The sample chapter on Tables of Walter Glenn's "Word 2000 in a Nutshell" is available at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/word2000ian/

Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Word/Office MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Description of Word 2000 in a Nutshell from Amazon.com: 

Word 2000 in a Nutshell is a clear, concise, and complete reference to the world's most popular word-processing program. This book is the first choice of the Word power user who needs help completing a specific task or understanding a command. It's also an invaluable resource that uncovers Word 2000's undocumented features and shares powerful time-saving tips.

The book's organization offers several ways to find information quickly. Part One is a thorough overview of the Word interface that serves as a roadmap for the rest of the book. This section also empowers users with an under-the-hood perspective on Word and shows how customizable Word really is. Part Two is a detailed reference to every command in Word's menu bar, from the File menu right across to the Help menu. This section illuminates each item with straightforward explanations, clear instructions, and tips on making the most of Word's features. Part Three takes up some of Word's advanced features, with chapters on collaborating, creating a template, using VBA, and more.

Specific topics covered in the book:

• Understanding Word's global architecture
• Customizing toolbars, menus, shortcuts, and context menus
• Creating and using templates
• Mastering fields and forms
• Making the most of Word's HTML capability
• Discovering the power of master documents
• Getting started with Word macros

Word 2000 in a Nutshell is designed for the power user who needs fast access to critical information without a lot of fluff.

Special Edition Using Word 2000 - from the author, Bill Camarda , May 29, 1999

A relentless focus on making you more productive with Word
I truly appreciate your considering my book on Word 2000.

Special Edition Using Word 2000 might just be the most detailed book about Word ever written -- and all 1,400 pages have a single goal: to help you become more productive and effective. I've tried to include step-by-step, detailed help with virtually anything you'll ever want to do with Word, from writing a book to building a Web site, creating a newsletter to streamlining your document review process. Wherever there's an opportunity to save time using Word's document automation features, you'll learn about it here -- after all, who wants to spend one more minute on a project than you have to?

All in all, I've added some 400 new pages to the previous edition, deepening its coverage pretty much everywhere, and paying special attention to...

• Thoroughly covering Word 2000's souped-up Web capabilities: you'll find 100+ pages of Word 2000 web/intranet site-building coverage, nearly all of it new
• Adding more business-focused coverage and document examples
• Providing some 20 detailed projects that walk you through some of the most challenging document production tasks you're likely to encounter
• Word document security -- including how to avoid macro viruses!
• Just about the most detailed coverage of Word 2000's new multilingual features you'll find anywhere
• Hundreds of new productivity and troubleshooting tips
• A complete field reference

In addition to all this, Que has provided a CD-ROM with more than 1,500 pages of up-to-the-moment Office 2000 info: Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher & FrontPage -- plus a complete, fully-licensed copy of WOPR, the world's #1 Office add-in!

Finally, and I hope the most important advantage: this is now my 5th book on Word. Over the last ten years I've spent a *lot* of time watching people work with Word - seeing what they understand, what confuses them, and what they *really* need to know to get results. This time around, I've also had the help of a truly awesome team of technical and editorial professionals at Que, all of whom use Word eight (make that 16!) hours a day, and are truly experts even though they don't get bylines.

I've worked hard to reflect all of our Word experience here. I'm proud of how this book turned out, and I sincerely hope you'll find it valuable. Many thanks for considering it.

 

---

Special Edition Using Office 2000 by Woody Leonhard and Ed Bott

If you are not a developer, this is the only Office 2000 book you will ever need. As usual, Woody Leonhard (not to slight co-author Ed Bott) has produced the definitive guide to Office 2000. I've read his books religiously since the old Word for Windows days, and no one beats his understanding of what makes Office tick. You'll get the unvarnished truth--good and bad--about Office, not just a re-written Help file.

Every chapter contains one final section: "Secrets of the Office Masters" which is often worth the price of the book itself. Add to this a [full] registered copy of Woody's Office Power Pack [WOPR] on CD and no other book can touch the value and plain usefulness of this one. Just get it, and don't look back.

Reviewer: John B. Kenrick from NYC

I've dealt with my share of program guide books, and I've never found one as readable, helpful, and well organized as this. These guys tell do an amazing job of getting the info across. For example, I have a so-called "complete reference" for FrontPage2000 that tells me less in 953 pages than this book does in just 175! And no, I am NOT kidding! There are plenty of great tricks and shortcuts, helpful graphics and a varied layout that keeps things from getting tedious. The prose is refreshingly conversational and not "tech" heavy. Woody's other book ("Woody Leonard Teaches Office 2000") is good, but not nearly as comprehensive. And for once, a book provides a CD ROM with genuinely useful software, not just "trial" programs that amount to little more than advertising. If you or your office team need the full lowdown on MS 2000 in one book, this is the only choice. Compared to what it would cost to either take courses or buy complete books on each program in the MS 2000 suite, this book is a remarkable bargain.

