Ten Features of Microsoft Word That Will Help You Write Papers for Online Schools

When completing online college classes for online schools, there are several tips and tricks that Microsoft Word has built in that can help you make the most out of the benefits an education provides.

1. AutoText allows students to insert pictures, tables or large amounts of text they use frequently into a document. Click on Tools, AutoCorrect (or AutoCorrect Options) and then the AutoText tab. Insert the information you need to appear. When typing the information you added to AutoText, a notification will appear. Press enter, and the rest of your entry will be inserted.

2. Track changes made to a document by choosing Track Changes from the Tools menu, then choosing Highlight Changes. Select the Track Changes While Editing check box.

3. Search and replace more than words. You can search and replace special characters or formatting. Click Edit and then Replace. Click More and you can choose between a Special and a Formatting button which allows you to search and replace for those options.

4. Move footnotes by selecting the reference mark, cutting it and then pasting it where you’d like the footnote to actually go. You can also drag and drop the reference marks into place.

5. Add page numbers or other code to a document’s header or footer. Choose View and then Header and Footer to open an editing panel and a toolbar.

6. Prevent paragraphs from becoming separated because of page breaks by highlighting the paragraph that is breaking, choose Format and the Paragraph. Click on the Lines and Page Breaks tab and then check the Keep Lines Together check box.

7. Find synonyms for a word by right clicking it and selecting “synonyms.”

8. Merge several Microsoft Word documents into one by starting a new document, and then choosing Insert and then File. Click the document you want to add and repeat with any other documents you want to merge.

9. Subscripts and superscripts are easy to do in Microsoft Word. Hold Control, Shift and + to do a superscript and a Control + to write in subscript. Hold down the same keys to return to regular type.

10. Turn off auto-corrections by clicking Tools, then AutoCorrect Options and un-check any boxes you’d like.