Help with Formatting Skills in MSWord

You can quickly teach yourself the cluster of skills needed to make writing and formatting easy, and reduce the repetitive "housework" of producing papers and theses. Here are the guides which focus on the most “in demand” skills and tools needed for thesis/project/essays production.

MSWord formatting skills guides

The following PDFs address the tools available in both Word 2003 and 2007.  How-to illustrations are drawn from Word 2003/Word for Mac and Word 2007.

• Getting Started
• What MSWord formatting skills do you need to have? Try this quiz.
• MSWord Formatting Skills - The basic MSWord skills needed to make thesis/project/essays writing and production easier, and the end results more consistent and satisfying.
• Strategies for Figures and Tables - The MSWord skills for quick, consistent insertion and handling of tables and figures.(pdf)
• Using Outline in MSWord - for skilled outliners, reluctant outline writers, and everyone who wants to save labour
           • Outline (ppt 2200 KB)
           • Outline (pdf 2150 KB)
• Maximize the benefits of custom dictionaries
• Applying a Template to an Existing Document - Already started writing in MSWord without one of the templates? Here are step-by-step instructions for bringing your document up to speed.
• Eight Handy Tools in Microsoft Word You Probably Don't Know About from PC Magazine. Includes: shrinking document by one page, calculating in tables, comparing two documents, quick and dirty translator, math equations using both the toolbar and inserting in text.
• For single help topics, see Formatting Helpsheets page here.

MSWord and Excel 2007/2010 or Word 2008 for Mac?

• Yes you can. In the newer versions of MSWord (Word 07 or Word 2010 for PC; Word 08 for Macs) the learning curve is steep, but the essential tools for producing a document CAN be found, under new icons and some shift in menu location and names (synonyms), usually with an additional layer of icons and steps (mouse clicking).  It takes a bit of time to get oriented. It is frustrating for a while, so if you can avoid it, don’t switch in the middle of a document while facing deadline pressures.   But it can be done most easily if you pretend you are a visitor in a completely new country where you have to learn their customs. Examples:

• “Tables/Insert tables/” no longer exists. Access to table insertion is found under the general “Insert” menu, logically placed with other features that need insertion.
• Tools/Options, and related features for control over your document, are found under the MSWord 2007 icon, the first icon on the left.  Look for the “Word Options” button, and explore.  Look for the most valuable controls down below under “Advanced”.

• For MSWord 2007:

• Interactive: Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference guide
  - Use this to locate Word 2003 commands or actions in Word 2007.
• Quick reference card
  - Provides a very broad overview with some basic commands.
• See Word 2007 Help and How-to
• Find  online manuals through the SFU Library catalogue.  Do a title search for "Word 2007", and follow the link and instructions for logging in to open the manual.

• For Excel 2007:

• Interactive: Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 command reference guide
  - Use this to locate Excel 2003 commands or actions in Excel 2007.
• Quick reference card
• Find  online manuals through the SFU Library catalogue.  Do a title search for "Word 2007", and follow the link and instructions for logging in to open the manual.

Other online MSWord help beyond SFU Library

Use any search engine to search for "MSWord Help". Here are two to start with:
• Microsoft Office Click on Assistance and also Training. Available for both earlier and recent versions.
• Vital News newsletter

For Mac users:

• mactopia: Office for Mac

• Find  online manuals through the SFU Library catalogue.  Do a title search for "Word 2008", and follow the link and instructions for logging in to open the manual.