When I first started with Word 97 I got a lot of help from Word 97 Annoyances (pub. O'Reilly); I like its general approach of making Word do what you need rather than what the Microsoft sales department thought would most impress potential buyers!

(John Nurick)

 

 

 

---

> Finally, what good books can this group recommend for WORD VBA programming.
> I thought since I had done some VBA programming in Excel and Access, that Word wouldn't be that different.

It's the object model that gets you, no matter which app you're in. If you're a
database person, "Microsoft Office Automation with Visual Foxpro" by Tamar
Granor and Della Martin, from Hentzenwerke Publishing might do the trick. You
can also take a look at "Word 2000 VBA Programmer's Reference" [kit] by Duncan
Mackenzie, from Wrox and "Writing Word Macros" by Steve Roman, from O'Reilly.

Cindy Meister, INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister  http://go.compuserve.com/MSOfficeForum

---

August, 1999

I desperately need to learn to write word macros for work to reduce large amount of repetition, especially in actions like going through a long list of word files in the same or different directories, opening them up one by one, handle the text (search and replace, etc.), close it, and then move on to the next file in alphabetical order (so that I don't miss one file) and repeat the same thing.  So I need to know how to use macros and learn the possible variables for filename, selected text, cursor down in a file open dialog box, etc. 

I hope experienced macro users can provide some input about what books to read, what tools to use, etc.  For example, what is the best book on VBA programming with a strong focus on Word macros. 

Your input is greatly appreciately.  Thank you.

Jasphirer

 

Hi Jasphirer,

If you are talking about macros in Word 97 I might have a few tips for you, one (and that's really a nice place to hang around, go and see WWW.WOPR.COM. It's a site about Office, and they also have a weekly (free!) magazine with tips on using and programming Office.

When you want to get a book about Word, check the Word 97 Annoyances. It is actually not about VBA (or at least not whole of it) but still has many good tips in it. When you read it, you'll learn to understand the way Word 'thinks' and this takes it easier to understand and predict some of it's behaviour.

 

A rather new one is "Learning Word Programming" by Steve Roman (ISBN 1-56592-524-6). It focuses only on Word and is quite complete. (According to Amazon.com this is out of print. See Writing Word Macros by same author. CK)

Or try a real VBA book, 'Teach yourself Visual Basic for Applications 5 in 21 days', by Matthew Harris (ISBN 0672310163), it covers the most of VBA and focuses mainly on Word and Excel.

Also a good source of information is in the VBA help file and of course the newsgroups here on the msnews server, visit news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.word97vba, there are a lot of real VBA gurus hanging out there, and there's something new to learn every day.

A good website with a lot of examples is the one of Word MVP Bill Coan: www.wordmacros.com

Hope this helps,
regards,
Astrid

---

Other book lists

• Suggested Word VBA books are listed by Howard Kaikow at Word VBA Books
  and he also has a list of suggestions for WordBasic Books. Both lists are annotated with his comments.
• MVP Book Suggestions:
  http://www.mvps.org/word/Tutorials/BookRecommendations.htm

Disclosure: The links from book titles on this web page are to descriptions about the books on Amazon.com. While I have had good experiences dealing with them, you may be able to get the books more quickly and at no greater cost at your local book seller. Some can also be obtained at substantial discounts or through your public library. You may also be able to obtain them at substantial discounts through eBay or other auctions. I am paid a commission if you buy a book from Amazon.com which helps pay to keep my web site operating. However, the primary reason for the links is to allow you to get more information about the books mentioned.

Certain logos and book reviews contained on this page are property of Amazon.com and copyrighted by them. 
They are used with permission as an Amazon.com associate.

Return to beginning of book suggestions.

Downloads Page

 

How can I get rid of that ^$#*@& paperclip?

(Office 97, Office 2000)

a. To keep it from being a nuisance but still have it available:

Call up the Office Assistant Help è Microsoft Word Help .

Click on the Options button.

Uncheck the following boxes:

__ Respond to F1 key

__ Display Alerts

__ Using the mouse more effectively

__ Keyboard Shortcuts

__ Using features more effectively

__ Show tip of the day at Start Up

You will probably want to leave the one about wizards unchanged and I have left the one about programming checked. Click on the OK button.

When you have done this, the Office Assistant will no longer delay you when you start Word by offering some tip you may already know. If you press F1, you will get the traditional Windows help screen with Contents, Index, and Find (W97) or (W2k) the Word IE help screens. If you want the Office Assistant, click on the question mark icon on the Standard toolbar or select Help è Microsoft Word Help .

If you are a new user, though, I would recommend keeping the tips turned on for quite a while. There are features to Word that will help you do your job that you probably won't find out about any other way.

b. Quick and dirty method. 

Find the folder "Actors" and rename it something like "Actors was my name. I hold the Office Assistants." (To turn it back on you just rename it "Actors".) This will disable the Office Assistant. (Any different name will do.) Write down what you did in case you want to turn it back on. Store that information in a file named something like "How I turned off the Office Assistant.doc." That file should be some place where it can be found by Windows Explorer.

