CHAPTER 31

Word Options and Settings

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Personalizing Word
• Changing display options and Save options
• Understanding advanced options
• Managing add-ins
• Using Trust Center settings

If you don't like something about the way Word works, there's a good chance that you can change it. The problem usually isn't whether you can change something. Rather, the issue is finding out where to change it.

In this chapter, you learn about all of the different options you can change in Word. In a few cases, you are referred to more detailed discussions in other parts of the book. For the most part, however, you'll find everything you need to know about changing Word's options in this chapter.

Opening Word Options

Word 2013 consolidates most of its customization settings in the Word Options dialog box that you first saw in Chapter 1, “Taking Your First Steps with Word,” and have revisited from time to time throughout the book. To open the Word Options dialog box, choose File Options. Some feature-oriented options can still be found in other locations—such as those for labels, various formatting defaults (for example, the default font), styles, and captions. Most settings and options, however, can be found under the Word Options umbrella, shown in Figure 31.1.

Word Options is divided into 10 tabs, or sections:

• General
• Display
• Proofing
• Save
• Language
• Advanced
• Customize Ribbon
• Quick Access Toolbar
• Add-Ins
• Trust Center

FIGURE 31.1

The Word Options dialog box enables you to control how Word goes about most of its business.

Although these tab names indicate what you'll find and where to find it, they are by no means perfect. For example, General contains a number of display-related settings. Display contains a number of printing options. Moreover, Advanced contains settings of just about every variety.

If you're looking for a particular setting, start on the General tab. If one of the other tabs besides Advanced looks promising, check that tab next. If you don't find the desired setting, take a look in the Advanced tab options, divided into a number of subsections.

In addition, to save wear and tear on your patience, rather than repeatedly say “Choose File Options” for the rest of this chapter, I'm going to assume that you know how to open the Word Options dialog box and that the relevant tab is onscreen as it's being described. That said, click File Options General to get started. And make sure you click OK to apply your setting's changes every time.

Another route to Word Options

While File Options opens the main Word Options dialog box, the Options button from other dialog boxes sometimes takes you there as well. For example, if you click the dialog box launcher in the Page Setup group of the Page Layout tab to open the Page Setup dialog box, clicking Print Options on the Paper tab transports you to the Display tab in the Word Options dialog box. The bottom subsection of the Display tab is called Printing Options.

Those aren't all of the printing options, of course. You can find many more in Word Options' Advanced tab, under Print and When Printing This Document. Some of these options affect only the current document, not Word as a whole.

Option ScreenTips

As you scroll through different sections of the Word Options dialog box, notice that several icons feature a lowercase “i” in a circle. Hover the mouse over these, as shown in Figure 31.2, to see a ScreenTip describing the feature to the left of the “i.”

FIGURE 31.2

Hover the mouse pointer over information icons to see a ScreenTip description of the option.

General

The description for the General tab, shown at the top of Figure 31.2, indicates that it offers General options for working with Word. Note that while it says “with Word,” some of these, indicated in the following list, affect all of Office 2013, not just Word. The General options and how they behave when enabled (checked) are:

• Show Mini Toolbar on selection: The Mini Toolbar appears beside selected text and contains a number of common formatting tools. See the discussion in Chapter 1, and especially Figure 1.15.
• Enable Live Preview: Live Preview shows the effects of specific formatting options in the current document. See Chapter 1 for an introduction to Live Preview.
• Update document content while dragging: This option gives an animated view of how moved, resized, or rotated objects will look when you finish.
• ScreenTip style: This provides three different options regarding how to display ScreenTips: Show feature descriptions in ScreenTips (the default, which shows the most detail in the ScreenTips); Don't show feature descriptions in ScreenTips (which shows only the command name); and Don't show ScreenTips (which suppresses them entirely). This setting affects all of Office 2013.
• User name and Initials: Enter the User name and Initials you want Word to use when it identifies who's making comments and editing changes, as well as for certain document properties, such as author. This setting affects all Office 2013 applications that use username and initials.
• Always use these values regardless of my sign in to Office: This tells Word to always use the specified User name and Initials values, even when you sign into Office with Microsoft account information that might be different.
• Office Background and Office Theme: The choices on these drop-down lists enable you to customize how Office programs look onscreen. Choose one of several backgrounds to appear above the tabs and either the White, Light Gray, or Dark Gray theme.
• Choose the extensions you want Word to open by default: Clicking the Default Programs button beside this choice opens the Windows Control panel to its Set Program Associations choices for Word; you may need to click a flashing icon for Control Panel to bring the window to the front. (See Figure 31.3 for the Windows 8 version.) To stop Word from opening files with one of the checked extension types, clear the check box for that extension. For example, you might clear the .rtf extension check box if you prefer to open that type of file in WordPad. Click Save to save your changes and return to the Word Options dialog box.
• Tell me if Microsoft Word isn't the default program for viewing and editing documents: You might install another program and it makes itself the default editor for documents. When this option is checked and that happens, on startup Word displays a message asking if you want to reinstate it as the default document editor.
• Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view: By default, when you click a Word document attachment in an email message, Word opens that attachment in Reading view. If you dislike this default, clear this check box to turn it off.
• Show the Start screen when this application starts: If you'd prefer the traditional Word startup that takes you directly to a document, rather than stopping at the Start screen to select a template, clear this check box.

FIGURE 31.3

Files with the checked type of extension automatically open in Word.

Display (and Printing)

The Display settings, shown in Figure 31.4, affect how certain aspects and attributes are displayed and printed. The most popular among these include the display of nonprinting formatting marks. If the settings you seek aren't here, check in the Advanced tab, where a number of additional display and printing settings are listed under Show document content, Display, Print, and When printing this document.

FIGURE 31.4

A number of Display tab settings affect printing, too.

Page display options

Common Page display options are as follows:

• Show white space between pages in Print Layout view: This setting is enabled by default, and provides an accurate page preview. Turn this feature off if you'd rather see more text at one time—for example, when proofreading text for continuity and flow—as shown in Figure 31.5.
• Show highlighter marks: If the text contains any highlighting, when this setting is enabled highlighting is displayed onscreen as well as printed.
• Show document tooltips on hover: This controls the display of a wide variety of tooltips, including tracked changes, footnotes, and endnotes. This does not affect the display of ScreenTips.

FIGURE 31.5

With Show white space between pages in Print Layout view disabled, you see more text in Print Layout view.

Nonprinting formatting marks

Nonprinting formatting marks often help you uncover formatting problems or oddities in documents. The formatting marks also include additional characters not mentioned in the list, such as page breaks, column breaks, and section breaks. Some are controlled by specific settings in the Always show these formatting marks on the screen subsection shown in Figure 31.4, while others are controlled by the Show all formatting marks check box also found in that subsection, regardless of the individual settings. The Show all formatting marks check can be toggled by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8 or by clicking the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group of the Home tab on the Ribbon, which you learned about in an Chapter 4, “Zapping Word's Top Annoyances.”

