Office XP Tips: Some Stylish Word Shortcuts

Word shortcuts for your inner stylist, plus tricks to speed editing and writing.

Jim Welp

In recent newsletters, I've been covering Word's style features. Styles are one of the few word-processing features that make the computer truly superior to the typewriter. This week I present a few more style-related tips for your formatting pleasure.

Assign a Shortcut Key to a Style

If you find yourself using the same style over and over again, you can save yourself some time by assigning that style to a shortcut key combination. Then, whenever you want to apply the style, all you have to do is click inside the text you want to restyle and press the key combo. For instance, you could assign the key combination Alt-H to the Heading 1 style: Anytime you wanted to format some text in the Heading 1 style, all you'd have to do is move the cursor to that text and press Alt-H.

Here's how to do it: Open the Styles and Formatting task pane by choosing Format, Styles and Formatting (or clicking the Styles and Formatting toolbar button). In the Styles and Formatting task pane, right-click the Heading 1 style in the "Pick formatting to apply" list. In the pop-up menu, choose Modify. When the Modify Style dialog box appears, click the Format button, then choose "Shortcut key." When the Customize Keyboard dialog box appears, hold down the Alt key and press H. The combination will appear in the "Press new shortcut key" text box. A message will appear below the "Current keys" text box to let you know whether or not the combination is currently unassigned. (Make sure you choose an unassigned key combination so you don't override an existing one.) Now click Assign and the combination will appear in the "Current keys" text box. Click Close to return to the Modify Style dialog box, then click OK.

Redefine a Style Based on Existing Text

Word 2002 has an extremely cool new feature that lets you modify a style based on selected text. Say you have a perfectly formatted paragraph that has attributes you'd like to use instead of one of Word's existing styles. Instead of modifying the existing style manually, you can tell Word to steal the formatting from your perfect paragraph.

For example, you might not like Word's built-in Heading 1 style. Instead, you've manually formatted a headline you like better and you want to redefine the Heading 1 style to match the one you created. Instead of modifying Heading 1 manually, here's all you have to do: First, select the text that's formatted the way you want Heading 1 to look. Then, open the Styles and Formatting task pane and right-click Heading 1 in the "Pick formatting to apply" list. Choose Update to Match Selection. Badda boom, badda bing--you gotcherself a new Heading 1.

A Selective Tip

Here's a tip that came to mind when I was watching someone format individual words recently. When you format a single word--say, with bold, italic, or underline--it's not necessary to select the entire word. Just move the cursor anywhere inside the word and format it. This can save you the trouble of double-clicking or Shift-arrow-keying to select the entire word. If this doesn't work, choose Tools, Options and click the Edit tab. Then, click to turn on the option called "When selecting, automatically select entire word." (This choice is listed under "Editing options," in the right column.)

A Hyperlink Search

Reader Mark Mangano of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, writes, "Is there a way to search documents for hyperlinks?"

Here's how you find hyperlinks (including Web links, e-mail addresses, and links to other Office files) in a Word document: Choose Edit, Find. When the Find and Replace dialog box appears, click the More button. Next, click Format, then click Style. In the Find Style dialog box, scroll down, choose Hyperlink and click OK. Back in the Find and Replace dialog box, you'll discover that Word has added "Format: Style: Hyperlink" underneath the "Find what" text box. Now, click the Find Next button to begin searching for hyperlinks.