Do you sometimes find yourself highlighting entire paragraphs in an MS Word document for relocation?

(As we discussed yesterday, every time you hit the Enter key, you've finished a paragraph and are creating a new one, so just remember that "paragraphs" in Word could be as small as a single word in a bulleted list).

So, what do you do?

I bet I can guess! You first highlight the entire paragraph, then you use the mouse to grab and hold the paragraph and while still using the mouse, you run the pointer up and down the document to find the "right place" to drop the paragraph.

Then when you need to move something else, you start the process all over again. Am I right?

Whew!

That's a lot of repetition.

Well, here's a mouseless, three key solution to the situation that works so much better!

The next time you need to move an entire paragraph, try this little trick:

• Put your cursor in the paragraph you want to move.

• Now, hold down the Alt + Shift keys.

• Press the up or down arrow in whichever direction you need to move your paragraph. That's it!

Did you know that a paragraph in MS Word doesn't necessarily mean complete sentences or any of the other rules your English teacher taught you?

Well, to Word, it doesn't.

I'm sure any English teacher would disagree, but here's the scoop!

Word considers a paragraph to be the text between two paragraph marks.

So, what are paragraph marks?

Well, they look like this:

You've never seen that in your Word documents, have you?

No, I'm sure you haven't, but I assure you, they're there. They're just one of the many hidden marks Word puts in to indicate viagra online generic spaces, enters, tabs, etc. You may not see them, but they do exist.

(It's possible to have Word display those marks by clicking the button on the Standard toolbar that contains the paragraph symbol. Or, if you're using Word 2007, you'll find the button on the Home Ribbon under the Paragraph section. In any version, it's a toggle button, so just click on it once to display the hidden marks and once more to hide them again).

Basically, Word inserts a paragraph mark any time you hit the Enter key.

For example, if you're making a list of items, each item becomes its own paragraph every time you hit Enter.

So, why do you care?

Allow me to tell you! There are a lot of instructions and references to a paragraph in Word. As I've worked with different people, I've noticed one thing: they usually only see a paragraph in the traditional format. Because of that, single word lists just don't register in their thinking process.

The result?

Put simply, they're often confused with instructions. It's hard to follow instructions when you don't know the definitions of the terms (at least Word's definitions).

So, now that we're clear on what Word means, keep an eye out for tomorrow's tip, because I'm going to show you some cool tricks you can do with your paragraphs. Stay tuned!

When you move text in MS Word, what do you do?

Do you highlight the text to be moved and then use your mouse to drag and drop it to a new location? Or, do you highlight the text and then use the cut/paste options?

Either way, it's a lot of steps and for many people, it involves removing your hands from the keyboard to use the mouse.

Well, for those of you who are always looking for a way to go "mouseless," here's a trick for moving your text without ever leaving the keyboard.

• You still need to highlight the text to be moved. (If you're looking to reduce mouse use, be sure to use the Shift key in combination with the arrow keys to complete your highlighting).

• Now, hit the F2 key.

• At this point, you're ready to tell Word where to put your selection. Simply use the arrow keys or the Page Up/Page Down keys to move the cursor to the new location. (If you change your mind, hit the Esc key and the F2 effect will be removed).

• When you've found the correct spot, hit the Enter key.

Date: April 14th, 2008

Author: Susan Harkins

PowerPoint presentation files can grow quickly. Graphics files, music, and all those custom viagra newsletter instructions really add up. There are a few things you can do to reduce the file’s size:

Date: May 6th, 2008

Author: Mary Ann Richardson