Awsome Word Tips
Annoyances
Get rid of the annoying little paper clip guy (the “Office assistant”)
1. From the Help menu, choose Microsoft Word Help. Click the Options button.
2. Uncheck all of the boxes except “Respond to F1 key” and “Move when in the way.”
3. On the Gallery tab, you may choose a different office assistant if you wish (other than the paper clip guy).
4. Click OK, then close the office assistant (using the X in the upper right corner of his window).
Get rid of those wavy red & green lines (Turn off automatic grammar & spell checking)
1. From the Tools menu, select Options, and go to the Spelling and Grammar tab.
2. Uncheck the “Check spelling as you type” and “Check grammar as you type” boxes, then click OK.
If Word changes your formatting without your permission
There’s a little “feature” in Word which can automatically updating your styles for you. Unfortunately, this is more
of a headache than a feature. If you find that when you change some formatting (for instance, making some text
bold), Word changes all of your text instead of just the text you had highlighted, this is your culprit. To fix it:
1. From the Format menu, choose Style. In the list on the left, select Normal, then click on the Modify button.
2. Uncheck the “Automatically update” box. (If the “Automatically update” box is not checked, then this style is
not the problem. Go back to the list, choose a different style, and repeat the process.)
3. Click OK, then click Apply.
When Word goes overboard with the scrolling (scrolls too fast)
Instead, try this: Click to place your cursor at the beginning of the section you want to select. Using your scroll bar,
scroll down to the where you can see the end of the section you want to select. Hold down the SHIFT key and click
once at the end of the selection. The whole section will be highlighted!
Fitting text on a page
Here are a couple of tricks you can use when you can’t get your text to fit on the page.
Margins
You already know that you can decrease your margins to fit more onto a page, but did you know this?:
You can set all of the margins to “0” and then, if you choose “Fix”, Word will reset them for you to the minimum
allowable margins for the printer you have selected (make sure you’ve already selected the printer you want to use).
Font sizes
You know that you can use a smaller font size, but did you know that you can use half-point font sizes? That’s right!
Just select the text you want to change, then click in the font size box on the formatting toolbar (the drop-down box
that says 10 or 12 or whatever your current font size is), and type in a size such as 11.5 or 10.5, and press ENTER.
Paragraph spacing
If you’re using a blank line to separate your paragraphs, you can instead reduce the amount of space in between your
paragraphs and headings by using paragraph spacing.
- Select (or place your cursor in) the paragraph above or below which you would like to add space.
From the Format menu, select Paragraph.
Under Spacing, choose measurements in the “Before” and “After” boxes to add space above or below the
paragraph. This spacing is measured in points, the same unit of measurement used for font sizes.
Choose other options if desired, then click OK.
Microsoft Word Tips & Tricks -2- March 19, 2003
Computer Services St. Norbert College
Speed tricks
Double-click to select a word
Triple-click to select a paragraph
Drag highlighted text to move it (instead of cutting & pasting)
- Assign a keyboard shortcut to a frequently used formatting style (see Styles section, below)
- CTRL+C to copy
- CTRL+X to cut
- CRTL+V to paste
- CRTL+Z to undo
- CTRL+A to select all (the whole document)
- CTRL+S to save
- CTRL+LEFT ARROW or CRTL+RIGHT ARROW to move cursor left or right a word at a time
- To select vertical sections of text, hold down the ALT key while dragging over the text you want to highlight.
- To select whole rows of text, hold down the CTRL key while dragging over the text you want to highlight.
Formatting better & faster
Indenting without headaches: first-line indents and hanging indents
1. Select the text you wish to format.
2. From the Format menu, select Paragraph.
3. Under Indentation, choose measurements in the “Left” and “Right” boxes to indent the entire paragraph.
4. For a hanging indent, select Hanging from the “Special” box, then choose a measurement.
5. For a first-line indent, select First line from the “Special” box, then choose a measurement.
6. Choose other options if desired, then click OK.
Columns
When you need to present lists of information in columns, there are 3 ways to do so:
- Using Format – Columns: This method is useful when you want your text to flow from one column to the next, as in a newspaper article. This method is not useful when you need to present tabular data, such as a list of abbreviations and their definitions; in that case, use a table instead.
- Using a table: This method is useful for presenting tabular data, such as a list of abbreviations and their definitions. Tables make it much easier to align your data, and to move and adjust your columns if necessary.
- Using tabs: This method is not recommended for any use. If used, use only with very short lists.
Page and section breaks
Section, page, and column breaks are very important to some of Word’s formatting, so it helps to understand them.
- If you need to get to the top of the next page, don’t press Enter until you get there! Instead, insert a Page Break.
- If you need to get to the top of the next column, again, don’t press Enter. Instead, insert a Column Break.
- If you need to change formatting styles within a single document, such as having one page that needs to be landscape while the rest of the document is portrait, or having 2 columns in one part of the document, while the rest is in a single column, you need to insert a Section Break between these differing sections.
1. From the Insert menu, select Break.
2. Select the type of break you want, then click OK.
Page numbers (headers & footers)
If you want to remove page numbers, or if they get messed up and you need to edit them, here’s the trick:
The page numbers are in the header or footer of the document, so in order to access them, go to View – Header and
Footer, or double-click on the page number. You will then be in the header or footer section, and will be able to select the page number and delete it. If you need to have different numbering in different parts of your document,
then you need to use section breaks (refer to previous section for details).
