Helpful Hints for Saving Keystrokes & Your Sanity

by Cathy Rogers

Did you know that in Microsoft Word the default setting for the spelling check feature is to ignore words typed in all caps? Try it. Intentionally type an error in a title while using all caps. No squiggle. Assuming you would like to remedy this situation, here’s how. On the toolbar, click on Tools and then Options. On the Spelling and Grammar tab, uncheck the “Ignore words in Uppercase,” then click OK. Just think of the embarrassment you have saved yourself!

Here are 10 more tips for using Word more efficiently, saving files, and locating e-mail messages quickly:

1. If you often use your e-mail as a filing cabinet, try this tip when you need to find something quickly. Sort your messages using the category that will most likely help you find what you’re looking for. For example: If it’s the person the message is to or from that is most helpful to your search, click on the “to” or “from” heading at the top of your inbox or outbox to group messages by that person. However, if the date is most likely to help you find your message rapidly, organize by date (either ascending or descending).

2. If you receive many e-mail messages each day and/or let them accumulate, it may be helpful to sort them with the oldest messages on top. That way, you don’t risk reading updates regarding something you haven’t read to begin with.

3. If you type something in an e-mail that you are likely to want to re-use (a query for example), then save it first as a word document. Word is easier to format and manipulate than an e-mail message. Then each time you need the text, you can make the necessary revisions, and simply copy/paste it into the body of an email.

4. Save everything (documents, article ideas, photos related to what you’re writing) on a flash drive—in addition to your normal source of storage (hard drive, disk, CD, etc.). This way, you have an automatic back-up in the event of a dead battery to your digital camera, a computer virus or other deadline disaster.

5. Move the word count button to your toolbar. Click View, then toolbars, then word count on the drop down list. Using your mouse, drag the word count box to a convenient place on your toolbar.

6. If you frequently use the copy feature in Word (perhaps to save paper copies of info from a Web site or other source) use the clear formatting feature to make the text match your document. This method is faster than selecting the copied text, then changing the font, deleting the bold, etc.

7. If you have a habit of spacing twice after a period, but your publication says use only one space, use the find and replace feature to make the corrections.

8. Likewise, if you change a character’s name in a story, using find and replace is quicker and more accurate than the manual method.

9. If you sometimes fall into the habit of using the passive voice, set your spelling and grammar options to include readability statistics. To turn on this option, click Tools, then Options, then the Spelling and Grammar tab. At the bottom of that pop-up box, click “Show readability statistics” and then click OK. Now when you run the spell and grammar check, you will also receive a percentage of sentences in your document that are written in the passive voice. If you decide the percentage is too high, but you can’t quickly determine where the passive sentences are, select one paragraph at a time and run spell and grammar check. When the box pops up to ask if you want to continue checking the remainder of the document, choose no. Using this method, you can check paragraph by paragraph or sentence by sentence.

10. Make autocorrect work for you. Set up a shortcut for your name and anything else you type regularly. To create an autocorrect setting: Click tools, then Autocorrect Options. In the “replace” box type in your shortcut, then in the “with” box, you type in the full version For example, I might type CR (my initials) in the “replace” box, then Cathy Rogers (my full name) in the “with” box. To use the feature in a letter or other document, I type CR, and as quickly as I hit the space bar, my entire name appears on the screen.

11. Ideally these technology tips will save you some mental and physical energy. Happy writing!

Cathy Rogers is a freelance writer and computer instructor from East Tennessee. She writes a community news column and has had essays published by Southern Scribe and Think Ink for Writers.