Some say the appearance of Microsoft products built for Mac OS X signals the end times, but those of us that are dedicated Mac users for both home and business know this isn’t necessarily the case. Microsoft Office has been available for OS X since 2008, and the newest iteration, released in 2011, is a fairly polished software suite. We’re starting a series on tips and tricks in Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 with one of the most widely used members of the software suite: Word. Below are some hidden gems found throughout the software, maybe including a few that you didn’t know existed. Ready to dive in? Here are the top hidden tips and tricks for Microsoft Word for Mac 2011.
In the new word 2016 for mac I have lost my keyboard shortcuts for the following. Previously, I could go to the top of the same page I am working on with command+up arrow. Go to the bottom of the same page I am working on with command + down arrow. I used these all the time. Does anyone know how to create the same ones in 2016 version?????
Hide the Ribbon Let’s start with an easy one. While the Ribbon is all nice and fine, sometimes you’re working on a smaller screen and need every pixel of space for seeing what you’re typing. Or maybe you’ve become so skilled with keyboard shortcuts that you just don’t need the Ribbon any more. Whatever the reason, you can hide the Ribbon with a single click.
To the far right of the Ribbon tabs you should see a caret symbol (^) next to a gear icon. Click the caret and the Ribbon will disappear. You’ll see the caret is now pointing the other way, like a down arrow. To get the Ribbon back, just click the caret again. Customize the Ribbon If you’d rather just change the Ribbon so it fits your needs a little better, you’re in luck because Word lets you customize it pretty easily. First, you can edit the order of the Ribbon tabs. Just click the gear icon next to the ^ you clicked in the first tip, and choose Customize Ribbon Tab Order.
Now you can hide Ribbon tabs you don’t want, and move the ones you do want into an order that better suits your way of working. Then click Done. If you’ve gone too far and need to start with fresh Ribbon tabs, click Reset.
If you want to change the contents of each Ribbon tab, you can click the gear icon and this time choose Ribbon Preferences. Here you can choose what tabs you want to show and even change the color of the Ribbon’s theme. Nothing groundbreaking here, but enough to get the Ribbon working how you want. Define Words on the Fly Instead of heading over to to define a word you’ve typed, why not just do it from inside Word for Mac itself? Highlight the word in question and hit Shift + F7. You should see the Reference Tools window appear.
(If your keys are set to be functions instead of standard F keys, hold down the fn key in this process as well. So it becomes Shift + fn + F7.) Here you can get the word’s definition, see thesaurus entries, and even get a translation, all without leaving your document.
Selections the Easy Way There are a lot of reasons to select text that you’ve already typed. Maybe you want to copy and paste it, or maybe you need to bold, highlight, or set a few words as a hyperlink. First, you can double-click a word. This will highlight the word for you, but you probably already knew that, just like you probably know that if you triple-click you’ll select the entire paragraph.
Duplicate contacts killing your productivity? See how Scrubly can help in this. The hidden trick here is that if you hold down the Command button and click once, you’ll instantly select the entire sentence. If you only want to select a series of words one at a time, hold Option + Shift and hit the left or right arrow keys to jump word by word, selecting as you go. Pretty cool, right? Taming AutoCorrect If you do a Google search for “AutoCorrect,” the first suggestion you get is “AutoCorrect fail,” and rightfully so.
More often than not, your computer thinks it knows what you mean when you misspell a word, and since it won’t show up in a Spelling & Grammar check, you’ll never know until you mean to type “castle” and instead “casket” shows up. To fix this, you can actually edit the AutoCorrect list for Microsoft Word for Mac 2011 pretty easily.
First, if you always misspell a word, right-click on it, select AutoCorrect from the context menu, and choose the word you want to automatically replace that misspelling. Next, you can use AutoCorrect to help you type out long words with only a few characters. Click Tools AutoCorrect from the Word 2011 menu bar.
In the “Replace” column put the short word or phrase you want to type, and then in the “With” column type out the full word or phrase you want to be shown. Then click Add. Now when you type that short phrase, the long one will automatically pop up.
Non-breaking Spaces Keep Phrases Together When you’re typing the name of a person or business, or a phrase that should stay together to look right, you can easily insert what’s called a non-breaking space to make sure Word 2011 keeps the words on both sides of the space on the same line no matter what. All you have to do is hold the Option key when you hit the spacebar and you’ll instantly have a non-breaking space. You won’t see any difference in the space, but Word will know and will make the changes for you automatically. Synonyms Are a (Right) Click Away If you’re like most of us, there are probably times when you’ve used the same word one too many times and you just can’t think of a replacement for it to keep from using the word again.
You could use to search for the Thesaurus, but instead of that you can stay inside Word for Mac 2011 by using one of two options. First, you can use the Shift + F7 action we mentioned above. Or, even easier, just highlight the word and right-click on it, then select Synonyms from the menu. You’ll see the top choices as well as a link to the Thesaurus.
Replace Words With an Image Automatically This is a weird tip, but for some people it might actually come in pretty handy. Let’s say you’re typing an article that you’ll add images to later.
You can type the file name of each image into the article as you type, then use Find/Replace to add the images in after the fact without having to scan the article to find where they go. First, copy the image you want placed in the Word document to the clipboard. Then with the Find/Replace tool open in Word ( Edit Find Replace) just type the word you want found. In the Replace field type “^c” (without the quotes), and the image will be placed. You can use this not just for images but for anything that’s in your clipboard, which can be pretty useful for long phrases that you don’t want to mistype.
Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) 2.0 is a managed MMC plug-in. VAMT uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to configure managed systems. A convenient command line interface (CLI) allows automated, scheduled VAMT tasks without UI interaction. Using the VAMT console, administrators can perform many activation-related tasks on remote computers:.
Manage product keys obtained from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) or other sources including retail and Microsoft subscription programs such as MSDN, TechNet and partner programs - and product activations using those keys. Activate remote systems using Key Management Service (KMS), Multiple Activation Key (MAK) or retail activation methods. Perform disconnected proxy activation and reactivation of systems without each system having to connect with Microsoft activation services individually. Assist with license compliance by enabling IT administrators to monitor system license state, including whether systems are licensed and running genuine Windows or Office.
Make sure you read the help file for more details – but a common scenario I see is using the tool to figure out how many MAK activations are left on a MSDN/TechNet subscription key. Here’s how you go about that process: Add a MAK and determine the remaining activation count 1. Click the Product Keys node under the VAMT node. Find the Add Product Keys pane in the center pane and expand it, if it is minimized.
Enter a MAK and click Verify. Once verified, the Edition field will automatically populate.
Provide a meaningful description in the Remarks text box and click Add Product Key. The MAK will now be listed in the product key list-view below. Select this key, as well as any additional keys you want to work with. Right-click the selected product keys to display the context-sensitive Actions menu, or choose from the Action menu on the top menu bar, or choose from the Selected Items menu on the right-hand pane.
On the menu, click Refresh Product Key Data Online to retrieve the number of remaining activations for the MAKs from Microsoft. This step requires Internet connectivity. The remaining activation numbers are shown under the Remaining Activation column in the center pane.