Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 3, 2026)

If you have ever tried to explain computer configuration or processes to someone over the phone, you know the process can be quite frustrating. You are never quite sure if the person on the other end is looking at the same thing on their screen that you are.

A quick way to ease this predicament is to write up your instructions and include pictures. Word, in conjunction with Windows, makes this quite easy. Try this the next time you are faced with this task:

On your computer, walk through the steps you want to explain.
At appropriate times, capture the entire screen or a single dialog box to the Clipboard. You do this by pressing the Print Screen key to capture the entire screen, or Alt+Print Screen to capture the active window or dialog box.
Paste the captured screen information into Word by pressing Ctrl+V.
Add any explanatory text necessary.
Repeat steps 2 through 4 until you are finished.
Save your document.

At this point you can e-mail the document to the remote site, or you can transmit it in some other way, such as printing or by disk.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1272) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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