Adding an Electronic Page Number for a Cross Reference

Adding a page number for a cross reference to another place in a long document is a common task. For example, if you are talking about a parent on one chapter, one of the things you would do is list the person's children. If you have a subsequent chapter about one or more of the children, you may want to add cross references so that your readers can turn directly to the page about the child or vice versa; that is, a cross reference back to the parent's page.

You can add a cross reference based on:
--headings (Style headings that you've applied)
--bookmarks (that you've added to the document)
--footnotes (that you've added to the document)
--endnotes (that you've added to the document)
--equations (an item you probably won't use)
--figures (that you've added to the document)

Because the last post talked about applying heading styles, I'm only going to address that type of cross reference in this post. I'll talk about the other types of cross references in subsequent posts.

1. Confirm that you've applied several heading styles in your document.
2. Click your cursor where you want to add the page cross reference. For example, you might add text like: Refer to page XX for more information. You would replace the XX with your page number cross reference.
3. Display the Cross-reference dialog.

In Word 2007 or 2010, click the Reference tab, and select Cross-reference in the Captions group.
In Word 2003, select Insert, Reference, and then Cross-reference.
4. Select Heading from the Reference Type drop-down list. The heading list appears in the box below.
5. Select Page number from the Insert reference to drop-down list.
6. Select a heading in the For which heading box.
7. Click the Insert button. Word inserts an electronic page number.

Now here's the best part, you can continue to add text to your document without worrying about the electronic page number. You can ignore it because it's electronic. When you added the cross reference, Word added hidden coding. So if you add text that causes the page number to change, all you have to do is update.

To update:
1. Select the entire document. Hold down the Ctrl key, and type A.
2. Press F9. Word updates cross reference page numbers.
3. If you inserted a Table of Contents (TOC), the Update Table of Contents dialog appears. Select OK to update page numbers only, or click Update entire table to update the TOC. Word updates all electronic reference, including the TOC, cross references, and the index.

We haven't talked about indexing yet; however, it's not too soon for you to understand that you create index entries as electronic references so that they can be updated automatically too.

Again, you can add text before and after an electronic reference and have them move all over the place. When they are electronic, all you have to do is update to correct the page numbers.

Electronic Table of Contents and Styles

When you create short documents using Word, you can just open a document and begin typing. If you want to create a title or section headings, you can use the buttons and font fields to create the exact look that you want for the document.

However, when your document gets to be longer than about 15 or 20 pages (for example, you start a family history), you need a plan. Consider that a multi-chapter document needs a table of contents. In addition, you're going to want to create cross-references. You can do these tasks manually; however, Word provides a mechanism that lets you create electronic links. That mechanism is a heading style.

When you apply heading styles, Word automatically creates bookmarks. You can't see the bookmarks in your documents, even when you turn on the hidden code.

After bookmarks are in place, you can create electronic lists like a table of contents. For this posting, I'm only going to show you how to apply the heading styles and generate a table of contents. In subsequent postings, I will be talking about the tasks you can complete using these bookmarks.

Applying Heading Styles

Open a Word document and display styles.
For Word 2007 or 2010, click the Home tab, locate the Styles group, and click the small arrow in the lower right of the group box. A list of styles appears.

For Word 2003, click the Styles button. It looks like the AA button in the graphic above. A list of styles appears.

The styles that you see are the most basic ones that are attached to the lowest level template that Word provides. I'm not going to go into templates at the moment. Over the next year, I'll explain templates and why you should use them. Right now, you only need to realize that every document that you create in Word is actually in a template and that template has a set of default styles associated with it.

Type a title. For example, if you are writing a book about the following families, you might want to crate a chapter for each family: Smith, Jones, Walker, Williams. For the chapters, you might want to type:

The Descendants of Jonas Smith
The Descendants of Mark Jones
The Descendants of Harold Walker
The Descendants of William Williams

1. Click in the first line (The Descendants of Jonas Smith).
2. Look at the Styles list, and then click Heading 1. Word changes the font, size, and weight of the text.
3. Click the End key on your keyboard to move your cursor to the end of the line.
4. Press the Enter key. Word changes the style to a Normal style. You are ready to type normal text.
5. Repeat these steps for each of the headings.

Insert a Table of Contents
1. Press the Enter key a few times to enter a few blank lines.
2. For Word 2007 or 2010, select the Reference tab, click the Table of Contents button, and then click Automatic Table 1. The table appears.
3. For Word 2003, select Insert, Reference, and then Index and Tables. Click OK. The table appears.

