Word 2013 For Dummies

This page supports my book Microsoft Word 2013 For Dummies. If you have my Word 2010 book, click here; for Word2007, click here, and for Word 2002/2003/XP, click here.

Errata / Corrections

Page 129

The hanging indent example on the page is, obviously, not a hanging indent. I provided specific directions in the text for the publisher to make it look that way. Alas.

Latest Information & Updates

Overview of Word 2013

Here is a blog post I've written about what's new and what I like about Word 2013.

Deleting an unwanted file from the Recent Documents list

The file may be gone, but the remnants remain in the stupid Recent Documents. Yes, you can remove that bad file reference, but it's not easy. Read more...

Converting that Word 2013 document format

As you might already know, Word 2013 saves documents in a the docx file format. This format is different from and incompatible with the older doc file format used by Word versions 97 through 2003. The good news is that there is a converter available from Microsoft. Click here to download the converter.

Getting the Save All command back

Do you miss the Save All command? Here's how to get it back.

Supplemental Material

The Document Looks All Weird Trouble!

Ever open a document in Word and it looks really weird on the screen? It's a Word document, but for some reason it got trashed! What did you do? What did you do? Read about what you did.

Creating a Vinculum

I, too, didn't know what a vinculum was until a reader wrote me. I soon discovered that Word can not only do vinculums, but it can do them well — and it's a useful trick to know. Read more...

Finding Text Formatting

I talk about this in the books, but it's not really explained well enough. This tutorial should help. Read more...

Word Blog Posts

Here are the most recent posts taken from my Wambooli Blog which directly relate to Microsoft Word:

Table Formatting Fun

Apr 10, 2013 Don't bother going insane in Word trying to underline text in a table or creating fill-in-the-blanks. The secret is to control how the gridlines show up. Link

Tips and Tricks for Numbered Lists in Word

Mar 27, 2013 Words Line Numbering tool has more tricks associated with it than you probably realize. Link

Text Highlighting Adventures

Mar 22, 2013 Word's limited 15-color palette for the Highlighter tool is pathetic, but it's not the only way to highlight your text, nor is 15 the limit on the colors available. Link

Changing Page Numbers in the Middle of a Document

Mar 15, 2013 It's possible, but not specifically described in my book: How can you write a document so that page numbering goes from i through iv for the first four pages, then starts number at 1 with page 5? Link

The Power of the ¶

Feb 25, 2013 Whenever I look at a Word document and it's all screwy, the first thing I want to see is what doesn't show up on the screen: Those tiny characters that affect the text in strange ways, but which are hidden. Somewhere in that mess is the solution to the formatting problem. Link

Fake AutoText in Word 2007, 2010, and 2013

Jan 18, 2013 Microsoft trained everyone to love AutoText from Word zero through Word 2003. Then that happy feature was abused in Word 2007, mugged in Word 2010, and stands for execution in the up-coming Word 2013. What's an Autotext lover to do? Link

Word Content Controls

Jan 7, 2013 Have you ever started up a template in Word 2010/2007 and seen those fill-in-the-blanks items? Have you wanted to create them yourself? Here's how! Link

Word Document Protection

Jun 8, 2012 For the longest time I can remember, PC users have clamored for password-protected files and folders. In Microsoft Word (and I'm assuming Excel and other Office apps as well), you can protect your documents with passwords. I don't recommend doing so, but the feature is available. Link

Áccènts gâlôrë

Apr 6, 2011 You have a keyboard. You have Word. How do you get those accented characters even though they don't appear on the keyboard? Link

Page Numbering in Weird Word

Mar 4, 2011 One thing that became drastically more arduous in Word 2007, and subsequently Word 2010, was the process by which page numbers are inserted into a document. Link

Sticking Things Into A Word Document

Sep 24, 2010 When it comes to adding important-looking items into your documents, forget the Insert tab. The place to go is the References tab. Link

The Overlooked, Oft-Ignored References Tab

Sep 22, 2010 Tucked in the middle of the Word 2010/2007 Ribbon is a tab called References. It's a big Why Bother item for most casual writers. For folks working on doctorates, thesis papers, political manifestos, and other big, scary documents, it's an invaluable feature. Link

For all Word-related blog posts, click here.