How to Use Microsoft Word

Creating a Basic Document

1. Open the Microsoft Word application. Do this by double-clicking the Microsoft Word icon.
2. Review the available templates. On the right side of the screen, you’ll see several templates of interest:
   • Blank document – A blank document with default formatting.
   • Creative Resume/Cover Letter – A clean, pre-formatted resume (and accompanying cover letter) document.
   • Student Report with Cover Photo – A document format geared toward an academic demographic.
   • Fax Cover Sheet – A document to preface fax reports.
   • You can also search for specific templates online from within Word by using the search bar at the top of this screen.
3. Choose a template. Doing so will open the template in Word with whatever pre-determined formatting applies to it. Now that your document is open, you’re ready to review your Toolbar options.

Navigating the Microsoft Word Toolbar

1. Click the File tab. It’s in the top left side of the screen (or in the menu bar for Mac users). From here, you have several useful options on the far left side of your screen:
   • Info (PC only) – Click this to review the documents statistics, such as when it was last modified, as well as any potential issues with the document.
   • New – Click this to bring up the „New Document“ page that lists all of the pre-formatted templates. Opening a new document will prompt you to save your old one.
   • Open – Click this to review a list of recently-opened documents. You can also select a directory (e.g., „This PC“) in which to search.
   • Save – Click this to save your document. If this is your first time saving this particular document, you’ll be prompted to enter a name, save location, and preferred file format as well.
   • Save As – Click this to save your document „as“ something (e.g., a different name or file format).
   • Print – Click this to bring up your printer settings.
   • Share – Click this to view sharing options for this document, including email and cloud options.
   • Export – Click this to quickly create a PDF or change the file type.
2. Click ← in the top left corner of your screen. If you’re using a Mac, you won’t have this option–simply click your document to exit the „File“ menu.
3. Review the Home tab to see your formatting options. At the top of your screen–from left to right–are five sub-sections of this tab:
   • Clipboard – Whenever you copy text, it is saved on your clipboard. You can view copied text by clicking the Clipboard option here.
   • Font – From this section, you can change your font style, size, color, formatting (e.g., bold or italic), and highlighting.
   • Paragraph – You can change aspects of your paragraph formatting–such as line spacing, indentation, and bullet formatting–from this section.
   • Styles – This section covers different types of text for various situations (e.g., headings, titles, and subtitles). You’ll also see the popular „No Spacing“ option here, which removes excess spaces between lines of text.
   • Editing – A couple of commonly-used tools–such as „Find and Replace“, which allows you to quickly replace all appearances of one word with another–live here.
4. Click the Insert tab to review the types of media you can place in your document. Insert is to the right of the Home tab. The Insert tab allows you to add things like graphics and page numbers to your document. From left to right, a couple of notable options include the following:
   • Table – Clicking this option will allow you to create an Excel-style table right in your document.
   • Pictures – Use this feature to insert a picture into your document.
   • Header, Footer, and Page Number – These options are all essential for writing in MLA- or APA-style formatting. The Header places a space at the top of the document for comment, while the Footer goes at the bottom–page numbers are customizable.
   • Equation/Symbol – These options use special formatting to accurately display simple equations. You can select these equations or symbols from the pertinent drop-down menu.
5. Click the Design tab to create your own template. It’s to the right of the Insert tab.
   • The Design tab contains pre-designed themes and formats listed across the top of the page.
6. Click the Layout tab to customize your page’s formatting. This tab contains options for changing the following aspects of your document:
   • Margins
   • Page orientation (vertical or horizontal)
   • Page size
   • Number of columns (defaults to one)
   • Location of page breaks
   • Indentation
7. Click the References to manage your citations. If you have a bibliography page, you can also manage it from here.
   • For quick bibliography formatting, click the Bibliography drop-down menu and select a template.
   • In the „Citations & Bibliography“ group of options, you can change your bibliography formatting from APA to MLA (or other citation styles).
   • The „Captions“ group has an option to insert a table of figures. This is useful for scientific review papers or similar documents in which statistical data is prioritized over quotations.
8. Click the Mailings tab to review your document sharing options. You can review your email settings and share your documents from within this section.
   • You can also print an envelope or label template by clicking the pertinent option in the top left corner of your screen.
   • The Select Recipients drop-down menu allows you to choose Outlook contacts as well as an existing contact list within Word.
9. Click the Review tab. The Review section is geared towards editing, so it includes options for marking up documents and proofreading. A couple of important options include:
   • Spelling & Grammar – Click this option (far left corner) to underline any spelling or grammatical errors.
   • The „Changes“ section – This is to the far right of the toolbar. From here, you can enable the „Track Changes“ feature which automatically formats any additions or deletions you make in a document to appear in red print.
10. Decide on the set of options that best apply to your work. If you’re a student, for example, you’ll likely use the Insert and References tab often. Now that you’re familiar with the toolbar options, you can format your first Word document.

