Introduction

While Microsoft Word is one of the most popular and widely used word-processing programs in the world, it’s also a tool that seems to have a mind of its own. It can be frustrating when formatting text in your document (especially if you’re trying to format it for publishing). Luckily, there are several tips, tricks, and hacks you can use to make working with Microsoft Word less frustrating.

Add a Line Numbering Feature

To add line numbers to a document, simply go to the View tab and click Line Numbers. You can also press Ctrl + L or Right Click > Quick Styles > Line Numbering. The Line Numbering dialog box will pop up where you can enter how many lines you want to be numbered, what style of numbering you want (Continuous, 3-2-1), whether or not you would like page numbers shown as well as line numbers and more! To access this dialog box again later on in your document, just go back to View > Line Numbers.

To change the format of your line number style, simply right-click on any section of text containing a date or time stamp that has been formatted with one of these styles: Time Style (h: mm AM/PM), Date Style (mm/dd/yy), Currency Style ($

Add Left Margin

• Left margin. The left margin is the space between the left edge of a page and the left edge of text on that page. It’s also called left indentation because it’s where you would put an indent when you want to emphasize something at the start of a paragraph.
• Right margin. The right margin is the space between a page’s right edge and its right-hand column of text, or where tabs are used to align different columns within the text.

Insert Your Line Breaks Properly

When you type in Microsoft Word, you can indent a paragraph by pressing the Tab key and then typing your text. To create a line break, however, you have to go into the Insert tab in your toolbar and change it from Paragraph to Line Break.

You might think that this is just an odd quirk of how Microsoft Word works—but if you don’t use line breaks properly (or at all), it will make your document look unprofessional and messy. A paragraph-ending or page-ending break should be followed by an extra space character before starting another paragraph or beginning on a new page. For example:

• This first sentence has no space before it because it’s not part of anything else.*
• This second sentence has one space before because it’s part of something else.*

Easily Insert Tabs

If you have a lot of text to format and align, the tab key is your best friend. In Microsoft Word, you can use the Tab key shortcut to insert tabs in your document. If you’re using a Mac, hold down Command+Option+T; if you’re using Windows, press Control+Alt+Numpad-9 instead.

This will open up a new tab in your document with whatever character is next on the keyboard that’s not already being used by another function (e.g., pressing “C” will create an empty cell). You can then type away until you’ve finished organizing all of your data into neat columns!

You can also use this trick to move lines up or down within their cells: just select them before pressing Tab again!

Automatically Resize Text Boxes with the Right Size on Save

You can use the auto-resize text box feature to make the text boxes in your document the right size. To automatically resize text boxes:

• Click the ruler and drag it down so that it’s just above where you want to insert your new text box.
• Click Insert, then click Text Box. A rectangle appears that indicates where your new text box will be placed onscreen when you’re done resizing it (and this is what will also appear on any printed copies of your document).
• Place your mouse cursor within that rectangle and click and drag inward until you have a text box that’s about 2 inches tall. You’ll know you’ve selected an ideal size when all four corners of the rectangle are highlighted with blue dots—those dots should not be touching one another at any time during this process, otherwise, Microsoft Word will assume they’re supposed to overlap each other instead of being separate entities within their own individual containers!

Format Paragraphs Properly with the Visual Ruler

You can use the visual ruler to format paragraphs within your document.

First, make sure you have the visual ruler turned on by choosing View > Show/Hide > Ruler from the menu bar at the top of your screen. This will give you an easy-to-use horizontal line that shows where each paragraph starts and stops in your document, as well as other useful information such as margins and tab stops.

Now that you have it turned on, here are some things you can do with it:

• Use it to indent text (that means making one or two lines indented farther than normal). The visual ruler displays this visually instead of just telling you how many spaces away from a margin or tab stop there is space between words when they begin inside a paragraph (which is what happens if no indentation has been set).
• So if I want to put three asterisks next to my name so that everyone knows who wrote this article but still keep them centered in their own little box right above where I put my name, all I need do is move over my cursor until it touches one side of my name then type three asterisks while holding down Ctrl+Shift+I

Use Page Break Shortcut Keys to Finish Your Document Quickly

There are several ways to use the Page Break shortcut keys in Microsoft Word. Let’s take a look at some of those ways and see how they can be beneficial for you.

First, let’s just talk about the basic Page Break tool. You’ll find it under paragraph formatting options where it says “Page Break”. A page break will automatically start a new page when you press enter at the end of your document without having to go through all kinds of extra steps.

Second, there is also an option called “Keep with next”, which will allow you to insert multiple paragraphs into one page rather than having them split up across multiple pages before printing out or saving your document as an e-book or ebook (ebook).

Using Microsoft Word is more enjoyable after you know these tricks.

Microsoft Word is a useful tool for writers and editors, teachers and students, businesses and corporations. It’s also great for professionals in any field.

But if you’ve been using Microsoft Word for years or even months, there are probably some features you haven’t discovered yet. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of tips to help turn your knowledge of Microsoft Word into a second-nature experience that’s more enjoyable than ever before!

Conclusion

Beyond these seven features, there are plenty of other ways you can simplify your work in Microsoft Word. From changing the default template to creating a custom text box, our guide can provide more in-depth instructions on how to improve your document editing experience. Don’t be afraid to explore what’s available and experiment with new features—you may find that there are more tools at your disposal than you realized.