MS Word - Top Tips on how to set up your document correctly

GOOD DOCUMENTATION PRACTICE (GDocP)
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Hi All,

I would like to start a thread here that is dedicated to using MS Word.

Why you ask? Well having developed a number scripts, reports, and protocols over the years it has become quite apparent that many people do not know how to set up a word document correctly.

I have found on some occasions when I inherit documents from other people that a lot of my time is spent re-formatting their work in order to create a useable document.

I would like people to add their own tips and views on this matter.

Ok, I’ll get the ball rolling on

Setting Up Headers in a Document Correctly

I think that this is a great link, it really explains how to set up the headings structure of your document correctly

Enjoy

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

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If I had a dollar for every screwed up word doc I have corrected…

One of the most helpful Word resources I’ve found is the MS-Word-Support yahoo group. There hasn’t been a lot of activity in the group lately, but when someone posts, it’s usually followed up quickly with expert advice. Through that group, I got wind of the ‘mousetrax’ site where you can get free tutorials and a free word ‘tips’ e-book. The tutorials page is at
http://www.mousetrax.com/techtrax
and the e-book page is at
http://www.mousetrax.com/books.html
. Note: I am in no way affiliated with mousetrax - it’s just been a helpful site and I recommend them.

My biggest peeve: hard-coded numbers! :slight_smile:

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I agree Yodon hard coded numbers is a real pain.

Nice post useful link!

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Here are my WORD tips…

Learn to use the Indent button, the tab button should be avoided.

CTRL-Enter - this is a short cut for a page break, don’t hit enter all the way down the page

ALT-248 gives you a degree symbol °

ALT-241 gives you plus or minus symbol ±

CTRL-A selects the entire document…paired with F9 updates all fields in your document.

Always update your table of contents before printing

Spell check before printing

Learn to use styles - every paragraph should not be based on the “normal” style.

Make sure that the ruler bar is visible and then use it. You can adjust margins, and tabs quickly this way.

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Nice tips meyert, especially the one about updating all fields was looking for that one.

Cheers

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Quick fields for duplicate documents always saves generation time.

File - Properties - Custom to create the quick field

Insert - Field to insert the word/phrase that needs to be changed on each document.

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Do not copy and paste tables from MS Excel to MS Word.

If you need a table in Word use the insert table function or else risk

having a document that doesn’t render properly and may corrupt on transfer.

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[quote=meyert]Here are my WORD tips…

ALT-248 gives you a degree symbol °.[/quote]

I actually set up that symbol as CTRL-SHIFT-O, since there is no default for that key combination…

and of course Style 1 is CTRL-ALT-1; Style 2 is CTRL-ALT-2; You have to set up the key strokes for styles 4 through 9

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So has anybody started using Word 2007? I did, I have never had so much trouble migrating from an older version of Word. 6 months later, I really like the new functionality but have issues trying to find functions.

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Not yet, I have used it though, the interface seems to be alot different to older versions.

Like any new software just takes a bit of time to get used to i’d say

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#1 tip for microsoft office 2007…click the Office button in the top left corner, it hides file, print, save as functions. Took me hours to find it. Didn’t think it was a clickable field

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[quote=chandra]Do not copy and paste tables from MS Excel to MS Word.

If you need a table in Word use the insert table function or else risk

having a document that doesn’t render properly and may corrupt on transfer.[/quote]

You may recover word docs owing to word recovery tool

. The application owns easy to use and intuitive interface. The software is able to use modern methods of repairing word documents after power failures, hdd crashed, viruses.

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Dear all find the attached fils for short cuts for MS office editing mails

Thanks and Regards,
Anand

<img src=/uploads/db7093/original/1X/0e3058aa27b040e1c6c37735fca62b88e1c39dad.jpg">

Short cuts.docx (196.6 KB)

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Thank you Bhaskar.