Tips, Tricks, and Answers

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A Shortcut for Switching Focus Word provides keyboard shortcuts for lots of things, but it doesn’t provide one for switching to the desktop and back to your document. Fortunately Windows does provide more than one shortcut to accomplish this task. This tip describes these shortcuts. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Accessing the Source of a Document Link If you have information linked into your document, you may want to display the source of that linked information. You can do so, but the way to do it will depend on the version of Word you are using. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Alternative Ways of Creating Random Text You can use a built-in Word feature (RAND) to create random text, but such text may not be to your liking. This tip explores other ways you can get random text in a document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

An Unruly Ruler Getting your Ruler to behave. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Automatically Opening a Document at a Specific Zoom Setting Do you prefer to have your documents open at a specific zoom magnification? You can get whatever magnification you desire by adding one simple macro to your Normal.dot template file. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Automatically Saving Changes to Defaults Do you want Word to notify you before saving changes to the Normal.dot template? Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Automatically Updating Fields and Links You can update fields and links automatically when you print your document, but what if you want them updated when you open or close the document? That is not as easy of a proposition, but there are ways to fulfill the request, as shown in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Blue Background Blues The blue background option of Word works well unless you add a text box. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Canceling a Command Change your mind in the middle of a command? You can press the ESC key to cancel any command currently in progress. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing a Toolbar Button Image Changing the image of a button on a Toolbar in Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing Above-the-Line Fonts Word maintains a list of the fonts most recently used in the program. You can’t modify the list, but you can turn it on and off with a change to the Registry. This tip explains how to make the proper change. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing How Word Presents Your Document Tired of the old black-on-white text displayed by Word? Depending on your program version, you can configure Word to show your document as white text on a blue background. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing Stubborn Ruler Measurements Can’t get the Ruler to reflect the measurements you want? Chances are good that you are suffering from a glitch caused by how Word handles Asian “character units.” This tip explains how to fix this situation and get the units desired. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing the Comment Color Don't like the yellow 'sticky note' look of your comments? Here is how to change the Comment Color. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing the Company Name When you install Office or Word, you are asked for your company’s name as part of the installation process. If you later need to change the company name, you’ll find it can be a time-consuming endeavor. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing the Maximum Undo Levels Want to change the number of “undo” steps available when editing? You can’t, because Word doesn’t’ really have a maximum. This tip explains how undo levels work in Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing Word to Work in English What are you to do if you know English but need to work in a version of Word that uses a language other than your own? The short answer may not be satisfying, but this tip provides some other helpful ideas. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Concise Directory of Available Symbols By holding down the Alt key and pressing a code on the numeric keypad, you can insert a large number of different symbols in your document. This tip explains some of the resources you can use to find lists of which codes result in which symbols. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Default Units that Change Word allows you to specify the unit of measurement you would like used in dialog boxes throughout the program. It can get frustrating if your default units change without warning to something other than what you want used. This tip discusses some things you can check if you find your default changing without any action on your part. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Delay in Dialog Box Appearing If your copy of Word seems to be slowing down a lot lately, it could be time to do some remedial work on your system. This tip provides a “high level” look at what things you may need to check. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Delays when Double-Clicking a Document Icon Do you notice delays when you double-click a document icon, perhaps on your desktop? If you are confused by such delays because you don’t see the same delay when you open the document from within Word, then the explanations in this tip will be helpful. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Direction Arrows Confused What do you do if you open a document, only to find that the arrow keys don’t work the way that they should? The first step is to figure out if the problem lies with the document itself, then you can go about figuring what to do next. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Disabling the Caps Lock Key A few tips and tricks for working around the dratted Caps Lock button. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Displaying System Information Want to find out all sorts of information about your computer system? Word makes it easy with the simple press of a shortcut key. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Displaying Toolbars How to display the variety of toolbars in Word. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Dotted Letter Fonts Teaching children to write the alphabet can be rewarding. One common way to teach is to create worksheets that show letters composed of dots, and the students can trace over the dots to form the letters. There are a wide variety of places you can get fonts that can be used to create these worksheets; a few of the Web sites are discussed in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Easily Backing Up AutoText Entries Many people use AutoText to enhance their use of Word. If you’ve invested significant time in customizing AutoText to make it more productive for you, then you should be interested in backing up your AutoText entries so you can safeguard them. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Editing a Toolbar Button Image You already know that Word allows you to customize the tools on your toolbars. You may not have known that it also allows you to change even the image on the tools, pixel by pixel. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Embedding Your Phone Number in a Document One of the custom properties you can define with a Word document is a phone number. This tip explains where to find that property and how to set it to whatever value you want. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Excellent XML Resource Available Where to get more information on XML. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002

