Your Ruler Preference
Do you use MS Word’s ruler feature with your documents? (You know, View menu, Ruler choice).
Ever find yourself wishing it was in a different measurement unit? (Let’s say it’s in inches and you want it in centimeters). Or, maybe you weren’t even using the ruler, because the way it measured just isn’t the way you think in terms of distance.
Still wishing for that different ruler… Continue reading
Graphic Headers for Word
Okay, so yesterday we discussed the placement of graphics (for example, company logos) into the header of an MS Excel worksheet.
Now, if you’re a Word user, you may have wanted that same ability in your documents and you may have took the initiative to look for that Insert Picture button found in Excel’s custom header window.
But, when the Header/Footer toolbar opened, you didn’t find… Continue reading
Customized Highlighting in Word
Have you ever found it annoying that MS Word highlights text in lines? That is, it moves the highlight through the document one line at a time.
Ever wish you could just create a quick rectangle at any location and copy only what’s in the rectangle? You know, maybe the first half of many lines of text or the middle of a paragraph.
The good news… Continue reading
Split Rows Be Gone!
So, you’ve just finished working on your MS Word document and it’s filled with tables. It’s time to put the finishing touches on the paper and as you’re taking a look, you notice a problem.
One of your tables extends between a couple of pages and one of the rows has been split into two parts. (You know, part of the row is at the bottom… Continue reading
A Quick Reversal to Word’s AutoCorrect
If you’re using a new version of MS Word, you’ve probably noticed some strange things happening on the screen as you’re working.
For example, have you ever noticed the little blue box that appears below the items that were affected by an AutoCorrect change?
It’s actually quite a handy little addition to MS Word.
When the AutoCorrect feature kicks in and makes a… Continue reading
Symbol Switcheroo
While we still have yesterday’s discussion on symbols in MS Word, I thought I’d add yet another idea to your ever growing list!
Today, let’s talk about symbol replacement. You know, when you already have a symbol in your document, but you change your mind about it and you want to use a different one. What do you do then?
Do you delete the first symbol, go to… Continue reading
Do you use a lot of symbols in MS Word?
I bet some of you know how to set shortcut key combinations for quick insertion of symbols, right?
If so, do you ever find yourself frustrated when you’re trying to remember a key combination to use that you know is available? I mean, it surely makes enough sense that you should remember it.
Yeah, that happens to me too. So… Continue reading
The Case of the Separated Date – Part 2
About a month ago (on August 3, 2007 to be exact), we discussed a way to prevent a string of words from being separated onto different lines by MS Word when it wraps text. At that time, the suggestion of Shift + Enter was offered.
It’s a solution that works and if you’re not going to need to edit the file… Continue reading
Now, Why Did It Capitalize That?
Ever find yourself irritated with MS Word because it keeps capitalizing the first letter of everything it perceives to be a sentence?
If you’ve ever made a list of things that shouldn’t be capitalized, you know what I mean. You’re constantly fighting Word as it continually capitalizes stuff without your permission!
Want to turn that little “feature” off?
Yes? I thought you’d say that!… Continue reading
Horizontal Borders/Dividers Using the Keyboard
Do you find yourself constantly drawing horizontal lines in MS Word? You know, using the drawing toolbar to draw lines as borders or dividers, in order to give your document a little extra pizzazz.
Are you tired of all the mouse work involved in the drawing toolbar? You know, turning on the line tool, drawing the line and then changing the style.
Wish you had… Continue reading
Just Give Me Some Text
Have you ever needed some text in an MS Word document to demonstrate something? You know, text where the content just doesn’t matter. Text for the sake of having text to show someone how to do something (text formatting, line spacing, indenting, bulleting, etc). Or, perhaps you just want to play with different fonts. You get the idea.
I know I’ve needed this before and… Continue reading
Select an Entire Table
Working with a table in MS Word?
Finding out you need to select the entire table to oh, let’s say, change the font or format the borders or whatever? The list could go on and on.
What do you do?
Do you select the first cell, hold the mouse button down and drag, hoping not to miss anything by releasing the mouse button too early or… Continue reading
Can You Please Repeat That?
Here’s a great keyboard shortcut for repetitive tasks!
I tested it and found that it works great in MS Word and Excel. I also tried it in PowerPoint with very limited success and had no luck in MS Outlook or Outlook Express.
At any rate, in Word and Excel, this one can be a huge time saver.
