Microsoft Word
Hints and Tips
Introduction
The aim of this document is to show you how to make the best use of some
of the facilities in Microsoft Word and, in particular, to save you time when
using it.
Be aware that we have several other documents on using Word, including A
Beginners' Guide, An Intermediate Guide, Starting a Thesis, Finishing a
Thesis, plus a host of advanced topics.
Starting Microsoft Word and Opening Files
Launching Word via the Start menu and All Programs isn't the most
efficient way of doing things; it's much easier to do so from an icon on the
Desktop:
1. Open the Windows Start menu and choose All Programs then
Microsoft Office
2. Instead of clicking on Microsoft Office Word 2003, hold the right
mouse button down and choose Send To followed by Desktop (create
shortcut)
3. Now (and in future) double click on the Microsoft Word icon to launch
the software
You can also place shortcuts to files you are currently working on the
Desktop in a similar way - this time (when you drag the file icons from My
Documents using the right mouse button) choose Create Shortcuts Here
from the pop-up menu. When you have finished working on a file then you
can <Delete> the shortcut (leaving the file itself safe in My Documents).
Another feature which makes opening a file easier is to alter the number of
documents which feature in the list of recently used files (the list which
appears at the foot of the File menu):
1. In Word, open the Tools menu and choose Options...
2. Click on the General tab and increase Recently used file list: to 9
entries (the maximum)
3. Press <Enter> or click on [OK] to close the Options window
You'll now have easy access to more of the documents you've been
working on, though ITS PC Lab users will find that changes to Options
aren't retained (unless they use the same PC each time). Some other tips
later in this course (eg AutoText settings) are also not retained on Lab PCs.
Making Good Use of the Keyboard
Having to take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse slows down
your work considerably. Mice can be very temperamental at times and it's
always useful to know how you can avoid using them. It's a good idea to
gradually build up your knowledge of the special key presses you can use
to issue commands and to reinforce this by using the keyboard whenever
possible. Most of the tips work throughout Microsoft, so try using them in
other programs too.
<Ctrl a> - Select All
<Ctrl b> - Bold
<Ctrl c> - Copy
<Ctrl f> - Find
<Ctrl h> - Replace
<Ctrl i> - Italic
<Ctrl n> - New
<Ctrl o> - Open
<Ctrl p> - Print
<Ctrl s> - Save
<Ctrl u> - Underline
<Ctrl v> Paste
<Ctrl x> - Cut
<Ctrl z> - Undo
<Ctrl Home> - Move to top
<Ctrl
End> - Move to end
Try the following:
1. Start typing then press <Ctrl b> - this turns on [Bold]
2. Type a little more then press <Ctrl b> again to turn bold off
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 using <Ctrl i> for Italic and <Ctrl u> for
Underline
4. Now press <Ctrl a> to Select All your text and then press <Ctrl c> to
Copy it
5. Press <Ctrl End> to release the selection and move the typing position
to the end
6. Press <Ctrl v> to Paste a second copy of your text
Sometimes, key combinations open dialog boxes. These can usually be
closed by pressing <Esc>:
7. Press <Ctrl f> for Find, type in a letter (eg a) then press <Enter> for
[Find Next]
8. Press <Enter> again to find another occurrence of the letter
9. Press <Esc> to [Cancel] the command (you may first need to press
<Enter> for [OK] to cancel the message that Word has finished
searching the document)
10. Press <Ctrl p> for Print then, having seen this work, press <Esc> for
[Cancel]
11. Press <Ctrl s> for Save - again, press <Esc> for [Cancel]
<Ctrl s> is perhaps the most important control key combination and you
should get used to using it. Whenever you are writing a document (or using
other Office programs), you should press <Ctrl s> every ten minutes or so
to save what you have done so far. That way, you never lose your work.
Only the commonly-used commands have control key combinations
assigned to them; others have to be issued via the menu system. Even
here, however, you can use the keyboard (instead of the mouse). The tip is
provided by the underlined letters in the menu and command names:
12. To open a menu, hold down <Alt> and type the underlined letter - eg
press <Alt f> for File
13. To issue a command just type the underlined letter - eg press <a> for
Save As
14. Type in a name for your file (eg tips) then press <Enter> for Save
Save was the default final command so you could use <Enter> to end the
process. If you want to activate a different option then you can either use
<Alt> and the underlined letter or <Tab> to it and press <Enter> - eg <Alt
t> in Save would allow you to change Save as type (<down arrow> lets
you select the required type).
