Word 2010 is all about flexibility—putting more power in your hands and giving you the tools to tailor the program to work the way you do. These are some of the top enhancements that will make your user experience a more pleasant one in Word 2010:

Figure 1-1. You can easily customize the Word 2010 Ribbon to add tabs and tab groups (as demonstrated on the Share tab in this image) that fit the way you use the program.

Figure 1-2. Backstage view pulls together all the tools you need to work with files and program preferences.

Many different features in Word 2010 are designed to improve your authoring experience so that you can create content that accomplishes the goal you’re reaching for. Some of the top authoring features include:

When was the last time you sat at your desk all day long and worked on one continuous document? We thought so. Word 2010 takes into account the needs of today’s user, who is often on the go, juggling multiple projects, and working seamlessly with others down the hall or around the world. New features that help you take Word 2010 beyond your desktop PC include:

But, you know, everybody’s different. One of the lessons I think Word 2007 taught was that not everybody was in agreement that “new = better.” The intention to create an interface that was easier to use and ultimately uncluttered the workspace was a good one. And the design philosophy behind the Ribbon—bringing you just the tools you need when you need them, organized around specific tasks you want to complete—was also sound. But learning a dramatically new interface and getting comfortable finding your favorite tools and options when you need to get things done can be a bit of a headache—one many Word users suffered through on the way to a more intuitive word processing experience.

When you open Word 2010 for the first time, the screen that meets your eye is open and inviting. Figure 1-7 shows the Word 2010 window. The Ribbon appears at the top of the screen, with tabs that group the tools you need for the various tasks you’ll undertake in Word.

Figure 1-7. The Word 2010 window.

The Ribbon across the top of the window organizes the tools in tabs, which reflect the different tasks you are likely to want to accomplish with the program. For example, when you create the document, the Home tab provides the commands you are likely to use as you start out. When you want to add pictures, shapes, diagrams, and more, you find the tools you need on the Insert tab. When you’re ready to share your document with others, the Review tab offers a variety of tools for preparing the file for review and working with the review copies when you receive them.

The Ribbon, as it appears by default, includes all the following elements:

Figure 1-8. Contextual tabs display tools related to the specific object you select in the document.

In the upper-left corner of the screen you’ll find the Quick Access Toolbar, which offers, within clicking distance, favorite file-management tools you are likely to use often. When you first launch Word 2010, the Save, Undo Typing, and Repeat Typing tools appear in the Quick Access Toolbar. You can click the Customize The Quick Access Toolbar arrow to display a list of additional tools and options that you can use to tailor the tools offered there (see Figure 1-9).

Figure 1-9. You can tailor the Quick Access Toolbar to include the tools you use often and want to make available while you work.

You can customize the Quick Access Toolbar a couple of different ways. First, you can simply click the tool you want from the Customize Quick Access Toolbar list. If the tool doesn’t appear in the list, you can click More Commands, navigate to the tool you want to add, and click it. You can also add a tool to the Quick Access Toolbar by right-clicking the tool in the Ribbon, and then click Add To Quick Access Toolbar (see Figure 1-10).

Figure 1-10. Add favorite tools to the Quick Access Toolbar easily.

The Ribbon is great for providing you with groups of tools that are related to the task you’re trying to accomplish, but sometimes it’s helpful to see all the options you have available so you can make the best choice. In those situations, having a traditional-style dialog box comes in handy. Dialog boxes are available for some groups on the Ribbon. Those groups that do have a dialog box display a small, boxed arrow symbol, called a dialog launcher, in the lower-right corner of the group. For example, the Font group on the Home tab has a dialog launcher in the lower-right corner. When you click the launcher, the dialog box appears (Figure 1-11).

Figure 1-11. Dialog launchers display dialog boxes.

Options for displaying dialog boxes are also available at the bottom of any gallery that offers additional options. For example, when you click Columns in the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab, a gallery of column settings appears. Click the More Columns option (see Figure 1-12) at the bottom of the gallery to launch the Columns dialog box.

Figure 1-12. Click the More Columns command at the bottom of the gallery to display additional options.

Word 2010 includes all sorts of galleries—themes, styles, picture styles, and more—that graphically display the range of choices from which you can click the design, color, layout, and style you want. You will see galleries displayed in different ways, depending on your screen resolution and the size of the Word window. The Ribbon was designed to adjust to the size of the screen, so in some cases you might see galleries appear as selections on the Ribbon, while other galleries appear as drop-down items.

Basically you’ll see galleries presented in one of three ways in Word. Some galleries are shown as part of a group on the Ribbon (similar to the Picture Styles gallery shown in Figure 1-13); you can click the More button in the lower-right corner of the gallery to display the full collection of choices. Other galleries (such as those available for Themes, Margins, and Position commands) display as drop-down galleries from which you can make your selection.

Figure 1-13. Some galleries display choices in the Ribbon.

