The 5 Best Hidden Word Shortcuts of 2021

Sometimes, you can benefit from a little extra boost beyond the tools in the toolbar. Microsoft Word is full of hidden shortcuts you can use to enhance your productivity and get things done faster. Here are our favorites.

Save Your Own Word Formatting

Do you ever use Microsoft Word to create the same document over and over? Perhaps you create weekly staff reports or a monthly newsletter. Whatever the case may be, you can easily create these documents by saving your own formatting in Word.

1. From the document you wish to save as a new format, select the Styles Pane, located all the way to the right of your toolbar.

   

2. Select New Style towards the top of the Styles Pane.

   

3. In this window, enter the new name for your formatting in the box provided.

   

   Name your formatting template something that explains what it's used for. Be as specific as possible so you can find it later.

4. Select OK. Now, you have a Quick Style that's easily accessible from the Styles Pane when you need it again! When you want to use the formatting, select it from the Styles Pane.

   

Word Shortcuts to Fix Multiple Mistakes At Once

Have you made a mistake in the spelling of a word you've used throughout your document? You don't have to go through the document and fix it by hand. Instead, use Word's Find and Replace tool to fix each mistake at the same time.

How to Use Find and Replace on Word for Mac

1. In your document, click Edit > Find > Replace.

   

2. In the Find and Replace window, enter the word you want to replace in the first text box, then enter the word you want to replace it with in the second box.

   

   You can use the find and replace tool for more than just words. In fact, in the same box you enter your word to replace, click the dropdown to see different formatting options (such as paragraph marks) you can replace too.

3. To replace them one at a time, click Replace. To replace them all at one time, click Replace All.

   It's always best to go back and check that the correct changes were made, especially when you're creating critical documents.

4. Continue this process with other errors until you're finished.

How to Use Find and Replace on Word for Windows

1. In your document, locate the Home tab. Next, select Replace.

2. Using the Find What box, enter the phrase you want to replace. In the Replace With box, enter your new text.

3. Select Replace to replace one error, or select Replace All to replace all errors at once.

How to Quickly View More Information About Your Word Document

When word count and other details about your document matter, there's an easier way to view it than clicking through different screens and menus.

1. In your document, locate the toolbar at the bottom of your Word document window. Here, you'll see the page number, word count, etc.

   

   The traditional method of viewing this information requires multiple clicks into the Tools section in Word. This method uses one simple click.

2. Select the word count tool. Here, you'll see more information about your document such as character count, paragraph count and more.

Pin a Commonly Used Document File in Word

Is there a Word document you frequently use for reference or as a template? You can easily pin that document to your recent files folder for easy access whenever you need it.

1. If you're inside of a current document, select File.

   You don't have to be in a current document to access the Recents section. Simply open Word and proceed to the next step.

2. Select Recent, then scroll until you find the document you want to pin, or search for it using the search box.

3. Once you locate the document you want to pin, select the Pin icon to the right of the document.

4. To see your pinned documents, select Pinned at the top of the Recent window.

   

   To remove a document from the Pinned section, simply select the Pin icon again.

5. Now, you have your important documents at your fingertips at all times.

Want to do even more using Microsoft Word? Start by trying out keyboard shortcuts on Mac or Windows to speed up the document creation process, or insert a table to quickly organize your critical data. Microsoft Word is extremely intuitive for the user, making it easy to create documents fast, but that doesn't mean you can't use these simple hacks to move even faster.