LTRC Roundtable: What Are Your Best Tips and Tricks for Word?

What are your best tips and tricks for Word? 

MC: The Focus Assist in Word is invaluable for me because it blocks everything out except the Word document itself. Therefore, there is nothing else for me to look at and focus on except the Word document itself. I tend to get distracted by looking at all the formatting options and whether my arguments should be made in bullet points versus a table, etc. Also, the Table of Contents and Authorities feature is a lifesaver with appellate briefs but is underutilized by a lot of people who manually do it. I always double-check it, but it’s a lot faster and more accurate than manually creating either table.

MM: Take some time to explore all the capabilities of Word as well as the Add-Ins available to you - go to your favorite search, video viewing, or social media platform and search for “Microsoft Word tools,” and you will find there is something available for every working style. If you’re a stream-of-consciousness writer, make use of the citation tool so you only have to make a few clicks to add your citation instead of taking the time out of writing to type out the citation. Learn how to use Macros, especially if you draft documents that have the same/similar paragraphs or provisions on a regular basis. If you second guess your writing, use the immersive reader tool to help you in your editing and even have your documents read to you, which may help you hear contextual issues with your draft that you miss when reading the words on the screen.

AP: First off, learn to use Styles and set up your default styles for all of the different text section types (Headings, various levels of subheadings, proper multi-level numbered lists tabbed out and formatted the way you really like). Then, as you type, keep the Styles Control window open and floating to the side of your page at all times. Open your styles pane (alt+ctrl+shift+s for Windows, or click the Styles Pane button in Word for Mac), and make your layout perfect as you go! Then, if your headings are properly tagged, you can instantly add a Table of Contents too! 

Next, learn to tag your citations and generate automatic Tables of Authorities. This makes your briefs look much better without the manual work (or the potential for mistakes when edits are made after the table is created). Finally, take an in-depth CLE (or 5) on using Word. You may think it’s simple, but there are tons of advanced features that would make your life easier and your practice more efficient!

ACJ: I agree, Alex! I love using Styles in Word so all of my documents have a consistent look, and I only have to choose my fonts, colors, etc. for my headings, subheads, and text once. Using Styles with the Navigation Pane also makes it much easier to navigate through long documents or rearrange sections of a document by just dragging and dropping the heading to a new location in the document.

MDJE: Alison, I love Styles! I just wish I didn’t always have to teach my clerks (law students) how to use them! (They are always pleasantly surprised and wish they had learned of it when they wrote their first paper for legal writing!) Along those lines, one of my two favorite functions in Word is the “Show/Hide ¶” function. I know some people find it distracting (and admittedly, I’m pretty good at catching inappropriate spacing, tabbing, paragraph returns, etc., from years of comic book collecting), but it’s a great function to make sure your documents look good! My other favorite function is the Find/Replace feature (command-shift-“H” on both Apple and Windows). It comes in handy when the spacing after a period is inconsistent – either use one or two spaces after a sentence (not both), tabs look inconsistent, or paragraph returns look inconsistent with the settings of your “styles” compared to the rest of the document “normal,” or where you have consistently misspelled a word for a quick find and replace of the misspelled word, e.g., “Judgement” v. “Judgment.” As they say, presentation is everything!

MCM: Two tips that I find useful and simple: 1) Protect documents with a password - select File tab, Info, Protect Document and Encrypt with Password option. 2) Remove metadata - select File tab, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document, then click Close and save the document. 

AK: Learn shortcuts for processes you use often! If you misspell a word, instead of opening up the editor, single-click the word, and it will provide suggestions for the incorrect spelling. Double-click a rod to select a single word, and triple-click to select an entire paragraph. Alt+21, using the numeric keyboard on the right (make certain number lock is on) will give you the § symbol, and Alt+20 will give you the ¶ symbol. There are plenty of “cheat sheets” online to provide you with shortcuts for all of your Word needs.

My second suggestion is to know and love the fact that you can easily convert a Word doc to an Acrobat doc with two clicks. Use the “Acrobat” tab in the toolbar to uncover several options, the most important of which is the “Create PDF” function. Using my letterhead as a template, I can draft a document, save it in Word, and then convert it to Acrobat. I added my electronic signature and sent the document out electronically without wasting time, paper, or money.

ACJ: Two Word features that I find invaluable are the ability to customize the Ribbon and the compare documents feature.

As Dan Siegel and I note in our book, How to Do More in Less Time, most programs are not built out of the box to work the way you work, so it’s always a good idea to customize them to help you be more productive. In Word, you can customize the Ribbon to easily access the features you use most often and eliminate those you use infrequently or not at all. 

To customize, go to the File tab, choose Options, and then Customize Ribbon. You can add new tabs or new groups with your preferred commands or rearrange the commands on the Ribbon to work better for you.

The Compare Documents feature in Word can be especially useful for lawyers. If you have several versions of the same document and want to easily see the differences, go to the Review tab and click on Compare.

JC: QuickParts is an easy-to-use tool that every lawyer who creates documents should understand because of the drafting benefits provided. QuickParts is a versatile feature in Microsoft Word that lets users store and reuse pieces of content, such as text, fields, tables, and graphics. 

These reusable elements, known as building blocks, can be inserted into documents with a few clicks, eliminating the need to retype or recreate the content. So, if you often use the same set of paragraphs (or pages) to begin or close a certain type of document, QuickParts lets you insert that text in seconds.

To create a QuickPart, simply select the content you want to save, navigate to the "Insert" tab, and click on "QuickParts" in the Text group. Select "Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery" and provide a name, category, and description for your new building block. This makes it easy to organize and retrieve your QuickParts as needed.

Once you have created a QuickPart, you can easily insert it into any document. Go to the "Insert" tab, click on "QuickParts," and choose the desired building block from the gallery. This saves time and promotes consistent format and content in your documents.

Assistance QuickParts is readily available as Microsoft maintains Help files on QuickParts, which you can quickly locate with a search.

ACJ: Jim, this is another of my favorite Word tips (although you can use Quick Parts in Outlook, too). It is so much faster to create Quick Parts than to recreate the item each time you need it (or try to find it in another document and cut and paste it into the new document)!