Microsoft Word can be found on almost every computer in the known world, and not just PCs either. Macs run Word too. It’s probably because it’s so widely used that most people never get trained in how to use it and, as a consequence a lot of Word users make some pretty basic mistakes when creating their documents.
* Are you ever guilty of pressing the Return key at the top of a document to move the cursor down, perhaps when creating a document to be printed on your company stationery? If so, this means that you are creating a document with unwanted characters at the start. Much better to click on File - Page Setup and change the top margin (in Word 2003) or click on Custom Margins in the Page Layout tab of the Word 2007 ribbon.
* A lot of Word users have the habit of entering two spaces after a full-stop. This is a recommendation that used to apply when typewriters were being used with monospace typefaces such as Courier. With the advent of word processors, and now computers, the two space rule is redundant because electronically generated fonts are proportionally spaced and it’s easy for the eye to pick out the end of each sentence.
* The habit of pressing the Return key twice at the end of each paragraph is not a good idea because it creates a sea of extra white space on the printed page. Only one return should used to end the paragraph. Extra space can then be added using the paragraph spacing commands. To find these options, in Word 2003 or earlier, choose Paragraph from the format menu. In Word 2007, click on the Page Layout tab.
* If a casual user of Word has never had any training, you will often see him or her using the space bar to align columns of text. This sometimes looks as though it’s working on screen but when the document is printed, the lack of alignment becomes very apparent. The only sure way of getting columns to align is to press the Tab key.
* Having identified the Tab key as the correct one to use to create columns, many Word users just press the tab key to tab along to the next default tab. The number of times the Tab key is pressed will thus vary, depending on the length of each piece of text. It is much better to set one’s own tabs by clicking on the Word ruler. This means that on each line of text, the tab key will be pressed the same number of times between columns.
* A lot of newbie Word users will always format their documents, even long ones, either manually or by using the Format Painter. The best way to format text in long documents is to use Microsoft styles. Each style has multiple attributes associated with it which are applied automatically to any text formatted with that style. In addition, if the attributes of a style are changed, all text in that style is updated throughout the document.
* Then there’s the question of who’s in charge: Word or the user. You will often hear users complain that Word has a mind of its own: “It tries to do everything for you”. Remember, almost any setting in Word that irritates you can be modified by going to Tools - Options in Word 2003 or earlier or choosing Word Options from the Office Button in Word 2007.
The author has been teaching Microsoft Word training courses for many years. He is a trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an established, independent computer training company based in London.
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