Word – Page 2 – IT Connect

Discover New Features in Microsoft Word (Part 1)

Although I use Word on a daily basis, every now and then I uncover a feature or shortcut I didn’t know existed. With literally thousands of different features, it’s no surprise that the application offers more than you or I typically use! The following are five powerful features that are easily overlooked.

Quick Parts: Each of us have different blocks of text that we use in multiple documents. For example, if you often arrange meetings or events on campus, you may include a map, driving directions and parking instructions in each event packet. You may reuse your contact/signature block in documents or a specific logo frequently. All of these types of data can be stored in your quick parts gallery! Simply highlight the text—then select Insert—Quick Parts—Save selection to quick part gallery. Once you’ve named and saved that component, it will be available from the Insert- Quick Parts menu in any document you create from that same machine!
Create your own template: If you use a certain format or style for specific documents, consider saving that document as a template. I know many people simply open the existing file, save as a different file name, and then delete the information to reuse the same “style”. You can make this even easier! Create the framework of the document as you normally would. Select your fonts, headers, footers, and anything else that should be consistent. Then click File—Save As. Save the document as a Word Template. When you’re ready to use that template, click New—Select the Personal templates and select your saved template! There are also a ton of online templates available for use which can save you a lot of trouble in creating various types of files.
Screenshot Tool: Microsoft has made it so easy now to integrate screenshots or clippings in your document. Click on Insert—Screenshot and you’ll see the available windows in the gallery. Simply click on the image and it will automatically be inserted into your document. From there, you can crop, recolor etc using all of the Microsoft Word picture tools. If you don’t want the entire window copied but only a small portion, choose the screen clipping tool and simply highlight the area you wish to copy.

To Be Continued…

No More Clunky Documents

Whether you are working on a thesis or a project report, any lengthy document can be cumbersome to work with. Two new enhancements to Word 2013 that I really find useful are the ability to expand and collapse headings and to set collapse by default.

When you hover over a heading within your document you’ll see the triangular Expand/Collapse button. You can open or close that heading just by clicking on the button.

To expand or collapse all the headings in your document, right click a heading and choose an option from the Expand/Collapse menu.

If you want, you also have the ability to set the default to open in a collapsed mode. Once you have your cursor placed in a heading, navigate to the Home tab. In the Paragraph section select the Paragraph Settings button (#1). Then, select the Collapsed by default option (#2) and click OK. Viola! You should now have a document that is much easier to work with and looks something like the example below.

If you would like a tour of Office 2013 and learn a few shortcuts like these, come join my webinar on Sept 26 or Oct 30.

Simple Markup: Easy on the Eyes

Recently I’ve been exploring some of the new features in Office 2013. While there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of major upgrades to the Office Suite, there are a few changes that I really do like. One thing in particular is the Simple Markup enhancement to the Track Changes feature in Word.

If you’ve previously used Track Changes, you know that just opening your document can cause stress, let alone try to collaborate easily in it.

Here’s a snapshot of a document I recently worked on in Word 2010. And, boy is that red text seriously making my blood pressure rise!

Take a look at the same document in 2013. I can actually read it easily when I first open it. If I want to dig in deeper and look at what was changed, I can. The document still opens with Track Changes on but by default will display in the Simple Markup view. Changes that were previously made are indicated by the red bars on the left. If you click on a bar, you’ll still see the markup. This new format definitely makes it much easier on the eye.

This is just one of a variety of new features I’ve been toying with. If you’d be interested in taking a tour of what’s new in Office 2013, consider joining me in one of my upcoming webinars, and I’ll show you a whole lot more!