Word 2016 cheat sheet Are you getting the most from Microsoft Word 2016 for Windows? Get to know the key features. 96060000 By Preston Gralla Contributing Editor, Computerworld | JAN 8, 2018 3:00 AM PT tos Word has always been the workhorse app of the Microsoft Office suite, and Word 2016 is no different than past versions. Nearly everyone who uses Office ends up using Word at some point, whether it be for writing memos, typing up agendas, creating reports, crafting business correspondence or any of a thousand other uses. The current version, Word 2016, was released in late 2015 when the entire Office suite w upgraded, and by now many businesses have moved to it. But although you may have upgraded to the latest version, you might be missing out on some worthwhile features introduced in Word 2016 for Windows — that’s what we'll look at in this story. [ Related reading: Excel 2016 cheat sheet ] Your copy of Word 2016 may be part of the standalone Office software suite or part of an Office 365 subscription for business, home, or education. But that doesn't matter; exceptShare this story: !T pros, we hope you'll pass this guide on to your users to explain th Word 2016 ropes. Table of Contents ‘SHOW MORE Use the Ribbon The Ribbon interface in Word 2016 hasn't changed much compared to earlier versions. T Ribbon has been included in Office suite applications since Office 2007, so you're probab familiar with how it works. But if you need a refresher, see our Word 2010 cheat sheet. Just as in Word 2013, the Ribbon in Word 2016 is flatter-looking, cleaner and less cluttere than the one in Word 2010 and 2007. The 2016 Ribbon is smaller than in Word 2013, the title bar is now solid blue rather than the previous white, and the menu text (File, Home, Insert and so on) is now a mix of upper- and lowercase rather than all caps. There are other minor changes as well — for instance, the old Page Layout tab is now called just Layout — but the Ribbon still works in the same way and youll find most of the command in the same locations as in Word 2013. d cs Preston Gras 1DG The Ribbon in Word 2016 is smaller than in Word 2013 and is solid blue rather than white, (Click image to enlarge it.) To find out which commands live on which tabs on the Ribbon, download our Word 201! Ribbon quick reference. Also see the nifty new Tell Me feature described below. Just as in earlier versions of Word, to make the commands underneath the tabs on the Ribbon go away, press Ctr-F1. To make the commands appear again, press Ctrl-F1. (Not that the Ribbon tabs — File, Home, Insert and so on — stay visible.)PrestonGrala — @ Fa Auto-hide Ribbon Hide the Ribbon. Clickeat of the application to chon [FS show Tabs TP isiow rio bs ony, ck tab to show the commands Show Tabs and Commands Show Fibbon tabs and commands allthe time. Here are the Ribbon display optio You've got other options for displaying the Ribbon as well. To get to them, click the Ribbo! display options icon at the top right of the screen, just to the left of the icons for minimiziny and maximizing Word. A drop-down menu appears with these three options: + Auto-hide Ribbon: This hides the entire Ribbon, both the tabs and commands underneath them. To show the Ribbon again, click at the top of Word. + Show Tabs: This shows the tabs but hides the commands underneath them. It's tt same as pressing Ctrl-F1. To display the commands underneath the tabs when they’ hidden, press Ctrl-F1, click a tab, or click the Ribbon display icon and select “Show Tabs and Commands.” + Show Tabs and Commands: Selecting this shows both the tabs and command And if for some reason that blue on the title bar is too much color for you, you can turn it white, gray or black. To do it, select File > Options > General. In the "Personalize your co} of Microsoft Office” section, click the down arrow next to Office Theme and select Dark Gray, Black or White from the drop-down menu. To make the title bar blue again, choose the Colorful option from the drop-down list. Just above the Office Theme menu is an Offic Background drop-down menu — here you can choose to display a pattern such as a circt board or circles and stripes in the title bar. If you're working on a document you've saved in OneDrive or SharePoint, a new button appears on the Ribbon, just to the right of the Share button. It's the Activity button, and it’s particularly handy for shared documents. Click it and you'll see the history of what's been done to the document, notably who has saved it and when. To see a previous version, clit the "Open version" link underneath when someone has saved it, and the older version wil appear.Preston Gralla /106 The Activity pane shows who's done what to a shared document. (Click image to enlarge it.) There's also useful change in what Microsoft calls the backstage area that appears when you click File on the Ribbon: If you click Open or Save As from the menu on the left, you can see the cloud-based services you've connected to your Office account, such as SharePoint and OneDrive. Each location now displays its associated email address underneath it. This is quite helpful if you use a cloud service with more than one account, such as if you have one OneDrive account for personal use and another one for business You'll be able to see at a glance which is which. ‘Add a Place 1B ofhco255 treo | oneome Proston Gratla 1D Select "Add a Place” to add a new cloud storage service for Word, (Click image to enlarge it) [ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page. ] Collaborate in real time The biggest feature that's new in Word 2016 is real-time collaboration that lets people wo on documents together from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection, a feature that Google Docs has long had. There are only two requirements for collaboration in Wort 2016: You must be logged into your Microsoft or Office 365 account, and the document muct ha ctarad in AnaNriva OnaNrive far Ricinase ar SharaPnint Aniline,To collaborate on a document, first open it, then olick the Share icon in the upper-right pat of the screen. If you haven't yet saved your file in OneDrive, OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online, you'll be prompted to do so. What happens next depends on whether your document is stored in your own OneDrive or with OneDrive for Business or SharePo Online. When Word 2016 for Windows was first launched, all document sharing was done via the Share pane. In May 2017, Microsoft rolled out a new sharing interface to enterprise Office 365 users —i.e., those who store their files in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Onlin — that it says is simpler and gives greater control over who has access to your content. 