Word is using the hidden bookmarks to create the table. If you play around with this, you'll find that if you add a few sub-headings and apply the style Heading 2 and insert the Table of Contents again, the sub-headings appear in the table. By default, any text in Word that has a heading style applied to it gets added to a generated Table of Contents.

I'll be doing many more posts that have to do with applying styles. You might want to do some independent reading on the topic. The more you read, the better prepared you'll be for the discussions.

Special Characters

My last post was about non-breaking characters. You can find the non breaking space and hyphen on the Special Characters list. In addition to these two characters, you'll find other useful characters like the copyright mark ©, trademark ™, or en dash (used between a number range; for example, a date range like
1910–1920).

In newer versions of Word, you access the Special Characters tab using the Symbol button on the Insert ribbon. Click the down arrow, and then click More Symbols… The Symbol dialog appears. Click the Special Characters tab.

In older versions of Word, click Insert, Symbol, and then select the Special Characters tab.


1. Click a special character, and then click the Insert button. For example, click the copyright symbol, and the click Insert.

2. Be sure to notice that beside most characters, the dialog includes a keyboard combo shortcut. For example, if you hold down the Alt and Ctrl keys and type C, Word inserts the copyright mark.

3. When you display this dialog, be sure to click the AutoCorrect button at the bottom. At the beginning of the list are a few special characters that are set up to automatically replace something that you type. For example, if you type (c), Word automatically corrects it to the copyright mark.

So you have three possible options for inserting a special character.

Note: The AutoCorrect dialog is the same dialog that you would use to set up the corrections for surnames and place names that include pronunciation marks. Each dialog in Word can and most likes does have more than one path to its display.

Using Non-Breaking Characters

For the most part, when you get to the end of a typed line, you want to let Word do the wrap to a new line automatically. However, when you look at your finished document, you might find that you have a word sticking way out…distractingly way out…on the right margin. This situation frequently becomes an issue with a small word like a or the or with a place name like
Pointe a la Hache. You want to keep the all parts of the place name together as if it were one word.

Another instance when you would want to look at word wrap is for a hyphenated phrase like mother-in-law. The phrase is properly presented without a hanging hyphen at the end of the line; that is, it is presented as a phrase all on the same line. By default, Word doesn’t insert hyphens. When you insert a hyphen, Word treats it as the last character of a whole word.

So what is a writer to do with a hanging word or hyphen? The answer is to insert a non-breaking character. Using a non-breaking character between words or as hyphens causes Word to treat the entire phrase as if it were one word. Since the one word is too long for the end of the line, Word wraps it to a new line automatically.

For a Hanging Word
1. Type the word—for example, a or the.
2. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and press the spacebar.
3. Release the keys.
4. Type the next word. Word moves the entire phrase to the next line.

Note: For existing text, highlight the space after the word at the end of the line, and then hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and press the spacebar.

If you turn on the hidden codes, you’ll see a superscript circle between the non-breaking words instead of the dot that usually marks a space. To remove the non-breaking character, highlight the circle and press the spacebar. To see hidden codes, click the following button on the Home tab:


For a Hanging Hyphen
1. Type the first word—for example, type mother.
2. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and type the hyphen.
3. Release the keys.
4. Type the next word—for example, type in.
5. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and type the hyphen.
6. Release the keys.
7. Type the last word—for example, type law. Word moves the entire phrase to the next line.

Note: For existing text, highlight the hyphen, and then hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and type the hyphen.

Word Tables Aren’t Just for Lists

Many years ago someone said to me, “You know the software doesn’t care how you use it.” I had been busy trying to learn to use a word processor exactly as it was supposed to be used. So this statement was a revelation to me and I took it to heart. When you stop caring about what a designer had in mind for a piece of software, you learn to use the software more imaginatively. Thus it was with tables.

Most people only think of tables when they want to add a list. However, I have found that a table can also be used to place a graphic (for example, a picture) and have text running beside it. Here’s an example.









When you use the proper method for inserting a graphic with wrapped text (Insert, Picture, and then right click on the picture and select a text wrap option), you don’t see the hidden code that controls the placement of the picture. An anchor marks the placement; however, the anchor can be dislodged. You open your document and your picture has wandered to a new location. You can always drag and drop the picture back to its original location. However, do you really want to check the picture every time you edit the document?

Using a table is an alternative to inserting the picture as the software would have you do it; that is, the proper way. Here’s how you can use a table instead.

