15 March 2019

Sorting Addresses and Contact Information in MSWord

Byte of the Day, Word

Sorting Addresses

Let me first say – sorting addresses is best done in Excel (or another database program). There, I’ve said it. If you have a long list of individuals that will become part of a merge, for example, do yourself a favor and put the information into Excel where the data can be manipulated easier. At the very least, you could put the information into an MSWord table. However, there are definitely times where you might want the information to stay in a “block” or paragraph format and not in a table format with rows and columns. If you have a list of contacts (names and addresses) and you would like them to appear in alphabetically order… take a deep breath and read on.

To make this happen, you must follow these rules. I’m serious.

Each address must be an individual paragraph. In the samples below, the first example has the information (name, address, city/state/zip) separated by a hard return at the end of each line. In the second example, the information (name, address, city/state/zip) is separated by a manual line break (Shift+Enter). The only place a hard return (Enter) should be is at the end of the contacts information (after the zip).

2. Connect the words using a non-breaking space. You want to sort by the last name? No problem! Take a look at the following examples. In each of them, the first line has a different set of information. “Ms. Lilly Buckhold” has three words. “Richard Eldridge” has two words. “Ms. Andrea L. Harkness” has four words. Yes, the initial counts as a separate “word.” The goal is to tell MSWord to look at the last name when sorting addresses. To do this, you will need to connect all of the words, except the last name, using a non-breaking space (Ctrl+Shift+spacebar). Note: you only need to use the non-breaking spaces on the words in the first line.

In this way, when sorting addresses, we have asked MSWord to consider all words which are connected by a non-breaking space as ONE WORD. So “Ms. Lilly” becomes one word and the second word of the line is Buckhold. “Richard” is one word and Eldridge is the second word. “Ms. Andrea L.” is now considered one word and Harkness is the second word. With me so far? Great job!

If you have made the necessary changes to your list of addresses, you can now sort them.

Select the list of addresses
Click on the Home tab, if necessary.
In the Paragraph section of the Home tab, you will see the Sort option. After clicking on the Sort option, you will see the following dialog box:

Click on the Options button.

Here, you are choosing to separate fields (words) using spaces. Click on the Other option and make sure it contains one space. This seems tricky because a space is “invisible”, but if in doubt you can select anything in that square and delete it. Then, carefully press the space bar. This works because you set up the first line of the paragraph so that the only SPACE is right before the last name.

Then click OK. You will be back to the Sort by dialog box.

In the first section, click on the Sort By drop-down list and choose the Word 2 option. Remember, the second word is the last name!
Click on OK.

Your list should now be sorted alphabetically by last name. If you understand the concepts in this technique, you can use this information to sort all kinds of text in MSWord.

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8 March 2019

Navigating in Excel

Byte of the Day, Excel

Navigating in Excel

Navigating in Excel simply means working and moving around in the spreadsheet. Excel users need to be comfortable with the various parts of the spreadsheet, the different mouse pointers and what they do. The next step is to start building your spreadsheet! There are many different ways an Excel spreadsheet can improve your productivity, create a visual representation of your data and offer an easy way to manipulate at data. Here are some examples:

Manage a List of Data

Sort
Filter
Remove duplicate entries

Basic Math Functions

Add
Subtract
Multiply
Divide

Add a Visual Element

Bar Chart
Pie Chart
Pivot Table

The ideas above barely scratch the surface of the helpful things Excel can do! Hopefully, they give you some motivation to learn how to Navigate in Excel. Let’s start by selecting rows, columns, a cell and a range.

Selecting Columns and Rows

You must make sure that your mouse pointer is pointing at the column or row header. It will look like a down-pointing, or right-pointing black arrow. Here’s a video to help out navigating in Excel!

Selecting a Cell

Selecting a cell uses the the white plus-sign pointer. Point and click at several places in a worksheet to see the cell become “active”. The dark border around the cell is your visual telling you which cell is selected. You have other visual helpers, like the column and row headers – they turn yellow. Also, the Name Box will display the name of the cell (shown with a purple circle around it in the image below). Did you know that every cell has a name? The name is the combination of the column and row – so the cell name is the intersection of the column and row. In the example below, I have selected the cell – C6.