source: https://www.wikihow.com/Use-Microsoft-Word

10 Tips and Tricks to Become a Master of Microsoft Word

When it comes to word processing, Microsoft Word is the gold standard. As part of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, more than one billion computer users rely on the program every day. That’s nearly one in seven people on the entire planet — an impressive number unmatched in the technology industry.

Even though so many consumers use Microsoft Word, not everyone knows how to maximize the capabilities of the program. Word is packed with a multitude of features that can help make the creation of documents, reports, and text files easier. And when your day-to-day work becomes easier, you become more productive and more efficient — which should be the ultimate goal of any piece of software.

Below are 10 of our favorite shortcuts, tips, tricks, and timesavers to supercharge your use of Microsoft Word. (Most of these suggestions work with all versions of Word, but some are exclusive to newer versions like Word 2013, 2016, or 2016 for Mac.) Try a few out today and let us know what works for you…

1. Copy, paste, and cut with keyboard shortcuts.

Ask anyone who knows these shortcuts — Ctrl + C to copy, Ctrl + V to paste, and Ctrl + X to cut — and they will testify to their critical timesaving nature. Master these three basic commands first and you’ll find yourself zooming through document creation at surprising speeds.

2. Quickly zoom in or out to save eye strain.

Some people like to work in a Word window zoomed in to 150%, while others like to eliminate the need to scroll left and right or up and down by zooming out to 75% to see a document in its entirety. Either way, use the Window > Zoom button to choose the setting that works best for you — or look for the “100%” tab with a slider at bottom right of the document to easily zoom in or out.

3. Delete entire words at a time.

This is an easy one you may not know about: instead of slowly pecking at the keyboard to delete text, or holding down Backspace to eliminate words or entire sentences, press Ctrl+Backspacewith the cursor placed after a word you want to erase a word at a time, making a tedious task much easier.

4. Use Smart Lookup to search the Internet.

Anytime you highlight a word or phrase and right-click it, you’ll see “Smart Lookup,” which serves as a quick shortcut to browse the web — without slowing down to open a separate browser window. From word definitions to news scans, this powerful tool can transform a simple question into a wealth of knowledge.

5. Remove unwanted formatting.

Trying to turn a document from an external source into something that works for you? Strange formatting can slow you down, so instead of trying to fix one thing at a time, press Ctrl + Space or click the Clear All Formatting button (in newer versions, an eraser on an A on the Home tab) to remove formatting from highlighted text and start fresh with your own style.

6. Tell the program exactly what you want to do.

Most newer versions of Word include a handy “Tell me what you want to do” field at the top of the toolbar. Insert a word or phrase pertaining to any instruction and the program can quickly identify the command you’re looking for.

7. Use multiple clicks to select chunks of copy.

Rather than employing the tedious drag and highlight method, you can use your mouse to select chunks of copy: double-click over a word to highlight it or triple-click to highlight an entire sentence or section.

8. Quickly insert links into a document.

Similar to the copy / paste / cut commands, learning the keyboard shortcut for adding web links to a document — Ctrl + K — will save lots of time and quickly become one of the sharpest tools in your kit.

9. Select the default font you want, not the default font Word wants you to use.

Don’t like Calibri or Cambria? Prefer Arial to Times New Roman, or like the modern nature of Verdana? The best part about Microsoft Word is you can choose the default font — this command differs by version, but the most reliable way is to click Format > Font, select the attributes you want, and then click Default.

10. Find any word you want quickly and easily.

Instead of using your mouse to navigate to the Find command, click Ctrl + F to either open the window in older versions of Word, or move the cursor automatically to the Search in Document menu that always appears in the toolbar in newer versions.

BONUS TIP: Click the drop-down arrow on the Find menu’s magnifying glass and click Replace to automatically replace a certain word or phrase with a different word or phrase you specify.

source: https://cmitsolutions.com/blog/10-tips-tricks-become-master-microsoft-word/