The trick is all in one key: the… Continue reading
Date and Time Keyboard Shortcuts
If you’re someone who frequently inserts the current date and/or time into your MS Word documents or PowerPoint presentations, here’s a keyboard shortcut I just know you’re going to love!
In MS Word, you can press Alt + Shift + D to insert the current date and Alt + Shift + T to insert the current time.
In MS PowerPoint, if you press either combination… Continue reading
Fine Tune Your Printing Choices
So, you’re in need of a hard copy from an MS Word file, but you don’t need the entire file.
Maybe you just need a page or maybe even just a section or two.
If that is all you need, why are you printing the entire document?
Good question and unfortunately, there’s no good answer.
So, let’s explore a few ways you can get Word… Continue reading
See It All
Need to know how many times a phrase or word appears in an MS Word document?
Afraid you’ve overused a word in your writing?
Looking for a quick way to search the document (a way that doesn’t involve manually looking through the text) so you can make sure you haven’t “thrown in” that favorite catch phrase one too many times?
If you answered “Yes,” here’s a quick… Continue reading
It’s in the Gutter
Have you ever found yourself frustrated with a Word document you planned to bind?
You know, you’re planning to print the document you’ve spent hours preparing and then put it into a binder, report cover or other type of binding.
The problem arises when you start putting the pages into the binding. The left margin looks smaller than the right or even worse, some of the… Continue reading
The Case of the Separated Date
Don’t you hate it when MS Word takes a date in your document (such as August 3, 2007) and breaks it on two separate lines? I especially dislike seeing “August” at the end of one line, then “3, 2007″ at the beginning of the next.
Ever wonder how you could easily fix that mess, without starting a brand new paragraph?
Well, you’re not alone… Continue reading
Taking Control of Selections in Word XP
I’m sure most of you know that the Ctrl key can be a very powerful tool when highlighting non-adjacent items in a list or cells in MS Excel.
And I would also venture to say that at some point, you’ve been very frustrated with MS Word, because it just does not cooperate in the same way on this issue.
Word only wants to… Continue reading
Did You Know?
Did you know that in MS Word, you can edit your document while the Find window is still open?
I know, I know. I hear you!
Every time you’ve ever tried to edit a document while a window (such as the font formatting window) is open, you get nowhere. That window just sits there, open and waiting. You certainly aren’t going to make any changes to the… Continue reading
Bracketing in Word
Have you ever wondered how “they” do it?
You know, the people who can create documents with things that look like this:
Of course, I’m referring to the brackets that allow you to group items. Ever wonder where people are getting them from?
I mean, there’s one on the keyboard, but you’ve got to sincerely doubt that it can be manipulated that way, don’t you think?… Continue reading
Mystery of the Extra Labels
So, the other day, I was sitting next to my sister as she worked on creating a new page of address labels. She was looking to have an entire page of the same address, which is a pretty common thing.
As we were talking, I’m watching what she’s doing. She types the new address in the first label, copies it and then individually pastes it… Continue reading
That’s Not What I Selected!
Here’s the scenario: You’re working in MS Word, happily highlighting this and that, editing the document that will surely become a perfect specimen of word processing.
But wait! What’s that?
You highlighted part of a word and now, you suddenly have the whole word highlighted!
Is there something wrong with this thing?
Don’t panic.
Nothing’s wrong. There’s actually a very good reason for this strange… Continue reading
Get Out of That List Quickly
If you’re like me, you don’t really mind the automatic numbering and bulleting MS Word does with lists.
You know, when Word realizes you’re creating a list and it helps you along with the same continued formatting.
But, after working with many different people, I have found that some folks just don’t seem to know how to get out of the list. That is… Continue reading
Current Date and Time
Not too long ago, I got an e-mail from a reader who needed to know the keyboard shortcuts for the current date and time in MS Word.
Since these are always handy tidbits to know, I thought it would make a quick and useful wrap-up to the week!
In MS Word:
Format Copy and Paste
Do you like the Format Painter in MS Word and MS PowerPoint?
Do you find it frustrating that when you forget to double click the button, it shuts off after just one paste?
Or, have you ever tried to interrupt the process of format painting by editing some text, only to find that the program has “forgotten” the formatting you intended to paint once you were… Continue reading
Delete vs. Backspace
Work with MS Word tables?
Ever try to remove cells, rows or columns by highlighting them and then hitting the Delete key?
What happened?
Certainly not what you had hoped for, I’m sure. Instead of deleting the cells, only the data is gone.
Now what?
Well, I suppose you could rehighlight the cells and then use the Table menu, Delete submenu, but who wants to do all… Continue reading
