1. Date
To stop Word from adding today's date to any year you type, changing, say, 'Letter 2004' to 'Letter 2004-08-22', go to the Insert menu, click on AutoCorrect and select AutoText in the next menu. Untick the box marked 'Show Autocomplete Suggestions'. If you want to use an AutoText shortcut in future, type the abbreviation and press F3.
To stop Word from adding today's date to any year you type, changing, say, 'Letter 2004' to 'Letter 2004-08-22', go to the Insert menu, click on AutoCorrect and select AutoText in the next menu. Untick the box marked 'Show Autocomplete Suggestions'. If you want to use an AutoText shortcut in future, type the abbreviation and press F3.
2. Add places
Add a folder to the Places Bar in Word 2002's Open and Save boxes to help you find files quickly. Find the folder you require in Windows Explorer, highlight it and then click on the Tools menu. Now click on the option marked 'Add to My Places'.
Add a folder to the Places Bar in Word 2002's Open and Save boxes to help you find files quickly. Find the folder you require in Windows Explorer, highlight it and then click on the Tools menu. Now click on the option marked 'Add to My Places'.
3. Turn off fast save
Fast saves aren't much faster than normal saves and instead of properly saving your document, Word just appends anything you have added to the text to the end of the file. Nothing is ever deleted from the document file, so it can end up being huge. It's best to turn off fast saves by going to the Tools menu, clicking on Options, then on the Save tab and removing the tick from the 'Allow fast saves' checkbox.
Fast saves aren't much faster than normal saves and instead of properly saving your document, Word just appends anything you have added to the text to the end of the file. Nothing is ever deleted from the document file, so it can end up being huge. It's best to turn off fast saves by going to the Tools menu, clicking on Options, then on the Save tab and removing the tick from the 'Allow fast saves' checkbox.
4. No mouse styles
If you often write the same style of documents in Word, you may be aware of the Styles option, which can reduce the time you spend formatting a document. You can assign a keyboard shortcut to a style so that you don't have to use the mouse to find it by going to the Tools menu, then Customize, then pressing Keyboard and selecting Styles from the list on the left.
If you often write the same style of documents in Word, you may be aware of the Styles option, which can reduce the time you spend formatting a document. You can assign a keyboard shortcut to a style so that you don't have to use the mouse to find it by going to the Tools menu, then Customize, then pressing Keyboard and selecting Styles from the list on the left.
5. Follow style
If your styles naturally follow one another, say a particular text style always follows a particular headline style, you can cut down further on the time required to select them by going to the Format menu, and selecting Style. Choose the relevant style and click on Modify, then choose another from the box marked 'Style for following paragraph'.
If your styles naturally follow one another, say a particular text style always follows a particular headline style, you can cut down further on the time required to select them by going to the Format menu, and selecting Style. Choose the relevant style and click on Modify, then choose another from the box marked 'Style for following paragraph'.
6. Repeat find
To find a piece of text, press F3, enter the text you're looking for in the text box and press Enter. You don't need to keep the box open to find other instances of this text, however. Click on Cancel, and notice that the double arrows at the bottom of the right-hand side scroll bars have turned blue. Clicking on one of them will take you to the next place this text occurs, either forwards or backwards through the document, depending on which button you click.
To find a piece of text, press F3, enter the text you're looking for in the text box and press Enter. You don't need to keep the box open to find other instances of this text, however. Click on Cancel, and notice that the double arrows at the bottom of the right-hand side scroll bars have turned blue. Clicking on one of them will take you to the next place this text occurs, either forwards or backwards through the document, depending on which button you click.
7. AutoCorrect
AutoCorrect allows you to change text automatically as you type it, which can be handy for correcting frequently mistyped words. Click on the Tools menu, then on AutoCorrect and enter a piece of text in the left-hand column. Whenever you type it, it will be replaced by the text in the same row in the right-hand column of the dialogue box.
AutoCorrect allows you to change text automatically as you type it, which can be handy for correcting frequently mistyped words. Click on the Tools menu, then on AutoCorrect and enter a piece of text in the left-hand column. Whenever you type it, it will be replaced by the text in the same row in the right-hand column of the dialogue box.
8. Select lots of text
It can be very difficult to select more than a few paragraphs of text at once using only the mouse, particularly if you have a fast PC, as the text will shoot past before you notice. But you can select large amounts of text easily by clicking where you want your selection to start, then navigating to the end of the intended selection using the mouse wheel or scroll bars. Then just hold down Shift and click again to select the block of text.
It can be very difficult to select more than a few paragraphs of text at once using only the mouse, particularly if you have a fast PC, as the text will shoot past before you notice. But you can select large amounts of text easily by clicking where you want your selection to start, then navigating to the end of the intended selection using the mouse wheel or scroll bars. Then just hold down Shift and click again to select the block of text.
9. Saving grace
If you are working on several documents at once, you can save them all without closing Word in the process. Just hold down Shift and click on the File menu. You will see a new option Save All. There is also an option to Close All if you want to do so without closing Word.
If you are working on several documents at once, you can save them all without closing Word in the process. Just hold down Shift and click on the File menu. You will see a new option Save All. There is also an option to Close All if you want to do so without closing Word.
10. Simple formatting
If you're going to create a number of documents that are similar in appearance, it's best to use styles to format text rather than applying the formatting yourself. This ensures that you can change it easily throughout the documents, if you need to. You can, however, use the Format Painter to copy the formats from one paragraph and apply it to another. Select the Format Painter button from the Word toolbar and click on the portion of text you want to copy a format from. Now drag the pointer over the selection you want to apply the formatting to.
If you're going to create a number of documents that are similar in appearance, it's best to use styles to format text rather than applying the formatting yourself. This ensures that you can change it easily throughout the documents, if you need to. You can, however, use the Format Painter to copy the formats from one paragraph and apply it to another. Select the Format Painter button from the Word toolbar and click on the portion of text you want to copy a format from. Now drag the pointer over the selection you want to apply the formatting to.
11. Scraps
You can create 'scraps' in Word, which are small blocks of text from a document. Highlight some text in an open document and drag it to the Desktop, and you will see it appear as a document scrap. You can arrange and rename your scraps on the Desktop, and simply drop them back into Word documents as you need them. The scraps can be pasted into most other applications too.
You can create 'scraps' in Word, which are small blocks of text from a document. Highlight some text in an open document and drag it to the Desktop, and you will see it appear as a document scrap. You can arrange and rename your scraps on the Desktop, and simply drop them back into Word documents as you need them. The scraps can be pasted into most other applications too.
12. Snappy corrections
Instead of using the spell checker once you've finished writing a document, you can correct words as you type. Right-click on a red-underlined word, and Word will show you a menu of replacements it thinks are suitable. This also works for green-underlined phrases that Word thinks are not grammatically correct. Right-clicking them will again open a menu with suggested replacements.
Instead of using the spell checker once you've finished writing a document, you can correct words as you type. Right-click on a red-underlined word, and Word will show you a menu of replacements it thinks are suitable. This also works for green-underlined phrases that Word thinks are not grammatically correct. Right-clicking them will again open a menu with suggested replacements.
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