Technology Tips: Verbatim and More!

By Iris Chen, HW ‘23

“Does anyone know where I can find the cap frontlines from the military aid topic?"

"I had a bajillion tabs open so my computer crashed and I lost all my research"

"Verbatim isn't working again, help!!"

Now more than ever, online debate has become inextricably tied with technology, so this article attempts to introduce a few underrated Verbatim tips, troubleshooting tactics, and other miscellaneous extensions and software that make e-debating a little easier.

Verbatim

Verbatim is an add-on for Microsoft Word that provides many functions helpful for debate, including card formatting, citation formatting for the wiki, and easy transfer of text from backfiles to speech docs. It is available for download here: https://paperlessdebate.com/

This section will cover some tips and basic troubleshooting.

Note for Mac users: many of the functions referred to (such as Get from CiteMaker and UniHighlight) will be in the "Formatting functions" menu, which is in the Add-ins tab.

Highlight color

Verbatim has a built-in function to standardize the document's highlight color under the "More" drop-down menu on the Debate tab, which will change all the highlighting in the document to the selected color. However, in some instances like re-highlights, it may be necessary to change only one color. One can do this using the following steps:

Change your highlighter color to the one you want to change away from (e.g. if you wanted to change the highlight color from green to blue, you would select green highlighting.)
Click the down arrow next to the magnifying glass in the search bar and select "Advanced Find and Replace" or "Advanced Find…"

3. In the window that opens, click on the "More" button on the bottom left. Choose "Highlight" from the "Format" menu on the bottom left.

4. Switch to the "Replace" tab at the top. Change your highlighter color to the one you are trying to switch to. Repeat step 3.

5. Click "Replace All." Word will now find all text highlighted with the first color and replace the highlight with the second color.

Styles settings

Verbatim has a built-in solution to arguments about whether Georgia or Calibri is better! The settings pane (located on the Debate or Add-ins tab) has a "Format" tab where you can set default formatting. For example, if you set "Default font" here to Georgia, all documents formatted with the Verbatim template will appear in Georgia.

You can also change font sizes and text formatting - for example, if you change the "Emphasis" box to 15pt and check the "Italic" box next to it, all text marked with the F10 Emphasis key will appear to you as 15pt and italicized.

When cutting cards, it is important to use Verbatim formatting keybinds (i.e. underlining using the F9 key instead of Word's built-in Underline key) so these formatting options will work across devices!

You should also check out this helpful video from the University of Kentucky that walks you through Verbatim and general advice regarding debate files. This is the perfect video to share with your novices: https://youtu.be/yMg451P9myo

Cite Creator

The Cite Creator chrome extension was made by the same people who developed Verbatim, and is available for download here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cite-creator/jampigcbgngjedogaoglhpeckidccodi

It will automatically create a cite for you on every article you visit, which can save a lot of time. Additionally, the "Get from CiteMaker" verbatim function will automatically paste the cite of the active tab into your word doc.

Troubleshooting

There are a few common issues with Verbatim, but they are easily resolved. I'll cover a few here:

"Small" headers: Sometimes, when converting text to the Block or Header format with F6 or F5, the converted text will be a smaller size than it should. This, and most other formatting issues, can be resolved by selecting the whole line, pressing the F12 key to clear formatting, and trying again.

"Verbatimize" button missing: Verbatim gives you the option to add a "Verbatimize" button to all normal Word documents, which will convert the document to Verbatim format. This can be enabled in the Admin tab of the Settings pane by checking the "Always On mode" box and clicking the "Verbatimize normal template" button in the bottom left.

Troubleshooter: Verbatim has a built-in troubleshooter that detects installation issues and other settings that may stop the add-on from working properly. It can be accessed in the Admin tab of the Settings pane.

Helpful software

Alfred and Listary

These programs work as improved versions of Spotlight search, allowing you to instantly look up a file from anywhere on your computer. They're very helpful during rounds when you need to pull up a backfile or anything else you can't find quickly.

Alfred (Mac): https://www.alfredapp.com/

Listary (Windows): https://www.listary.com/

The Great Suspender

This is a Chrome extension that suspends tabs you haven't been using so you can save memory and battery life. When you haven't looked at a tab in a while, it'll be deactivated, which unloads the webpage. When you need to access the tab again, you can re-activate it by clicking anywhere on the tab. It can be added here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-great-suspender/klbibkeccnjlkjkiokjodocebajanakg?hl=en

Session Buddy

This Chrome Extension saves all your tabs in a neat list. It has two main uses: first, you can save your research tabs to come back to them later, and second, it saves your progress in case of a computer or browser crash. It's available here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/session-buddy/edacconmaakjimmfgnblocblbcdcpbko?hl=en

Outline.com and Mercury Reader

Outline.com (website) and Mercury Reader (chrome extension) both make card cutting easier by removing distractions such as advertisements and "Related Articles" panes that slow down reading and can be annoying to delete from the card. Some browsers, such as Chrome, also have built-in "reader mode" functions, which deliver the same or similar results by removing clutter. Mercury reader can be downloaded here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mercury-reader/oknpjjbmpnndlpmnhmekjpocelpnlfdi?hl=en

AutoHotKey, BetterTouchTool and Advanced Mouse Manager

If you have a mouse with side buttons, these programs let you bind macros to them, such as Highlight (F11) and Underline (F9), which can be especially useful when cutting cards! All these programs support different macros for different programs so that if, for example, you want the buttons to highlight and underline while you're using Microsoft Word, you can also program them to go back or forward across websites on Google Chrome.

BetterTouchTool (Mac, $8.50): https://folivora.ai/

Advanced Mouse Manager (Windows, $5): https://realityripple.com/Software/Applications/Advanced-Mouse-Manager/

AutoHotKey is free and can be used for general keyboard shortcuts as well as mouse buttons, but it is slightly more difficult to learn.

AutoHotKey: https://www.autohotkey.com/

AHK tutorial: https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Tutorial.htm#s21

How to set program-specific macros: https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/Remap.htm

The names of keys: https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/KeyList.htm

Hope you found this article helpful, and happy e-debating!