Microsoft Word Blog

Losing documents is one of the biggest nightmares when dealing with gadgets or technology. Have you ever slaved over an article for an entire day, edited it, and when you’re done, your laptop shuts down? To make it worse, the deadline for its submission might be fast approaching. Losing your documents can happen for several…

You might need to add the degree symbol when talking about temperature, degrees Celsius or degrees Fahrenheit. There are three simple ways to do this in Microsoft Word, as you will see below. Using the insert symbol 1.    Open the document where you want to add the degree symbol. Position the cursor where you would…

You can convert an individual footnote into an endnote or restore all your footnotes into endnotes simultaneously. Converting individual footnotes to endnotes 1.    Open your Word document Open the document with the footnotes that you want to convert to endnotes. Ensure that your document is in the print layout view. If your document is short,…

You can convert an individual endnote into a footnote or restore all your endnotes to footnotes simultaneously. This might be because you did not read your instructions clearly, or the endnotes are few enough to fit on a few pages. This is straightforward and won’t take more than a couple of minutes. Converting individual endnotes…

An endnote is a reference, citation, comment, quote, or explanation placed at the end of a document like a research paper, article, or book. You can place an endnote at the end of a section or chapter. What is the purpose of an endnote An endnote is used to provide any additional information on the…

Cross-referencing is defined as discussing a detail found in another location, often within the same book, paper, or article. To cross-reference, you may use an endnote or a footnote to refer to more than one part of a text containing related information. For example, if you discuss the need to switch to environmentally friendly packaging…

An endnote is a reference, explanation, or comment placed at the end of an article, academic research paper, or even a chapter in a book. Endnotes are added to the text to provide additional information relevant to the reader that would have otherwise interrupted the natural flow of the paragraph or sentence. While footnotes are…

Footnotes are sentences placed at the bottom of a page that provide more in-depth information on a topic in a text. It could be a reference, comment, or just additional information. The text a footnote belongs to has a corresponding number but as a superscript. To insert a footnote, open your document in Word and…

If you are looking for a way to personalize your Microsoft Word document, inserting a signature is a great start. Here are some ways you can add your signature to a Word document like a letter: Inserting a digital signature Inserting your handwritten signature as a picture Inserting a signature line for a post-print signature…

A footnote is additional information, usually appearing at the bottom of the current page in a Word document. Superscript numbers are used to match the text in the document to the supplemental information at the bottom of the page. An endnote is, similarly, additional information on something in your document, but it appears at the…

A flowchart is an illustration of the different steps of a process in sequential order. In simple terms, it is a graphical representation of logical steps using lines, shapes and arrows to show directional flow. Flowcharts are very important in simplifying complex processes. They also act as a summary for procedures to make understanding them…

When reading word documents, you might have come across words or sentences with a line drawn through them. This is what is referred to as strikethrough. It is a font feature that makes text appear crossed out with a neatly drawn horizontal line. Why use the strikethrough feature instead of deleting One may ask why…

You have read an academic article or paper and noticed superscripts at the end of specific sentences or even words at the bottom of a page in an article under a line. These are what are referred to as footnotes because they appear at the footer of the page. They contain extra information for a…

You’ve probably noticed that when you type at least three hyphens and then press Enter, Microsoft Word replaces the hyphens with a horizontal line that spans the width of your document. This is an automatic formatting feature that works with underscores, equal signs, asterisks, tildes, and pound signs too, providing different kinds of horizontal lines…

If you are working on a specialised keyboard, adding accents to your letters in Microsoft Word will be as simple as clicking a key. For many of us, working on standard, English keyboards inserting an accent over a letter is a bit of a manual process, but worth it in the end. Why adding an…

Put simply, .Doc is the older version of a Microsoft Word Document. DocX is the newer version, form versions of Microsoft Word 2007 onwards. Now before you jump in thinking that the added X makes the document extreme or better in some way, that X on the end just stands for ‘Office Open XML’. If…

