Report Formatting Using Word 2000
Using Word 2000
Contents
1.Introduction......
2.Help......
3.Security of Information......
4.Viewing Your Work......
5.Spelling & Grammar......
6.Basic formatting tips......
7.Styles......
8.Table of Contents......
9.Tables......
10.Referencing......
11.Drawings......
12.Inserting, Linking and Embedding Objects......
12.1.Insert, Link OR Embed?......
13.Shortcuts......
13.1.Autocorrect......
13.2.Autoformat......
13.3.Toolbar Customisation......
13.4.Keyboard Shortcuts and Customisation......
13.5.Macros......
14.Other versions of Word......
1.Introduction
These notes are intended as a quick guide to the use of key features within Word 2000 which should make it easier and quicker to create documents that not only look consistent, but which are also easy to modify later on.
Word 2000 is an extremely powerful wordprocessor – don’t treat it as a typewriter – understand how to exploit it’s features to your advantage and don’t be afraid of disabling some of the more ‘advanced’ features, many of which can be more trouble than they are worth!
2.Help
There is a very good on-line help system, which can step you through many tasks. A few useful features:
- Select the Office Assistant (HELP SHOW THE OFFICE ASSISTANT) to get assistance whether you want it or not! – but after a while you will probably want to turn it off.
- The F1 key activates the Help system
- To see what the toolbar buttons actually do, select VIEW TOOLBARS CUSTOMIZE and set the Show ScreenTips on Toolbars under the Options tab and when the pointer is on a toolbar, the name of that button will come up after a short delay.
3.Security of Information
Check that the system you are using automatically saves your work. This is handy if the system crashes. TOOLS OPTIONS SAVE SAVE AUTORECOVERY INFO EVERY 15 MINUTES. Irrespective of how this option is set, a CTRLS every few minutes is advisable to save your work. The Recovering Corrupt Files help section is provides useful further guidance, particularly what to do to recover work after the system has crashed.
Never leave your computer terminal unattended with an open document.
If you are not using a networked computer with automatic backup, then it is advisable to make a backup copy of your own work. Only use floppy discs for copying or storing information, never work directly from them as they tend to be far slower and more unreliable than hard discs.
Check that your virus checker is fully up to date – update the virus definitions at least weekly, and preferably ensure that it is automatically updated. Check the options on the virus scanners – some viruses exploit some of the default settings in the virus scanner to infect systems, eg. the default setting on some virus scanners is to ignore the recycle bin, or files with particular extensions.
If you want to undo what has just been done then the UNDO command is useful. Note that this will not undo anything once you have closed a file.
4.Viewing Your Work
There are two main ways to view your work on the screen, using the VIEW menu you can select either NORMAL or PRINT LAYOUT. The NORMAL view is faster for large documents, and pages flow more easily where PAGE BREAKS have been used. However certain graphics may not be visible in this view and can only be seen in the PRINT LAYOUT view, which should be used for the final production of a document, as this shows the page as it should be printed. The NORMAL view can also allow you to see the style applied to each line of text. To do this TOOLS OPTIONS VIEW STYLE AREA WIDTH 1.5cm.
One other VIEW option is that of OUTLINE. This is very powerful, as it allows you to create the structure of a document at heading level, add text as required, view whichever levels of text you want, change the level of headings, and also move all the text associated with a heading around in the document. It can be a very useful way of working with large documents or for helping develop a structure behind the thinking of a document; however in practice it is rarely used.
The Show / Hide button can be useful. Selecting this toggles between showing and hiding non-printing characters, such as spaces, tabs, paragraph marks, carriage returns and page breaks.
Occasionally the View Field Codes button will help to sort out problems with things such as page numbers, tables of contents and, depending on how they have been inserted, drawing objects. This button switches between the contents of a field and the code which may lie behind the text. If that button is not visible, then either add it to a toolbar (see the Toolbar Customisation section) or use TOOLS OPTIONS VIEW and select the box 'Field Codes'. Don’t be worried if information appears to disappear, a multipage Table of Contents will be replaced by a few characters of code !
Screens can often be unnecessarily cluttered up with unused toolbars. Toolbars can be turned on and off by going to the VIEW TOOLBARS menu. Toolbars can either be located on any of the edges of the window, or they can ‘float’. Edge toolbars can be moved by moving the mouse to the small bar at the left or top of the toolbar, and when the pointer changes to a cross left click and move the toolbar to where you want.
