Word automatically adds a thin single-line

border if you type three dashes in a row

and then press the Enter key. Typing three
underscore characters in a row and pressing
Enter automatically creates a thicker
border line.

Insert a blank line before a table

Applies to: Microsoft Office Word 2007
 

Use this procedure to insert a blank line before a table that is on the first line of the first page in a

document.

1. Click in the upper-left cell in the first row of the table.

 NOTE    If you have

Shortcut keys for setting line spacing are:

Ctrl+1 for single spacing, Ctrl+2 for double
spacing, and Ctrl+5 for 1.5 line spacing

To insert a section break, position the mouse where

you want the new section to begin and choose
Page Layout>Page Setup>Breaks and select the
desired section break type from the drop-down list
as shown in Figure 4-2. A section break controls
the formatting of the text that precedes it.
Depending

you want to change margins for only part of the

document, select the portion you want to change.
From Page Layout>Page Setup>Margins, choose
Custom Margins. Set the margins you want and,
from the Apply to drop-down list, choose Selected
Text (see Figure 4-5). Word creates section breaks
and applies the new margin settings.

change the paper size from a certain

location through the rest of the document,
position the insertion point where you
want the new paper size to take effect,
and then choose Page Layout>Page
Setup>Size and select More Paper Sizes.
From the Paper tab of the Page Setup
dialog box, select the paper size you
want and then, in the Apply to dropdown
list, choose “This point forward.”
_To change the paper size for a particular
section, create the section breaks where
needed and click anywhere inside the
section you want to change, or select
the text area. Choose Page Layout>Page
Setup>Size and select More Paper Sizes.
From the Paper tab of the Page Setup
dialog box, select the paper size you
want and then, from the Apply to
drop-down list, choose “This section”
or “Selected sections.”

Working with Split Windows

If you want to see two parts of a document, but
you can’t get them on the screen at the same
time, you can split a window. Doing so enables you
to view part of the document in the upper window
while you view another part of the document in
the lower window.
When you split a window each window panel contains
its own scroll bar. Choose View>Window>Split.
A horizontal line with a double headed arrow
appears at the mouse pointer. Click the mouse
where you want the window divided, which then
locks in the split. The window divides into two
sections with each section having its own scroll bar
and rulers. Take a look at Figure 4-12 where you
see page 1 in the top section and page 7 in the
bottom section.

Comparing Documents
Side by Side
Occasionally, you may want to view two documents
side by side, perhaps to compare one version to
another. Word provides the ability to view any two
open windows next to each other.
Choose View>Window>View Side by Side. If you
have more than two Word documents open, Word
first requests which window you want to compare
to the top current window (see Figure 4-13). If you
have only two open Word documents, you do not
see this Compare Side by Side dialog box.

By default, the two windows are synchronized so

that as you scroll through one window, the other
one scrolls with it. If you want to scroll through
the windows independently, you need to turn
off Synchronous Scrolling. From either window,
choose View>Window>Synchronous Scrolling
(see Figure 4-14).

Using the Document Map

If your document is quite lengthy, it can be difficult
and time consuming to navigate through the
document. However, if your document contains
heading styles, you can use the Document Map
feature to ease navigation. The Document Map also
allows you to examine the document flow for completeness
and ensure that formatting is consistent.
Think of a Document Map as a simple Table of
Contents. Choose View>Show/Hide>Document Map.
The Document Map pane, like the one seen in
Figure 4-15, appears on the left side of the screen.

To create the large first letter, called a

drop cap, select the first letter and choose
Insert>Text>Drop Cap>Dropped.

Okay…one more, rather fun way to create a Word

table is by simply typing out a string of plus signs
(+) and minus signs (-). Word uses its AutoCorrect
feature to interpret your typing and convert it to a
table. Type a plus sign and then type a series of
minus signs until you have the first column width
you want for your table. Type another plus sign,
followed by more minus signs. Repeat these steps,
placing a plus sign at the end of the series of
minus signs (see Figure 5-11). When you press
Enter, Word automatically converts it to a table

To force the column width so it’s wide

enough to fit the widest entry in the
column, position the mouse pointer over
the left edge of any cell in the column.
When the mouse pointer changes to a
bar with the left and right pointing
arrows, double-click the mouse. Word
automatically expands the column to fit
the widest entry.
_To force all columns to the same width,
choose Table Tools Layout>Cell Size>
Distribute Columns
_To adjust the width of all of the table
columns to fit their widest entry, choose
Table Tools Layout>Cell Size>AutoFit>
AutoFit Contents.

