Word

Further thoughts on using Word for Desktop Publishing: Frames

textbox format optionIf you have the occasional desktop publishing to do, or if you only require a sort of limited desktop publisher or simply don’t have the time to learn a whole new program, Word will do fine. But, to borrow from Clint Eastwood, a program’s got to know its limitations. In the article Using Word for desktop publishing, I noted that text boxes are good for enabling you to place text anywhere. Furthermore, you can link text boxes, so that if text outgrows its text box, you can make it flow on to another one.
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Further thoughts on using Word for Desktop Publishing: Text Boxes

Back in April 2014 I penned a few lines on using Word as a desktop publishing tool. On the whole it works, but, as I noted then, it does have serious limitations.

I mentioned in that article that it was impossible to use automated cross-referencing between text boxes. Since then I have discovered something even worse.

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Combining different versions of a document

combine_menuSuppose you’re in this position: you have created a document. You have sent it to someone else for their comments or to edit it. They have now sent it back to you, but in the meantime you have made some changes to your original. How are you going to sort out this mess?!

If you and your colleague have been using Microsoft Word, then you don’t have a problem. All you need to do is use the Combine Documents feature.

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13 Things You Didn’t Know About Word: Table of Contents

When does a document need a table of contents? I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule about this, but let’s think about it from the other end: the reader. Is your document going to be challenging to navigate? Are there sections in it which people are likely to want to refer to or likely to wish to return to, and which they can’t see at a quick glance? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, I’d say that a table of contents is imperative, even if the document is only two or three pages long.

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13 Things You Didn't Know About Word: Random Text

In this series I’m looking at 13 features of Microsoft Word that you may not have come across, but which can be incredibly useful. Today’s topic is how to generate random text. First, though, why would you wish to do so? Blogger Doug Woods recently joked that you could use the random text feature to bulk up a report in order to fool your boss into thinking you’ve been putting in loads of effort! But there are more serious reasons you might want to do so.
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