Common Tips And Tricks For Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word

• Review of Common Text Editing Shortcut Keys
• Shortcut Keys
• Formatting Text
• Changing Decoration
• Changing Font
• Manipulating Paragraphs
• Editing Text
• Moving the Cursor
• Selecting Text
• Using the Clipboard
• Working with Documents
• Miscellaneous
• Mouse Shortcuts
• Example Scenarios
• Links To More Information

Review of Common Text Editing Shortcut Keys

Before learning any new shortcut keys for Microsoft Word, you may wish to review the Common Shortcut Keys article in the Keyboard section. Those basics are absolutely vital for saving time when working with Microsoft Word.

For the sake of completeness, I've included the common shortcut keys discussed from that article in these tables as well. So, you may see some shortcut keys you already know.

Shortcut Keys

Formatting Text: Changing Decoration

Ctrl+B	Bold the selected text bold
Ctrl+I	Italicize the selected text italic
Ctrl+U	Underline the selected text
Ctrl+Shift+D	Double underline
Ctrl+=	Subscript
Ctrl+Shift+=	Superscript
Ctrl+Shift+N	Apply "Normal" style

Formatting Text: Changing Fonts

Ctrl+D	Open font options dialog box
Ctrl+Shift+F	Select font face in toolbar
Ctrl+Shift+P	Select font size in toolbar
Ctrl+]	Increase font size by one pt
Ctrl+[	Decrease font size by one pt
Ctrl+Shift+>	Increase font size
Ctrl+Shift+<<	Decrease font size
Ctrl+Spacebar	Reset to default font face

Formatting Text: Manipulating Paragraphs

Ctrl+E	Center paragraph
Ctrl+M	Justify paragraph
Ctrl+L	Flush paragraph left
Ctrl+R	Flush paragraph right
Ctrl+M	Indent paragraph
Ctrl+Shift+M	Un-indent paragraph
Ctrl+1	Single-space lines
Ctrl+2	Double-space lines
Ctrl+5	1.5-space lines

Remember that you can use these shortcut keys both for existing text and for new text. To understand, let's look at the example of bolding text:

• If you have existing text that you want to bold: 1) select that text, 2) hit theCtrl+B shortcut key to make the text bold.
• If you are going to type some text that you want to be bold: 1) hit the Ctrl+Bshortcut key, 2) type the text, 3) then hit Ctrl+B again to turn off the bolding.

Editing Text

Ctrl+Backspace	Delete the previous word
Ctrl+Del	Delete the next word
Ctrl+F	Find text in the current document
Ctrl+H	Replace text in the current document
Ctrl+Enter	Page break

Moving the Cursor

These shortcut keys are great for navigating around documents. For example, I use Ctrl+RightArrow (move the cursor right one word) when I'm trying to edit a word in the middle of a line since it gets me there faster than picking up my mouse and clicking there. I also use Ctrl+DownArrow (move the cursor to the next paragraph) to scan the entire document quickly.

PageUp	Move the cursor up a page
PageDown	Move the cursor down a page
Home	Move the cursor to the beginning of the line
End	Move the cursor to the end of the line
Ctrl+Home	Move the cursor to the beginning of the document
Ctrl+End	Move the cursor to the end of the document
Ctrl+LeftArrow	Move the cursor left one word
Ctrl+RightArrow	Move the cursor right one word
Ctrl+UpArrow	Move the cursor to beginning of, or previous paragraph
Ctrl+DownArrow	Move the cursor to end of, or next paragraph

Selecting Text

The shortcut keys for selecting text are directly related to those that move the cursor around. Just add a Shift:

Shift+PageUp	Select everything between the cursor and a page previous
Shift+PageDown	Select everything between the cursor and a page after
Shift+Home	Select everything between the cursor and the beginning of the line
Shift+End	Select everything between the cursor and the end of the line
Shift+Ctrl+Home	Select everything betweeen the cursor and the beginning of the document
Shift+Ctrl+End	Select everything between the cursor and the end of the document
Shift+Ctrl+LeftArrow	Select the word to the left
Shift+Ctrl+RightArrow	Select the word to the right

Using the Clipboard

Ctrl+C	Copy what's selected
Ctrl+X	Cut what's selected
Ctrl+V	Paste what you last copied or cut
Ctrl+A	Select all

Working with Documents

Ctrl+N	New document
Ctrl+O	Open existing document
Ctrl+S	Save document
F12	Save document as...
Ctrl+W	Close document
Ctrl+P	Print document
Ctrl+F6	Switch to the next open documewnt
Ctrl+Shift+F6	Switch to the previous open documewnt
Alt+F4	Exit Microsoft Word

Miscellaneous

F7	Open spellcheck dialog box
Shift+F7	Open thesaurus dialog box
Ctrl+Z	Undo your last action
Ctrl+Y	Redo your last action

Mouse Shortcuts

Microsoft Word also has support for some mouse shortcuts. Overall, I recommend learning the keyboard shortcuts so you don't have to switch from keyboard to mouse to keyboard. But, sometimes these can come in handy:

Double-click a word	Select the word
Triple-click a word	Select the paragraph
Left-click the space on the left of a line	Select the line
Double-click the space on the left of a line	Select the paragraph
Ctrl+ScrollUp	Zoom in on the document
Ctrl+ScrollDown	Zoom out of the document
Click and drag some text	Select text from where you click and hold to where you let go
Click and drag the space on the left of a line	Select the lines you drag over

Example Scenarios

Scenario: Bold some text you are about to type

Ctrl+B to turn on the bold feature Type the text you want to be bold Ctrl+B to turn off the bold feature

Scenario: Selecting A Line Of Text

Home to move the cursor to the beginning of the line Shift-End to move the cursor to the end of the line and select everything alonig the way

Source: http://goo.gl/5b4OQA