An easy way to close Word (don't try it yet) is to press <Alt f> for File
followed by <x> for Exit.
AutoText
The Undo command is another useful one to learn. Word sometimes
automatically tries to correct what it thinks are typing errors, when they are
not. For example:
1. On a new line type 1/2 followed by a space - Word converts this into
the fraction ½
2. If this isn't what's wanted, press <Ctrl z> to Undo the conversion
(<Backspace> also works)
3. Similarly, type 20@10.5p followed by a space - Word converts this into
an email address
4. Press <Ctrl z> to Undo the conversion (or use <Backspace>)
5. Press <Enter> for a new line then type 1. Just Testing and press
<Enter> - Word turns this into a list (press <Ctrl z> for Undo - you'd
need to press <Backspace> three times)
There are various other automatic conversions (eg web addresses, two
initial capital letters) which can be annoying at times. An alternative to
Undo is to turn them off permanently:
6. Open the Insert menu and choose AutoText then AutoText...
7. Move to the AutoFormat As You Type tab and turn off the settings you
do not want
8. Repeat step 7 on the AutoCorrect tab then press <Enter> for [OK]
Note that AutoCorrect can be used to type commonly-used words or
phrases - for example, you could add an entry which would automatically
convert to The University of Reading. To do this:
9. Open the Insert menu and choose AutoText then AutoText... again
10. Move to the AutoCorrect tab
11. In the left hand Replace: box type uor then press <Tab> and in the
right With: box type The University of Reading
12. Press <Enter> for [Add] then <Esc> to [Close] the dialog box
13. Now type uor into your document and watch it expand when you
press the <spacebar>
Moving Around and Selecting Text
It's often quicker to use the keyboard rather than the mouse to move around
your text (and even select it). Only through practice will you learn which is
the best method for you (and in which circumstances). Try out the following:
1. Press <Ctrl Home> to move the typing position to the very start of your
text
2. Press <down arrow> until you reach the last line of your first
paragraph then <End> to move to the far right of the text - type in a few
extra words
3. Hold down <Shift> and use the <left arrow> key to select the last
word you have just typed (each arrow key press selects a single letter)
4. Type in a different word (you don't have to <Delete> the selected word
first)
5. Next, hold down <Ctrl> and press <left arrow> several times - the
typing position jumps from one word to the next
6. Now try holding down both <Ctrl> and <Shift> and use the <right
arrow> - Word selects whole words rather than single letters
7. Press <End> to release the selection and move the typing position to
the end of the paragraph
The principle here is that <Shift> and a key selects, while <Ctrl> and a key
speeds up moving the typing position. Holding down both <Ctrl> and
<Shift> speeds up selection. You can use any of the arrow keys in this way
- also <Page Up> / <Page Down> (as well as <Home> / <End>).
There's one further really useful (though somewhat obscure) key
combination you can use to move around your document and that's <Shift
F5>. This jumps to the previous insertion point (even in another open
document). To see this:
8. Press <Ctrl n> for a [New] document and type in a couple of words
9. Now press <Shift F5> and you'll find you jump back to your original
document
10. Type in a few words then press <Shift F5> again - you move back to
the new document
11. Keep pressing <Shift F5> and watch what happens - finish on your
original document
Making Good Use of the Mouse
Selecting text can also be done using the mouse. Most users drag through
the text they want, but there are better and more precise ways of doing this:
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Double click on a word to select it
Click once on the far left of the display to select a line of text
Click three times on a word or click twice at the far left to select a
paragraph
Click three times at the far left to select all your document (or press
<Ctrl a>)
Use <Ctrl> and click to select a sentence (up to a full stop, question or
exclamation mark)
Hold down <Shift> and click to select from the current typing position
to where you click
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If you have dragged through text to select it but didn't quite judge the
selection correctly, hold down <Shift> and use the arrow keys to adjust
the selection precisely
Hold down <Alt> and drag down through text to make a vertical
selection
Try out some of the above (if you don't know them already) in your current
document. Once you have made a selection, you can issue a command to
alter the format of the text or cut/copy it to the Clipboard. You can also
move it with drag and drop:
1. Select a word by double clicking on it
2. Click on [Italic] (you are already using the mouse, so this may be
quicker than <Ctrl i>)
3. Position the mouse cursor arrow over the selection then hold down the
mouse button
4. Drag the mouse slightly, so that the insertion point (shown by the feint
vertical line) moves to a different position, then release the mouse
button to drop the text in the new position
5. With the word still selected, click on [Cut]
You can store up to 24 items of text on the Clipboard. You can make use of
this by copying words or phrases that you keep typing in a document (eg
someone's name) and then pasting from the Clipboard whenever you need
them. To display the Clipboard:
