Microsoft Word is a powerful tool, but most users only scratch the surface of its capabilities. Here are five features within Microsoft Word that can save time and money in your business:
1. **Create Professional Letterhead:** Design custom letterhead directly in Word using a variety of fonts and Microsoft’s free clip art collection. Save your design as a template for consistent branding. To access clip art, registered users can find it at Microsoft Office’s Design Gallery Live. Microsoft also offers free templates for letters, labels, and forms in the Template Gallery.
2. **Streamline Communication with Mail Merge:** Send personalized letters to multiple recipients efficiently using Word’s Mail Merge tool. This feature uses a list of names and addresses from a table created in Word, Excel, Access, or Outlook. Create your letter, leaving space for the address and salutation. In Excel, include columns for name, address, and salutation (e.g., “Dear Rocky” or “Dear Dr. Jones”). Then, in Word, navigate to Tools > Letters and Mailings > Mail Merge and follow the wizard’s instructions to connect your letter to your contact list.
3. **Add Watermarks for Document Control:** Clearly mark draft proposals or confidential documents with watermarks. Go to Format > Background > Printed Watermark to add text like “Draft” or “Confidential.” You can even use a company logo or image as a watermark. Ensure “semitransparent” or “washout” is selected to maintain readability.
4. **Track Changes for Collaborative Editing:** Easily review and compare changes made to documents by multiple collaborators. For Word 2002/2003, open the newer document, click Tools > Compare and Merge Documents, and select the original document. For Word 97/2000, click Tools > Track Changes > Compare Document. Save versions of your document by clicking File > Versions and selecting “Automatically save a version on close.”
5. **Master Keyboard Shortcuts:** Improve efficiency with keyboard shortcuts. Beyond the standard Ctrl+C (copy) and Ctrl+V (paste), explore these helpful shortcuts:
* Alt+Ctrl+C: Copyright symbol
* Alt+Ctrl+Period: Ellipsis
* Alt+Ctrl+R: Registered trademark symbol
* Alt+Ctrl+T: Trademark symbol
* Ctrl+B: Bold text
* Ctrl+E: Center a paragraph
* Ctrl+End: Skip to the end of a document
* Ctrl+Enter: Insert a page break
* Ctrl+F: Open the Find menu
* Ctrl+G: Go to a specific location
* Ctrl+H: Open the Replace menu
* Ctrl+Home: Skip to the beginning of a document
* Ctrl+I: Italicize text
* Ctrl+N: Create a new document
* Ctrl+S: Save a document
* Ctrl+Shift+F: Change the font
* Ctrl+Shift+P: Change the font size
* Ctrl+U: Underline text
* Ctrl+W: Close a document
* Ctrl+Y: Redo the last action
* Esc: Close an assistant or tip window
* Shift+F3: Change the case of letters
* Tab: Move between cells in a table