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Use more shortcuts in Word – One of your new five a day?

Learning to use more shortcuts in Word can be a bit playing Top Trumps.

Person 1:  “Control + Y , redo, time-saving value of 6.5”
Person 2: “Control + Z, undo, time-saving value of 9″, I win, hand over the card!”

Ok, so I don’t actually play top trumps with shortcuts (it’s generally Ben 10 or Transformers) but I do genuinely feel chuffed when I’ve learned a new shortcut that saves time, and I gain a new skill (small, but still useful). So as an early Christmas present, I will share some of my new favourites with you.

Repeat last action.  This is F4.  Very useful for repetitive tasks, from text to formatting.

As a quick test, in a Word document type “this is my sentence” then press return, then press F4 –  the shortcut will repeat the whole sentence again (somehow this gives me an image of Bart Simpson writing his lines in the opening sequence. ..if only the blackboard had an F4 button…).  

Spelling and grammar check. This is F7.  (10 points if you knew this one).  Quick way to proof your document and blitz those errors.

Help is F1 – and it only works for Microsoft related questions…it’s rubbish for answering questions on trivia.  Just so you know.

Line spacing.  Word 2010’s default is 1.15 line spacing, so a quick way to change it is to use the following:
Single line spacing is Control +1
Line spacing at 1.5 is Control + 5
Double spacing is Control + 2.

Hyperlink  is Control + K.  This is a great for linking to another part of the document, or a Microsoft Office program, or a web page….

and the bonus two old favourites:

Open a document. This is Control + O.  An easy win on the shortcut scale, but a good one to incorporate into your day!

Open a new document.  Control + N.

So use five shortcuts a day, and if you are really up for a challenge, try five new shortcuts a day.  Swap them with friends, or keep them secret, it’s up to you.

For more information on the tricks and the benefits you gain in your work with our  Microsoft Word training courses

 

 

 

On the course I attended yesterday, I did learn and use more and found myself saying “oh, now, that is useful” on many occasions.

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Speed up editing and proofreading with Word 2010

I have proofread and copy edited a lot of different documents.  Everything from policy documents, to articles and committee papers.  They all had different content and specialist language, but all of them needed thorough and systematic proofreading and it can take ages. It’s one of the reasons I drink so much coffee.

My old method was often to print out the document – read and mark it up for content and flow, then read it again for spelling or typographical errors, work on it again for formatting and any layout issues – and then I realised that Word could save me time and paper.

Word can complete lots of these proofing tasks for me, so I can concentrate on those elements that require a more human intervention.

Here is how Word can save you time with proofreading  

A whole tab devoted to proofreading and editing your document
Word encourages you to follow a clear process using the Ribbon, from creating your document, adding content and setting up page layout….and then for the next stage…The Review tab.  This has its own prompts for the process you can follow.

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The Review tab takes you through the systematic review and editing of your document.

For starters, you have the Proofing tab:

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The proofing section of the Review tab.

Spelling and grammar check
At the proofreading stage, Word has already flagged up the spelling errors, with its trusty red underline.  If it spots a grammar error, it gives you a green squiggly line.  See, Word is already helping you out.

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The red underlines indicate spelling errors, and the green squiggly lines show you the grammar ones.

If you are working with a large document, and the errors are all over the place and you are not sure how many there are, there is a handy sign.  It’s on your status bar, at the bottom of your document.

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The little book with the red cross – no, it isn’t a spell book, but a useful sign that there are errors in your document that need your attention.

If you click on the book, it will take you through errors individually – great for single errors but time-consuming if there are many. A quicker and easier way for larger documents is to use the Spelling and Grammar button on the Ribbon, which will lead you through the process.

Thesaurus and References
These buttons help you to access support from other sites, to replace over-used words or ensure facts and references are accurate.

Word count and character count
Don’t get caught out at the last minute by going over word or character limits.  You may be proofreading content in Word that will be inserted into an on-line form.  You may have a perfect copy of 2,000 words ready to be copied and pasted into a cell in your on-line form, only to find that the form’s limit is 2,000 characters including spaces.  And yes, that has happened to me…and no, I wasn’t happy.

The Word Count button gives you the full break down of information, which is essential if you are editing down a document to a 2,000 characters with spaces, at 11pm before a midnight deadline…hypothetically speaking of course…

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Ah, word count…you have saved my bacon countless times.

Comments and Track changes
Proofreading and editing isn’t a lone activity – we work in teams, with shared documents, and Word has this sussed too.  So you and your colleagues can add comments with virtual post-it notes.

Tracking changes may be a headache if you haven’t been taught how to use them properly – and it is worth the training because it is brilliant.  It can help you see the original in one view, and then switch to the revised view with all the changes, or without, with the click of a button – and that’s before you’ve even accepted any changes.

Despite using Word for years, I still learn more from our Word courses – so whatever stage you are at with the program, from a refresher course or a move to advanced skills – it is worth the investment.  I invite you to have a look at the fantastic tools available on our Microsoft Word Course London.