Fatal Errors in Word If Word runs into a problem and the program can’t continue, that can be distressing. Here’s some things you can check to get Word running right again. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Finding a Lost Menu Bar A few ways to find a missing Menu bar in Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Finding Word 2007 Equivalents The user interface in Word 2007 is dramatically different than in previous versions of Word. This means that it can be difficult to locate all the commands that you previously knew how to find. This tip provides information on a helpful Excel workbook you can use to help with the transition to Word 2007. Microsoft Word versions: 2007

Fixing Word How to reinstall portions of Word that may be messed up. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Folder Locations for Add-Ins Add-ins can be stored in a number of different places on a computer system. This tip explains the many different places you can look for add-ins, along with why those places exist in the first place. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Fonts Missing in Word What are you to do if you find that you have no fonts available in Word, but they are available in other programs? There could be a couple of different reasons for the missing fonts, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Forcing the Properties Dialog Box to Appear Do you want the Properties dialog box to appear when you first save a Word document? You can configure Word so that it does just that by following the steps in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Freezing Word Does Word freeze up on you? Try these potential solutions. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97

Getting Audible Feedback You can add a bit of sound to your editing tasks by turning on Word’s sound capabilities. This tip shows where this configuration option is located. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Getting Help for Unavailable Menu Items Just because a menu item is unavailable doesn't mean you don't want to know what it does. Here's how to find out. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95

Getting Help in Dialog Boxes Dialog boxes are prevalent in a program like Word, and they can contain dozens (if not hundreds) of options. This tip describes how you can get help with the options in any given dialog box. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Getting Rid of Blue Squiggly Underlines In an effort to make your writing better, Word uses “squiggly” underlines to mark things it thinks you may need to change. If you see some blue squiggly underlines on your screen, you may wonder what they are for and how tot get rid of them. Here’s the skinny. Microsoft Word versions: 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Getting Rid of Wizards and Templates Templates and wizards are used rather extensively in Word to either process a document or define how that document is to look. If you don’t need all of the wizards and templates provided with the program, you can get rid of them. How you do so depends on your version of Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Getting Word to Remember the Default Date and Time Format When you enter the date and time by using the Insert menu, the resulting dialog box includes a button that says “Default.” This tip explains exactly what that button does and why it may not function as you might initially expect. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Hiding a Stubborn Toolbar How to remove a toolbar placed in Word by another program. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Hiding and Displaying Hidden Text Word allows you to apply an attribute to text so that it can be hidden or displayed, as desired. This tip explains this attribute and how to turn off the display of any text formatted with it. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Horizontally Viewing All Your Text If you are viewing a document and your text runs off the right side of the document window, it can be a real bother to scroll left and right. Word allows you to configure the program so that your text will always stay within the display space available. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

How to Turn Add-in Toolbar off by Default Add-in programs for Word often add toolbars that offer whatever features the add-in enables. Sometimes you may not want these toolbars to be displayed. Figuring out how to turn them off can be a headache, however. This tip offers some suggestions on things you can try. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

