Category Archives: Writing

Learn how to write better business and technical documents

Why doesn’t Page X of Y work in MS Word

There are several reasons why this can happen. To complicate matters, different versions of Word all seem to present their own unique problems. Rather than go through them all, here is solution that I found works the best. In Word, go to View and click Header and Footer. This opens the Header work-area. Click inside […]

How To Change The Default Font in MS Word?

There are several ways to do this, but this one is the best.Open the Normal.dot template from within Word. It’s very important that you open it within Word, otherwise the template will simply create a new document rather than opening the actual Normal.dot file itself.  Click Format, Styles and Formatting and choose Body Text. Click […]

How to Remove the Border on Text Boxes in MS Word

When you create a text box in Word, you’ll notice that is automatically creates a thin black border around the box. Many people want to know how to change or remove this border.  To change (or remove) the border, follow these steps: Right-click on the text box and select Format Text Box. Choose the Color […]

How to Turn off ScreenTips in MS Word

You may have noticed that when you mouse-over some items in Word, such as comments, or hyperlinks, a short description appears. These are known as ScreenTips. You may find that if you turn off these, Word’s performance improves.  To turn off ScreenTips, follow these steps: Click Tools, Options, and then the View tab.  Click to […]

Turn off the Recently Used File List

This option displays the most recent files that you’ve used, which can be very convenient as it saves you having to find documents. However, the downside is that it hogs memory and drags down the application. To turn off the Recently used file list, follow these steps: From the Tools menu, click Options, and the […]

Turn Off Update Automatic Links

If you Update Automatic Links On Open, you’re placing pressure on Word as it has to check and update each link everytime it starts. If you have a large document, say more than 10 pages, this can cause real issues with performance. Turning off this option will make documents open faster and reduce the likelihood […]

How to Turn Off the Mouse Scheme

A pointer scheme is any combination of pointers used on your desktop. Turning off the animated mouse scheme is likely to increase performance, especially on less powerful computers. On more powerful computers, it may be less noticeable as more free memory is available.  Open the Control Panel. Double-click the Mouse icon. Click the Pointers tab. […]

How To Use ‘Draft Fonts’ to Open MS Word Faster

Turn on the Draft font option to load documents faster. This also improves the screen display of documents which have complex formatting and graphics. This option is available only in Normal view. To turn on the Draft font option, follow these steps:  On the View menu, click Normal.  On the Tools menu, click Options, and […]

[How To] Turn off Automatic Spelling & Grammar Check in MS Word

By default, Word automatically checks spelling and grammar as you write your document. It displays any errors it finds as wavy and green red underlines. While they have their value, these can adversely affect your computer’s performance as they continually demand memory. To turn off automatic spelling and grammar checking:  On the Tools menu, click […]