Bits'n'Bytes

As heard on CJCD

Episode 15

Microsoft Word is a handy program for writing letters and doing homework, but have you ever explored some of the really handy features it has?

I hope, by now, everyone's used the Spell Check feature to remove the spelling mistakes that get underlined in red in a word document. But, have you ever seen a bunch of words with green underlines? Those lines are to indicate grammatical errors, and help you with proper North American English. If you see a green line, the way you wrote your sentence isn't grammatically correct and should be changed.

I like to use the Track Changes feature. It's great when you create a second document from an original or a draft. Click on Tools, then Track Changes, then Compare Documents. It will highlight additions in red and deletions in red with a stroke through it. Be warned, though - by comparing your assignments, it's also a great tool for teachers to see who's helping who with homework.

Another good one is the AutoRecover. This feature can be found by clicking Tools, Options, then the Save Tab, then setting the Autorecover time interval. I set my Autorecover for every two minutes when I'm working on a document. In the event of a power outage, which in my case would include my battery backup malfunctioning, I can easily recover my document when I get my machine back up and running. Using the handy Autorecover means the only way I'll lose my homework is if the dog really does eat it.

There's one more feature I use a lot of. That's the Find and Replace. Let's say you're writing about something and when you finish, you decide to use a different word in place of another. Click on Edit, then Find, then click on the Replace tab. Enter the word that you typed into the Find What field, and the word you want to change it to in the Replace With field. So if you typed "dog" in the document and wanted "cat", replace all the dogs with cats and your homework will, once again, be safe.

Stay tuned next week for a list of handy utilities to use with your computer.

I’m Computer Dave, thanks for your time.