Things You Probably Never Knew You Could Do in Microsoft Word as a Beginner
Introduction
Microsoft word seems to be the most frequently used application on the system of an average individual. With word, you can perform most of your assigned tasks even the ones you can perform in an excel.
Microsoft word is so broad that everything cannot be covered in this tutorial hence, i will be stopping here. Important thing to note is that MS Word all you need to write an outstanding book you can use or sell.
Though word is used frequently used however, there are some secrets and shortcuts that are available on the application but will probably be very new to some set of individuals. This article is mostly made for these intended set of individuals.
With word, you will be able to create, format and edit your CV or any other document.
If you want to become an author and start writing books, Microsoft word is an application you cannot do without. Despite the numerous uses of word, there are some things or features of the word that most people don't know. Some of those features will be discussed in this article.
Things You Can Do in Microsoft Word
There are lots of things you can do in Microsoft word however; we will be discussing the few that we listed below;
Storing/Saving a Document
As a beginner in Microsoft word, you might not need someone's help to open the application as i presume that you or someone else already installed the Microsoft office package in your system. I also presume that at your level of expertise, you can at least open any application that is already installed in your system.
Open the Microsoft word, type and format your word document to your suite, the try saving your newly created word document on your system.
To achieve storing/saving a document successfully, you can simply press the ctrl button followed by the s button at the same time on your keyboard or better still, you can click the file on the far left and then click on save button to save the document. Use the screenshot as guide.
Fig1: Saving a document in MS Word
Storing/Saving a Document in other extensions
You have created your document and have saved your document on your system. Assuming that you have MS Word 2016 and you saved your document in the default MS Word file extension, then your file extension would be docx.
Assuming you need a pdf format of your saved MS Word document and you want to do in MS Word 2016 application; it is is 100 percent possible when you re-save it under Save As section of the MS Word 2016 application.
To achieve storing/saving in other extensions, you can follow the procedure above but instead of pushing save button, you will click on save as, select the extension you want to save to and then click on save. After then, select file save location, select your preferred file type and click on save.
Fig 2: Saving As in MS Word
Using pictures in word
Using pictures in MS Word can be done in 2 different practical ways, depending on your preference.
To use pictures in Microsoft word, you can directly copy the picture from any source and then paste it on the body of the word document. If you have the picture saved on your system and you want to import same into the body of the word document, then follow the screenshot by first selecting insert, click on picture and finally select your desired picture and click on insert.
Fig 3: Selecting a picture for insert
Adding tables to word
Adding tables in MS Word simply involves clicking on the insert button at the top left of the MS Word and selecting table.
After clicking on insert and then table, select rows and column and click on OK. The above action will automatically create the desired number of rows and column. You can then decide to thicken any of the row or column.
Fig 4: Selecting rows and column for insert
Creating a header in word
In Microsoft word especially when you are writing a book, there is need for all your header to look the same in texture and quality. This makes your book formatting to be neat and also makes creating your table of contents to be easy when you are done typing your book.
To achieve this, you need to create a particular header or sub-header and give it all the features you need. To do this, select the header at the top right, right click and then give it all the configuration that you desire. As seen in the picture below, once you right click on any of the headers, you will be able access the configuration and then modify it to suite your need.
Fig 5: Select the header to modify
Creating a blank or page break in word
If you create a document and you forget to create blank page or page breaks where necessary, though the document looks neat on your system, that same document might look very bad on another system or phone.
To ensure that your document looks the same when opened from any platform, there is need for you to do page breaks and insert blank pages where needed. To achieve this, go to home and select hide/show as shown below. It will help you know when you have added or removed a break. It will also help you know the places that require blank pages and page breaks. After that, go to insert, place your mouse at where you want to create a blank page or page break and then click on either of them as seen in the picture below
Fig 6: Adding blank or page break
Adding watermark in word
The presence of a watermark in your document makes it more professional however, its not everyone that knows how to do it.
If you have a brand name and you want to share a particular document with anyone, you can decide to add your company watermark to the document, making it more professional looking. To achieve this on word, click on design and select watermark as seen in the screenshot below. You can then decide to use default watermarks like confidential or do no copy. You can also decide to use custom watermark but you will need to save the watermark picture first on your system and then insert into your document.
Fig 7: Adding watermark to your document
Adding table of contents on word
If you are a book writer, then you will agree with me that you need a table of content in all your books. Some people believes that table of contents is the first to be written while writing your book however, the truth is that table of contents is actually the last to be written and the good part of it, is that word handles everything for you.
To avoid have issues while developing your table of contents, you need to format you document very well. You need to use bullet points, headers, sub-headers, numbering etc. in the document very well and once done, the Microsoft word inbuilt table of contents will help you do the rest.
To add table of contents to your document, click on references and then select table of contents as in the screenshot below. After clicking on the table of contents, you can then decide to select manual or automatic table of contents, in either case, Microsoft word will handle the rest for you. Remember that MS Word will be able to perfectly handle the creation of table of contents for your document only if your did a good and neat formatting of your document.
Fig 8: Creating table of contents
If you got a value from this article, then always come back for more tutorials and if you have any particular you have in mind i would like to learn, i will be a chat away. Kindly drop your queries and comment in the comment section of this article.
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