Selecting a Range of Cells

Oftentimes you will need to work with more than one cell a a time. You will need to select several cells together – this is called a range. You can select multiple rows, columns and cells – they are all called a range, respectively. Once you have a range selected, you can format them or delete them or manipulate them all at the same time. Work faster, not harder when navigating in Excel 😛

Selecting Non-Contiguous Rows, Columns, Cells and Ranges

One more skill before I wrap up! This is helpful if you want to chose areas that are not next to one another, i.e. Columns C and F (but you don’t want to work with Columns D and E). Take a look at the video to get a few example of what a non-contiguous range would look like. To select a non-contiguous areas, you select the first range, then use the CTRL key and drag to select the second range. Let me break the actions into 2 steps. First step, you select the initial area (cell, row, column or range of those areas). Then for the second step, you hold down the CTRL key and select the next area (cell, row, column or range of those areas). Then release both the mouse and CTRL key. Happy Selecting!

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7 March 2019

Print a Custom Range in MSWord

The Big Byte, Word

Print a Custom Range

To print a custom range of pages in an MSWord document is usually very straightforward. To print several consecutive pages you would simply type in the range using a “dash”, i.e. 1-3 (this prints pages 1, 2, and 3). If you wanted to print several, non-consecutive pages you would separate the pages using a “comma”, i.e. 1, 3, 5 (this prints page 1, page 3, and page 5). Easy peasy! But that’s not why you came here… you are probably here because you are already know this, you’ve tried to print a custom range, and it is NOT printing. I gotcha!

Multiple Sections

First, does your document contain more than 1 section? If it does, this is probably the reason you are having trouble. Here is the situation: the document below has 8 physical pages. If you were to print the entire document, you would print 8 pages. Please note: the document has 2 sections. In section 1, there are 5 pages (pages 1 through 5). In section 2, there are 3 pages (pages 6-8). If you want to print pages 4 through 7, you will have a problem if you just type in “4-7”. Here’s why: now that the document has been separated using sections, MSWord looks at each section for your custom range. Meaning, it looks in section 1 for pages 4-7 and doesn’t find it. It looks in section 2 for pages 4-7 and doesn’t find it. So it won’t print that custom range.

Custom Range

First, click on Print. Then, select the option Print Custom Range under Settings. If you start typing in the Pages field, Print Custom Range will be automatically selected. In order to print pages 4-7, you would type P4S1-P2S2 in the Pages field. To decipher this, it means print “Page 4 Section 1 through Page 2 of Section 2”. It is not case sensitive, by the way 😛

So to recap, in order to successfully print a custom range in a document containing section breaks, you need to understand that section breaks are taken seriously; they are mini-documents within a larger document and need to be identified in the Pages field. Happy Printing!

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24 August 2018

Header and Footer Keyboard Shortcuts

headings, Word

DEAR MS. BYTES

I would like to know if there is a Header and Footer Keyboard Shortcut which would allow me to jump into the Header of my MS Word document?

Sincerely – Maureen W.

(more…)

13 April 2018

Heading Styles – Introduction

The Big Byte, Word

Styles

Styles are one of the most important features to understand when using MSWord. Many components within MSWord use styles – making your job easier – so it is essential to fully grasp the concepts of styles. For this article, we will focus on heading styles, named Heading 1-9.

Heading Styles

Heading styles automatically come with MSWord – they are there whether you want them, or not! For many users, ignoring them is totally acceptable; however, experienced users have learned the benefits of working with them. It won’t take long, however, before you realize that the default formatting of these styles needs to be changed to fit the formatting of most legal documents. So let’s start there…

Applying Styles

Several styles, including a couple of heading styles, can be easily applied to selected text using the Styles section on the Home Ribbon. To apply a style, select the text, then click on a style. Simple!

Helpful Keystrokes

It might be a good time to introduce a couple keystrokes that we really like. Both of these keystrokes will open a separate pane containing style commands. Either of these can be moved around by dragging the title bar, or you can dock them to the left or right by dragging it all the way to either side. Which one is the best? Whichever one fits your needs! Sometimes we have both active in the document; sometimes we switch between them depending on the document we are working in.

CTRL+SHIFT+S will open the Apply Styles pane. It reflects the name of the style applied either to the text where your cursor is placed or to the selected text. The drop-down list will let you change, or apply, a different style to your active text. The Modify button is located in the Apply Styles pane. You will use this make changes to a style. The Styles button display another pane with more commands.

CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+S will open the Styles pane (as if you clicked the Styles button on the Apply Styles pane). This pane displays the list of styles (rather than a drop-down list). A favorite in this list is the Clear All – which removes any direct formatting and removes any applied style. This is quick way to strip the active text of all formatting! Each style in the list has a drop-down arrow giving you several commands like Update to Match Selection and the Modify command. At the bottom of the Styles pane, there are 3 more buttons that are very helpful: New Style, Style Inspector, and Manage Styles. These commands are explored more fully in separate articles.

Hopefully these options – the Style section on the Home Ribbon and the 2 keystrokes – will give you access to the commands you need while working with styles in your documents.

Why Use Heading Styles

We have mentioned that there are several elements in MSWord that use heading styles. If you need more motivation to learn about and use heading styles, the fact that the following features use heading styles should give you some incentive:

Numbering
Cross-References
Table of Contents
Hyperlinks
Page Numbering and Captions that use Chapter Numbering
SEQ Fields
HTML (publishing to the internet) uses H1, H2, etc.
Creating Bookmarks in PDF’s
Outline View
Navigation Pane (one of our personal favs!!)
Stability (saved the best for last)

Happy Learning!

Online Webinars

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10 April 2018

How Can I Quickly Change Text Case?

Byte of the Day, Word

Showing how to quickly change text case using a simple keystroke has always been a favorite tip during a training class or webinar. We love sharing keystrokes because they can make our lives so much easier. Do you have a favorite keystroke? Share it in the comments below!

Text in All Caps

Sometimes, you will work with a document where someone has typed a company name and address in all caps or you might copy text from an internet source that was typed in all caps. Instead of retyping the information in the correct case, try these steps first:

Select the text that is in the wrong case
Press Shift+F3

It couldn’t be simpler!

Text Case Options Using Keyboard

Pressing Shift+F3 toggles through three different case options: ALL CAPS, all lowercase, and All Title Case. Keep your text selected, and continue pressing Shift+F3 until the text looks the way you want it.

Change Case: Home Ribbon

You have a few additional options if you want to change text case. Select the text and make sure you are viewing the Home Ribbon. Click on the Change Case option. This will show several choices:

Sentence Case – capitalizes the first letter of each sentence
Lowercase – all selected text will be lowercase
Uppercase – capitalizes each letter
Title Case – capitalizes the first letter of each word
Toggle Case – switches the case of each letter in the selection

Happy Learning!

Coming Soon – Webinars

Would you like to enhance your skills on a specific topic from the comfort of your home or desk? Our 60 minute webinars deliver quick, high quality training, helping you make the most of your valuable time. Some of our webinar classes are: MSWord Essentials, MSWord Styles, MSWord Outline Numbering, MSWord Headers & Footers, MSWord Table of Contents & Table of Authorities, MSExcel Essentials, MSPowerPoint Essentials, and many more! What topic, feature, or skill would you like to know more about? Drop us your wish list in the comments!

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10 April 2018

Working with Headers and Footers

headings, Word

Headers and Footers are great for adding additional information to your documents like file names, dates, and page numbers. Generally, the information you add to a Header shows up at the top of every page. And, the information you add to a Footer shows up at the bottom of every page. You can specify a Different First Page Header and/or Footer. This will allow you to specify text that is unique and only appears on the first page. Additionally, with the addition of Section Breaks, you can specify different Header and Footer information for each section. You can also specify a Different First Page for each section. This means that each section behaves like a mini-document within the larger document container. Working with Headers and Footers can be as simple and easy as you need, but this feature can also handle more complex page formatting needs for larger documents.

(more…)

3 April 2018

Automatic Border Lines in MSWord

Dear Ms. Bytes, Word

Dear Ms. Byte,

When I type 3 or 4 dashes and then press ENTER, an automatic border line appears in my document. I know I can press CTRL+Z to undo it right after it happens, but how can I stop this from happening in the first place? It is seriously frustrating!

Sincerely – Mary L.

Dear Mary L.,

MSWord has several automatic formatting options that can be very frustrating – this is one of them! MSWord will drop in automatic border lines when you type 3 or more dashes, equal signs, and underscores. Watch this short video to see how to turn off automatic border lines.

