Frequently Asked Questions About the Editor Proofreading Program

What does Editor do that other spelling and grammar checkers do not?

Conservatively estimated, Editor can find more than 100,000 mistakes and problems in spelling, usage, mechanics, and style that standard checkers like Word's and WordPerfect's do not notice.  This estimate may seem extravagant;
we explain its derivation in detail on a separate page.

How well these numbers compare with claims by other software on the Internet is unclear because other programs have different ways of finding errors.  Our investigations suggest that no other software can approach Editor's range in finding spelling mistakes and usage problems missed by standard checkers and that no one else pays as detailed attention to matters of style--a subject that standard spelling and grammar checkers ignore almost entirely.  We offer brief comparisons with Word, WordPerfect, and Writer's Workbench in other FAQs.  See also the FAQ on repetitions.

Please note that Editor does NOT check syntax (sentence structure), which is
what some “grammar” checkers attempt to do but nobody does well.  Editor does find many nonsyntactical problems that grammar checkers miss, and it strongly supplements, though it does not replace, standard spelling checkers.

Is Editor interactive? Will it work inside my word processor?

Editor does not work within a word processor as, for example, Word's and WordPerfect's spelling and grammar checkers do. Those are quick click-to-fix programs. Editor is a copyediting and proofreading program designed to collaborate with, and teach good editing practices to, a writer. It expects
careful attention, not just mouse clicks, during the process.

Though not our recommended copyediting procedure, it is possible to run Editor and, while viewing the output, bring up a word processor with the text displayed, click back and forth (multitask) between the two programs, and make whichever revisions suggested by Editor you decide to accept.

Does Editor run in Windows Vista and can it analyze Word 2007 documents?

Editor is installed and running perfectly in a number of Vista machines, including one at our office and several elsewhere. A small modification to Editor's output displays has cured the only problem with Vista that we have encountered. The reason we do not claim full Vista compatibility yet is to allow for additional testing by us and some of our customers over the next several months.

Editor does not yet read Word 2007 document (.docx) files directly but, using Save As, Word 2007 can produce .doc or .txt files that Editor can easily read. You can use its analyses to make changes to Word 2007 originals exactly as you would with earlier versions of Word. A Windows XP (SP2) user wishing to use Word 2007 can purchase a copy that installs in XP, then use Save As as above. In this way, whether running in Windows XP or in Vista, Editor can read and analyze Word 2007 documents.

You can check our latest upgrades window periodically to see when Editor is able to read Word 2007 documents directly, without the one extra step presently needed to convert them into .doc or .txt format first.

Who uses Editor?

Editor is used by students and teachers at schools, colleges, and universities in the United States and Canada and by many professional writers and editors in the US, UK, and elsewhere. Businesses large and small have bought copies for office use. Our individual customers reside in 47 states and in 44 countries around the world--and counting. Click here for some comments from our customers.

Please note: prospective customers whose first language is not English should read “Can Editor help second-language (ESL) writers?” below.

Can I download Editor after I buy it?

Serenity Software does not provide downloads from the Web.  However, after you pay for a copy, you may send us an e-mail requesting an “e-mail download”—
that is, a complete copy of Editor in compressed (zipped) form sent to you as an e-mail attachment, with instructions, usually within 1-2 days.  The attachment installs itself after you unzip it.   We can also send you an Editor CD by regular mail so you will have a backup.  But please note that we cannot send an e-mail download via gmail (see below).

The “e-mail download” option is available at no cost but only to single-copy purchasers of Editor.  Because of the expected delivery time of up to two weeks for International Air Mail, we encourage international customers to use this option.

Please note: the e-mail-download process can be defeated at the customer's end by strong antivirus or firewall protection or by networked security systems.  Some institutional and commercial e-mail services, notably gmail, do not allow the zipped attachment because it contains executable computer code--the Editor software and its installation program.  Among the services that currently do allow the download attachment are aol, att, bigpond, bellsouth, btinternet, comcast, cox, earthlink, hotmail, iinet, mindspeed, msn, nbnet, netscape, netvision, pacbell, prodigy, qwest, sbcglobal, telefonica, telus, tiscali, usa, verizon, and yahoo.

