Computer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) -- Word: Tips and Tricks

Remove All Formatting in Two Easy Steps

Here's a great way to remove all of the formatting from a Word document or just a selected portion of the document:

Select the whole document by pressing CTRL+A or just select the portion of the document you wish to change.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+N.

Navigate Word Documents by Using the Table of Contents

When writing long documents in Microsoft Word, you'll find the table of contents (TOC) is an indispensable tool—even if you don't include the TOC in your final draft. Why? The TOC creates internal links (similar to the ones you find on a Web page) that you can use to quickly navigate a document as you work. And, if you're already using styles, adding a TOC is easy.

First, be sure that you've applied either built-in (for example, Heading 1 and Heading 2) or custom styles to all headings and subheadings in your document.

Once you have done that, you can insert a TOC at the beginning or end of your document. To do so:

Click where you want to insert the TOC.
On the Insert menu, point to Reference, and click Index and Tables.
Click the Table of Contents tab.
Click Options and make sure a TOC level number appears next to every heading you want to include in your TOC.
Select any other TOC options you want.
Now, to go to a specific section in your document, click the corresponding page number in the TOC while holding down the CTRL key. To return to the TOC, click the Go to TOC button on the Outlining toolbar.

Note: To make the Outlining toolbar visible, open the View menu, point to Toolbars, and click Outlining.

View Multiple Pages in Word

Isn't it great how you can see several pages at a time in print preview? Did you know you can also view multiple pages when working in print layout view in Word? Just add the Multiple Pages button to the Standard toolbar. Here's how:

On the File menu, click Print Preview.
Right-click the toolbar and click Standard.
Right-click the toolbar again and click Customize.
Holding down the CTRL key, drag a copy of the Multiple Pages button from the Print Preview toolbar to the Standard toolbar.
Close Print Preview.
Now the Multiple Pages button appears on the Standard toolbar in print layout view. Just click it, and select how many pages you want to view.

Get Easy Access to Documents You Use Often

The Work menu is a great Word feature that few people know about. You can use the Work menu to keep an easily accessible list of your favorite Word files.

To add the Work menu to the menu bar or a toolbar:

On the Tools menu, click Customize, and then click the Commands tab.
In the Categories box, click Built-in Menus.
Click Work in the Commands box and drag it to the menu bar or displayed toolbar.

With the Work menu in place, you can add any open Word document to your list. Here are the options:

To add the current document to the Work menu, on the Work menu, click Add to Work Menu.
To open a document on the Work menu, on the Work menu, click the document you want to open.
To remove a document from the Work menu:

Press CTRL+ALT+- (dash key). Your cursor will look like a large, bold underscore.
On the Work menu, click the document you want to remove.

Lengthen Your List of Recently Used Documents

Word 2002 displays a list of the last four documents you opened in the New Document task pane. It's so easy to open your documents this way, you may find that showing the most recent four is just not enough. What if you want to see a document that's fifth or farther down in the list? You can always click the More documents link to see a longer list of recently used documents. But, if you use this feature a lot, it makes sense to show more documents in the list. You can specify a number as high as nine.

To increase the number of documents displayed on the recently used documents list:

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
In the Recently used file list box, specify the number of recently used files that you want to appear in the New Document task pane.
Click OK.