August 23, 2011

Tech Tip #18: Ten Best MS Word Tips–How Did You Survive Without Them

Here are the most popular. The ones with links are from my Tech Tip Tuesday series. Go ahead and click them for more detail. The others–they’re coming up. Sign up so you won’t miss any (see below).

  1. How to Undelete–push Ctrl+Z
  2. How to Show the Entire Drop Down Menu at once instead of clicking the menu item, clicking the double arrows at the bottom of the drop down list just to find your choice
  3. If your screen freezes, check around your workspace before you declare it frozen. There’s probably a dialog box that needs to be handled
  4. Turn an Address into a Link: Push the space bar after pasting in an internet address–that activates it
  5. The (Horrid Annoying) Drawing Canvas–get rid of it
  6. What’s Today’s Date–use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+D in MS Word
  7. Menu command is grayed out–push escape four times (you’re probably in something but you don’t know you are). This works 90% of the time
  8. Show all your tools on the Standard and Formatting toolbars–not just a few (click the double arrow at the end of the toolbar; select Show buttons on two rows)
  9. How to Open A New Word Doc Without the Program–I love this one because I’m always in a hurry
  10. Typing over your text, rather than in front of it? Push the insert key

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she’s working on a techno-thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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