Sincerely – Ms. Bytes

Word Options

Here is some additional advice: spend some time looking at Word Options. There are many features that can be customized – turned on or off. There are many more just in the Proofing section! But don’t stop there… explore all of them. Happy Learning!

Online Webinars

Would you like to enhance your skills on a specific topic from the comfort of your home or desk? Our 60 minute webinars deliver quick, high quality training, helping you make the most of your valuable time. Some of our webinar classes are: MSWord Essentials, MSWord Styles, MSWord Outline Numbering, MSWord Headers & Footers, MSWord Table of Contents & Table of Authorities, MSExcel Essentials, MSPowerPoint Essentials, and many more! What topic, feature, or skill would you like to know more about? Drop us your wish list in the comments!

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28 March 2018

Deleting Footnotes in MSWord

Dear Ms. Bytes, Word

Dear Ms. Byte,

I opened a document that had all the information I needed and saved it with a new name. I’ve been working on it today and just realized that it has several footnotes. I would like to delete all of the footnotes in this document, is that possible?

Sincerely – Isaac R.

Dear Isaac R.,

It sure is! And pretty simple, too. Read on…

Sincerely – Ms. Bytes

Footnotes

Many documents can benefit from a footnote – they allow you to provide a source for a cited piece of text or add helpful information. But deleting footnotes is also important. The first thing we like to try is utilizing the power of MSWord’s Find and Replace feature. There are so many useful things you can look for in your document (i.e. a specific style, a symbol, etc.) and many things with which you can replace them.

Split Screen

Here is an example of a few footnotes – notice the active Split Screen? If you would like to get more information on how to use a Split Screen, click here . For the purpose of this example, the Split Screen makes it easy to see the top and bottom of the page at the same time. In your document, Isaac, you won’t need to split the screen as you search for footnotes.

Deleting Footnotes

Pressing Ctrl+H will display the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

In the Find What box, enter the following: ^f. This means you want to search for footnotes.
Make sure the Replace With box is empty.
You can click on Find Next to find the footnotes one at a time. When a footnote is found, you can click Replace and it will remove the footnote and find the next footnote in your document.
Or you can click on Replace All – all of the footnotes will be deleted. Or to be specific, all of the footnotes will be replaced with nothing.
Close the Find and Replace dialog box.

Watch the video to see how deleting footnotes is super easy!

Online Webinars

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21 March 2018

Can I Delete Fonts in MS Word?

Dear Ms. Bytes, Windows, Word

Dear Ms. Byte,

When I display the font list in MSWord, it is very long and contains many fonts that I never use. Is there a way to delete fonts I find useless ?

Sincerely – Tracy G.

Dear Tracy G.,

I know what you’re talking about! At work, I only need a handful of professional fonts, too. Follow the steps below to delete fonts from the font list in MSWord.

Sincerely – Ms. Bytes

Windows System

The fonts you see when you are working on an MSWord document are actually stored on your Windows system. The fonts are stored there so that other programs have access to them too, like MSPowerPoint and MSExcel. While you cannot delete fonts from within MSWord, it is a simple process to access the Windows Font folder and make changes within the Control Panel.

Depending on your Operating System, the steps to access the Control Panel may be different. Essentially, you will need to either search for the Control Panel (my favorite method), or click on it in your Start Menu.

Control Panel

To see the fonts that come with Windows, open the Control Panel and then click on Fonts.

From there you can do all sorts of fun things with your fonts: organize, preview, add and delete fonts. Also, if you are using a later version of Windows (7 or later), you can “hide” individual fonts. This allows them to stay installed in Windows, but they won’t display in the applications you use. Just remember to click on – or select – the font you want to mange first!

Online Webinars

Would you like to enhance your skills on a specific topic from the comfort of your home or desk? Our 60 minute webinars deliver quick, high quality training, helping you make the most of your valuable time. Some of our webinar classes are: MSWord Essentials, MSWord Styles, MSWord Outline Numbering, MSWord Headers & Footers, MSWord Table of Contents & Table of Authorities, MSExcel Essentials, MSPowerPoint Essentials, and many more! What topic, feature, or skill would you like to know more about? Drop us your wish list in the comments!

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