Mediaboss Marketing

June 17, 2012, 6:42 AM PDT

Takeaway: Change a few key default settings in Word and you wont have to make the same tweaks over and over.

Word does a good job of assuming how the average user works, but some of Words default settings can be annoying and inefficient. Some users dont know they can permanently change these settings, so they continue to reset them for each new document or just struggle along. Users should consider resetting the following defaults to work more productively. Of course, there are more defaults to set; feel free to share your suggestions in the discussion below.

The default line spacing setting in Word 2007 and 2010 is 1.15, not 1, as it is in 2003. Microsoft believes 1.15 is more readable online. If youre not generating Web content, adjust the style(s) you use in Words template (Normal.dotx), as follows:

If you generate Web content or other published material, you probably have to undo Words smart quotes in favor of straight quotes. You can do so quickly enough by pressing [Ctrl]+Z, but that becomes tedious after a while and you might forget. If you use straight quotes more than smart quotes, disable smart quotes as follows:

Words paste special feature retains the source formatting. If youre pasting from foreign sources, you probably reformat it once its in your Word document. If you do this a lot, change the Paste Special default as follows:

This feature is significantly different in Word 2003. From the Tools menu, choose Options, and click the Edit tab. In the Cut And Paste section, click the Settings button to display the options shown in Figure D.

Follow this link:
10 Word defaults you can customize to work the way YOU want