Background:
This macro can be used to determine if a document contains any permissive terms (found in the table on the last page). Per ASHRAE Rules, ASHRAE standards are to be written in mandatory language, and this tool assists you in determining where permissive language may appear by adding a “comment” that says “Critical Word”. Under the “review” tab in word, you can click the “next” arrow to move forward in the document to the next instance of a word you may need to review.

NOTE: Word may appear to “not respond” if you run this macro on a very large document (100+ pages). Either consider breaking it up into smaller pieces or run the macro when you will be away from your computer for a period of time.

Please contact Steve Ferguson (sferguson@ashrae.org) with any questions about this Macro. Once this macro has been created on your computer, and you can the macro on any other open word document by starting at Step 5.

You must first make sure that macros are enabled in Word Options (goto Word Options, and enter the Trust Center settings)

And ensure any of the options are selected EXCEPT “disable all macros without notifications”. Enabling all macros is the least secure option, but is the easiest to work (others will require you to hit buttons not in this summary).

Create a new macro in your file with the following language

In an existing document:

Step 1) Click “View” then “Macros”

Step 2) type “permissivesearch” and click “create”

Step 3) click “edit” and copy and paste the following text in between Sub permissivesearch() and End Sub

' permissivesearch Extended Macro that adds a comment to each critical word

'

'

Application.ScreenUpdating = False

' Save the current user settings and set them to

' specific values so that markups can be filtered

'

Dim OriginalInitials As String, OriginalName As String

OriginalInitials = Application.UserInitials

OriginalName = Application.UserName

Application.UserInitials = "PW."

Application.UserName = "ASHRAE"

Dim StrFnd As String, Rng As Word.Range, i As Long

StrFnd = "e.g,and/or,i.e.,acceptable,adequate,advise,also,appreciable,approximate,approximately,aspire,available,avoid,can,care,careful,carefully,consider,could,chance,desire,desirable,easy,easily,effective,effectively,encourage,ensure,equivalent,etc,excess,familiar,feasible,few,firm,frequent,general,good,grant,guide,imply,infer,lieu,insure,legible,legibly,light,like,many,may,maybe,might,most,near,neat,note,ought,normal,periodic,possible,practice,practical,preferred,presume,probable,properly,ready,readily,reasonable,reasonably,recommend,request,safe,safely,satisfactory,secure,several,should,significant,similar,some,substantial,sufficient,suitable,suggest,they,them,typical,which,would,urge,usual,via,vice"

For i = 0 To UBound(Split(StrFnd, ","))

Set Rng = ActiveDocument.Range

With Rng.Find

.ClearFormatting

.Text = Split(StrFnd, ",")(i)

.Forward = True

.Wrap = wdFindStop

.Format = True

.MatchCase = False

.MatchWholeWord = False

.MatchWildcards = False

.MatchSoundsLike = False

.MatchAllWordForms = False

.Execute

Do While .Found = True

ActiveDocument.Comments.Add Range:=Rng, Text:="Critical Word"

.Execute

Loop

End With

Next

Set Rng = Nothing

' Restore the user settings

'

Application.UserInitials = OriginalInitials

Application.UserName = OriginalName

Application.ScreenUpdating = True

Step 4) save the macro

And close out of the macro editing screen (you should automatically be brought back to Word)

Step 5) Return to the “View Macro” window, select the “permissivesearch” macro, and click “Run”

If you have a long document, it may take some time to process. This macro has successfully been run on 400 page documents, but Word indicated it was “not responding” for 30 minutes. Either consider running the macro when you leave for lunch, or break the document up into smaller chunks (50-100 pages at a time). After the macro completes, all of the following terms (or portions thereof) will be highlighted and a comment will be placed in the document for review. Under the “review” tab, click “next” and word will advance you to the next instance of a word that should be reviewed.

Prohibited Terms and Phrases in Normative Sections

acceptable	adequate(ly)	advise	also
and/or	and the like	appreciable	approximate(ly)
aspire	available	avoid (ed)	can
care	careful(ly)	consider (ed) (ation)	could
chance (on the chance)	desire (ed) (able)	easy(ily)	effectively
e.g.	encourage	ensure	equivalent(ly)
etc.	excess(ive)	familiar	feasible
few	firm(ly)	frequent(ly)	general(ly)
good	grant	guide(line)	i.e.
imply	infer	in lieu of	insure
many	legible (ly)	light(ly)	like(ly)
most(ly)	may	maybe	might
note	near(ly)	neat(ly)	periodic(ally)
possible	ought / ought to	normal(ly)	preferred
presume	practice	practical(ly)	ready (ily)
reasonable (ly)	probable	properly	safe(ly)
satisfactory	recommend(ation)	request	should
significant (ly)	secure(ly)	several	substantial (ly)
sufficient(ly)	similar	some	they
them	suitable	suggest (tion)	would
urge	typical(ly)	which
vice versa	usual(ly)	via