Marks included, shown in Figure 31.4, are as follows:

• Tab characters: This includes tab characters inserted by the user as well as tabs inserted by the Bullets, Numbering, and AutoFormat tools.
• Spaces (regular and nonbreaking): In addition to spaces, this check box controls page breaks.
• Paragraph marks: This setting also controls the display of the newline character and cell markers inside tables.
• Hidden text: In addition to hidden text formatting (Ctrl+Shift+H), this check box toggles the display of index, table of contents, and table of authorities entries, which are formatted as hidden text.
• Optional hyphens: Also called discretionary hyphens, these are manually inserted hyphens used along with Word's hyphenation feature.
• Object anchors: These indicate the paragraph to which graphics are attached (or anchored).

When you check any of the above options, the indicated characters appear all the time, and Show/Hide will not toggle them on and off. Note that column breaks and section breaks are toggled by Show all formatting marks, but are not associated with any of the individual settings. Hence, there is no way to display column and section breaks all the time, independent of Show/Hide.

Printing options

Word provides a number of options that enable you to control what is printed. Additional options are located in the Advanced tab, under Print and When printing this document. Options in the Display tab are as follows:

• Print drawings created in Word: This controls whether Word prints a variety of graphical objects. When this option is turned off, Word will not print any graphic that is in the drawing layer. Only graphics with a Wrap Text setting of In Line with Text can be printed, and not all of those. With wrapping set to In Line with Text, pictures inserted from files, some clipart, and WordArt can be printed even if this Word Option is turned off. With this setting turned off, even if set to In Line with Text, Word will not print SmartArt, shapes, text boxes, or charts. This setting also affects whether images used as watermarks are printed.
• Print background colors and images: This determines whether Word prints web-style background colors and images. This does not affect watermarks.
• Print document properties: When enabled, this causes an additional page to be printed at the end of the document (and not integrated into the page number structure). The additional page contains a number of document properties: file name, directory, template, title, subject, author, keywords, comments, creation date, change number, last saved on, last saved by, total editing time, last printed on, number of pages, number of words, and number of characters.
• Print hidden text: This setting determines whether hidden text (index, table of contents, table of authorities entries, and text formatted as hidden by you) is printed.
• Update fields before printing: If enabled, all fields are updated when the document is printed, except for fields that are locked (using either the LockFields keystroke command, Ctrl+F11, or a locking switch).
• Update linked data before printing: If enabled, non-field-based links are updated when the file is printed. This includes data linked using XML methods.

Proofing

Proofing options control what kinds of things Word considers to be errors, and what it does about those errors. The Proofing tab has five sections:

• AutoCorrect Options: See Chapter 3, “Working Smarter, Not Harder, in Word,” and Chapter 11, “Cleaning Up with AutoCorrect and AutoFormat,” for a complete discussion of AutoCorrect options.
• When correcting spelling in Microsoft Office programs: This subsection holds options that affect all Office 2013 programs that use the proofing tools. See Chapter 10, “Reviewing a Document with Language Tools,” for a discussion of these options.
• When correcting spelling and grammar in Word: This subsection offers additional spelling and grammar options available in Word that can be set in addition to what might be set in other Office 2013 programs. For example, SharePoint Designer has a “Check spelling as you type” option that is independent of Word's. See Chapter 10 for more on these options.
• Exceptions for: Leave the current document selected or choose All New Documents from the drop-down list. Then use the check boxes described next to indicate which exceptions apply to the current document or new documents you create.
• Hide spelling errors in this document only and Hide grammar errors in this document only: Check the appropriate option to hide spelling or grammar error onscreen markup as desired. Making an exception can be especially useful when you are using a lot of technical terms in a document, for example.

Save

The Save tab, shown in Figure 31.6, houses a number of settings relating to how Word saves your documents. The Advanced tab has additional save settings.

FIGURE 31.6

Use Save options to keep your documents better organized and safer.

Save documents (backup options)

The Save documents section shown near the top of Figure 31.6 provides five important settings:

• Save files in this format: Use this setting to set Word's default save format. Ordinarily, to take full advantage of Word 2013's features, you'll want to save in .docx format. However, if you work in an office with mixed installations of different versions of Word and/or other word processors, it can be helpful to default to saving files in a different format. Or sometimes you need to save in a specific format when working on a particular project. In any case, you have more than a dozen default formats from which to choose.

• Save AutoRecover information every x minutes: When this option is enabled, Word starts an internal timer every time a document is saved (by you or by Word itself). When x minutes pass since the last save, if there are unsaved changes (since the most recent save) Word saves a copy of the document with an .asd extension in the AutoRecovery location, and includes a reference to the original file's name and location. Each time you explicitly save the file, the .asd file is removed and the time is reset. Note that Word will never automatically save the actual file itself—just the .asd version. When Word is closed normally, all .asd files are removed from this folder. If Word crashes, the .asd files aren't removed. The next time Word starts, Word checks whether there are any .asd files in the AutoRecovery folder. If there are, it presents them to you as file versions on the File Info tab, as described in Chapter 3.
• Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving: With this option enabled, Word preserves a copy of unsaved versions of files (documents closed without saving changes) in a drafts folder. These are available as versions in File Info, under Versions. These files are saved in C:Usersuser nameAppDataLocalMicrosoftOfficeUnsavedFiles. You cannot change this location. Windows 7 and 8's own file versioning feature does provide additional resources for recovering older saved versions of files. Consult the Help system in your version of Windows to learn how to turn on and use this valuable protection.
• AutoRecover file location: Word defaults to a location in your personal folders for your Windows user account (this location can vary depending on what version of Windows you are using). Under some circumstances, you might want to specify a backup drive or a network drive for this location. Either way, it should be a location that is available when Word restarts.
• Don't show the Backstage when opening or saving files: Turns off the Backstage so you can go directly to the Open or Save As dialog boxes.
• Show additional places for saving, even if sign-in may be required: Controls whether the File Save As page in Backstage includes your SkyDrive or Office 365 cloud storage locations that you can choose when saving.
• Save to Computer by default: Makes the computer (instead of the cloud) the default location when you choose File Save As.
• Default file location: This is the location where Word saves files and looks for files. You might want to change the location from the default for better organization and control over your files, and to use subfolders.
• Default personal templates location: If you want to save templates you create to a default location other than the one that Word uses, enter the folder path here.

Offline editing options for document management server files

These options control what Word does when you check out files from a document management server, such as SharePoint. These settings can affect performance. Under most circumstances, the best performance will be obtained if Word makes a local copy of the file on your own computer. Under some circumstances, however, security requirements might be such that specific documents need to reside on the server. Note that if you choose to save the checked out file to a web server, you will still need to check that document back in for others to see your changes and/or to access it themselves for editing. The Server drafts location can be on your own computer, some other location on your LAN or WAN, or an Internet location.

Preserve fidelity when sharing this document

The last set of options default to affecting only the current document, but you can set it to another open document or All New Documents using the drop-down list. Then set the specific options to apply to the current or new file:

• Embed fonts in the file: Enable this check box if you're using unusual fonts, and/or the fonts are essential to proper display and interpretation of the document. This option can be crucial when the document is being printed by a commercial printing service. When you choose to embed, you have the following additional options:
  • Embed only the characters used in the document (best for reducing file size): Any given font set potentially can contain hundreds of characters. If the others need fonts only for displaying and printing a file, enable this option to keep file size low. If others will need fonts to edit the file, don't use this option.
  • Do not embed common system fonts: This is another space-saving option. It prevents common Windows fonts, such as Arial and Times New Roman, from being embedded, thereby saving on file size.

