Word 2016 For Dummies
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Word is one of the most used computer programs on the planet. Helping you to compose text is one of the things that computers do well, but that doesn’t make the text-writing chore easier or imply that using Word is simple enough that you don’t need help. So enjoy this Cheat Sheet.

Getting to know the Word 2016 screen

Behold Word 2016’s screen. You see the promise of a new document and a bewildering number of buttons and gizmos. Here are the important elements that you will most likely need to remember:

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Understanding the Word 2016 Ribbon

Microsoft Word 2016’s Ribbon presents tabs that you can click to reveal groups of helpful icons. These icons represent command buttons, input boxes, and menus that are helpful when navigating through a Word document.

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Word 2016 keyboard command roundup

Word 2016 has many keyboard commands to offer you. Whether you use a computer with a honking 105-key keyboard or a tablet with no keyboard, word processing remains a keyboard-bound activity. The following tables show how to access Microsoft Word 2016’s commands and functions.

Here are all of the options you can utilize for cursor movement.

Pressing This Key Moves the Insertion Pointer . . .
uarr; Up one line of text
darr; Down one line of text
larr; Left to the next character
Right to the next character
Ctrl+uarr; Up one paragraph
Ctrl+darr; Down one paragraph
Ctrl+larr; Left one word
Ctrl+→ Right one word
PgUp Up one screen
PgDn Down one screen
Home To start of current line
End To end of current line
Ctrl+Home To top of document
Ctrl+End To bottom of document

Here are some basic editing commands that are always helpful when word processing.

Copy Ctrl+C
Cut Ctrl+X
Paste Ctrl+V
Undo Ctrl+Z

Check out these useful commands when you need to do some text formatting.

Bold Ctrl+B
Italic Ctrl+I
Double underline Ctrl+Shift+D
Word underline Ctrl+Shift+W
Small caps Ctrl+Shift+K
Superscript Ctrl+Shift++
Subscript Ctrl+=
Clear formatting Ctrl+spacebar
Grow font Ctrl+Shift+>
Shrink font Ctrl+Shift+<
ALL CAPS Ctrl+Shift+A
Font dialog box Ctrl+D

Here are some commands that will help simplify paragraph formatting.

Center text Ctrl+E
Left-align Ctrl+L
Right-align Ctrl+R
One-line spacing Ctrl+1
1-1/2-line spacing Ctrl+5
Two-line spacing Ctrl+2
Justify Ctrl+J
Indent Ctrl+M
Unindent Ctrl+Shift+M
Hanging indent Ctrl+T
Un-hang indent Ctrl+Shift+T

And just for fun, here are some popular Word keyboard shortcuts.

Help F1
Cancel Escape
Go back Shift+F5
New document Ctrl+N
Open screen Ctrl+O
Print Ctrl+P
Close document Ctrl+W
Quick save Ctrl+S
Repeat Ctrl+Y
Find Ctrl+F
Find and replace Ctrl+H
Insert hard page break Ctrl+Enter

Haven’t found what you’re looking for? Check out these uncommon (but useful) Word keyboard shortcuts.

Go to F5
Show/hide nonprinting characters Ctrl+Shift+8
File screen Alt+F
Styles task pane Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S
Word count Ctrl+Shift+G
Symbol font Ctrl+Shift+Q
Print Layout view Ctrl+Alt+P
Draft (normal) mode Ctrl+Alt+N
Outline mode Ctrl+Alt+O
Split window Alt+Ctrl+S
Track revisions Alt+Shift+E

And finally, here are some commands that insert something.

Today’s date Alt+Shift+D
Current time Alt+Shift+T
Paste special Alt+Ctrl+V
Footnote Alt+Ctrl+F
Endnote Alt+Ctrl+D
Comment Ctrl+Alt+M

Using Word 2016’s special-character keyboard shortcuts

Some key combinations insert characters into your Word 2016 document. If you find these characters useful in your day-to-day typing duties, you may want to consider using their keyboard shortcuts:

Symbol Name Symbol Keys to Press
Euro Ctrl+Alt+E
Trademark Ctrl+Alt+T
Copyright © Ctrl+Alt+C
Registered ® Ctrl+Alt+R
En dash Ctrl+minus key on the numeric keypad
Em dash Ctrl+Alt+minus key on the numeric keypad
Unbreakable space Ctrl+Shift+space
Unbreakable hyphen Ctrl+Shift+- (hyphen)

Word 2016 tricks to remember

Here’s a short list of the most helpful Microsoft Word 2016 tricks that may come in handy for your word-processing needs. Keep these suggestions in mind when you compose a new document:

  • Press Ctrl+Enter to start a new page. This key combination inserts a hard page break, which forces a new page automatically.

  • Press Shift+Enter to insert a soft return. This keypress is useful for breaking a line of text, such as in a document title or an address.

  • Use tabs to line up your text. Never use spaces for this task. One tab is all you need. If you’re inserting more than one tab, you need to reset the tab stops.

  • Always use one tab between columns to line them up. Doing so will make editing the information easier.

  • If you need to change the page formatting in the middle of your document, start a new section. Sections allow you to use multiple page-format attributes in a single document.

  • Save your styles in a template! That way, you can use them for documents you create without having to rebuild all your styles over and over.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Dan Gookin wrote the first-ever For Dummies book, DOS For Dummies. The author of several bestsellers, including all previous editions of Word For Dummies, Dan has written books that have been translated into 32 languages with more than 11 million copies in print.

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