Exciting tips

In MS Word, if you type three dashes in a row, and tap the Enter key, a horizontal line is inserted in its place. This horizontal line is stubborn; it’s almost impossible to add any text before it and it can’t be deleted with either the backspace or delete keys. Given how it was inserted with a simple character i.e. the dash, users should be able to remove it just as easily. Unfortunately, it’s a bit more complicated to delete a horizontal line in MS Word. This is because it’s not a character. It’s a design element.

Horizontal Line In MS Word

The dash character is the surest way to insert the horizontal line in MS Word but users have been plagued by it from other causes. Regardless, if this is the line you’re trying to delete, neither backspace nor delete key is the way to go.

The horizontal line isn’t a line at all; it’s a border. You might wonder what it’s applied to since there is no table or text box in the GIF above. This particular border is applied to the paragraph just above it. In MS Word, paragraphs can have their own borders.

To delete a horizontal line, position you cursor just above it.

On the Home tab, look for the ‘Paragraph’ toolbox. It’s the one with the bulleted and numbered list buttons. Next to the color fill tool you will see the border button. Click the drop-down next to this button. From the menu that opens, select ‘No Border’ to delete a horizontal line in an MS Word document.

Paragraph Borders

MS Word’s extensive features can sometimes surprise even the most well-versed users. For most, it might not seem like paragraph borders are a feature anyone will need. Most users get by by adding a text box or using a single row and single column table, and applying borders to it. This is of course a better, more controlled way to add a border around text.

The other border options can be  used on a paragraph as well, except for the diagonal borders of course.

Functionality-wise, paragraph borders are better than any other sort of divider you’d use because they can’t be deleted as easily. If you have to share a document that will be edited by someone else, this is a fairly reasonable way to keep sections separate. It beats using tables that are difficult to move around, and it’s a better option than a page and line break because those too can be removed easily, even by accident.

You can group shapes in MS Word. It’s an easy way to create diagrams and charts in the word processor and manage them all easily. Grouping multiple shapes allows you to apply the same formatting to them in one go, and it’s easier to move them without messing up their order. You can also group pictures and shapes though the method isn’t as straight forward as it is for grouping shapes.

When you group shapes, the option is always there. When you try to group pictures and shapes though, the picture cannot be selected which gives the impression that it isn’t possible to group pictures and shapes. It is, and it’s pretty easy.

Group Pictures And Shapes

Open MS Word and insert a picture in the document. You can insert a picture by dragging & dropping it, or you can use the Insert menu. Next, insert a shape from the Insert menu. Right now, when you try to select both the shape and the picture, it won’t work. This is where the small, extra step comes in.

Move your mouse over the image and you will see the layout button appear. Click it and from the menu that opens, select one of the other layouts. The Square layout is a good choice. Repeat for all pictures that you want to group.

Once you’ve changed the layout, you’ll find you can select both shapes and the picture. Click on a shape, hold down the Shift key, and click the picture. This time, you will be able to select it. Repeat for all other shapes and pictures you want to add to the group. Once they’ve all been selected, right-click one of the selected items and select ‘Group>Group’ from the context menu.

That’s about it. The group border will appear around the pictures and the shapes that you’ve grouped together. You can drag the single group around and move all items within that group at once.

To ungroup the items, select the group and right-click it. From the context menu, select the Group>Ungroup option.

Pictures are normally inserted as in-line objects. This means that they will follow the same alignment settings as that of the text before them. This prevents them from being grouped with shapes which are far more flexible in how they are aligned. This is why you need to first change the layout of the picture so that it can move freely once it is part of a larger group of items.

When you paste a web link inside an MS Word document, it is automatically recognized as a hyperlink. You can choose to paste a link, or you can add a link to a word or phrase. It’s about as easy as inserting an image. You can also add in-document links that will link a user from one part of a document to another part of the same document. This is useful when you need to cross reference different sections within other sections. The bigger a document you have, the more a feature like this becomes necessary.

Add In-Document Links

In order to add in-document links, you need to first make sure you’re using the different formatting elements at your disposal. These formatting elements identify different parts of a document as headings or bodies of text. In MS Word, the links you add are added to headings or boookmarks.

Open an MS Word document. Select a heading, go to the Home tab on the ribbon and in the Styles toolbox, select a heading level.

Do this for all headings i.e. sections that you have in your document. Next, select the text you want to add a link to. Go to go to the Insert tab and select Link.

In the Insert Hyperlink window, select the ‘Place in this document’ option from the column on the left. This will populate a list of all headings in your document. Select a heading and the text you linked to will take you straight to that section.

If you don’t want to link to a section, and instead want to link to a word in the document you’re going to have to go with bookmarks. First, go to the word that you want to link to. Select it and on the Insert tab, select Bookmark. Enter the name of the bookmark, and click add.

Next, go to the where you want to add the link. Select the text that you want to add the link to. Go to the Insert tab and select Link. In the Insert Hyperlink window, select Place in this document. When the list of headings in the document populate, they will be accompanied by a list of all bookmarks you’ve added to the document. Select the bookmark you want to link to.

Navigating Links

In order to open a link, you need to hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, and click the link. This goes for web links and in-document links. It’s to prevent accidental clicks that will open your browser or jump to a different page in the document.

MS Excel and MS Word both come with table styles. Depending on the colors you pick for your document and/or spreadsheet, the table styles appear in corresponding colors. You might have noticed that some table styles allow you to split a cell diagonally. This is usually the first cell in the first row. MS Word gives you the freedom to create your own table styles as well and if you want, you can diagonally split a cell in MS Word and mimic the other table styles. Here’s how.

Diagonally Split A Cell

Open an MS Word file and insert a table. Click inside the cell you want to split diagonally. Go to the Design tab in the Table Tools set of tabs and click the Borders option.

The border options have two options for splitting the cell; Diagonal Down Border, and Diagonal Up Border. The little icon next to each option illustrates how the cell will be split with each border style. Pick the one you want to diagonally split a cell.

Add Data

This split is a cosmetic one i.e. you don’t actually have two different cells. It is still one cell with a line drawn across it and that isn’t of much use. You need to add data to the table such that is separated by the diagonal border you’ve just drawn but still legible. There’s a trick to that as well.

Click inside the cell you’ve just split and go to the Home tab on the ribbon. On the Font toolbox, you will see two buttons next to the strike through text style. These buttons are for subscript and superscript.

Click the subscript button and enter text for the lower corner of the cell. Next, use the space bar to add enough space so that the cursor is on the other side of the diagonal border line. Click the superscript button and type the text you want to appear in the top part of the cell.

Both superscript and subscript have a smaller font so you will want to adjust it accordingly. If the text alignment breaks, reduce the space between the subscript and superscript text.

This isn’t quite like splitting cells or columns. It’s a hack that is limited especially in terms of formatting. The amount of text you can add in this cell is also limited. If you want to add more text, you might have to use a text box and insert it in the cell which will make managing the table all the more difficult. Use this sparingly or only if you have the time needed to fix the formatting.