Typing out an annual report, a manual or a working paper is much easier when you know the various possibilities in Word by heart. That’s what our open courses about Word are here for. Here are some tips to get you started:
1. Make your titles stand out
Making your titles and subtitles stand out helps you stucture your text and make it look professional. The Heading function is designed to do just that: simply select the title, go to the Home tab and click Heading 1, 2, etc. Format your main title as ‘Heading 1’, subtitles as ‘Heading 2’, and so on. If needed, you can also change the style of your heading.
2. Add a table of contents
Use a table of contents to summarize the structure of your text and make it easy to look up information. Just click the spot where you want the table to be displayed, go to the References tab and click ‘Table of Contents’.
Word automatically combines your headings into a table. Here’s a tip: you don’t need to wait until your text is finished to add a table of contents – just create one and update it later by right-clicking the table of contents and then clicking ‘Update Field’ (numbering or full content). After this, you can click the table of contents to jump to the chapter you want to read.
3. Add headers and footers
Headers and footers are indispensable: this is where you add page numbering and mention the author, date and document title. Go to the Insert tab and click ‘Header’ or ‘Footer’ to see the various layout and placement options for page numbers and other elements.
4. Customize your bullets
Lists make a text easier to digest – that’s common knowledge. In Word, you can use several types of bullets to create a list. But did you also know that you can customize the appearance of your bullets?
Click the bullet button on the Home tab, then click ‘Define New Bullet’ to open a pop-up window where you can pick the symbol, image or font you want to use. Your new bullet is automatically saved, so you can use it again in the future.
Want to attend one of our Word courses? Check our open courses and sign up.
