Top Word Options

Word’s other options include settings that affect a document’s appearance onscreen and when printed, how the proofing tools work, and how certain editing features behave. Here’s a review of some of the most important features, identified by Options dialog box category:

• Display. Clicking this category displays the settings shown in Figure A-3. The settings in the Always Show These Formatting Marks on the Screen section turn on marks that typically don’t print, such as Tab character marks. If you need to check the formatting in your document, clicking the Show All Formatting Marks choice to check it will display those marks so that you can eliminate such errors as double spaces. The settings in the Printing Options section also are helpful. For example, if you are printing a document with a color printer, you may want to check the Print Background Colors and Images choice to make sure that those decorative items print.

  Figure A-3. Word’s Display options.

  [View full size image]

  

• Proofing. The settings in this category of the Options dialog box let you set up how the AutoCorrect, spelling check, and grammar check features work. Clicking the AutoCorrect Options button here opens a dialog box in which you can change AutoCorrect and AutoFormat settings. The choices under When Correcting Spelling in Microsoft Office Programs enable you to turn certain corrections on and off; for example, clearing the Ignore words in UPPERCASE checkbox tells the spelling check feature to include words in all uppercase as possible misspellings. Under When Correcting Spelling and Grammar in Word, the Check Spelling as You Type and Mark Grammar Errors as You Type control whether you see the wavy underlines under words that may be misspelled and grammar that may be incorrect.

• Advanced. Amongst the plethora of options here, you’re likely to use those in the Editing Options; Cut, Copy, and Paste; and Print categories most often. The choices under Editing Options enable you to turn editing features on and off. For example, if you don’t like the drag and drop feature, you can clear the Allow Text to Be Dragged and Dropped checkbox. Under Cut, Copy, and Paste, many of the choices enable you to control whether pasted text keeps its formatting by default. You also can check or clear the Show Paste Options Buttons checkbox to turn that feature on or off. The Print category offers settings for controlling a printout, such as Use Draft Quality and Print Pages in Reverse Order.