Admit it : You do n’t use half the tools in your Book processing app — whether it’sMicrosoft Word , Apple ’s own Pages , orGoogle Docs — maybe even less than one-half . But without all those bells and whistles you ’ve been ignoring , that app is little more than a glorify text edition editor program . ( Not that there ’s anything incorrect with that : I utilise my favorite text editor , BBEdit , as a glorified word C.P.U. . )
But a swelled part of owning a shaft is acknowledge how to use it effectively . So if you ever use Word , Pages , or Google Docs , you owe it to yourself to know how to do a few essential things with it . Here are the ten of the most essential .
1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts
When I ’m in the menstruum of writing , there ’s nothing spoilt than having to lift my digit from the keyboard , grab the computer mouse , and click to select , copy , cutting , paste , or data format school text , or to save or print a document . But in most cases , my hands never really want to result the keys to take care of these things . I practice keyboard shortcuts instead .
Every Mac software offers some keyboard shortcut . The ravisher of password processing apps is that these shortcuts run to be logical from app to app . Emphasis ontend , however : For example , take note of the Redo option in the Edit bill of fare of Google Docs , Pages , and Word : Word and Google Docs use Command - Y , while Pages apply another Command - Shift - Z.
2. Create and Manage Lists
watchword and Pages make it prosperous to create lists ; sometimes they do so whether you like it or not . ( See “ Turn Off Automatic Numbered Lists ” below . ) Begin any paragraph with the number1followed by a period in either of these applications programme , and it ’ll take up you want to make a numbered list , so each subsequent paragraph will start with the next number in the sequence .
When creating lists , the Tab cay is your friend . When you create a newfangled list item , campaign Tab indents the line and interchange the numbering chronological succession to a dissimilar one , designate a new level of organisation .
The tilt - format chooser in Word .
Google Docs acquit a bit otherwise . just typing a number and a period wo n’t work . To create list , you fall into place the Numbered List or Bulleted List push in the Google Docs toolbar . The Tab key wo n’t work here either . rather , you ’ll call for to sink in the Increase Indent or Decrease Indent clitoris to change your list ’s sequencing .
All three software default to a basic numbered list , although Word offers more advanced list - initialize options than do Pages and Google Docs . Google Docs and Word lease you switch list formatting using the list tools in the toolbar . fall into place and hold on any of them , and you ’ll get several list choice to select from ; Word also offer an pick for creating your own custom list data formatting .
To change inclination initialize in Pages , select all the paragraphs in your inclination and use the Bullets & Lists section of the Format sidebar to adjust your list preferences .
3. Turn Off Automatic Numbered Lists
Hate mechanically numbered lists ? Turn them off , hold back in intellect that to create inclination in the future tense you will take to apply the tilt buttons in the toolbar .
Word : start the Tools menu and select AutoCorrect . When the AutoCorrect preferences window open up , sink in the AutoFormat As You case tab and uncheck the boxful next to Automatic Bulleted Lists and Automatic Numbered Lists .
Page : start the Pages computer menu , tick the General push and in the Editing section uncheck the box seat that says Automatically Detect Lists .
Google Docs : It does n’t offer up an automatic lists option .
4. Find and Replace Text
Oh , I know you ’ve done it : save an entire text file and then realized you ’ve misspell someone ’s name . How do you fix your erroneousness ? By using uncovering and replace . The three apps provide slimly different selection for substitute your found text with new text . But in each case , you have the option to use Replace or Replace All . exchange only replaces the currently choose instance of the word while Replace All changes every representative in the document in one fell swoop .
Word : Click the Edit carte , select Find and then Replace . ( Or weightlift Command - transmutation - H. ) A lowly sidebar will come out next to your document with two fields . In the Search Document field , type the name of the Bible or idiom you need to get . ( You should see a list with every instance of that Christian Bible below , and in the papers itself every example should be highlighted . ) In the Replace With battleground , typecast the Good Book or set phrase that is to put back what you ’ve typed in the lookup field .
Finding - and - replacing text in Pages .
page : open up the Edit menu and select discover > Find ( or weightlift Command - F ) , then select Find & Replace from the gear computer menu on the left . figure your search term in the discipline that says find oneself The Word Or Phrase You desire To supervene upon It With in the Replace field .
Google Docs : open up the Edit menu and choose Find and Replace ( or urge Command - transmutation - H ) .
5. Insert a Table
add a tabular array to your text file is a simple project in all three apps .
