MICROSOFT WORD 2003: TAILORING IT FOR WRITERS

To Save This File: Go to “Save As” in the “File” menu. Select a location in the “Save In” box. Type a file name in the “Filename” box and hit “Save”. When searching for it in M.S. Word, it should show in the open window though it will be an HTML file. You can always re-save it as a Word file (.doc).

I. Formatting your novel or short story for submission.

A. Setting exact tab for initial paragraph indent.

1. Highlight all text (Control + A).

2. Click once in the upper ruler bar on the 3/8 mark. (If the ruler is not visible, open the “View” menu and select “Ruler”)

3. Double-click on the new tab mark.

4. Enter .31 in the “Tab” window to get an exact five-character indent.

5. Drag the old 3/8 inch tab mark into the document and let go.

B. Page Break.

1. Place insertion point after the last text on page.

2. In the “Insert” menu choose “Break”

3. In the “Break” window “Break” should already be selected so click “OK”. (Control + Enter)

C. Formatting manuscript style for submission.

1. Bring chapter titles down to the three-inch mark on the left ruler. (No left ruler? Make sure you’re in the “Print Layout” view—go to the “View” menu and select it if need be.)

2. Place insertion point to immediate left of chapter title.

3. Hold shift key down while executing Control + End. This highlights everything but the title page.

4. Double space the highlighted text by hitting Control + 2. (Control + 5 will one-and-a-half space and Control + 1 will single space.)

5. Header and Pagination.

a. Select “Header and Footer” from the “View” menu.

b. Type title and author name.

c. Select “Page numbers” from the “Insert” menu.

d. Make sure the alignment is “right”.

e. Deselect “Show number on the first page”.

f. Click on “Format” button.

g. Click on “Start at” under “Page Numbering”.

h. Change “1” to zero.

i. Click “OK”, and then “OK” again.

II. Formatting a novel like a printed book.

A. Set margins to match intended book size through “File” + “Page setup” menu.

1. EG: Book size is 6” x 9”. Set document to “Print Layout” through the “View” Menu.

2. A typical text area is 4.5” x 7.25” in a 6” x 9” book.

3. Left over space on letter page (8.5” x 11”) will be 4” x 3.75”.

4. Left over space on letter page (8.5” x 11”) split in half (for top and bottom 2”; side to side will be 1.88”)

B. Change text percent size until screen displays all text.

1. You can type any size you want up to 500. Simply type in place of the highlighted number. (Control + Mouse Wheel)

III. Getting Around the Document

A. “End” key takes cursor to end of line.

B. “Home” key takes cursor to beginning of line.

C. “Control + End” takes cursor to end of document.

D. “Control + Home” takes cursor to beginning of document.

E. “Control + Right or Left Arrow” will move cursor one word at a time.

F. “Alt” commands: Tap “Alt” key (you don't have to hold it down. The mode switches from text to the tool bars above the text.) Tapping the underlined letter in the menu choices above will open that menu selection. (EG: “Alt” then “F” to open the “File” menu.

IV. Edit Menu

A. Copy – Cut – Paste – Undo

1. Shortcut commands

a. Copy (Control + C)

b. Paste (Control + V)

c. Cut (Control + X)

d. Undo (Control + Z)

B. Office Clipboard

1. Copy highlighted text. (activates clipboard. What you copy stays in a copy buffer.)

2. Paste anywhere else in the document, in another document, even from the Internet into your document.

C. Select All

1. Control + A selects all the text in the document.

D. Find and Replace

1. Find

a. Select “Find” from “Edit” menu or Control + F.

b. Type text to be found.

c. Choose “more” for “Match case” & “Find whole words only” can be used.

d. “Find all word forms”. Good for hunting down “to be” verbs.

1. Check “Highlight all items found in:”

2. Click on “More”.

3. Click on “Match case” and “Find whole words only.”

4. Type “I” in “Find what:”

5. Click on “Find all”. Count is given above the “Find All” button.

6. If you edit one “I” the highlighting will go off all I’s. Mark them by changing their color.

7. Click once out of the “Find and Replace” window.

8. Click on the tiny diamond on the “Font Color” button.

9. Select red.

e. Open “Special” to find Tabs, Em and En dashes.

f. Getting rid of extra spaces.

1. Type two spaces in “Find what:”.

2. Type one space in “Replace with:”.

g. Getting rid of tabs at the end of paragraphs.

