The IUCr Word template for Windows desktops utilizes the content management features and document styles of Word to format your manuscript and to store essential details for submission of your manuscript.

The template is also packaged with tools to access external resources, either online (e.g. the World Directory of Crystallographers) or locally (e.g. a personal database of author details collected during use of the template).

In addition, tools are provided to:

• prepare tables of experimental and geometric data from a CIF
• prepare tables of experimental data from an mmCIF
• prepare tables of experimental data for a structure in the Protein Data Bank

Getting started

To create a new document, use the start menu shortcut (Programs > IUCr > Tools > Word templates) or desktop icon created during installation.

You will be prompted to select a journal and then the type of article, after which the appropriate template will be opened in Word.

If you are writing an article based on structural data you will be able to produce tables of experimental data automatically. Using 'table tools' you will be able to populate the tables with data extracted from:

• a CIF on your file system
• an mmCIF on your file system
• a structure deposited in the Protein Data Bank

Once the document has been created, you can enter and edit the author details using the 'Author details' data collection tool, which will:

• format the author details according to journal style in your document
• store the data as XML within your document
• store the data as XML in a local database for future use

Storing the data as XML records within the document facilitates its automatic retrieval upon submission.

To maintain the integrity of the stored data, please ensure that wherever possible the Word tools are installed when the document is edited.

The rest of your article can be written in the usual manner, applying specific styles to format the document. The most important styles are the heading styles as these not only define the article's structure visually, but facilitate processing of the document once submitted.

Troubleshooting

Windows may ask you to grant explicit permission to run the installer because it is not distributed by the Microsoft Store.

The tools require Microsoft's Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, which is usually distributed with Windows. If you are warned that this runtime package is missing, you can obtain it from Microsoft: vc_redist.x86.exe.

If you successfully install the package, you may still receive security warnings when opening the template. You may have to modify the Trust Center settings for Word (accessible from the main options menu). Your Trusted Locations may also have to be modified to add the path to the actual template (iucrpubltools_wm.dotm) and your Macro Settings may also need to be adjusted to enable the macros to run.

Please contact us if you have any problems installing or using the tools. Alternatively, a simple document which can be used as a generic template for writing articles is also available: IUCrJournals_generic.docx.