5.Spelling & Grammar
It is often easier to write a document if the automatic spell checker is turned on by setting the Check spelling as you type option and clearing the Hide spelling errors in this document option of the TOOLS OPTIONS SPELLING & GRAMMAR menu tab. As words are typed it will highlight any that are not found in the dictionary. Check that the document is set up for the correct spelling using DICTIONARIES option under the above tab, also check that the ‘Do not check spelling or Grammar’ check box is cleared. If spelling mistakes are not being picked up, then ‘Select All’ (CTRL A), and ensure the check box is clear. The value of the Grammar checker is questionable – use it if you find it useful, otherwise disable it via the above menu tab.
6.Basic formatting tips
Avoid using spaces to position text. To centre or right align text use:
FORMAT PARAGRAPH INDENTS & SPACING and select the appropriate alignment option, or use the toolbar buttons for:
To align no more than one or two rows of text use TABs.
If you have more than one or two rows of text, or several columns, then use TABLEs (see below). These provide tremendous flexibility, especially if you need to change things later, or if you want to put text or objects in boxes.
Where you require a page break, avoid using RETURNs or ENTERs to create the break. If you need a page break, for example to start a new segment of your document, then use CTRL ENTER, this will put in a page break.
Document formatting may change marginally when the document is printed on a different printer or when it is edited with a different version of the software. It is advisable therefore not to create diagrams or tables which virtually fill a complete page; aim to leave enough room at the end of a page for a couple of blank lines.
Avoid using SECTION BREAKS unless they are absolutely essential. The main reasons for requiring a section break would be:
- Change in page orientation from portrait to landscape & vice-versa
- Restart the page numbering. (See also the section on referencing)
- Change in layout to use columns
In the main the use of ‘Next Page’ section breaks is advised, other types may well produce some interesting effects in page numbers! If changing margins etc, then check that it is correctly applied, i.e. to the whole document, or specific sections, as appropriate.
To keep text, including tables, from breaking over pages, highlight the text you want to keep together, then FORMAT PARAGRAPH LINE AND PAGE BREAKS and select the option you want. KEEP LINES TOGETHER will keep all the selected lines within a paragraph together, whilst KEEP WITH NEXT will stop a page break between the selected text and the next paragraph. WIDOW/ORPHAN, which is normally selected stops a single line by itself at the top or bottom of a page.
Pragraphs can be indented using the Increase / Decrease indent commands.
Paragraphs can be numbered or bullet pointed using the Numbering and Bullets commands: . Bullet type and numbering options can be changed by using the FORMAT BULLETS AND NUMBERING drop down menu options.
Chapter headings can be automatically numbered using STYLES (see next section). Use the in-built facilities of Word to number headings and produce Tables of Content in place of manually numbering (and renumbering) headings and producing the Tables of Content.
7.Styles
A style is a set of formatting characteristics that you can apply to text in your document to quickly change its appearance.
Document TEMPLATEs are set up with a number of STYLEs. Applying a STYLE to text does two things:
- it formats the text in the way that the style has been defined and thus gives consistency throughout the document
- it gives the text certain properties which WORD can be made to recognise, for example to help automatically create and maintain the TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Text is normally entered using the style Normal or Body Text . Other useful styles are Heading(s), as these can be set up to automatically apply heading numbering. (Heading numbering should automatically be updated as (sub)headings are inserted / deleted or heading levels changed). As an example, this document uses Heading 1 styles for all main section headings and Heading 2 for sub-headings.
To use one of the STYLES, click on the text you want to format and then select the STYLE you want from the STYLE drop-down box on the Formatting toolbar. Alternatively select the style you want before you start to type a line. Styles can also be selected through Keyboard Shortcuts (see the Shortcuts section of this document)
If you want to change the style of text throughout the document – which is the way styles are normally used, then select some text of the style you want to change, FORMAT STYLE and then use that menu system to change what is required. Complete the action with APPLY. This will apply it throughout the document.
To change the style of text in just one place, then FORMAT, followed by one of the other commands on that menu. This latter approach is discouraged for anything apart from normal style
There is a danger in over-using styles, particularly where several people may use the same document. It is often ‘safer’ to stick to a few basic styles rather than have a multiplicity which are not consistently and rigorously used.
8.Table of Contents
This can be created and maintained automatically, provided correct use has been made of styles. To create a TOC use the INSERT INDEX AND TABLES TABLE OF CONTENTS menu tab and select the appropriate options. It’s probably easier to experiment rather than explain the options apart from the Show levels option. Selecting ‘1’ will just include Heading1, ‘2’ to also include Heading2, etc.
Once inserted, the table can be updated by placing the cursor on the TABLE OF CONTENTS, clicking the RIGHT button on the mouse, UPDATE FIELD and then choose to update the page numbers only or entire table, as required. The style of the table can be changed using the style options for TOC, or for more drastic changes the table must be reinserted as above. Do not base TOC styles on Heading styles; base them on Normal or Body Text.