If you want to read more about taming the Office Assistant try:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/TameAssistant.htm

Downloads Page

How can I get rid of the web toolbar?

There are three methods to be looked at:

Document-specific macro - put in "ThisDocument" object

The first is for a particular document. The second is global and gets rid of the Web toolbar until you take steps to revive it.

Method 1:

Use the VBA Editor to put this in the Document's code (in the ThisDocument object:

Private Sub Document_Open()
	On Error Resume Next
		Application.CommandBars("Web").Enabled = False
	On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

Private Sub Document_Close()
	On Error Resume Next
		Application.CommandBars("Web").Enabled = True
	On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

---------------------------------

Global - Get rid of the Web Toolbar in Word

Method 2 - kill the web toolbar:

Put the following code into an AutoExec macro in Normal.dot or some other global template:

Application.CommandBars("Web").Enabled = False

Keep in mind that this kills the web toolbar, which is something that I can live with. If you use this, be sure to leave yourself a note in numerous places on what it is you did so that if you ever want the thing you can get it back. I suppose the elegant solution would be to put a macro on the View toolbar to enable it. (The enabling macro says "true" instead of "false.") You could use the toggle macro below which takes whatever the current status is and switches it. It also makes the toolbar visible if you just enabled it.

You may want to put the following in your Normal.dot or another global as a toggle command:

Sub ToggleWebToolbarEnabled()
    With Application.CommandBars("Web")
        .Enabled = Not .Enabled
        If .Enabled = True Then
            .Visible = True
        End If
    End With
End Sub

See Template Basics for information about global templates.

Method 3 - Add-In from Pieter Janssen

I've created an add-in just for this purpose. you can download it from:

http://users.skynet.be/wordprogramming.be/ 

(right-click on disablewebbar.dot and save target to disk)

It adds a menu item called 'never show webbar' to the view menu.

If it is checked, the web-toolbar won't show up, if it's not, it will.

HTH, pieter. (Janssen)

See also MVP site: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MacrosVBA/BanishWebToolbar.htm 

Off-topic - but did you know that you can't record a macro using the web toolbar? A workaround is discussed at: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q212/6/42.ASP 

Why doesn't Word's Fonts list show all of the fonts I have installed in Windows?

It is probably because of your selection of a default printer in Windows. At one time Word loaded all fonts that were loaded in the operating system but that slowed down starting Word without much benefit since most fonts are never used. Now, it loads those fonts that are recognized by the default printer (still more than most people use.)

If you change printers for any job in Word, that changes the default printer in Word for that session of Word. When you restart Word, the default printer will be the default printer as set in Windows. (There is an exception to this statement, too, for Word 2000. If, in Word 2000, VBA resets the active printer, that setting becomes the Windows default upon leaving Word. This is a bug.)

See . . .

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/NoFonts.htm

For information on resetting the default font in Word see that topic.

 

 

Return to Frequently Asked Questions List

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What are some basic tips for someone who is converting from Word Perfect?

a. 

This will be a painful but not necessarily unrewarding experience.

b. Compatibility "features" in Word will make things worse!

Do not turn on any of the Word Perfect conversion features or compatibility features. They will make things very confusing because they won't work like Word Perfect, but they won't work like Word, either. This will mean that books will be wrong, help will be wrong, other users you ask will be confused.

c. Word and Word Perfect look at a document in very different ways.

Primarily, WP sees a stream of text that you do things to, like damming a river to change it's course. You turn on Bold and everything from then on is Bold until you turn it off. Likewise with changing margins or tabs. Word Perfect inserts unseen codes (like printer codes in ASCII text files of old) to turn things on and off. You can see these codes by selecting "reveal codes." (see g. below)

Word sees documents as built up of compartments, one inside of the other.

Characters fit into paragraphs which fit into sections which fit into documents. Formatting changes change only the compartment to which they are applied. If you change the tab settings on one paragraph, the paragraphs that follow aren't changed (if those paragraphs exist when you make the change). Changes made in one paragraph will carry through in subsequent paragraphs which are created from that paragraph.

 

Must read: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm

Much of this answer is based on John McGhie's excellent article and other writings.

d. Word keeps most of its formatting in the pilcrows (paragraph marks). 

This is why it is recommended that you switch your viewing options in page layout view and normal view to "view paragraph marks." Don't worry, they won't print out and you can still switch to print preview to see the page without them.

e. Learn about styles and apply them religiously in your form documents.

Do not have anything in your form documents formatted as "Normal." If you want to change paragraph formatting, create a new style for the new format. In talking about form documents here, I’m talking about templates, as well as Word "forms." A fine look at styles is in Microsoft's Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word. You can find this on-line at http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide (revised version).

f. Use multiple templates.

Avoid basing a document on the Normal template (blank page). Long-term this will save you many headaches. Download and read John McGhie's piece for more on this. Learn about templates, where they are stored and why, and how to create them.

g. Word does have a "reveal codes" but it is not the same as WP's.

