STAROCK Diversity
No matter how long you've been using Microsoft Word, you can
always learn new techniques to help you work faster and smarter. Here are some
of STAROCK Diversity's favorite tips and tricks for Word 97/2000/2002(Office
XP)/2003, organized into three sections: The basics, Advanced Tips, and Things
you don't have to do.
The Basics
1. Learn to use Undo
Make a mistake? Press [Ctrl]Z or choose Undo from
the Edit menu right away. Keep pressing [Ctrl]Z to
backtrack through and undo the most recent editing changes you've made.
2. Save often
Press [Ctrl]S or click the Save button on the Standard
toolbar. Save your work frequently. You can also instruct Word to automatically
save your work periodically. Open the Tools menu, select Options, click the Save
tab, and activate the Save Auto Recovery Info Every option. You can specify an
interval from
3. Quickly move
around in a document To move to the top of a document, press [Ctrl] [Home].
To move to the bottom of a document, press [Ctrl] [End]. To go to the top of
the next page, press [Ctrl] [Page Down]. For the top of the preceding page,
press [Ctrl] [Page Up].
4. Open menus and
select commands from the keyboard Press [Alt] plus the letter that's
underlined to open a menu, such as File, Edit, View, and so on. Once a menu is
open, you don't need to press [Alt] to select a command; just press the
underlined letter of the command you want to select. Here are some common examples:
Quick Print Preview: [Alt]F,V. Quick Save As: [Alt] F,A.
Quickly reopen the first document in the most recently used file list: [Alt] F,1.
5. Fours ways to
select a block of text Use the mouse. Just click and drag the mouse to
select text. Use [Shift] plus the arrow keys. Hold down [Shift] and press an
arrow key to select text in the desired direction. To select
a word at a time, press [Ctrl] [Shift] and the left or right arrow key.
Use the mouse with the [Shift] key. Move the mouse pointer away from the
insertion point position, hold down [Shift] and click to select all the text
between the insertion point and the place where you clicked. Frustrated when
you try to select text with the mouse past the bottom of the currently visible
page and Word leaps past what you want to select? Those are the times to use [Shift]
plus the down arrow key instead of the mouse.
6. Select a word
Double-click on it. If a space immediately follows the word you select, the
space gets selected, too. Punctuation is ignored.
7. Select a sentence
Select a sentence. Hold down [Ctrl] and click anywhere in the sentence.
8. Select a paragraph
Triple-click within the paragraph or move the mouse just past the left margin
of the paragraph. When the pointer changes to a
right-pointing arrow, double-click to select the whole paragraph.
9. Select a table
Select a table by holding down [Alt] and double-clicking anywhere in the
table.
10. Select cells in
large tables using the keyboard (Word 2002/2003) As the size of a table
increases, the harder it becomes to use the mouse as your sole means of
navigation in a table. For example, to select a column with the mouse, you need
to move the pointer along the top gridline of the first cell in the column
until it changes to a down arrow and then click. However, using the keyboard
simplifies this process. Position the pointer anywhere in the column, press
[Alt], and select any cell. To use the keyboard to select an entire table, click
anywhere in the table and, with Num Lock off, press [Alt] 5 on the numeric
keyboard. Like Excel, Word XP and Word 2003 also let you press [Ctrl] to select
nonadjacent cells. For example, to select columns 1 and 3 using the keyboard,
press [Alt], click somewhere in column 1, press [Ctrl][Alt],
and click somewhere in column 3.
11. Select all the
text between the insertion point and
To select all the text between the
insertion point and the end of the current line, press [Shift][End].
To select the text from the insertion point through the end
of the current paragraph, press [Ctrl] [Shift] and the down arrow. To
select the text from the insertion point to the end of the document, press
[Ctrl] [Shift] [End].
12. Select multiple,
non-contiguous words (Word 2002/2003 only) Select a word, then hold
[Ctrl] and double-click an additional word or words. This will select the words
regardless of whether they are adjacent to each other.
