Q: How fast is Lexicon?

A: Many applications that run as Word add-ins are slow, but Lexicon is surprisingly fast. Click here for some representative results when tested on real-world documents.

Q: Can Lexicon handle large documents?

A: Lexicon was engineered to process large documents efficiently. Our benchmark tests (see previous question) include documents of nearly 500 pages in length.

Q: Why doesn't Lexicon recognize all of my defined terms?

A: Lexicon is designed to recognize only Defined Terms that have been set forth in double quotes, because this is the overwhelming standard. Optionally, you may have Lexicon recognize a term with initial caps at the beginning of a paragraph if the term is followed by a colon. To choose this option, uncheck the checkbox labeled "Require Quotes for Terms" on the Analyze Dialog.

At this time, Lexicon does not recognize phrasing such as "X shall mean such and such..." or alternative designations, such as italics, underlining, or bolding. However, you may add any Defined Terms you want via the Glossary Edit dialog.

Q: Lexicon reported a lot of Undefined Terms that weren't really undefined; they were just place names and the names of company officers. Why?

A: Lexicon looks for all init-capped phrases that aren't in the Defined Terms list. It ignores state names, the names of major cities, the names of months, etc.; if you use more uncommon place names, you can have Lexicon ignore them by adding them to the Global Ignore List in the Glossary Edit dialog. You may also add the names of individuals and other proper names to the ignore list. Once a name is added to the Global Ignore List, Lexicon will no longer report it as undefined in any document.

Q: Sometimes when I double-click a snippet, Lexicon jumps to the wrong place in the document. Why?

A: For maximum efficiency, Lexicon builds its own map of a document when the document is parsed. If you make significant edits to the document, the map becomes out of sync with the document, and the document must be reparsed. Click the analyze button on the results tab and Lexicon will refresh its document map.

In most cases, Lexicon will recognize that the document has changed and will inform you that the document needs to be reanalyzed.

Q: If I choose to show the page number on snippets, the snippets sometimes become very slow to display. Why?

A: In order to display the current page number of a particular phrase in Word, Lexicon must query Word for the page number of the sentence in which the phrase appears. Each time this happens, Word begins with the first sentence of the document and counts until it reaches the requested sentence. The later in the document a sentence appears, the longer Word takes to retrieve its page number. Therefore, when working with very long documents, it is advisable to leave the page number display turned off until it is needed. (This behavior can also cause reports to run slowly. Unfortunately, this is a function of Word that cannot be avoided.) Turn page numbers on or off by clicking this button on the results tab.

Q: Inserting hyperlinks or comments takes a while. Why?

A: When inserting hyperlinks or comments, Lexicon has to send each hyperlink or comment to Word one at a time and wait for Word to perform the operation. On long documents, this can be quite time-consuming. The use of hyperlinks and comments is not recommended for extremely long documents.

Q: Is Lexicon available for the Mac or WordPerfect?

A: At this time, Lexicon is only available for Word for Windows.

Q: What file formats can Lexicon read?

A: Because Lexicon is integrated with Microsoft Word, Lexicon can read any format Word can read. That includes HTML, WordPerfect, and many other formats.

Q: Does Lexicon require an indexer to run in the background, like Google for the desktop?

A: No. Because Lexicon uses indexing-on-demand, it only indexes the documents you want to analyze, when you want to analyze them.

Q: Will Lexicon modify my documents?

A: Lexicon only modifies a document if you choose to apply one of the markup tools: highlighting, commenting or hyperlinking. You are reminded to save your document before markups are applied. After markups are applied, Lexicon does not automatically save your document, so the changes reside only in memory unless and until you save the document again.

Q: Does Lexicon work with document management systems?

A: Lexicon works on any document that is open in Word; however, Lexicon is not specifically integrated with any document management system ("DMS"). Therefore, if a DMS is installed, Lexicon's ability to automatically open documents when needed for navigation or markup may be limited, depending on the particular DMS.