1. Click on “More”.

2. Click on “Special” and select “Paragraph”.

3. Click in “Replace with:”

4. Click on “Special” and select “Tab Character”

2. Replace

a. Select “Replace” from “Edit” menu or Control + H.

b. Fill in “Find What” and “Replace with.”

c. You can find fonts and font styles. Click on “Format” select “Font” click on “Italic” and it will find all italic passages in your manuscript.

d. Click on “No formatting to remove from Find.

3. Find and Replace Uses

a. Replace smart quotes and apostrophes with straight ones.

1). Go to “Tools” menu and select “Autocorrect Options”

2). Click on the “Autoformat as you type” tab.

3). Under “Replace as you type” remove the check for “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes.” Then click “OK.”

4). Select “Replace” from the “Edit” menu or type Control + H.

5). Type a double quote mark (“) for find and another for replace.

6). Click on “Replace All.” All your quotes will be straight now. The same holds true for replacing smart apostrophes with straight ones.

V. View Menu

A. Add header/footer

1. Select “Header and Footer” from “View” menu.

2. Type title of work followed by last name. It can be formatted like any other text.

3. Click on “Insert” menu.

4. Select “Page Numbers.” (Alignment is preset to “right.”)

5. Click “OK” and then click “Close.”

B. Paginate in Footer.

1. Select “Header and Footer” from “View” menu.

2. Scroll down to the footer and click on “Insert” menu.

3. Select “Page Numbers.”

4. Set “Alignment” to read “center” and click “OK.”

5. Click “Close” to return to the document.

VI. Insert Menu

A. Symbol

1. Place cursor where you want the symbol to go.

2. Select “Symbol” from “Insert” menu.

3. Click on the symbol you need and then click on “Insert” and “Close.”

B. Comment

1. Highlight the text to carry the comment.

2. Select “Comment” from “Insert” menu.

3. Type your comment.

4. Exit back to text.

C. Picture

1. Place cursor where picture is to go.

2. Select “Picture” from “Insert” menu.

3. Choose “From File.”

4. Find the picture on your computer and select it.

5. Click on “Insert.”

6. Format to your liking.

7. Click outside picture to view results.

D. Placing Picture

1. To resize: Click on picture, grab a corner or a side and adjust size.

2. To center, click on the center button on the tool bar or Control + E.

3. To embed picture

a. Adjust to approximate size.

b. Double-click on picture.

c. Click on “layout” tab.

d. Click on “tight.”

e. Click “OK” and move picture to desired location. Text will flow around graphic.

VII. Format

A. Copying format with the paintbrush.

1. Place cursor in text with format to copy.

2. Click once on the brush icon.

3. Then highlight the text to receive the copied formatting.

4. To paste the formatting as many times as you want, double-click on the brush. To quit pasting the format, click once back on the brush.

B. Shortcut Commands

1. Boldface Text (Control + B)

2. Underline Text (Control + U)

3. Italicize Text (Control + I)

VIII. Tools Menu

A. Spelling and Grammar

1. Select “Spelling and Grammar” from the “Tools” menu.

2. If “Check grammar” is not checked, click a check mark there.

3. Click on “Options.”

4. Make sure “ignore words in uppercase is not checked.

5. Make sure everything is checked under “Grammar” except “Hide grammatical…”

6. Click “OK” and then “cancel.”

7. Single word spell check: Click somewhere in a red underlined word and then right click for suggested spellings.

8. Add a word to the custom dictionary: Click on red underlined word and then right click on “Add to Dictionary.”

B. Autocorrect

1. Click on misspelled word and right click.

2. Move to “AutoCorrect” and select the correct spelling.

C. Languages

1. Thesaurus.

a. Highlight a word or just place the I-beam in the word.

b. Either select “Thesaurus” from the “Tools” menu or right click and select “Synonyms.”

D. Word Count

1. Select “Word Count” from the “Tools” menu.

2. Highlight text to word count.

3. No highlight counts words for whole document.

IX. Miscellaneous

A. Line numbering

1. Select PAGE SET-UP from the FILE menu.

2. Click on LAYOUT tab at the top.

3. Near bottom left of window that pops up, look for LINE NUMBERS.

4. Click on ADD LINE NUMBERING.

5. click on CONTINUOUS at the bottom of window (so your numbers will flow from page to page).