Word: Eight Double-Click Tricks
Many's the time I use my mouse to click on a toolbar button to execute a command or click inside a paragraph to position the insertion point within a section of text. Then there's the double-click -- double-clicking a word selects it, of course, and double-clicking to the left of a paragraph selects the entire paragraph. But did you know that by double-clicking your mouse you can open a wealth of dialog boxes?
1. Double-click on a tab in the ruler bar and Word opens the Tabs dialog box, where you can set tab stop positions and alignments.
2. Also in the ruler bar, you can double-click any of the three symbols at the left of the ruler bar (the down-pointing baseball-diamond-shaped object lets you change the indent on the first line of a paragraph; the up-pointing baseball diamond lets you change the hanging indent (indent of second and following lines in the paragraph); the square underneath both these objects is for changing the entire left indent -- all lines -- for the paragraph) and Word opens the Paragraph dialog box, where you can change the indents and spacing options using numeric values. Similarly, at the far right is an up-pointing baseball-diamond object, representing the right-indent; you can double-click it to open the same Paragraph dialog box.
3. On the ruler bar, to the left of the indent objects, is a darker gray area, signifying the left margin. Double-click in that area to open the Page Setup dialog box, where you can adjust the margins, change the page orientation (landscape or portrait), choose the paper type, and specify header and footer settings.
4. At the bottom of the Word window, in the status bar, are several grayed-out buttons. Double-click on REC to open the Record Macro and begin recording your keystrokes and menu choices (Word opens the Record Macro dialog box). Double-click on TRK to toggle Word's Track Changes features. (To set options, you have to right-click the TRK button and choose Options.) Double-click on EXT to toggle the Extend Selection mode, a feature we've explained in past issues. Double-click the OVR button to switch between overtype and insert mode.
5. Double-click a number in a numbered list and you'll see the Numbered tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog box, where you can change format of the number, such as "1" or "1)". Double-click a bullet in a bulleted list and you'll open the Bulleted tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog box, where you can change the bullet type (circle, filled circle, square, etc.)
6. To start the spell-checker, double-click on the spell-check button in the status bar (it looks like an open book with an "X" on the right-hand page). This is the same as pressing F7.
7. Double-click a WordArt object and you can edit the object; for example, double-click on a text WordArt object and you can edit the text. Likewise, double-click on an AutoShape and the dialog box to edit its properties appears.
8. Double-click a footnote or endnote number in the text area of your document and Word moves you to the footnote/endnote text itself. Likewise, double-click on the footnote/endnote number in the footnote/endnote area and Word returns you to the location of that note in the document itself.
Microsoft Office Tips and Tricks - The Office Letter Standard Edition