To adjust the height so it’s tall enough

to fit the tallest data entry, position the
mouse pointer over the bottom edge of
any cell in the row and double-click the
mouse.
you find that your table dimensions don’t quite
provide the look you want, besides changing
column widths and row heights, you can easily
change the table size. Just follow these steps:
1. Pause your mouse anywhere over the table
until you see a sizing handle appear in the
lower right table corner. (You must be in
Print Layout view or Web Layout view to use
this feature.)
2. Position the mouse pointer over the handle
until the pointer changes to a diagonal double
headed arrow. (See Figure 5-14).
3. Drag the sizing handle, which resizes the
table. As you drag the handle you see a
dashed line that represents the new table
size.
4. Release the mouse button to resize

same as the text in the Find box. For

example, if you entered foul, Word also
locates fowl.
_Find all word forms: Check this to locate
all grammatical forms of the search
word. For example, if you enter they,
Word also locates their, theirs, them,
and themselves.
_Match prefix: Check this to locate words
that only begin, not contain or end, with
the search word. For example, if you
enter mini, Word also locates minimum
or miniature, but not administration.
_Match suffix: Check this to locate words
that only end, not contain or begin, with
the search word. For example, if you
enter ration, Word also locates demonstration
but not rational.
_Ignore punctuation characters: Check
this to ignore punctuation marks such
as ‘?-“!;:,. and /. For example, if you
entered 1478, Word also locates 1,478
and 14.78.
_Ignore white space characters: Check
this to ignore spaces and tabs. For
example, if you enter lonestar, Word
also locates lone star.
Take a brief look at each extended option:
_Search: Select which direction in the
document you want to search. Choices
are Up, Down, or All.
_Match case: Check this to locate
instances that match the upper and
lower case letters as you entered in the
Find box. For example, if you typed Go,
Word will not locate go or GO.
_Find whole words only: Check this to
locate instances of the entire words
only. For example, if you enter read in
the Find box, Word will ignore words
like bread or reading.
_Use wildcards: Check this to use the
wildcards ? or * in your search. The ?
character matches any single character
and the * character matches any number
of characters. For example, if you
enter b?d in the Find box, Word finds
bad, bed, or bidding, but not bread. If
you enter b*d, Word locates words like
bad, bed, abide, bidding, bread, bored,
and so forth

You can also locate text that contains a specified

type of formatting. For example, you want to
locate the word apple but only if you underlined
the word. Follow these steps:
1. From the expanded Find and Replace dialog
box, click the Format button. You see a list of
formatting options as shown in Figure 7-9.
2. Click the formatting type you want to locate.
Choices include Font, Paragraph, Tabs,
Language, Frame, Style, and Highlight.
A dialog box appropriate to your selection
appears. In Figure 7-10 you see the Find Font
dialog box.

Finding Special Characters

In Chapter 2, you discovered that Word hides many
characters such as the dots used for spaces, or an
arrow for tabs, or even the paragraph mark ¶ at the
end of a paragraph. You can have Word search for a
number of special characters.
From the expanded Find and Replace dialog box,
click the Special button. You see a list of formatting
options as shown in Figure 7-11. Choose the
special character for which you want to search.
Word places a code for the character in the Find
What text box. Specify any other search options

Using Reading Highlight

Instead of jumping from one instance to the next
of a search word or phrase, you can have Word
highlight all occurrences of matching text. You can
then review the document in its entirety, perhaps
to see if you used a certain word too many times,
or to view the phrase in different contexts.
After entering your search specifications, click
Reading Highlight and choose Highlight All. In the
Find and Replace dialog box, Word indicates how
many items it highlighted. Figure 7-12 illustrates
both the Find and Replace dialog box as well as a
document in which Word highlighted all occurrences

To delete the “found” text, leave the

“Replace with” text box empty. Word will
replace the found text with nothing.

Creating Bookmarks
Just like you use a bookmark to mark a certain
place in a book, electronic bookmarks identify
specified text locations for future reference. As an
example, you might use a bookmark to help you
quickly jump to certain topics in your document.