I Can't Transfer My AutoText Entries Tip on transferring AutoText entries from one version of Word to another. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Increasing the Size of the Draft Font If you have a slow printer, one way to quickly print a document is to print it using a draft font that you know is on the printer. This tip shows how you can specify a different size (and font) for the draft font. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Measurement of Choice Isn't Persistent Normally, Word allows you to specify what measurement units you want used for the program; just choose Tools | Options | General | Measurement Units. If Word won’t remember your selection, then you may be suffering from a known program bug, described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Misbehaving Rulers When upgrading from Word 2000 to 2002, many people have a problem with the Ruler function. This tip explains how to fix the issue. Microsoft Word versions: 2002

Missing Toolbars How to locate missing toolbars in Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

MLA Tools for Word Over the years, different style guides—such as the MLA style guide—have been developed as benchmarks by which documents should be developed. Word users may be looking for ways that they can add MLA-related tools to the program. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Modifying Behavior of the Open Dialog Box The Open dialog box is one that few of us think about, but you can control how it behaves with a little bit of macro coding. This tip provides a few examples you can use right away. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Moving Found Text Down On a Page When you use the Search feature to find information, if the information is not on the visible page, then Word displays the page with the information and the occurrence of what you are searching for is highlighted on the top row of the window. It is often helpful for it to be on the second or third row, so you can see the context of what was located. This tip explains how you can “move” the page a bit so you can see what was found within its context. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Multiple Document Directories for Word Word 97 users would follow these steps to specify multiple directories for documents. Microsoft Word versions: 97

Notification when Caps Lock is Active You’re typing along, look up at your screen, and notice that everything is in ALL CAPS. Drat! You activated the Caps Lock key without knowing it, and now you have to correct your typing. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way you could be notified when the Caps Lock key was turned on? Well, there is, as discussed in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Permanently Getting Rid of 'My Pictures' and 'My Music' Getting rid of unwanted folders in Windows. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Persistent Reviewing Toolbar Display How to fix a problem with the Word 2000 issue of the Reviewing Toolbar disappearing. Microsoft Word versions: 2000

Planting the Clipboard Toolbar Placing the Clipboard toolbar where you want it to be. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Reducing Word's CPU Load A series of options for checking the CPU load of your Word document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Removing Errant Buttons Sometimes add-ins or other applications add toolbar buttons to Word. Unfortunately, getting rid of those buttons at the same time you get rid of the application or add-in can take a bit of ingenuity. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Renaming a Toolbar Word allows you to create custom toolbars that can speed how you work with various tools and macros. When you first create a toolbar, you are required to name it. If you later want to rename it, you’ll appreciate the information in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Reporting Word Bugs Figured out a bug in Word? Here's how to raise a stink about it. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Restoring Lost Window Settings Can't find your Word window, but you know it's there? Try this tip to get things back to normal. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Reveal Codes in Word While there are no true Reveal Codes in Word, as in WordPerfect, as they are vastly different word processors, there is a vaguely similar function. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Scope of Word Options There are dozens and dozens of settings you can make in Word. Some of them affect only the current document, while others affect the entire system. Figuring out what the options are and how they are set can be a hassle. But, as this tip discloses, there is some free help you can get to decipher your Word settings. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Seeing Small Rectangles when Inserting Symbols If your symbols are presenting as small rectangles, follow these steps to see if your video driver may be the culprit. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Selecting Tabs in Dialog Boxes Hate to grab the mouse to select different tabs in a dialog box? If you instead want to keep your hands on the keyboard, you can use the selection techniques described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Shifting Margins Evident in Word 2002 When you open a document in one version of Word and compare it to what you see for the same document in a different version of Word, you may notice some differences. Many times these differences are caused by “rule changes” from one version of Word to another. This tip explains how you can use the compatibility options in Word to help documents be treated the same. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002

Small Symbol Size Are the characters in the Insert Symbol dialog box too small for you? Here's how to make them larger. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Status Bar Icons Near the center of the status bar Word displays a number of different icons. This tip describes the meaning of each possible icon, along with how they can be used to make your work faster. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Stubborn Thumbnails One of the tools that Word provides is to display thumbnails of your document pages at the left side of the program window (choose View | Thumbnails). This can be helpful at times, but it can be a bother if the thumbnails appear every time a document is opened. This tip explains how to turn off this bothersome behavior. Microsoft Word versions: 2002 | 2003

