Friday, December 28th, 2012

Why would you do that (Microsoft?)

Ok, I really really like the new Office 2013 suite. But there are always some things you don’t like and this one is a biggie. It is in Word 2013 and it’s not like I don’t like an added feature it is that Microsoft removed a feature I love and that I use every day.

What is gone is the right click auto correct from the shortcut menu. In earlier versions of Word when you saw a spelling mistake indicated by a wiggly red line under a word you could right click and choose AutoCorrect and then select the correct spelling of the word. Word would then add this misspelling and the correction to its AutoCorrect list so that, in future, whenever you typed the word incorrectly Word would automatically fix it for you.

This right click feature has been removed from Word 2013 – Why? Who knows? It has to go down as one of the stupidest things that Microsoft has done – really there is no reasonable explanation for this feature being removed. It is totally frustrating not to have this feature on the right click menu.

If you need to use this feature you’ll need to make your own AutoCorrect list entry by choosing File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect options and enter the misspelling in the Replace list and the correct spelling in the With list. This is extremely inconvenient but it’s how Word 2013 now works – go figure! Thanks for the AutoCorrect love Microsoft – Not..

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:01 amNo Comments links to this post

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

Google Docs & Microsoft Word – Increase typing efficiency with automatic substitution

Do you find that you often make the same typos over and over again? You can increase your typing speed and accuracy with Google Docs and Word’s automatic substitution tool.

To start, if you are using Google Docs, go to Tools > Preferences and ensure that the box next to “Automatic Substitution” is checked. If you are using Microsoft Word, go to File >  Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoCorrect tab and check “Replace text as you type”. The rest of the process is the same for both word processors.

This is the automatic substitution dialogue in Word

Now you simply insert any potential typos into the “Replace” table and place the corresponding corrections in the “With” table. For example, if you tend to type “wiht” instead of “with”, you can add “wiht” and “with” to a row on your substitution table. Every time you type  “wiht” it will be automatically corrected to “with”.

You can also use this tool to quickly type long strings of text. If you find yourself writing out your email address repeatedly, you can create an automatic substitution for it. Create a short phrase such as “em#” or “email#” for the Replace field, and put your email address in the With field. It is important that your phrase include a special character, such as the number sign at the end, so that the substitution will only occur when you intend it to. If your phrase were simply “email” you would never be able to write the word itself without the substitution taking place!

Your list is also preloaded with some useful substitutions that are worth reviewing, such replacing “(c)” with “©”.

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:00 am1 Comment links to this post

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Word 2007 – Boilerplate paragraphs

One typical use for Microsoft Word is in offices where documents and letters are created by assembling a series of standard paragraphs from a range of alternatives.

In the past Microsoft Word included the AutoText and AutoCorrect features and, like many users, you may have adapted AutoCorrect to use in creating boilerplate documents.

Some other users tweaked the AutoText tool so they could use it to insert content, such as graphics and text.

The AutoText tool no longer appears in Word 2007 and it has been replaced by a Quick Parts Gallery which makes saving, organizing and assembling documents from stored paragraphs, aka Building Blocks, much easier to achieve.

Find the Quick Parts tool on the Insert tab and click the down pointing arrow to open the Quick Parts Gallery.

Here you have a number of options including Document Property which lets you insert some of the common document properties into your document by clicking on the one to insert.

The Field option lets you insert fields much as you could in earlier versions of Microsoft Word.

The Building Blocks Organizer is the newest feature and this is a repository of text blocks which you can add to your Word documents. These Building Blocks can be sorted by Name, Gallery or Category. Some of the Building Blocks come built-in to Microsoft Word and others are legacy AutoText entries from earlier installations of Microsoft Word.

You can insert a Building Block into a document by selecting the entry in the list and click Insert.

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 10:03 pmNo Comments links to this post

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

Zap those hyperlinks

When you copy and paste text from the web into a Word document, typically the hyperlinks come too. If you don’t want them – if blue underlined nonsense peppering your text offends your sensibilities (as it does mine) – here are some thoughts for removing hyperlink formatting from your text.

One option is to select the link and choose Insert > Hyperlink (or press Control + K) and click the Remove Link button in the dialog. That’s the hard way in my book.

Easier still is to select the text and just press Control + Spacebar. That strips the formatting from the text – leaving it as plain text. It also works to strip formatting from any text, a handy shortcut to know.

Now, if you get hyperlinks whenever you type a URL or email address you can stop this from happening by choosing Tools > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat as you Type tab and disable the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks option. Now you can type all you like and the AutoFormat won’t affect your text.

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 7:10 pmNo Comments links to this post