Found some good MS Word tips.

Thanks! Does anyone else but me dislike Word 2007?

i LOVE word2007. i love the pretty blue colour, i love the ribbon ( i never minimize it) i love how everything is laid out. Did I mention I love it?

Bart, handy tips although I think it's more useful for non-fiction writers. I think fiction writers, some, not all, get so hung up on formatting that it becomes another procrastination tool, you know? cause really? you can write a novel in wordpad. you really don't need all the fancy shmancy stuff that comes in word2007. (you in general)

I like word2007 (though it's really missing some of the customization that I've long used in my word2003 version.)

Outline view is fun to play with. I actually set up my computer to 1. NOT auto indent and 2. to have special key combos for increase and decrease level so I can do both while typing without leaving the keyboard. (though I don't use outlining for fiction writing.)

I also LOVE document map. This is fantastic for hopping around long documents. You can even set up the Style (I call mine "Chapter") to start on a new page. =)

And yes, it's quite possible to spend way too much time futzing around with these programs. Ask me about the PowerPoint slide shows for school that took three times as long because I was playing! (Though now that I use the Master Slide I've saved myself an enormouse amount of work.)

Bartholomew said:

I dunno, when I'm outlining something, I think it's really useful to be able to move bits of my story around with one click, and see if everything still makes sense.

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There's the rub. I don't outline.

though it's really missing some of the customization that I've long used in my word2003 version.)

Click to expand...

Claire they might have moved it to a different place. if you're looking for something specific maybe i can help you. (send me a pm if you like) i also know a place where you can ask questions about anything in Office including Word2007 and have them answered by Word Experts.

nevada said:

i LOVE word2007. i love the pretty blue colour, i love the ribbon ( i never minimize it) i love how everything is laid out. Did I mention I love it?

Bart, handy tips although I think it's more useful for non-fiction writers. I think fiction writers, some, not all, get so hung up on formatting that it becomes another procrastination tool, you know? cause really? you can write a novel in wordpad. you really don't need all the fancy shmancy stuff that comes in word2007. (you in general)

Click to expand...

Me! Me too! It so purdy.

Bartholomew said:

I dunno, when I'm outlining something, I think it's really useful to be able to move bits of my story around with one click, and see if everything still makes sense.

I write both, though, so my perspective is different.

Click to expand...

Get OneNote. Sounds like it'd be more useful for you.

nevada said:

There's the rub. I don't outline.

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Nor me. We're great.

Bartolomeo, you can download a free trial from the MS Office website. But I warn you - it's addictive. You'll be outlining and making notes all the live-long day!

I haven't upgraded to Vista and the Office Suite 2007, and have no intent to do so anytime soon. But I do send a lot of files back and forth to other people, and there is one aspect of Word (and Excel) 2007 I absolutely detest: The lack of backward compatibility in files. You can't read a .docx file unless you have Word 2007. So I'm constantly having to tell people to be sure to save their files in .rtf or an older .doc format. Other than that, for me, there's nothing I need in a word processor that Word 2003 doesn't have.

caw

blacbird, you can make files backwards compatible in Word 2007. I do that all the time when I email stuff to Lori.

yes peaches, thats what he's saying. he hates reminding people to make the files backwards compatible when they send it to him. are you sure you're literate? i like your av by the way.

I thought he meant it was impossible to make files backwards compatible.

You can either re-save them manually as backwards compatible files, or set MS Word to do this automatically every time you save something, or close the program.

I could set it to save everything as a Word 93-2000 document but I leave it as is. The only person I send files to is thethinker42 and it takes seconds to click 'save as', etc. I don't see what the problem is. *shrug*

And thanks. It fits my usertitle, doesn't it?

ACTUALLY blacbird-- you can download a compatibility patch from Microsoft so Word2003 CAN open Word2007's documents. I put it on my computer and can open, edit, AND save Word2007 docs (the .docx format) with my copy of Word2003.

Download patch HERE to make Word2003 read Word2007. =)