Word : Select the Tables tab , then penetrate the raw button at the left of the toolbar . intelligence will display a ten - by - eight grid from which you may create your tabular array . If you need something bigger , click the Insert Table computer menu that appears below the control grid . When you do , a young window will come along give you the option to create a table the size of it you want .
Pages : When you click the Table tool in the toolbar , Pages offer a menu of pre - formatted tables , all of which are four column wide by five high . pick out one of these mesa inserts it into your document . To add more dustup and columns , click the small release at the ending of the quarrel and column bearing . Once clicked , it display a computer menu you’re able to habituate to summate or remove cells .
Inserting a table with Google Docs .
Google Docs : Click the Insert card , then take Table . Another low menu will seem with a five - by - five control grid . take the board size of it you want by dragging over the grid . It will expand as you drag down and to the left , to a maximum size of it of 20 - by-20 , and what you select will be insert into the document .
6. Format a Table
Once you have your board inserted , it ’s time to make it pretty . Because tabular array formatting can be perplex , these program program offer freestanding formatting options for entire tables , for individual cellular phone , and for the text that appears within your table . ( The keyboard shortcuts advert earlier for textbook formatting study on board school text quite well . )
parole : watchword provide a multitude of table - format choice , all of which you oversee using the Tables tab in Word ’s toolbar . In fact , Word ’s board tool offers nearly the same set of format features available in Excel .
Using the toolbar ’s Table Options , you may make do the way your tabular array displays headers and walker , add a Total row at the bottom of a table , change the table ’s color scheme using predefined table trend , and even draw your own border around tables and cells .
Additionally , Word put up Table Layout tools you may use to contribute , polish off , or otherwise set the cells within your table . you may well bring or remove a single cell or integral rows and columns by pick out a words or column and clicking a single clit . But be monish : Word ’s creature can get complicated , and it ’s comfortable to discover yourself in the weeds once you get going get the picture around .
Formatting a table in Pages .
Pages : The Format sidebar provides a number of option for speedily changing the look of your full table or a single cell . Click anywhere on your table , and the Format sidebar will change to a circle of mesa peter . Four tabs appear at the top : Table , Cell , Text , and Arrange .
Click Table and you ’ll see six mesa elan . get through one and it will transfer the entire tabular array to match the expressive style you ’ve selected . With Table pick out you could also handle the direction the mesa ’s headers and footers appear ; make global variety to the table ’s font sizes ; hide , display , and alter the table ’s outline and the way the board gridiron front ; and adjust cell colour and size .
Select the formatting sidebar ’s Cell pill , and you ’ll regain options for arrange the data within electric cell . So , for lesson , if you want the data in a jail cell to always be handle as text , even if it ’s a number , you may designate that here .
Use the Text lozenge to change the way text edition appears within tabular array cubicle . you could change baptismal font , adapt text alinement , create lists within cells , and do just about anything else you could in the body of a word processing doc .
The Arrange tab lease you fine - line the location of the table within your papers . In most cases , you ’ll drag and deteriorate your table where you need it , but you may utilize this creature when you want to change the manner text edition wrap around your tabular array or when you desire to pick off its location by a couple of pixels in your document .
Google Docs : pick out your table , a selection of electric cell , or a individual cellular phone ; come home the Table menu ; then pick out Table Properties .
you could then commute a table ’s border colouring material , transfer the electric cell background , set column width and height to a specific number , change the way the table look inline in the body text of your written document , and modify the fashion text aligns vertically within a cell .
7. Insert a Chart
For many masses , myself included , a table full of number is enough to make your your eyes glaze over . A graphic chart , on the other hand , can make cold , hard number easier to read . add charts to your document in all but Google Docs is a bare process .
Word : penetrate the toolbar ’s Chart tab and you ’ll see a hardening of tools for create and formatting charts . Selecting the chart you want inserts it into your text file and open up an Excel spreadsheet with a nonpayment data set . transfer this data change how your chart looks in the document .
If you want to shift your chart , controller - click ( or right - click ) your chart and select the Edit Data card . This will reopen both Excel and the table containing your chart data .
Page : Of the three applications , Pages prepare it easiest to add charts . Click the chart dick in the toolbar , and you ’ll see a menu with a three chart option : 2D , 3D , and Interactive . In plus to chart type , Pages also offers a number of color themes , which you’re able to voyage using the left and correct arrow push in the menu .
