3 Great Word Tips

Microsoft Office Word is the main work staple for most computer users. So any Word feature that can save you time could make a big difference in your day. Here are tips that save time and will improve how documents look.

1. Paste Special : If you copy and paste a lot of content from different sources, such as other Word documents or Outlook e-mail messages, using Paste (on the Edit menu, click Paste ) works fine, but it carries the formatting of the original document and requires time to adjust the formatting. Try using Paste Special and paste the text as unformatted text.

To use Paste Special:

1. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special .
2. In the Paste Special dialog box, select the Paste radio button, and in the As: section, choose Unformatted Text .
3. Click OK .
   

2. Create better tables with the Tables and Borders toolbar and Table Properties : Tables are a great way to present information in an organized manner, but they can be a beast to format. There is a big difference between a poorly formatted and organized table, and making a table look good can make a huge difference to your reader. Here are two tools to improve the way your table looks:

First, use the Tables and Borders toolbar to more quickly and easily format your tables. On the View menu, point to Toolbars , and click Tables and Borders . You can use the toolbar for everything from creating tables to shading cells to distributing rows evenly.

Once the table is created, use the Table Properties dialog box to fine tune its appearance. To open up the dialog box, put your cursor in the table and on the Table menu click Table Properties . Now you can choose how to align the table in your document, how text should be aligned in the cells, and many other formatting refinements.

3. Use reviewing marks and comments for editing documents : If you send documents back and forth between people, being able to quickly view proposed changes and comments is crucial. It’s especially useful when more than one person is reviewing the document. When you’re tracking changes in Word with reviewing marks and comments, Word shows the markup in the text of the document and balloons that appear in the margin. Comments also appear in the margin.

To get started, open up the Reviewing toolbar. On the View menu, point to Toolbars and click Reviewing . Once you get started, you can refer to the Help menu and review the Audio course: Revise documents with Track Changes for additional information.