To reveal the formatting of a part of a document, press Shift-F1 (or select What's This? on the Help menu). This will give you a large arrow pointer with a question mark. Point it at the part of the text that is giving you trouble and it will tell you what style formatting is applied and what direct formatting is applied to that text. 

To see margins and tab settings, display the ruler. 

For more on this, see: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm

h. Macros - take a look at AutoText and AutoCorrect. 

Most Word Perfect users that I know primarily use macros to enter boilerplate. In Word, this function is filled much better using AutoText and AutoCorrect features. Follow the links on my web resources page for more about these features. To convert these, run the macros in Word Perfect to produce the text, save that text in a document and convert that document to Word format. Save the text as AutoText entries in a global template. Microsoft has detailed some built-in features in Word that replace many macro functions in Word Perfect.

For macros that do something more than enter text, machine conversion seems to be impossible. (Think in terms of explaining quadratic equations using sign language without a pencil and paper. The concepts don't translate.) Here are some resources for converting WP macros to VBA:

Word Perfect 5.1 Macro Text Extractor

Converting Word Perfect Macros - a Microsoft Whitepaper

 

 

i. Show me the Function Keys!

You can get the function keys to display in a special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something like pressing F3 twice in WP 5.1). The following macro will do this.

Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys()

    Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True

End Sub

The following macro would toggle this display:

Sub ToggleFunctionKeysDisplay()

    With Commandbars("Function Key Display")

        .Visible = Not .Visible

    End With

End Sub

See Macros and VBA for instructions on inserting this macro into your Normal.dot or other template.

There are a number of excellent articles out there. You can start with:

Tips & Gotchas at mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm.

How Word Differs from Word Perfect (John McGhie)
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm

Life After Reveal Codes (American Bar Association) at
abanet.org/lpm/newsarticle11093_front.shtml 

Converting from Word Perfect to Word

Microsoft's Knowledge Base articles: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q271/4/78.ASP 
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q211/6/92.ASP

There is a program for conversions from Word Perfect to Word available through Levit & James called CrossWords. They are also working on a Word version of reveal codes!

 

Downloads Page

How can I best use the Master Document feature?

 

Answer: Don't use it. It has serious bugs and will corrupt your entire document at the most inconvenient time possible. (This advice to not use Master Documents reported as correct through Word 2000, SR-2.) John McGhie puts it succinctly when he says that there are two kinds of Master Documents: Those that are corrupt and those that will be corrupt soon.

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm

Keep in mind that Word will handle fairly large documents, assuming you have the processor and RAM to deal with it. Second, there are reasonable work-arounds available. See the MVP websites for additional ideas. (Look especially at Cindy Meister's site.)

The Tech-Tav template is one such work-around.

http://www.tech-tav.com/

Robert Mohr’s work-around is described in:

http://www.writemohr.com/Build-a-book.pdf

(part of a book: Elements of Word - http://www.writemohr.com/)

---

Here are some recent threads on this topic. (Each is a single line even if wrapping on your screen.)

Alternatives to Master Documents? (2001-04)

The best way to create an Index of 1000 documents? (2000-11)

Chapter numbering, appendix numbering, figure numbering and cross referencing (2000-09)

Build a TOC across several documents (2000-08)

Problem with numbering subdocuments (2000-08)

Numbering Across Multiple Documents (2000-09)

 

Downloads Page

Word 2000 - How can I keep Word from opening separately for every document?

See also: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/SDIMDI.htm. (MVP website)

For those who like the MDI interface and wish they had it with Word 97 there is an emulator called Switchbar that does exactly that. 

Downloads Page

How do I use (What is) the Work menu?

The Work menu is great but is virtually undocumented and seems to be a hold-over from earlier versions of Word.

The Work Menu is like a "favorites" menu and lets you list documents that you want to keep on a menu. It does not allow sub-menus of documents nor can you re-order documents (except by adding them again to the menu, in which case they move to the top of the list). Also, like a favorites menu, items in this menu are merely shortcuts to an actual document. Moving or deleting the document doesn't change the shortcut, just makes in unable to work. 

Note that like the "Recent Files" under the File menu, the Work Menu has a limit of nine documents. When you attempt to add a tenth document, it will bump the document currently at the bottom of the Work Menu.

The sample shown to the right has a few extras added in, primarily the commands at the bottom.

Note that like the "Recent Files" under the File menu, the Work Menu has a limit of nine documents. When you attempt to add a tenth document, it will bump the document currently at the bottom of the Work Menu.

a. To add the Work menu to your menus / toolbars (W97 +) *

Tools=>Customize

Commands (tab)

Categories: Built-In Menus (left pane)

Commands: Work (right pane)

Drag this menu where you want it. The most common choice is to put it next to Help. You can add it to your File (or any other) menu if that suits you better. Click on Close to close the Customize dialog box.

Note that this "customization" is being stored in Normal.dot (see "Save in:" box in Customize dialog box). You may want to store it in a "global template" instead. Whenever you customize Word's user interface (which is what you are doing here) you should know which template will be storing those customizations.