Ouch, looking for a Word Document that you accidentally exited or just lost before saving has to be one of the most frustrating things in the world. Rest assured that firstly, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we will show you how to recover your unsaved Word Document. After that, we will…

You’ve found yourself with a PDF file, that needs to be dropped into your working Microsoft Word Document but the old copy paste function just doesn’t seem to cut it. Inserting a PDF into Word is something regularly done but most working professionals. Maybe you only have the second file in a PDF format, or…

Are you looking to convert your Microsoft Word Document into an image? Although this is not common practice, with the conversion into a PDF the most frequently used method to finalise and send a document. This doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be done. When converting your document into an image, it’s always good to…

You have opened a Word Document and noticed that the left indent on a paragraph is either missing, the wrong size or incorrect. Changing the left indent changes that layout of your document. Different types of indentations such as first-line indents or hanging indents serve alternate purposes and should be used correctly to allow your…

What is a hanging indent and when do I use it? A hanging indent is when you indent the second line in a paragraph, alongside all subsequent lines in this paragraph while leaving the first line without any ident, sitting in line with the margin of your document. Also known as a second line indent….

What is a first-line indent? The first-line indent is as it sounds; the first line of a paragraph is slightly indented in comparison to the remainder of the text in the paragraph. Adding the first-line indent makes it easy for your reader to identify where a new paragraph or topic starts. They are not ‘required’…

Adding a cover page to the start of your Word Document is a great way to set the tone for your document. The cover page is the first thing your reader will see and should outline the documents title, author, maybe the date it was written or other key information that a reader may find…

Every Microsoft Word Document has rulers, they are set to a default size of one-inch. You may be looking to create custom margins or rulers which allow you to see more text on your page or change the layout of your document. To create custom margins check out our post here. Once your rulers are…

Adding checkboxes to your Microsoft Word document gives you the functionality of a check list. Ticking off line items as they are complete, actioned or done. Inserting a check list into your Word document is incredibly handy, most commonly used when creating surveys in word. There are two ways to insert check boxes into Word,…

The margins in your Microsoft Word Document determine the blank space that boarders your document, this prevents you from typing quite literally off the edge of the page. You can change the size of your margin on any given Microsoft Word Document fairly easily. A narrow margin may provide you with a higher word count…

Why do you need a cover page? A title or cover page is the first page a reader will see when reviewing your document, it is used to give a brief outline of the document, explaining what it is about, who wrote it, when it was written and the documents name or title if applicable….

When working in Microsoft Word we sometimes find ourselves with a pesky blank white page at the end or even in the middle of our document or you have a long document and would like a quick shortcut to find a particular page to quickly remove it from the document. Leaving the blank page in…

Clone, double, copy, look-alike or duplicate, creating a second version of your existing Microsoft Word document is the aim, no matter how you describe it. Creating a copy of your Word document is something almost everyone working from a computer will do at some stage in their careers. It’s a function that allows you to…

Text boxes are a fantastic feature, they allow you to insert text anywhere in your document at any angle in different fonts, formats, colours and orientations. For this reason, more people are using text boxes in their everyday Word documents for creative headings or to make certain text stand out. When you insert a new…

Fractions are most commonly used in Word when referring to mathematical solutions, in recipes and on financial reports. You can simply type 1/2 and be content with the larger numbers, however for some industries and reports a more polished and professional fraction should be used, for example ½. If you are working on a 2019…

What is the difference between an En Dash and am Em Dash? An en dash is the shorter dash – this is the one Microsoft word will often autoformat for you when you place a dash between two words without a space. The smaller en dash is the default symbol for most of us. An…

Slashes Zeros are frequently used in technical files to distinguish an O (letter O) from an 0 (the number 0). The zero is slashed to make it clear to the reader that this should not be confused with the letter zero. Also used on road signage or in construction to ensure there is no confusion…

