Microsoft Word 2007
The goal of this page is to write down a few Microsoft Word 2007 tips that may help writing a real text. I don't plan to turn this into a real World tutorial (see the links section for some of these).
See also Microsoft Word 2003.
For the moment I don't have time to work on this. I'll just copy/paste some stuff and then arrange later - Daniel K. Schneider 16:25, 6 November 2008 (UTC).
Word 2007 does seem to have better ergonomics, but some stuff, e.g. using styles still seems to be absolutely dreadful.
Options
Options can be found at the bottom of the window that opens when you hit the big "Office" button on top left.
Suggested options:
- (to be written)
- Click to enable "Show Developer tab in the ribbon". Else you won't be able - for example - to import styles
Importing styles
Source: Herb Tyson, How do I import styles from one document into an existing document, retrieved 16:25, 6 November 2008 (UTC).
Do you have an existing template you want to use, or do the styles you want to copy exist only in a document file? I find that Word will let me "apply"a different document's styles to a given document, but that unless the format is .docx, Word tells me it's not a valid template. So, for example, if I apply the styles in document1.doc, I get an error message, but if the file is document1.docx, it works fine. It seems to work even when there's an error message, but it leaves you with an uncomfortable sense that something didn't quite go as planned.
The more traditional route, however, is to apply a .dot, .dotx, or .dotm (template files) to a document.
Having said all that... the method is as follows:
- Developer tab.
- Click Document Template.
- Click Attach to navigate to the target document or template.
- Once back in the Templates and Add-ins dialog, click to enable Automatically update document styles.
- Click OK.
Document templates
If you see something like "Contacting the server for Information. Press ESC to cancel" and experience some freezing, then Word may attempt to find a document template that you had on a network drive.
To fix this:
- Enter the "developer tab", Click on "Document template",
- then either replace the template by a local version of the *.dot file or else erase the file name. It will be back to "normal" in the latter case.
Word probably will also do this for other reasons, e.g. trying to have some conversation with a network printer. As last resort you can switch of the network...
Lists
Are still a freaking disaster. List numbers and bullets can disappear at any moment or change the format. Did not figure out what do do about this ....
Maybe it is better to use multi-level lists ...
Using Word to produce slides
If you use a lot of slides in your teaching, it is IMHO better to use a word processor than presentation software and for the following reasons.
- Writing is quicker since you dont have to work on a page per page basis to start with
- Importing stuff from a text document (word, html, whatever) is much easier
- You get a table of contents and headings numbering. This is important if you have 200-500 slides for a course.
Of course, presentation software is better at dealing with space. But for teaching puporses, you don't need all the slides to finish exactly at the bottom. All you need is basically 2 sizes of bullets. And anyhow, bullets are for bad teachers. Good teachers use figures, tables, graphs, pictures, citations, etc. An for these, word is no worse than PPT. You even have access to smart art in Word...
- Tips
- Create a A4 (or letter page) sideways (it's good enough you, dont need the exact proportion a a computer screen).
- Use the same styles as the ones you use to create textbooks, lecture notes etc. But change the font-size. You also might use a common font, e.g. a multi-purpose typeface like Constantia.
- Insert the "Page break" command plus other useful commands to the quick access bar like "insert table", "insert drawing", "shapes and so forth".
Styles
There are five different types of styles in Word 2007. All of these have bugs or user interface "features" that behave like bugs.
- paragraph
- character: Only formats inline blocks (i.e. characters). Sometimes it doesn't work. E.g. if you define a bold text it shows "normal" and the other way round.
- linked: a combination styling that can be applied to both paragraphs and individual characters. I don't understand the purpose of this.
- table
- list are still freaky (see above).
- Knowing what you do
One of the most freaking experiences when you start using Word2007 is that you don't know what style you are working with. You might want to scroll through the Styles Window and find your style highlighted, if you think that it is really cool to spend about 10 seconds each time.
Therefore, it is crucial that you add the Style to the Quick Access Toolbar. By default, this bar sits on the very top in the window "decoration" next to the big office button. You also can move this toolbar down. Right-click the bar and select "Show Quick Access Bar Below the Ribbon". Now to add the Style command, right-click on the bar and select "Customize Quick Access Toolbar"". Move "Style" to the right.
- Being fast
Firstly you should add stuff to the Quick Access Toolbar. E.g. for writing a study book, I need frequently "insert table", "insert caption", "cross reference" plus a few drawing manipulation tools.
- Headings
It is easy to select from different heading styles, if you use the "multi-level" drop down menu in the paragraph panel of the "Home" tab. However, things can out of control if you don't pay attention to reformatting.
It is relatively easy to create your own tree-based styles.
- Open the multi-level menu and click on Define new Multilevel list'. Do not use the normal style definition procedure to define headings, e.g. numbering and indentation ans such. If do so, you will be very sorry!
- Also click on the "more" Tag. Then link heading 1, heading 2, etc. To these levels. Else if you import text you'll have to translate each heading...
- Leave the thing open until you are done with all definition. Did not manage to figure out how to change a given multi-level list, just how to create a new one based on an old one.
To change a multi-level style, you need to click on a number in the text (yes you can't do this through the menu).
- Other Tips
- You should remove all unused styles from the quick styles panel. You can accidentally click on one that you don't use.
- You may base all your styles on "normal". However the danger is is that modifications of normal will affect all other styles. Avoid if you didn't configure word not to automatically update style. Else importing text from another document may produce disaster. So instead, create your own "normal", e.g. call it "base".
- "The Number Must be between 1 and 600"
- This is an error you get typically if you import from another wordprocessor. Select
all the text in the document, go to Format > Font > Character spacing and enter "100%" in the Scale box for example.
Crossreferences
Are still a disaster in Word 2007 or maybe it's just me. I still can't create a crossreference type that would for instance include both numbers and text and formatting
To update all crossreferences (it's not automatic and not in the references tab ....)
- Hit ctrl-A (select your whole text)
- Hit F9 (and wait ... word will also prompt to know how to update the TOC, Table of figures, etc.)
Links
Selected Issues
- Microsoft Word 2007 Style Basics, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, LTS OnLine Help Documentation.
- See the associated Word 2007 bible blog