Common Errors Made By Microsoft Word Users

Everybody knows Microsoft Word. It's on almost every PC in the world and fair few Macs as well. However, a lot of users have picked up bad habits, things that detract from the usefulness of the document being created. This article looks at the most common basic errors among Microsoft users.

* Pressing the Return key at the start of a document which needs to be printed on a letterhead is one of the most common such errors. The correct thing to do is to change the top margin setting. Otherwise, you get have superfluous characters at the start of your text. (In Word 2003, go to File and choose Page Setup. In Word 2007, click on the Page Layout tab of the ribbon then click on Custom Margins.

* A lot of Word users have the habit of entering two spaces after a full-stop. This is a recommendation that used to apply when typewriters were being used with monospace typefaces such as Courier. With the advent of word processors, and now computers, the two space rule is redundant because electronically generated fonts are proportionally spaced and it's easy for the eye to pick out the end of each sentence.

* The habit of pressing the Return key twice at the end of each paragraph is not a good idea because it creates a sea of extra white space on the printed page. Only one return should used to end the paragraph. Extra space can then be added using the paragraph spacing commands. To find these options, in Word 2003 or earlier, choose Paragraph from the format menu. In Word 2007, click on the Page Layout tab.

* People who have never had any formal Microsoft Word training can perhaps be forgiven for not fully understanding how tabs work. You will even see some users attempting to align elements by using the space bar and, of course, when they print the document, nothing is properly aligned. As experienced users will know, the Tab key should be used; not the space bar.

* Having identified the Tab key as the correct one to use to create columns, many Word users just press the tab key to tab along to the next default tab. The number of times the Tab key is pressed will thus vary, depending on the length of each piece of text. It is much better to set one's own tabs by clicking on the Word ruler. This means that on each line of text, the tab key will be pressed the same number of times between columns.

* A lot of newbie Word users will always format their documents, even long ones, either manually or by using the Format Painter. The best way to format text in long documents is to use Microsoft styles. Each style has multiple attributes associated with it which are applied automatically to any text formatted with that style. In addition, if the attributes of a style are changed, all text in that style is updated throughout the document.

* Word AutoCorrect and other text optimisation features can sometimes seem a bit too much to some users but many people do nothing to adjust the way these features work. In Word 2007, the AutoCorrect and other settings can be changed at any time by clicking on the Office Button and choosing Word Options. The equivalent in Word 2003 and earlier is Tools - Options.

Article Source: http://www.dummiesguideto.com

The author of this article has been teaching Microsoft Word training courses for many years. He is a training consultant with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent IT training company based in London.

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