13. Select an entire
document Press [Ctrl] A. This is handy when you need to change the font
or add or remove formatting. Once you've selected the entire document, apply
the formatting to everything and either leave it applied or apply it again to
remove it. For example, suppose some text in your document is underlined and
you want nothing underlined. To avoid spending time visiting each underlined
section of text and un-underlining it, select the whole document with [Ctrl] A.
Press [Ctrl] U to apply underlining to the entire document and then press [Ctrl]
U again to remove the underlining. Be careful when you use [Ctrl] A. If you
accidentally press [Delete] or type a keystroke and erase everything, don't
panic. Just press [Ctrl] Z or choose Undo from the Edit menu.
14. Find multiple
instances at once (Word 2002/2003 only) You can use the Find command to
count and highlight the occurrences of a particular word. Open the Find dialog
box by pressing [Ctrl] F or going to Edit | Find. Type the word or words you
want to locate in the Find What text box. Select the Highlight All Items Found In:
check box. Press [Enter] or click the Find All button and Word will display the
number of instances of that word occurring in your document. It will also
select them so that they're easy to spot and edit.
15. Grow font, shrink
font Here are three quick ways to change the size of selected text:
Choose Font from the Format menu and specify the desired point size. Click the
Font Size button on the Formatting toolbar and select an entry from the
drop-down list. Or use the Grow Font and Shrink Font shortcuts, which are
[Ctrl] plus the close- and open- square bracket characters, respectively.
16. Rename an
existing document Use Save As. When you need to use an existing document
as the basis for a new one, don't overwrite the old document. As soon as you
open it, press [Alt]F and then press A. (Or open the File
menu and choose Save As.) Then immediately type a new name or change some part
of the old one.
17. Print envelopes
Want to address your envelopes in the printer? Type an address in a blank
document or in a letter. Open the Tools menu and select Envelopes And Labels. (Word XP users choose Letters And
Mailings and then select Envelopes And Labels.) In the Envelopes tab, enter the
return address if you want one, and click Print.
18. Expand your
vocabulary Word has a built-in thesaurus. Press [Shift] [F7] or open the
Tools menu, select Language, and then choose Thesaurus. Word will display a
list of synonyms for the word you've selected or the word closest to the
insertion point marker.
19. Make friends with
the right mouse button Don't be afraid to right-click on a block of text
or a table cell. The shortcut menu offers immediate access to some handy
formatting options.
20. Paste plain text
When you copy and paste text from a Web page or another document, the text
brings its formatting into your document. To get
around that behavior, copy the text and place the insertion point marker where
you want to insert the copy. Then, open the Edit menu, choose Paste Special,
and select the Unformatted Text option.
21. Print multiple pages of a Word document on one sheet (Word 2000/2002/2003) If you regularly print large documents or send printed copies of them through the mail, you can save on both paper and postage by using Microsoft Word's Zoom feature. With Zoom, you can print as many as 16 pages on a single sheet of paper. To print four pages to a sheet, do to File | Print, in the Zoom section, select 4 Pages from the Pages Per Sheet drop-down list, make any other print selections, and click OK. Zoom automatically reduces the scale to fit four pages on each sheet. Zoom reduces the size of your printout without changing the document's format or page layout settings.
Advanced tips
1. Instant
AutoCorrect Right-click on a word that's flagged as misspelled to display
the Edit shortcut menu. If Word has a suggested alternative, AutoCorrect will
appear on the menu. Choose AutoCorrect and then select the correct version of
the word from the submenu to create an AutoCorrect entry.
2. Effortless
AutoText Save time by inserting AutoText automatically. Type an entry
name and press [F3]. Or take advantage of Word's AutoComplete feature. Just
open the Tools menu, select AutoCorrect, click the AutoText tab, and turn on
the Show AutoComplete Tip For AutoText And Dates
option. With this feature active, Word will show a ScreenTip after you begin
typing an AutoText item. Just press [Enter] and Word will insert the item for
you. (This feature works the same way with dates and days of the week.)
