What are some common
errors that
people make using Word?
This page last revised:
06 Jan 2024 23:47:33 -0500
.
a.
Editing a document on a floppy disk. 
Word
normally stores all sorts of backup material on the disk directory of any
document being edited. Even though you have plenty of room on a floppy, chances
are good that you will eventually trash a document simply by using Word to edit
it while it is stored on the floppy. Copy the document to your hard drive, do
the editing there, and copy it back to your floppy when you are done. You can
even put together a macro to do this. There is a macro built into WOPR
that does this.
b.
Working with paragraph markers and tab markers hidden.
Word’s
formatting is tied into paragraphs and the actual formatting commands are
located in the paragraph markers (¶) at the end of each paragraph. Things
like margins (called indents), line spacing, fonts are all there. There is a
difference between five blank spaces
and a tab
even though they may look the same on your screen (if you are not
displaying them) and on your paper.
c.
Using master documents.
This
isn't really a common error in that few people try to use Master Documents. I
guess the common part of the error is in assuming that Microsoft wouldn't
really put such a time bomb in their program and actually encourage people to
use it!
Editing
a document on a floppy can mess up that document, but if it will fit on a
floppy it isn’t too huge a project, maybe only a couple of hundred pages and
a month’s work. How about the 900-page manual you’ve been working on for
the past six months? That’s right, the one with 26 chapters, 230 figures, 53
tables, an index and two appendices, ... the one your next promotion is riding
on?. That won’t fit on a floppy . . . so to really mess it up, you can use
the Master Document feature.
d.
Not learning to use styles and templates.
If
all you are doing is typing a letter or two, and you don't care a lot how it
looks, you can afford to ignore styles. Otherwise, you are wasting a lot of
time and energy. See John McGhie's excellent primer
on styles and templates. A fine look at styles
was just published by Microsoft in the Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word.
You can find this on-line at http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide
(revised).
There are a number of excellent articles on the MVP FAQ site.
You can start with:
Tips
& Gotchas at mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm.
