Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 4, 2017)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
The status bar is the area at the bottom of your Word window that allows you to see the status of your document or the Word program. (Pretty tricky that they named it a "status bar," huh?) Some items on the status bar are very intuitive; others may need a bit of explaining. In this tip we look at the icons on the status bar and what they signify.
The most common icon that appears on the Word status bar is a small open book. This book appears when automatic spell checking or grammar checking is turned on. The icon can have three different appearances:
It is interesting to note that if you have a red X on your book icon, you can locate the next error in your document (along with suggested corrections) by double-clicking on the book icon.
The only other notable icon on the status bar is the one that looks like a printer printing. It is visible if you have turned on background printing and have instructed Word to print a document. As your document is printed to the background spooler, the number on the icon indicates the page being printed. If you double-click on this icon, you have the opportunity to cancel the print job.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (374) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
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