* The Work menu has been around since at least Word 3 and the steps to add a Work menu are similar in earlier versions. In at least one version I think it was even part of the default interface.

b. To add a document to the Work menu

While that (named) document is open and is the active window, Work=>Add to Work Menu.

c. To delete a document from the Work Menu (see warning)

Press Ctrl + Alt + - and your mouse pointer will turn into a thick horizontal bar (a big minus sign). Use it to select the document you want to delete and release the mouse. Your document will be gone from the Work menu.

(It will still be on your disk, though.)

d. You can add this command (Ctrl + Alt + -) to the Work menu

Tools=>Customize

Commands (tab)

Categories: All Commands (left pane)

ToolsCustomizeRemoveMenuShortCut (right pane)

Drag that last mouthfull over to your Work menu. Even if you've already put documents on your Work menu, you won't see them listed. Release the mouse when you have the Command where you want it. 

If you want to shorten the command to something like: "Remove Shortcut from Any Menu", you can right-click on it and rename it. By typing an ampersand (&) before the "R" you will make that a keyboard shortcut. 

Remember that even if you delete a document from your disk, its name will still appear on your Work Menu. The Work menu is like a collection of shortcuts. However selecting it on the Work menu will just result in a message that the document can't be found.

 WARNING

 The Ctrl + Alt + - will remove any command from any menu.

It will do this whether you use the key combination or have it on a menu. If you mistakenly remove something from one of your menus you can restore it using the Customize command but it may be more difficult than you would expect.

 **Be warned!**

e. Further customization:

You can add the bottom two commands to your Work menu the same way. Their real names are ToolsCustomizeAddMenuShortcut and ToolsCustomizeKeyboardShortcut (or ToolsCustomizeKeyboard).

The menu button icons were added with the Customize dialog box open. You right-click on the menu command that you want to add a symbol to and select either Change Button Image or Edit  Button Image.

The Change selection gives you 42 icons that have no other purpose assigned to them. Since none seemed especially appropriate, I used Edit and first created the red minus sign. Minus signs and plus signs are easy, real icons are a bit tougher.

The keyboard button was formed from one of the Change icons - a calculator - by erasing the top part of the calculator.

 Give it a try!

Want something like the Work menu that creates new documents based on templates? See a Templates Menu in Microsoft Word.

 

(Note, a version of this page appeared as a column in the June 13, 2001, edition of All 'Bout Computers.)

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How can I print out a booklet?

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/BookletPrinting.htm

See also Macros for booklet printing in Word 2000 at http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MacrosVBA/BookletMacro.htm.

You may also want to take a look at Clickbook, Fineprint and WOPR.

WOPR is Woody's Office Power Pack and can be found at http://www.wopr.com/wopr/. This costs $49.95. You can download a trial version for free. WOPR 97 and earlier include booklet printing.

While a full version of of WOPR 2000 is included with the books Special Edition Using Office 2000 by Woody Leonhard and Ed Bott, and Special Edition Using Word 2000, WOPR 2000 does not include booklet printing.

Info on Clickbook can be found at: http://www.bluesquirrel.com/products/cb/clickbook.html

FinePrint can be found at http://www.fineprint.com.

From the FAQ editor (not on the newsgroups)

If you have Office 2000 Premium you have MS Publisher. This may be of help in booklet printing, although I haven't yet gotten it to work in a document prepared in Word and imported.

 

Return to Microsoft Word Frequently Asked Questions List

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What are some common errors that people make using Word?

a. Editing a document on a floppy disk.

Word normally stores all sorts of backup material on the disk directory of any document being edited. Even though you have plenty of room on a floppy, chances are good that you will eventually trash a document simply by using Word to edit it while it is stored on the floppy. Copy the document to your hard drive, do the editing there, and copy it back to your floppy when you are done. You can even put together a macro to do this. There is a macro built into WOPR that does this.

b. Working with paragraph markers and tab markers hidden.

Word’s formatting is tied into paragraphs and the actual formatting commands are located in the paragraph markers (¶) at the end of each paragraph. Things like margins (called indents), line spacing, fonts are all there. There is a difference between five blank spaces     and a tab            even though they may look the same on your screen (if you are not displaying them) and on your paper.

c. Using master documents.

This isn't really a common error in that few people try to use Master Documents. I guess the common part of the error is in assuming that Microsoft wouldn't really put such a time bomb in their program and actually encourage people to use it!

Editing a document on a floppy can mess up that document, but if it will fit on a floppy it isn’t too huge a project, maybe only a couple of hundred pages and a month’s work. How about the 900-page manual you’ve been working on for the past six months? That’s right, the one with 26 chapters, 230 figures, 53 tables, an index and two appendices, ... the one your next promotion is riding on?. That won’t fit on a floppy . . . so to really mess it up, you can use the Master Document feature.

d. Not learning to use styles and templates.