Selecting a chart places it in your Pages document with a nonremittal set of data . Click the Edit Chart Data push and a board will open display the current chart information . Replace the default data point with your own data , and the chart will change to speculate your data . If you need to change the data in your chart again , just get through the chart and snap the Edit Chart Data button again .
Google Docs : Google Docs extend no way to right away append and update a chart in your document . Instead , you need to create a chart in Google Spreadsheet , publish an image of the chart to the Web , and then introduce the image ’s universal resource locator into your document .
introduce a tabular array in Google Docs is more complicated than in Word or Pages .
First , create a unexampled Google spreadsheet by open Google Drive , clicking the Create button and selecting Spreadsheet . In the resulting spreadsheet , put down your chart data . pick out the data by click the first cell containing your data , and then slip - click the last cell of data point you want to include in your chart .
To add the chart to your papers , get through near the top of the chart , look for and penetrate the small Edit Menu pointer in the upper - right box , then select Publish chart . In the next windowpane , reach the Publish Format computer menu and prime image . The windowpane will alter expose a few lines of HTML textbook . Select and copy only the text that appears between the quotation marks . This text will begin withhttps://and end with a series of text characters .
In your document , spread the Insert carte du jour , select Image , then choose By URL and paste your image ’s URL into the uniform resource locator field . Your chart should appear in the window . If it does n’t , verify the URL is right . When you ’re done , click the Select button and your chart will seem in your text file .
take note : Because this chart is an image , it does n’t change if you change your table information . If you update the data driving your chart , you will have to republish the chart and insert the new URL into your written document .
8. Interact With Graphics
In add-on to chart , you may also want to sum pictures or other graphic objects to your written document and then gussy them up so hoi polloi take placard .
Word of God : Click the Insert menu and select Photo . You ’ll see two options : Photo web browser and Picture From File . The former allows you to choose images from your iPhoto or Aperture libraries ; the latter , an image from the Finder . From the internet browser , pick out the image you want to use and drag it into your document .
To make changes to the document , select the image in your document , then get through the Format Picture tab in the toolbar . By nonremittal Word insert your paradigm inline with the text , which means it can not initially be dragged where you require it on the page . To change this , sink in the Wrap Text push button and prefer one of the wrapping selection , then drag your picture where you desire it .
Like Pages , Word offer a number of predetermined icon styles — all uncommitted in the toolbar — that you could use to tot up fantasm , border , and other event to your image . In increase , you may create your own borders and shadowing , correct a photo ’s color , or apply filter . The toolbar admit a tool for rotating your images using a button , but that appears just above the image will let you splay your image by hand .
Page ’ graphics creature .
page : snap the Media button in the toolbar and choose pic from the three tabs at the top of the Media menu . ( instead , you may get to the Insert menu from the fare bar and choose Choose . Then you may choose anything you want from the Finder and not just from your iPhoto library . )
The image you choose will appear in the document . To resize it , flick and drag any of the diminutive boxes that appear at the edge of the figure . ( If you do n’t see the boxes , click the image and they ’ll appear . ) you’re able to also drag the aim anywhere you need it on the page .
To alter the figure ’s visual aspect , come home the image and look at the Format sidebar , where you ’ll see three tabs : Style , Image , and Arrange . way is where you change borders either using one of six predefined styles or by creating your own using the Border , Shadow , Reflection , and Opacity choice . If you create your own style , you may redeem it for later utilization by tick the plus push in the Image Styles section of the Styles tab key .
Use the Image tab to replace your current effigy with a raw one , adjust photograph and saturation , create a masquerade , or to utilize the Instant Alpha clitoris to make parts of your figure transparent . Use the Arrange yellow journalism to make adjustments to where and how the image appear on the Sir Frederick Handley Page and to change how your image interacts with text on the page . In most cases , the default setting will work for you , but if you need your schoolbook closer to your figure of speech , or if you want to rotate your image slightly , this is the topographic point to do it .
you may insert graphics in Google Docs by URL , by uploading them from your Mac , or by using your Mac ’s built - in photographic camera .
Google Docs : add an image in Google Docs is on the nose the same as put in a chart : open up the Insert menu and choose Image . As was the case with the chart , you could stick in an image using a uniform resource locator , but you could also insert images by uploading them from your Mac or using your Mac ’s iSight photographic camera ( you must have Adobe Flash installed ) .
Google Docs inserts your image inline with the text . To change this , cluck the image and then snap the Wrap Text link . A raw menu will appear to the right , which you may habituate to set the security deposit around your picture . you could now drag your image where you want it to appear in your written document .
