Microsoft Office Tips & Tweaks (part 3)

When it comes to using Microsoft Office, you may be an old hand or a relative newcomer.
Either way, productivity is always at a premium, so it’s useful to know any tips and tricks that can free up more time for other, more important things. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few insider tips and tweaks that can help you create your Office documents, presentations, and worksheets in a flash. Unless otherwise indicated, the following tips should be universally applicable to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Erase Problems

If you mess up when creating a document (and who doesn’t?) you can use the Undo feature to reverse your actions. To do this, click the Undo button or press CTRL-Z one time for every action you want to reverse. If you get carried away and reverse too many actions, you can click the Redo button (or press CTRL-Y) to reverse Undo.

Make AutoCorrect Do Your Typing

You may already be familiar with AutoCorrect as the Office feature that automatically fixes embarrassing typos in your documents, based on its default list of corrections. For example, AutoCorrect will cheerfully change “hte” to “the” without even asking you. However, you may not realize that you can also leverage the feature by creating custom entries that automatically type long, complicated, or hard-to-spell words. For example, you can create a custom entry that automatically replaces your initials with your full name or replaces a short entry with a long (but frequently used) phrase or title. This time-saver is especially helpful in a word processing program like Word, although AutoCorrect works well in PowerPoint and Excel, as well.

To create an entry in AutoCorrect, choose Tools and AutoCorrect Options and then click the AutoCorrect tab. Make sure the Replace Text As You Type option is checked. Next, in the Replace box, enter the original text that you want to type (such as your initials). In the With box, enter the text that you want to replace the original text (such as your full name), and then click Add, OK. In your document or presentation, try out the feature by typing your initials followed by a space.

Get To Commands Quickly

Microsoft Office includes multiple ways to quickly access commonly used commands. You can right-click an area of the screen, such as a placeholder in PowerPoint or a chart in Excel, and the program displays a list of associated commands on a shortcut menu. Click the command you want on the list. If you’re relatively good at using the keyboard, you can also increase efficiency by using keyboard shortcuts for many processes, such as CTRL-B to bold selected text or CTRL-R to right-align it. To help you quickly learn the keyboard shortcuts, you can display them as part of the ScreenTips that pop up whenever you rest the mouse pointer over a toolbar button. To do this, right-click any visible toolbar and then choose Customize from the shortcut menu. Click the Options tab in the Customize dialog box and then check the boxes for Show ScreenTips On Toolbars and Show Shortcut Keys In Screen Tips before clicking Close.

Draw Symmetrical Objects

You can draw a variety of objects, such as squares and circles, in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. To do so, display the Drawing toolbar by right-clicking any visible toolbar and then choosing Drawing. On the Drawing toolbar, click the Rectangle or Oval tool and then click and drag in the application workspace. If the object is still selected, you can also enter text inside it just by typing. To create a symmetrical object (such as a perfect circle or square), press SHIFT while dragging to draw the object. To create an object from the center point (where you first begin dragging the mouse), press CTRL. Finally, to create a symmetrical object from a center point, click the tool on the toolbar, and then press CTRL-SHIFT while dragging the mouse. If you’re having trouble moving a drawn object in small increments with the mouse, try using the menu commands instead. Select the object and then choose Draw and Nudge from the Drawing toolbar. Choose a direction from the submenu that displays. As an alternative, you can move an object by using the keyboard: Press an arrow key to move a selected object six pixels at a time; pressing CTRL and an arrow key will move the object in tiny one-pixel increments.

Use WordArt

To create an attention-grabbing title, create it as WordArt Object. Click the Insert WordArt button (on the Drawing toolbar) to display the WordArt Gallery. Double-click a style, which simultaneously selects it and opens the Edit WordArt Text dialog box, and then type your text. Optionally, you can choose a typeface and font size by choosing them on the Font and Size drop-down lists. When you’re finished, click OK. You can make additional modifications to the WordArt object by selecting it and then choosing commands on the WordArt toolbar.

Jazz Up Objects With 3D Or Shadow Effects

You can add three-dimensional effects to circles, squares, and other drawn objects. Click the object to select it and then click the 3-D Style tool from the Drawing toolbar. Choose an effect from the palette. To further modify the object’s appearance, click 3-D Settings on the palette, which opens the 3-D Settings toolbar. You can then use buttons on this toolbar to change the object’s depth, surface appearance, color, or perspective. In a similar manner, you can also apply shadow effects to a drawn object. Select the object, click the Shadow Style tool on the Drawing toolbar and then choose a style from the palette. You can further revise the object’s look by clicking Shadow Settings on the palette to open the Shadow Settings toolbar and then changing the shadow’s direction or color. One important note: You can apply either a 3D or shadow effect to an object, but not both.

Copy Formatting

You can copy formatting from one object, text area, or cell to another. To do this, select the object or cell from which you want to copy the formatting (or click within the text), and then click the Format Painter button. Next, click the object, cell, or text to which you want to copy the formatting. You can also double-click the Format Painter button to keep it active. This enables you to copy formatting multiple times. When you’re finished copying formatting, click the Format Painter button again or simply press ESC.

Tear Off Toolbars

You can “tear off” many of the submenus (palettes) in your Office programs so that you can keep them open, which provides ready access to their tools. For example, it’s more convenient to keep the Font Color, AutoShapes, and Fill Color palettes displayed instead of going through the same series of mouse clicks every time you want to use their tools. To “tear off” a submenu, display it, and then drag the move bar at the top of the submenu into the document workspace area. Release the mouse. When you’re finished using a palette, click its close button to clear it from the screen.

Select Text Quickly

Word includes a number of methods that you can use to quickly select text: Double-click to select an individual word; triple-click to select a paragraph. You can also speedily select a sentence by pressing CTRL while single-clicking anywhere in the sentence. Furthermore, you can select a line (not to be confused with a sentence) by moving your mouse into left margin until it displays as a right-pointing arrow. Point at the line which you want to select and then click. Finally, you can select an entire document by choosing Edit and then Select All or by simply pressing CTRL-A.

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by Linda Bird