If all you are doing is typing a letter or two, and you don't care a lot how it looks, you can afford to ignore styles. Otherwise, you are wasting a lot of time and energy. See John McGhie's excellent primer on styles and templates. A fine look at styles was just published by Microsoft in the Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word. You can find this on-line at http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide (revised).

There are a number of excellent articles on the MVP FAQ site. You can start with:

Tips & Gotchas at mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm.

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Downloads Page

I see a macro in a newsgroup I would like to try. How do I add it to my template?

The 10 point "idiots' guide" to installing news group macro listings is as follows: 

Let's use the macro to update all the fields in the document as an example.

 

---

Sub UpdateAll()

Dim oStory As Range
Dim oField As Field
On Error Resume Next

For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges

For Each oField In oStory.Fields

oField.Update

Next oField

Next oStory

On Error GoTo 0

End Sub

---

1. Select tools/macro/macros type the macroname into the macroname window at the top of the wizard i.e. the bit after Sub and before () here UpdateAll - (no spaces in the name!)

2. In the panel directly beneath the large macro names window, pick which template or document you wish the macro to be saved in. If you select All active templates and documents the macro will be saved in normal.dot. This may or may not be what you want. If it isn't, change it so that it reads the template where you want to store your macro.

3. Click 'create'.

4. The macro editor will open at the correct place.

There will be an entry as follows:

Sub macroname()
' macroname Macro
' Macro created date by user
End Sub
          

5. Copy the complete block of code from the ng post to the clipboard.

6. Switch to the macro editor window. 

Select all the above listed block and paste the contents of the clipboard over it.

Some listings do not include the Sub ... End Sub lines. In this case, give the macro a useful descriptive name at (1) above and paste the code between the Sub and End Sub lines.

If there is code in your window in red, it probably means that your newsreader wrapped a line of code that was meant to be one line. Try deleting at the end of the line and "unwrap" the line of code. If in doubt, ask.

7. Click the 'save' icon and close the editor.

8. From Word's document screen, right click on the toolbar and select 'customize' then from the command list (left window) select macros.

9. In the macro list (right window) pick your newly created macro with the left mouse button and drag it to your toolbar and drop it where you would like it to appear. (Or drop it in an appropriate menu if you prefer). Right click on either entry and edit the name to something sensible - for a toolbar button use an abbreviation or suitable icon. You can change the display to "default" from "text only" as well.

10. Close the 'customize' wizard and the macro will be available to your documents. If you saved it in normal.dot or another global template, it will be available to all of your documents. If you saved it in a template, it will be available in all documents based on that template (so long as the template is still "attached." See Template Basics for more on the various kinds of templates and how to use them.

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
-- Graham Mayor <gmayor@btinternet.com>
The five ages of man:
Lager.. Aga .. Viagra .. Saga .. Gaga
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

(With suggestions from Ibby and editing by CK.)

If this isn't making sense, you may want to read  it put another way on the MVP website in the article by Dave Rado.

For more on macros follow the links at VBA Web Resources and see: The Microsoft Word MVP FAQ on VBA

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What is an MVP?

Microsoft MVP

MVP is Microsoft-ese for "Most Valuable Professional" and represents someone who has contributed much valuable information on these newsgroups. These people are all volunteers and do not work for Microsoft. The designation of MVP, though, comes from Microsoft and represents a Microsoft judgment. A website listing the Word MVPs as well as MVPs in many other categories is at:

http://www.mvps.org/word/AboutMVPs/index.html

The Word MVPs have an awesome FAQ site at: 

 
www.mvps.org/word/. 

It is far more comprehensive than this site and a work of art in its own right.

 

BrainBench MVP

You may also see people on the newsgroup designated as "Brainbench MVP." This is not the same thing as MVP! My experience with the advice of Brainbench MVPs is much more mixed than that of the Word MVPs. The advice of Word MVPs has been uniformly helpful and correct. That from BrainBench MVPs has seemed more mixed in value to me. (I am thinking of one in particular.)

Both designations mean someone who knows a lot about Word. However, the knowledge of Brainbench MVPs is sometimes more limited. I am not knocking these people, who are also volunteers. Nor am I knocking what it takes to become a Brainbench MVP, one qualification for which I have, passing an examination on a program at the Master level. Click on the Brainbench logo at the beginning of this page for a description of what this means.

(Both types of designation are applied to human beings who are sometimes wrong; the Word MVPs seem to be wrong less often. People (your FAQ editor for one) who are neither Microsoft MVPs nor Brainbench MVPs, are often right as well.)

 

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The first thing to remember is that nobody is paid to answer questions in the newsgroups. They all have a day job doing something else. Those who answer do so because they enjoy it. If you respect that, and try to make it easy and enjoyable for people to answer you, then all the other tips here will seem obvious. There is an excellent set of guidelines maintained by William L. Whipple on general newsgroup posting etiquette. Go to http://www.ezine.com/netiquette.html.

Microsoft also has guidelines at http://support.microsoft.com/support/news/rules.asp.