Google Docs does n’t bid any manner to add together additional formatting to your trope , but you could resize your images by chatter and dragging one of the squares that appear around the bound of the image .
9. Track and Manage Changes
Word : open up the Tools menu , select Track Changes , then choose Highlight Changes . This give a dialog box where you’re able to select options for how you want to track your change . The Options clitoris in this dialog box lets you change the way the text you ’ve changed will appear in the document . If you want to see your change as you type , check the Track Changes While Editing box .
Word also pop the question options for securing the document with a watchword , so you may insure who can comment on , track , or make variety to a document . Word will not cut across position change you make to objects in your document , but it will track the insertion and deletion of aim .
Tracking change in Pages .
Pages : To begin tracking changes , click the Edit carte du jour and choose Track Changes . This reveals a new toolbar just below the main Pages toolbar and , when you start typing , changes the way your textual matter appears on the page .
To view change made to the papers , get through the arrows on the left side of the toolbar ; Pages display an informational box shows you who made the change or comment , tells you when it was made , and provides options for accept or reject those changes . accept a change removes the tracking information for the text or scuttlebutt and render the text color to whatever is normal for that paragraph .
you could change the way the Track Changes prick behaves by clicking the Action ( gear ) menu to the right of the toolbar . note of hand : Page tracks only text changes in your document ; it does not go after change you make to image or nontextual matter you ’ve sneak in .
Google Docs : Google Docs ’ racetrack changes characteristic is limited but still useful . To see document changes , open up the File menu and select See Revision History . This reveals a sidebar with a list of all version of the document . take an item in the lean displays a transcript of your document at that item in sentence , with alteration made to the document highlight by color .
While it is n’t possible to accept or reject changes made to a document in this port , it is possible to restore older versions of documents you ’ve lick on and to copy text from one version of a written document and glue it into your most current version . Also , unlike both Word and Pages , Google Docs tracks all changes made to the aim in your papers .
10. Create and Manage Paragraph Styles
Paragraph styles are a powerful puppet that few people apply . Using styles you’re able to capture entropy about text you ’ve formatted — fonts , font size , line spacing and indent , italicization and bolding — and change any paragraph to match that formatting with a single click .
Word ’s paragraph - style chooser .
news : launch the View fare and select Styles . This open Word ’s toolbox with the Styles tablet selected . Word uses a picking - list for changing paragraph styles . After typecast some text edition in your document , scroll through the list of available vogue and snap one . Note that your textual matter will change to reflect that style .
To make changes to an existing style , hang your mouse over the style appear below the textbook that suppose , Current style of selected schoolbook , click the low down arrow that appears , then choose Modify style … This opens a Modify Style dialog window where you could make more changes to the survive flair or you could just penetrate OK to swallow the changes you ’ve already made .
To create a new style from the changes you ’ve made to an existing style , follow the same step above , only choice New Style from the bill of fare . This opens a New Style windowpane where you may name your vogue , make additional changes or simply take the changes you ’ve made .
To make a fresh style from scratch , fall into place the New Style button in the Style Toolbox . A New Style dialog will open , which is precisely the same as the New Style dialog you just saw . apply the textual matter and paragraph formatting tools in this windowpane to make and name your unexampled vogue .
Choosing from a list of styles in Pages .
Pages : With a Pages document loose , type some text on the page then ensure the Format sidebar is open by clicking the Format button on the toolbar . At the top of the sidebar you should see the word soundbox with a diminished arrow next to it . Clicking that pointer reveals a Styles menu contain a collection of styles that are part of a nonremittal Pages document . pick out one of those styles and you ’ll see the text in your document change to match the style you ’ve selected .
You have two alternative for produce your own styles : you could save changes you make to an existing mode or produce your own from scratch .
To change an existing expressive style , make change to the text in your written document so it looks the manner you require it , including spacing , indents , coalition , and so on . Now , look at the Style carte and you ’ll see a button that says Update . fall into place that button , and the style will change to match the formatting you ’ve created . Also note that all of the paragraph using that trend in your document will deepen to reflect the updated mode .
To create a fresh trend without making changes to an existing one , reach the Style menu and click the positive - sign release that appears next to Paragraph Styles . This adds a new style to the lean of Styles useable in the document . To contend styles used within a document , hover your mouse over an exist vogue and snap the small arrow appear next to the style name . This reveals a bill of fare you’re able to use to make change to and create keyboard shortcut for subsist papers styles .
Google Docs : Google Docs does not presently pop the question an alternative for create paragraph style .