Two alternative methods of displaying the

Go To option are pressing F5 or pressing
Ctrl+G.

If you want to see the bookmarks in your

document, choose Office Button>Word
Options. Click Advanced and scroll down
to the “Show document content” section
and check Show Bookmarks. Word indicates
bookmarks in [brackets].

Specifying Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks, similar to bookmarks, take you to a
specific location. However, not only can hyperlinks
jump to a location in your document, they can also
jump to another file on your computer, on your
network, or to a Web page. Like bookmarks, hyperlinks
are useful for electronic reading only and do
not affect a printed document

Inserting Building Blocks

Now that you see all the different types of building
blocks, take a look at how to insert any of the
existing blocks into your document. Just follow
these steps:
1. Position the insertion point where you want
to insert the building block.
2. Choose Insert>Text>Quick Parts>Building
Blocks Organizer. The Building Blocks
Organizer appears.
3. Click a building block to display a preview on
the right side, such as you see in Figure 7-21.

Click any building block column heading

to sort the building blocks by that column.

Creating Custom Building Blocks

If none of the predefined building blocks suit your
needs, you can create your own custom building
block. Additionally, you can start with one of the
existing building blocks and customize it to a better
fit and then save it for future use. Just follow
these simple steps:
1. Create the text and formatting for the new
building block.
2. Select the area you want to save as a building
block
3. Choose Insert>Text>Quick Parts>Save
Selection to Quick Part Gallery. The Create
New Building Block dialog box appears.
4. Fill in the appropriate information as seen
in Figure 7-22.

Choose this option to

determine how many document pages
you want to print on a single sheet of
paper. The formatting and document
page layouts do not change; Word
simply reduces the size of each printed
page to fit the number of pages that
you select. This feature is helpful as
an overview or handout document.

While you can

choose this option to select the paper
size you want to use, it’s really better to
choose that from inside the document
itself (Page Layout>Page Setup>Size

Excel:

Transposing Data
If you have data you originally entered across a row
and then decide it would be better placed in a column,
you can tell Excel to transpose the data. The
same is true if you have data in a column that you
want moved to a row. Use these steps:
1. Select the cells you want to transpose.
2. Choose Home>Clipboard>Copy (or press
Ctrl+C).
3. Click the cell where you want the transposed
cells to begin.
4. Choose Home>Clipboard and click the down
arrow below Paste.
5. Choose Transpose. As you see in Figure 8-20,
Excel copies the selected cells into the new
area, transposing rows into columns or
columns into rows

Naming a Range of Cells

Giving cells intuitive names makes locating data
easier. It also can help make formulas more logical
and easier to understand. (You’ll work with formulas
in Chapter 9.) Use the following steps to assign
a range name:
1. Select the cells you want to name

Click the down arrow in the Name box which displays

a list of named ranges such as you see in
Figure 8-21. Select the range name you want to
access and Excel immediately highlights the
named cells.

Managing Range Names

Excel worksheets can accommodate an almost
unlimited number of range names. However, if
your workbook has quite a few, it can be difficult
to manage or remember what each range represents.
To assist you with range names, Excel includes the
range Name Manager feature.
Choose Formulas>Defined Names>Name Manager
which displays the Name Manager dialog box
shown in Figure 8-23. You can select from the
follThe following steps show you how to create cells
with data validation.
1. Select the cell or cells you want Excel to
validate.
2. Choose Data>Data Tools>Data Validation.
The Data Validation dialog box displays with
three tabs.
3. In the Settings tab, open the Allow dropdown
list and choose the type of validation,
such as:
_Values such as Whole Number or
Decimal where you specify the upper
and lower limits of allowable data
values.
_Lists such as a list you define, a range
of cells in the existing worksheet, or
a named range (see Figure 8-25).owing options

Cells that contain invalid data may

display a small green triangle in the
upper left corner.

The following steps show you how to create cells

with data validation.
1. Select the cell or cells you want Excel to
validate.
2. Choose Data>Data Tools>Data Validation.
The Data Validation dialog box displays with
three tabs.
3. In the Settings tab, open the Allow dropdown
list and choose the type of validation,
such as:

To quickly copy the width of one column to

another column, select the heading of the
first column, click the Format Painter tool,
and then click the heading of the column
where you want to apply the column width

To choose a different theme for your Excel

Worksheet, choose Page Layout>Themes>Themes.
A variety of theme choices from which you can
select appears, as you see in Figure 10-28.

