Can I Add or Remove Buttons From the Toolbars?

Yes, to add a button to a toolbar:

1. Choose Toolbars from the View menu.
2. Select Customize.
3. Click on the Commands tab.
4. Select an item under Categories.
5. Select an item from the list of Commands.
6. Drag the command to a toolbar. An "I" beam will appear to help you install the button.
7. Right-click on the new Toolbar item again.
8. Choose Change Button Image, then select a button image.
9. Close the Customize dialog box.

To remove a button:

1. Choose Toolbars from the View menu.
2. Select Customize.
3. Drag the button you want to remove off of the toolbar.

Can I make my own toolbars?

Yes! To make your own toolbar:

1. Choose Toolbars from the View menu.
2. Select Customize.
3. Click on the Toolbars tab, then click on the New button.
4. Give the toolbar a name.

You can also choose to make this toolbar available to the Normal template (all documents) or the current document only. A small toolbar palette will appear on the screen. Click on the Commands tab, select a Category, then drag the commands you want onto your new toolbar.

How do I change the default margins?

1. Choose Page Setup from the File menu.
2. Click on the Margins tab.
3. Set the margins the way you want them, then click on Default. Word will inform you that this change will affect all documents based on the Normal template.

How do I change the default document font?

1. Choose Font from the Format menu, then set all of the attributes you want for your default font.
2. Click the Default button.
3. Word will inform you that this change will affect all documents based on the Normal template.

How do I change the default folder for Open and Save?

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu.
2. Click on the File Locations tab.
3. Click on Documents under File Types.
4. Click on the Modify button.
5. Use the Look in list to locate the folder you want to use from now on.
6. Click on the folder name, then click on OK to select that location.
7. Click on OK.

What is AutoText?

AutoText is a way to store and quickly insert text, graphics, fields, tables, bookmarks, and other items that you use frequently. Word comes with a library of AutoText entries (see the items listed under AutoText on the Insert menu or turn on the AutoText toolbar, then click on All Entries).

1. Turn on the AutoText toolbar (choose Toolbars from the View menu, then select AutoText).
2. Select the text you want for an AutoText entry, then click on the New button on the AutoText toolbar.
3. Make up a shortcut name for this entry.
4. To use the shortcut, type the shortcut, then immediately press F3 or press the Enter key.

Can I keep different versions of a document in the same file?

Yes. Word calls this "versioning". One file will contain all the versions and will increase the file size. You can also extract any version and save it as a separate file. To use the version options:

1. Choose Versions from the File menu.
2. Click the Save Now button to save the current state of the document. Word records the author and the time and date of the version. You can also add comments to distinguish each version.

If you check the Automatically save a version on close, Word will do just that. You can still use the Save Now option to save other versions of the document. To view your version history:

1. Choose Versions from the File menu.
2. Select a version then click on the Open button to view that version in a separate window.
3. To keep a particular version, use the Save As command on the File menu.

Can I "Search and Replace" for things other than words?

Yes!

1. Choose Replace from the Edit menu.
2. Click on More. At the bottom of the Find and Replace dialog box, you'll see a Format button and a Special button. The Format button allows you to replace formatting (e.g., one font for another, bold for italics); the Special button allows you to replace special characters (e.g., paragraph marks, note reference marks).

Also, you can use the contents of the Clipboard as the replacement. This is useful if you want to replace a short word or phrase with a longer phrase or paragraph. To use this feature, you must first create the replacement text somewhere, then copy it to the Clipboard. When you use the Special button as mentioned above, you'll see Clipboard Contents as one of the choices (or use ^c).

How do I use headers and footers?

1. Choose Header and Footer from the View menu.
2. The Header editing window and the Header and Footer toolbar will appear.
3. Type the text for the header or footer (the text in a header or footer is formatted like any other text).

You can insert page numbers, the document's filename and path, and other codes into headers and footers (there are a number of options on the Header and Footer toolbar). The Switch Between Header and Footer button on the toolbar toggles the editing window between the header and the footer. The commands to control headers and footers are on the Page Setup dialog box (Page Setup on the File menu):

Set the other options on the Layout tab (different first page and odd and even). If you select either of the options on the Layout tab, then you can format the various headers individually and do things like remove the first page number, "mirror" the page numbers, etc. Headers and footers can be further controlled by formatting your document into multiple sections.

To format an existing header or footer:

• Double-click on it, if you are in Print View.
• In Normal View, choose Header and Footer from the View menu.

Change the page layout so that the first page has a different header (or no header):

• Choose Page Setup from the File menu.
• On the Layout tab, select Different first page under Headers and footers.
• Now, you can create a unique first page header or footer. If you view the header or footer on the first page, you'll see "First page header" or "First page footer" instead of "Header" or "Footer" at the top of the screen. The headers and footers of all following pages will be the same.

For a different header or footer on each page or section:

• Insert a Section Break at each point where you want the header or footer to change:
  • Choose Break from the Insert menu, then select Next page under Section break types.
• Choose Header and Footer from the View menu.
• CRITICAL (and potentially confusing) step! Create headers and footers as usual, but disable the Same as previous button whenever you want to create a unique header or footer (the previous text will appear, but you can delete it and enter new text). You can move through the sections without closing the Header and Footer toolbar by clicking on the Show Next and Show Previous buttons. It's easy for this to go awry, with headers and footers changing or disappearing as you try to get different headers or footers in each section. You may find it easier to setup all of your document sections first, then go back through the document from the beginning and create your headers or footers. Be especially careful with the Same as previous setting, as described above. You can also use the "different first page" option within each section (see previous item).

How do I insert or delete a page break?

1. Choose Break from the Insert menu.
2. Select the Page Break radio button. You can also insert a page break by pressing Ctrl+Enter.

