Word Training – Page 12 – STL

I’m getting used to the Ribbon in Word 2010. I started spotting something happening when I clicked on a piece of text or image in my document. Not one to keep these things to myself, I will share them with you.

The “ghost toolbar”
Word 2010 has this little helper, so when I double click on a piece of text, no matter what tab I happen to be using at the time, Word gives me a mini toolbar with the common actions I might want to complete. It appears as a little ghost toolbar (not the correct technical term, but it is Halloween soon). Microsoft refers to this as the automatic view of actions available…but I prefer the ghost toolbar for now.

screeen-shot-of-automatic-toolbar-word-2010 — I am using the References tab. I highlight a word, and the automatic toolbar option appears, with options to edit that selection using Home tab options. Cool isn’t it!

So if I click on text, even if I am in the References tab, Word 2010 will give me options from the Home tab – like font size or paragraph alignment. Saving me a few clicks (which added up over a working day, saves time and muscle fatigue).

Working with Clip Art image
I am still in the References tab, but when I double click on the Clip Art in my text, Word 2010 automatically changes the Ribbon showing, to the one I need for adjusting the image – the Picture Tools actions.

Automatic-toolbar-ClipArt-Word 2010 — Working in the References tab, I click on my Clip Art image and the Ribbon automatically changes to the one I want. Fab!

Right click button
Sometimes the left mouse button gets all the action, but here is a good use of the right mouse button. If you select your section of text for editing, then right click, the menu options drop down for you to select easily. If I was working in the Mailings tab, and highlighted my text, and then used the right mouse click, I get options displayed from the Home tab for editing my text.

These skills give you different ways to access what you need from the Ribbon. It is something that is included in the Introduction to Word 2010 course, and a skill you can easily build on with practise.

I’m going to keep experimenting and see what happens.

Reference: Word/Course – Working with the Ribbon

One of the “wow” moments on my recent Microsoft Word Course was learning how to add a diagram to Word 2010. (Alright, I know, I’m easily pleased).

I was worried that I’d have to try and figure out how to create boxes, get them to fit, then get the text to fit…I wasn’t looking forward to it.

Once again, I shouldn’t have fretted. Word 2010 has a selection of diagrams that I can click on, and get on working (this saves me a huge amount of time, and muttering under by breath). I can produce something that looks professional, gets my message across and doesn’t take me hours.

From a new document, I go to the Insert tab.

insert menu for smart art word 2010 — SmartArt is located in the Insert tab.

2010 gives me a whole range of artwork choices. I need a process model, so I’ve selected that option and Word gives me loads to choose from.

Screenshot-of-SmartArt-choices — I selected “process” and got all these choices…

I’ve chosen a simple process model (“basic chevron process”) and now I can add text and make any changes I want to.

basic-chevron-process-screenshot — Here is the “basic chevron process” ready for content.

Category: Word Training

Contextual tabs in Word 2010 – automatic view of actions available

How to add a diagram to a Word 2010 document with SmartArt graphics