Guide to Word 2004 with good index?

[Zack]

In my quest to get comfortable with Word/Office 2004, I'm looking for a
good manual, the sort of guide where one can look up the answer to a
specific question or problem (in fact, a manual just like the wonderful
printed manual that Microsoft included with Word 5.1a, which offered a
clear and straightforward solution to every question one could throw at
it, and an extensive index so that one could FIND that answer -- but I
digress).

I've had good luck in the past with the Missing Manual series, and
bought a copy of the Missing Manual for Office 2004. The text is
decent, but let down badly by the totally inadequate index. "Bend Word
to Your Will" is very useful in other respects, but not really designed
to work as a guide where one can look up how to do one specific arcane
(or not so arcane) thing. I'm leery about getting one of the Windows
guides, since I know nothing about Windows and Murphy's law suggests
that my questions will inevitably touch on those aspects of Word which
differ cross-platform.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Zack

 

[bethrosengard]

Hi Zack,

Believe it or not, I think you will find exactly what you're looking
for by accessing Word's Help! It includes both an index and a decent
search mechanism. For anything not included there, your best bet is to
ask here. You'll also find great information at <www.word.mvps.org>.
While many of the articles there are written for WinWord, the vast
majority apply equally (with a few tweaks for different keyboard
shortcuts, etc.) to MacWord. You will have some problems with the site
if you're using Safari as your browser: you'll have to hit Refresh once
or twice to load each page. Firefox and Explorer will work fine,
however.

Also, check the TidBits series of ebooks called "Take Control"
(<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/[email protected]@>)

I'm sure others will recommend various printed manuals as well, but if
I were you I'd start with Word's Help and this newsgroup!

Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

 

[Zack]

Unfortunately, I've found Word Help to be pretty useless. Possibly I'm
using it incorrectly, but I find its search rules confusing (adding
search terms to narrow down the results doesn't seem to work
consistently), and I don't seem to be able to find answers to my
specific questions.

For instance,
How can one change the keyboard shortcut to show/hide the formatting
palette? (the default seems to be command+F14, but my laptop doesn't
have an F14 key).

How does one set defaults so that new documents open with 'page
numbering' turned on? (I think I figured this out on my own -- change
the 'normal template' so that page numbers are on, then save the normal
template -- but I couldn't find this info in Help).

Is there any way to adjust the spacing of items in the 'Status bar', or
remove items from that bar so as to make visible other items on the
right end of it which are hidden if the window is fairly narrow?

Zack

 

[Zack]

Cause you don't want to do that--or rather, if you ever use Word for labels
or envelopes, that page number in the Normal template is going to screw
them
up. If you intend to leave it there, please go back into Normal and
delete
the gray frame around the number that appears when using Insert | Page
Numbers. The frame tends to wander occasionally. Just remember to
generate
a new Normal whenever you need to do labels or envelopes, especially
labels.<<<<

AHHHH HA. Hmmm. Ok. I can see why changing the Normal template was a
bad idea. (Although I think I avoided the Frame issue by inserting page
numbers directly into the header, rather than using 'page insert'.) So
what is the correct way to set up Word 2004 so that by default a new
document will open with page numbering automatically set to go, first
page different (ie no page number on the first page)? It's a bother
having to remember to open up a head and insert a page number every
time I create a new document.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Unfortunately, I've found Word Help to be pretty useless. Possibly I'm
using it incorrectly, but I find its search rules confusing (adding
search terms to narrow down the results doesn't seem to work
consistently), and I don't seem to be able to find answers to my
specific questions.

I'm somewhere between you and Beth on that topic. A lot closer to you.
If you don't know whatever silly name Microsoft has assigned to a
particular topic, it is a pain. Don't you just love it when the only
advice is some unrelated malarkey about Microsoft's EULA?

The help search is *hopeless*^h^h^h not as good as it could be. If I
could find a way to print the... wait a cotton pickin' minute... Nah! I
thought I might be able to trick a couple of toys into believing it was
a .chm file, turn it into a pdf then use Preview.app and spotlight. It
looks a bit like .chm when viewed with emacs, but they both barfed on
it. C'mon Microsoft, a properly written PDF won't cost too many of your
spare billions.

If there is any useful advice I could give, it's go for suggested help
articles that begin with the word "About". They appear to be more
general and written by someone for whom English is their first
language.

For instance,
How can one change the keyboard shortcut to show/hide the formatting
palette? (the default seems to be command+F14, but my laptop doesn't
have an F14 key).

I might not have the best technique, but this is how I do it.
Tools->customize->customize keyboard->categories->all commands
(Don't bother with any other category. It is utterly unbelievable how
badly the categories have been assigned) Then put the focus on
commands. Then rummage about in there till you find something useful.
It helps to type the first character of anything you might think the
poor muppets may have called the command, then up and down arrow till
you find something promising. Scrolling through that mess on a
trackpad is impossible. Do be creative. Command names follow no logic
whatever. They show every sign of being created by a Polish random name
generator. For your particular instance, it behaves more or less
sanely. ViewFormattingPalette is what you want, even though the command
acts as ToggleFormattingPalette and does not appear in the View
category (of course). Once there, bravely assign a key combinatioin.
Word will yelp if something else already has it. Strangely, my copy of
Word did not have cmd-f14 as a default as yours did, so I went for
ctrl-opt-f.

How *anybody* could claim that mess as being fit for purpose is utterly
beyond me. If I were American, it would be my patriotic duty to sue
Microsoft for the trauma I suffer every time I use help search.

How does one set defaults so that new documents open with 'page
numbering' turned on? (I think I figured this out on my own -- change
the 'normal template' so that page numbers are on, then save the normal
template -- but I couldn't find this info in Help).

Not bad. You might try creating templates for different classes of
document. That way, as Daiya just said, in not so many words, it won't
screw up your envelopes.

Is there any way to adjust the spacing of items in the 'Status bar', or
remove items from that bar so as to make visible other items on the
right end of it which are hidden if the window is fairly narrow?

You mean that nonsense at the bottom of the window? Turn it all off.
Word will be far more responsive if it is not trying to update the
useless stats and stuff in there.

In more direct reply to the subject of this topic, I'd *strongly*
recommend Clive's "Bend Word to Your WIll" He wrote it to ease the pain
as he went from Word 5. You are setting out on the same journey. You
can read it like a book, but it is even better as a reference. Read it
in Word and use find....

 

[Elliott Roper]

AHHHH HA. Hmmm. Ok. I can see why changing the Normal template was a
bad idea. (Although I think I avoided the Frame issue by inserting page
numbers directly into the header, rather than using 'page insert'.) So
what is the correct way to set up Word 2004 so that by default a new
document will open with page numbering automatically set to go, first
page different (ie no page number on the first page)? It's a bother
having to remember to open up a head and insert a page number every
time I create a new document.

Make a template for documents with numbered pages.
...and a few more for other purposes.

Templates are a Good Thing.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Zack,

Books on Word for Windows are more comprehensive than Word for Mac books.
There are not many major differences beyond the appearance of the
interfaces, and capabilities, when all is said and done.

I use Wiley's "Word [year] Bible" series. It has the detail that I need if I
really want in-depth information. The best for anyone with Word 2004 is the
Word 2000 book.

I also use Que Corporation¹s Using "Word [year]" series ­ they are good too.
The subtle differences often give better clues in difficult subject areas.

In both cases, the Word 2000 versions are better for Word 2004 users than
the Word 2003 books.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 5 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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