To delete a page break:

1. Switch to Normal view (Normal on the View menu).
   Page breaks are identified on your document as dotted lines (page breaks you insert are identified as "Page Break".
2. Click at the left edge of the screen to select the page break.
3. Press the Delete key or click on the Cut button. You can also click below the page break, then press the Backspace key.

Note: You cannot delete the page breaks that Word calculates based on paper size, margins, and the general format of the document.

How do I keep a paragraph from separating at the page break?

1. Select the paragraph, then choose Paragraph from the Format menu.
2. Click on the Lines and Page Breaks tab.
3. Check the Keep lines together check box.

    

Is there a faster way than the Thesaurus to find synonyms?

You can see a list of synonyms by right-clicking on a word, then choosing Synonyms from the menu. Unfortunately, some types of formatting disable this feature. For example, if the word is in a bullet or numbered list item, the synonym option does not appear when you right-click.

How do I put an Excel chart in my document?

The easiest way is to open the chart in Excel, copy it, then paste it into your Word document. You may have to resize the chart after you get it into Word. To resize the chart:

1. Choose Object from the Format menu.
2. The Format Object dialog box has Size tab.
   The Layout tab has options for setting the flow of text around the chart.

You can also insert the chart as a linked or embedded object. A linked chart stores the data in the original Excel worksheet. If you edit the spreadsheet, the changes are reflected in the linked chart in Word. An embedded chart is stored in the Word document. To create a linked or embedded chart:

1. Choose Object from the Insert menu.
2. Click the Create from File tab.
3. Enter the file name, or use the Browse button to locate the file. An embedded object is created if you don't check the Link to file check box.

When you create an embedded object from an existing Microsoft Excel workbook, the entire workbook is inserted into your document. The document displays only one worksheet at a time. To display a different worksheet, double-click the Microsoft Excel object, and then click a different worksheet.

How can I combine several Word documents into a single document?

To combine several relatively simple documents into a single document, repeat the following procedure until all of the individual documents have been combined. The original documents are unaffected by this procedure.

1. Start a new, blank document.
2. Choose File from the Insert menu.
3. Browse to the document you want to insert.
4. Select the document, then click Insert.
5. Usually, you will want to insert a page break after each file you insert: Choose Break from the Insert menu, select Page break, then click OK.

Some attributes of the documents you insert after the first one may be lost (e.g., margins, headers, and footers). Once you get all the documents combined, you can work on finishing up document formatting details, page numbering, etc.

Working on and viewing two separate document sections

Do you often find yourself editing large Microsoft Word 2003 documents? If so, it may be cumbersome jumping back and forth between sections of the document performing editing tasks. If you would like, you can work on two different sections of the document simultaneously by splitting the window.

1. Open a document for editing.
2. Click on the Window menu bar option.
3. Click on Split.
4. A horizontal dividing line will appear in the middle of the screen. Move your mouse up or down to move the split line up or down, and press the left mouse button to set the split.

Your document will now appear in two separate panes inside the Microsoft Word 2003 window. You can switch between the two panes by clicking on the document text in the top or bottom pane. As you move around the document in one of the two panes, it will not affect the cursor position in the other pane. You can make changes in one pane and the other pane will change as well - both panes reflect the same document.

If you later want to remove the split, click on the Window menu bar option and then click on Remove Split.

Comparing two documents side-by-side

Have you ever had two somewhat similar documents that you need to compare and merge the differences?

Luckily, Microsoft Word 2003 comes built-in with a document comparison tool where you can view two documents side-by-side.

1. Open both documents in Microsoft Word 2003.
2. Focus on one document. Click on the Window menu bar option.
3. Click on Compare Side by Side With. If you only have two documents open, this menu item will mention the second document's filename. If not, a dialog box will appear allowing you to choose the document to compare.
4. The two documents will appear side-by-side. As you scroll through one document, the other will scroll as well.
5. A Compare Side floating toolbar will appear. If you don't want one document to scroll while the other scrolls, click the left button (it looks like two documents side-by-side with an up and down arrow).
6. View/edit your document as needed.
7. When done, click on Close Side by Side.

Speed tricks

• Double-click to select a word
• Triple-click to select a paragraph
• Drag highlighted text to move it (instead of cutting & pasting)
• CTRL+C to copy
• CTRL+X to cut
• CRTL+V to paste
• CRTL+Z to undo
• CTRL+A to select all (the whole document)
• CTRL+S to save
• CTRL+LEFT ARROW or CRTL+RIGHT ARROW to move cursor left or right a word at a time
• To select vertical sections of text, hold down the ALT key while dragging over the text you want to highlight.
• To select whole rows of text, hold down the CTRL key while dragging over the text you want to highlight.

Additional shortcut keys: 

• ALT+CTRL+C inserts the Copyright symbol
• ALT+CTRL+Period inserts an ellipsis
• ALT+CTRL+R inserts the registered trademark symbol
• ALT+CTRL+T inserts the trademark symbol
• CTRL+B to bold text
• CTRL+E centers a paragraph
• CTRL+End skips to the end of a document
• CTRL+Enter inserts a page break
• CTRL+F opens the Find menu
• CTRL+G goes to a page, bookmark, footnote, table, comment, graphic or other location
• CTRL+H opens the Replace menu
• CTRL+Home skips to the beginning of a document
• CTRL+I to italicize text
• CTRL+N creates a new document
• CTRL+S saves a document
• CTRL+SHIFT+F changes the font
• CTRL+SHIFT+P changes the font size
• CTRL+U to underline text
• CTRL+W closes a document
• CTRL+Y to redo the last action
• Esc to close an assistant or tip window
• SHIFT+F3 changes the case of letters
• Tab to move between cells in a table