Lois Lowe

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

By default, a paragraph has no border or shading in Word 2013 documents. You can add either or both to a single paragraph or any group of paragraphs to make them stand out from the rest of the document. You can use any border thickness, style, and color you like, and any color of shading. How to place a border around a paragraph A paragraph border appears around the outside of a single paragraph. If the paragraph is indented, the border will also be indented (left and right only; the indent doesn’t change for hanging or first-line indents). If you place the same border around two or more consecutive paragraphs, the border surrounds them as a group. That way, you can create groups of paragraphs that appear boxed together for special emphasis. In your document, click anywhere within a paragraph. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, open the Borders button’s drop-down list and choose Outside Borders. A plain black border appears around the paragraph. You can stop here if you want a plain border, but the next steps show you how to format the border in different ways. From the Border button’s drop-down list, choose Borders and Shading. The Borders and Shading dialog box opens. Click the Shadow button. The border becomes thicker at the bottom and right sides, simulating a shadow. Check the results in the preview in the dialog box. Click the Box button. The border once again has the same thickness on all sides. Check the results in the preview. From the Color drop-down list, choose the Blue, Accent 1 theme color; from the Width drop-down list, choose 1/2 pt; in the Style area, click one of the dashed lines; and in the Preview area, click the buttons that represent the right and left sides, turning off those sides. Click OK to apply the border to the paragraph and then save the document. How to add shading to a paragraph’s background Shading a paragraph helps it stand out from the rest of the document and adds visual interest. You can use shading with or without a border. As with a border, shading follows along with any indent settings you may have specified for the paragraph. If the paragraph is indented, the shading is also. Word applies only solid-color shading to paragraphs. If you want a gradient shading behind a paragraph, or some other special shading effect such as a pattern, texture, or graphic, place a text box (choose Insert→Text Box) and then apply the desired shading to the text box as a Fill, like you would with a graphic. Then type the desired text into the text box. In your document, click anywhere within a paragraph. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, open the Shading drop-down list and choose Blue, Accent 1, Lighter 80%. Reopen the Shading drop-down list and choose More Colors. The Colors dialog box opens. Click the Standard tab, click a light yellow square, and then click OK to accept the new color choice. Save and close the document.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

By default, in Word 2013 a picture is inserted as an inline image, which means it’s treated like a text character. However, that’s not usually the best way for an image to interact with the text. When you want the text to flow around an image, change the image’s Text Wrap setting. This way, if the text moves (due to editing), the graphic stays put. In a Word 2013 document with a picture, select a picture. The Picture Tools Format tab becomes available. Choose Picture Tools Format→Wrap Text to open a menu of text wrap settings. Choose Square. Drag the picture upward and drop it at the left margin so that it top-aligns with the top of the first body paragraph. For extra practice, try each of the other Wrap Text settings and compare their results. You don’t have to select each of the settings; just pointing at a setting shows a preview of it in the document. The photo currently in the document is rectangular, so you don’t see any difference among some of the settings. To understand the differences among them, you must use a piece of clip art with a transparent background for your experiments. Press Delete to delete the picture. If needed, reposition the insertion point at the beginning of the first body paragraph. Using the Online Pictures command, locate and insert a poinsettia clip art image (a drawing, not a photograph) that has a white (transparent) background. Choose Picture Tools Format→Wrap Text and choose Square. The text wraps around the clip art with a rectangular border. Notice the icon next to the selected picture that looks like an arch? You can click that button to open a floating version of the Wrap Text button’s menu, as an alternative to clicking the Text Wrap button on the Ribbon. Click the Wrap Text button again and choose Tight. The text wraps around the image itself, not its rectangular frame. If the text does not wrap around the image, try a different clip art image; the one you chose might not have a transparent background, even though it looks like it does. If any stray bits of text appear below and to the left of the image, you can fix the stray text by adjusting the image’s wrap points, as explained next. Click the Wrap Text button again and choose Edit Wrap Points. Black squares and a dotted red outline appear around the clip art image. These usually invisible points determine where the text is allowed to flow when text is set to Tight (that is, to wrap tightly around the image). If needed, drag one or more of the black squares outward to block the space where the stray text appears so that it can’t flow there anymore. Click away from the image to deselect it and finalize the change in its wrap points. Save the changes to the document.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