Language

Word-controlled language settings have expanded in Word 2013. Language settings work along with proofing tools and other features in Word, so you may need to change them from time to time if you work in a multilingual environment. Note that you typically have to restart Word for language changes to take effect.

Choose Editing Languages

Use the choices here to determine what languages work with the spelling and grammar checking tools in Word. Chapter 10 gave you the detailed steps for installing an additional language.

As shown in Figure 31.7, in addition to installing a language, you may need to enable the Keyboard Layout for it so you can more easily type in that language. Click Not enabled beside the language. This opens the Language settings in Control Panel so that you can install the needed display and keyboard layout language in Windows. Consult the Help system in your version of Windows to learn how to install additional languages. You may also be prompted to download and install a language pack, depending on the language and dialect you select. When you finish, save your changes in Control Panel and close Control Panel.

Once you've added additional editing languages, a keyboard icon should appear in the Windows taskbar. Click it to choose the desired language.

Choose Display and Help Languages

This section lets you independently choose the language for the interface (button labels, menu, and so on) and Help. The default is for the interface to match Windows’ language, and for Help to match the display language. If you need additional languages, click the “How do I get more Display and Help languages from Office.com?” link.

FIGURE 31.7

Add editing languages to work with Word's proofing tools.

Choose ScreenTip Language

By default, the Set your ScreenTip language drop-down choice matches the current display language. Unlike display and Help languages, this is not tied to complete language interfaces. If you installed Spanish and/or French proofing tools when you installed Office 2013, then ScreenTips for those languages will be available and you can select either choice from the drop-down list. If you need ScreenTips for a different language, then click the “How do I get more ScreenTip languages from Office.com?” link to find out how.

Advanced

The Advanced tab contains more than 140 option settings (if we include the Layout Options at the bottom of the tab). Though many of these are options you will never need, let alone care about what they are, each and every one of these settings is important to somebody. You'll have to scroll down the tab to find all the subsection options available on the Advanced tab.

Editing options

Editing options are used to control a number of what to many Word users are essential features but which to others are annoyances. They are shown in Figure 31.8.

FIGURE 31.8

Change editing options to match your working style.

The Advanced Editing options are as follows:

• Typing replaces selected text: This is Windows' default. Word supports a different option that Windows doesn't support. If this setting is turned on and text is selected, when you type another character the selection is replaced by the first character you type (or by the contents of the Clipboard if you are pasting over a selection). If this option is turned off, text you type or paste is inserted to the left of the selection, and the selection highlight is removed.
• When selecting, automatically select entire word: For selection purposes, this affects only the mouse. When enabled, when you select from the interior of a word and drag to expand the selection to include additional material, the original selection start point is moved to encompass the entire word. This setting also affects formatting. When the setting is enabled and nothing is selected, if you apply character formatting anywhere in a word the formatting is applied to the entire word (no matter how the formatting is applied, that is, pressing Ctrl+B, clicking a formatting tool, or using the Font dialog box).
• Allow text to be dragged and dropped: When this setting is turned off, when you click to try to drag selected text the selection highlighting is removed instead.
• Use Ctrl+click to follow hyperlink: When this setting is turned off, clicking follows a hyperlink, which can make selecting text rather difficult.
• Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes: This controls whether Word inserts the drawing canvas when you add shapes and other graphics to a document. Most users prefer to leave this setting turned off, but you may want to turn it back on when creating more complex graphics.
• Use smart paragraph selection: When enabled, if you select a paragraph, the paragraph mark is automatically included.
• Use smart cursoring: This controls what happens when you scroll using the scroll bars. When this setting is enabled and you scroll so that the insertion point is no longer showing, Word automatically moves the insertion point to the top of the page that is displayed. When turned off, the next character is inserted at the insertion point, which might be miles from where you are looking. Though this is annoying to some, to others it's actually useful. You can scroll to look for something in your document, and then press the Left and Right arrows to return to the insertion point to resume typing.
• Use the Insert key to control overtype mode: This is the Windows default. In Word, however, it's not. This setting evolved due to people accidentally pressing the Insert key and toggling Overtype on, which replaces old text—character for character—as new text is typed.
• Use overtype mode: Use this setting to toggle Overtype on/off. If the status bar displays Overtype status (right-click the status bar and choose Overtype), you can also toggle this by clicking Overtype or Insert in the status bar.
• Prompt to update style: This controls whether Word reapplies the current style or prompts to update the style, when the current style and the formatting of the selection are different. See Chapter 7, “Using Styles to Create a Great Looking Document,” for a more complete discussion.
• Use Normal style for bulleted or numbered lists: When this setting is enabled and you click the Numbering or Bullets tools, Word uses Normal to format the list. When the setting is disabled, Word instead uses List Paragraph style.
• Keep track of formatting: When enabled, variant formatting information is added to the Plus section in the Style Inspector. See Chapter 7 for more about the Style Inspector.
• Mark formatting inconsistencies: When this setting is enabled, Word analyzes your formatting and underlines text it considers to be inconsistent using a blue zigzag. This analysis is not instantaneous and sometimes can take several minutes before it appears.
• Updating style to match selection: Lets you choose between Keep previous numbering and bullets pattern or Add numbering or bullets to all paragraphs with this style. If you have a series of paragraphs—some numbered/bulleted and some not—but all using the same style, Keep previous… will allow the formatting pattern to remain if the style definition is updated. If Add numbering or bullets… is enabled, then if you update the style definition, the previously unnumbered and unbulleted paragraphs will acquire bullets or numbers. If you typically apply bullets and numbering by using the tools in the Home tab's Paragraph section (rather than by explicitly applying dedicated styles), then changing to Add numbering… will likely have a major impact on your formatting and will cause unintended numbering/bullets in your document. If you typically use dedicated bullet or numbering styles, then the Add numbering… feature will help you maintain the strict use of styles.
• Enable click and type: When this setting is enabled, you can double-click anywhere and start typing. Word will add the necessary tabs and paragraph marks to allow you to start typing where you double-click.
• Default paragraph style: Use this setting to specify the default style that is applied when you use Click and Type.
• Show AutoComplete suggestions: This setting controls whether Word provides an AutoComplete suggestion when it recognizes a date or an AutoText entry.
• Do not automatically hyperlink screenshot: When you take a screenshot, this setting prevents it from being automatically hyperlinked.

Cut, copy, and paste

Cut, copy, and paste settings, shown in Figure 31.9, are used primarily to control what happens when pasting.

The first four options control the following pasting behaviors:

• Pasting within the same document
• Pasting between documents
• Pasting between documents when style definitions conflict
• Pasting from other programs

FIGURE 31.9

Cut, copy, and paste settings can save you work if they stop Word from automatically doing something you always have to fix.

