Microsoft Word Training: Advanced Course

Mail merge is a hugely powerful function in MS Word that allows you to create large mailings to an address list very quickly and simply. As ever it is only as good as the way that it is set up. We show you how to set up and run a mail merge properly so that the results are exactly what you are looking to achieve.

We cover the basics of using mail merge in this session. We look at setting up the base document and the mail merge process. We then move on to looking at how to choose the letter recipients and how to run the process.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Mail Merge Terminology
• The Mail Merge Wizard Process
• Selecting The Starting Document
• Selecting A Recipient List
• Writing The Details
• Previewing The Letters
• Completing The Merge

To make mail merge work effectively you need to have good quality data to start with. This will explain what a recipient list is and how to add, edit and save them

• Understanding Recipient Lists
• Creating a Recipient List
• Customising the Columns
• Adding Records
• Deleting Records
• Saving a Recipient List
• Opening a Recipient List
• Editing a Recipient List

This session covers more advanced mail merge techniques in MS Word. It looks at how you can manage and control the recipients that are put into the mail merge from your larger list. It also looks at only putting recipients that meet specific criteria into the mail merge and how to work with data in other locations.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Merging From Scratch
• Selecting the Document Type
• Selecting the Recipients
• Inserting the Date
• Inserting an Address Block
• Inserting the Greeting Line
• Typing the Letter
• Inserting Individual Merge Fields
• Previewing the Merge
• Completing the Merge

Word options is where you can customise the appearance of your version of Word. The backstage view contains a large number of options which allow you to control how your version of Word displays and also how and where it saves documents.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Word Options
• Personalising Word
• Setting Display Options
• Understanding File Locations
• Setting File Locations
• Understanding Save Options

Editing or reviewing a document typically involves printing out the document and then marking-up the hard copy. This includes making comments and suggestions, or providing feedback, for example. With Word’s Comment tool, you can insert comments into a document, which will appear in the margin, making it possible to edit or review a document totally on-screen.

The key topics trained include:

• Inserting comments
• Editing comments
• Deleting comments
• Printing comments.

When a number of people are working on the same document it can be extremely useful to see what changes have been made to a document and by whom. Word allows you to see this by tracking changes as they are made.

This session introduces you to the ins and outs of working with track changes. It shows you how to turn them on, how to control how they are displayed and how to review and accept the changes made by others.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Tracking Changes
• Enabling and Disabling Tracked Changes
• Switching Between Simple Markup and All Markup
• Using Comments in Tracked Changes
• Showing and Hiding Markup
• Showing Revisions Inline and in Balloons
• Advanced Tracking Options
• Accepting and Rejecting Changes

Having introduced the basics of tracking changes in the previous session we now look at other ways that you can manage a document when multiple people are working on it. This session shows you how to control and limit the changes that others can make to your documents. This varies from making your document Read Only to limiting the changes that can be made to the text or format of a document. It also shows you how to create exceptions to the limitations that you have set for specific parts of your Word document.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Document Protection
• Making a Document Read Only
• Working With a Read Only Document
• Restricting Formatting
• Working With Formatting Restrictions
• Restricting Editing
• Making Exceptions
• Stopping Document Protection
• Applying an Open Document Password
• Applying a Modify Document Password

Bookmarks are another very useful feature when working with long documents in Word. They allow you to create and edit cross-references very quickly and simply. They also allow you to move around large documents very quickly. Rather than scrolling you can get Word to take you straight to a bookmark that you request.

The key topics trained are:

• Creating Bookmarks
• Navigating With Bookmarks
• Deleting Bookmarks

Footnotes and endnotes are a key part of large or technical documents. This session covers all you need to know to ensure that your document notes are well presented and formatted. We look at creating, editing and modifying both footnotes and endnotes in this session.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Footnotes and Endnotes
• Inserting Footnotes
• Inserting Endnotes
• Locating Footnotes and Endnotes
• The Footnote and Endnote Dialog Box
• Changing the Number Format
• Converting Footnotes and Endnotes
• Deleting Footnotes and Endnotes

Similar to a table of contents all large documents should contain an index. Again Word can make this time consuming task much less painful. It can be used to create an index for your document automatically or, more likely, you will need to input into Word all or some of the entries that you would like it to include. Although it usually requires some manual intervention, Word makes indexing documents far faster.

The key topics trained in this section are:

• Understanding Indexing
• Marking Index Entries
• Creating An AutoMark File
• Using An AutoMark File
• Deleting Unwanted Index Entries
• Creating An Index
• Modifying An Index
• Updating An Index

Captioning allows you to add a number label. It is usual to caption tables and other figures that you insert into your document. By numbering them, you allow readers to easily navigate to them.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Captions
• Inserting a Caption for a Table
• Inserting a Caption for an Image
• Applying Automatic Captions
• Inserting a Table of Figures
• Changing the Caption Labels
• Updating Caption Numbering

Master documents allow you to create and consistently format one master document from a series of Word subdocuments. It may be that different people are working on different subdocuments. It may also be that each subdocument has been created as a stand alone document but that they now need to be combined into a master document as in the case of a PhD.

The key topics trained in this section are:

• Understanding Master Documents
• Understanding Subdocuments
• Creating a Master Document
• Creating Subdocuments
• Working With Master Document Views
• Inserting Subdocuments
• Formatting a Master Document
• Editing Subdocuments
• Merging Subdocuments
• Splitting Subdocuments
• Deleting Subdocuments
• Building a Table of Contents
• Printing a Master Document

This brief session covers drawing in content from other documents. It primarily looks at working with and embedding linked data and worksheets from Excel but also looks at taking text from other Word documents.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Importing
• Importing Text
• Importing Excel Data
• Importing and Linking Excel Data
• Importing and Embedding Excel Data
• Modifying Embedded Excel Data
• Inserting a Hyperlink to External Data
• Understanding Hyperlinking Options
• Using Hyperlinks

As well as creating documents, MS Word also allows you to create forms electronically that you can send to people to complete. It allows you to specify the data that they must enter and to format your form so that it is easy for people to use.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Electronic Forms in Word
• Creating the Form Layout
• Understanding Content Controls
• Displaying the Developer Tab
• Inserting Text Controls
• Setting Content Control Properties
• Inserting the Date Picker Control
• Inserting Prompt Text
• Inserting Formulas
• Inserting a Combo Box Control
• Inserting a Drop Down List Control
• Protecting and Saving the Form
• Using an Electronic Form
• Editing a Protected Form

Macros are a very useful way to automate repetitive tasks in Word. They work by allowing you to record a series of actions as a macro. Word will then repeat these actions each time that you run your macro. This session is an introduction to macros. It shows you how to create, edit and save simple macros.

The key topics trained are:

• Understanding Macros in Word
• Setting Macro Security
• Saving a Document as Macro-Enabled
• Recording a Macro
• Running a Macro
• Assigning a Macro to the Toolbar
• Assigning a Keyboard Shortcut to a Macro
• Editing a Macro
• Creating a MacroButton Field
• Copying a Macro
• Deleting a Macro
• Tips for Developing Macros