Wicked Cool

Microsoft Word Tip: Track Changes

Did you know that you can track the changes you make to a Microsoft Word document? This is handy if you know you'll be making a lot of changes, or if you're working on a document with someone else, so you can each see what the other has done.  The text you add will show up in red, and other changes will be noted in a red comment box along the margin. Here's how to start tracking changes:

From the "Tools" menu, choose "Track changes."  In addition to turning on tracking, this will open the "Reviewing" toolbar that allows you to accept or reject the changes that have been made to your document.

Seeing red?  To turn off the tracking for future changes, go back to the "Tools" menu and click "Track changes" again.

If you want to get rid of all the comments and red text that are already in your document, go to the "Reviewing" toolbar, click the "Accept Change" icon, and choose "Accept All Changes."

Thanks to Kristine Millard of Lodi Public Library for the tip!

Word tip: rotating clip art

Ever add some clip art in Word 2003, and been unable to rotate it because your Picture toolbar is gone, and you can't grab a corner and rotate as you can with other images?

You can still rotate clip art this way:

1. Select it
2. In the Draw toolbar (usually at the bottom left corner, under the document) expand the menu
3. Pick "Rotate or Flip" and you'll usually have the option to Flip it in several ways, or to Free Rotate.

Thanks to STO for the question!

Moving table rows in Word

Yeah, sorry, another Microsoft Word tip...but I just learned this trick this week and thought it was so cool that I couldn't wait to share it.  It saved me a ton of time.....

Okay, let's say you have a lovely table in Microsoft Word.  Let's say it's a HUGE table, and you need to move some of the rows around.  Before, I would cut the row, scroll until I got where I wanted it to go, insert a row, and then paste it.  What a waste of time.

....because all you need to do is to click in the row you want to move, and then hold down <ALT>+<SHIFT> and use your up and down arrow keys....and the row will move up or down in the table!

(And, if you really are sick of Microsoft Word tips, comment about some other things you'd like to know, and I'm happy to oblige....)

Microsoft Word tip: Printing in reverse order

I seem to be in a Microsoft Word rut! 

But here's another MS Word tip (found on Lifehacker):

Depending on how your printer works, there's a good chance that when you print a big document in Word, the pages end up in reverse order (with page 1 at the bottom of the pile).  You have to then go through and put all the pages in correct order....big pain!

I'm here to relieve you of that pain!  You can reverse the order the pages print.  No more fussing when it's done printing!!

Here's how:

1.  From the "File" menu, choose "Print"
2.  Click the "Options" button at the bottom.
3.  Check the "Reverse print order" box.
4.  Click "OK".
5.  Click "OK" again, and you'll print in reverse order!

Microsoft Word tip: default font

Okay, this is definitely one of those "I'm sure everyone already does this but me!" tips....

I'm not a Times New Roman fan.  My latest favorite font is Century Gothic.  So, when I'd start a new document, the first thing I always did was start typing, select everything I just typed, and then change it to Century Gothic.  Everything else I would type would then be the font I wanted.

But then I discovered that it is EXTREMELY easy to switch the default font in Word.  Here's how:

1.  From the "Format" menu, choose "Font"
2.  Choose the font and size you want to be the default
3.  Click the "Default..." button at the bottom of the window
4.  You'll see a box confirming that you want this to be your default.  Click "Yes"

...and that's it!  Now, each new document will have this font as the default.

Microsoft Word tip: repeating a table row as a header

Imagine this: 

You're making a table in Word.  It's pretty long, over a page.  But your row of column headings is only at the top of the first page.  So, you add a row above the top row on each page, and the copy the headings into that row...and then you have to take out a row of data, or add one, so the paging changes, and then you have to do it all over again....what a pain!!

Did you know that you can avoid all this with one checkmark?  Here's how:

1.  Select the row you'd like to use as column headings on each page.
2.  From the "Table" menu, choose "Table Properties"
3.  Click the "Row" tab, if it isn't already selected.
4.  Check "Repeat as header row at the top of each page"
5.  Cilck "OK"

That's it!  It's that easy! Now each page of your table will start with the same headers, with no more fuss.

(Thanks to Mary Clark, Reference and Loan Library, for this tip!)

Microsoft Word: Reveal Formatting

Microsoft Word can do some particularly frustrating things with formatting....suddenly, one piece of an ordered list will be bolded, and you aren't sure why! Or something you want indented is refusing to indent...

I can't guarantee it will fix all your formatting problems, but there is a handy way to see what's going on.

From the "Format" menu, choose "Reveal Formatting".

A right-hand frame will appear.  When you highlight any text, the formatting of that text will be displayed in the frame. You can click on any of the underlined formatting categories (like "Font" or "Alignment") and adjust the setting for the highlighted text.