These tips came from real Word users and have been taken from
Microsoft.com.
1. Remove All Formatting in Two Easy Steps
From Patti Jo Calabrese, Buffalo, New York
Here's a great way to remove all of the formatting from a Word document or
just a selected portion of the document:
- Select the whole document by pressing CTRL+A or just select the portion
of the document you wish to change.
- Press CTRL+SHIFT+N.
Presto! All of your formatting is removed from the document or selection.
2. Find Shortcuts to Useful Word Features on the Status Bar
From Mark Elliott, East Molesey, Surrey, England
Did you know that the status bar, that area at the bottom of Word documents
where the page number appears, also provides shortcuts to a number of very
useful features? Here are a few you may want to use:
- To open the Find and Replace dialog box, double-click any
location indicator on the status bar, such as the page number or section
number.
- To turn the macro recorder on or off, double-click REC.
- To turn the Track Changes feature on or off, double-click TRK.
- To turn extend selection mode on or off, double-click EXT.
- To turn overtype mode on or off, double-click OVR.
- To change the language format of selected text, double-click Language.
- To resolve errors in grammar or spelling, double-click the Spelling
and Grammar Status icon. Note: When the previous features are
turned off, their labels appear dimmed.
Note: If your status bar is not visible, go to the Tools menu,
click Options, click the View tab, and then select the Status
bar check box under Show.
3. Handy Shortcuts for Navigating in Word
From Rebecca Buchmeyer, Longview, Texas
Here are a few tricks using the CTRL key that I find useful for quickly
navigating through Word documents:
- Hold down the CTRL key and then press the RIGHT ARROW key to move from
any point in a word to the beginning of the next word.
- Use CTRL+LEFT ARROW key to move from any point in a word to the
beginning of that word.
- Use CTRL+UP ARROW key to move to the beginning of a paragraph.
- Use CTRL+DOWN ARROW key to move to the beginning of the following
paragraph.
4. Create Your Own Custom Word Templates
From Souvik Das, Bangalore, India
If you don't like Arial font, you never need to use it again, even when
writing a new document in Word. You can create a template of your favorite font
styles and sizes and use it whenever you want—it's nearly as easy as creating a
new document. For example, you can create a document template in which Comic
Sans, not Arial, is the default font.
To create a custom template:
- On the View menu, select Task Pane.
- If the New Document task pane is not visible, select it from the
drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the task pane.
- In the New Document task pane, click General Templates.
- In the Templates dialog box that appears, select the General
tab, and click Blank Document once to select it (this will be the
base for your new template).
- Under the Create New section, click Template, and then
click OK.
- In the new template, add any text and graphics you want to appear in all
new documents that you base on the template, and delete any items you don't
want to appear.
- Make the changes you want to the margin settings, page size and
orientation, styles, and other formats. For example, change the font to
Comic Sans.
- On the File menu, click Save, give your template a name,
and then click Close on the File menu.
Your new, customized template will then be available as a choice under
General Templates in the New Document task pane.
5. Specify Spacing Between Sentences in Word
From Jennifer Matthey, Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Whether you prefer to use one space or two between sentences, Word can help
you ensure that spacing is consistent within a single document and from one
document to the next. You can do this by setting rules for grammar and style.
To set rules for grammar and style:
- On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the
Spelling & Grammar tab.
- Click Settings.
- In the Grammar and style options box under Require, select
the options you want for number of spaces required between sentences.
To restore the original rules of the selected grammar and writing style,
click Reset All.
Note: If you are setting options for text written in a language other
than your language version of Word, the options may vary slightly. For example,
some group names might be different, and others, such as Require, may not
appear.