We can also upload a copy of Editor to an ftp address if we have its name, a username, and a password.

Can I receive the software sooner by paying extra for shipping?

We do not ship our software by overnight or express mail. It is very expensive and we do not have a convenient way to bill you for it. Domestic First Class Mail is usually delivered within 3-5 business days (not guaranteed). We use First Class Mail International (Air Mail) to locations outside the United States that the US Postal Service ships to, but the USPS’s expected international delivery time for ordinary air mail is now one to two weeks.

International customers, and others wanting our fastest available delivery (usually 1-2 days), should read the "download" FAQ above, paying attention to the information about e-mail servers.

Can Editor help second-language (ESL) writers?

How much help Editor can give to a second-language writer depends on how well that writer already speaks and writes English. Editor is not a program for teaching basic English to speakers of other languages. Please read our note on ESL for more information.

The Web site at The Language Project has a good discussion of problems in helping second-language speakers to become fluent in English.

Does Editor analyze Word, WordPerfect, Works, RTF, HTML, and plain-text files?

Yes. Unlike most proofreading software, Editor reads all these document formats, including their most recent versions through 2006, and some versions of Works, as well. The program does not yet read Word 2007 document files directly, but by using Save As, a writer using Word 2007 can produce a file that Editor reads.

So the short answer is that, because Editor can analyze any plain-text (.txt) file and any modern word processor can save files in that format, Editor can analyze any document file written using any modern word processor. The program's output is an identical set of plain-text files no matter what document format it analyzes, and the output can be used in the same way to revise and correct any original word-processor document.

Which editorial style does Editor use: MLA, APA, or Chicago?

Although Editor's principal reference for formal academic and professional style is the MLA Style Manual, we compare our recommendations with the Publication Manual of the APA and the Chicago Manual of Style. For British style conventions, we consult The Economist Style Guide. Where these authorities disagree, especially in rules for punctuation and other mechanics, we note the disagreements in our Reference screens. An important exception is MLA and APA parenthetical-reference formats, which differ significantly. Editor checks MLA parenthetical references for correct form but does not yet do that for APA style.

The professional manuals' rules for formatting footnotes and bibliographies are complex and differ considerably. Editor does not attempt to check them; for the proper notational and bibliographical formats, scholars should consult the style manuals appropriate to their fields.

Does Editor read e-mail?

No. The emerging conventions of e-mail writing—in spelling, punctuation, dic-
tion, and syntax—are informal and relaxed, so that much of Editor's analytical commentary is beside the point. Click here for a suggestion on using Editor in
composing, proofreading, polishing, and sending more formal e-mails.

Does Editor check spelling?

Yes, but Editor does not duplicate a standard spelling checker’s functions—it extends them. Editor specializes in commonly misspelled phrases like under stood, dramatis persona, Canadian geese, wailing away, and different tact. The program catches many thousands of misspellings like these that other spelling checkers do not find, but it does not substitute for those spelling checkers in spell-checking a document. The sidebars on these pages include examples of spelling mistakes that Word and WordPerfect do not catch but Editor does.

Our early tests suggest that Word 2007's new “context-sensitive” spelling checker finds only some of the common spelling mistakes that the previous version, Word 2003, misses. In a set of 44 contextual spelling mistakes that Editor catches, for example, Word 2007 finds only 11. In a test of 75 contextual hyphenation mistakes that Editor finds, Word 2007 identifies only 28. We did not invent context-sensitive checking, but Editor has been doing it for over twenty years.

Other tests find no improvement in Word's ability to find stylistic problems--the misused words, slang and jargon, clichés, offensive terms, obsolete gendered language, wordy phrases, and other instances of weak writing that are among Editor's special copyediting features.

Can Editor handle British, Canadian, Australian, and other non-US English spelling?

Yes. Editor's databases of problem terms include British-English equivalents, so the software properly analyzes British texts as well as texts by writers who—like Canadians, Australians, and most other anglophones—use a mixture of US and British spelling conventions. Except for some clichés, Editor does not respond to local slang, colloquialisms, or usage conventions found only in English-speaking communities outside the US and UK.