1. The only stupid question is the one that you don't ask. That said, if you can search the archives to see whether your question has been answered already, you want to do so. Treat others on the news group as busy friends. Try to figure out the answer yourself before asking. . . . and then, when you can't figure it out yourself, do ask.
   
2. Be polite. No one gets paid to monitor the newsgroups nor to answer questions. You are dealing with your fellow users. They don't work for Microsoft. Some of them have a great deal of expertise and you are getting it for free. Others may have little general expertise but may have experienced and solved the same problem that you are now facing. All suggestions are "as is" and without any warranties.
   
3. Check to see which group is most relevant to your problem. Read the questions and answers, and see if they are on a topic similar to your question. It may even be that your question has already been asked and answered recently! If you have made an honest effort to find an appropriate group, people will do their best to answer you, even if the question is at the edge of the main subject area of the group. Thoughts of the MVPs about which news group is best for which question may be found at:
   http://www.mvps.org/word/FindHelp/WhichNewgrp.htm.
   
4. Avoid posting to more than one newsgroup. It is very unusual for it to be necessary to get half the answer from each of two different groups. If you feel you *must* post your message to multiple groups, please include the names of all the groups in the header for a single message, rather than posting separate messages to each group. This makes it easier for you and everyone else to keep track of who has replied to the question. It is a real annoyance to those who answer to spend an hour on a question only to find someone has already answered it in another group.
   
5. Be as specific as possible in your subject line (message header). (Saying: "Word Problem" or "Help!!!" isn't going to catch the eye of somebody who might know the answer.) Examples: "Numbering Problem," "Templates for Network," “Can't install SR-1,” or “Error message when running spell check” is much more informative and useful. However, even if that subject line says your entire question, repeat the question or problem in the body of your message. In some newsreaders (Outlook), when the message is opened, the subject line becomes very obscure.
   
6. Use "plain text" not HTML or Rich Text for your messages. For some people, such messages read like code or a foreign language.
   
7. If nobody answers your question, it is probably because nobody knows the answer. There is no guarantee that anyone will know the answer, though most questions do get answered. There is also no guarantee regarding response times – an answer will appear when somebody who knows the answer chances to read the question. Putting “URGENT” into a message header is unlikely to make much difference as to when that will happen. Likewise, repeating the same question just irritates people.
   
8. If a different question occurs to you, post a new topic with the new question in the subject line. Do not reply to the message you just read to do this. Most readers use news-readers that group messages by topic and if you don't change the topic (1) the person who can help you may ignore your message because they don't know anything about / aren't interested in the topic heading and (2) other users looking for help on your question later won't find your question or the answers to it.
   
9. If asking for help, identify the version of Word that you are using. The Microsoft Word newsgroups address questions on 23 versions of Word, spread across eight operating systems. What are you using? It is sometimes impossible to answer unless you provide the version of Word and operating system you are using. The answers are often different depending on the versions you have. Those attempting to answer can't see your screen. 
   (... and no, don't send along screen shots!)
   
10. Describe your problem as fully as possible, including where appropriate what you have tried so far when attempting to fix it. Where possible, use the terms used within Word itself to describe what is happening. Describe what you are trying to achieve overall. Sometimes people concentrate so hard on a particular way of solving the problem, that they don't notice that they are using a hammer to drive screws into the wall! If you get an error message repeat the exact error message.  
    
11. Don't send attachments. This is a text-only newsgroup. If you have a file that you want others to look at or to offer to others, say so in your message. If you can post it on a website give the URL, otherwise, people who want to look at your document can e-mail you for a copy of it. (Note, many people who might answer your question automatically screen out messages that have attachments and never even see them.) If you have a macro that you have a question about, use the VBA editor and copy the VBA code into your message. (If you don't understand that last sentence, don't worry about it.)
       
12. Use your real name, or at least something that looks like a real name. It seems somehow witless to start a reply by saying “Hi MadDog”, or whatever your chosen alias is.
    
13. If your English is not very good, don't worry – nobody is going to laugh at you. Do your best to explain your problem. If we have trouble understanding something, we will ask you to explain again. There are also groups dealing with Word that work in Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean. There is also an Office group in Russian. If you are more comfortable with one of those languages, then by all means use the appropriate group. Some MVPs are bilingual, and so the same information tends to spread out across all the different language groups. 
    
14. On the other hand, if English is your mother tongue, please try to remember to run the spellchecker before posting – and especially, try to ensure there are no errors in your subject line.  In a long thread, especially, these can become irritating for other people.
    
15. When responding, quote as much of the original message in your reply as seems needed for your reply to make sense. Some people reading your posting may not have seen the message to which you are responding. Trim away excess. This makes for quicker downloads.
    
16. Post your responses to the newsgroup if you are answering a problem. Many people other than the person who asked the question will read your response and learn from it. Newsgroups work well because everybody can see all the information. Please do not email questions directly to people you see on the newsgroup. With 300 million copies of Word out there, we have to limit the amount of time we spend on this. Some MVPs simply will not answer emails about Word at all – if they did, they would never get any work done! Others charge for email replies.
    
