Word offers a gallery of several predefined header and footer designs, called building blocks, that you can apply. Headers appear in the top page margin area, and footers appear at the bottom. Headers and footers are a great way to place repeating information on your document pages, such as a document title, page numbers, company name, and so on. Word's predefined headers and footers make it easy to insert the information.

Alternatively, you can create your own header/footer building blocks — for example, one that contains your name and contact information in the color and font of your choice — and add that design to the gallery. That way, anytime you need to insert that particular header or footer, instead of reconstructing it, you can simply click it in the gallery.

In addition to creating header/footer building blocks, you can also create building blocks with other custom Office elements, such as cover pages, pull-quotes, and so on. Building blocks might also contain specific text or a graphic that you want to reuse throughout your Word documents.

Apply a Header/Footer Building Block

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Tip

Customize It!

If your document contains section breaks, you can apply different headers and footers to each section. Click in the section for which you want to create a unique header or footer, click Header or Footer in the Insert tab, and click Edit Header or Edit Footer. The Design tab appears in the Ribbon; click Link to Previous to deselect it. Then create the new header/footer or insert a header/footer building block from the gallery. (Repeat for each section in your document.) Designing separate headers and footers for even and odd pages is similar; just click the Different Odd & Even Pages check box (

Apply It!

You can easily add headers or footers in Word 2010 just by clicking the Insert tab on the Ribbon and clicking the Header or Footer buttons in the Header & Footer tool group. Either button displays a list of pre-set headers or footers to choose from; you can you create your own from scratch by clicking Edit Header or Edit Footer.

Although Word offers several predefined Office elements, such as headers and footers, cover pages, pull-quotes, and so on, you can also create your own and add them to Word's gallery of choices. These elements, called building blocks, might contain specific text or a graphic you want to reuse — for example, your company logo or your name and contact information in the color and font of your choice.

You can share the building blocks you create by embedding them in a Word template, which you can then distribute to others. Anytime someone applies the template you distribute to a document, the building blocks you embedded become available in that document.

To attach a template to a document, open the document, click the File tab, and click Options. In the Word Options dialog box, click Add-ins, click the Manage drop-down arrow, click Templates, and click Go. Finally, click Attach in the Templates and Add-ins dialog box, locate and select the template you want to attach, click Open, and click OK.

Tip

Apply It!

To insert a building block that has been saved in a template into a document, attach the template to the document, click in the document in the spot where you want the building block to appear, click the Insert tab, click Quick Parts in the Insert group, and click the building block. If the building block does not appear in the gallery, click Building Blocks Organizer, locate and click the block you want to insert, and click Insert.

Important!

To include any paragraph formatting you have applied in the building block, ensure that the paragraph mark at the end of the paragraph is also selected. If no paragraph marks are visible, click the Home tab and, in the Paragraph group, click the Show/Hide button (

In today's global economy, being able to communicate with others who speak different languages is imperative. Fortunately, Word contains translation tools, including bilingual dictionaries and machine-translation functions, that enable you to quickly and easily translate words or phrases that you write in your native tongue into one of several other languages (and vice versa).

Word can translate text to and from many languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. (Note, however, that your ability to translate text to and from all these languages may be limited by your computer's operating system.)

If you need to translate more than the occasional word or phrase and instead need to translate an entire document, you can use Word to access online translation services, some of which are fee-based.

Note that although translating text in this manner can convey the basics of the content, the full meaning and tone of the text may be lost. If it is imperative that the specifics of what the text contains be conveyed, human translation is recommended.

If you are new to the world of blogging, a blog is a sort of online journal. A blog might provide commentary on a topic as broad as food or politics, or as specific as the day-to-day activities of a single individual. Blogs can include text, images, links to other Web pages and blogs, and more.

Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of blogs on the Internet, with some estimates pegging the current number at more than 112,000,000. To accommodate this growing legion of bloggers, Microsoft has developed tools for composing and publishing blogs to sites such as Windows Live Spaces and Blogger from within Word.

Composing blog posts within Word offers several advantages. First, you can use many of Word's formatting features, as well as its spelling- and grammar-checking capabilities on your blog entries. Second, you need not be connected to the Internet until you are ready to publish your piece.

To publish posts written in Word to your blog, you must first establish an account with a blogging site such as Blogger, and then register that account with Word.

Tip

Apply It!

If you are using Word to create a new blog post for the first time, Word prompts you to register your blog account. When it does, click Register an Account, click the Blog drop-down arrow, and choose your blog service provider. Click Next, enter the username and password for your blog account, click the Remember Password check box if you want Word to log you on automatically (

Apply It!

