How to Customize Options in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word includes a myriad of functions and tools to assist you in all of your word processing needs. The developers also added the benefit of being able to tailor the program to your preferences including toolbar placement, formatting options, file locations and even the user name associated with the program. You can easily make the program customized to your preferences and needs in a few steps.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Open your Microsoft Word program. Typically the program is shown on the "Start" menu with a "W" shown within a box. You can also find it within the programs installed on your computer.

2. Click on the "Tools" menu and select "Customize" from the drop-down menu. One option is to only show a full menu after a few moments. So if you see a truncated menu with a double arrow at the bottom, move your mouse pointer to hover over the arrow to expand the menu. If you don't like the truncated menu option this can be one of the first items you change.

3. Toggle the check mark in the box to choose either "always show full menus" or keep the menus truncated to show only the most commonly and recently used options.

4. Look over all the options listed under each tab. You can select which toolbars are shown at the top of your window under the "Toolbars" tab. You can decide on the amount of function buttons you see in each toolbar after choosing the "Command" tab. You may like to have the mail merge toolbar open if you create a lot of labels. You might find the picture toolbar helpful if you insert objects and pictures into documents frequently.

5. Select "Options" from the "Tools" drop-down menu when you have customized the toolbars.

6. Browse through each tab and what you can change to suit your needs. For example, under the "General" tab you can change the measurements between inches, centimeters and points. You can also change your email and web settings under the "General" tab.

7. Set spelling, grammar and proofing settings by choosing your options under the "Spelling and Grammar" tab. This tab will also allow you to set spell-check preferences and what dictionary to use when suggesting the correct spelling of a word.

8. Use the "Compatibility" tab to see the suggested compatibility standards for the version of Microsoft Word installed on your computer. From here you can also change styles, spacing and other formatting options to mimic previous versions if those better match your preferences.

9. Continue customizing Microsoft Word until you feel you're getting the most out of the program and its capabilities. Ultimately customizing the program and the available options to suit your needs will increase your productivity and ease of use in the program.