Get started with Word 2016
IT Showcase Productivity Guide
Published September 2015
Microsoft Word 2016 is a new, modern version of the classic desktop
application, built for maximum productivity. Quickly produce professional
documents using the rich authoring features. Share, present, and work
together on projects with built-in team collaboration tools. Access your
documents in the cloud whenever and wherever you need them. Your Word,
always good, is now better than ever.
Topics in this guide include:
What’s new
Getting started
Using Word on a
phone or tablet
For more
information
c4
Collaborating and
sharing
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What’s new
Word 2016 has new features, built so you can do great work with smart tools that help you stay on
task.
Tell Me
You do not need to be a power user to use the power of Microsoft Office 2016. Tell Me will guide
you to the feature you need, to get the results you want. This built-in search saves time that you
would spend looking for a specific feature.
Using Tell Me
1.
At the top of the ribbon, type what you are looking for in the Tell Me box. As you type,
possible results are shown.
2.
Select the result that applies to your task.
For example, when you want to mark your document as confidential, just type “confidential” or
“confidential banner” and Tell Me will bring back the Insert Watermark command.
Viewing previous commands

Click or tap in the Tell Me box. The Recently Used drop-down list appears and displays the
last five commands you executed from within Tell Me.
Smart Lookup
Smart Lookup, powered by Bing, uses the term you highlight and other contextual information from
within your document to deliver search results from the web while you read or work on a
document. With information from a variety of sources, you can find anything from a quick definition
to a detailed exploration without leaving your document.
Accessing Smart Lookup
1.
Select the word or phrase you want to find information on.
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Do one of the following:


Right-click the word or phrase, and then select Smart Lookup on the menu that appears.
On a touchscreen device, press and hold the word or phrase, and select the arrow at the
right edge of the floating formatting toolbar. On the menu that appears, select Smart
Lookup.

On the ribbon, on the Review tab, select Smart Lookup.
The Insights pane opens, displaying information relevant to your selection.
Note: If you are just looking up Insights for one word, you can skip selecting; instead,
you can simply right-click or press and hold on the word, and then select Smart Lookup
on the menu that appears.
Figure 1. Contextual search results from Insights
Simplified sharing
Click Share to quickly invite others to review or edit your documents. See the “Simplified sharing”
procedure in this document for more information
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Getting started
If you are new to Word, or if things look a little different, the information in this section will get you
started creating beautiful and engaging documents.
The ribbon
Find the commands to create your document in the ribbon at the top of the window.
Quick Access Toolbar
Backstage view
Ribbon tabs
Need help?
Dialog box launchers
Simplified sharing
Smileys
Minimize the ribbon
Figure 2. Elements of the ribbon

Quick Access Toolbar: Commands here are always visible. Right-click a command to add it
here.

Ribbon tabs: Click any tab on the ribbon to display its buttons and commands. When you
open a document, the ribbon’s Home tab is displayed. This tab contains many of the most
frequently used commands in Microsoft Word.

Need help? Use Tell Me or press F1 for help. See the “Tell Me” section in this document for
more information.

Simplified sharing: Click Share to quickly invite others to review or edit your documents. See
the “Simplified sharing” procedure in this document for more information.

Microsoft Office Backstage view: Click File to open, save, print, and manage your
documents.

Dialog box launchers: If you see the
icon next to any group of ribbon commands, you can
click it to open a dialog box with more options.

Minimize the ribbon: Click the arrow to close the ribbon and show only the tab names.

Contextual ribbon tabs: Some tabs appear on the ribbon only when you need them. For
example, if you select a table, you will see the Table Tools contextual tab, which includes two
extra tabs: Design and Layout.
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New documents
To create a document, you can start from a brand-new, blank document, from a template, or from a
previous document.
Start from a blank document
1.
Select the File tab, and then select New. The New tab appears.
Note: When you first start Word, the New tab opens on the right by default.
2.
Select Blank document. A blank document opens.
Start from a built-in template
1.
Select the File tab, and then select New.
2.
Select one of the built-in document templates (any of the listed documents other than Blank
document). The template opens.
Start from a custom template
1.
Select the File tab, and then select Open. The Open tab appears.
2.
Navigate to the custom template, and then select it. The template opens.
Start from a previous document
1.
Select the File tab, and then select Open. The Open tab appears.
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Navigate to the previous document, and then select it. The document opens.
Note: If you are using the previous document as a starting point for a new document
and do not want to write over the previous document, make sure you save by selecting
Save As, not Save.
Styles
Give your documents a professional look with styles. You no longer have to try to remember how
you formatted the last heading or previous paragraphs. Styles do that for you.
Use styles
1.
Select the text you want to apply a style to.
2.
On the Home tab, in the Styles section, select the style to apply to the text.
New Office User Experience Themes
New Office User Experience Themes let you choose the Office 2016 experience that is right for you.
The Dark and Dark Gray themes provide a high contrast look and feel that is easier on the eyes. Or,
choose the new Colorful theme for a modern and fresh look that is consistent across your devices.
Figure 3. The Dark theme

The Dark theme is designed to give users with visual impairments—or users who find overly
bright displays difficult to use—a more visually appealing background.