Some blog providers automate the process of uploading photos to your blog; others require that you establish a separate account with a picture provider — that is, a site devoted solely to storing photos. To determine whether you need a picture provider account, check with your blog provider.

Navigating longer documents can be a bit daunting, especially when you are trying to locate a specific word or phrase. Word offers you several tools to help you search through a document. For simple word searches, the Navigation pane pops up and lets you search through a document, displaying any matches. You can use the pane's Search text box to enter the word or phrase you are looking for and immediately see any matches in the document.

The tried-and-true Find and Replace tool is the other go-to feature for searching through a document. You can use the Find portion of the tool to look for each occurrence of a word or phrase, and you can use the Replace portion of the tool to replace the word with different text. This makes quick work of finding a misspelled name and replacing it with the correct spelling, or searching a report for a particular price point and replacing it with a new price.

You can also use the Go To tab in the Find and Replace dialog box to jump to specific points in a document.

If you are having trouble finding just the right word or phrase, you can use Word's thesaurus tool to find words with similar meanings (synonyms) as well as words with the opposite meaning (antonyms). Word even enables you to access thesauri in different languages. For example, if you are writing a document in French, you can use Word's French thesaurus just as you would use the English version when composing in English. In addition, Word includes a dictionary tool, which you can use to look up words of whose meanings you are not quite certain.

You access these tools from within Word's Research pane, from which you also access the program's translation tools and other reference-based features such as an encyclopedia, as well as research sites including HighBeam Research, the MSN Money Stock Quotes site, and the Thomson Gale Company Profiles site.

Another way to use the thesaurus and dictionary tools is to right-click the word for which you want to see synonyms or a definition. Word displays a context menu from which you can choose the desired option.

Another useful tool to help you navigate documents that span numerous pages is the ability to create bookmarks. A bookmark is rather like a physical bookmark you place in a book to save your place. A Word bookmark earmarks a specific location within a document. In essence, a bookmark identifies a location or selection of text in a document for future reference. For example, you might add a bookmark to a section in your document that you want to revise later, or you might use bookmarks to help you access an area of the document quickly.

You can assign a unique name to a bookmark, but the name must follow a few naming rules. Bookmark names must begin with a letter, and names can include numbers along with letter characters. However, no spaces are allowed in the bookmark name. If you do need to create a space, use an underscore character instead, such as Section_10.

To navigate to a bookmark, you can press Ctrl+G to open the Find and Replace dialog box to the Go To tab. Select Bookmark from the list, then choose the bookmark name you want to navigate to and click Go To.

Navigate to a Bookmark

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  Note

  You can also press F5 or Ctrl+G.

  

  The Find and Replace dialog box opens to the Go To tab.

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Tip

Remove It!

To remove a bookmark you no longer need, open the Bookmark dialog box, select the bookmark name from the list box, and click the Delete button.

More Options!

You can also mark a location instead of selected text as a bookmark. Just click the Location option at the bottom of the Bookmark dialog box when defining the bookmark (

You can use the new and improved Navigation pane to help you navigate your way around long documents. For example, if you are working on a long legal document or thesis paper, you can use the pane to quickly navigate to a page, a particular heading, or even a particular word or phrase.

The Navigation pane offers tools for browsing a document. One of the handiest browsing tools is to browse by headings. The Navigation pane lists the document's sections based on styles you assign, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on. You can use the pane's list to quickly jump to a specific heading in your document.

You can also use the pane to browse through a document by viewing thumbnail images of all the pages. To view a page in its entirety, just click the thumbnail image.

The pane also lets you search through your document for words or phrases. This is covered in the task "Search Through a Document" earlier in this chapter.

Tip

Remove It!

You can also close the pane by clicking the View tab and deselecting the Navigation Pane check box (

More Options!

You can resize the Navigation pane if you need to view more of the headings listed within. Simply move the mouse pointer to the right border of the pane, and then click and drag the pane to resize its width.

Do you find yourself typing the same long phrase or paragraph of text into a document over and over again? You can take away the tedium by saving the text as an AutoText entry. For example, if your company name is particularly long, you can simply add it to the AutoText Gallery and insert it as you need it.

Word's AutoText feature has been around for a long time, allowing users to speed up repetitious text-entry tasks. With Word 2010, AutoText is a part of the building blocks, a feature that lets you reuse chunks of data throughout your documents. Building blocks, also known as Quick Parts, make it easy to insert preformatted text and graphics. AutoText is a part of this feature, offering its own gallery of stored snippets of text, such as salutations and closings for letters, lengthy legal disclaimers, contact information, and more.