6. Open the Edit menu and select Office Clipboard...
7. As it says, Click an item to paste: it
You can also use the mouse to select parts of a table:
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To select a column, click at the very top of a column (the cursor shows
as a black arrow)
To select a row, click on the far left (as you would to select a line in a
paragraph)
To select a cell, click inside it on the far left (again, when the cursor is a
black arrow)
To practice the above, create a new table:
1. Press <Ctrl End> to move to the end of your document then press
<Enter> for a new line
2. Click on the [Insert Table] toolbar button and create a 3x3 table
3. Now try selecting parts of the table, as described above
Note that when creating a table, there is no need to set the number of rows.
Tables expand to give you an extra row when you press <Tab> in the last
cell. If you didn't know this already, try it out.
The Right Mouse Button
Clicking with the right mouse button displays a pop-up shortcut menu of
relevant commands. Try out the following (using the right mouse button to
display the menu):
1. Select a word by double clicking on it with the left mouse button, as
usual
2. Now press the right mouse button and (from the shortcut menu) select
(with the left button) the required command (eg Copy)
3. Move the insertion point then right click and select Paste (this time left
click)
This left click / right click combination can be confusing at first, but you soon
get used to it. Copy and Paste were just two of the commands you could
have obtained from the shortcut menu. This varies, according to where it is
used. For example, you can't Cut or Copy unless you have first selected
some text. You also get a different menu if you right click on a misspelt
word
4. Type in a misspelt word - eg Helo (it should appear underlined in red)
5. Right click on the word to see the shortcut menu
6. Left click on the correct spelling from the list provided at the top of the
menu
Next try right click inside a table:
7. Right click to the left of a row and choose Insert Rows (you can also
Delete Rows)
8. Right click inside a non-selected cell and choose Split Cells...
9. Press <Enter> for [OK] to split the cell in two vertically
Inserting Special Characters and Other Objects
You probably already know that Word has a wide range of characters which
you can add to your text using Symbol from the Insert menu. Most of these
can be typed in via the keyboard, as you will see in a minute. For those that
can't, you can set up your own special key combinations. There are also
various other special characters you may not be so familiar with - eg nonbreaking hyphens and spaces, hard pages and soft returns.
Foreign Characters
Inserting special characters via the Insert menu and Symbol command can
be very time-consuming and it's better if you can learn how to do so from
the keyboard. For accented letters, the trick is to type the accent using the
<Ctrl> key, then follow that with the letter you require. For example:
1. Hold down <Ctrl> and type a comma, then release <Ctrl> and type c
(for ç)
2. Hold down <Ctrl> and <Shift> and type a # then release <Ctrl Shift>
and type n (for ñ)
Other examples include, <Ctrl '> for an acute accent, <Ctrl `> for a grave,
while <Ctrl Shift ;> gives you an umlaut. You can also set up your own
shortcut keys for such characters:
3. Open the Insert menu and choose Symbol... and change the Font: to
(normal text)
4. Scroll down the list of characters to find one you want to use regularly
(eg ñ)
