EVERYTHING.EXE INTEGRATION
Download Everything Search from voidtools.com.
Set in DS Options the location where you installed the Everything.exe program.
Set in DS Options an initial starting path, such as your primary debate files folder.
EXCEL
Type into the file explorer navigation bar, depending on your version of Office:
2010: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office14\XLSTART
2007: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office12\XLSTART
2003: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office11\XLSTART
For 2010 and 2007, Move Book.xltm into this XLSTART folder
For 2003, Move Book.xlt from the "Excel 2003 Flow" folder into this XLSTART folder
Issue: Can�t find the file path in the instructions
Try navigating to something resembling the following:
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\XLSTART
Issue: I�d like to keep the macros from my current default template
Before installing Debate Synergy, rename the Normal.dotm from the Templates directory to any other name and place it in
%AppData%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP
Issue: I�d like to use my own template simultaneously with Debate Synergy
Please read the Customization page for how to make Debate Synergy look just like your template does
Debate Synergy supports the use of more than one Word template (although you may need to reset the shortcut keys). Place additional templates into: %AppData%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP
Issue: Cannot delete Normal.dotm in the Templates folder
Make sure Word is closed.
Make sure you have access rights to delete this file. If you do not, try renaming Normal.dotm from the Debate Synergy folderto anything else and placing it in this folder.
Issue: I can see the toolbar but I get security warnings about macros
You need to enable macros in Excel and Word.
Press (separately, do not hold) Alt, T, M, S or go to:
Office Menu Orb > Word Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings
Check "Enable all macros" and "Trust access to the VBA project object model"
Issue: Debate Synergy Timer.exe doesn�t run
If the Debate Timer requires .Net Framework 2.0 to run. Download it here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/6/7/567758a3-759e-473e-bf8f-52154438565a/dotnetfx.exe
The most innovative feature is the Virtual Tub system, useful for paperless debate and for research organization.
The Virtual Tub is a dropdown that mirrors the subfolder and file structure of a folder on your computer.
Clicking on a file will paste its contents into the current document.
There is a macro that splits up a large file into individual files based on the document map.
Click on a pocket - inserts that pocket�s text into the current document
Ctrl+click to delete the pocket
Shift+click to open the pocket. If you have any text selected, it�ll be pasted to the end of that pocket.
Refresh Virtual Tub - updates the menu to reflect changes in the file menu structure
Convert to Expando - splits the current file into many individual files based on the document map entries, and places them in a subfolder of the Virtual Tub. This will ask you if you�d like to retain the block headings in the output files (so then when you paste contents, whether you want block headings included as well.)
The output file names will begin with a number like this:
001_1ac.doc
002_inherency-a2 inevitable.doc
Change these numbers to alter the order of pockets. As long as you have an underscore following the number, it will not be displayed in the Word menu.
Add Shortcut - you can place a shortcut to any type of file into the Virtual Tub, it will run when clicked.
Control and navigate through the open documents.
Window Control downdown adjusts to small menu size based on the number of items
Print Layout / Prep Speech - toggle between Print Layout View and Web View, which has no page separators. Prep Speech mode is better for paperless speeches and research because: a) there is no need to worry about blocks running over a page, since there are no pages, b) more content on the screen, and c) the text fits to screen (without a horizontal scrollbar) when you use Flow Side-by-Side mode.
Read Speech (- uses a very full screen with 200% zoom (Ctrl+scroll to adjust zoom). The text appears as a continuous scroll and can be edited, and the document map is still visible. Press Esc to exit.
Flow Side-by-Side - puts the Excel flow on the left and the Word speech on the right side of the screen.
Show/Hide - show or hide the page separators (used in Print Layout View), document map, and rulers.
Document Navigation - all open documents appear in the dropdown list along with their locations. The current document has a checkbox and the speech document has a fox icon. You can switch between documents by clicking on them. Click on the current document to close all documents but the current one.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl+Tab - flip through Word documents, like Firefox tabs.
Add Selection/Block to Speech - sends the currently selected text or current block to the speech document, if opened. Thanks to Aaron Hardy for inspiring this feature.
Save Speech to USB ( Ctrl+Shift+S ) - saves speech to the Speech Save folder and to a USB if one is present.
