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Automatically open the last edited document in Word

If you frequently find yourself wanting to edit the same document you were using in your last Word session, you can create a shortcut which does just this, using a command-line switch. Here’s how: Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and choose New -> Shortcut...

Deleting an open document in Microsoft Word

Have you ever wanted to delete the document currently open in Word? I find I often want to do this when I’m trying to clean out a whole bunch of old documents: I open each one, check the contents and, if I no longer need it, delete it on the spot. Word won’t normally...

Omitting page numbers in Microsoft Word

How do you omit the page number on the final page of a Word document? I was asked this recently by someone who is using Lulu.com’s self-publishing service. Lulu had asked her to resubmit her book with a completely blank final page – no page number, nothing. Finding...

Using Microsoft Word’s hidden calculator

You’ve probably heard the stats: 80% of Microsoft Word users make use of only 20% of its features. My guess is that only about 0.1% of Word users use the handy calculator built right into the program. I’m not talking about the SUM() and AVERAGE() fields or any of the...

Selecting columns of text in Word

Most text selection in Word involves selecting horizontally – selecting a line or a paragraph of text. Sometimes, though, you need to select a vertical slab of text. To do that, hold down the Alt key while you click and drag your mouse over the text. This comes in...

Generating content automatically in Word

One of Word’s quirky, tucked-away features is the rand() function. It lets you quickly insert a block of text in a document. To use the function in pre-2007 versions of Word, at the beginning of a line type =rand() and press Enter. Word inserts three paragraphs, each...