You’ve added a border to your Microsoft Word document, but single black line border just isn’t quite bringing out the flair you know your document should have. Microsoft now offers a border customisation feature, ensuring there is a border for almost every purpose. Gone are the days of printing documents on pre-bordered paper, or hand…

First things first, what is Small Caps and why use it? Small caps are used to emphasis text, in a more subtle way to all uppercase text. It is a method of emphasis used when italics, bold or underlining may not be appropriate and all caps just seems a bit too loud. Here’s an example…

Clone, double, copy, look-alike or duplicate, creating a second version of your existing Microsoft Word document is the aim, no matter how you describe it. Creating a copy of your Word document is something almost everyone working from a computer will do at some stage in their careers. It’s a function that allows you to…

Are you trying to change the orientation of your text in word from horizontal to vertical? Or spin it upside down? The good news is, its possible! There are two ways you can change the orientation of your text in Word, the simplest being inserting and spinning a text box. Why change the orientation of…

Splitting your page in Word allows you to see your text, images or information side by side without a border. It’s a feature used by most frequently by writers and for presentation formatting, a split page will draw your reader’s attention to the two sections separately while allowing them to easily compare the information side…

Sorting text numerically or through alphabetising creates a universally understood order. If you would like your list or paragraphs to be easily navigated and user friendly, re-arranging the list into alphabetical or numerical order will allow your readers to quickly find what they are looking for and search through the list in a flash. What…

You may have heard of single or double line spacing, or even used them yourself. Single line spacing is inserting one empty line between each line. Double line spacing is inserting two empty lines between each line. This method limits you to whole line spacings and also to the font size you are using, we’ve…

Are you searching for a more subtle way to make a heading or paragraph stand out, without using bold or enlarged text? Expanding the characters may be the perfect solution for you. Changing the spacing between the characters will make your text look bigger and bolder without actually increasing their size. Alternatively, condensing the text…

You’ve created a table in your Microsoft Word document. Over time you’ve slowly added new lines, columns and editing your table to perfection. Once you have inserted all of your desired content into the table, its a good idea to arrange it into some sort of order, making the table easy for your readers to…

Gone are the days of adding a thick black border around your entire page, Microsoft now lets you customise borders with colours, width, artwork and even which sides of your page have a border and which don’t. Allowing you to add a border to just the top of each page, or the top and bottom….

Adding a border to your Microsoft Word document can really make it stand out and look finished. Microsoft offers a number of different border options and styles, allowing you to change the width and colour to best suit your documents needs. You can even go as far as choosing one of Microsoft’s fun art options…

You’ve added a border to your Microsoft Word Document and it just isn’t right, the document looks a bit cluttered, overloaded and the border seems to be the main issue. Removing the border will take your document back to its standard settings, with clear margins and clean white space surrounding your text. This may better…

Adding a vertical line to your Microsoft Word Document can guide the flow of your text. Vertical lines may also highlight, emphasise and draw your readers attention to a certain section of text. They are a great way to subtly ensure that section of text is given the attention you intended it to receive. Although…

You’re looking for a way to create a break in your page, maybe you are starting a new topic, or you’re adding a new section. Adding a horizontal line to your document clearly shows a reader that a new section within your document has begun without having to create a page break leaving a whole…

Changing the colour, width or style of your page border in Microsoft Word is a creative way to customise your document. Microsoft offers hundreds of different border styles, including art works (pictures) that can be used to add flowers, stars, pumpkins, musical notes and more into your border. The standard border style in Microsoft is…

Adding a border to your Microsoft Word document may provide the polished finished you are looking for. Microsoft offers a number of different style, size and colour options when it comes to borders, making sure there is a border to suit every project. Inserting a border into your Word Document shouldn’t change the margin size…

Splitting your document allows you to place information side-by-side on the same page without it being in a column format. A feature often used to lay information side by side or in sections without borders. If you are an old Wordperfect user and utilised the split page function, you may be wondering how to split…