How to Improve Word Drawing Tools
Word has several powerful drawing tools for sprucing up your documents. However, if you don't know how to use them, they can seem pretty weak. Improving Word's drawing tools requires understanding their capabilities. You can learn these capabilities by reading about them in Word's documentation and help files, but it's helpful to also explore and experiment with the drawing tools. Benefits of learning these tools well include a faster workflow and more documents with engaging graphics.
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Instructions
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Open Word, then click the "Insert" menu, followed by the "Shapes" icon on the "Illustrations" panel. By doing these actions, you'll see a quicker way to gain access to Word's drawing tools.
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Select any shape from the gallery, then click and drag in a document to place the shape. The number of actions it took to draw this shape is much greater than it needs to be. The next few steps will solve that problem, showing one way you can improve Word's drawing tools.
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Click the down arrows to the far right of the "Quick Access" toolbar in Word's upper-left corner.
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Click the "More commands" item, then click the "Drawing" item in the "Choose commands" drop-down list.
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Click the "Insert Shapes" item in the list at lower-left, then click the "Add" button at the screen's center to add this command to the "Quick Access" toolbar.
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Click "OK" to exit the dialog box, then click the new icon for inserting shapes that you just added to the "Quick Access" toolbar. Select any shape from the gallery. The few mouse clicks it took to insert this new shape contrasts sharply with the several actions it took to insert the first shape. You've used the "Quick Access" toolbar to improve the speed at which you can access Word's drawing tools.
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Click the "Format" menu, then click the "Align" icon in the "Arrange" panel. Select the "Grid" item from the menu. You'll use the Word drawing grid to accurately place drawn shapes -- another way of improving Word's drawing tools.
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Fill out the dialog box to ensure the following parameters are set. Click "OK" once you've set these parameters. Word will then display a grid you can use to align the two shapes you inserted earlier.
Snap to other objects: checked
Horizontal and vertical spacing: 0.5 inches
Display gridlines: checked
Vertical and horizontal every: 1
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Drag one of the shapes toward the other. Word will make the shape you're dragging snap to the grid intersections. When the shape nears the other shape, it will snap to that shape. This illustrates a way of positioning Word's drawing elements precisely, another improvement to Word's drawing tools.
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References
- Photo Credit word image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
