Abbreviation for exempli gratia, meaning for example. Do not use. Use for example instead.

Use earlier, preceding, or previous instead of above to mean earlier in a piece of content, but only if you cannot use a hyperlink, which is preferred.

Use or earlier or previous instead of or lower to refer to all versions of a product that precede a particular release if the statement is accurate for all preceding releases. For example, do not use “Windows 7 and earlier” unless the statement is accurate for Windows 1.0. See also cross-references, later, version identifiers.

Microsoft style (when the statement applies to all previous versions)

You can open files created in previous versions of Microsoft Visio.

Use e-book to refer to electronic books.

Use E-book at the beginning of a sentence or a heading. In contexts that require title capitalization, use E-Book.

Use E-commerce at the beginning of a sentence or a heading. In contexts that require title capitalization, use E-Commerce.

Because the term can be confused with the Edit menu, do not use to refer to making changes in a document unless you have no other choice. Use change or modify instead.

Naming convention for a window that is a code or text editor only. See also Designer.

Microsoft style

CSS Editor

Code Editor

Do not use. It’s marketing jargon to refer to educational software, usually multimedia or web-based, that purports to entertain while it educates.

Spell out as electronic form on first mention if necessary for your users. Use E-form at the beginning of a sentence or a heading. In contexts that require title capitalization, use E-Form.

Do not use. Fill out the construction, as in “you can either close the document or exit the program.”

The flexible allocation of computing resources over the Internet as demand changes. Define on first mention for audiences that may not be familiar with the concept.

Any educational experience delivered electronically to the learner by means of an intranet, CD-ROM, interactive television, satellite broadcast, the Internet, or other technologies.

Use E-learning at the beginning of a sentence or a heading. In contexts that require title capitalization, use E-Learning.

The ellipsis button has been called by a variety of names including the Browse button, the Build button, and the Properties button, depending on the result of clicking the button. On first mention, provide a graphic of the button, if only (…). On subsequent mention, use the graphic of the ellipsis button rather than the words. When possible, use a picture of the button rather than words. Do not capitalize ellipsis when used as a button name.

Do not use as a verb. Use send instead.

Use email to refer generically to an electronic mail program or to refer collectively to email messages. After you have established the context of electronic mail, it is all right to use mail instead of email.

Microsoft style

Check your email for messages.

Scroll through your email to find the message you want to read.

You have new mail.

Use email message or message to refer to an individual piece of email. Do not use email as a synonym for message. If you use message by itself, ensure that the context makes clear that you are not referring to instant messaging.

Microsoft style

Send us an email message with your comments.

You have two new messages.

Not Microsoft style

Send us an email with your comments.

Email us with your comments.

You have two new emails.

Use Email at the beginning of a sentence and heading.

Use instead of imbed, which is a variant spelling.

Do not use to refer to things that a program makes easy or possible for the user if you can use you can instead. Enable can lead to weak sentences in which the most important fact is buried in an infinitive phrase. See also allow, can vs. may.

Microsoft style

With Microsoft Word 2010, you can save files in HTML format.

Not Microsoft style

Microsoft Word 2010 enables you to save files in HTML format.

In content for a general audience, do not use enable with reference to commands or other program features. Use make available, turn on, or something similar, or rewrite the sentence.

Microsoft style

To turn on change tracking, click the Tools menu, and then click Track Changes.

To track changes, click the Tools menu, and then click Track Changes.

Not Microsoft style

To enable change tracking, click the Tools menu, and then click Track Changes.

In content for a technical audience, it is all right to speak of a feature or function as enabled. It is also all right to use enables the user when it is necessary to refer to the end user in the third person.

Use to refer to stopping communications and network connections. Use exit for programs.

Microsoft style

To end your server connection, on the Tools menu, click Disconnect Network Drive.

In general, do not use. Use user, customer, or you instead.

It is all right to use end user in content for software developers to distinguish the developer from the user of the developer’s program. It is all right to use end user in documentation for information technology professionals to distinguish the system administrator from the users of computers that the administrator is responsible for.

Use end user as a noun, and use end-user as an adjective.

Do not use. Use Microsoft Software License Terms. See also Microsoft Software License Terms, license terms.

One word.

One word. In graphics programs, an endpoint is the beginning or end of a line segment. In content for software developers, an endpoint is a hardware port or a named pipe that a server program monitors for remote procedure calls from clients.

In common English usage, ensure, insure, and assure are interchangeable in many situations. To provide consistency and to improve readability worldwide, Microsoft style makes these distinctions:

Do not use as a synonym for type except to indicate that a user can interact with the UI by multiple methods, such as either typing text or clicking a selection from a list.

Microsoft style

In the Password box, type your password.

In the Font Size box, enter the font size you want to use.

Not Microsoft style

In the Password box, enter your password.

All right to use in client/server content to mean a large company or corporation. Use as an adjective if possible, as in enterprise computing or enterprise networking rather than as a noun to mean corporation. Do not use in content for a general audience unless you have no other choice.

