12 Useful Microsoft Word Tips and Tricks

Chances are, you either use Microsoft Word now, or may have to use it in the future. It’s easily the most popular word processor for Windows, so learning some useful Microsoft Word tips to take advantage of could really help to improve your productivity and speed up your work.

Regardless of whether you’re new to Microsoft Word or have been using it for years, we hope that at least some of the tips mentioned below will be useful for you.

Paste Without Formatting

If you need to copy something from elsewhere but don’t want the font to change from what you’re currently using in your Word document, copy it like usual, but thenpress Ctrl+Shift+V.Doing this will ensure that the contents get pasted but any formatting, such as text color, size, and font, will not be included.

Clear Formatting

If you want to clear the formatting of a specific part of your document, simplyhighlight that areaand click theClear Formattingicon. The icon will look like a small eraser next to the letter A.

If you would like to clear the formatting on everything in your document, pressCtrl+Ato highlight everything in the document and then click the clear formatting icon.

Highlight an Area Of Text Quickly

Instead of clicking and dragging to highlight an area of text in Microsoft Word, you can insteadclick once to place the text cursorat the start of the area you’d like to highlight,hold shift,thenclick at the end of the area you’d like to highlight.

Quickly Replace Multiple Mistakes

Have you just finished a lengthy document and just noticed you made a small mistake for a word, for example, writing land mark, instead of landmark? You can fix this within a few seconds by using find and replace.

First, pressCtrl+Fand the find and replace tool will open. Next, click onReplace, thentype in the word or phrase you want to replace. After,type the contents you’d like it be replaced by.

Quickly Copy And Create Lists

Let’s say you need to go through a document and pick out certain words/phrases and create a list from them.

Instead of going back and forth, writing each item onto the list each time you see a word, you can simplyhighlight each wordand pressCTRL + F3.You can do this multiple times until you have found each word/phrase.

Once you are finished, go to the area in the document you’d like the list to be created and pressCtrl + SHIFT + F3 topaste all of the highlighted areas you’ve just copied. This feature is known as Spike in Word.

As a final step, you can then highlight the contents and use the bullets or numbering tools in the toolbar to turn the words/phrases into a more ordered list.

Remove the Toolbar Ribbon

If you want distraction-free writing, you can remove the toolbar ribbon that sits at the top of your document by pressingCtrl + F1. If you need it back at any point, you can press Ctrl + F1 again to bring it back into view.

Delete Words With One Key Press

Need to delete a big chunk of text? Instead of holding down the backspace bar, you can instead holdCTRLand then pressBACKSPACE.

Doing this will delete one word each time you press the backspace button, instead of just one character. Hold down the backspace button and the ctrl button together to delete chunks of text at lightning speed.

Use ‘Tell Me What You Want to Do’

If you are trying to find a function on Microsoft Word but are struggling to navigate the menus or can’t remember the shortcut, click the‘Tell me what to do’shortcut at the top of the toolbar ribbon.

From here, you can type in the action you’d like to perform and you’ll get contextual answers to take advantage of. For example, typing ‘create a table’will give you some options for creating a table from within your Word document.

This tool is something that many old school Word users may not even know exists, but it’s incredibly useful.

Quickly Lookup a Word

If you are editing a Word document but need context, you can use the Smart Lookup tool. Simplyhighlight a word,right clickand clickSmart Lookup.

Doing this will open a small panel that contains information relating to the word. It saves moving to your browser and performing a search, but it’s just as powerful as doing so.

Disable Spelling and Grammar Check

Firstly, it’s common knowledge that you can right click a word with a spelling error and click ‘Add to Dictionary’. This is useful if you are using abbreviations or fictional words. You can also turn off spelling and grammar check completely to remove those pesky red and green lines.

To disable spelling and grammar check in Word for only one document, clickFile, thenOptions, then clickProofing. You must then tick the two options forhiding spelling and grammar mistakesin the document you are currently writing in.

Create Your Own AutoCorrect Settings

Have some words that you just can’t spell right? Or, are there long words or phrases you write very often? You can use custom AutoCorrect settings to make your life far easier.

Simply clickFile, thenOptions, then click onProofing. After that, click onAutoCorrect Options. You can thenadd your own custom wordsand then the correction you’d like it to be replaced with. Custom AutoCorrect can be an excellent way to increase your productivity.

Not only can you use it to adjust any common personal spelling mistakes, but you can use it to turn quick abbreviations into long words or phrases to save time.

Change the Page Color For Easy Viewing

It has become the universal standard for the color of a text document to be bright white. At times, this can become quite the strain on your eyes. To change the page color to sepia, which has a darker yellow hue, click on the‘tell me what to do’ box, then type‘change page color’.

In the results, clickPage Colorand you’ll have a number of options to choose from, including Sepia, which is far easier on the eyes.

Summary

Did you know any of the Microsoft Word tips we’ve mentioned in this article? If not, which ones do you think will be the most useful to you? Let me know, and feel free to share your own Microsoft Word tips in the comments below. Enjoy!

Ollie stumbled upon writing online whilst participating in a mobile network forum back in 2011. Since then, he has developed an incredible passion for writing about all sorts of tech from smartphones, PC hardware, software, and everything in between.Read Ollie’s Full Bio

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