Word Annoyances: How to Fix the Most ANNOYING Things about Your Favorite Word Processor

Save Your Documents the Best Way

The Annoyance:

I've deleted everything in this document except one paragraph, and the file is still far too large to send via email.

The Fix:

This happens because Word's fast-saving option works by appending the latest changes to the end of the file instead of saving the entire file. So when you delete most of the document, Word adds the details of that deletion to the end of the document, but the material remains in the document file. This not only makes the file size even bigger than it was before, but it can be indiscreet or even dangerous when you share documents with other peopleyour documents may still contain material that you deleted long ago.

Unless you're working with huge files on a slow computer, fast saving won't usually save you enough time to compensate for its disadvantages.

Word performs a normal save, which is called a full save , every 15th fast save, or when you've made so many changes to the document that it makes more sense to rewrite the file than to append further changes. However, you shouldn't rely on this full save to ensure that your document contains only the data you think it does.

To turn off fast saving, choose Tools Options, click the Save tab, and uncheck the "Allow fast saves box. While you're on the Save tab, modify some other save options:

• Check the "Always create backup copy" box to make Word keep a backup copy that consists of the previously saved version of the document. (See the "How Word Creates the Backup Copy" sidebar.)

• Specify whether you want Word to perform background saves by checking or unchecking the "Allow background saves" box. Allowing background saves enables you to resume work more quickly after issuing a Save command, because you can continue working while Word completes the save. However, it usually makes each save take longer. Unless your documents are huge and your computer slow, or your documents are saved on a server to which you have a slow connection, background saves are unlikely to save you much time. Word displays a pulsing disk icon in the status bar to indicate a background save.

Save All Open Documents at Once

The Annoyance:

I've got a stack of documents open. Why must I save changes to them one by one? Where's the Save All command when you need it?

The Fix:

It's hiding. Shift-click the File menu, and then click Save All. Don't press Alt+Shift+F to display the File menu: that doesn't work, and the key combination might be assigned to a command or a macro.

If you find Shift-clicking the File menu awkward , put the Save All command directly on a menu or toolbar. Choose Tools Customize, click the Commands tab, and verify that the appropriate template is selected in the "Save in drop-down list. With the File item selected in the Categories listbox, scroll down the Commands list to the Save All item, and then drag it to the menu or toolbar of your choice. Shift-click the File menu and choose Save All to make sure that the changes to the template get saved.

Close All Open Documents at Once

The Annoyance:

Can I close all my open documents at the same time?

The Fix:

Yep. Shift-click the File menu, and then click Close All. You'll be prompted to save any unsaved changes, as usual. Alternatively, if you find Shift-clicking awkward, you can choose Tools Customize and put a Close All button on a toolbar or menu.

You can also close all documents by exiting Word and restarting it. However, what you'll more often want to do is close all the open documents except the one you're working on. To do so, you need a macro; see "Close All Documents Except the Current One" in Chapter 8.

Change Word's Default Folder for Saving Documents

The Annoyance:

Word always wants me to save my documents in the My Documents folder. I suppose this folder makes sense for many users, but I have other ideas.

The Fix:

You can change the default folder easily. Choose Tools Options, click the File Locations tab (see Figure 2-2), select Documents in the "File types list, and click the Modify button. In the Modify Location dialog box, select the folder you want to use, and click the OK button.

Find a Document You've Lost

The Annoyance:

I work on so many documents, I keep losing them.

The Fix:

Short of reorganizing your filesystem, your best bet is to search for the lost documents.

Word 2003 and Word XP provide the Search task pane (see Figure 2-3) for either basic or advanced searches. Choose File File Search in Word 2003 or File Search in Word XP to display the Search task pane. Click the Advanced File Search link or the Basic File Search link to toggle from one mode to another.

Basic searching casts a wide net, searching for your search terms in filenames, keywords, and contents. It even looks for matches for different forms of the words you've specified in the file contents. For example, if you use "buy" as a search term , Word finds documents containing "bought" in their contents as well. You can narrow the search by including multiple words.

Advanced searching lets you not only specify which property you're searching for but also create complex searches. You can use "And" and "Or" operators to relate the conditions to each other.

For advanced searching, you may find it easier to use the File Search dialog box (in Word 2003 and Word XP) or the Find dialog box (in Word 2000). Choose File Open, click the Tools button in the Open dialog box, and choose Search (for Word 2003 or Word XP) or Find (for Word 2000) from the drop-down menu. The File Search dialog box (see Figure 2-4) offers Basic and Advanced tabs that provide the same options as the Search task pane but give you more room to see what youre doing. The Find dialog box in Word 2000 provides a similar set of options but doesn't divide them into Basic and Advanced searches. The Find dialog box also lets you save searches you've performed, which is useful if you often need to find documents that match a certain set of criteria.

Keep Separate Versions of the Same Document

The Annoyance:

My office has a complex round- robin procedure for creating and reviewing documents: agendas , minutes, reports , you name it. We usually save a new copy of each document after each stage of the review, with a suffix of the last reviewer's initials to distinguish between them. I'm wondering if we can use versions instead.

The Fix:

Word's versions feature might help here. It lets you keep two or more versions in the same document, and you can switch back and forth between versions as necessary.

To save your edits as a version, choose File Versions to display the Versions dialog box (see Figure 2-5) and click the Save Now button. Enter comments about the version in the Save Version dialog box, and click the OK button.

Once you've created multiple versions of a document, you can open one of the versions by choosing File Versions, selecting the version you want, and clicking the Open button. You can delete a version from the Versions dialog box by selecting the version and clicking the Delete button.

Remove Personal Data from a Document

The Annoyance:

Last month, a colleague blew the whistle on a few corners our boss had been cutting. She anonymously dropped HR a document, but it turned out that her name was hidden in it somewhereso now she's no longer working here.

The Fix:

In each document you save, Word stores your username (as entered on the User Information tab of the Options dialog box) and other identifying information. Word 2003 and Word XP let you easily remove personal data from a document; Word 2000 does not, but you can choose File Properties and manually delete particular items of information.

To remove personal data from Word 2003/XP documents, choose Tools Options, click the Security tab, and check the "Remove personal information from file properties on save box. For security, you may also want to check the "Warn before printing, saving or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments" box so that Word prevents you from saving or sending a file that contains text that may be hidden from you.

After choosing these options, you must save the document to make the options take effect.

Remove Office-Specific Tags from Web Pages

The Annoyance:

When Word renders a document into HTML, it puts weird tags in it. How can I remove the excess tags?

The Fix:

The tags you're objecting to are the Office-specific tags that Word uses to store information needed to re-create the document in its entirety. These tags store all kinds of information that's not displayed in the document, such as author and editing information; menu, toolbar, and keyboard customizations in the document; and even VBA code (macros, user forms, and classes). This extra information not only makes your web pages larger than necessary but also threatens your privacy.

To get rid of the Office-specific tags in Word 2003 or Word XP, choose File Save as Web Page and then choose Web Page, Filtered in the "Save as type drop-down list. Specify the filename, folder, and title, and click Save. When Word warns you that Office-specific tags will be removed (see Figure 2-6), click the Yes button.