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MS-Word is truly a writing tool, not just a word processing program. These
tips will help you unleash the power that Word has, so you can get more done
with less work and more accuracy.
Word Tip #1
Use the Properties feature. You can get to this by using the FILE drop down menu. By
filling in the properties, you allow yourself the ability to insert automated fields into
your document. Type it once and forget it. A further benefit is that you can view a Word
document's important properties (author, company, key words, title, subject, category,
etc.) without opening the document and reading through it. This is a real timesaver and
greatly helps in organizing, retrieving, and managing files.
Word Tip #2
Turn the paragraph marker symbol and tab marker symbols on. These allows you to see where
you have blank spaces (which mess up your formatting) at the end of sentences, empty
paragraphs (which mess up automation, macros, grammar checkers, etc., and take up
unnecessary disk space), and the number of tabs you have.
Word Tip #3
Use the F8 key to select text.
Hit it once to turn the selector on.
Hit it again to select a word.
Hit it 3 times for a sentence, 4 for a paragraph, 5 for the whole document.
Press esc to turn F8 off, press esc again to deselect.
Word Tip #4
Program the AutoCorrect function to match your own errors. If you continually
spell the name of your boss, Brad Spencer, as Bad Sphincter, you need to pay attention to
this! You can customize AutoCorrect from the TOOLS drop-down menu.
Word Tip #5
Set spelling and grammar check to work automatically as you type. You know full
well you aren't going to go back over your document later, right? So do it up front. You
can access this from the TOOLS drop-down menu.
Word Tip #6
Set the grammar checker to give you readability statistics. Purge passive voice
and other irritants from your writing! Guess what? It's that TOOLS drop-down menu, again.
Word Tip #7
Visit every item in the TOOLS drop-down menu. I'll bet you were expecting this
one, huh? So go do it!
Word Tip #8
Be non-fontastic. You don't need all those fonts that come with Word. They slow
down loading and execution of the program. Select 10 or so fonts, and delete the rest off
your system or put them in a separate folder for possible later use. But don't leave them
in the Word font folder because Word loads all those silly things each time. This also
increases your chances of a crash--need I continue?
Word Tip #9
Use the paragraph formatting tools, instead of trying to use the <Enter> key as a
carriage return--that's not what it is and not what it does. You can right mouse-click, or
use the drop down FORMAT menu. Just follow the prompts, and you'll have better Word
documents right away. If you do this before you start typing, all of your paragraphs will
have the correct spacing. Hint: "6" in the "after" box is the normal
setting for most documents.
Word Tip #10
Never use spaces and tabs to position text on a page. Use the spacebar only to
create spaces between words (1) or sentences (either 1 space or 2 spaces is acceptable).
Use the tab only to indent the first line of a paragraph. In most writing today,
you do not indent paragraphs, so tabbing is pretty much history. To position text, make
yourself familiar with the FORMAT commands in the drop down menu, right mouse click, and
formatting tool bar. This takes only a few minutes to do.
Word Tip #11
When Word 6.0 came out at the end of 1994, its "Outline View" feature
was the death blow to former #1 WordPerfect. You need to play with this feature, and see
how it allows you to build collapsible outlines that renumber on the fly as you add and
subtract items. You're not using it to create the traditional outline per se, but you are
using it to view your document headings and subheadings in an outline format. The real
power of this becomes evident when you are down about three levels deep and suddenly get
the feeling what you just wrote needs to go somewhere else. Using this feature, you can
say goodbye to a lot of manual labor, not to mention index cards.
Word Tip #12
Use the format painter to copy formats. It's the little paint brush icon. Double
click on it to get multiple format painting (click on it again to shut it off), or just
click on it once to do a quick copy of formatting from one highlighted area to another. To
get all the formatting information in a paragraph, simply highlight its paragraph symbol
(see Tip # 2), click on the brush, and then highlight the paragraph symbol of the target
area.