5. Select the character then click on [Shortcut Key...]
6. Press new shortcut key: required - eg <Alt n>
7. Press <Enter> for [Assign] then <Esc> for [Close] twice
8. Try out the new shortcut key - eg press <Alt n>
For some characters it's easier to use another keyboard via the small icon
on the right of the Taskbar (at the foot of the screen) currently shown as EN
(for English) - eg for Greek symbols:
9. Click on the [Keyboard] selector icon and choose EL for Greek
10. Type the letter(s) you require (eg a for α)
11. Click on the [Keyboard] selector icon again and choose EN for English
Other Special Characters
Most users ignore the second tab in the Symbol window, but this has some
useful characters:
1. Open the Insert menu and choose Symbol...
2. Click on the Special Characters tab and explore what's available (note
the key combinations)
Of particular note are the Nonbreaking space and Nonbreaking hyphen.
Use these where you don't want two words to be split (ie one at the end of
one line and the other at the start of the next).
3. Press <Esc> for [Cancel] to [Close] the Symbol window
Another special character is a page break. Use this whenever you want to
fix a new page (eg for the start of a new chapter of a thesis). To insert a
page break:
4. Move the current typing position to the required place in the text then
press <Ctrl Enter>
You can also insert page breaks (and section breaks) via the Insert menu.
Section breaks split a document into sections - eg if you want different page
numbering or a landscape (sideways) page.
Another important character you may not have heard of is a soft return. This
starts a new line without starting a new paragraph and is useful in
numbered and bulleted lists:
5. Press <Ctrl End> then <Enter> for a new line and click on the
[Numbering] button
6. Type in some text then press <Enter> - a new list item appears
7. Type in another line of text then press <Shift Enter> - this time you just
get a new line
8. Type in some text then press < Enter> - another list item appears
You can use this method to get more than one paragraph under a single list
item (eg on an exam paper with numbered questions).
Not everyone is aware how numbered lists work, so try the following:
9. Press <Tab> and the numbering changes to a sub-level - add some
text then press <Enter>
10. Press <Shift Tab> to restore the numbering level then type in more
text - press <Enter>
11. Press <Enter> again to turn off the numbering
Files and Objects
One of the options in the Insert menu is to insert a File. You should only
use this command if you want to insert a file in a format Word understands another Word document (*.doc), a Text file (*.txt), Rich Text Format (*.rtf) or
a Web Page (*.html). If you want to insert an Excel chart, for example, use
Insert then Object... and Create from File. You can also Insert a Picture
either from Clipart... or From File... or From Camera or Scanner....
Formats and Styles
Many users change the format of their text (eg font, fontsize,
bold/italic/underline) or paragraph settings (eg spacing, justification,
indents) manually. It's much more efficient to use a style. Styles have other
benefits, as you will see.
The [Style] button is on the left of the lower (Formatting) toolbar and
currently displays Normal. If you have your own PC you may find that this
changes (eg to Normal + Bold) when you apply a bold format to a selection
of text. If this is happening to you, turn off Keep track of formatting which is
on the Edit tab in Options from the Tools menu.
Heading Styles, Captions and Cross-Referencing
Word has hundreds of built-in styles, only some of which are shown by
default. You can also create your own styles. To see what's available:
1. Click on the list arrow attached to the [Style] button
2. Select Heading 1 and note how the font changes automatically from
Times New Roman to Arial while font size increases from 12 to 16 bold is also turned on
3. Type in a few words using the new style then press <Enter> - the style
reverts to Normal
It's particularly important to use these styles whenever you are writing a
long document (such as a thesis) as Word uses them to generate a Table
of Contents. You can modify the pre-defined settings - eg to change the font
or font size or justification. You can also automatically number your
headings (eg 1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.2 etc) by turning on outline numbering. To
see this:
4. Click on the [Styles and Formatting] button (on the far left or the
Formatting toolbar) or open the Format menu and select Styles and
Formatting... - a task pane appears on the right
5. Under Pick formatting to apply, move the mouse cursor over Heading
1 then click on the list arrow which appears on the right and choose
Modify...
6. Change the font, font size, justification, bold etc to what you prefer - eg
[Center] it
7. At the foot of the Modify Style window, click on [Format] and choose
Numbering...