3. Marker display
Work with paragraph markers and tab marks displayed. Simply click the
Show/Hide Ά button on the Standard toolbar. Displaying those normally hidden
characters helps you avoid inadvertently deleting objects or changing
formatting; it also helps you figure out funky alignment and extra white space
problems.
4. Use AutoCorrect as
a text expander You don't have to keep typing those long words or phrases
you have trouble with. Come up with a three- or four-letter abbreviation for it
and add it to AutoCorrect. For example, say you often need to type
Type indy,
press [Tab], type
5. Clear a table
If you need to delete the contents of all the cells in a table, just select
the table and press [Delete] (not [Backspace]).
6. Display built-in styles When you create a document,
Word starts you out with a handful of basic styles. If you need to apply a more
specialized style, hold down [Shift] and click on the arrow beside the Style
box on the Formatting toolbar. Word will expand the Style list to include all
its built-in styles. Just select the one you need and Word will apply that
style and add it to your document.
7. Quick table column
total Performing addition in a Word table is simple. Click in an empty
cell at the bottom of a column of numbers. Open the Table menu, select Formula,
and press [Enter] to accept the default Sum function.
8. Styles as you go
Define styles on the fly: Format a paragraph the way you want, type a name in
the Style box on the Formatting toolbar, and press [Enter].
9. Quick field toggle
Press [Alt] [F9] to quickly toggle field code display on and off.
10. Add a border to a
page To add a border to page, open the Format menu, select the Borders And Shading command, and click the Page Border tab.
11. Faster Go To
Double-click the left end of the status bar to bring up the Go To tab so you can jump to an item in your document such as
bookmark, a specific page, a table, a section, and so on.
12. Splitsville
See two parts of a document at the same time by choosing
13. Selective word
count Need to know how many words, characters, paragraphs, or lines
appear in a portion of a document? Just select the text you want to run the
count on prior to choosing Word Count from the Tools menu.
14. Trim ragged text
by turning on hyphenation When text contains many long words and your
left and right margins are close to one another, your right margin can look
ragged. To help smooth out that edge, choose Language from the Tools menu,
select Hyphenation, click in the Automatically Hyphenate Document check box, and
click OK.
15. Copy formatting
to more than one block of text To copy the formatting from the current
word or paragraph, click the Format Painter button on the Standard toolbar and
then select the word or block of text to which you want to apply that
formatting. To copy the same formatting to more than one block of text,
double-click on the Format Painter button. Then you can apply the formatting to
several blocks of text. To turn off the Format Painter, just click the button
again or press [Esc].
16. Jump quickly
between documents If you work with a lot of open, overlapping documents,
here's a quick way to cycle between them: Press [Ctrl [F6] to jump from one to
the next; [Ctrl] [Shift] [F6] will jump you backward.
17. Insert and format
symbols For instant access to thousands of special symbols, like foreign
characters and wild and crazy icons, open the Insert menu, choose Symbol, and
look through the selections available with different fonts and subsets of
fonts. After you insert a special character or symbol, you can then select it
and use [Grow Font] and [Shrink Font] on it.
18. Create a desktop
shortcut to a document To create a document shortcut, first highlight
some text to serve as a target in the document and click the Copy button. Next,
minimize the Word window or drag it out of the way so you can see the Windows
desktop. Then, hold down [Ctrl], right-click on the desktop, and choose Paste Shortcut.
You'll probably want to change the shortcut name to something more meaningful.
To do this, click on the shortcut to select it and then press [F2] to activate
the label for editing. Type the desired name and press [Enter]. Close your
document, clicking Yes to save your changes. You can
even exit Word, if you want. Then, simply double-click on the desktop shortcut.
Word will open the associated document, navigate to your target text, and
select it.