Text Doesn't Wrap at Margin in Normal View If you are using Word in Normal view, and the text on the screen doesn’t wrap at the right margin like it should, the culprit could be a simple setting in the Options dialog box. This tip explains this setting and why it even exists in Word in the first place. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Turning Off a Startup Sound If you hear a sound when you start Word, it is because of some settings within Windows itself. You can use the Control Panel to turn off these sounds, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Turning Off Dynamic Menus By default, Word’s menus only display the options that you use most often. You can configure the menus, however, so that all the menu options are displayed all the time. This tip explains how to quickly make that change. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Understanding ASCII and ANSI Characters Two of the most common character coding schemes used in computers go by the acronyms ASCII and ANSI. This tip explains a bit of the history and difference between these important schemes. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Understanding Default Insert Date Formatting Insert a date into Word, and you are presented with a variety of formats you can choose from for that date. The default option is controlled by the settings you’ve chosen in Windows, not in Word. This tip explains what is going on with this date formatting. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Understanding Picas One of the units of measure understood by Word is the pica, which is equivalent to 1/6 of an inch. This tip explains how to enter picas into dialog boxes where measurements are required. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Understanding the Word Name Game Word has been around for the better part of two decades now, and it has gone through many different versions and permutations. This tip outlines the history of the product, providing a great overview of what versions are out there. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Understanding Unicode Characters Unicode is a character-encoding scheme that works with a huge variety of characters. This tip explains what Unicode is and how it works with Word and Windows. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Unwanted Graph Paper Effect When you open a document or start to use Word, do you see a background that looks like graph paper? It could be because of any number of reasons, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using the Function Key Display Toolbar Finding the Function Key Display toolbar in Word for use in Word 2000 to 2003. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Viewing Multiple Pages If you have a large monitor, you can view more than one page at a time in Word. This is very handy when you want to understand how your text looks over several pages. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Where Are Word’s Settings Stored? Ever wonder where Word stores all its settings and configuration information? There are only three places where this information ends up, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Where is the Options Dialog Box? The “control center” of configuration changes in Word has traditionally been the Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu. In Word 2007, the menus are gone and it can be confusing to find out where the options now reside. This tip explains how to get the biggest part of Word 2007’s configuration options. Microsoft Word versions: 2007

Word 6 Memory Problems Running out of memory when using Word 6? Here's what you can do about it. Microsoft Word versions: 6

Word Abnormally Ends when Maximizing Program Window If Word crashes when you maximize a previously minimized instance of the program, it is a sure sign that there is something wrong with your installation. Tracking down the problem can be challenging, but this tip provides some guidance concerning things you can check out. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Word Freezes When Working with Lots of Clip Art Don’t you hate it when Word freezes? Laurie has that problem when she works with clip art in her documents. There are any number of reasons that the freezing could be occurring, and this tip describes a few things to check out to clear things up. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Word Function Key Assignments Want a great list that shows the purpose of each function key in various versions of Word? Here’s the detail you need! Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Word Slowdowns Is your version of Word acting sluggish? Here's some things you can do to speed it up. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97

Word Unexpectedly Quitting, But Not Really What do you do if you try to close Word but then the program, instead of closing normally, tells you that it closed unexpectedly? The answer is to try to track down the cause of the error and deal with the cause. Here’s how. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Writing to the Word Development Team Here are two ways to contact Microsoft's development team with your wonderful ideas on improving their product. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Zooming With the Keyboard With computer screens getting larger, video resolutions getting higher, and eyeballs getting older, the zoom feature is a great tool to learn to use. Unfortunately, Word doesn't provide a quick way to access the zoom feature strictly using the keyboard. You can remedy that shortcoming with the macros discussed in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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