Select the cells you want to format.

2. Choose Home>Styles>Cell Styles. In Figure
10-29, you see that Excel displays a gallery of
predefined styles. This worksheet is using the
Flow theme.
 How to create numbered
headings or outline
numbering in your Microsoft
Word document

Quick reference to numbering headings and paragraphs in Word

1  Don't use Format > Paragraph and don't useFormat > Bullets and
Numbering. They look inviting, but they're not what you need.

2  Don't use the toolbar numbering or bullet buttons. They're not what you
need either.
3  Apply styles to your headings, preferably Word's built-in Heading styles.
4  Modify the styles so you can have the font, paragraph and other
formatting to suit your needs.
5  Modify the numbering and indenting by modifying the numbering settings
of the Heading styles. The styles will manage the numbering and the indents.
Managing numbered headings and outline
numbering in anything but the simplest of
Microsoft Word documents can easily drive you
crazy. You seem to go round and round in circles,
and never end up with what you want. And just
when you get close, it falls to pieces.

You are not alone!

This page lays out the basics of how to set up

outline numbering in Word. For more details, see
the links at the bottom of this page.

The key is to use Styles. Since there are good

reasons for using Word's built-in Heading styles,
this page concentrates on using those Heading
styles.

1  How to set up your Heading styles

Before you begin the numbering, make sure your
Heading styles are set up appropriately.

Modify the Heading 1 style so that it is based on

"No style". Modify Heading 2 so it's based on
Heading 1. Modify Heading 3 based on Heading
2. And so on. Not everyone does this, but I find it
useful because of the way the formatting of
Word's styles cascade.
 Now, modify the Paragraph settings of every
Heading style so that the Left Indent is 0, and
the Special indent is set to (none). Do this even if
you want your headings to be indented from the
left margin, and even if you want a hanging
indent. Why? Because for outline-numbered
styles, we will set the paragraph indent and the
hanging indents (if any) when we set up the
numbering.

2  How to create your outline

numbering
Put your cursor in a Heading 1 paragraph.

In Word 2002 and Word 2003, choose Format >

Styles and Formatting. Right-click where it
says "Heading 1", then chooseModify > Format
> Numbering. (In earlier versions of Word,
choose Format > Style > Modify > Format,
and chooseNumbering.)

Click the Outline Numbered Tab. Choose a pre-

set numbering option that is similar to what you
want. Choose this and promise yourself now that,
no matter what, you will never choose any of the
other options here. Always choose the box that is
already highlighted.

Click Customize.

You're now in the Customize Outline

Numbered List dialog. Within this dialog box,
you have to define the numbering you want
for all your numbering levels without leaving the
dialog box. That means that within this dialog
box, you have to define the numbering you want
for all your heading styles. Only then can you
leave the dialog box.

Tip: Reset the ListGallery before you start.

For a really clean professional job, go through each of the pre-set schemes
on the Outline Numbered tab and click Reset. This will flush out any nasties
left over from previous unsuccessful efforts to tame Word's numbering.
Then, choose one of the pre-set schemes in the second row. They are already
set up to be linked to the Heading styles.
2.1 Set up the levels and link your
styles
Within the Customize Outline Numbered List
dialog, you can see the Levels numbered 1 to 9
down the left. Click Level 1.

Click More. Give your numbering scheme a name

by typing something in the "ListNum Field List
Name" box at the bottom of the dialog. One
word, no spaces. Naming your list helps prevent
subsequent errors.

Down the bottom of the dialog, Link Level 1 to

style "Heading 1", link level 2 to style "Heading
2", link level 3 to style "Heading 3" and so on.
There's no harm in doing all 9 levels, even if you
don't intend to use all 9. It may even be a good
idea.

Don't leave the Customize box yet!

2.2 Numbering for the first level

In the Level list, choose Level 1.

The Number format box shows you how your

numbering will look. If you chose the first of the
pre-set options, it will say 1). If you don't want
the ), delete it. If you want your number to be
followed by a period, add a . If you want a
different numbering style (for example, roman
numbers or letters), choose one from the Number
style box. If you want a word to appear before
the number (for example, "Section ", "Chapter "
or "Part "), type the word before the
number. (Note: If the Number Style box is
greyed out, un-tick Legal Style Numbering at the
bottom right of the dialog box.)