There is a type of Word 2013 mail merge which involves printing on sticky-backed labels, which you can then pull apart and use for package mailing, name tags, or any other purpose you might use labels for. The mail merge process is much the same for labels, except that you specify a label type and size and then Word creates a table that mimics the labels. The merge fields are placed into the upper-left corner cell of the table and copied into the other cells. In Word, press Ctrl+N to start a new blank document and then choose Mailings→Start Mail Merge→Labels. The Label Options dialog box appears. From the Label Vendors drop-down list, choose Avery us Letter; in the Product Number list, choose 5160 Easy Peel Address Labels; click OK. Almost every size and shape of label has a code on the packaging or the label sheet itself. When you create labels for your own purposes, you just match that code with one of the templates in Word. In Step 2, 5160 Easy Peel Address Labels is an example of a label code. If you don’t see the gridlines of the table onscreen, choose Table Tools Layout→View Gridlines. Choose Mailings→Select Recipients→Use an Existing List. The Select Data Source dialog box opens. Navigate to the folder containing you data files for mail merges. Select your data file and click Open. The Select Table dialog box opens, prompting you to choose which worksheet you’ll use for the data source. In the Select Table dialog box, make sure Sheet1$ is selected and then click OK. The data source is attached. In the table, <> codes appear in every cell except the upper-left one. Choose Mailings→Address Block, and in the Insert Address Block dialog box that appears, click OK to accept the default address block settings. The <> code appears only in the upper-left cell. For more practice, you could delete the <> code and construct your own address block manually by inserting the <> field, pressing Shift+Enter, inserting the <> field, pressing Shift+Enter, inserting the <> field, typing a comma and a space, inserting the <> field, typing two spaces, and inserting the <> field. Choose Mailings→Update Labels. The code from the upper-left cell is copied to all the other cells. Choose Mailings→Preview Results. The four label results appear. Save the document.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Each Word 2013 document stores its own styles. These styles originate from the template on which the document is based, but ultimately each document’s styles are its own. So, for example, if you make a change to a style’s definition in one document, or create new styles in that document, those changes and new styles will not be available in any other documents. To save yourself the time and effort of re-creating new styles that you want to use in both documents, you can import styles from one document into another one. You can start in either document — the styles’ source or their destination — but the process is shorter by a few steps if you start in the source document. Open a document. Create three lines of text in three different styles. This document contains three new styles: Report Heading 1, Report Heading 2, and Report Heading 3. On the Home tab, click the dialog box launcher in the Styles group to open the Styles pane and then click the Manage Styles button at the bottom. The Manage Styles dialog box opens. At the bottom of the Manage Styles dialog box, click the Import/Export button. The Organizer dialog box opens. Click the Close File button on the right (under Normal.dotm) and then click the Open File button. The Open dialog box appears. Click All Word Templates, which opens a list of file types, and choose All Word Documents from the list. Navigate to the folder where you stored another file, select that file, and click Open. A list of the styles in that document appears in the right pane. Click Report Heading 1 in the left pane. Press the Shift key and click Report Heading 3. All three custom styles are selected. Click the Copy button. Those styles are copied to your document in the right pane. In the right pane, scroll down to confirm that the new styles appear on the list and then click Close. If you see a prompt asking whether you want to save the changes to your document, click Save. The styles are saved. Close your original document without saving the changes. Open the new dociment, and on the Home tab, click the dialog box launcher in the Styles group, opening the Styles pane. Scroll through the list of styles and locate the three newly copied styles.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

