There are five little-known features in Word that just make me smile. And while you have to dig for them once—as they don't really fit-in on the Ribbon—once you've got 'em, you've gotta have 'em. At least I do.
With no further ado, the fantastic—or at least handy—five (with Human Torch-esque formatting):
Note: We'll go over how to get at all of these features at the end of the post.
Back This one is the Mr. Fantastic of the group…partly because it's my favorite, and partly because Mr. At Least Handy doesn't have the same ring. Have you ever clicked on a link in a Word document, had it take you to a different place in the document, and want to go back to where you started? Scroll no more! Just click Back and you're good to go. KABOOM! <Forgive the mixture of Batman and Fantastic Four allusions…I can't help myself>
Note: The Back command is not the same as the Shift + F5 shortcut which takes you to the last place you edited. That being said, Shift + F5 is quite handy when you are typing, scroll a few pages to find something related, and then want to easily get back to where you were editing.
Email A close second. It's 9pm, you're tired, you just finished the first draft of your proposal, and your teammates Sally and Sam are expecting it in their inbox for review in the morning. What do you do?
You click Email, type in a short note and their email addresses, and click Send. That's it. While the Email command really only saves you going into Outlook,
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, creating a new email message, finding your document, and attaching it,
Genuine Office 2010, I can't tell you how happy it makes me every time I click Email and all that stuff is done for me. POW,
Windows 7 License!
Create Microsoft Office Outlook Task Now let's say you are Sally or Sam (the people reviewing the draft proposal). You'll likely have a few things that you need to follow-up on when reviewing the draft proposal that was so easily emailed to you.
Enter Create Microsoft Office Outlook Task.
Select the part of the proposal that you need to follow-up on, click Create Microsoft Office Outlook Task, and a new Outlook task pops-up with the selected text in the body and the title of the document in the subject line. KABLAM!
Calculate Now let's say the draft proposal has to do with a software project and contains some data from the last software project you're team worked on. Specifically, let's say it contains the following data:
Our Bug Stats This Month
527 fixed 70 by design 235 external 129 no repro And let's say that in your mind the total number of bugs this month is much more important than the breakdown of how the bugs are being dealt with. With the handy Calculate feature you select the list, click Calculate, and see the total in Word's status bar. SMACK!
Microsoft Office Online Finally, you're wrapping up your review of the proposal and forgot how to preview how the proposal will look if all the Tracked Changes you made are "Accepted." You click on the Microsoft Office Online button and your internet browser starts-up and takes you straight to the Office Online homepage when you search for "Track Changes" and get your answer. BAM,
Microsoft Office Professional 2010!
Where to Find the Features With the goodness of these features in mind, you may be thinking: "Holy Word Processing Jonathan! Where do I find these fantastic features?" Or something like that…
You can get at Back,
Office Standard 2007, Create Microsoft Office Outlook Task, Calculate, and Microsoft Office Online with these three steps:
Step 1: Click on "The Office Button" [see picture below] and click "Word Options"
Step 2: Click "Customize" and in the drop down menu under "Choose commands from:" and select "Commands Not in the Ribbon"
Step 3: Find one of the previously mentioned fantastic four in the list, select it, click "Add," repeat for the remaining three, and click "OK"
Now you'll find the fantastic four on your Quick Access Toolbar [see picture below], and you can get the fantastic fifth (Email) on your Quick Access Toolbar by clicking the "Office Button," clicking "Send," right-clicking on "Email," and clicking on "Add to Quick Access Toolbar." KAPOWEE!
Thanks for indulging the silliness of this post and I'd love to know which little-known features are your favorites in Word. Feel free to perpetuate the silliness if you'd like
-Jonathan
PS Some related goodness from David
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Windows 7 License The Fantastic Five
Hybrid Mode