Stopped Reading Marker ( Ctrl+`) - inserts a marker that looks like this: ₪ stopped here at 21:38 ₪
Keyboard Shortcuts
The backward accent key ( `) located under the Esc key has multiple functions:
If you have no text selected, it will toggle between Read Speech mode
If a speech is opened and you have text selected, it will copy that text to the speech
If a speech is opened and you have clicked on a document map entry, it will copy that block to the speech
Ctrl+` - Inserts Stopped Reading Marker
Ctrl+Alt+` - Puts the Word document on the right hand side of the screen, and the Excel document, if opened, on the left hand side
Ctrl+Shift+S - Saves speech to USB and to the Speech Save folder
Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down - Moves the current block (or section hat) before the prior block or after the next block
Ctrl+Alt+Left - Moves the current block (or section hat) to the start of the document, but after the table of contents
Ctrl+Alt+Right - Moves the current block (or section hat) to the end of the document
Contains the commonly-used standard Word features in a simple and organized group. This is an attempt to condense the Word 2007 interface to make it more user-friendly. Using the Word 2003 interface is another option (see "Office Menu-Debate Synergy Options").
So useful
First row - font, font size, remove tab, insert tab, number list
Second row - bold, italics, underline (dropdown for style), highlight dropdown for color, left align, center align, line spacing, and insert break dropdown
Third row - Font dialog box, Paragraph dialog box, Page Setup dialog box, and Styles sidebar
These macros are used so often that you should remember their shortcuts:
Ctrl+G to Paste Text and Ctrl+R to Remove Returns
Bread & butter
Paste Text ( Ctrl+G or Alt+G) - pastes text without formatting. Also removes Lexis Academic Enhanced Text if it�s present in the clipboard (this works instantly-it takes direct access of the clipboard before it is pasted.)
In DS Options under the Start-up tab, you can set whether you want to keep selected the text you just pasted, or if you want to collapse the selection after pasting (like Word does by default.)
Paste Text without Returns ( Ctrl+Alt+G ) - runs both the Paste Text and Remove Returns macros.
Paste Text with URL - pastes the text, and then communicates with Firefox or Internet Explorer to get the URL of the most recently used tab and inserts that URL before the pasted text. (Tip: if you use this often, create a shortcut key in DS Options.)
Show Clipboard - shows the Office Clipboard sidebar with the 24 most recently copied items.
Remove Returns (
Ctrl+R or
Alt+R
) - removes line breaks from selection, and then some. Also
removes: soft line breaks, line wraps (- ), invisible line wraps (� from OCR
scans), non-breaking spaces (from some PDFs), tabs, vertical tabs (from insert
page break), and double spaces.
By far the longest-code macro, this shortcut creates a custom-formatted cite from the selected text. The shortcut is Ctrl+T or Alt+T.
Adjust cite appearance in DS Options
You generally should put the title in quotes, and you probably also want to bold the author�s last name. It will attempt to find those variables anyways, but this will greatly help. Running it is risk free-it will leave behind any unused text. For example, it will output the following cite if run when the text below that cite is selected.
F1 toggles text between underlined and small size, and F2 resets the selection to normal text.
The second-tier functions (Small-size All and Select Similar) are highly useful as well
Underline
Underline Toggle ( F1 ) - pressing it on non-underlined text sets the text to the Underline style; pressing it on underlined text removes the underlining and sets the text to the small size (configured in DS Options.)
Small-size All ( Ctrl+F1 ) - select a partially-underlined card and this will set the non-underlined and non-bolded parts to the class=Underline> style='text-decoration:none'>small size, and the underlined or bolded text to the Normal size. You can select an entire document and run this macro.
Small-size All More ( Ctrl+Alt+F1 ) - decrease font size of all non-underlined and non-bolded text in selection
Normal
Normal ( F2 ) - sets the selection to the normal style and removes highlighting, essentially creating plain text. Does NOT remove underlining if that underlining was set using a unique Underline style (such as in the DS template and many other templates). Same for bolded text.
Select Similar ( Ctrl+F2 ) - selects text of a format similar to the currently selected text. Useful for reformating all headers or all underlined text in a document.
Clear formatting - absolutely clears all formatting, resetting the text to Normal style. If run from the menu, it does not preserve anything. Use Ctrl+Space to "clear text" - it will run a similar function that clears all formatting, but preserving Heading styles.
F3 structures the document with block headings, and F4 highlights text.
Heading
Heading ( F3 ) - set selection or current paragraph as block heading. Running the macro will insert a page break beforehand if you turned off "page break before" as a default for the Heading style (see Customize Styles).
Hat ( Ctrl+F3 ) - sets text as a "section heading." It inserts three *s before the text and puts the text in the non-printing bottom gutter of the prior page. In the document map, it creates a blank line before the section hat entry. The section hat is bolded and underlined in the table of contents.
Remove from Document Map ( Ctrl+Alt+F3 ) - often Word will automatically make some text appear in the document map. To fix the document map, select the entire document and run this macro; click "no" for removing styles from the document map.
