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I’ll bet Microsoft Word and Outlook are tied for the “most critical Microsoft Office application” award at your firm. So, following up on our earlier “Outlook Hacks” post, here are four Word tricks to smooth out your day.
Make templates (lots of templates). If you have a document type you produce frequently, make a pre-formatted template for it. It’ll make subsequent documents a breeze.
Start off by taking a recent example and stripping out all of the client-specific information. Now, click File, Save As (in version 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button in the upper left-hand corner and choose Save As; in version 2010, go to the File tab and choose Save As), then choose Document Template (either in the drop-down at the bottom of the following dialog box or in the menu, depending on what version of Microsoft Word you’re using).
My advice? Start with simple templates (letters, basic pleading formats) and try more complex forms (like appellate briefs) after you gain experience. A little time invested here can save lots of work later.
Use Styles to standardize paragraph formats. Don’t waste time formatting your headings and other paragraph formats one by one. Use Styles to standardize them instead.
You can access this feature either using the Styles & Formatting Pane (in versions 2002 and 2003) or on right-hand side of the Home ribbon (in versions 2007 and 2010). This feature is particularly powerful combined with templates.
Use AutoText for boilerplate language. Sure, you can repeatedly cut-and-paste that whole “objects to this discovery request on the grounds that yada-yada-yada” thing, but that’s almost as bad as retyping, isn’t it?
Instead, pop that boilerplate into AutoText (found under Insert, AutoText in 2002 and 2003 and on the default Quick Access Toolbar in versions 2007 and 2010). You can configure this so that, when you type the first few letters of this phrase, you can insert the remainder by simply pressing Enter when prompted. Sweet!
Customize your toolbars. If there’s a feature you use a lot in Microsoft Word (or any Microsoft Office application), add it to a toolbar for easy one-click access.
In versions 2002 and 2003, you can click on the down arrow at the end of any toolbar, choose Add or Remove Buttons, Customize to get what you need (and ditch what you don’t).
In versions 2007 and 2010, you can add any commands you need to the Quick Access Toolbar to. The easiest way to add one? Find it on the appropriate tab, right-click it, and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar on the shortcut menu that pops up. Or you can add several at once by clicking on the down arrow at the end of the QAT (the “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” button) and selecting More Commands.
Image credit: Daniel F. Pigatto (via Flickr).
Deborah Savadra specializes in helping law firms use Microsoft Office applications. Her blog http://legalofficeguru.com features video tutorials on solving common Microsoft Office problems. You can follow her on Twitter at @legalofficeguru.
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