Thursday, 9 January 2014

Microsoft Word: Changing Your Document View

I love looking at an online map and having the choice of a traditional view or a satellite one. It is easier for me to find my route on a traditional view, but I also have the ability to see what the building I am looking for and the area around it actually looks like.
Have you used different views in Microsoft Word? Just like online maps, Word has more than one option when it comes to viewing a document.
Microsoft Word provides us with five different ways to view our documents. The default one is called 'Print Layout.' This shows how the text will look on each printed page and is invaluable when you are getting ready to print. This is, however, one of the last steps of word processing. The first step is to get all your ideas onto the document. Type all your text before you worry about how it looks on the page.
I recommend using 'Draft' or 'Outline' for the early stages of document creation. You will be able to see more text on your screen and you won't get side tracked by page elements like images, headers, or footers.
To change to one of these views, go to the View ribbon and choose a command in the Document Views group, or go to the right side of the status bar. Your status bar runs along the bottom of your screen. The right side of it may contain information like the page you are on, or how many words your document contains. The right side of it has the View buttons and the Zoom bar. If you hover your mouse above the buttons, a screen tip will appear to tell you the name of each view. You can also add the view buttons to your Quick Access Tool bar or use keyboard shortcuts, such as:
Alt + Ctrl + p - Pint Layout view.
Alt + Ctrl + o - Outline view.
Alt + Ctrl + n - Draft view. The Draft view used to be called the Normal view, hence the use of the letter 'n.'
Open a document and change to the Draft view.
To the left of your document you will see the style area. This does exactly what it suggests; it shows you the paragraph style that has been attached to each paragraph. If you want to change the style, double-click on the name of the current style to open the Style dialog box. From here you can select a different style or modify the existing one.
Applying a style to a paragraph is not really formatting. Once you have typed all your text and are ready to look at how it will present itself on each page, you may want to modify how the styles look. This would be formatting.
TIP: The width of the style area can be changed in the Word options.
1. File tab, Options
2. Advanced, Display group
3. Style area width in Draft and Outline views
4. Adjust the size
5. OK
If you are working with multiple heading levels, you may prefer to work in the Outline view. This also has the style area on the left, but has the added bonus of allowing you to collapse and expand the heading levels, so the text under each heading is hidden.
The Outline view allows you to easily rearrange your document by simply dragging paragraphs and headings to a new location in the document.
Choose the correct view to match your document creation needs.
Use the Print Layout view when you want to see what your document will look like when it is printed. You will see all the page elements like headers, footers and graphics.
Use the Draft View when you are concentrating on the text of a document. It will show you a single page with simple text format only. This not only helps you avoid being sidetracked by graphics and other page elements, it also lets you view more text on one screen.
As with anything new, using a different view may take a little while to get used to. Don't let this deter you. Saving the Print Layout view until you have created your text will help you work smart not hard.
Reen Rose is an empowerment expert who believes in aiding businesses of all sizes, by helping individuals and teams acquire the skills they need to be happy and successful in their work. She is an experienced Microsoft Certified Trainer, Microsoft Office Specialist Master and a Myers Briggs certified practitioner.

By Reen Rose

No comments:

Post a Comment