Second, some templates use a Heading 2 style for tags. Use Select Similar to select all of these tags and run this macro; click "yes" for removing styles.
To entirely clear the document map, select the entire document and run this, clicking "yes" for removing styles.
Highlight
Highlight ( F4 ) - toggle between highlighting and un-highlighting the selection or current word. Set color in the color picker on the Standard group.
Box ( Ctrl+F4 ) - toggle between boxing and un- boxing the selection or current word.
Many useful formatting fixes.
The descriptions in the image are the same as the ones below
Reformat in template default - Reformats the document into the template appearance, including margins, headings, styles, and table of contents.
Remove blank pages - Removes all blank pages in the entire document and displays number removed in the status bar.
Remove hyperlinks - Removes all hyperlinks in the entire document and displays number removed in the status bar.
Format in Smart Title Case ( Ctrl-K ) - Formats the Selection in Title Case, Except Words Like and, is, or.
Create partial-text cite ( Ctrl+Q ) - Deletes all but the first and last words from the selection or current paragraph, then copies the cite.
Insert page continued ( Ctrl+Alt+Enter ) - Inserts a page continuation marker and starts a new page with the same header as the current page.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Turn on Caps Lock and open as many documents as you want. All those documents will then be converted into your DS template style. However, running this "Reformat in template default" macro will take some time.
Page Header and Update TOC offer more features than usual, and Show Quality allows for quality control.
Warrants ( F9 ) - put your cursor in the tag of a card, then press F9 to add a warrant extension for that card.
Warrants ( Ctrl+F9 ) - toggles display of warrant extensions
Page Header ( F11 ) - inserts a page header using the names you configured in DS Options on the left side, and the document title (if it has been saved) and page count on the right side. It will also recognize and support documents with multiple sections. Example:
DocTitle Team 2010
1/20 Yourname
Update TOC ( F12 ) - inserts a first page which contains the table of contents. If there is already a table of contents, it will update it. It will use the document name or "Table of Contents" for the heading of that first page. Section hats will be emphasized. Repeating consecutive entries will be removed if that setting has been turned on in DS Options under the Appearance tab. This also removes the first entry (ie, the "Table of Contents" entry that is the heading for that first page.)
Show Quality ( Alt then X then 1, 2 or 3) - "quality control" your file. Select a card and click on the stars to give it a rating. Then, you can select from the drop down to have it show only the best, medium, or worst of the cards. It is unobtrusive (doesn�t modify the text in any way) so someone without the template won�t even notice it.
It is my hope that debate camps use this in preparing their files as well as in the final product. It is also useful for creating short versions of blocks that you can switch to easily during the speech. You can also use it to preserve full text for all cards (set unused text to worst).
File Search - see installation page
The Debate Synergy tab in the Office Menu includes some extra features.
Convert to PDF - one-click PDF conversion. Saves the PDF to the same location as the current document.
Save Session - saves all of your documents and remembers which documents were opened. The next time you open Word, it will prompt to restore these documents. Similar to Firefox�s Session Restore.
AutoRecovery Files - opens the folder containing Word�s AutoRecovery files (ie, crashed documents).
Merge Documents - merge multiple documents. Gives you the option to use file names as block headers.
Save ( Ctrl+S )- the built-in Save feature will add the date and your name to the suggested filename, ie:
Aff Updates 10-18 Gulakov.doc
Notice the keyboard shortcut grouping: G, R, and T are close and F1-F4 are consecutive like on the toolbar.
