Mouse
Clix
Tips
and Tricks in Word
I
am sure that some of you use Microsoft Word very frequently and probably know
most of the tips I will be describing in this article. It is also probably true that some of you
are new to Word-Processing and might like to see more of the features that make
using a computer so much easier than a typewriter.
In
a recent article on Macros, I explained how to generate words or even sentences
with the click of your mouse or a few keystrokes. Another way to accomplish the same thing is with AutoText,
available in Word. To create an
AutoText entry, type your block of text.
Then highlight (select) it by dragging over the text. Click on Insert, point to AutoText and click
New. Choose a name for the entry and
click OK. You can insert the block of
text two ways. Type the unique name you
gave the entry and press F3, or start typing the name and when a ScreenTip
appears with the entire name, press the space bar or Enter. There is also an AutoText toolbar, which
makes this process even easier. Click
on View, Toolbars and then AutoText.
Here
are a few tips on scrolling in Word.
Drag the Scroll Box up and down.
The box, a gray rectangle, is between the scrolling arrows. As you drag, a box will pop up to tell you
what page number you will be on when your release the mouse button (if you are
in a multi-page document). Clicking on
either scroll Arrow moves the page one line.
Hold down the button down to scroll continuously. Clicking just inside the scrollbar below or
above the scroll box will move the text one screen length. If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse,
you can scroll the text with it. In
addition, you can click Next or Previous Page in a multi-page document to move
a page either forward or back. The
Insertion Point stays where it was, so that if you press the right or left
arrow key, it will return you to where you were. (Handy when you want to refer to something elsewhere in your
document with out losing your place.)
If
you want to see more of the page on the screen, do not forget to use the zoom
drop down list to change what is on the screen. It is on the Standard Tool bar with a small window that has xx %
in it. You need to click the little
down arrow to the right of it.
To
make other changes in the view, Click on View and select Normal to see a
continuous document, which hides much of the format and uses little memory
making scrolling smoother. Click View
and Page Layout (or Print Layout) to see a more realistic view of how the page
will print.
Here
are some ways to select Text (e.g., when cutting, copying or making Bold or
Italic).
To
select a single word, double click the word.
To select a full sentence, put the cursor anywhere in the sentence,
press Control and then left click. To select
a paragraph, triple click anywhere in it.
To select one line or a few, place the I beam in the margin and, when it
changes to an arrow, click. To include
more lines just drag. To select a
paragraph, do the same but double click and you can also drag to include more
paragraphs. To select your entire
document, triple click in the left margin or hit Control + A.
To
move text without using cut and paste, just select (highlight) it first and
then drag it to where you want to insert it.
A little vertical line shows you where it will be when you lift your
finger. If you want to copy the text to
a new location, do the same but hold down the control key while you are
dragging. If you drag with the right
mouse button, when you release the button a menu will come up asking you
whether you want to cut and move or copy it.
In Office 2000 the Windows clipboard (where Cut or Copied text is held)
can store more than one selection so that you can paste some or all of your cut
or copied text in various places.
If
you have two documents open at the same time, you can easily drag and drop
between them. When you open a second
document, it will cover the first one and you can show the document you want by
clicking it in the task bar. To show
them both on the screen at the same time, click on Windows and Arrange
All. In that format, you can drag and
drop text between documents. To go back
to one document, click the X in the upper right corner of either one. The other will be left small but can be
returned to the previous size by clicking on Maximize. If you have inadvertently misspelled a name
wrong throughout your document, you can easily use Find and Replace in the Edit
menu. And remember if you have made an
editing move and have put it in the wrong place, Undo and Redo are those two
side-by-side Icons with the curved arrows left and right.
Now,
if you are sharing a Microsoft Document via e-mail with friends or co-workers,
try some of the animated effects that are available. Click on Format and then Font. Select the Animation tab and try out some of the effects,
especially Marching Black or Red Ants, and Sparkle. You can see what the effect looks like in the preview window on the
same screen if you highlight the proposed text before you go to Format.
I hope
you find some of the above useful!
Hobie
Lunin is a Computer Instructor and Consultant.
He can be reached at mouseclix2@yahoo.com. Previous articles are at: http://mouseclix.tripod.com