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This rather extensive tutorial article by Christine Withers discusses various ways in which you can customize Microsoft Office 2007 (the latest version of Word) to fit your needs. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a more thorough guide than what is found here, you can look at Carol’s Corner Office Tips and Tricks, a four-book set that includes useful secrets on PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook in addition to Word tutorials. There is also a guide called Word 2007 Made Easy, a relatively concise PDF guide that is designed to help students prepare Word documents quickly and easily.

Word 2007 has been completely redesigned to make it easier and faster to format your documents. Though you may feel a bit lost and frustrated at first, once you get to know this new version you’ll wonder how you ever managed to work in anything less. But before we begin changing your default settings, let’s take a closer look at some of Word 2007’s new and improved features.

The Ribbon

The first thing you’ll notice about Word 2007 is that the menus and toolbars have been replaced by what’s called “The Ribbon”. The Ribbon consists of tabs – and within each tab is a series of groups – and within each group is a set of related commands. The Ribbon was designed to make it much easier and faster to get to the commands you need without having to go through menus and sub-menus as you did in earlier versions of Word.

To turn off the Ribbon to allow for more screen space, do one of the following:

1. Click the down arrow on the Quick Access Toolbar and select Minimize the Ribbon.
2. Press Ctrl+F1.
3. Double-click on the current tab.

To get the Ribbon back, press Ctrl+F1 –or– uncheck ‘Minimize the Ribbon’ on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Microsoft Office Button

The Office 2007 logo located in the upper left corner of the Word window is called the Microsoft Office Button. This button basically replaces the old File menu from previous versions of Word. Click the Microsoft Office button to Open, Save, or Print your document. The Word Options menu is also located here.

Quick Access Toolbar

Another new feature in 2007 is the Quick Access Toolbar which basically provides quick access to frequently used commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo. This is also the only customizable toolbar in Word 2007. To add or remove buttons, just click the small drop-down arrow located to the right of the toolbar. For more button options, click More Commands. The Customize window will open showing you a list of commands. The list on the left is somewhat limited at first glance, but this is because Word is showing you only the most popular commands. To see more commands, click the drop-down arrow under ‘Choose commands from’.

Another way to add buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar is by right-clicking on any command on the Ribbon and choosing ‘Add to Quick Access Toolbar’. Also, you’re not limited to just adding individual commands; you can also add groups such as the Font or Page Setup groups.

Changing Your Default Settings

Now that you are somewhat familiar with the Word 2007 environment, it’s time to tailor the settings to better fit your needs. The following instructions will help you to make modifications to your settings such as changing your default font, line spacing, and file format.

How to Change the Default Font

The default font for body text in Word 2007 is Calibri. To change the default font to your preference, do the following:

• Click the Home tab on the Ribbon.
• Click the small icon in the bottom right corner of the Font group to open up the Font dialog box.
• Select your preferred font, font size, and any other settings that you want.
• Click the Default button in the bottom left corner of the dialog box to make these your default settings.
• When you see this window pop up, click ‘Yes’ to confirm that you want to change the default font.

How to Change the Default Line Spacing Back to Word 2003

The default line spacing in Word 2007 is set to 1.15 line spacing with 10 pt. spacing between paragraphs. To change the default spacing back to the way it was in Word 2003, which is single spacing with no extra space between paragraphs, do the following:

• Click the Home tab on the Ribbon.
• In the Styles group, click the Change Styles button.
• Choose Style Set.
• Then choose Word 2003.
• To make this your default setting, click the Change Styles button again and click on Set as Default.

Microsoft added the 10 pt. spacing to its default setting to eliminate the need to have to press the Enter key twice between paragraphs to create a space.

How to Change the Margin Settings

The default margin setting is 1 inch on the top and bottom, and 1.25 inches on the left and right. However, most people prefer 1-inch margins all around. To change the margins, do the following:

• Click the Page Layout tab on the Ribbon.
• Click the small icon in the bottom right corner of the Page Setup group to open the Page Setup dialog box. (Alternatively, if you have the vertical ruler bar displayed, you can double-click on it to open up the Page Setup dialog box.)
• Under Margins, select your preferred margin sizes. For 1-inch margins all around, change Top, Bottom, Left, and Right to 1”.
• Click the Default button at the bottom left corner of the dialog box to make this your default settings.
• When you see this window pop up, click ‘Yes’ to confirm that you want to change the default settings.

How to Change Default File Type

Word 2007 documents are saved as “.docx” documents. This is a new file format that will not open in earlier versions of Word unless the proper compatibility pack is installed. Therefore many Word 2007 users have opted to change their default settings so that their documents are saved in Word’s previous format of “.doc”. This saves you from having to remember to change the Save As Type every time you save a document. To change the default file format, do the following:

• Click on the Microsoft Office Button.
• Click the Word Options button.
• Select Save.
• Click the drop-down arrow next to ‘Save files in this format’ and choose Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc).

The Better Alternative: To save a document to the previous version of Word (.doc) WITHOUT changing the default file format for all documents that you save, just click the Microsoft Office Button when it’s time to save your document, choose Save As, then choose Word 97-2003 Document.

How to Change the Default Save Location

By default, Word 2007 stores your documents in the Documents folder. However, if you prefer to have your documents saved to a different location, just do the following:

• Click the Microsoft Office Button.
• Click the Word Options button.
• Select Advanced.
• Scroll all the way down to the General section and click the File Locations button.
• Select Documents in the ‘File types’ list.
• Click on the Modify button.
• Click on the drop-down arrow at the top of the Modify Location window and select the location that you want your files to be saved to. Alternatively, you can select the location from the Organize panel on the left of the window.

How to Adjust Your View

1. To see the Ruler bars, click on the View tab on the Ribbon, and check the box next to Ruler.
2. To change the way you see your document, choose a selection from the Zoom group on the View tab.

Conclusion

Now that you have your settings adjusted to your preferences, this should make working in Microsoft Word 2007 a much more enjoyable and productive experience, especially as you continue to learn more about what Word 2007 has to offer.

Related Pages:

Eliminate Double Spacing in Microsoft Word 2007
How to Change the Default Font in Word 2007
Using Themes for Print Design in MS Word 2007