Extract from: Format an Academic Paper Part 1: Creating Templates & Applying Styles
Appendix 1-3: ‘Do it faster’ quick tips
Quick ways to select text
There are many quick ways to select text. Try out each of these.

To select a word:
Double click on it.

To select a paragraph:
Triple click anywhere in it.

To select an entire sentence:
Hold down <Ctrl> and click anywhere in the sentence. (Be sure to deselect all other parts of the
document first.)

To select one or more lines:
Move the mouse pointer into the left margin until it becomes a white arrow; then click opposite
the line you require to select it. If you need more than one line, click opposite the first line and
then drag the white arrow down until you have selected the entire block required.

To select any single block of text:
Click and drag across the text from beginning to end.

To select a large block of text:
a) Click at the beginning.
b) Use the scroll bar or scroll wheel on your mouse to move through the document until the last
text you need is visible.
c) Hold down Shift.
d) Click on the last cell. The entire range will be selected.

To select non-adjacent text:
a) Select the first block, using any method you choose.
b) Hold down Ctrl as you select additional text or text blocks.

To select an entire document:
Click anywhere in the document and press Ctrl + A.
OR
Move the mouse pointer into the left margin of the document. When it becomes a white arrow,
triple click.
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Extract from: Format an Academic Paper Part 1: Creating Templates & Applying Styles
Inserting repeated names or phrases using Autotext
AutoText is great is a quick way to insert long bits of text you need to use frequently rather than
typing it each time. Here is the fastest way to do so in Word 2010.
1. Select the content you want to be able to insert
quickly at will. (This can be as much or as little as
you wish.)
2. Press Alt + F3 to open the Create new Building
Block dialog box.
3. In this example, we are saving ‘Loughborough
University’ as AutoText. Notice that, by default, the
first word(s) of our selection becomes the name of
our AutoText entry. Change it to something very
short and memorable. (In this case, we’ll change it
to lu.)
4. If necessary, change the Save in field to the template used in your document. (By default this is
Normal.dotm.)
5. Ensure the other fields match the entries shown.
6. Click OK to close and save your AutoText.
7. To insert your AutoText into any document, type the name you gave it (‘lu’ in this example) and
press F3. The full text is inserted into your document.
NOTE: Unfortunately, AutoText created in Word doesn’t carry over into Outlook. If you
want to use AutoText there, you must recreate it in Outlook, following the same procedure
but ensure that each entry is saved into the NormalEmail.dotm template.
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Extract from: Format an Academic Paper Part 1: Creating Templates & Applying Styles
Use Find & Replace to update names, terminology or spelling
Word 2010 provides a very efficient way to update or correct words or phrases that appear multiple
times in your document. Try these steps:
1. Click at the top of your document.
2. On your keyboard, press CTRL + F. The Navigation Pane opens to the Browse the results from
your current search pane.
3. Click on the arrow at the right end of the Search Document box and select Replace. The Find and
Replace dialog box opens.
4. Use the Find What box to type the text that needs to be changed. Then type the replacement
text in the second box.
5. Click Find Next to find the first instance in your document. Click either Replace or Replace All or,
if you want to skip this instance, click Find Next again. Continue clicking Find Next until a
message appears advising that you’ve reached the end of the document.
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Copy or cut & paste using the Clipboard
Cut, Copy and Paste commands are common to all Microsoft Office software. Users are limited,
however, to using just one selection at a time. Once copied or cut, a selection must be used before
another can be collected (by copying or cutting) for use elsewhere.
The Clipboard improves on these basic features by enabling users to collect up to 24 separate
selections of text, graphics, tables, pictures and other file content -- even entire documents. These
selections can then be pasted into files in any application, in any order and as many times as required
until you delete them or close down all MS Office applications on the computer.
The Clipboard is especially useful for collecting and using material across different applications. For
example, the user can collect paragraphs from Word, tables of figures from Excel, website addresses
held in Outlook, and graphics and text from PowerPoint to create a new presentation in PowerPoint
or a report in Word.
Opening the Clipboard
To begin collecting or using items in the clipboard, it must have been opened in at least one
Microsoft application since you started the current Windows session.
To open the Clipboard:
1. In the Home tab, click on the tiny icon next to the Clipboard group
name to launch the clipboard.
NOTE: If the Clipboard is already open in another application, the
clipboard icon is shown near the digital clock in the lower right corner
of the computer screen. Double click on that icon to open the
Clipboard in the application you are working in.
Collecting selected material in the clipboard
If the Clipboard has been opened on your computer, anything you
copy or cut using any Microsoft application (and many others, too)
will be added to the Clipboard. This happens even when the
Clipboard isn't shown in the application you are currently working
in. The item is represented by a miniature picture of the item or, if
it is text, by the first few lines in the selection. Each item in the
clipboard also is shown with a tiny icon of the application the item
was collected from.
To add an item to the Clipboard:
2. Open the Clipboard using the method above.
3. Select the text or items required.
4. Copy or cut the selection. The item is added to the Clipboard,
and a message appears briefly in the lower right corner of the
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screen advising that the item has been added, and the total out of the maximum of 24 items
currently held there.
Using clipboard items
Clipboard items can be used in any order, and as many times as required. Or, if you have collected
items in the order you want to use them, paste everything on the Clipboard into a file by using the
Paste All icon.
To paste individual Clipboard items into a file:
5. Place the cursor where the item is required
6. Click on the item in the Clipboard. The item will be pasted into the file.
To paste all Clipboard items into a file in the order they have
been collected:
7. Place the cursor where the item is required
8. Click on the Paste All button near the top of the Clipboard.
Everything held in the Clipboard will be added to your file in
the order you collected them, beginning with the bottom
item in the list.
Removing items from the clipboard
Once the Clipboard has been opened, every item you copy or paste will automatically be added to it,
even if you close the Clipboard temporarily. They are displayed in reverse order, with the most
recently collected at the top. They remain there until you delete them individually, clear the list or
close all MS Office applications.
To remove individual items from the Clipboard:
9. Right click on the item and click Delete.
OR
10. Move your mouse pointer onto the item, click on the arrow
and select Delete.
To clear all items from the Clipboard:
11. Click the Clear All button at the top of the Clipboard. The
Clipboard is emptied.
OR
12. Close all Microsoft applications. The Clipboard memory is cleared.
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