Not PSE Related - MS Word Helpful Link

[Diana]

This isn't related to Elements, but I know a lot of you here use MS Word, so I thought I'd share this site full of helpful instructions and tips. It is a newsletter site, and they have made all of their past newsletters available for free download.

http://www.jwolsen.com/allword.htm

Diana

[echoblue]

Great find Diana, many-many thanks for the heads-up!! :) :cool:

[kim2900]

Diana,

I use Word extensively at work and I'm often frustrated by its "control-freakishness!" This site is wonderful and provides numerous shortcuts, work-arounds, and macros for performing simple to difficult tasks. Thanks to much for posting this link!

Kim

[swalkr]

I used to use Word Perfect, because it had "reveal codes". I thought that was a wonderful tool, to see where to make corrections, etc. I have Word 2000 and it doesn't have such a tool that I can find. If someone has a way to "reveal codes" in Word, I'd sure like to know about it.

[kim2900]

Suzanne:

To the best of my knowledge, Word does not have a "reveal codes" feature like WordPerfect did. I loved WordPerfect for that very reason. You could see what was going on when it started to act quirky. Word puts all of the formatting in the last "hard return" code, which makes for a very interesting format change to your pages if you inadventently delete it.

Sorry this doesn't help.

Kim

[photoshopsusieq]

Kim, have you used the the Show/Hide to look at the formatting? I know that little button has saved me MANY times!

[Chuck S.]

Are any of you using Word 2007 yet? It sure is different....has been a steep learning curve for me....

[echoblue]

Are any of you using Word 2007 yet?
I used (or rather tried to use) the last public beta version that expired back in February... Maybe I'm wrong, but I found the "ribbon" feature non-intuitive and unnecessarily complicated, although some of the other new features (i.e. the advanced search options) did look good.

After it expired I went back to Office 2003 on my desktop PC and installed OpenOffice on the laptop. The uninstallation of Office 2007 broke my MS Works and Digital Image programs, which has never happened with 2003. This makes me think that Office 2007 gets too much integrated in the system for my taste... I think I'll stick to 2003 and OpenOffice (which is a great alternative choice, by the way)... :)

[kim2900]

Susan - I have the show/hide feature turned on all the time, and I agree with you, I couldn't function without it! Word is just not as user-friendly as WordPerfect was. I tried to explain this to "the powers that be" at my office before we switched but they could not understand. Now who do you think they call upon daily to help them because Word "has taken over their document and doing something crazy with their formatting!" I somehow resist the urge to say "Told you so!" :rolleyes:

Chuck - We have not yet upgraded to 2007 but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. "A steep learning curve?" Geez, thanks! That's exactly what I needed to hear! :eek:

If you haven't already checked out the Microsoft Office Online site, it does offer free tutorials on some basic to more advanced features.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/CH102247581033.aspx

Still, not an easy program to master.

Kim

[Chuck S.]

Chuck - We have not yet upgraded to 2007 but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. "A steep learning curve?" Geez, thanks! That's exactly what I needed to hear!

Kim

Kim, it'll probably be very easy for you - just not so for an old goat like me! :o It's definitely more different (?) than previous upgrades; finding things on the toolbars is challenging at first. I'm getting used to it, though, and beginning to even like it.....well, maybe that's going too far...:)

[photoshopsusieq]

Office 2007 :eek: FINALLY!! A software that I don't have to upgrade <woman doing the happy dance>. I used to live and die with Microsoft programs. In fact I have some MOS certificates gathering dust.... somewhere.

Kim - I too was the person the "PTBs" called when Office went wacko!

Lately, I've been doing some much work on my websites that Notepad has become my new best friend. Yes, Notepad is a MS product, but it certainly is more well behaved than Word!

[kim2900]

Chuck - I'm interested to know if you ever used WordPerfect (translation: was spoiled by...) before using Word?

Susan - I've never used Notepad, though it's been here all the time! And it's well-behaved? I will definitely check it out. Of course, in the office world, there is no room for the non-conformist. Therefore, as a "team player," I will live by Word (and probably die by Word)! :D

Kim

[Chuck S.]

Chuck - I'm interested to know if you ever used WordPerfect (translation: was spoiled by...) before using Word?


Kim

Kim, I never got the opportunity. The company I worked for was all Microsoft all the time from the very beginning of desktop computing...

[kim2900]

Ah, Chuck, it's just as well. You can't miss what you've never had. Onward and upward! :D

[LisaE62]

Suzanne,

Word does have a feature similar to WordPerfect's reveal codes. Place your insertion point where you have a question about formatting then click the Format menu, then click Reveal Formatting (Shift + F1). You will then be able to see what formatting has been applied to that specific area. It's not nearly as nice as the WordPerfect feature, but it's better than nothing!

Lisa