Word Tip #13
Experiment with Normal View (for general typing and seeing control symbols), Page
Layout View (hard to work with, but gives you a WSIWYG), Online Layout View (for that HTML
feel), and Outline View (to organize your thoughts and your writing). Each has its strong
points, and you can make better use of Word97--and of your time--by experimenting with
them. Don't forget Print Preview, where you can add custom headers and footers. There's
also the Master Document View, which is awesome when you have to break a large document
into smaller pieces (you might want individual book chapters saved as individual files,
for example). And, of course, you can zoom in any view.
Word Tip #14
No longer do you need to save different versions of a document as different
files. In the FILE drop down menu, click on Versions. You'll get a dialog box, and from
there things are pretty easy to figure out.
Word Tip #15
You can save a document, even if Word says you can't. When running under a
garbage system like Windows 95 (as opposed to NT), Word gives bogus "insufficient
disk space" messages. First, try saving the document as a Rich Text Format (*.rtf)
document, using the Save As option in the FILE dropdown menu. If this doesn't work, commit
the cardinal sin of computing and just shut your machine off. This prevents Word from
deleting the AutoSave files, and once your machine comes back up (assuming this shutdown
didn't totally hose it), Word will prompt you for recovery. Read the messages carefully
before clicking--you'll get just one shot at this.
Word Tip #16
Don't have a desktop publishing program, but still want to add a little pizzazz
to your documents? No problem! The FORMAT drop down menu (or mouse right button menu)
allows you to add various kinds of page borders. You can also shade paragraphs, adds
borders around text, and do other special effects. Explore the FORMAT menu, and you'll be
impressed.
Word Tip #17
Do your tables in Microsoft Excel, not Word. You can copy those tables over to
Word when you're done, but you can do them faster and easier in Microsoft Excel. One
exception: Microsoft Excel is terrible when it comes to complex tables that have odd-sized
columns and rows. Microsoft Excel likes a grid, whereas Word will let you make a quilt.
Word also gives you more freedom in text manipulation/rotation.
Word Tip #18
Use the AutoText function (INSERT dropdown menu) to store little snippets of text
you use frequently. Then, you won't have to type out the same words until your fingers
bleed!
Word Tip #19
Use the AutoCorrect function to catch common typos. AutoCorrect comes with a
small library of typos that have corresponding corrective text. From the TOOLS dropdown
menu, you can add your own. Do this with care, so you don't list a real word as a mistake.
Word Tip #20
Use Find and Replace (TOOLS dropdown menu) to find and replace formatting--not
just text.
Word Tip #21
To find comments quickly, hit the F5 key. From the menu that appears, select
"Comments."
Word Tip #22
Here's a tip from We
Compute:
Extend your selection skills in Word
When you want to select text in Microsoft Word, do you sweep across it with your
mouse? And then get mixed up or lose your place when the selection runs beyond the text
showing in the open window?
Several alternatives make it a whole lot easier to select text. Here are three of them:
1. Place the cursor at your starting point in the text. Hold down the Shift key and
press the Arrow keys. Text will be selected in the direction of the Arrow keys.
2. Click on the starting point. Scroll to near the end point, hold down Shift and click
on where you want to end the selection.
3. Click at the starting point. Then double-click on the
greyed-out EXT in the status
bar below the window you’re working in. Navigate to your intended end point and click
on it. This is using Word’s Extension Mode, which stays in effect until you
double-click on EXT again to turn it off.
These tricks work in all versions since Word 95.
Word Tip #23
MY BEST Microsoft Word TIP:
Buy a book on Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office. You can find books and tapes by
clicking on the software link at the top of this page. This tip is not a cheap sales
trick. The reason I suggest you buy a book is I could list at least 1500 Microsoft Word
tips and the Internet is just is not the format for that. The capabilities of this program
go far beyond what those unfamiliar with it could dream of. It is truly a masterpiece of a
program.
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