Best Microsoft Word Tips and Tricks

It is often said that we use only a fraction of the functions available in applications such as Microsoft Word. With that in mind, we have been rummaging under the hoods of Word 2003, 2007 and 2010 looking for secrets.

We have come up with best tips and tricks, and organised our ideas by application and version number, making it easy for everyone to dip in to find something useful. Within moments, you could be using these popular programs in brand-new ways.

#1. Create custom toolbars [Word 2003]

It’s possible to make toolbars that include all your favourite menus and icons. To do this, choose Customize from the Tools menu. Now select the Toolbars tab and click New. Type a name for your new toolbar, select the relevant template (if you want) and click OK. Drag and drop whatever controls or commands you want onto the toolbar.

#2. Move rows up and down a table [Word 2003]

Word makes it easy to move rows up and down a table. Click anywhere in the row and then, holding down the Shift and Alt keys, use the up or down cursor keys to move the entire row around the table.

#3. Save or Close all open documents [Word 2003]

If you have got lots of open documents that you’d like to save or close at the same time, hold down the Shift key before opening the File menu. These new options will appear.

#4. Remove personal information [Word 2007]

Sharing a document. with someone but don’t want them to have access to your personal information? Click the Office button and choose Prepare, then Inspect Document. Click the Inspect button and then choose the information to remove.

#5. On-the-fly translation [Word 2007]



To translate a word or phrase into another language, highlight it. click the Review tab, find the Proofing part of the ribbon and click Translate. Choose the ‘from’ and ‘to’ languages in the Research panel and click the Insert button to effect the translation.

#6. Repeat last formatting command [Word 2007]

To make the same formatting adjustment when working through a document section headings - use the F4 key to repeat the last formatting change.

#7. Convert text to a table [Word 2010]

Use tabs between the text, then highlight it and click the Insert tab. Open the Table dropdown menu and choose Convert text to table. Set the number of columns using the spin box control.

#8. Create random practice text [Word 2010]

To explore some of Word’s features, it’s useful to have text to work with. Rather than type out loads yourself, try this. Type=rand (4,5) and press Enter. Word will generate four paragraphs of five sentences each. This works in earlier versions of Word, too.

#9. Change the default format for pasting text [Word 2010]

If you copy and paste text from other programs into Word you are probably forever having to reformat it to fit in with the Word document. Fix this by opening the File menu and choosing Options. Click the Advanced option in the left- hand pane, then scroll down to the Cut, copy and paste section. Choose a default setting from here.

#10. Add a photo to a shape [Word 2010]

Open the Insert menu, choose Shapes and pick Oval. Draw out the shape and release the mouse button. With the shape still selected, make sure the Format tab is active, open the Shape Fill control and choose Picture. Find a photo and click Open.