Microsoft Word is vast. There are no 2 ways about it. With more and more functionality being added, it’s arguably becoming ever more complicated. But, as intricate as that may seem, the reality with Word is that there are only 2 core essentials that you must get right. And I mean must. When you get […]
Articles Tagged: Training
13 Tips to Getting the Best out of Microsoft Word
I wrote an article on Linked in (click here) about some tips to getting better with Microsoft Word. I hope they help and here’s the introduction video:
Tip #1 – Word’s Styles
Here we look at THE most important element of Microsoft Word – styles. Forget what anyone else has taught or told you about Word, if you don’t know about, learn, and master styles, you will always struggle with Word. They’re that important and tie into every single aspect of Word. You must learn them. Everything […]
Tip #2 Direct Formatting (is a no-no in Microsoft Word)
I could rock a lot of boats in this video as this’ll probably go against the grain of everything you know (or think you know) with using Word. The direct formatting options are there, in your face, and they’re there to be used, right? Yes, and no. But NOT in the way that you think. […]
Tip #3 – Normal style
Don’t use it. The Normal style, that is. This one: This may (or may not) shake your very Word foundations and turn how you use Word upside down, but you don’t want to use the NORMAL style directly in your documents[1]. I know it’s selected by default when you create a new document, but you […]
Tip #4 – Insert Pictures
Pictures are the bane of many a Microsoft Word author and document… Have you ever moved an image on a page only to find out that it ‘messed’ up your entire document? Many have. But, as always, there’s a reason (styles: it’s always styles). There are several ways you can insert pictures into Word, but […]
Tip #13 – Fast Formatting
Whatever application or program you use, you use it for a reason (or reasons). One reason which is usually high up on the list is efficiency. Working with Word is no different. We’ve already mentioned multiple times about using styles correctly (and I can’t emphasise enough how important this is), about shortcut keys, and other […]
Tip #5 – Pasting into Word
“Hey Russ, can you lock the template down so our authors can’t break it?” If only I had a dollar for every time I‘ve been asked that… My reply is, “I can, but it’d be much more fruitful to teach them how to use Word.” Imagine the rolls were reversed… and you were using a […]
Tip #12 – Shortcut Keys
The key to efficiency with using Word is getting away from the mouse. I don’t mean running screaming from the room when a little furry rodent appears in the corner of the room, rather using the keyboard as often as you can in place of your computer’s pointing device. This is applicable to all sorts […]
Tip #6 – Show/Hide Characters
As unsightly and in-the-way as they are, you need to have your Show/Hide Characters displayed when editing your work. It’s essential that you can see what’s going on in your document when you’re editing, deleting, and doing all the myriad of things that we do with our documents. If you don’t show hidden characters and […]