Common Mistakes Made by Users of Microsoft Word

Ask just about any computer user if they use or have used Microsoft Word and you can confidently expect the answer “yes”. Word is everywhere, even on Apple Mac. So, most bosses automatically assume that their people know how to use it and they do, up to a point. But many casual Word users make some pretty basic mistakes. This article looks at the most common.

* When creating a document to be printed on a particular type of stationery, such as letter-headed paper, many Word users have the habit of using the Return key to create space at the start of the document. What they should be doing is changing the top margin. To change the margins in Word 2007, click on Margins then Custom Margins in the Page Layout tab on the ribbon. In previous versions of Word, choose Page Setup from the File menu.

* The habit of putting two spaces after a period goes back to the days of typewriters and monospace (fixed-width) typefaces like Courier where having two spaces after a period made the end of each sentence easier to detect when reading. Since modern computer-generated typefaces are proportionally spaced, the extra space is superfluous and should not be used.

* A lot of Word users also like to press the Return key twice after each paragraph. This tends to create too much space. It’s better to use just one Return then adjust the paragraph spacing by choosing Format – Paragraph (in Word 2003 and earlier) or clicking on the Page Layout tab (in Word 2007) and entering the desired amount in the box marked Spacing After.

* If a casual user of Word has never had any training, you will often see him or her using the space bar to align columns of text. This sometimes looks as though it’s working on screen but when the document is printed, the lack of alignment becomes very apparent. The only sure way of getting columns to align is to press the Tab key.

* Although you can get away with pressing the Tab key to create columns of text without actually setting any tabs, it’s not usually a good idea. This method uses Word’s default tabs and means that the user often inserts a varying number of tabs between columns. It’s much better to set up your own tabs by clicking on the Word ruler. That way, you will only ever need to press the Tab key once between columns.

* Another common mistake among Word users is to manually format text in long documents or perhaps to user the Format Painter. Manually formatting text is fine for single page or short documents but with long documents, it’s best to use Word’s style feature. That way, if you need to modify the appearance of the document, all you need to do is to modify the attributes of the styles.

* Then there’s the question of who’s in charge: Word or the user. You will often hear users complain that Word has a mind of its own: “It tries to do everything for you”. Remember, almost any setting in Word that irritates you can be modified by going to Tools – Options in Word 2003 or earlier or choosing Word Options from the Office Button in Word 2007.