8. Click on the Outline Numbered tab then select the numbering style
required (choose one associated with heading styles - the second in
the bottom row is a good choice)
9. Press <Enter> for [OK] to enforce your changes and close the Modify
Style window - note how the heading you have just typed takes on the
new settings
In the same way that Headings are used by Word to create a Table of
Contents, Captions must be used to generate a Table of Figures (or Table
of Tables etc). To insert a caption:
10. Open the Insert menu, select Reference then Caption...
11. Using the list arrow attached to Label: select the type of caption
required
If you require a different label (eg Map), click on the [New Label...] button type in your Label: then press <Enter> for [OK].
12. Press <Enter> for [OK] then type in the required caption (and press
<Enter> for a new line)
If you want to refer to a particular numbered paragraph or figure/table, you
should do so by using a cross-reference. If the number then changes, so
will the text referring to it in your document. To add a reference, open the
Insert menu, select Reference then Cross-reference...
The Format Painter
The Format Painter is used to copy the format (font and/or paragraph
settings) from one piece of text to another. Somehow, this extremely useful
button is a mystery to most users:
1. Select the text/paragraph whose format you wish to copy - here, select
a word in the heading
2. Click on the [Format Painter] button to the right of [Paste] (the pointer
becomes a brush)
3. Drag through another piece of text - release the mouse button and it
becomes Arial 16 bold
4. Next, click three times on the word in the heading (to select the whole
paragraph)
5. Click on the [Format Painter] button again then on a paragraph which
isn't a heading - it too now should be (this time you painted the format
of the paragraph, not just of the text)
The Format Painter can also be used to sort out problems. If, for example,
you have a paragraph which has incorrect indenting or tabs set in the wrong
place, locate a paragraph with the correct setting then use the Format
Painter to copy these across to the wrong paragraph.
Graphics
People often have trouble with graphics. Understanding exactly what's gone
wrong is often not easy (see the ITS advanced notes on Graphics in
Microsoft Word for further details). Here's just a couple of tips to be getting
on with:
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Be aware of text wrapping. This is how the graphic relates to its
surrounding text. Right click on the graphic, choose Format Picture
then go to the Layout tab to see the current setting
Be aware of the aspect ratio. This preserves the shape of a picture so
that as you change the height, the width changes proportionally. This
setting is on the Size tab in Format Picture
The drawing facilities offered via the buttons on the Drawing toolbar should
also be explored. Again, here are a couple of useful tips:
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When using any of the drawing tools, a Drawing Canvas might appear.
To stop this happening, open the Tools menu, choose Options then,
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on the General tab, turn off Automatically create drawing canvas when
inserting AutoShapes
If you want to hide something (eg part of a picture or page number),
draw a white rectangle over it, setting the border style to No Line
To group several drawn objects into a single unit, hold down the
<Shift> key and click on each in turn then open the Draw menu and
choose Group
You can also select several objects via the [Select Objects] button (to
the right of the [Draw] menu button). Having clicked on this, hold down
the mouse button and drag an imaginary rectangle over them (the
rectangle must enclose the whole object)
The Draw menu also lets you Align or Distribute several selected
objects - if you want to do this relative to the paper rather than to
themselves, first turn on Relative to Page
Tables
Finally, here are a few useful tips about tables:
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If you want to have a graphic with text running alongside it, create a
one-row two-column (no borders) table and place the graphic in one
cell and type the text in the other
Avoid double-spaced text in tables - if you do need this then add
spacing before the paragraph to counterbalance the space below the
text (from the Format menu choose Paragraph and, on the Indents
and Spacing tab, increase Spacing Before:)
Double click on the column borders to autofit the columns to their
content
If you have a table stretching over two pages, define a heading row
(which then appears at the top of the table on each page) - from the
Table menu choose Heading Rows Repeat
Try to avoid cells splitting across two pages - right click on the cell,
choose Table Properties... then, on the Row tab, turn off Allow row to
break across pages
If you want a row to be a certain height (eg on a form), go to the Row
tab as above and turn on Specify height: (this can be set Exactly or At
least a certain value)
End the session by closing down Word:
1. Press <Ctrl s> for [Save]
2. Now press <Alt f> for File followed by <x> for Exit.