That darn auto-formatting
Sometimes, it seems like Word has a mind of its own, when it formats things in ways you didn’t (or did) intend. This is called auto-formatting. If you see it happen, you can use “Undo” immediately after it takes place to reverse it.
To turn off these auto-formatting features permanently, refer to the following table.
Problem Solution
Word formats e-mail addresses & web addresses as links (blue & underlined)
To make the links not linked: Tools – AutoCorrect – AutoFormat As You
Type tab – uncheck “Internet and network paths with hyperlinks”
Word turns 3 dashes (or equals signs, asterisks, etc.) into a line
Tools – AutoCorrect – AutoFormat As You Type tab – Uncheck both
“Borders” and “Tables”
Word automatically numbers & bullets lists
Tools – AutoCorrect – AutoFormat As You Type tab – Uncheck both
“Automatic numbered lists” and “Automatic bulleted lists”
Indents get set but you didn’t set them Tools – Options – Edit tab – Uncheck “Tabs and backspace set left indent” The entire word gets selected, instead
of just the letters you highlighted Tools – Options – Edit tab – Uncheck “When selecting, automatically select entire word”
Other suggested settings Tools – AutoCorrect – AutoFormat As You Type:
Uncheck “Define styles based on your formatting”
Check “Straight quotes with smart quotes”
Check “Ordinals (1st) with superscript”
Check “Fractions (1/2) with fraction character (½)”
Tools – Options – Edit tab:
Check “Typing replaces selection”
Check “Drag-and-drop text editing”
Check “Use smart cut & paste”
Tools – Options – Save tab:
Uncheck “Allow fast saves”
Check “Allow background saves”
Change “Save AutoRecover info every:” to a lower # of minutes
Tools – Options – General tab:
Check “Macro virus protection”
Styles
Styles define the appearance of text elements in your document, such as headings, captions, and body text. When you apply a style to a paragraph or word, you can apply multiple formatting characteristics in a single operation. Styles make formatting your document faster and easier, and they also serve as building blocks for tables of contents. You can modify the default styles that Word comes with, and you can create your own styles.
Applying a style to text
1. To apply a particular style to a segment of text, first select (highlight) the text you want to change.
2. From the Style drop-down list (the box on the left side of the formatting toolbar that usually says “Normal”), choose the style you want to apply.
Modifying an existing style
Changing default “normal” style
If you don’t like the default styles built into Word, you can change them to suit your preferences.
1. From the Format menu, select Style.
2. Highlight the style you want to change in the “Styles” list, and click the Modify button.
3. Click on the Format button and select the aspect of the style you wish to change.
4. Choose the desired new formatting. Click OK, then click OK again.
Creating a new style
1. From the Format menu, choose Style, then click New.
2. In the Name box, type a name for the style.
3. In the Style type box, choose Paragraph.
4. Click the Format button to select the formatting you want for this style. Choose Font for font formatting (font,
size, bold, italics, etc.) or Paragraph for paragraph formatting (indenting, alignment, etc.).
5. Choose the formatting you want for this style, then click OK.
6. Check the Add to Template box, then click OK.
7. Click Cancel or use the X to close the Styles dialog box. The new style will now appear in your “Styles” list.
Customizing your work area
Customizing File Locations
Tired of navigating through several folders every time you need to open a file? Try this:
1. From the Tools menu, choose Options, then click the File Locations tab.
2. In the File types list, click on the file location you wish to modify:
Documents: default starting location for opening files (this can save you time each time you open a file)
AutoRecover files: location for recovered documents (saved when Word or your computer crashes)
User templates: location for templates that you create (this should be on your hard drive)
Workgroup templates: location for shared templates on the network (it should be i:\msoffice.97\Template\)
3. Click Modify. In the Look in box, navigate to the appropriate folder. Click OK.
Split your screen in two
This allows you to see 2 different parts of your document at the same time. On the right side, just above the up arrow
on the scroll bar, there’s a small horizontal bar. If you put your mouse over that line, you’ll see the cursor change to a
2-headed arrow. When that happens, click and drag that bar down and let it go anywhere on the page. The document
will now appear to be split in two sections, allowing you to scroll each section separately.
Showing or hiding a toolbar
From the View menu, go to Toolbars , then click the toolbar you want to show or hide. (The ones with the checkmarks
next to them are already showing.)
Moving a toolbar
Click the move handle (the two little vertical lines) on a docked toolbar and drag the toolbar to a new location. If you drag a toolbar away from the edge, it becomes a floating toolbar, which you can move around the screen. If you drag
a floating toolbar to the edge of the program window, it becomes a docked toolbar.
Adding a button to a toolbar
1. From the Tools menu, choose Customize, then click the Commands tab.
2. In the Categories box, click the category that contains the button you want.
3. Drag the button you want from the Commands box onto the displayed toolbar.
Note: If you don't see the command you want under a particular category, click All Commands.
Removing a button from a toolbar
1. From the Tools menu, choose Customize, then click the Commands tab.
2. Drag the button away from the toolbar.
Note: The Customize dialog box must be open while doing this.
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