1. Insert a table with two columns and one row.
2. In one cell, insert the picture. In the other cell, add your text.
3. Resize the picture and/or the cells as necessary (you can use the ruler to resize cells).
4. Select the entire table (click outside the left margin beside the table).
5. Remove the boarders (right click, and then pick Table Properties, Boarders and Shading, None). The lines that outline the table disappear.

The results are the same as if you had inserted the picture using the proper method. However, because the graphic isn’t attached to an anchor but is instead confined within a cell, your subsequent actions in the document do not affect the location of the picture. Many users find this method to be an easier way to control the placement of graphics in a Word document.

Note: You can read more about hidden codes and using the ruler in earlier posts on this blog. See the labels down the left side of the page.

Portable Document Format (PDF) in 2010

One of the items you should look at when you finish a document—for example, you write a bio for a relative—is how you are going to present and/or distribute that document. If you want a document that can be read by anybody on any computer regardless of software, hardware, or operating system, you should be looking at converting the document to a PDF.

Adobe Systems created the PDF format. Through the years it has become the standard for documents that can be emailed, posted to a website, stored on any computer, and sent to any printer. If you are interested in more information about PDF, click here.

For many years, users had to buy Adobe Acrobat to create PDFs. The Reader—the software that most users are familiar with—was always a free download. On the other hand, Acrobat has always been relatively expensive for anybody who creates PDFs only occasionally. Other companies created software that could be used to create PDFs; however, Adobe Acrobat remained the gold standard.

When I bought my new laptop, I was delighted to find that Microsoft had included an Adobe PDF maker in the 2010 Home/Student version of their software. Having the PDF maker is a real convenience and it’s easy to use.

Method 1:
1. With an open document, click File, and then Save As. The dialog appears.
2. At the bottom of the dialog, click the Save as type drop-down arrow. A list displays with available formats, including PDF.
3. Click PDF, and then click Save. The document appears as a PDF in the Adobe Reader.

Method 2:
1. With an open document, click File, and then Save & Send. The dialog appears.
2. Click Create PDF/XPS Document. The dialog updates.
3. Click the Create PDF/XPS button. A publish dialog appears.
4. Click the Publish button. The document appears as a PDF in the Adobe Reader.

The Reader allows you to do many PDF-related tasks. It's worth your time to check out a few of the menus and perhaps read a bit of the Help file to find out more about what you can do in the Reader.

Using the Ruler

Have you tried to set a tab in a Word document? Most new users do lots of clicking before they find the Tabs button on the Paragraph dialog. Using the ruler is another way to handle the task.

Display the Ruler

--In Word 2003, click Insert, and then click Ruler.
--In Word 2007 or 2010, click the View tab, and then click Ruler on the Show pane.

A ruler appears above the document with another ruler running down the left side of the document. The ruler above the document is the one of interest. The sample below is from Word 2010.




The white area of the ruler is the typing area on your page. The grayed portion is outside of your margins. Also, in Word 2010 only, you can click the Ruler button on the far right to display or hide the ruler.

Set Tabs

If you already have text and you want the tab to be set for existing text too, hold down the Ctrl key and type the letter A (Ctrl + A) to select the entire document.

Click the Tab Types button on the far left of the ruler to display the type of tab you want to set. The three following tab types are the ones you are most likely to use.



Move your cursor to the place on the ruler where you want the tab to be, and then click the location. Word adds a marker to the ruler that matches the tab type; the tab stop is set.




To move a tab stop, point your cursor at the marker on the ruler (a tool tip might pop up). Click your left mouse button to grab the marker (a line appears below the marker). Continue to hold down your mouse button, and move the tab to a new location on the ruler.

To remove the tab stop, point your cursor at the marker on the ruler (a tool tip might pop up). Click your left mouse button to grab the marker (a line appears below the marker). Drag your cursor down toward your document and release your mouse button.

In addition to setting tabs, you can also use the Page Margin and Hanging Indent buttons to move page margins and hanging indents.

In a document that you don't care about, experiment with adding items to and removing items from the ruler. Move items around to see what they do. You may not use the ruler on a regular basis; however, knowing it's there and knowing how to use it can save you lots of time and trouble when you need to make changes on the fly.

Displaying Buttons You Need

In Word 2007 and 2010, Microsoft included ribbons across the top of documents rather than the menus that longtime users were accustomed to seeing. In addition, Microsoft rearranged commands in an attempt to gather them logically on the ribbons. If you bought a new computer and were unceremoniously upped to Word 2007 or 2010, the ribbons can present challenges as you relearn where all of your frequently used commands might be. Microsoft took pity on users and added a Quick Access Toolbar, which allows you to add frequently used buttons above (or below) the ribbon. Here’s an example of my frequently used buttons:








Adding buttons to the toolbar is a two-step process. First, you must display the Word Options, and then select Quick Access Toolbar. Second, you must move buttons from an available list to a selected list, and then click OK.