Do not use as a synonym for topic in reference documentation.

In general, do not use to refer to a text-entry field. Refer to the box by its label. If you must use a descriptor, use box instead of entry field or field.

It is all right to use entry field in a database context. See also text box.

Use instead of environment setting or environment string.

Do not use as a synonym for delete. It is all right to use erase for specialized purposes when the program requires it, as in Paint.

Abbreviation for et alii, meaning “and others.” Do not use except in a text reference citation of three or more authors. Use and others instead.

Abbreviation for et cetera, meaning “and the rest.” Do not use etc. except in situations where space is too limited for an alternative, such as on a button label. See also and so on.

Do not use. Use Microsoft Software License Terms. See also Microsoft Software License Terms, license terms.

When referring to the currency, use lowercase. The plural of euro is euros. A euro is divided into 100 cents.

The euro symbol is €. The HTML code for the euro symbol is €. To type the euro symbol, press Alt+0128 on the numeric keypad.

When expressing an amount in euros and cents in U.S. content, use a decimal point as the delimiter. Different localities may use a decimal point or a comma, as appropriate.

In U.S. content, place the euro symbol in front of the amount. Different localities may place the euro symbol differently, as appropriate.

Microsoft style

€3.50

Use supports the euro currency standard rather than euro-compatible or euro-ready, both of which are best avoided.

Use the following phrases to refer to countries that have adopted the euro as their currency:

Use references to the EMU cautiously. Many users may be unfamiliar with the organization.

It is all right to use non-euro nations to refer to EU member states that have not adopted the euro as their currency.

The terms euroland and eurozone are all right on websites where an informal tone is appropriate. Do not use in product documentation and other formal contexts, especially if the content will be localized.

In general, do not form new words with e- (for electronic). Some words that may be appropriate in certain circumstances are e-commerce and e-form.

Use lowercase for the e in body text, and capitalize the e at the beginning of a sentence or a heading. The letter following the hyphen is capitalized only in contexts that require title capitalization.

Microsoft style (beginning of sentence)

E-commerce is a very lucrative business model.

Microsoft style (title capitalization)

How to Succeed at E-Commerce

International considerations

E-words that are not in major dictionaries may cause confusion for the worldwide audience and may lead to mistranslation in machine-translated content.

A file with an .exe or .com extension.

Use executable file only in content for a technical audience. In content for a general audience, use program file instead.

Use executable and .exe as adjectives only, never as nouns. Use the indefinite article an, not a, with .exe, as in “an .exe file.”

Microsoft style

an executable program

the .exe file

Not Microsoft style

an executable

the .exe

Do not use execute in content for a general audience except to follow the user interface. Use run instead. If the user interface includes execute, the user or program action is still run. Always use run in the context of macros and queries.

Microsoft style

To run the program, click Execute.

You can temporarily stop Disk Defragmenter so that you can run other programs at full speed.

Not Microsoft style

You can temporarily stop Disk Defragmenter so that you can execute other programs at full speed.

Execute is all right to use in content for a technical audience, especially in the passive voice, because it has become ingrained. However, run is preferable when it does not cause any loss of meaning.

Microsoft style

Commands are run in the order in which they are listed in the file. (Preferred)

Commands are executed in the order in which they are listed in the file.

Execution is all right to use in technical content when there is no valid alternative.

Microsoft style

A thread is the basic unit of program execution.

Use to refer to closing a program. Do not use to refer to closing a document or a window. Do not use to refer to switching from one program, document, or window to another. See also close, quit.

Microsoft style

When you have finished, close all your documents and exit Word.

To switch to the last open program or document, press Alt+Tab.

You can click the Close button to exit Outlook.

Not Microsoft style

When you have finished, exit all your documents and exit Word.

To exit the active window, click anywhere outside it.

You can click the Close button to close Outlook.

Use to describe the functionality that a user can use to see more or fewer subentries in a folder or outline structure. A plus sign next to a folder indicates that it can be expanded to show more folders. A minus sign indicates that it can be collapsed to hide folders. Some programs use symbols other than a plus or a minus sign. For example, Windows 7 uses a blank right-pointing arrow to indicate a collapsed folder and a darkened down-pointing arrow to indicate an expanded folder.

Do not use in the context of the user interface. Use a term such as make available or display instead.

Expose is acceptable in the context of object-oriented programming technologies such as the Component Object Model (COM), in which it means to make an object’s services available to clients.

In the sense of extending a selection, use instead of grow.

Use instead of file extension. For example, say “the .bak extension” or “the .bak file name extension.” See also File names and extensions (Chapter 6).

Do not use except to connote an underground-type of electronic magazine. It is all right to use webzine to refer to mainstream magazines such as Slate or eWEEK that are on the web, but it is better to call them electronic magazines or, if the electronic context is clear, just magazines. Use E-zine at the beginning of a sentence or heading. In contexts that require title capitalization, use E-Zine.