Can Editor find homonym mistakes?

Yes, many of them. Ordinary spelling checkers miss most homonym errors.
Editor uses a specially designed form of syntax analysis to catch these mistakes, including misspelled plurals and possessives as well as the common confusions of its and it’s; effect and affect; their, there, and they’re; to, too, and two; alley, ally, and allay; insight and incite; posses and possess; and many more.

Does Editor check punctuation?

Some punctuation problems cannot be identified reliably by software because they depend on sentence syntax, and Editor does not attempt full-sentence syntax analysis. Punctuation can also depend on meaning, about which computers are clueless.

Editor does know some things about punctuation. For example, it finds some places where a comma is missing; it catches improperly formed dashes and hyphens; it notices when, in many compound modifiers, there are missing hyphens before nouns; it flags improperly formed dates and MLA citation references; it catches misplaced punctuation around quotation marks as well as some missing quotation marks, parentheses, and brackets; it finds many possessives that lack apostrophes; it knows which sentences should be marked as questions; and it knows that if “however” is followed by punctuation, there should probably be preceding punctuation as well. Despite these features, there are many punctuation problems that Editor cannot resolve.

Can Editor check for excessive repetitions in a document?

Editor has a special set of repetition-analysis functions that allow a writer to (1) check a document for words repeated four or more times per page, on average (four is not fixed but can be changed as a search parameter); (2) look for individual paragraphs that have words repeated three or more times (the words are not chosen beforehand but depend on the independent vocabulary of each paragraph); (3) find all three-word phrases that repeat in a document; (4) find passages in a document of six or more words (up to a paragraph) that repeat; and (5) do a complete frequency count of a document's vocabulary.

Functions 2, 3, and 4 help find passages where repetition makes dull reading. Function 1 is useful primarily for short texts, and function 5 gives summary information about a writer's working vocabulary.

How does Editor compare with Word and WordPerfect in checking grammar?

Editor supplements but does not replace those grammar checkers. Editor finds many grammatical errors but does not undertake full-sentence syntax analyses, as those checkers do. The sidebars on these pages include examples of grammar (and other) mistakes that Word and WordPerfect do not catch but Editor does. Editor's databases contain many tens of thousands of other writing problems that standard text-checkers fail to recognize.

“Grammar” is often loosely defined to include matters of usage and style. In attending to those matters, Editor far outshines the standard checkers.

Writers who have trouble with English syntax—some ESL writers, for example—
must use a grammar checker before using Editor because Editor is not designed primarily to correct syntax mistakes.

How does Editor compare with Writer's Workbench as a writing aid?

In our opinion, Writer's Workbench is the only other software that analyzes texts
as extensively and carefully as Editor, but the two programs' agendas are quite different. A detailed comparison would take up too much space here. One way
to compare the two programs is to say that using Workbench is like taking a semester course in composition, whereas using Editor is like having a professional copyeditor scrutinize your writing. Workbench uses many statistical generalizations in its analyses of texts; Editor sweats the details. Like Editor, Workbench has a Web site rich in information about its features, and I encourage you to spend time investigating both sites.

Can I get an evaluation copy?

To keep our prices low, we offer evaluation copies of Editor only to teachers or institutions considering a purchase of more than 5 copies--e.g., for writing labs, classrooms, or offices. Because of our money-back guarantee, however, there is little risk in buying a copy and trying it. Further investigation of this FAQ page and of other pages of this Web site can help prospective customers decide whether to purchase and try the software.

Is there a Macintosh version of Editor?

A Macintosh version of Editor was published in 2001 by the Modern Language Association to run in OS 9 (it could run in an OS 9 "window" in OS X but was not reengineered for OS X or later Mac operating systems). The Mac version is still listed for sale on the MLA Web site.

The Mac version has not been updated since publication. Mac users wishing to run an up-to-date version of Editor might investigate Parallel Software’s Parallels Workstation or Apple’s Boot Camp (reviewed in PC World 4/06), both of which claim to enable running Windows XP software on a Macintosh. Editor has recently been tested by a customer on a Mac with Parallels Workstation; he reports that the program runs successfully on PW and can analyze files from Microsoft Word's 2004 edition for the Mac.

