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Category Archives: Word 2013

Free Microsoft Word 2013 articles

How To Mix Column Formats On Your Word Page

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It is not unheard of to have a document that mixes different column layouts on a single page. For our purposes, we will assume you have a six-page document, and you want to format the center part of page two as three columns. You want the rest of the document to remain a single column. Overcoming this formatting challenge is easy when you use the tools available on the ribbon.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Select the text that will appear in your columns.
  2. Select the Page Layout tab of your Ribbon.
  3. In the Page Setup group, click the Columns drop-down list.
  4. Pick the number of columns you would like to use for your selected text.

That’s it! Word will do the rest and format the selected text into the number of columns you specified. It does this by automatically placing continuous section breaks both before and after the text you selected in step 1 above and then formatting the text into the number of columns you selected in step 4. above.

While you can do the above steps yourself, manually, it is much easier to let Word to do it for you!

How To Specify Index Section Dividers In Your Word Document

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As you may have learned in other articles, you create an index in your documents by placing the special index field in your document. When you insert the field you can indicate how you want Word to separate the alphabetic sections of your index. There are several choices you can use, but you may need to experiment to find the dividers that are right for you. You specify these dividers by adding the \h switch to your index field. The table below shows some possible settings for this switch.

You can now experiment and see what works best for you!

How to Calculate Expressions in your Word Documents

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Obviously, a  Word document is not a spreadsheet, but you can treat it like one (kinda) by adding a toolbar button that will allow you to quickly calculate values in your document based on numbers in a selection. For example, you could highlight text such as 12*14+2 and quickly calculate that the answer is 170.

Follow the steps below to learn how to add this button to your QAT (Quick Access Toolbar):

  1. Display the Word Options dialog box by displaying the File tab of your Ribbon and then click Options.
  2. At the left-hand side of the dialog box select  Quick Access Toolbar.

  1. Using the Choose Commands From drop-down list, select Commands Not In the Ribbon.
  2. Locate and select the Calculate command in the list of commands.
  3. Click Add . The command will move to the right side of the dialog box.
  4. Click OK.

To use the tool, all you have to do is highlight the expression you would like to calculate, and then click on the tool. Word will show the calculated value in your status bar, and place the value in your Clipboard. You can now paste the value any place you like.

How to Enter a Slashed Zero in your Word Document

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On some occasions, you may want to use a slashed zero in your document.  Very often, they are used in technical documents to delineate a zero from the capital letter O.

Should you want to use this character, you have two choices. Firstly, you can find a font that actually uses the slashed zero in it. If you use this character a lot, this is probably the best solution.

Otherwise, follow the steps below:

  1. Place your cursor where you would like the slashed zero to appear.
  2. Click Ctrl+F9 to insert field braces.
  3. Key in eq \o (0,/)
  4. Click Shift+F9 to collapse your field and the slashed zero will appear in your document..

How to Determine the Number of Paragraphs in your Word Document

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Very often macros are used for processing a document. It is fairly common to have a macro step through all the paragraphs in your document and make changes based on the information in the paragraph.

If you need to step through all the paragraphs in a document, it is helpful to find out how many paragraphs there are.

The easiest method for you do that in a VBA macro is using the Count property with the Paragraphs collection, as follows:

iParCount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count

The Paragraphs collection contains all of the paragraphs in your document, each in its own object. The Count property returns a value indicating how many objects (paragraphs) are in the collection. In the example above, this value is assigned to the iParCount variable. You can then use this count in doing any processing you need to.

Please note,  that paragraphs can be empty in Word. If you key in some information and then click the Enter key two times, you have just created an empty paragraph with that second Enter click. This increases the paragraph count, so it is always good to have your Show/Hide enabled so that  you see non-printing characters in your document if you are trying to figure out how VBA reached the paragraph count  it did. The rule is that each click of Enter will result in a new document paragraph.

Many thanks to Allen Wyatt for the macro in this newsletter!