Word offers the same three options for each of those four, and a fourth when style definitions conflict:

• Keep Source Formatting: Use this option when pasting things such as book and article titles.
• Merge Formatting: The style name(s) in the original text are kept, but the destination style definitions are used. Use this option when repurposing text, such that the original formatting is moot.
• Keep Text Only: This is the equivalent of choosing Paste Special Unformatted Text. It removes all formatting and graphics.
• Use Destination Styles: This option is provided only when pasting between documents and style definitions are in conflict.

Additional cut, copy, and paste options are as follows:

• Insert/paste pictures as: Use this to set the default wrapping style for pictures and many other (but not all) graphic objects.
• Keep bullets and numbers when pasting text with Keep Text Only option: Ordinarily, when pasting formatted text that contains bullets and formatting (where that formatting is applied using HTML or RTF techniques, rather than actual numbers of bullet characters), when formatting is suppressed, so are the bullets and numbering. This setting is supposed to preserve that formatting. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work, especially when pasting from an Internet browser.
• Use the Insert key for paste: Antique versions of Word for DOS used the Insert key for pasting the contents of the Clipboard. Some users were loath to give that up, and Microsoft accommodated with this option.
• Show Paste Options button when content is pasted: After you paste, a little Clipboard icon appears. If you hover the mouse pointer over it, a menu of additional paste options appears. Chapter 8, “Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Using the Clipboard,” or Chapter 9, “Find, Replace, and Go To,” covered how to use Paste Options in more detail. You clear the check box for this setting to turn off Paste Options if you prefer not to use it.
• Use smart cut and paste: Chapter 4, “Zapping Word's Top Annoyances,” covered the details of how and when to use this feature. You can enable and disable it here.

Image Size and Quality

The Image Size and Quality settings also shown in Figure 31.9 can be used to set options just for the current document or for All New Documents, using the drop-down list beside the subsection name. From there, choose how these options apply.

• Discard editing data: Choose this option to tell Word not to save editing information when you crop/resize/recolor or otherwise edit images. Choosing this option reduces file size, but it also means that you can't later revert or undo edits without going back to the original image file.
• Do not compress images in file: Choose this option to keep full resolution data from images. This option increases file size, but it maximizes the available resolution. This can improve image quality especially when printing.
• Set default target output to: Choose this option when you need to precisely control the resolution of images. Choices are 220, 150, and 96 ppi. If your files are going to be viewed onscreen only, there's no need for resolution above 96 ppi. On the other hand, if the documents are going to be printed, 220 ppi will provide higher quality with less graininess.

Chart

This section can be set to apply to an open document or All New Documents using the subsection title drop-down list. From there, click to enable or disable Properties follow chart data point as needed. When enabled, this setting ensures that data labels will be repositioned properly if you edit chart data.

Show document content

Shown in Figure 31.10, the Show document content subsection options affect how a variety of Word features are represented onscreen. Some of the following options are for information purposes only, such as text boundaries and crop marks, whereas others can affect performance when memory and other resources are tight.

FIGURE 31.10

When pictures disappear and odd things show up in your documents, Show document content settings often explain why.

• Show background colors and images in Print Layout view: Choose this option to display background colors and images in the document. This affects the display of Page Color settings in the Page Layout tab of the Ribbon but does not affect the Watermark settings. This setting is independent of the similar Print setting in the Display tab.
• Show text wrapped within the document window: Choose this option to wrap text to the document window so that horizontal scrolling isn't needed. This setting works only in Draft view.
• Show picture placeholders: Choose this option to display empty boxes instead of pictures in your document. This option does not affect the printing of pictures—just whether they are displayed in Word. Using this option makes displaying documents containing pictures faster, and requires less memory. This option does not affect the display of Word shapes, drawings, and text boxes. If multiple documents are open, this setting affects only the currently displayed document and documents opened thereafter.
• Show drawings and text boxes on screen: This option controls whether Word displays objects created using Word drawing tools when in Print Layout or Web Layout view. This option does not affect the printing of drawings and text boxes.
• Show bookmarks: This option displays bookmarks by placing brackets around bookmarked text. The brackets display as [bookmark] when text is bookmarked or as an I-beam when a single point is bookmarked. This option is for screen display purposes only and does not affect how the document is printed.
• Show text boundaries: This option displays hash lines around text margins, columns, and paragraphs. This feature is useful for document layout purposes. The hash lines are not printed and disappear when the document is displayed in Print Preview.
• Show crop marks: This option causes Word to display crop marks at the corners of your document. They are used for layout purposes, like text boundaries, and are not printed.
• Show field codes instead of their values: Use this option to display field codes instead of field results. You can toggle this setting on/off by pressing Alt+F9.
• Field shading: Use this option to control when and if fields are displayed as shaded. Choose Always or When Selected to shade your fields. Using some kind of shading is a good idea because it makes fields easy to see and can help prevent accidental editing and deletion.
• Use draft font in Draft and Outline views: Use this option if you don't want to see font variations onscreen. This can be handy if the chosen fonts and point size make the document hard to read or are distracting. Because the display is less complicated, this option also uses fewer system resources.
• Name and Size: Choose the font and size used to display Draft view when you've enabled the above check box. Even if you don't want Draft view right now, you can enable Draft view, choose your draft font/size, and then remove the check next to Use draft font. Word will remember your settings.
• Font Substitution: Use this button to open the Font Substitution dialog box, shown in Figure 31.11. If no fonts in the current document are missing, a message box informs you of that fact. This option is also a useful way to discover whether the current document contains formatting using fonts not present on your computer. Choose Convert Permanently if there is no reason to maintain the different font and little chance of obtaining it.
• Expand all headings when opening a document: If you had collapsed headings when previously working with a document in Outline view or another view, checking this option ensures that Word will expand the headings and display their text the next time you open the document.

FIGURE 31.11

Use Font Substitution to tell Word how to display text formatted using fonts not available on your system.

Display

Whereas the Show document content settings mostly affect the interior parts of a document, the Display settings, shown in Figure 31.12, affect the working environment.

FIGURE 31.12

If the Display tab doesn't contain the setting you seek, try the Advanced tab's Display section.

Word's Advanced Display options are as follows:

• Show this number of Recent Documents: When you choose File Open, Word displays a list of recent documents. Use this setting to tell Word how many documents to remember. The number can vary from 0 to 50. This list is scrollable, so it might make sense to enter the max, particularly if you have an intricate folder structure that's tedious to navigate, and you work with lots of files. On the other hand, as a security/privacy matter, some users limit or eliminate this list.
• Quickly access this number of Recent Documents: When enabled, displays the specified number of recent documents at the bottom of the File tab, so you don't even have to click Open to find them.
• Show this number of unpinned Recent Folders. Controls how many folders appear in the Recent Folders list when you open or save a file.
• Show measurements in units of: Use this setting to choose the measurement units that are used for the rulers dialog boxes. This does not affect font point size selection. Measurement options are inches, centimeters, millimeters, points, and picas.
• Style area pane width in Draft and Outline views: Setting a non-zero value causes Word to display a pane at the left side of the Word document, showing the names of the applied styles. Once visible, the pane's width can be varied by dragging its right boundary. Drag all the way to the left to close it. Once closed, it can't be reopened by dragging and must be reopened using this setting.
• Show pixels for HTML features: Use this option to set pixels as the default unit of measurement for HTML features in dialog boxes. This setting affects a variety of dialog boxes, even for features you might not associate with HTML, such as paragraph spacing, table dimensions, and so on. This setting is not related to the document view.
• Show shortcut keys in ScreenTips: Use this option to display shortcut keys in ScreenTips. Compare this option with ScreenTip Scheme in the General tab. It provides an additional display option when ScreenTips are displayed but has no effect when ScreenTip Theme is set to Don't Show ScreenTips.
• Show horizontal scroll bar: Use this option to display the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the document window. In Print Layout view, the scroll bar displays only when the document is wider than what can be displayed at the current zoom.
• Show vertical scroll bar: Use this option to display the vertical scroll bar at the right side of the document window. When this setting is enabled, the vertical scroll bar displays all the time, regardless of the zoom.
• Show vertical ruler in Print Layout view: This option controls whether the Ruler setting (in the View Ribbon) toggles the vertical ruler as well as the horizontal ruler. You can also toggle the rulers by clicking the ruler icon at the top of the vertical scroll bar. You can display just the horizontal or vertical ruler by moving the mouse pointer over the top or left edge of the document window, respectively.
• Optimize character positioning for layout rather than readability: Use this option for exact character positioning when creating high-end brochures and other publications for which correct kerning is needed. For best onscreen reading, turn this option off, because it can result in the crowding of narrower letters such as the lowercase “i.”
• Disable hardware graphics accelerations: For some video adapters, hardware acceleration prevents Word from displaying some graphics or other features correctly. If you notice display problems, try using this option to suppress hardware graphics acceleration to see if it eliminates the problem. If it does, see if you can update your video driver, and then retry with acceleration to see if the update eliminates the problem.
• Update document content while dragging: This feature essentially gives Word the ability to give you an animated Live Preview as you move, rotate, or resize objects.
• Use subpixel positioning to smooth fonts on screen: Depending on the capabilities of your graphics adapter, enabling this option can result in smoother-looking onscreen fonts.

Print

Print options, shown in Figure 31.13, are used to set a number of printing defaults, in addition to the settings in the Word Options Display tab.

FIGURE 31.13

Print settings control a variety of printing defaults; use When printing this document settings to control only the active document.

Advanced Print options include the following:

• Use draft quality: This option instructs Word to print the document using the printer's draft mode (assuming it has one). This can save ink/toner and time, when all you need is a paper copy to review the text. Some printers do not support draft printing.
• Print in background: This option allows printing at the same time you continue working. Don't confuse this “background” with the Print background colors and pictures option discussed earlier. If you have a slow computer, this option can make working even slower. Usually, however, this setting is moot because the document is quickly handed off to Windows.
• Print pages in reverse order: Use this option if your printer stacks the document face up, first sheet on the bottom. Select this option also if you need to have sheets reversed for some reason.
• Print XML tags: Use this option to print XML tags for XML elements applied to an XML document. For this to work, a schema must be attached to the document.
• Print field codes instead of their values: This option causes Word to print field codes instead of field results. This can be useful when you are checking the logic and links in a document, rather than the content.
• Allow fields containing tracked changes to update before printing: This option ensures that the “latest” version of a link/field is used when printing. Turn this option off to ensure that what you're looking at is what will print. If you're unsure about what will print, Print Preview (in the right panel when you choose File Print) or saving in XPS or PDF format are good ways to be sure about printed results before committing to paper.
• Print on front of the sheet for duplex printing: Use this setting to simulate duplex printing by printing to the front of each sheet when printing on a printer that does not have duplex capability. Pages are printed in reverse order so that when you turn them over, the backs are ready to print in the correct order.
• Print on back of the sheet for duplex printing: This is the flip side of the immediately preceding option. Select this option to finish the simulated duplex printing operation.
• Scale content for A4 or 8.5 × 11 paper sizes: Use this option to automatically adjust the size of the output for European or U.S. standard paper sizes.
• Default tray: Use this option to tell Word which printer tray or slot to use by default.

When printing this document

These options can be applied to a specific open document or to All New Documents. Use the drop-down arrow to set the target as desired. The options are as follows:

• Print PostScript over text: When a Word document has PRINT fields that contain PostScript codes, this option tells Word to print the text first, and to then overlay the results of the PostScript command on top of the already printed text. PRINT fields aren't used very often, and show up mostly in documents converted from Word for the Mac.
• Print only the data from a form: Use this option to print only the data in a form, without printing the protected text. This option works only with legacy Word fields, and not with Word 2007/2010/2013 content controls.

Save

Word's Advanced Save options, shown in Figure 31.14, set four options in addition to those found in the Save tab. These can affect certain features and performance, as well as interact with other Word features, so you should consider the consequences before using them.

FIGURE 31.14

Advanced Save options change the defaults for all Word documents.

The Save options in the Advanced tab are as follows:

• Prompt before saving Normal template: With this option enabled, when you close Word, if Normal.dotm has changed, you are prompted to save changes to Normal .dotm. You will also see this prompt when you choose Save All, if Normal.dotm contains unsaved changes (see the note about Save All following the description of the Save options). As a security measure, this is an option you should enable. Not only does it let you say No if you were experimenting with settings and don't really want to save the changes, but it also alerts you if something else has unexpectedly changed Normal.dotm.
• Always create backup copy: This option causes Word to create a backup copy of every document you change—including templates. Each time you save changes to a document, Word replaces any existing backup copy by copying the most recent, previously saved version of the file to a file named Backup of current name.wbk. This file is saved to the same folder as the original. A problem is that this feature creates a backup copy every time you save, so if you follow best practices and save frequently, the backup copy won't be the version of the file as it was when you first opened it. It will always be what the file looked like just a few minutes earlier. If corruption occurs, you likely won't find out until long after the current document and the backup copy are both corrupted.
• Copy remotely stored files onto your computer and update the remote file when saving: This option tells Word to temporarily store a local copy (that is, on your own hard drive) of files that are retrieved from/stored on a network or removable drive. When you save the local copy, changes are saved to the remote file as well. If the original file isn't available, you are prompted to save to a different location to avoid losing the changes. When the file is closed, the temporary version is removed. This option improves performance. The difference between this option and the Offline editing options for document management server files detailed in the Save tab discussion is that the Advanced Save option affects files that aren't on a document management server.
• Allow background saves: This option instructs Word to save documents in the background while you work on them. This enables you to continue working but can cause slower saving times. If connectivity to the save location is an issue, or if there is a chance of power loss, using this option increases the chances of document corruption and data loss.

Preserve fidelity when sharing this document

The Preserve fidelity options, shown in Figure 31.14, can be applied to any open document or to All New Documents. Use the drop-down arrow to change the target as needed.

The options here are as follows:

• Save form data as delimited text file: Use this option to save only the data when saving a forms-protected document that contains legacy form fields. Note that this feature affects only legacy form fields and does not work on content controls.
• Embed linguistic data: Use this option to save linguistic data, such as speech and handwritten text, in the file.

General

The General options in the Advanced tab, shown in Figure 31.15, defy categorization. At least, they don't fit the taxonomy otherwise offered. They do, however, provide access to a great tool that expands what you can do with Word, “Confirm file format conversion on open.” For more on this setting, see the bulleted descriptions.