Other galleries open as a palette of choices, like the Corrections gallery shown in Figure 1-14. Using galleries, you can easily see at a glance which color combination, format, color scheme, transition, or chart type you want. The choices you see in the galleries are connected with the theme you’ve selected (if any) for your document. This helps you be sure that when you’re choosing a chart type, for example, it reflects the colors, fonts, and effects used in other parts of your document.

To choose an option in a gallery, simply click your choice, and the setting is applied to the current document or selected object.

Figure 1-14. Some galleries open as palettes from which you can easily click your choice.

If you’re like other Word users, many of the choices you make while you’re working on a document have to do with formatting. Word 2010 includes the Mini Toolbar to bring the most common formatting options to you so you don’t have to leave your creative zone to choose the options you want to apply. Whenever you select text, the Mini Toolbar appears above the selection (see Figure 1-15). If you want to use the Mini Toolbar, move the mouse toward it and select the option you want; otherwise, move the mouse pointer away from the toolbar and it will fade away.

Figure 1-15. The Mini Toolbar displays quick formatting choices whenever you select text.

While you’re working on your document, you can easily change to a different view by clicking one of the view tools in the bottom-right corner of the Word window or by choosing a view in the Document Views group on the View tab. You can also use the new Zoom slider (in the lower-right corner of the Word window) to enlarge or reduce the display of the document. Word offers you many different ways to view your work, depending on the type of document you’re creating and the task at hand:

An exciting new feature in Word 2010 combines the Document Map and Thumbnail features with a powerful search tool to help you to find content you need quickly using whatever method works best for you. On the View tab, select the Navigation Pane checkbox in the Show group; the Navigation pane appears on the left side of your Word 2010 window (see Figure 1-18).

Figure 1-18. The Navigation pane enables you to view, move through, and search your document by heading, page view, or text search.

The Navigation pane offers three different tabs that move you through the information in your document by one of these methods:

Figure 1-19. You can search for text in your document, and the Navigation pane shows you every place the word or phrase appears.

When you are working on a document in which the alignment and sizing of elements is important, you will want to turn on rulers and gridlines to ensure that items line up on the page and meet the measurements you need. The controls for both items are found in the Show/Hide group on the View tab.

You can display and hide rulers quickly using a tool located at the top of the vertical scrollbar. The rulers are displayed by default, so to hide the them, click the View Ruler button. To redisplay the rulers, click the tool a second time.

Alternatively, you can display vertical and horizontal rulers by selecting the Ruler check box on the View tab. To hide the rulers, clear the Ruler check box.

Adding gridlines is a similar process. On the View tab, select the Gridlines check box. Gridlines appear on your document to which you can easily align pictures, quotes, or other elements on your page (see Figure 1-20).

Figure 1-20. Gridlines help you to align pictures, charts, and other elements in your document.

The Zoom group on the View tab includes five different tools with which you can change the size and number of pages you view on the screen at any one time. Page Width view is selected by default, but you can easily change the view to match your own comfort level.

To change the size of the text, click the Zoom tool to open the Zoom dialog box. You can choose one of the preset sizes or specify your own by clicking in the Percent box and typing a new value (see Figure 1-21). You can also change the number of pages displayed by choosing the Many Pages option and then dragging to select the number of pages you want to display on the screen. The Preview window shows you how your document will look, and the sample text area shows how readable (or not!) your text will be. When you’ve made changes you are happy with, click OK to save them.

Figure 1-21. Use the Zoom dialog box to change the way your document is displayed.

In addition to changing the page display in the Zoom dialog box, you can also easily switch among multipage views by clicking the One Page, Two Pages, or Page Width tools in the Zoom group on the View tab. Each of these tools behaves the way you would expect—One Page shows you the whole page at the cursor position; Two Pages displays the page on which the cursor is active and the next full page in the document; and Page Width magnifies or reduces the size of the document so that it fits the width of the Word window.

When you are working on a big project, chances are that you will have more than one document open at the same time. If you’re copying and pasting your research notes into a new journal article you’re writing, or if you’re incorporating the latest fundraising figures into the annual report, you’ll need an easy way of moving among open documents while you work. The View tab includes the Window group which gives you the means to do just that.

When you want to easily move among open Word documents, use the Switch Windows tool. When you click Switch Windows, a list appears that shows you the various open windows (see Figure 1-22); just click the one you want to see.

Figure 1-22. Click Switch Windows and choose the document you want to view to move among open files.

Use the New Windows tool when you want to open a new copy of the current document in a new window. You might use this tool when you need to edit or compare different portions of a large document instead of endlessly scrolling back and forth. When you’re ready to close the copy, click the close button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

The Arrange All, Split, and View Side By Side commands all enable you to choose how you want to view the open documents. If you have more than two documents open at once, clicking View Side By Side displays the Compare Side By Side dialog box, as shown in the following image. Here, you can choose the other open document you want to compare with the current one. Select your choice and click OK to display the document.

When you use the View Side By Side command, Word sets the default to Synchronous Scrolling, which means that as you scroll through one document, the other document scrolls automatically as well. This is helpful for comparing documents in which you’re looking for paragraphs, sections, or even phrases that might be slightly different.