9.Tables
If you need to lay information out in anything but a very simple fashion, TABLEs are a very powerful and simple method of creating and changing that layout. It is recommended that they are used wherever possible in preference to TABs or SPACEs.
To add a TABLE, use TABLES INSERT, and then select the number of columns and rows that are required. If you want to have lines on the table then TABLES TABLE AUTOFORMAT provides many options; GRID 1 & 7, provide two common formats and (none) will remove printed lines altogether, note that the light grey dotted lines that appear on the screen do not appear on the printed document. These non-printing gridlines can be shown / hidden using the TABLE GRIDLINES menu option.
If none of the AUTOFORMAT selections are suitable, then, VIEW TOOLBAR TABLES AND BORDERS will provide a toolbar to enable changes to be made.
If you need to add rows to the end of a table, then with the cursor in the last cell, TAB will add another row, with the same formatting etc as in the previous row. Note that the TAB key will normally move the cursor from one cell to the next. If a TAB character is actually required within a cell, then this is entered using CTRL/TAB.
Once a table has been created select the TABLES TABLE PROPERTIES options to change the appearance of the table, eg. use the Borders and Shading option under the TABLES tab to add, delete or change table borders. Alternatively use the TABLES and BORDERS toolbar.
To change the width of columns, place the cursor on the grey line, click and drag. If none of the cells in the table are highlighted the complete column should change width. If any cells are highlighted then only that row(s) will change width.
10.Referencing
The University accepts the use of 2 main referencing systems:
- British Standard System
- Harvard System
The Harvard system is more modern and generally easier to manage. Either system can be used, but not both in the same document, and be consistent with your use of punctuation and font!
In British Standard Systemthe author’s name and a reference number is given in the text either:
- in round brackets, e.g. In a recent study, Smith (5) argued that . . .
- in square brackets, e.g. In a recent study, Smith [5] argued that . . .
- as a superscript numeral
Full details of the reference are then listed at the end of the chapter or document (or occasionally in footnotes on the relevant page). The numbers in the list are allocated consecutively in the order that the reference citations appear in the text.
This type of referencing can be achieved through the use of Footnotes or Endnotes. To use these INSERT FOOTNOTE and then select either Footnote or Endnote. Options allow the Endnotes to be placed at the end of a document, or the End of a Section, which would be appropriate if each chapter was a separate section. These options, together with the Footnote Reference style defines how the footnote reference will appear. Once a Foot/Endnote has been inserted then inserting another before any that have already been inserted will automatically update the numbering.
11.Drawings
Drawings can be created in Word by either adding drawing items to the Word document, or by creating a Word Picture as an object within Word. It is strongly recommended that you only use the Word Picture option and that you do not add drawing items to the Word Document itself. This is because aWORD PICTURE is a single item in Word and therefore stays together as a single item as the document is modified. This avoids what was apparently a meaningful diagram suddenly becoming what may appear to be meaningless shapes appearing randomly within the document. This apparent corruption may occur with something as simple as repagination of the document when attempting to print on another printer.
To insert a Word Picture, on the DRAWING or PICTURE toolbar, insert a WORD PICTURE. A drawing window will open up in which the required picture can be drawn, including text. When you have finished click on CLOSE. If the picture you have drawn does not fit inside the picture boundary, click on RESET PICTURE BOUNDARY before you CLOSE the picture. / (Note that it is very likely that the Word Picture Icon is not available on the toolbars as standard. You can easily add this Icon – see the Toolbar Customisation section below – the Icon is under VIEW TOOLBARS CUSTOMIZE COMMANDS DRAWING, alternatively a Word Picture can be inserted using INSERT OBJECT and then select MICROSOFT WORD PICTURE under the Create New tab.)To add a caption to the picture. When the picture is closed, single click on it to select it, then INSERT CAPTION and enter the caption you want on it.
If you need to change the PICTURE at any time then just double click on it.
Positioning the picture in the correct place can be a somewhat difficult operation. Right click the drawing object and select the FORMAT OBJECT LAYOUT tab and then select the type of text wrapping and picture alignment that is required. The ADVANCED button provides extensive options for positioning the picture. Selecting the Move Object with Text option should ensure that as the document is edited, the picture will stay in the same relative position within the document. If created as a single object, then of course the picture can be moved around using the mouse.
12.Inserting, Linking and Embedding Objects
Word allows you to incorporate information from other sources into Word documents. Irrespective of the nature of the object being inserted, the method is reasonably similar. Using the INSERT menu, select the appropriate option: