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SettingupWord(Mac)These instructions are written for Word 2008 and 2011.  Open Word, and follow each numbered‐item below, matching your settings to all the screenshots—choose, uncheck or check items as they appear in the images.  These settings will become the default settings for your program but, for the most part, applying theses settings gives you control as to when (or when not) Word formats your document for you.  Those using other versions of Word may need to search Word’s Help for some of the terminology used below.   

1. From the menu, choose View and, under Toolbox, select Styles and the Styles Window will appear (as indicated here) on the right. Where it says List: Recommended, change this to All Styles. To expand/lengthen the Styles Window so it shows a greater number of styles, move your cursor over the 3 dots and, when you see the cursor change to a double-headed arrow, Click, Hold, and Drag downwards. (Just so you’re aware, the settings above may need to be redone again at a later date.) Note that this expansion option is not available in Word 2008, however you can access another list of styles from the Formatting Toolbar, which is available from the View menu (see left pane of adjacent image, choose Toolbars). Once the formatting toolbar has been checked, the stylebar is at the left and the arrow to the right of it brings up a dropdown list of styles.

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From the menu, choose Word > Preferences and do the following

 

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2. Click on General and change the settings to what is at the right.

If you prefer centimetres to inches, you do not need to change this, however, when instructions that accompany for template documents direct you to use inches, type in the measurement and the program will automatically convert it to metric (e.g., in Table Properties, for typing in the maximum width for a table, you would insert 6” or 6in).    To continue, at the top click Show All and you will be back at Word’s Preferences  

   

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3. Go to Word > Preferences > View > Nonprinting Characters, and check All. Note. This is recommended for when you need to see what's going on in your document—that is, if the formatting is out of whack and you need to fix it—it shows what else you might have typed in, such as extra spaces, tabs, paragraphs. Changing this setting is especially helpful after you have brought text in from another document.

To continue, at the top click Show All and you will be back at Word’s Preferences 

4. Click on Edit and change the Edition Options (specifically top section).

In Grid Options, also change both Horizontal and Vertical spacing  to .01 and, if present, click Set As Default. (Note.  This is a great setting to change as it gives users the ability to ‘nudge’ objects ever so slightly, bit‐by‐bit.)  To continue, at the top click Show All and you will be back at Word’s Preferences  

 

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5. Click Spelling and Grammar A student sent this screenshot and so I am not sure whether these are the default settings. The settings vary slightly between v2008 and v2011. For those who need help with Grammar, it is worth noting that you can change the Writing Style settings from Standard to Formal. Also, if the grammar checker doesn’t seem to be working anymore, this is where you can press Recheck Document to get the program to recheck the whole document again. To continue, at the top click Show All and you will be back at Word’s Preferences.

  

 

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6. Click on AutoCorrect > Autoformat As You Type Uncheck all the checkboxes in the top section, and the top two in the bottom section

7. At the top click Show All and you will be back at Word’s Preferences—here choose OK. This will save all the settings you have changed.