FIGURE 31.15

The General settings in the Advanced tab provide access to some useful features.

General options in the Advanced tab are as follows:

• Provide feedback with sound: Use this option to play different sound effects when performing a number of actions, such as when deleting, pasting, and so on. In order for this setting to work, you need the Microsoft Office Sounds add-in. A dialog box will inform you of that fact, and offer to initiate a site visit so you can download it. Click Yes to do it or No to change your mind. If you say Yes, download and run the file (sounds.exe) to install the add-in, following the directions and prompts in the wizard.
• Provide feedback with animation: Use this option to animate your pointer in Word and other Office programs that support animation. (It's not clear that this feature actually does anything. I've never seen it make any difference whatsoever.)
• Confirm file format conversion on open: Use this option to be able to select the converter to use when opening a file that's not a native Word file. This can be handy when you want to deal with XML, HTML, or even RTF files directly, rather than with Word's interpretation of them. If this option is unchecked, Word automatically determines which converter to use. If you have this feature unchecked but get the Convert File dialog box anyway, either the file isn't in a format recognized by Word or it is corrupted.
• Update automatic links at open: Use this option to update all linked content when a file is opened. This affects field-based links, OLE links, and XML-based links.
• Allow opening a document in Draft view: Use this option to enable opening documents in Draft view. This works only if the document was last saved while in Draft view.
• Enable background repagination: Using this option tells Word to repaginate documents as you work. If you don't really care about pagination as you're working, deselecting this option can improve responsiveness and performance in Word. This option is available only in Draft and Outline views; otherwise, it is grayed out. In Print Layout or Print Preview, background pagination is automatic, not optional.
• Show add-in user interface errors: Use this option to display error messages from add-in programs that affect Word's interface.
• Mailing address: Type your default return address for envelopes and letters when using associated Word features.
• File Locations: Use this button to examine and change the default folders for documents, clipart, User templates, Workgroup templates, AutoRecover files, Tools, and Startup files. To examine or change a location, click Modify. To change to a new location, navigate to it and select it, and then click OK. To obtain the location without changing it, right-click any item in the displayed folder and choose Properties. Click in the Location item, select it, and copy it to the Clipboard. Then press Esc to close the dialog boxes. You can now use that location elsewhere, as needed.
• Web Options: Click this button to open the Web Options dialog box, where you can set a variety of options to control how Word creates web pages.

Compatibility and Layout options

Use the Layout and Compatibility settings to control a variety of more obscure Word formatting behaviors. Most are self-explanatory:

• Add space for underlines
• Adjust line height to grid height in the table
• Balance SBCS characters and DBCS characters
• Convert backslash characters into yen signs
• Don't expand characters spaces on a line that ends with SHIFT-RETURN
• Draw underlines on trailing spaces
• Use line-breaking rules

Compatibility options only appear when you open a document from an older version of Word and you see [Compatibility Mode] in the title bar. There are dozens of options, and most are clearly marked for the prior file format they work with, such as Use Word 97 line-breaking rules for Asian text.

Customize Ribbon

The Customize Ribbon tab provides access to customization options for the Ribbon and keyboard. See Chapter 30 for the details.

Quick Access Toolbar

Use this tab to customize the Quick Access Toolbar. See Chapter 30 for details.

Add-Ins

Use the Add-Ins tab to view and control various Word add-ins. For most users, most or all of the add-ins listed won't really seem like add-ins to you. That's because they come with Office 2013. Most of us consider something an add-in if we explicitly and separately install it. None of the add-ins shown in Figure 31.16 were explicitly added by the user.

Add-ins are grouped into the following four sections:

• Active Application Add-ins: Add-ins currently in use that affect all of Word.
• Inactive Application Add-ins: Word-wide add-ins that are available but currently not being used.
• Document Related Add-ins: Available document-specific add-ins in use in the current/active document.
• Disabled Application Add-ins: Add-ins disabled by you or by Word. If an add-in causes Word to crash or hang, it can automatically be disabled by Word.

FIGURE 31.16

Add-Ins are grouped into four sets.

Use the Manage drop-down list to load, unload, disable, and enable add-ins. Select which type of add-in to load from the Manage Tasks list, which includes: COM Add-ins, Actions, Word Add-ins, Templates, XML Schemas, XML Expansion Packs, and Disabled Items. After making your choice, click Go, make selections from the dialog box that appears (which will vary depending on the type of add-in selected), and then click OK twice to finish loading the add-in. Applicable add-ins have been discussed in earlier chapters.

Under ordinary circumstances, you should not have to be concerned with the Add-ins tab. However, if Word crashes due to an add-in, once any problems have been addressed (such as by updating the add-in), you can return to Add-ins to re-enable the disabled item. Under Manage, choose Disabled Items, and then click Go. In the Disabled Items dialog box, click the disabled item, and then click Enable Close.

Trust Center

Trust Center (Figure 31.17) contains information as well as a variety of settings relating to document privacy and security. Under most circumstances, you will not need to change these settings. However, it can be useful to know what's under the hood, so to speak, so that you understand that these settings can be tweaked if necessary.

FIGURE 31.17

Access security and privacy settings from the initial Trust Center tab.

If you work in an enterprise environment, note that what you see in the Trust Center Settings might be different from what's shown here. Even if it is not different, there might be organizational policies that dictate what you can and cannot change. Consult your IT department if you are unsure. Note that changing settings can affect how Word works, as well as whether or not some features work at all.

In the Trust Center tab, note that most of what you see are links to additional information about privacy and security. Examine these if you like—all of the blue links will open your default browser.

To access Trust Center settings, click the Trust Center Settings button. This displays the Trust Center dialog box, as shown in Figure 31.18. By default, the Trust Center dialog box displays Macro Settings, which is the most common set of trust settings that sometimes require user intervention. As for Word Options, be sure you click OK when finished to save your new Trust Center settings. The rest of this chapter reviews the settings found on each of its tabs.

FIGURE 31.18

Trust Center settings are organized into 11 tabs; the Macro Settings tab displays initially by default.

Trusted Publishers

Trusted publishers are developers who have created macros, add-ins, application extensions, or other custom facilities that you can use. When you install such items, their publishers may be added to the Trusted Publishers list as part of the installation process. For most users, however, most of the time your Trusted Publishers list will be empty or have only one entry in it. If you install third-party add-ins from Office.com, they might be listed.

Trusted Locations

Trusted Locations provide another way of handling the security of macros you know to be safe. The Trust Center is paranoid by design. The Trust Center's default behavior is to trust only digitally signed macros. If there are macros that you trust, but which the Trust Center doesn't, rather than lowering your security setting and thereby putting your files at risk, it's better to put the template that contains those macros into a trusted location.

Think of Trusted Locations as a secure area. Once inside that area, armed guards no longer check ID or shine a flashlight at security certificates. Instead, they assume that those macros wouldn't be inside the compound unless somebody high up (you) had vouched for them. Put another way, it's your foot. If you trust yourself not to shoot yourself there, who is the Trust Center to argue?

