Customizing the Spellchecker Dictionary

There’s a dictionary that lives in your copy of Microsoft Word. In fact, there are…

How to Use Microsoft Word AutoCorrect

Microsoft Word’s autocorrect can it fix common spelling errors and automate routine formatting and capitalization…

When Grammar Check Is Wrong

I’ve already talked about the limitations of spell check, but grammar check is actually a…

3 Tips for Using a Thesaurus

When used correctly, a thesaurus can help you punch up your writing by using just…

Using MS Word Lists: Bullets & Numbers

All writing tools or techniques should help you express yourself more clearly. Lists can be…

Hanging Indents with MS Word Ruler

the first-line indent, by virtue of being so ubiquitous, seems quite intuitive and natural. But…

Top 10 Changes in Chicago’s 17th Edition

Clocking in at 1,145 pages, this is not a book meant to be read cover…

Recovering Lost Documents

However it happens, we all learn to fear the aftermath, the moment when we click…

Compare Versions in Microsoft Word

MS Word's Compare function looks at any two documents and lists all the differences paragraph…

How to Use Word References Tool

In this post, I’ll give specific instructions on how to use Word to add reference…

Guide to Word’s Table of Contents

Word’s Table of Contents function updates numbers and names with just a few clicks as…

Harvard Citation Style Explained

Harvard is just another parenthetical author-date citation style. If you can learn a few key…

How to Edit PDFs

PDFs can be scary for an editor. After all, you can’t just turn on Track…

Lie vs. Lay vs. Lied vs. Laid vs. Lain

One of the hardest irregular verbs in English to use properly is “to lie,” and…

2 More Great Tips for Self-Editing

Another way to get your brain to take a fresh look at what you’ve written…

How Reliable Is Spell Check?

The first time I saw Office Suite’s spell check function, I just about cried with…

Guide to Using Hyphens in Compound Words

Recently I’ve gotten a little obsessed with compounds words and the hyphen, that little punctuation…

2 Great Tips for Self-Editing

Whether you’re a writer, professional editor, or client for a professional editor, you can always…

4 Fixes for Comment Boxes in MS Word

Whether you’re an editor orworking with an editor, you’re going to deal with comment boxes,…

MS Word Formatting Errors

When it comes to the controlling the flow of text across lines and pages, many…