You can draw your own via the Shapes tool in Word 2013. By combining and formatting shapes, you can create simple illustrations and annotate other artwork with lines and shapes that call attention to certain areas. How to draw shapes in Word 2013 To draw a shape, use the Shapes command to open a palette of shapes and then click the one you want to draw. Then either click or drag in the Word document to create the chosen line or shape. Certain shapes, such as circles and squares, are the same height and width by default, but if you drag to create them, you can distort their original aspect ratios to make ovals and rectangles. If you want to constrain a shape to its default aspect ratio as you draw it, hold down the Shift key while you drag. Press Ctrl+N to start a new blank document in Word. Choose Insert→Shapes, and on the menu that appears, examine the available categories of shapes and the individual shapes within each one. In the Rectangles section, choose Rounded Rectangle. Click anywhere on the document to place a 1-inch rounded square and then drag a side selection handle outward to increase the shape’s width to 2 inches. Choose Insert→Shapes again and then choose the isosceles triangle. Hold down the Shift key and drag on the document to the right of the rectangle to create a triangle that is 1.5-inches wide at its base. Holding down Shift maintains the original aspect ratio of the shape. Choose Insert→Shapes again, and in the Lines section, choose Curve. Move the mouse pointer to the document and then follow these steps to place the curve: Click below the rectangle to place the beginning of the line. Move the mouse pointer about 1 inch down and 1.5 inches to the right of the original point, and then click again to place the center of the curve. Move the mouse pointer 1 inch up and 1.5 inches to the right of the previous point, and then double-click to end the drawing of the curve. The following shows the drawings at this point. Your curve may look different from the one shown. Select the curve and press the Delete key to remove it. Choose Insert→Shapes again, and in the Stars and Banners section, choose Up Ribbon. Drag to draw a ribbon below the remaining shapes, approximately 5.5 inches wide and 0.5 inch high. Save the document. How to choose a shape outline and shape fill in Word 2013 For a shape to be seen, it needs to have an outline, a fill, or both. By default, shapes you draw have both. The default fill color comes from the color scheme that’s in use; it’s the Accent 1 color (the fifth color from the left in the color palette). A fill is an inside color or pattern for a shape, whereas an outline is a colored border around the outside of a shape. The shape outline, if present, has a color, a weight (thickness), and a style (such as solid, dotted, or dashed). You can control all those options from the Drawing Tools Format tab. Any shape (except a line) can also have a fill. This fill can be any of the following: A solid color A texture A pattern, such as a checkerboard or pinstripe A gradient A picture A texture is a repeating graphic that makes the fill look like a certain type of surface, such as marble, wood, or newsprint. A gradient is a gradual blending from one color to another. Lines don’t have a fill. Their appearance is controlled by their Shape Outline setting. In addition to the standard outline and fill choices, you can also apply Shape Effects, such as beveled edges, glow, shadows, reflection, and 3-D rotation, to drawn shapes. By combining different shapes, fills, and borders, you can create some very interesting effects. In a your document, select the rounded rectangle. On the Drawing Tools Format tab, click the More button in the Shape Styles group, opening the palette of shape styles, and then click the Intense Effect — Orange, Accent 2 style. The style is applied to the rounded rectangle. Select the triangle; then choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Fill and click the Yellow standard color. Choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Outline and click the Orange standard color. Choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Outline→Weight and click the 1/4 point weight. Choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Effects→Glow→More Glow Colors and then click the Orange standard color. The triangle and rectangle resemble the following at this point. Select the banner shape; then choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Fill→Texture→White Marble. Choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Outline→No Outline. Choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Fill→Gradient→More Gradients. The Format Shape task pane opens. Select the Gradient Fill option if it’s not already selected. From the Preset Gradients drop-down list, choose Medium Gradient, Accent 4 (the gold gradient in the third row); from the Type drop-down list, choose Rectangular; and from the Direction drop-down list, choose From Bottom Right Corner. Close the task pane. Choose Drawing Tools Format→Shape Outline and then click the Orange standard color. The banner looks the one below. Save the changes to the document.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