When creating your own custom AutoText entries, you use the Create New Building Block dialog box, where you can assign a unique name for the text, and choose in which template you want to store the entry.

Word's AutoCorrect feature has long been a tool for automatically correcting misspelled words in your documents. You can also use it to help automate some of your typing tasks. AutoCorrect comes loaded with a long list of commonly misspelled words, and because the feature is turned on automatically, you may have already noticed it kicking in when mistyping words. For example, if you type "teh," AutoCorrect automatically corrects the spelling to "the."

If you are like most people, you probably have a few words not in the AutoCorrect list that you consistently misspell. You can add them to AutoCorrect's repertoire and count on Word to correct the problems as they arise.

In addition to misspellings, you can turn a phrase into an AutoCorrect entry. For example, if your company name is particularly long, you can simply type an abbreviation and Word offers to fill in the rest for you, saving you the time and effort of activating the AutoText Gallery where you normally store snippets of preset text.

Tip

Did You Know?

To turn a long phrase into an AutoCorrect entry activated when you type the designated abbreviation, simply type the abbreviation in the Replace box in the AutoCorrect dialog box, and then type the full phrase in the With box. Click Add to add the entry to the listings.

Caution!

If you are having trouble adding a word in the With box in the AutoCorrect dialog box, click the Plain Text option (

Are you looking for a little drama to dress up your text? Word's drop caps feature might be just the thing you are looking for. You can use drop caps to quickly draw attention to the first letter in a paragraph. Commonly used in the printing business, a drop cap is the first letter in a paragraph that drops below the text line and extends into the second line of text, creating a large letter.

Throughout the history of printing, drop caps were used at the beginning of a chapter. You can use them in Word to the same effect.

You can use the Drop Cap dialog box to determine whether the letter drops within a paragraph or outside the paragraph margin. You can also change the drop cap's font, number of lines dropped, and even the distance between the drop cap and the rest of the paragraph text.

As with any formatting technique, it is good practice to use the drop cap feature sparingly. Too many on a page become quite distracting.

As you are well aware, Word 2010 installs with a myriad of default settings in place for controlling everything from font and font size to margins as soon as you start the program. Although most of these settings work well for the average user, you may require different settings based on the type of work you do. Line spacing is an area in which individual document needs outweigh the defaults. By default, the line spacing is set to Multiple, which adds 1.15 points between each line of text. Happily, you can change the default line spacing to suit the way in which you work with Word. For example, if you produce a lot of research and term papers, you may need to set the line spacing to Double, or if you are writing an article or book, you can change the setting to Single spacing.

Another spacing issue you may need to change is the default setting for paragraph spacing. By default, Word adds 10 points after a paragraph. This creates a gap of white space between paragraphs for you. Although this can be pleasing aesthetically, it does not work for all documents. You can change the spacing before and after paragraphs to suit your document needs.

With some documents you create in Word, you may find yourself needing a horizontal line placed on the page. One way to add a line is to draw one using Word's Shapes. This option lets you draw the line precisely where you want it and to the length you want, even adding arrows or other flourishes to either end of the line. While offering you a variety of formatting options for the line, this method takes a little longer to perform.

If you are looking for a more straightforward line, consider using this little-known technique — you can type characters on your keyboard and turn them into an instant horizontal line on your document page. You can choose from a solid line that is a 1/2 point thick, a dotted line, a double line, a thick line, a wavy line, or even a thick decorative line.

This technique works only when you add the horizontal line to a new line of text in your document.

When you use numbered lists in your Word document, you may sometimes need to interrupt the numbered list with a paragraph, and then resume the list. Word's SmartTags can help you pick up where you left off with the numbering. For example, perhaps you are explaining a procedure step by step, but need to add a paragraph clarifying a feature or exception to the steps, and then restart the numbered list to continue on. Ordinarily, you might think you must start a new list to set a new number sequence. Save your time and use this technique instead.

When you reapply the numbers again after the interruption of a paragraph, Word first assumes you want to start a brand new numbered list and promptly adds the number 1 to the list as usual. A SmartTag icon also appears next to the number, resembling a lightning bolt icon. You can activate the SmartTag and choose the Continue Numbering option to resume the numbering sequence. If you choose to ignore the SmartTag, you can simply start a brand new numbered list instead if you just keep typing.

You can use partial or full borders to set off a paragraph within your document. For example, you can use a partial border to set off a pull-quote. A pull-quote is a sentence or two that you copy or extract from the document text to set off for visual and dramatic effect. Pull-quotes commonly appear in magazines and newspapers.

