How To Write A Document In Word

Creating a document is easy enough, but creating a good document takes a little more effort. Read on to find out a few tricks to jumpstart your writing.

Introduction

If all you do is an occasional letter, learning to actually write is not very important. However, if you need to take that next step and get better, there are ways to get better. 

Create An Outline

Creating an outline is a good first step. You will never be very good if you skip this step. As you do it more and more, you will get much better and quicker. The idea is to list major topics. Then you expand each section. This will make your writing more structured and better. Also, you should have the proper zoom for your screen. Most people prefer your page to fill the screen. This makes reading and editing easier.   

Use Appropriate Headings

Headings separate your content. This makes it much easier to read and that is the whole point. You have failed if no one reads your writing. To create headings, go to your top bar and use the styles option. You can select different headings here.

The ribbon bar does not contain all the headings at first glance. You must go into the ribbon bar options to see them all. However, most documents do not need more than a few. You can then change the outline view.

• View
• Views
• Outline

This brings up a style area where you get a better outline view. Then, in the Outline Tools group, you can make, Expand, or Collapse headings to organize them in Word’s system. If you move a heading for some reason, make sure and collapse it first. This will insure all the content under that heading gets moved as well. 

Use Bulleted Content

Use bulleted content often. Readers want short takes on a piece of writing. If they like it, they will read more of it. This makes it easier to digest. It is up to you whether to use bullets or numbered items, however. To make a list, click one of the list buttons at the top of the bar. Then, your items will appear in a list. You can also highlight items and click the list button. This will put them in a list automatically. 

Write Using Columns

Putting your writing in columns can be visually appealing. This is why newspapers do it. To put your text in columns:

• Choose layout
• Page setup
• Columns
• Select number of columns

You will notice in the menu there are several options. These options let you control how your document looks. You can make your document look just about any way you want. Take advantage of these features. Play around with some of the settings to see what works best for you. 

Use The Review Section

There are multiple tools in this section. The thesaurus tool should be one of your most used. Unless you are very experienced, it is good to use suggestions to vary your writing. To use it:

• Highlight word
• Review
• Proofing
• Thesaurus

 You will be given a list of words. Choose the one that you want to use. Close when you are finished.

The other tool should be tracking changes. Most professional documents have multiple readers and writers. Using this tool makes it easy for them to see what has changed. It is also a good idea just for yourself. You can see what you did the previous day and change it if necessary. To use this feature:

• Review
• Tracking
• Track changes

It marks insertions, deletions, and formatting changes.

Conclusion

In this section, I went over the various ideas to improve your writing. Using Word is convenient for most people because it is easy to get and understand. It has many tools built in to make writing easier. If Word is your software of choice, you should use these features.