Display the Quick Access Toolbar Dialog

In Word 2007, click the Office Button, and then Word Options. The Word Options dialog appears.

In Word 2010, click File, and then Options. The Word Options dialog appears.








Select Quick Access Toolbar. The customize dialog appears.











Move Buttons

In the available list on the left, locate and click the button you want to add to the toolbar. Click the Add button between the lists. Word moves the button to the selected list on the right. When you have all of the buttons you want in the selected list, click OK. The dialog closes and the buttons appear above the ribbon.

In the future, click the button circled in red, and then select More Commands from the drop-down list. The customize dialog appears. Use the dialog to add or remove buttons on the fly.

Spell Checking and Ignore All Command

Here's the scene. You're editing, and you find a red underlined word--a misspelling--but you think it's correct. So you point your cursor at the word, right click your mouse, and select the Ignore All command. Later, you realize that you've made a mistake and the word really is misspelled.

When you use the Ignore All command, Word does exactly what you told it to do; that is, it ignores the word. You can close the document and open it again and Word will still ignore the word.

--If you haven't closed your document and you just selected the command, you can hold down the Ctrl key and type Z (Ctrl + Z) to undo the command.
--If you've made several other edits and you don't want to undo them, you can use the Recheck Document command. Here's how.

For Word 2007 and 2010, you need to display the Proofing page, and then select the Recheck Document button.

In Word 2007, click the Office Button, and then Word Options. The Word Options dialog appears.

In Word 2010, click File, and then Options. The Word Options dialog appears.

For Word 2007 or 2010, select Proofing from the menu on the left, and then click the Recheck Document button. A warning appears. Click Yes. Click OK on the Word Options page to save. Your document appears again with all of the words you used the Ignore All command on as misspelled; that is, red underlined.

For Word 2003, select Tools, and then Options. The dialog appears. Click the Spelling and Grammar tab. Click the Recheck Document button at the bottom of the tab, and then click OK.


Your document appears again with all of the words you used the Ignore All command on as misspelled; that is, red underlined.

Note: Like most tools in Word, you have access to the Options from more than one dialog. When you are spell checking, look at the bottom of the Spelling and Grammar dialog and you'll see an Options button. Clicking this button causes the dialog with the Recheck Document button to appear.

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Auto Correct Options

Every version of Word that I’ve used has included the auto correct option. Word comes with a list of commonly misspelled words. When you misspell a word on the list, Word automatically corrects it. You can add words to the list. For example, you might have a difficult to spell place name or surname that you never get right.

In my case, I have an accent over the last e in my name. Treme is properly presented as Tremé. I’ve learned to use a key combination to add the accent. However, another option is to add an entry to the auto correct list. Adding an entry is a two-step process. First, you need to open the AutoCorrect dialog box, and then you need to make an entry.

Open the AutoCorrect Dialog

For Word 2003, click Tools, and then AutoCorrect Options.

For Word 2007 and 2010:

In Word 2007, click the Office Button, and then Word Options. The Word Options dialog appears.

In Word 2010, click File, and then Options. The Word Options dialog appears.

For Word 2007 or 2010, select Proofing from the menu on the left, and then click the AutoCorrect Options button. The AutoCorrect dialog appears.


Make an Entry
1. In the Replace field, enter the word you misspell as you misspell it.
2. In the With field, enter the word as it should be spelled.
3. Click OK.
4. For 2007 and 2010, click OK on the Word Options dialog.

Open a Word document and test the auto correct; that is, misspell the word as you usually would. When you press the spacebar, Word should substitute the correct spelling.

I’ve used auto correct to great advantage. For example, when I type AJB and hit the spacebar, Word automatically corrects it to Ananias Jackson Booth because I’ve set it up to do that for me. If you have to type something like Saute Sainte Marie repeatedly, it’s easy to add SSM as an entry to be corrected to Saute Sainte Marie.

When the auto correct corrects something incorrectly, hold down the Ctrl key and type Z (Ctrl + Z) to undo the correction.

The upshot is that auto correct gives you additional options for a variety of circumstances. Like most things with Word, you are limited only by how imaginatively you use the software.