If you get completely confused, delete everything

in the Number format box, and start again.

Don't leave the Customize box yet!

2.3 Numbering for all lower levels

For second and subsequent levels, indicate in the
Previous Level Number box whether you want to
include the number from the previous level.
Figure 1: Use the Restart Numbering After setting to avoid numbering like this.
Tick the box that says Restart Numbering After,
and ensure it's set to the correct level. So restart
Level 2 after Level 1, for example. If you don't do
this, your numbering will look like the text in
Figure 1.

When you're just beginning, you can end up with

wonderful messes in the Number format box. It
doesn't help that this dialog box is not laid out in
the most obviously intuitive way. If you end up in
a mess, do the following.

1. Delete everything in the Number format box.

2. If you want text before the number (for

example, "Chapter " or "Part "), type the text
in the Number format box.

3. If you want numbering from a previous level,

choose that level.

4. If you want punctuation between the previous

level's number and the new number for this
style, add it to the Number format box.

5. Choose your style for this level's numbering

from the Number Style box.

Don't leave the Customize box yet!

2.4 Controlling the indenting around

numbers
Figure 2: You can set the indents to control your numbering in the Customize Outline
Numbered List dialog.
You also control the indents from the Customize
Outline Numbered List. You can't control the
indents by modifying the Paragraph format of the
style. If you do, Word will simply override you.

The Number Position and Text Position parts of

the dialog box control indents. How they work is
shown in Figure 2.

I find it hard to decipher what the dialog box

options mean (note that not all these options are
available before Word 2002). My translations are:

1. Number Position-Aligned at = How far in from

the left margin do you want the number?

2. Text Position-Tab Space After = How far in

from the left margin do you want the text on
the first line to start?

 If you set this to a number less than

the Number Position-Aligned At
setting, Word ignores your choice and
improvises.

 If your number won't fit in the space

you allocate (for example, "Section
12.3.9.4" won't fit in 1 cm), Word will
push the text to the next tab stop.

3. Text Position-Indent at = How far in from the

left margin do you want the text on the
second and subsequent lines to start? (If you
want the text on the second and subsequent
 lines to start directly under the text on the
first line, set this to equal the Tab Space
After measure.)

So, set the Text Position and Number Position

settings for each Level in your headings scheme.

Now, for each Level, indicate whether you want

the number followed by a Tab, a Space or
Nothing.

When you're happy that all levels are formatted

as you want, click OK, OK, Apply.

Now you've defined the numbering for your

headings, you are ready to go and apply the
styles to your paragraphs. If you apply them and
they're not formatted as you like, you can modify
the styles.

3  How to maintain and modify your

outline numbering

3.1 How to change the font or

paragraph format of your headings
In the future, when you want to change anything
about your heading levels, modify the style, not
the individual paragraph. If you want Heading 2,
for example, to be green and not bold, go to a
Heading 2 paragraph and modify the style.

Note: You can't change the left indents of

numbered styles by modifying the Paragraph
settings of your style. (Well, you can, but your
hard work will be overridden by Word at the drop
of a hat.) To change the indents that control your
numbering, read on.

3.2 How to change the indenting or

numbering of your headings
If you want to change the numbering or the
indentation of your headings, you must put your
cursor in a Heading 1 style paragraph. Yes, even
if you want to change the numbering or the
indents of Heading 4 or Heading 7, you must
start with your cursor in a Heading 1 paragraph.
With the cursor in a paragraph in Heading 1
style, chooseFormat > Styles and Formatting,
right-click the style, chooseModify > Format >
Numbering. (In versions of Word before 2002
it's Format > Style > Modify > Format >
Numbering).

That's right: you control the indenting of

numbered paragraphs by modifying the
Numbering settings, not the Paragraph settings.

(And remember your promise to use the same

pre-set position every time. If you don't, hell will
rain upon you, your dog won't love you any
more, and your numbering is likely to go
ballistic.)

4  Five other things to think about

 Let's say you just created a paragraph in

Heading 1 style. Now, you press Enter to go
on to create the next paragraph. What style
will that paragraph be in? You can modify a
style to stipulate the style Word uses for the
following paragraph. So you could set it up
so that, when you're entering text, a
Heading 1 will be followed by a Heading 2.

