10 Microsoft Word 2007 Hack & Tricks

With an entirely new interface setup and advanced features you might find it difficult to catch up with MS Word. Even if you are a seasoned pro there are new stuffs to explore with Microsoft Word 2007. Well there are a myriad of hacks if you can explore but I have the top 10 hacks for MS Word 2007 that can really make the word processor more productive. 

1. How to Use Quick parts feature

This is a new feature included in Microsoft Word 2007. Now you may ask what can this Quick parts do for you? Sometimes you need to reuse a pre-formatted portion of a document. For instance you can use Quick Parts to insert fields from Document Properties like footers with page numbers, tables, or even a cover page.

Just follow these steps and you’ll know how to use the Word 2007’s Quick Parts

•  Open the Insert Ribbon
•  Look for the Text section and click Quick Parts
• In order to insert a document property, hold your mouse over Document Property and select the one you’d like to insert
• Click the Building Blocks Organizer for more options
•  To preview an item on the Building Blocks list, click it. It’ll appears in the pane on the right
• Select the item you want to insert
•  click Insert

2. How to Open and Create Word 2007 Files in Earlier Versions of MS Word

The new file format of the Office 2007 enables reduced file sizes, improved reliability, and greater integration between Office applications. Having said that, it also needs to mentioned that Word 2007 is not compatible with earlier versions of Word. How do you solve this problem. Well here’s the hack. You can open, save, and create Office 2007 documents in earlier versions with the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.

Download the Microsft Office Compatibility Pack here

3. How to Customize the the Word 2007’s Shortcut Keys

As you already know using shortcut keys means saving a lot of time. With shortcuts you can execute commands without searching the menus and dialog boxes. There are key combination that you can remember easily. You can customize the Word 2007’s shortcut keys according to your convenience. Go through the steps below

• Select the word options from Office button and click on Customize
• In the bottom of the window, click the Customize button beside Keyboard shortcuts
• Look for the Customize Keyboard box, select the command for which you would like to edit the keyboard shortcut. Start by selecting the category. For each category, the commands will appear at the right side of the window. When you select one, a brief description will appear at the bottom of the dialog box. The current shortcut keys will appear in the Current keys box.
• Click inside the box labeled Press new shortcut key
• Press the shortcut key you would like to use. You must include the Ctrl, Shift, or Ctrl + Shift keys
• In case your shortcut already exists Word will inform you. Reassign the shortcut key
• select whether you would like to save the shortcut key in the Normal template (all documents) or only the current document
• Click Assign when you’re finalized with the changes
• Hit the Close

4. How to Apply styles

Most of the users apply styles to enhance the appearance and readability of the document. Styles ensure that your formatting is applied uniformly throughout the document. With Word 2007 you can easily apply styles to the selected sections of the document. Let’s go through the hack for applying the styles in Word 2007.

• Go to the section dedicated to styles in Ribbon
• Select a portion of you document to preview the style.
• Hold the mouse over the styles button to get the quick preview. If you that’s your choice just click on the button.
• Press Ctrl + Shift + S to open the Apply Styles box
• To apply the style of your choice to the selected portion of your document use the dropdown list in the Apply Styles box and select it to apply it on the selected text.

5. How to Add sound file

This is for those of you who have had no multimedia experience with Word 2007. You can easily add sound files to the Word 2007 documents. Here’s the hack to insert sound file in Word 2007.

• Locate the insertion point where you to insert the sound
• Go to the ribbon and Display the Insert tab and click Object in the Text group. Now you have the Object dialog box.
• Click on the create from the File tab
•  With the controls on the dialog box locate the sound file that you want included with your document
• Click on OK.

Now you have a speaker like icon which you can double click and play.

6. How to Add Macro for Quick Access Toolbar

Most of you don’t even use the macro, right? But, I must say macro adds a lot of flexibility to Word. I’ll share a hack on adding Macro to the Quick Access Toolbar in Word 2007. Here are the steps

• Click the Office button and then click Word Options. You get the Word Options dialog box
• Next click the Customize option on the left
• Using the Choose Commands From drop-down list, and choose Macros.
• Now list the available Macros select the one you would like to assign to the Quick Access toolbar. Click the Add button
• Click on the Ok
The command now appears on the Quick Access toolbar.

7. How to Display the Document Map

Often you are lost of a clue when navigating through a extensive and complex documents. Lot of time is wasted while trying to find the information. Word is equipped with a special viewing mode that allows you navigate through your document easily and quickly. The viewing mode is Document Map.
Now how do you view the Document Map in Word 2007. It’s pretty easy with the new Word version follow the steps.

• Display the View tab of the Ribbon
• Look for the Show/Hide Group
• Check the Document Map check box if uncheked
With Document Map you know you can navigate to the specific locations easily.

8. How to View a Picture that doesn’t Show Up in a Document

Well, this has often occurred with me, may be with you as well. I placed a picture in your Word document only to see that its not visible. Generally what happens is you do the writing and editing in Print Layout view. When you view it in the Draft views, Word displays only the contents. Simply switch to the Print Layout view. Leaving that there may me various other reasons. But you can try this cool hack to get back your picture in the document.

• Click the Office button and then click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
• Click on the Advanced at the left side of the screen
• Scroll through the advanced options until you see the Show Document Content section. (Click here to see a related figure.)
• Look for the Show Picture Placeholders check box. When selected, Word shows a “placeholder” for the graphic, but not the graphic itself. Set this check box as you need.
• Now look for the Show Drawings and Text Boxes On Screen check box. This check box controls whether drawings are displayed or not when using Print Layout and Web Layout views. Set this check box according to your needs.
• click OK to close the dialog box.

9. How to Control the Drawing Grid

No need to say only a few of you use the grids while creating drawing objects. It is needless to say that you find it difficult to align the objects. Well the word 2007 has a feature to assist you with this. To get the exact alignment you can use the drawing grids temporarily. What you need follow this.

• First display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon. Look for the Arrange group option click the Align drop-down list.
• Choose the Grid Settings. The Drawing Grid dialog box will appear
• Set the location of the grids with the controls in dialog box
• Check the Display Gridlines On Screen check box if it is unchecked
• click ok

You are done, now enjoy go ahead with your drawing talent.

10. How to Create Charts in Word 2007

Whether for academic papers and business reports, Charts are always the key when it comes to quantitative evaluation of figures. Fortunately, Word 2007 provides an easy way for this.
Follow the steps below

• Position your to the location where you want to insert the chart

• Open the Insert Ribbon and Click Chart in the Illustrations section
• Select the type of chart you want to insert
• Click Ok

Additionally, you will get the Excel worksheet to enter you data. Provide the figures it’ll be automatically updated in the chart.