Editor's note: This post concerns Word 2010. Most of the features it discusses are still present in current versions of Word. The exception is number 2, Office Web Apps. These have been replaced by Office Online.
If you, like millions of other office-dwelling folks around the world, use Microsoft Word to do much of your daily word processing work, you have likely found a few shortcuts, tips, features, and tricks to help make your work more efficient over the years.
However, as Microsoft launches newer versions of their products, there are always a few surprises, new features, or fixes for old bugs that take time to learn and master.
In the first of a series of posts on various tips, tricks, and new features to help you master your efficiency with the Microsoft Office Suite, we'll tackle the ubiquitous Word program and invite you to share your own favorites in the forums. While there are pages and pages of keyboard shortcuts and tips posted around the web in articles and knowledge bases, we'll start by focusing on five that we think may be particularly useful to nonprofit and library users. Some of these features may be new to Office 2010, or even Office 2007, so if you're still using Office 2003 or earlier, you may want to check out the latest versions of the suite to access some of the cool new time-saving tools.
1. Building Blocks. The Building Blocks feature was added to Office 2007 and is a terrific tool for inserting standardized headers, footers, titles, cover letters, tables, and other features into any new document.
For example, if you create grant reports, board meeting materials, forms for volunteers or events, or use Word to create your monthly newsletter, you can create a Building Block for each of those commonly used documents with the standard formatting, tables, header and footer style, and then simply insert it into the appropriate document to edit with the current info each time.
This feature can save you time while ensuring that your materials are consistent and that you're not having to rebuild a time-consuming table for each report or form. Each Building Block can be saved into a special-purpose Word folder called "BuildingBlocks.dotx" where you can retrieve it to use for future documents.
2. Office Web Apps sync with Word on your desktop. [Note: In 2014, Microsoft replaced Office Web Apps with Office Online.] Now, with Web Apps, you can use your installed software to create an article, upload it via Windows Live (or if you're enterprise-level using SharePoint Foundation 2010), and share that document with others remotely. This allows for co-authoring, online collaboration, and revision history to be stored online and shared between remote staff, board members, volunteers, or work-at-home staff without needing to continuously email different versions back-and-forth. You can even use Office Communicator to chat directly with your co-authors or collaborators while they're live online, directly within the Word document, without needing a third-party instant messaging client.
3. Customize your Ribbon interface or easily turn it on and off (unlike the Ribbon in Office 2007). For folks who've already been using Office 2007, the Ribbon isn't anything new to you, but for users of versions of Office prior to then, the Ribbon has some great features but can provide a learning curve in figuring out where everything that used to live in your "File, Edit, View, Insert, and more" toolbar is now moved to the Ribbon. The 2010 version allows users to customize it so that your most often-used shortcuts are only a quick click away, and more obscure options aren't presented at every turn. One gripe that 2007 users had was that they couldn't turn it off or hide it from view, so the 2010 version has made it easy to switch on and off if you want to avoid using it for a while.
4. Integrated and more advanced photo editing and formatting in Word. The new Word has offered up some very convenient and long-needed enhancements allowing more advanced editing of images within Word, as well as new formatting styles that can be applied throughout the document. From gradient fills to custom themes to apply throughout your document, you can edit, tweak, and format to your heart's content without needing a third-party editing or design tool for many documents. With short staff time, money, and software, nonprofits and libraries can get more bang for their collective bucks if one tool can do the work that previously required three different programs. Huzzah!
5. New screen capture button that lets you zoom in on specific areas you want to grab and paste them into your Word docs without needing to use a third-party screen grabber or image editor. If you're sending instructions on how to fill out a form or want to just highlight a specific area for someone, you can use a simple, easy-to-use button to grab pieces of the page and plug into your documents. Find this feature in Insert > Illustrations > Screenshot.
Want to learn more about the Microsoft software donation program or other resources available to nonprofits? Check out their site for nonprofits to see all of their resources to help nonprofits use technology.