Download and Install

  • Installing Essay Assistant is just a matter of downloading the ea.dot file, which you then place in the Startup folder of your Microsoft Word folder.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ESSAY ASSISTANT

  • Once it's there, you can activate the assistant from within any Word document by hitting the CONTROL and SEMI-COLON keys together.

Instructions for Use


The Essay Assistant consists of a dialog box that is invoked from within any Microsoft Word document. Once open, the dialog allows you to browse through categories of prewritten comments, preview and select a comment, and have it pasted into the document you’re working on. You can also store your own comments, add and delete categories, and change the category assignment of a comment. When you paste, the material can be inserted as a Word Comment or simply be pasted directly as text into the main body of the document.

Installation

The program code and the comment entries are all stored in a single file, named ea.dot.  Simply put this file in your Word Startup folder, and the dialog box and comment entries will be available to you.

Finding the Word Startup folder is the only tricky step, since its location varies from machine to machine. Typically, it’s found at C:\Documents and Settings\[name of your computer]\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP. Luckily, you can always get its location by entering Word, going to Tools:Options, and clicking on the File Locations tab. Here, the location of the Startup folder will be listed (double-click on Startup to get a Dialog Box that shows where the folder is in relation to other folders). Once you've established the location, open the Startup folder through My Computer and drag ea.dot into it.

Opening and Closing the Dialog
Open the Dialog by pressing the Control and the semi-colon key simultaneously. You can leave the Dialog open while you browse and edit your document, or you can close it after each use with the Close button on the Dialog itself.

Locating a Comment

Use the tabs along the left border of the dialog to select a category of comments. Then click on any comment name in the center panel to see a preview of that comment in the right panel.

Inserting a Comment as it is

Once you’ve located a comment (see above), click the Paste & Don’t Save button. Any changes you may have made to the comment within the dialog box will be discarded, and the comment (as you first viewed it) will be inserted.

Inserting a Comment with Modifications

Once you’ve located a comment (see above), make any changes desired in the right panel of the Dialog Box and click the Paste & Save button. Any changes you may have made to the comment will be saved permanently, and the comment (as you have edited it) will be inserted.

Modifying a Comment without Inserting

Once you’ve located a comment (see above), make any changes desired in the right panel of the Dialog Box and click the Save button. Any changes you may have made to the comment within the dialog box will be saved permanently, but the comment won’t be inserted.

Adding or Removing Categories

Use the Add Category and Remove Category buttons to alter the available categories. Category names cannot contain asterisks, and the total number of characters used when a category name is combined with a comment name can’t combine 32 characters. For example, if a category name contains 15 characters, each of the comments stored in that category must have 17 or fewer characters in its name.

 

Adding or Deleting Comments from the Database

Use the Add New and Delete buttons to add and delete comments from the database. Comment names cannot contain asterisks, and the total number of characters used when a category name is combined with a comment name can’t combine 32 characters. For example, if a category name contains 15 characters, each of the comments stored in that category must have 17 or fewer characters in its name.

Miscellaneous Options

A checkbox allows you to determine whether comments will be inserted via the Comment feature or pasted directly into the main text of the document.

Another checkbox determines whether you want the Dialog to close automatically after each pasting or remain open.

Transferring Comments from One Version of Essay Assistant to Another

  • Open both versions of Essay Assistant (they are the .dot files that are kept in Word’s Startup folder). To open them, you’ll use File:Open but must make sure to specify “Document Templates” in the “files of type” field.
  • Click Options from the Tools menu
  • Click the Organizer button within the Dialog
  • Click the Autotext tab within the Dialog
  • You’ll see two boxes that let you set “Autotext Available In.” Select the old version of the .dot file on the left side and the new version on the right side.
  • Click on each Autotext entry that you want to copy from the old version (listed in the upper left box). By holding the Control key down, you can select multiple entries. Then use the Copy button to have them copied to the new version.
  • Close the Dialogs when done.
  • Now you don’t need the old version anymore and should remove it from the Startup folder.