The Dark theme includes improvements to the navigation pane (better readability, fixed white
flashes) and several Microsoft Outlook readability fixes. These fixes addressed the issues of
white text on light background, dark text on dark background, disabled text being unreadable.
Note: The Dark Theme might not be available to all users at time of release.
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Figure 4. The Dark Gray theme
Figure 5.. The new Colorful theme
Changing your theme
1.
On the File menu, select Account.
2.
In the Office Theme list, select the theme you want to apply.
Art and media
Make your document come alive by adding pictures and videos.
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Adding a picture or a video
1.
Position your cursor where you want the picture or video added.
2.
Select the Insert tab, and then do one of the following:



3.
In the Illustrations group, select Pictures.
In the Illustrations group, select Online Pictures.
In the Media group, select Online Video.
Navigate to the picture or video you want to add.
Collaborating and sharing
Get your team on the same page by using built-in collaboration tools to share and co-author
documents.
Real-time co-authoring in Word
Work together on the same document by using real-time co-authoring in Word. Everyone on your
team can simultaneously edit the same document. Flags indicate where teammates are working in
the document, and you can see their edits as they make them with real-time typing.
This capability is available when you are working in documents stored on Microsoft OneDrive for
Business and Microsoft SharePoint Online. When another person opens the same document, you
are both prompted to opt in if you have not previously done so.
Note: Opting in is an application setting, not a document setting. If you opt in, any time
you find yourself in a collaborative space with others who have also opted in or who are
co-authoring in Microsoft Word Online, they will see your changes as you make them.
You can turn this setting off and on, but after you turn it on, it is not limited to the
document you were in when you did so.
Opting in to real-time co-authoring
1.
Open a document stored on OneDrive for Business or on SharePoint Online.
2.
When you are prompted to share changes, select Yes. Real-time co-authoring is now on for
any document you work on in a collaborative space.
Note: You will be prompted only if someone else is working on the document or opens
the document while you are working on it.
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Threaded comments
Threaded comments in Word allow people to have useful conversations right next to relevant text.
You can see who replied to whom and when.
Figure 5. Threaded comments show comments and responses
Using threaded comments

In the comment you want to reply to, select the Reply button to add a response.
Improved version history
Have no fear as you and your team make edits and changes to your documents. An improved
version history allows you to view or go back to earlier drafts. These changes make it easy to find
previous versions of files stored on SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business.
Opening a previous version
1.
Select the File tab.
2.
Select History. The History pane appears to the right of the document.
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In the History pane, select the version you want to restore.
Simplified sharing
Simplified sharing lets you quickly invite others to review or edit your documents. You can save
your file to the cloud and make it available to others without having to navigate away from your
work.
Sharing a file
1.
Select Share, above the ribbon on the right side.
2.
If the document is already saved to the cloud, skip directly to step 4. Otherwise, in the Share
pane, select Save to Cloud.
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3.
On the left, under Save As, choose where you want to save the document, and then select the
target folder on the right.
4.
Select Save.
5.
In the Share pane, invite people, and choose whether they can edit or just view the file.
More intuitive navigation of cloud storage
More intuitive navigation of cloud storage locations makes it even easier to access, edit, and share
your Word documents, no matter where you are. Working in the cloud means you can share and
work with your colleagues, but it also means your documents are protected from loss. In addition to
the redundancy in cloud storage, Word also maintains a version history when documents are stored
and edited on either OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online.
Using Word on a phone or tablet
In addition to working with Word on a computer, you can use Word (part of Microsoft Office
Mobile) on a Microsoft Windows phone, an iPhone or iPad, or an Android tablet or phone.
Use the following links to get started:
Use Word Mobile for Windows Phone
https://support.office.com/en-US/article/use-word-mobile-for-windows-phone-3fe718ee-e8a640b0-8420-b3520c25c411
Install and set up Office on an iPhone or iPad with Office 365
https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Install-and-set-up-Office-on-an-iPhone-or-iPad-withOffice-365-9df6d10c-7281-4671-8666-6ca8e339b628
Office on your Android tablet
https://products.office.com/en-us/mobile/office-android-tablet
Office Mobile for Android phones
https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Office-Mobile-for-Android-phones-ee598133-59d1-43c3b47c-aac3f2d9a605
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For more information
For more great productivity guidance, visit…
http://microsoft.com/ITShowcase/Productivity
Microsoft IT Showcase
For more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales Information
Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Order Centre at (800) 933-4750.
Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information via the web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies
and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. This document is for
informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
IT Showcase Productivity Guide