 Make sure that "Automatically update" is not

set for any of your Heading styles.
Something that updates automatically
sounds like such a positive thing to have! In
fact, if you leave it ticked, it will drive you
bonkers. Modify the style to un-tick
"Automatically update".

 In your document, choose Tools >

Templates and Add-Ins. Make sure that
"Automatically Update Document Styles" is
not ticked. Why? Because if you leave it on,
you risk upsetting your numbering.

 If you need to update the styles in your

document from its template, see How to
safely update a document's styles from its
template without using the Organizer at the
MS Word MVP FAQ site.

 It took a while to set up all your numbering.

If you want your hard work to be available to
all your new documents, modify each
Heading style and tick the "Add to template"
box. That will save your style settings in
 your template. Next time you create a new
file your outline numbering settings will be
available.

 Alternatively, create a new template just for

outline-numbered documents. To do that,
get your numbering just so, delete all the
text and save as a Template, not a
Document by choosing File > Save As and
set the Save As Type to "Template".

 Next time you choose File > New your new

template will be available, complete with
your outline numbering settings.

5  Why go to all this bother?

One of the huge advantages of doing it all this
way is that you can use Word's outline view,
which is incredibly powerful. There's a
comprehensive description at How to save
yourself hours by using Outline View properly on
the MS Word MVP FAQ site.

6  Too good to be true?

All sounds too good to be true? It is<g>. When
you've finished getting your numbers right, you
might be interested to read some of the material
the MVP people have put together on numbering.
Start at the Microsoft Word MVP FAQ site, click
FAQ and then Numbering.