The Trusted Locations tab, shown in Figure 31.19, enables you to add, remove, and modify locations. That way, if you don't want to co-mingle templates from different sources, you don't have to. By default, Word creates three trusted locations: User templates (templates that are on your computer because you put them there), Application templates (templates that are there because Office's setup program put them there), and StartUp templates (templates and other add-ins that are there because you or someone you trust—an add-in you installed, for example—put them there). In an enterprise, your IT folks might also have created one or more trusted locations using Windows’ policy settings. If so, Policy Locations won't be vacant as it is in Figure 31.19.

FIGURE 31.19

Trusted Locations essentially override other macro security settings, so make sure macros are safe before putting a template into a trusted location.

To add a new location, click Add new location. In the Microsoft Office Trusted Location dialog box, shown in Figure 31.20, use the Browse button as needed to locate and select the folder to add. Note that you can add only locations in this way, and not specific files. Click OK when you find the location you want to add. In the Microsoft Office Trusted Location dialog box, note the option Subfolders of this location are also trusted. Click this option only if you really trust any and all subfolders, and then click OK.

FIGURE 31.20

Make sure a folder's subfolders contain only safe add-ins and templates before checking the Subfolders of this location are also trusted option.

To remove a trusted location, under Path, click the location you want to zap and click Remove.

To modify a location, click the location you want to modify and click Modify. You can use Modify not only to change a location, but also to turn on/off the option to include subfolders as trusted locations.

There are two additional options at the bottom of the Trusted Locations section in the Trust Center:

• Allow Trusted Locations on my network (not recommended): Sometimes, locations on your network will be listed under Policy Locations. Other times, such as when explicitly adding a workgroup location (File Options Advanced File locations), you might want to add that location as a trusted location as well. Microsoft doesn't recommend adding network locations to the Trusted Location list, but sometimes it's necessary. As noted earlier, it's your foot.
• Disable all Trusted Locations: Use this option if you don't trust the files in Trusted Locations, if you suspect that a rogue macro is running amok and you are trying to find it, or if you want to explicitly identify the source of macros that are being run on your computer. With this option enabled, only files signed by Trusted Publishers will be trusted.

Trusted Documents

This tab, shown in Figure 31.21, enables you to preemptively just say No to all trusted documents (Disable Trusted Documents) as well as documents on a network (Allow documents on a network to be trusted). Click the Clear button and then Yes in the message box that appears to reset documents previously marked as trusted documents.

FIGURE 31.21

The Trusted Documents feature allows you to trust specific documents on a one-by-one basis. It also lets you disallow the Trusted Documents entirely.

When trusted documents have been disabled or cleared, you will see the Security Warning shown in Figure 31.22 when you reopen a document with macros. Click Enable Content only if you need the active content and only if you trust whoever created it. If the document is on a network, you then may also see a prompt about whether to make it a trusted document.

FIGURE 31.22

Do not click Enable Content unless you are positive that the document is 100 percent safe.

Trusted App Catalogs

New to Office 2013 is the ability to download Office apps that extend functionality within Word and some of the other Office applications. On this tab, you can prohibit apps from running by checking the Don't allow any apps to start or Don't allow apps from the Office Store to start options. If you know a source that has a catalog of apps and trust that source, you can enter the full URL for the catalog (it must be from a secure site using the HTTPS protocol, which also must be typed with the URL), and then click Add catalog.

Add-Ins

Use the Add-ins tab to set the additional security settings shown in Figure 31.23.

FIGURE 31.23

The Add-ins settings often are used in troubleshooting.

Three options are available:

• Require Application Add-ins to be signed by Trusted Publisher: Choose this option to tell Word not to use add-ins unless they have been digitally signed. If an unsigned add-in is encountered, Word's message bar displays a notification that the add-in has been disabled (unless the following option is checked).
• Disable notification for unsigned add-ins (code will remain disabled): This check box is disabled unless the preceding option is also checked. Add-ins that aren't signed are disabled, but the user isn't notified.
• Disable all Application Add-ins (may impair functionality): Click this check box if you don't trust any add-ins. All add-ins are disabled, the other add-in check boxes in this dialog box are grayed out, and you will not be notified when specific add-ins are denied access. This setting does not take effect until all Office 2013 programs have been closed. The settings then take effect when Office 2013 programs are restarted.

ActiveX Settings

Use the ActiveX settings, shown in Figure 31.24, to enable or disable ActiveX controls. Note that these settings do not apply to ActiveX controls contained in files that are in Trusted Locations.

FIGURE 31.24

Use ActiveX settings to limit/enable the availability of ActiveX controls.

• Disable all controls without notification: Choose this option to prevent all ActiveX controls from running. Select this option if either you don't trust the ActiveX controls or you don't want them running for some other reason. When you choose this option, all ActiveX controls in all Office documents are disabled. They are replaced by a red X or a picture of the control. The application message bar will not advise you that ActiveX controls are disabled.
• Prompt me before enabling Unsafe for Initialization (UFI) controls with additional restrictions and Safe for Initialization (SFI) controls with minimal restrictions: The effects of this option depend on whether documents that contain ActiveX controls also contain VBA projects. If they contain one or more VBA projects, then all ActiveX controls are disabled, but a message bar appears that lets you selectively enable them. If there is no VBA project, SFI controls are not blocked, and there is no prompt. UFI (unsafe for initialization) controls are disabled, but a message bar prompt will let you enable them.
• Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions: This is the default option. Effects vary (as in the preceding option) depending on whether the ActiveX's container document also contains one or more VBA projects. If VBA is present, ActiveX controls are disabled with notification and the options to enable them. When you click Enable, all ActiveX controls (both SFI and UFI) are enabled. If there is no VBA project, all ActiveX controls are enabled, period.
• Enable all controls without restrictions and without prompting (not recommended, potentially dangerous controls can run): Click this option if you don't value your foot. This enables all ActiveX controls, period. Seriously, use this option only if you work in a 100 percent controlled environment in which there is no possibility of rogue controls being present (for example, if you are not connected to a network or the Internet and never copy files from removable media).
• Safe mode (helps limit the control's access to your computer): Use this check box to enable only SFI ActiveX controls that have been marked by the developer as “safe.” Note that this “safe mode” has nothing to do with starting Word in safe mode. They are different concepts.

Macro Settings

The options contained in the Macro Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 31.25, control how Word and other Office 2013 applications (the ones that support macros) handle macros.

FIGURE 31.25

Office 2013 must be closed and restarted for these and a number of other Trust Center settings to take effect.

We've already looked at a number of Trust Center settings that affect whether macros run. Macro Settings (refer to Figure 31.26) provide two additional settings. The first is a choice of four levels of macro security. The second is an independent check box that tells Office whether or not to trust access to the VBA project object model:

• Disable all macros without notification: Choose this option to prevent all macros from running. They won't run, and you won't hear about them, except that the word all doesn't really mean all. Macros in a trusted location run regardless of this setting, because documents and templates in trusted locations are not checked by the Trust Center security system. If you change this setting but macros in nontrusted locations still run, close all Office 2013 programs and try again.
• Disable all macros with notification: This is identical to the preceding setting, except that Word tells you that macros are being suppressed. You can choose whether or not to run them.
• Disable all macros except digitally signed macros: This setting is the same as the first option, except for macros that are digitally signed by publishers in the Trusted Publishers list. If the publisher is not in the trusted list, you are notified, and you can add the publisher to the list. Unsigned macros are disabled without notification.
• Enable all macros (not recommended, potentially dangerous code can run): Click this option only if you like to live dangerously, or your computer is 100 percent isolated from possible sources of malicious macros.
• Trust access to the VBA project object model: Choose this setting if you develop your own macros.

