Cross-Compatible Words

If you're creating a document in Word 97 or Word 2000 that you plan to share with users of another word processing program, you can do more than save the document in the other program's file format. A little-known feature in Word lets you fine-tune a document to look the same in the format of another word processing program as it does in Word.

To set up a document for another word processor, select Tools, Options and click the Compatibility tab in the Options dialog box. Drop down the "Recommended options for" list and select the word processing program the recipient will use. You'll see specific features of that program checked in the Options list. If the exact version of the recipient's word processor isn't on the list, choose the closest version.

Take this step before you begin working on the document to see it, while you create it, the way your recipient will see it. Finish up by using File, Save As to save the document in the other program's format.

Hint: To apply these compatibility settings to all documents, open the default normal.dot template as you would any other document, follow the steps above and select File, Save. To locate normal.dot, select Tools, Options, click the File Locations tab in the Options dialog box, and note the directory in which templates are stored. If the folder name is truncated, double-click it and you'll see a list of the full path in the Modify Locations dialog box.

Mark Text for an Index
When your document page count creeps into double digits, you may need a way to direct readers to specific topics. Word's indexing tools take much of the mystery and labour out of the process.

Scroll through a document looking for a word or phrase you want to index. When you find one, select it and then press Alt-Shift -X. You'll see the Main Entry field of the Mark Index Entry dialog box filled with the selected text. If you want to mark the term as a Main Index entry, click Mark. To mark all identical text in the document as a series of separate index entries, click Mark All. To create a subentry, type the text in the subentry field; and to create a third-level entry, type a colon after the subentry text, followed by the text for the index item.

The Mark Index Entry dialog box stays on the screen after you click Mark to allow you to create new index entries. When you finish marking entries, click Close. To create the index, press Ctrl-End to move the cursor to the bottom of the document. Then select Insert, Index and Tables, click the Index tab in the Index and Tables dialog box and click OK.

Easy Em and En Spaces
Typographical em and en spaces are useful formatting tools in Word 97 and 2000, but few users know how to access them. They are wider than normal spaces and are useful in lists, following a number or anywhere a fixed-width space will help align text or numbers.

Select Insert, Symbol and in the Symbol dialog box click the Special Characters tab. Choose Em Space or En Space and click Insert. Add the characters to your Insert menu by selecting Tools, Customize and clicking the Commands tab in the Customize dialog box. Then select Insert in the Categories list and scroll to the Insert Em Space or the Insert En Space entry in the Commands list. Click an entry and drag it to the Insert menu. When the Insert menu drops down, drag the mouse pointer to where you want the command, then release the mouse button. Repeat these steps for the other Insert Space command, then click Close in the Customize dialog box.

Where's My Document?
Unlike earlier versions, Word 97 and 2000 no longer show the full path specification of your documents in the program's title bar. Many Word users who store documents in multiple directories for version control or save documents to removable media drives sorely miss this feature. If you need to know exactly where a document is stored, you can find out by selecting File, Properties, then clicking the General tab in the Properties dialog box. You'll find the full path in the Locations field.

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