Grateful acknowledgement
Almost everything I learned about Word's
numbering I learned from the Word newsgroups
(especially the Microsoft Word Numbering
newsgroup) and from the MS Word MVP FAQ site.
The contributions of John McGhie (especially his
article about Word's Numbering Explained on the
MS Word MVP FAQ site) and Dave Rado are
significant. The current page represents a mere
summary and application of some of that wo
 How can I recover a corrupt document or template – and why did it
become corrupt?
Article contributed by Dave Rado and John McGhie
The advice in this article applies to all versions of Word, including those for the Macintosh.
Why do documents corrupt?
If you use any of the following features, your documents are likely to corrupt: Master Documents, Nested Tables,
Versions, Fast Saves, Document Map, and saving to a floppy. For more on these, see: Tips and “Gotchas”.
In addition, saving when resources are low can cause corruptions. If you notice Word start to slow down noticeably
it's always best to quit and restart Word immediately; to close any other applications that are open; and to clear the
clipboard, by selecting any character and copying it.
Other signs that you are low on resources: fonts suddenly not displaying properly; the wrong application icons
appearing on your Desktop or in Windows Explorer (e.g. Word's icon appearing where Excel's should be). If you get
these symptoms, restart Windows immediately.
A corrupt printer driver can corrupt memory; and if you then save, this can corrupt the document. Symptoms: Word
often crashes when printing (cure: reinstall the driver).
A corrupt template will corrupt any new documents based on it. A corrupt Normal.dot template is especially bad -- it
spreads its evil almost like a virus to almost every new document you create.
If you create list numbering using the Format + Bullets and Numbering dialog, this is likely to lead to a corruption
arising eventually, especially if you also have the “Automatically update document styles” checkbox ticked on
the Tools + Templates and Addins dialog (less of a problem with Heading numbering than other types).
A bad sector on your hard disk can corrupt a document saved to that sector. Make sure you run Scandisk regularly.
Running Defrag regularly will also help reduce the chances of running low on resources. Encourage users to save to
the network. Make regular backups.
Where are corruptions stored?
Corruptions are usually, but not always, stored in Section Breaks. The final paragraph mark in a document contains a
hidden Section Break, so in a single-section document, corruptions tend to be stored in the final paragraph mark.
Corruptions can also be stored in any paragraph mark in a document; or in an end-of-cell or end-of-row marker within
a table; or in a bookmark. (Corrupt bookmarks are very rare in Word 97 and above, unless you have been using
EndNote).
If you find that certain commands such as Edit>Find don't work within a certain table, that table is probably corrupt.
If you find text mysteriously disappearing and reappearing as you page down past a particular paragraph, that
paragraph's paragraph mark is likely to be corrupt (see the section on fixing corrupt templates).
How can I fix a corrupt document?
If you have been using Master documents, see How to recover a Master Document.
If all new documents based on a certain template are showing symptoms of corruption, the template they are based
on is almost certainly corrupt.
Otherwise:
If using Word 2000 or Above:
Select File + Save As Web page, quit Word, reopen the htm file and save it back in Word format –
that usually(but not always) gets rid of corruptions. The HTML/XML format forces Word to completely re-create the
internal structure of the document, either fixing or discarding the corrupt bits when it does.  Best of all, in the case of
Word 2000 and above, almost all of the formatting and page layout is preserved.
Please note: to preserve your formatting, you must select the plain Save As "Web Page" option, not the Save As
Web Page (Filtered).  If you use the Filtered option, you remove from the document all the formatting that an HTML
browser cannot interpret: for example, page numbers and headers and footers!
If that doesn't fix it, the fixes described below apply.
If using Word 97 or above:
1. If you have isolated the corruption to a particular table, either:
 Paste the table into Excel; delete the Word table; paste the Excel table back into Word, select
the new table (Alt+Double-click), press Ctrl+Spacebar to remove the manual formatting, and reformat the table,or:
 Select Table + Convert Table to Text, select the text that results, and select Table + Convert
Text to Table. This has the advantage that you lose much less formatting than using the Excel method, but the
disadvantage that if a corruption is stored in a paragraph mark within the table, it will remain.
2. If the table contains horizontally merged cells, it's best to recreate a few rows at a time – for instance, if
using method (b), then after converting the table to text, select contiguous rows that have equal numbers of columns,
convert them to a table, and keep doing this until you have converted all the text to individual tables (which will
automatically merge themselves into a single table).
3. If you have isolated the corruption to a particular paragraph, select the text in the paragraph, but be
carefulnot to select the paragraph marker (the paragraph marker is a property container, and that's where the
corruption is stored). Paste into a new document. Delete the corrupt paragraph. Paste back from the new document
to the old one.
4. You can try saving as RTF, closing Word, reopening the RTF file and saving back as a Word document.
Unfortunately, Word's RTF format is similar enough to Word's native format to preserve most corruptions.
5. If that doesn't work, delete any Section Breaks using Find and Replace, then Select All (Ctrl+A), de-select
the final paragraph mark (Shift + Left arrow), copy, and paste into a new document. Then close the corrupt
document and save the new one, overwriting the old one (in that order). Finally, log out or restart your operating
system  before doing anything more (because document corruptions can corrupt memory).
6. If even that doesn't work, try saving in Word 2 format if you have this option (the Word 2 converter is no
longer offered, but if you have upgraded from a previous version, you will still have it). Unfortunately, you will lose an
awful lot of formatting if you do this, though.
7. If even that doesn't work, select File + Open, set the “Files of type” list box to “Recover Text from Any
File”, and open the corrupt document. Delete the gobbledygook at the end. You'll lose all of your formatting leaving
only the text.
Note that the “Recover Text from Any File” setting is “sticky”. In Word versions prior to 2002, you must
immediately select File + Open again, change the  “Files of type” setting back to “Word Document” and open
another document, while you remember.  If you forget, every file you open will have no formatting, and if you save it
in this condition, it's gone forever.  See Whenever I open a document using File Open all my formatting is gone, and
there is garbage at the end).
How can I fix a corrupt template?
The best strategy is to keep a backup, macro-free version of all your templates. Then if a template become corrupt,
you can copy any macros over to a copy of the backup template using the Organizer and you're back in business.
If you haven't done that, though, and if your template contains any macros, you could try running the VBA Code
Cleaner.
If that doesn't fix it, recreate the template from scratch. If you want to copy the content from the corrupt template to
the new one, follow the same steps as for fixing a corrupt document. It may be worth creating the new template
based on a “virgin” copy of Normal.dot, just in case Normal.dot is also corrupt. With Word closed, rename your
existing Normal.dot file and restart Word; a new copy of Normal.dot will automatically be created.
One more thing; under Tools + Options + Save, turn on the checkbox which says “Prompt to save Normal
template”, if it isn't switched on already (unfortunately, it is switched off by default). The only time you should ever
save Normal.dot is when you have knowingly made a change to it that you want to save. Then you should save it by
holding the Shift key down and selecting File + Save All. And be sure never to save Normal.dot when resources are
low (see: Why do documents corrupt?).
Allowing Word to save Normal.dot whether you've consciously made changes to it or not, is OK in versions of Word
later than Word 97/98.
 ow styles in Microsoft
Word cascade

