Sometimes you want to be able to view two different parts of your document simultaneously. It is particularly helpful to view different sections when you are cutting and pasting in or when you are making reference to an earlier part of a long document. Microsoft anticipated this need, and incorporated a feature that allows you to split the document area of the window. Just above the vertical scroll bar there is a small gray control that allows you to split the window.

Microsoft Word is a powerful tool to create professional looking documents. Microsoft Word is currently one of the most commonly used applications for creating critical documents such as reports, letters, business plans, and more for the World Wide Web and for print. The newest version of Word extends this tradition by giving users the tools they need to streamline the process of creating, sharing, reviewing, and publishing their important documents. Word makes it easier for users to discover and use existing functionality and provides intelligent new ways for users to work with their documents. Word now also makes it easier for users to share and review documents with others without changing the way they currently work.

With a new, blank document open, on the Task pane options list, select the Mail Merge Wizard; if you are unfamiliar with the Task pane or how it works, you can refer to this tutorial or this tip for more information.

While Microsoft includes an extensive dictionary with Word, you will still encounter words that are not included in it. For many people, this can become an annoyance when they’re working on a document with the spelling feature enabled – words that are correct but not included in Word’s standard dictionary will appear as misspellings, underlined with a squiggly red line. Rather than disable Word’s spelling feature and lose all the spelling tools for the sake of circumnavigating this annoyance, it might make sense to create a custom dictionary of frequently used words.

At the very bottom of the Word window is the status bar. This often overlooked feature of the window provides important information about the cursor’s position in the document, in addition to offering functionality. The left-most side of the status bar shows the page number, section number, and the vertical and horizontal position of the cursor, among other things.

The task pane is a feature Microsoft introduced to Word and some of the other Office components within the past few years; if you are working with a version previous to Word 2002, then this feature will not be available to you. When you first open Word, the task pane appears down the right side of the window; the default view is the new document menu.

By default, the Standard toolbar appears every time you open Word; it is usually docked below the menu bar, although it can be moved anywhere in the Word window that is most convenient for you. You can also turn the toolbar off by right clicking it and deselecting it from the list that pops up, although unless you are extremely proficient in Word and know all the shortcut keys, you will probably leave it in place. Depending on which version of Word you are using and the customization that you or another user has done to the toolbars, the buttons that appear on the bar may vary.

Like the Standard toolbar, the Formatting toolbar is set by default to appear any time you open Word. It is usually docked below the menu bar, to the right of the Standard toolbar. If the monitor you are using is small and screen space is at a premium, it makes sense to deactivate this toolbar by right clicking on it and deselecting it from the list, as the commands are not as essential as those on the Standard toolbar. This is not to say the commands are unimportant: They will help you produce professional quality documents that are easy to read. If you do decide to turn deactivate it, it is a good idea to learn the shortcut keys for the commands first. Depending on which version of Word you are using and the customization that you or another user has done to the toolbars, the buttons that appear may vary.

You can activate a command in Word by using shortcut keys, also called hot keys. A shortcut key is generally the Ctrl key and a letter, although some of the more advanced shortcut keys also include the shift key. To activate a command using a shortcut key, simply hold down the Ctrl key (and Shift key if required) and press the letter for the command. You'll find that shortcut keys will greatly increase your productivity, as you aren't taking your hands off the keyboard to fumble with the mouse.

When you open Word, the menubar, standard toolbar, and the formatting toolbar are automatically displayed beneath the program’s blue title bar. While these can easily be turned off, the menubar provides access to all the commands and options available in Word and the toolbars provide quick access to the most frequently used commands, so it is advisable not to turn them off. If you choose to, right-click on the menubar, toolbar, or the gray space surrounding them and deselect them by clicking on their names in the pop up list.