CyberNotes: How to Put Microsoft Word to Work for You!

Microsoft Monday

Microsoft Word is such a powerful application that can do a lot for you and save you time! The key though is knowing how to put it to work for you. Today’s Microsoft Monday includes five tips that will help you make the most out of Microsoft Word. If you have a tip of your own, feel free to share…

Tip #1 - Automatically Create a Table of Contents

Did you know that you can automatically have Microsoft Word 2007 create a table of contents (TOC) for you? It’s actually very simple.  If you have written a paper and you’ll need a TOC, you’ll want to make sure that you are using Headings which are found under the Styles section on the “Home” tab. This helps Word distinguish what should be included in the TOC.

Header 1 will be considered the highest level while Heading 2 will be the next highest level and Heading 3 is the following level in the TOC. Using these different headings will give you the hierarchical levels in your Table of Contents.

Once your paper has been written and you’ve appropriately used the headings, just place your cursor where you’d like the TOC inserted. Then go up to the “References Tab” and under the “Table of Contents” section, select the design you’d like. Word will create a Table of Contents for you based upon the headings that you used, and will insert the proper page numbers. My example Table of Contents can be seen below.

Tip #2 - Random Text Generator

If you’re ever in a situation where you need some random text, Microsoft Word will generate paragraphs for you. You can either choose to have the random text be paragraphs about Microsoft Office, or you can also have the Lorem Ipsum “dummy text” inserted. You are able to choose how many paragraphs and how many sentences in each paragraph you’d like.

To generate random text about Microsoft Office, do the following.

Type =rand(2,4) and then press enter. This will generate two paragraphs with four sentences in each paragraph. If you wanted 3 paragraphs with 6 sentences each it would be =rand(3,6) and then press enter.

To generate Lorem Ipsum text, do the following:

Type =lorem(2,4) and then press enter. Like above, this will generate two paragraphs with four sentences of Lorem Ipsum text.

Tip #3 - Quickly Select a sentence or paragraph

Instead of using your mouse to select an entire sentence or paragraph, there’s a really simple way to do it in Microsoft Office.

Select a Sentence

To select a sentence, just hold down the Ctrl key and then click anywhere within the sentence and then it will be highlighted.

Select a Paragraph

Selecting a paragraph is just as easy. Hold down the Ctrl key and then click three times in rapid succession and the whole paragraph will be selected.

Tip #4 - Easily Single or Double-Space your Document

This is one of those tips that most people know by now, but if you don’t, here it is. By pressing ctrl+2, your document will be double-spaced. Pressing ctrl+1 will bring your document back to single-space. If you want your document spaced by 1.5, just press ctrl+5. Spacing your document is as simple as that!

Tip #5 - Use Word to Format and Correct Your Text

If there are certain words that you regularly type, you can use the AutoCorrect feature to let Word type the names or phrases that you use most. Click on the Office Button and then click “Word Options.” From there click on the Proofing tab in the left sidebar and then click “AutoCorrect Options…”

If you end up typing your name quite a bit, for example, you could create an abbreviation for it. Then anytime you typed that abbreviation, Word would replace it with the text that you selected for it. My example is that I type my name quite a bit so I chose to have Word replace the abbreviation “aw” with Ashley Wagner anytime it’s typed.

 This is just one of the hundreds of CyberNotes we have done. You can find more of them by visiting our CyberNotes category, or by subscribing to our CyberNotes feed. We also have a full feed available if you want to receive all of our articles in your reader!

Tags: CyberNotes, Software, Applications, Microsoft Office

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