Quick Reference: How styles cascade

If a style is based on another style, it takes on the formatting of its
parent, unless you specify otherwise.
Microsoft Word uses styles to control
formatting. Word comes with dozens of
built-in styles. You can modify every one
of the built-in styles. You can also create
your own styles.

There are several kinds of styles in Word.

The most commonly used are paragraph
styles and character styles.

This page explains how the format of

paragraph styles cascade. Much the same
principles apply to other kinds of styles,
except the new List styles introduced with
Word 2002.

The term "cascading styles" normally

refers to the cascading style sheets used
in html documents to create web pages.
The principles of Word's styles are much
the same, so it seems appropriate to use
the same term to apply to a very similar
concept.

1 A style can be based on

another style
A style can be based on another style, or it
can be based on "No style".

Tip: Get a print-out of your styles

You can get a print-out of the full descriptions for all the styles in
your document. Choose File > Print. Set "Print What" to "Styles".
 And styles can be based on styles based
on styles, up to 9 levels deep. So a style
may have a parent, and a grand-parent;
and it may have one or more children.

To see, or change, the base of a

style, modify the style.

2 Styles inherit the properties of

their parents, unless you say
otherwise
A style inherits all the attributes of its
parent, except to the extent that you
specify otherwise.

For example, if a parent style is Times

New Roman 12pt blue, then its child will
be Times New Roman 12pt blue, unless
another font, size or colour has been
specified.

This idea is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Styles inherit the properties of their parents, unless you say
otherwise
 3 You can use styles to make
fast, powerful changes to your
document

Tip: Double-spacing drafts of documents

If you want to print a draft of your document double-spaced, set all
the styles used in the body of the document to be based on one
"parent" stye (like the styles in Figure 1).
You can then swap between double-spacing and single-spacing by
changing the formatting of the parent style. The effect will ripple
through the whole document instantly.
The point of having styles based on other
styles is to make fast changes to your
document.

In the document from which Figure 1 was

drawn, if you changed style "Body Text" to
be Times New Roman, then Body Text,
Body Text Indent, Table Text and Table
Text Indent would all change to Times
New Roman.

Similarly, if you changed "Body Text" to

have 11pt space after each paragraph,
then its children and grand-children styles
would inherit that formatting, and they
would have 11pt space after each
paragraph.

But if you then changed style "Table Text"

to have 6pt space after each paragraph,
the change would affect only "Table Text"
and "Table Text Indent".

4 Cascading formatting and

headings

Base heading styles on the

previous heading level style
It's a good idea to set up your heading
styles so that Heading 2 is based on
Heading 1, Heading 3 is based on Heading
2, and so on. This allows you to make
 radical changes to your document very
easily.

If you're going to do this, you need to

base Heading 1 on "No Style" because
Word has 9 levels of Headings, and only
accepts 9 generations of styles. I actually
like this "feature", because it completely
separates the formatting of the headings
and the body text. So I can make a
change to all the headings easily without
affecting any body text, and vice versa.

Change Heading 1 style to affect

all your document's headings

Figure 2: It's a good idea to base each Heading style on the level above it.
If all your heading styles are based on the
previous level heading style, then you
need only make changes to the Heading 1
style to have them cascade through the
whole document.

Because you only have to change one

thing to affect all the headings in the
whole document, you can experiment
easily.

If your headings are set up like this, and

you change Heading 1 to use the Arial
Black font, all the others will become Arial
Black. Or set the Paragraph Left Indent to
be -1.5cm to start all the headings 1.5cm
out into the left margin. Or put a border
under each heading. Or put the text in
Small Caps.
How to "switch off" formatting
for lower level headings
You might want some formatting (for
example, a border) to apply to, say, the
first and second heading level, and then to
"switch off" for the remaining levels. If so,
set the border on the Heading 1 style and
set Heading 3 to have "no border". The
"no border" property will then cascade
down to all lower-level heading styles.