You can move a picture in Word 2013 by dragging it where you want it to go. The way a picture moves when you drag it varies depending on the text wrap setting you’ve chosen for the picture: If the default setting of In Line with Text is in effect, you can drag a picture only to a spot where you can also drag text: Within existing paragraphs Before or after existing paragraphs However, you can’t place a picture outside of the document margins or below the end-of-document marker. If any other text wrapping setting is in effect, you can drag a picture anywhere on the page. You can also move a picture by specifying an exact position for it. To do so, use the Layout dialog box or one of the presets in the Position drop-down list on the Format tab under Picture Tools. In your Word 2013 document, select the picture you would like to move. Choose Picture Tools Format→Position button to open a menu of positions. Choose the position that shows the picture in the upper-right corner of the document. Drag the picture downward so that its top aligns with the top of the first body paragraph. Click the Position button again and choose More Layout Options. The Layout dialog box opens with the Position tab displayed. In the Horizontal section, click Absolute position, and then in the Absolute position text box, enter 5. In the Vertical section, in the Absolute position text box, enter 1. Here is the dialog box with these settings. Inches are the default units of measurement in this dialog box. Click OK to close the dialog box. The picture’s position is adjusted according to the settings you entered. But what if you add or delete text in the document so the text that’s next to the picture now might not later be? What if you want the picture to move with the text? The following steps show how to set that up. Click the Position button and choose More Layout Options to reopen the Layout dialog box. In the Vertical section, for the Absolute Position setting, change the value to 0” and change the Below setting to Paragraph. Make sure that the Move Object with Text check box is selected. Here is the dialog box with these settings. Click OK. Click at the beginning of the paragraph that contains the document subheading (“Come see . . .”) and press Enter twice. Notice that the picture moves with the paragraph to which it is adjacent. Press Backspace twice to delete the extra paragraphs just created. Save the changes to the document.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The border art supplied with Word 2013 includes a variety of small graphics that look good when repeated around the edges of the page. One nice thing about using these, as opposed to manually placing images around the border, is that you can resize the entire border at once by changing the value in the Width box. A page border is a border that appears outside the margins on each page. Border art is a repeated small image that forms a border around the outside of the document margins. Page borders are primarily for decoration; you can use any style, color, and line thickness you want. You can also apply graphical borders (or border art) that repeat a small image as a pattern. Start Word, if necessary, and start a new blank document. Choose Design→Page Borders. The Borders and Shading dialog box opens with the Page Border tab selected. In the Style section, scroll down and select the double wavy line. Then from the Color drop-down list, choose Blue, Accent 5. If a preview of a blue wavy line doesn’t appear in the Preview area, click the Box button to apply the current settings to all sides of the page. Some line styles have a variety of widths you can choose from; the double wavy line you select in Step 3 has only one width available. For extra practice, try clicking the None icon and then clicking one or more individual sides in the Preview area. This is how you apply a page border to only certain sides of the page. When you’re done experimenting with that, click the Box icon again to apply the border to all sides again. Click OK. The border is applied to the blank page. Zoom in to see it better if desired. Page borders, like many page-level formatting elements, appear only in certain views. You don’t see them in Draft, web Layout, or Outline view. Choose Design→Page Borders to reopen the Borders and Shading dialog box. From the Art drop-down list, choose the palm trees; click the down increment arrow on the Width box to set the width to 28 points; and then click OK. The palm tree border is applied to the page.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

A Table of Authorities is common in a very long legal document to summarize the sources cited in the document. By creating a Table of Authorities in your Word 2013 document, you provide an aid to other legal professionals who may work with the document and need to verify the sources cited. A Table of Authorities is like a Table of Contents except it refers only to citations of legal precedents (also known as authorities). To create a Table of Authorities, you first enter each citation within the body of the document. Then you mark each one as a citation via Word’s Mark Citation feature. Finally, you assemble the Table of Authorities, compiling all the marked citations. Open a Word 2013 document in need of a Table of Authorities. When you are instructed to select a citation, select all of the underlined citation text plus the parenthetical information that follows the underlined text. The parenthetical information is part of the citation. Select the first citation in the document and then choose References→Mark Citation. The Mark Citation dialog box opens. Click the Mark button. A field code is inserted into the document. Click Close and examine the code that was inserted. The code is visible because Word switches to a view that includes hidden text and nonprinting characters when you open the Mark Citation dialog box. The following shows the inserted code for the first citation. The code is shaded in for easier readability but it won’t appear shaded on your screen. Select the second citation in the document (in this example document the last line of the paragraph) and choose References→Mark Citation. The Mark Citation dialog box opens, with the selected citation filled in. Click the Mark button to mark the citation and then click Close to close the dialog box. Choose Home tab→Show/Hide (to toggle off the nonprinting characters (including the codes for the citations). Click at the bottom of the document to move the insertion point there, press Ctrl+Enter to start a new page, type Table of Authorities, and apply the Heading 1 style to it. Press Enter to start a new line and then choose References→Insert Table of Authorities. (It’s in the Table of Authorities group.) The Table of Authorities dialog box opens. Click OK to insert the Table of Authorities with the default settings. The Table of Authorities appears in the document. Save the document and close it.