Productivity Shortcuts Reduce Wordiness

Most applications available today come with more features than we ask for. We spend more time familiarising ourselves with the application and get less work done through it. In the process, we lose out on the ones which are most useful. For instance, Microsoft Word has so many features that you will probably only learn or use about 40 percent before the next version arrives a year later. To help you avoid repetition and redundancy, we've put together a list of Word essentials.

Faster Files
You can open files faster in Word as it usually stores the last four documents you have worked upon. For listing up to 9 files, go to Tools|Options|General and increase the Recently Used Files list. Now to open a file, go to File and select the file from the drop-down menu.

Avoiding repetitive writing
Use the Thesaurus to avoid repetition in your writing. Shift+F7 brings up the Thesaurus. You can also get a few quick suggestions by right-clicking the word and selecting "Synonyms." Just pick one for Word to make the swap automatically. You can otherwise use the Babylon Dictionary-Translator plug-in (1.5 MB, Win 9x/NT/2000, free. Download from http://www.babylon.com).

Scroll faster
Word often seems to come to a standstill when you try and view a large document, especially if it has lots of embedded images. This has little to do with your processor but a lot to do with the the memory (ideally 64 MB or more) available and the graphics card. Until you can replace your hardware, select Tools|Options|View. Next select the Picture placeholder check box under Show.

Move faster
If you find using the mouse cumbersome, make use of these basic shortcuts. (For a detailed list, hit the F1 key in Word)

To find something quickly: CTRL+F.
To copy text, highlight it then use CTRL+C.
To paste: CTRL+V.
To move, CTRL+X; then move the cursor to the new location and CTRL+V.
To undo: CTRL+Z.
To insert a hyperlink: CTRL+K.
To shift case, highlight and use Shift+F3.
To repeat what you just did, use F4 or CTRL+Y.

Boilerplate Now
If you use text phrases or blocks repetitively, stop retyping because all you do is waste time. Use AutoCorrect instead. First write your boilerplate and then highlight it. Select Tools|AutoCorrect and add an abbreviation or launch code. Click OK. To use it just type the code followed by the space bar, hyphen or return key.

These basic tips should help you use the time allotted for a task well.