Another way to use Editor on a Mac document is to save the document on a PC-formatted disk as a plain text file and run that file through Editor on a Windows machine. Editor isn't interested in anything except the text itself (it discards all non-text formatting before analyzing the document), and the output it would give you is identical to what you'd get if you could run Editor on a Mac directly. You could use Editor's output to mark up your draft, then go back into your Mac word processor and make the desired changes. There is an extra step or two involved, of course, and you would need to have access to a Windows computer with Editor installed.

Can I custom-tailor my copy of Editor?

Yes, in a number of ways. Editor looks for writing problems in more than fifty categories, and most of those categories can be turned on or off to suit a particular writing style or circumstance. For example, a writer can decide whether the program should flag all contractions as informal. A fiction writer can instruct Editor to ignore slang, clichés, colloquialisms, and pretentious terms used in dialogue. US writers are notified when they use British spellings but British writers can turn that notification off. Click here to see how easy it is to fine-tune Editor's analysis categories.

To suppress unneeded comments about particular terms, in Editor 2.0 a writer can make a list of words and phrases to ignore during text analysis. Writers can also develop their own supplementary dictionary of items for the software to comment on and can add to the list of terms that the software counts. Adding such personal features is easy: they are just plain-text, typed lists. Writers can modify the output display of the DRAFT function; Editor 2.0 will also allow changing the USAGE analysis-output displays at the writer's convenience.

Is Editor useful in teaching writing?

Many teachers, including us, have found it so. Editor’s design models and encourages the editing-and-revision procedure used by most good writers, whose essential work of rewriting takes place between a first draft and a final presentation. Modern word processors short-circuit that procedure, especially for inexperienced writers. Working with a draft outside a word processor, Editor restores it.

Editor has been used in classrooms and writing labs at the university, college, and high school levels, in some cases for many years. Editor is particularly effective in helping students to develop thoughtful revision skills and to aquire clear and fresh prose styles.

I am a teacher. Will Editor help me correct and evaluate student papers?

Probably not. Editor is an extension of the spelling and grammar checkers included in many word processors. Unlike them, it also searches for stylistic problems, but like them, Editor is intended for use before papers are submitted for evaluation. Using the program yourself to correct and evaluate student work would be like using the word processors' checkers yourself on their papers: an inefficient way to spend time. Students should use the checkers and Editor and revise their work appropriately before submitting it.

Does Editor provide readability statistics?

“Readability” scores are controversial. We agree with a recent critic: readability formulas “are based around the average words [per] sentence, and the average syllables used per word. . . . Being mathematically based, readability tests are unable to determine the likelihood that [a] document is comprehensible, interesting, or enjoyable. It is possible to obtain good readability scores with gobbledygook, provid[ed that] the content contains short sentences made up of monosyllabic words.” See The Language Project's Web site for this discussion.

There is little consistency among the many readability formulas. The Gunning-Fog Index, for example, says a reader needs 12 years of schooling to read this Web site's home page, whereas the Flesch-Kincaid index says 8 years is sufficient.

Is there a user’s manual? Is there onscreen help with learning the program?

Editor's “Writer’s Manual,” an instruction manual that is also a handbook on writing better prose, is available onscreen within the program.  The manual can
be printed.   Additionally, Editor has more than seventy reference screens with explanations and examples of the writing problems that Editor's analyses find.  Contact-sensitive Help screens are available every time the user must take an action.
Error messages explain what to do if the software encounters a problem.  Click these links to see a sample discussion from the Writer’s Manual or examples of Editor's reference screens.

What about upgrades?

Editor is upgraded frequently, with additions to its database of writing problems, new or improved analysis routines, and improvements to the user interface.
Every new customer receives the most recently updated version. Anyone on our list of customers can upgrade to the latest version for $15.00 (US residents) or $20.00 (residents abroad). See our upgrades page for details.

Amazon accepted my payment but I have not received Editor. What should I do?

Send an e-mail immediately to editor@serenity-software.com with your mailing
address AND the transaction number you received from Amazon when they
acknowledged your order. We will confirm your order on the Web and send you
the Editor CD.