17. MVPs and others answering questions on the newsgroups are not Microsoft employees. Microsoft staff do not answer questions in the Word newsgroups. If you want a direct response from Microsoft, then go to the support pages on the Microsoft web site, and look up the support options there. You may have to pay. If you think Microsoft has done something with Word that is particularly stupid, don't blame the others on the newsgroup, we didn't do it! In fact, we may well agree with you. Unfortunately, we have no more power than you to get Microsoft to change it. If you want to suggest that they change Word in some way, write to mswish@microsoft.com and include Word in the title of your message. The MVPs have been promised that real people do read the messages mailed there, and that they pass the more coherent ideas along to the relevant product groups.
    
18. When you get help, say "Thank you. (see b above)

(Charles Kenyon, the host of this FAQ is not an MVP just another user trying to sort things out.)

See web resources for a listing of news groups.

Much of the text on here was lifted verbatim from the MVP website so as to be consistent between the FAQs.

Newsgroup Jargon

Downloads Page

Where can I find more information on the Web?

 

 Other (more extensive) FAQ pages, MVP web sites, and other sources of information:

1. Joint collaborative effort of MVPs
2. MVP Websites
3. Listing about MVPs and their websites
4. VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)
5. Word Fields
6. Word Forms
7. AutoText, AutoCorrect and AutoFormat
8. Word Perfect and Word
9. Word Tips
10. Legal Users' Guide
11. Payne Consulting Group
12. Document Recovery Services
13. Brainbench Certification and Testing
14. Newsletters
15. WOPR - Woody's Office Watch
16. News Groups
17. Microsoft Corporation
18. Service Releases
19. Templates
20. Tutorials
21. Misc.
22. This FAQ

  

Links to the collaborative effort of the Word MVPs

www.mvps.org/word/
Truly awesome!

FAQ and tutorials

Application Errors FAQ -- Customization (customisation) FAQ -- Drawing and Graphics FAQ -- General Word Issues FAQ -- MailMerge FAQ -- Numbering FAQ -- Office Inter-Development FAQ -- Tables, Fields and Forms FAQ -- UserForms FAQ -- Word for the Macintosh FAQ 

MVP site Tutorials

What's New?

MVP Downloads Page

 

The following link gives you a listing (no links) of the URLs of all pages in the MVP FAQ:

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQURLsAndTitles.txt

MVP Websites:

Suzanne S. Barnhill http://www.mvps.org/word

Brian Beam http://www.21ccc.com/

Bob Buckland http://WUGNET.com/CompuServe

David Candy http://www.mvps.org/serenitymacros/
Serenity Macros - great tips & downloads - Word Mouse Tips - 14 pgs

Greg Chapman http://www.mousetrax.com/

Dian Chesney http://www.mousetrax.com/

Bill Coan  http://www.wordsite.com/word_faqs.html
VBA (Beginner - Advance), Templates, "How Word Differs from WordPerfect"
          Excellent template (dataprompter) available for download
          Boilerplate organization template available

Beej Goodwin http://www.cris.com/~Bgoodwin/

Cindy Meister http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister/
         See below for a list of some of her articles.

Will Rickards http://members.home.net/wrickard/

Herb Tyson http://www.herbtyson.com/

Yisrael van Handel http://www.tech-tav.com/
          Tech-Tav workaround for Master Documents

Jeff Vandervoort http://www.jrvsystems.co

Jonathan West http://www.multilinker.com/
MultiLinker - Automated generation of hyperlinks in Word 
Conversion to PDF & HTML
Word FAQs at http://www.multilinker.com/wordfaq 

---

  Listing about MVPs and their websites:

http://www.mvps.org/links.html

 VBA (Visual Basic for Applications, programming Word)

Converting from Word Perfect to Word

Word Tips

• http://www.pcqna.com/WordTips.htm
• http://www.pcqna.com/Word_LinkedTextBox.htm
• http://microsoftsoft.about.com/compute/microsoftsoft/cs/word/index.htm
• http://www.elementkjournals.com/msw/0011/msw00b1.htm 

Legal Users

Payne Consulting Group (esp. law offices)

Document Recovery Services

OfficeRecovery.com: Word Recovery for corrupted documents, Excel Recovery for damaged spreadsheets!

http://www.OfficeRecovery.com 

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Downloads page

Newsletters (free e-mail)

 http://www.wopr.com/wopr/

http://www.wopr.com/wopr/

(Note that WOPR 2000 is included with the books 
Special Edition Using Word 2000, Special Edition Using Excel 2000,
 and Special Edition Using Office 2000 which cost less than WOPR 97 alone!)

(Note that WOPR 2002 is included with the books 
Special Edition Using Word 2002, Special Edition Using Excel 2002,
 and Special Edition Using Office XP which cost less than WOPR 97 alone!)

 

Newsgroups:

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Microsoft Corporation

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