Mini Toolbar

With Word 2007 a mini toolbar was added. Highlight any word in a document and the mini toolbar materializes. The toolbar includes some of the most used formatting buttons. I find the mini toolbar distracting; therefore, I’ve disabled it. Here’s how.

1. Open the Word Options dialog.

In Word 2007, click the Office Button, and then Word Options. Select Popular from the list on the left side of the Word Options window.

In Word 2010, click File, and then Options.

2. Remove the check mark beside Show Mini Toolbar on selection.

3. Click OK.

Tips for the Mac version of Word

I’ve been asked if the tips I’ve been posting could be used by a Mac Word user. I’m not a Mac user; however, finding information about the topic was easy. A quick Google search brought me to an MVPS website that explains the differences. Here’s the address for the website: http://word.mvps.org/mac/differences.html

According to this website, two keystrokes are the primary difference between the Windows (PC) and Apple (Mac) versions of Word.

Ctrl Key: When PC instructions say to use the control (Ctrl) key, a Mac user would select the Command key. For example, Ctrl + C on a PC is copy. The same command on a Mac is Command + C.

Right-Click: When Windows instructions say to right-click, a Mac user would select the Control key, and then click. On the Mac keyboard, the Control key is a symbol, which you can see when you visit the website.

In addition, the website includes a list of keyboard equivalents for Mac users along with complete information on other differences.

So the answer to the question of whether these tips would work for a Mac user is yes if you make the appropriate substitutions.

Word's Sticky Keys

Do you find yourself pressing a key—for example, the Shift key—while you ponder what you’re going to write next? If you hold down the Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key for too long or idly press one of these keys while you think, Word automatically pops up a dialog box that asks you if you want to enable sticky keys.

In a panic, many users click the wrong response and enable a tool designed to help disabled people use a computer keyboard more easily. To add to the problem, many users don’t know how to turn off sticky keys. Lots of users just close down the document and start again…never sure of what triggered sticky keys in the first place.

By default, Word enables sticky keys, but you can turn them off permanently.

In Word 2003 or 2007:
1. Display the Accessibility Options. Click Start, Control Panel, Accessibility, and then Accessibility Options. The dialog appears.


2. Remove the check mark from the Use Sticky Keys field, and then click OK.

In Word 2010:
1. Press the Shift key five times to display the sticky key message.
2. Click the link: Go to the Ease of Access Center to disable the keyboard shortcut. The Set up Sticky Keys dialog appears.


3. Remove the checkmark from the option: Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times, and then click OK.

Word "Find Next" Workaround

When I’m searching a Word document for a repetitive word or phrase, I find it distracting to have the Find dialog displaying while I’m searching. As you search, the dialog can move all over the screen as Word moves it out of the way so that you can see the instance of what you searching for. Or worse, the dialog sits right on top of the text that shows the word or term. You can’t minimize the dialog because you need to see it to click the Find Next button. A workaround is available. Here are the steps.

For earlier versions of Word:
1. Open a document to search.
2. Display the Find dialog (Ctrl + F) in Word, and enter a search term in the Find what field.
3. In the dialog, click Find Next to find the first instance of the search term, and then click Cancel to close the dialog box.


4. Hold down the Ctrl button and press the Page Down button to move to the next instance of the search term. To move backward through the document, use Ctrl + Page Up.
OR
5. Move your cursor to the buttons at the end of the page scroll bar. They are set to Previous Page and Next Page by default. However, when you start a search, the button change to Previous Find/Go To and Next Find/Go To.
6. Click the down button to find (go to) the next instance of your search term. To move backward through the document, click the up button.



For Word 2010:
1. Open a document to search.
2. Confirm that the Navigation pane is displaying. You’ll see the pane on the left side of the document.

If the pane isn’t displaying, click the View tab, and click the Navigation Pane option on the Show portion of the ribbon.

3. Enter a search term in the search field immediately below the pane title Navigation and press Enter.

All instances of the search term are immediately highlighted, and the system automatically scrolls to the first instance. In addition, the buttons at the end of the page scroll bar have been changed to Previous Find/Go To and Next Find/Go To automatically. Click the down/up buttons to search. Or, you can also use Ctrl + Page Up or Page Down buttons to move to the next instance of the search term.

Searching for Other Stuff
As an aside, if you click the radio button between the down and up buttons at the end of the page scroll bar, a pop-up menu appears. As you can see from the sample below, you have lots of options for changing what the down and up buttons browse for. For example, if you added comments to a document, you can click the Comments icon, and use the down and up buttons to move from comment to comment in your document.