C
Clive Huggan
Dear all,
The latest version of my notes on Word -- titled "Bend Word to Your Will" --
is now available for free downloading from the Word MVPs' site,
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm
WHAT IS "BEND WORD TO YOUR WILL"?
A dictionary-style set of notes on Word that I've been continually adding to
and polishing for the past three years. They are "real life" notes, which I
keep consulting in my professional work, especially when explaining some of
Word's features to my colleagues.
COVERAGE
To see what the document contains before downloading it, you can click on
the orange words "Article table of contents" on the download page.
The notes are centred on features that improve speed and efficiency --
especially in working on long and/or complex documents. I'm especially
interested in reducing the chances of corruption in my documents, which are
distributed back and forwards between many people, on PCs and Macs.
I cover styles extensively -- they're essential for saving time and fuss in
long documents. I describe how easy it is to modify toolbars to reflect your
own preferences rather than keeping the averaged-out preferences of Word's
tens of millions of users. I explain how I use AutoCorrect to expand
abbreviated terms that I type in "shorthand" much of the time, and I
describe a small number of very useful macros. Sources of further
information on Word are also provided.
If any of this sounds daunting, don't worry -- the emphasis is on
configuring *your* copy of Word as you see fit, to make it suit your needs
-- not on making the documents themselves so advanced that they confuse
people who have only a basic knowledge of Word.
I don't cover graphics, equations or networked configurations of Word,
because I don't use Word in those contexts.
Most of the material is consistent with advice given in in this newsgroup by
MacWord gurus John McGhie, Beth Rosengard, John McGimpsey, Daiya Mitchell,
Corentin Cras-Méneur, Jim Gordon and Elliott Roper. Like so many others,
I've greatly benefited from their freely given expertise.
WHAT VERSIONS DO THE NOTES COVER?
Mainly Word 2001, but I've written them with other versions in mind. I
recently moved to Word 2004 after skipping Word X, and I'm adding a few tips
covering *important* 2004 differences as I discover them. I won't be
re-writing the notes -- it's not necessary.
WHAT'S THE STRUCTURE OF THE NOTES?
"Bend Word to your Will" is a Word document intended to be used on-screen
rather than to be printed out, because it contains fairly self-contained
articles with clickable hyperlinks leading to related topics. It's about 160
pages long, and you'd be crazy to read it from end to end. Instead, it's
best to leap into particular topics via the "Find" command and the table of
contents.
(It's important to read the introduction, since there are a few important
tips in there for getting the most out of the notes.)
Accompanying the "Bend Word to your Will" document (but downloadable
separately) is a template, which has been totally upgraded since the
previous version. It includes a skeleton for long documents that I create
using techniques covered in "Bend Word to your Will". If you aren't familiar
with templates, though, don't bother to download it -- you can get it later
if you need it.
Enjoy! Bend Word to your will!
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
The latest version of my notes on Word -- titled "Bend Word to Your Will" --
is now available for free downloading from the Word MVPs' site,
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm
WHAT IS "BEND WORD TO YOUR WILL"?
A dictionary-style set of notes on Word that I've been continually adding to
and polishing for the past three years. They are "real life" notes, which I
keep consulting in my professional work, especially when explaining some of
Word's features to my colleagues.
COVERAGE
To see what the document contains before downloading it, you can click on
the orange words "Article table of contents" on the download page.
The notes are centred on features that improve speed and efficiency --
especially in working on long and/or complex documents. I'm especially
interested in reducing the chances of corruption in my documents, which are
distributed back and forwards between many people, on PCs and Macs.
I cover styles extensively -- they're essential for saving time and fuss in
long documents. I describe how easy it is to modify toolbars to reflect your
own preferences rather than keeping the averaged-out preferences of Word's
tens of millions of users. I explain how I use AutoCorrect to expand
abbreviated terms that I type in "shorthand" much of the time, and I
describe a small number of very useful macros. Sources of further
information on Word are also provided.
If any of this sounds daunting, don't worry -- the emphasis is on
configuring *your* copy of Word as you see fit, to make it suit your needs
-- not on making the documents themselves so advanced that they confuse
people who have only a basic knowledge of Word.
I don't cover graphics, equations or networked configurations of Word,
because I don't use Word in those contexts.
Most of the material is consistent with advice given in in this newsgroup by
MacWord gurus John McGhie, Beth Rosengard, John McGimpsey, Daiya Mitchell,
Corentin Cras-Méneur, Jim Gordon and Elliott Roper. Like so many others,
I've greatly benefited from their freely given expertise.
WHAT VERSIONS DO THE NOTES COVER?
Mainly Word 2001, but I've written them with other versions in mind. I
recently moved to Word 2004 after skipping Word X, and I'm adding a few tips
covering *important* 2004 differences as I discover them. I won't be
re-writing the notes -- it's not necessary.
WHAT'S THE STRUCTURE OF THE NOTES?
"Bend Word to your Will" is a Word document intended to be used on-screen
rather than to be printed out, because it contains fairly self-contained
articles with clickable hyperlinks leading to related topics. It's about 160
pages long, and you'd be crazy to read it from end to end. Instead, it's
best to leap into particular topics via the "Find" command and the table of
contents.
(It's important to read the introduction, since there are a few important
tips in there for getting the most out of the notes.)
Accompanying the "Bend Word to your Will" document (but downloadable
separately) is a template, which has been totally upgraded since the
previous version. It includes a skeleton for long documents that I create
using techniques covered in "Bend Word to your Will". If you aren't familiar
with templates, though, don't bother to download it -- you can get it later
if you need it.
Enjoy! Bend Word to your will!
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
