Chapter 33
IN THIS CHAPTER
Disabling the Start screen
Avoiding the Backstage
Banishing the mini toolbar
Changing how text is selected
Turning off click-and-type
Setting Paste command formats
Disabling automatic bulleted lists
Avoiding automatic numbers
Stopping automatic borders
Disabling list formats
You need not put up with it. You know what I’m referring to: those annoying things that Word does. Those features you might dislike but tolerate simply because no one has told you how to turn them off. Until now.
I prefer to see a blank page when I start Word, not a screen full of options. The Word Start screen can easily be disabled. Follow these blessed steps:
Choose Options.
The Word Options dialog box appears with the General category chosen for you.
Remove the check mark by the item Show the Start Screen When This Application Starts.
This item is found in the Start-Up Options section.
After completing these steps, Word starts with a blank document, or whichever document you’ve opened.
When you use the Ctrl+O or Ctrl+S commands, you’re thrust into the Open or Save As screens, respectively. These screens are referred to as the Backstage, and I find them one more annoying step in a process that eventually ends up at the traditional Open and Save dialog boxes.
To dismiss the Backstage, follow these steps:
Place a check by the item Don’t Show the Backstage When Opening or Saving Files.
This item is found in the Save Documents section.
When you use the mouse to select text, Word displays the mini toolbar, which looks like Figure 33-1. You may find its assortment of commands useful, or you may just want to set the thing on fire. If the latter, you can disable the mini toolbar by following these steps:
Click the File tab and choose Options.
The General category is automatically chosen for you.
Remove the check mark by the item Show Mini Toolbar on Selection.
This item is located below the heading User Interface Options. It’s right up top.
If you would rather not eternally banish the mini toolbar, note that it hides itself whenever you move the mouse pointer beyond the selected chunk of text.
When you’re selecting more than a single word, the mouse grabs text a full word at a time. If you want Word to select text by characters rather than by words (which is what I prefer), follow these steps:
Remove the check mark by the item labeled When Selecting Automatically Select Entire Word.
This item is located below the Editing Options heading.
Click-and-Type is that feature where you can click anywhere in a document and start typing. The feature is evident by an odd-looking mouse pointer and strange lines around the insertion pointer in your text (refer to Chapter 32). To mercifully disable this Click-and-Type, follow these steps:
Click the File tab menu and choose Options.
The Word Options dialog box appears.
Remove the check mark by Enable Click and Type.
This option is located below the Editing Options heading.
Seriously: Who uses this feature? For the past few editions of this book, I’ve asked readers to send me an email if they use Click-and-Type. So far, nothing.
When you copy and paste text from one part of a document to another, the format is retained. Similarly, the format is kept when you copy and paste text from another document. If you like, you can direct Word to paste only plain text or attempt to paste formatted text. Heed these directions:
In the Word Options dialog box, choose Advanced.
Four text-pasting options are listed under the Cut, Copy, and Paste heading. These options tell you how text is pasted based on its source.
Change the paste settings according to how you prefer text to be pasted.
In most cases, keeping the source formatting is what you want. I prefer to choose the option Keep Text Only because it doesn’t mess up my document’s formatting.
The final four items worthy of deactivation fall under the domain of the AutoCorrect dialog box. Specifically, the overeager AutoFormat feature, which aggressively interrupts your writing with jarring suggestions you probably don’t want to see.
Start your disabling binge by summoning the AutoCorrect dialog box. Follow these steps:
Click the AutoCorrect Options button.
The AutoCorrect dialog box shows up.
Click the AutoFormat as You Type tab.
You’ve arrived.
Here are four annoying features you can disable:
Deselect each of these items. Oh, and while you’re at it, look for other things to disable in the AutoCorrect dialog box. Some of those features may bother you more than they bother me.
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