How to Do a Quick and Easy Paragraph Count in your Word Documents

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If you want to quickly count the number of paragraphs in your document, there is an easy and straightforward method to accomplish that.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Be certain you have saved your document.
  2. Click Ctrl+Home to go to the beginning of your document.
  3. Click Ctrl+H. Word displays the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

  1. In the Find What box, key in ^p.
  2. In the Replace With box, key in ^p.
  3. Click on Replace All.

Word will replace all the paragraph marks in your document with identical paragraph marks, and display a dialog box indicating how many replacements were made. The number of replacements is the number of paragraphs.

This particular method may not impress you all that much since you can also find out the number of paragraphs in your document by displaying the Statistics tab of the Properties dialog box. BUT, the real power comes in when you want to find out how many paragraphs you have of a certain style. You just need to expand your search a bit.

For example, suppose you have a certain paragraph style that you use only for numbers.

Follow the steps below to find out how many paragraphs you have using that style:

  1. Be certain you have saved your document.
  2. Click Ctrl+Home to go to the beginning of your document.
  3. Click Ctrl+H. Word will display the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
  4. Click on More, if it is available.
  5. In the Find What box, key in ^p.
  6. Click on Format and choose Style. Word will display the Find Style dialog box

  1. Select the name of the style you used for your numbers.
  2. In the Replace With box, key in ^p.
  3. Click on Replace All.

The resulting dialog box will indicate the number of replacements made, which are only for those paragraphs that use the numbers style—in other words, you now know how many numbers are in your document1

How to Align Decimal Points in your Word Table

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There is no documented method of aligning decimal numbers when working in tables that I know of. However, you can if you like, add a decimal tab stop in a cell and then click CTRL + Tab to align the number to the tab stop.  There is, though, an even easier solution.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Select the cell or cells whose content you would like aligned.
  2. Click on the tab stop marker at the left edge of your Ruler and stop when you see the symbol for a decimal tab.  Decimal Tab'
  3. Click on your Ruler above the selected cells at the location where you want your numbers aligned.

Now the numbers in that cell will be aligned as per the tab stop.

How to Add Sequential Numbering Elements in your Word Documents

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You can automatically number items in your document. Most of you already know this. You can also automatically number figures, tables, illustrations, etc. If you decide to reorder those items, Word will automatically update the numbers so that the are in the correct order.

Follow the steps below to learn how to sequentially number items in your text:

  1. Place your cursor where you would like the sequential number to appear. (i.e., caption for a table).
  2. Click CTRL + F9 to insert field brackets. You cannot insert the braces manually as it will not work.
  3. Key in seq followed by the name of the element you are numbering. The name is your choice but it should be the same for each item in this particular sequence. (i.e., seq figures).
  4. Click F9 to update your field information.

Word has now replaced the field with the next number in the sequence you have specified.

How to Remove Formatting Applied over Text Formatted with Styles

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Sometimes when folks have just learned how to navigate  styles they have a lapse and begin to apply explicit formatting over the top of style-formatted text. If you inherit such a document you know that getting those styles back to nothing but styles can be very slow going. The Good news is there are some shortcuts to help you with this issue!

Follow the steps below to learn how:
The first thing you can do is select your text and click CTRL+SHIFT+Z to remove all explicit character formatting. The result will be pure styles and nothing else.

  • Clicking CTRL+SHIFT+Z starts the ResetChar command in Word, which is the same as clicking CTRL+SPACEBAR.
  • Another little trick is clicking  CTRL+Q to remove any explicit paragraph formatting and return your paragraph to its style-defined defaults.
  • CTRL+Q will remove any explicit indents, tabs, and line spacing.
  • Lastly, if you want to quickly apply the Normal style to text, you can simply click CTRL+SHIFT+N.

This should save you some time and frustration!

How to Select Non-Adjacent Text in your Word Documents

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This is about a feature that was always in high demand and in 2002 Microsoft included it!

Should you need to copy non-adjacent selections of text in your document or apply special formatting to your headers for instance, this is the best method for doing so.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  • Click and hold down your CTRL key.
  • Use your mouse to make your selections in your document.

That’s it!  Quick and easy but you would be surprised how many folks aren’t aware of this little tip that makes their lives so much easier!