Formatting
|
Shortcut |
Macro |
Description |
|
Ctrl+G |
Paste Text |
pastes text without formatting |
|
Ctrl+Alt+G |
Paste Text w/o Returns |
pastes text without formatting and removes returns |
|
Ctrl+R |
Remove Returns |
removes returns |
|
Ctrl+T |
Create Cite |
creates cite from selection |
|
F1 |
Underline Toggle |
toggle between underlining and small-sizing |
|
Ctrl+F1 |
Small-size All |
small-size non-underlined, normal-size underlined |
|
Ctrl+Alt+F1 |
Small-size All More |
downsize non-underlined by one font size |
|
F2 |
Normal |
normal style, preserves underlining |
|
Ctrl+F2 |
Select Similar |
select similar text |
|
F3 |
Heading |
sets selection as block heading |
|
Ctrl+F3 |
Hat |
sets selection as section hat |
|
Ctrl+Alt+F3 |
Remove from Doc Map |
removes selection from document map |
|
F4 |
Highlight |
toggle highlighting selection |
|
Ctrl+F4 |
Box |
toggle box around selection |
Advanced
|
Ctrl-K |
Smart Title Case |
Formats the Selection in Title Case, Except Small Words |
|
Ctrl+Q |
Create partial-text cite |
deletes all but the first and last words and copies cite |
|
Ctrl+Alt+Enter |
Insert page continued |
inserts a page continues marker and starts page with same header |
|
F9 |
Warrants |
Extension buble to write out warrants |
|
F11 |
Page Header |
insert customized page header |
|
F12 |
Update TOC |
insert first page containing TOC or update TOC |
Speech
|
` (under Esc) |
Speech |
sends selection to speech or toggle read speech mode |
|
Ctrl+` |
Insert Marker |
insert stopped reading marker |
|
Ctrl+Alt+` |
Flow Side-by-Side |
puts the flow on the left, and speech on the right |
|
Ctrl+Shift+S |
Save Speech to USB |
saves document to speech folder and to inserted USB |
|
Page Down |
Scroll Down |
smooth scroll down |
|
Ctrl+Tab |
Window Cycle |
flip through open Word documents |
|
Ctrl+Alt+Up |
Block Up |
moves block before the prior block |
|
Ctrl+Alt+Down |
Block Down |
moves block after the next block |
|
Ctrl+Alt+Left |
Block Start |
moves block to the start of the document |
|
Ctrl+Alt+Right |
Block End |
moves block to the end of the document |
Unlike a usual Word template, Debate Synergy uses global styles. Even if you are working in a document created with a different template, the styles set under the DS template will be used. This eliminates the need to readjust all of your existing files. The default DS style set is the one used to write this manual, but customizing it is extremely simple.
1. Click the Style button on the Standard group
2. You will see a list of styles. Select a style from the list below and click Modify
3. Modify styles using the buttons and the Format dropdown menu. Make class=Underline> style='text-decoration:none'>sure to check "New documents based on this template"
The following styles are used in DS:
Normal - this is the most important style because all other styles are based on it. For example, to change the font from Georgia to Garamond for the entire template, you only need to make one change to the Normal style.
Heading 1 - block heading. By default, this style has a page break before-this is a better way to format files in this template. However, it will create blank pages every other page in documents without this setting (this is easily fixed with the Remove blank pages Format Fix.) DS supports turning off this feature (it will insert page breaks instead) under Format > Paragraph > Line and Page Breaks > uncheck Page break before.
Underline - underlined text. For example, bold it to have all underlined text also bolded.
PageHeaderLine1 & PageHeaderLine2 - look of the page header lines. You need to adjust the Tab Stops if you modify margins. The second line has double line spacing.
Hat - section heading (like "***Setup" in this file). I do not suggest modifying this.
Additional changes:
Small text - the size of the small, non-underlined text is set in DS Options under the Appearance tab.
Page Margins - you must open the template the following way (simply double-clicking won�t work):
Office Menu Orb > Open, type in: %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dotm
Then click Open. The window title should say Normal.dotm - Debate Synergy.
Click the Page button on the Standard group and adjust the margins. Close the document.
Important: none of the Excel macros can be run when you are editing a cell (cursor is blinking). Press Esc (or Tab or Enter) to stop editing the cell.
Star (F1) - toggle highlighting and bolding the cell
Comment (F2) - inserts a comment next to the cell. Useful for cross-x questions or judging comments
Number (Ctrl+Enter) - insert the next number in the flow order. When in the 2AC/oncase 1NC column, skip two rows to automatically insert the next number
Group (Ctrl+G) - group/ungroup the cells in the left column (so select the cells in the "answer" column)
Insert Row (Ins) - inserts row at current location
Insert Overview (Ctrl+Ins) - inserts three rows at the top of the current column
Delete Row (Ctrl+Del) - delete current row (prompt if it contains text)
Hide Flow (Ctrl+Backspace) - hides the flow, can be unhidden by right-clicking on the bottom tab bar and selecting "Unhide"
Add Flow (Ctrl+Plus) - add a blank flow similar (in name and type) to the currently-selected one
Copy Right (Ctrl+Right) - extends selection by coping it over two columns (prompt if it contains text) and italicizing the text
Move Up/Down/Left (Ctrl+Up/Down/Left) - moves the cell in the specified direction (prompt if it contains text)
Ctrl+Page Up/Page Down - navigate between flows, with the flow title displayed in the center of the screen
Flowing shorthand - automatically changes debate shorthand into full words, ie "vi" to "voting issue"
Click Modify Shorthand to change or add values. Delete all values to disable the feature. If there is an argument you make often, write it out and create a shortcut word for it.
AutoSave - enter the name of the tourney to save by that name and today�s date. You can save with or without macros-this determines whether macros are available next time you open this flow
Set flow title in initial cell - what you type in the default-selected cell (A4) on a flow becomes the flow title