Protected View

This feature offers an additional line of defense against potentially harmful files, particularly those that arrive as attachments. If you've noticed Protected View warnings like that shown in Figure 31.26, Protected View settings are where you come for relief—or at least for an explanation.

FIGURE 31.26

By default, Word warns you when opening documents that might contain harmful active content.

The appearance of this kind of warning is controlled by the Protected View settings, shown in Figure 31.27.

FIGURE 31.27

Protected View settings control whether you are warned when opening “foreign” attachments.

Options are:

• Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet: This option notes the original source for files, including those contained in ZIP and other archives, and gives the Protected View warning if the file was downloaded from the Internet (for example, using a web browser).
• Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations: Among other things, this setting enables Protected View for files residing in your Temporary Internet folder. Note that this is different from disabling active content, which is controlled by (among other things) Trusted Locations. For Trusted Locations, active content is blocked. For Protected View, any editing at all is blocked.
• Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments: This setting warns you that a file originated as an Outlook attachment. This can also serve as a reminder to save it in a known user location rather than in your Temporary Internet files location.

Message Bar

The message bar, shown in Figure 31.26, informs you if macros have been stopped from running for any reason. This is an Office 2013–wide setting. In Trust Center (Figure 31.28), choose Show the Message Bar in all applications when active content has been blocked to display the bar shown in Figure 31.26. It displays at the top of the Word window. If you never want to receive notification, choose Never show information about blocked content.

FIGURE 31.28

Keep the message bar turned on unless you want to ignore security warnings.

The option to Enable Trust Center Logging is used to keep track of all blocked content. The log is a text file kept in the TCDiag folder, which usually is at C:Usersuser nameAppDataLocalMicrosoftOfficeTCDiag.

File Block Settings

File Block Settings allow you to control how Word treats files of specific types, shown in Figure 31.29. The bottom options control how Word interprets the check marks:

• Do not open selected file types: Word will not open the files at all. Instead, you will receive an error notice telling you that the file type is blocked by File Block Settings and telling you how to unblock it.
• Open selected file types in Protected View: This setting allows you to open and view checked file types, but does not have an Enable Editing button in the Protected View message bar. There is a “Click for more details link” that leads to the Info tab in Backstage, and a link there to File Block Settings.
• Open selected file type in Protected View and allow editing: This setting allows you to open the files and provides an Enable Editing button.

FIGURE 31.29

Use File Block Settings to control how or if Word opens and saves specific file types.

Use the Open check boxes to choose which files to prevent or interfere with opening and editing. For each of the File Block Settings options, if Save is checked, you will not be allowed to save in that format.

Suppose, for example, that your office is trying to explicitly avoid using .doc format anymore, except when absolutely necessary. If you check the Save boxes for all of the pre–Word 2007 formats, Word will effectively remind you that you're not supposed to save in those formats if you should happen to try.

By the way, in Figure 31.29, “Word 2007 and later Binary…” refers to .doc and .dot files that were saved by Word 2007 or Word 2010. While neither has their own “binary” format, internally, Word 2010 differentiates among different .doc/.dot files and can tell Word 2003–saved files from those saved by Word 2007 or Word 2010.

Privacy Options

Privacy Options, shown in Figure 31.30, affect when and whether Word connects to the Internet, as well as the kinds of data that can be saved in Word documents.

FIGURE 31.30

Privacy Options aren't just about privacy.

Privacy Options are:

• Allow Office to connect to the Internet: Use this option to include online sources of Help and Templates. This can make accessing Help a good deal slower. It sometimes can present so many potential sources of help that it can make them harder to sort out, greatly reducing the relevancy ratio. I recommend that you keep this setting turned off, and turn it back on only if you don't find what you're looking for in your local offline Help.
• Download a file periodically that helps determine system problems: Episodically is more accurate. When you encounter an error, this option allows Office to use the error code to try to find additional diagnostic help online.
• Sign up for the Customer Experience Improvement Program: When enabled, this option causes information on feature usage and program errors to be reported to Microsoft. This data collection is anonymous and non-intrusive, and actually is used in resolving bugs and shaping future versions of Office. Personally, I keep it turned off because I'm paranoid.
• Check Microsoft Office documents that are from or link to suspicious websites: This option checks for phishing sites. A phishing site is one that has a linked URL that is different from the displayed URL, often in an attempt to lull users into believing that they are visiting a website that is different from the one actually being visited. Phishing is a common way of trying to defraud users out of account names, passwords, and financial information.
• Allow the Research task pane to check for and install new services: As Office matures, it is likely that new services will emerge. If you use the Research pane, enabling this option will enhance your chances of seeing new services when they become available.
• Allow sending files to improve file validation: When you open earlier versions of Word files, Office File Validation checks whether the file structure matches Microsoft's specification for that file format. If the file fails this check, Office opens it in Protected View. Moreover, a copy of the file is saved on your computer after you exit Word. Microsoft Error Reporting periodically asks if you agree to send a copy of these files to Microsoft. Enabling this option lets this happen. My advice is to disable this option and make sure that all computers in your enterprise/office/home have this feature disabled. This feature is an Office-wide setting.
• Warn before printing, saving, or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments: This option alerts you when a document you are printing, saving, or emailing contains comments or tracked changes. Sometimes you want to send/print/save changes, other times not. This can be especially useful if you aren't even aware that the document contains such contents.
• Store random numbers to improve Combine accuracy: When combining/merging documents from multiple sources, including this number can improve merge accuracy.
• Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving: Enable this option to reveal any tracked changes that might be hidden (for example, by virtue of the Show Markup settings in the Review Ribbon) when opening or saving a file that contains tracked changes. Note that this does not have anything to do with Word's hidden character formatting attribute.
• Remove personal information from file properties on save: This option is for backwards compatibility, and is available only if the current document was created in an earlier version of Word, and you used this option to remove personal information previously. To remove personal information from a Word 2013 document, use the Document Inspector.
• Document Inspector: This button starts the Document Inspector dialog box, which is discussed in Chapter 26, “Managing Document Security, Comments, and Tracked Changes.” Note that this feature does not work for documents in Protected View.
• Translation Options: This button starts the Translation Options dialog box, which is discussed in Chapter 10.
• Research Options: This button starts the Research Options dialog box, which is discussed in Chapter 10.

Summary

In this chapter you've probably been exposed to more Word and Microsoft Office options than you knew either had. Among many other things, you should now be able to do the following:

• Change your macro settings so that macros run or don't run according to your wishes
• Customize your display to take advantage of Word's flexible options
• Optimize Word's AutoRecovery features to match the way you work, as well as understand how AutoRecovery works Set the number of documents that show up in the Recent Documents list