19. Insert frequently
used text with a macro Macros are extremely handy for performing
multi-step operations, including simple text entry. If you routinely use a
word, phrase, or entire paragraph, you can create a macro that will
automatically insert the text. To start recording your macro
click Tools | Macro | Record New Macro. You will be prompted to enter a
name for your new macro, specify the document template in which the macro will
be stored, and enter a short description. Click OK when you're ready to begin
recording your new macro. Word will record every mouse click and keystroke you
make until you click the Stop Recording button. Type in your text and click
Stop recording. To use your new macro, click Tools | Macros, select you macro
from the list of available macros, and click Run. To make the process even
easier, you can tie the macro to a keyboard shortcut. Click Tools | Customize
and click the Keyboard button. Under the Categories list, scroll down and select
Macros. A list of available macros will appear. Select the desired macro and
click into the Press new shortcut key field. Press the key to which you want
your macro assigned and then click the Assign button. Return
to the document by clicking Close button twice and your new keyboard shortcut is ready to use.
Things you don't have
to do
1. Worry You
don't have to worry about doing something wrong. Just get familiar with the
program and experiment with Word features. If something looks wrong or funny,
that's when you use the Undo feature. Press or type the wrong thing, try [Ctrl]
Z to undo whatever you did. Always remember you can press [Ctrl] Z or choose Undo
from the Edit menu to undo changes one at a time. Aside from deleting or
failing to save a file, there's almost nothing you can do that isn't
reversible.
2. Move your hands
from the keyboard You don't have to use the mouse to do things like open
menus, select or format text, or move the insertion point marker. You may find
you work more efficiently if you're not always moving your hand from the
keyboard to the mouse. Press [Home] to move to the beginning of the current
line and press [End] to move to the end of the current line. Press [Ctrl] and
the left or right arrow to move one word in either direction. Hold down [Shift]
while pressing those keys to select the text between the insertion point marker
and the beginning or the end of the line, respectively.
3. Select an entire
paragraph to change formatting or style You don't have to select the
entire paragraph to change the paragraph's formatting or style. Just click
anywhere in the paragraph and choose the desired format or style. A good
example is justification. Just click anywhere in the paragraph and then click
the Align Left, Align Right, or Justify button on the Standard toolbar.
4. Work with only one
document at a time You don't have to close one Word document before you
open another. Open as many at a time as you want to. Use the [Ctrl] [F6]
keyboard shortcut or the Windows menu to move quickly between open documents.
5. Risk missing
something you're looking for You don't have to visually scan and manually
scroll through a document looking for a word or phrase. Use [Ctrl]F to open the Find tab and let Word locate the text for
you.
6. Waste time during
spelling check You don't have to repeatedly click Ignore or Ignore All
every time the spell-checker stops on a proper noun or a term that's commonly
used in your documents. Click Add (Add To Dictionary
in Word XP) so you don't waste time checking the same words over and over.
7. Delete old text
you're replacing You don't have to delete text you want to replace with
new text. Select the old text and start typing the new. The first keystroke
replaces the old selected text. Don't waste time pressing [Delete] first.
8. Press [Backspace]
over and over You don't have to press [Backspace] a dozen times to delete
a word or phrase. If you type something and then change your mind, pressing
[Ctrl] [Backspace] to delete a word at a time is much faster. Only one thing is
more wasteful: using the mouse to click on the beginning of a word or phrase and
then pressing [Delete] repeatedly. (You can use [Ctrl][Delete]
to quickly remove words in that situation.) If you get overzealous with [Ctrl] [Backspace]
or [Ctrl] [Delete] and remove one word too many, press [Ctrl] Z to bring it
right back.
9. Use the default
toolbar configuration You don't have to settle for the default toolbar
configuration that shows the Standard and Formatting toolbars. Click View | Toolbars to reveal a list of available toolbars.
If you routinely edit documents, the Reviewing toolbar comes in very handy. Use
the Tables and Borders toolbar to quickly create tables or the Drawing toolbar
to easily manipulate graphics. You can also edit Word's toolbars by clicking View
| Toolbars | Customize, which opens the Customize window. With this window open
you can rearrange a toolbar's buttons, add or remove button, even edit a
button's image or create your own special toolbars.
10. Count words by
hand (Word 2000/2002/2003) Don't waste time manually counting words.
Word's count function will tell you how many words and characters are in a
document, paragraph, or selection. Word 2002 and 2003 offer a Count toolbar that even simplifies the process. Click
View | Toolbars | Word Count.