You can also set off an entire paragraph with a border, drawing attention to the text or message. For example, you can use a border to make the reader notice a paragraph of important facts and statistics, or a paragraph of important instructions or details.

For additional border formatting, you can access the Borders and Shading dialog box. You can choose from a variety of line styles and thicknesses, and control the color of the line borders. You can also change border color, set partial borders, or even apply a 3-D, shadow, or custom style. You can preview your border selections in the dialog box before applying them to the actual paragraph.

Add a Border

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If you work in an environment in which you share your Word documents with others, you can use the program's Track Changes feature to help you keep track of changes made to the file by you and by others.

When Track Changes is enabled, Word tracks edits such as formatting changes and text additions and deletions you or other users make to the file. Additions appear inline in the text; deletions appear either inline in the text or in balloons in the right margin, depending on the document view. For example, in Word, using Draft view displays deletions inline and comments appear only when you move the mouse pointer over the text; using Print Layout view, however, displays deletions inline and comments appear in balloons in the right margin. If multiple people review the document, each person's changes appear in a different color to help you keep track of who made what edits.

When you review a document that has been edited with Track Changes on, Word flags each change that each user makes in the document, which you can then accept or reject.

If you or someone else makes changes to a document without first enabling the Track Changes feature, but you want to determine exactly what edits were made, you can compare the edited document with the original.

When you compare an original document with an updated version, the result is a third file that flags the discrepancies between the two documents. (The two source documents — that is, the original and revised versions — remain unchanged.) These discrepancies look exactly like edits made with Track Changes enabled; that is, formatting changes and text additions and deletions become visible. Additions and deletions appear inline in the text in Print Layout or Draft view. In Print Layout view, comments appear in balloons in the right margin. In Draft view, comments only appear when you move the mouse pointer over the text.

You review a file generated by comparing documents the same way you review a file that has been edited with Track Changes enabled. Word flags each change in the document, which you can then accept or reject.

You can insert filler text, also called dummy text or placeholder text, into a Word document. When creating a mock-up or layout design for a project in Word, such as a brochure or newsletter, you may need to insert some placeholder text. Filler text allows you to show how text fits into the layout, as well as demonstrate the font and size you plan to use later when you replace the placeholder text with the actual text.

You can use the RAND function to create filler text in Word. If you prefer Latin text instead of English, you can use the LOREM function instead, such as =lorem(4,5). A function is a preset mathematical formula. Using the formula rules of Excel, all functions start with an equal sign, such as =rand(4,5). The numbers in parentheses determine the number of paragraphs and the number of sentences per paragraph. For example, =rand(4,5) creates four paragraphs with five sentences of dummy text in each paragraph. Your own design layout may require more or less paragraphs and sentences.

After inserting the filler text, you can apply formatting to the text.

By default, Word 2010 automatically wraps a line of text to the next line once you reach the right margin of a document. However, this may result in an awkward break up of a multiword phrase or proper names. For example, if you type the name John Smith at the end of the line, Word may wrap the last name to the next line of text. Thankfully, you can apply a nonbreaking space to keep names and other multiword phrases together, and Word breaks before or after the phrase or name rather than in the middle.

Nonbreaking spaces, also called no-break spaces, are often crucial in certain types of reports and papers. You can use nonbreaking spaces to keep measurements together, such as 100 km, or version numbers intact, such as IE 8.9.

Nonbreaking spaces, like other nonprinting paragraph marks, do not appear visible in Print Layout view. If you want to see the spaces, you must turn on Word's Paragraph Marks; click the Show/Hide button (

Charts and graphs are a great way to illustrate your data. Word 2010 includes several tools you can use to add charts and graphs to your documents. For example, you can use the SmartArt feature to quickly insert preset diagrams and simply insert your own text elements to describe a process, hierarchy, or other procedure. If you need a tried-and-true data-based chart, you can tap into the power of Excel's chart-building tools to create pie charts, bar charts, surface charts, and more, all linked and alongside Word.

If you have Excel 2010 installed, you can take advantage of the program's advanced charting capabilities. When you activate the charting feature, Excel opens with a new worksheet ready for you to replace the placeholder text with your own chart data. Using columns, rows, and cells, you enter the raw data to make the chart. Over in Word, the same placeholder chart appears in your document in its full chart form. Data you add in Excel is immediately added to the Word chart, too.

When you create a chart, Word displays additional charting tabs on the Ribbon that you can use to format the chart.

If you do not have Excel installed, the Microsoft Graph feature opens instead.