Word is arguably the most frustating software ever if you don’t know how to properly use it. With practice it can actually be not so painful, if you use the semantics features appropriately. Most people use Word like they used bad-old HTML: no structure, mixing presentation and data. Here’s a quick tutorial on using Word the right way.

Use styles to specify structure

Word has a css-like feature that allows you to use styles. That means you can change the normal font for all of a document, and specify document structure using headers (see note on automatic table of contents creation below). You can select the class of a text-element by selecting the text and changing the combo box selection where you usually see ‘Normal’ (on the left side of the font properties, usually the second toolbar from the top). You can modify styles or create new ones by using the Format > Styles And Formatting… menu.

For HTML users, please be aware that while in HTML, CSS overrides anything in font tags, Word works the other way around, that is, custom font and paragraph properties override styles.; don’t let this fool you.

Step-by-step instructions on using this feature.

Create a table of contents automagically

If you’ve used styles and the default Headings classes like you should, you can create a table of contents automagically. Go into Insert > Tables & Indexes (Word 2k) or Insert > Reference > Tables & Indexes (Word XP) . Then choose the second tab, Table of Contents to insert a table. It puts the heading names as entries, makes all of the dots from left to right and inserts the page numbers for you. Once it’s inserted, you can right click and select Update fields to update it to work with your new content.

Create captions and references to figure, tables and equations

If you’re doing scientific papers and referring to figures, tables and equations you need this. Select a table, figure or equation you’ve created and go into Insert > Caption (W2k) or Insert > Reference > Caption. You can choose to put the caption below or above the element.

Whenever you need to refer to the figure, table or equation in the text, go into Insert > Cross-reference or Insert > Reference > Cross-Reference. You can choose the format of the reference, be it the complete reference, an abbreviation or the page number where the element is. If you move or delete an element and the reference numbers change, Word will automatically update them in both the text and the captions.

Sections, headers, footers and page numbers

A common frustation is getting several headers or footers working in a complex document. For example, if you want to skip a page number because you have a full page graph from another piece of software, you might think that inserting a page break and printing an otherwise empty page is your only solution. Not so. Instead of inserting a page break, go into Insert > Break and choose Next page (the fourth choice, under Section break types). Inserting a section break means that this part of the document has its own layout, headers, footers, and page numbers.

If you want to create a custom header/footer for this section, make sure you uncheck the “Same as previous footer/header” button on the headers/footers toolbar. To skip page numbers choose Insert > Page Numbers, click the Format… button, and select Start page numbering at…

Footnotes and endnotes

If you want to cite an author or create a footnote, go into Insert > Footnote or Insert > Reference > Footnote, and select either the footnote or endnote type. If you need to cite the same author or footnote again, use Insert > Cross-reference or Insert > Reference > Cross-reference and choose either footnotes or endnotes from the combo box on the left-hand side.

Two-column layouts

Studies have shown that adults are most comfortable reading text at about 60 characters per line. An easy way to achieve this line length while not wasting space is using two columns. You can do this in one of two ways:

1. Go into File > Layout, and check the 2 in 1 checkbox on the bottom left. In the second tab (paper format), select landscape orientation or…
2. Go into Format > Columns and choose Two.

Line numbers (for program excerpts)

Go into File > Layout, go to the last tab (layout), and click the Line Numbers button.

Paste Special

If you ever run into trouble with pasted text from a webpage looking weird, use Edit> Paste Special > Unformatted text instead of Ctrl+V.

Insert a line

Type — and press Enter to insert a horizontal line.

Collaboration

You can view what’s been inserted or deleted in the text since the last save for collaboration purposes using Tools > Track Changes.

Customize the toolbars

Go into View > Toolbars > Customize, click the second tab (commands) and drop the commands on the toolbar you want to. Recommended: Format > Exponent or subscript.

That should be enough to get you started.