4 Microsoft representative told us that the company intends to roll out the newer interface tc consumers with an Office 365 subscription at some point, but it hasn’t announced timing yet. And the new interface isn't planned for non-subscription versions of Office 2016 or earlier. So we'll give instructions for both interfaces below If your document is stored in your personal OneDrive: After you've saved the document to OneDrive and clicked the Share button, the Share pane will open on the righ hand side of the screen — this is command central for collaboration. At the top of the pan type in the email addresses of the people with whom you want to collaborate on the document, separated by commas. As you type, Word looks through your address book ar displays the matches it finds; click the person you want to invite. If you're on a corporate network, you can click the address book on the right to search through your corporate em address book. If a person isn't in your address book — just type in their complete email address. BT | anewceoe) saeco asebcce AAB sssvcer asec ——s Esmee S: espe nen ere ote most Preston Gralla 106 Selecting people with whom to collaborate via the Share pane After you enter the addresses, select either "Can edit" or "Can view" in the drop-down to allau aallaharatare full aditine ar raadanhy nvivilanac [If unt want ta accinn diffarant rinhtpermissions later by right-clicking their name in the Share pane.) Type a message in the text box if you want. When you're done, click Share. An email gets sent out to everyone with whom you've shared the file, showing a “View in OneDrive” button that they can click to open the document. % shared “mobile and paas docx” wih youtin OneDrw ' © mobile and paas (@& OneDrive Preston Gralla /106 Your collaborators get an email message like this when you share a document There's another way to share a file stored in a personal OneDrive for collaboration: At the bottom of the Share pane, click “Get a sharing link,” and from the screen that appears, choose “Create an edit link” if you want to create a link to the file that will allow people to edit the file, or “Create a view-only link” if you want to create a link that will allow them to view the file only. Then create an email using any email program, copy the link and send i If you want to instead send the file but don’t want to let people collaborate on it, at the bottom of the Share pane click “Send as attachment.” You can then send the file either in Word format or else as a PDF. When you do this, it won't reflect any changes you make tc after you send the file. If your document is stored in SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Busines: Clicking the Share button pops up a Send Link window. Here you can send an email with link where others can access the document.found Valerie Potter /196 Sharing a document via the Send Link pane. By default, only the people whose email addresses you enter will be able to edit the document, but you can click the permission box to expand access to anyone who already has access to the file, anyone in your organization, or anyone at all. (You can uncheck the “Allow editing” box to set any of those permissions to read only.) Link Settings Round 2 Enterprise users can fine-tune access and editing permissions for their shared document here. Back in the main Send Link window, enter the recipients’ email addresses (as you type, Word will suggest people from your address book whom you can select), optionally type i a message, and click Send. An email is sent to all the recipients with a link they can click open the document. To begin collaborating: Whether the email recipients get is associated with a person or business OneDrive account, they click a button or link to open the document, whichcollaborate, they'll need to click the Edit Document button at the top of the screen. From t drop-down list, they can then choose to open the file either in the client version of Word, ¢ in the free web version. The web version isn’t as fully featured as the client version — for instance, there aren't as many formatting options and you can't insert shapes, take screenshots, use mail merge, or use several other features. But for basic editing, it works fine, You'll get a notification that someone else is editing the document, and you're asked whether you want to share changes as they happen. So does the person to whom you've sent the document if they open it while you're in it. Click Yes to share the changes. 4 thet, Doyen ee ue attachment | POF. When vou = Preston Gralla /10G You'll get this notification when someone wants to collaborate on a document. When you're working on a document with other people in real time, each person gets a cursor with their own unique color. You can see what they do as they do it, including deleting, editing and adding text. They see what you do as well You can do more than see each other’s work. You can communicate with them as well. TI Share pane shows a list of people who have editing access to the document. Those who are currently in the document have a colored bar next to their icon, That bar matches the color of the cursor you'll see as they move around in the document.a On en Ciniwtan | AP tice 20 Baa) a Ba a she > ‘The eget re fete n Word 2015 tht tes pepe perormree tine asbartionandworkon 6 egal oeurens together for autre inthe ors than internet connection Tin str tat ‘Googe Dos has gh ad Warder sade puedo wef in Word 216 Ter’ on one gue Soca mst tote in neve, Oneive or Buses, ShaePont One Fron cient fat pen the lk the hare on inte upper igh pat of he ‘Tat pth Share pane on he fat hand ie fhe seen which comand cen ft moran Aho op he pane ype thease pope wth uh ou war to Coimirateon he dcr, Ayu tpt Wodbos veg he abdessin dows Mal Preston Gralla IDG Here's what Word looks like when two people are collaborating on a document, Click the icon of anyone currently working on the document and a screen pops out with th various ways you can contact them, including chat, phone and video via Skype (if they have Skype) and email. That lets you talk or text with them while you're working on the document together, making collaboration that much more effective. AB ssescce some soni stein abc Auten mance Ate. Aci * share vx F whichis due to be released ith Office 2013 and wil ‘shoot to hop take. ~ om prestongralla@gmailcom |. alone software or a8 part P that doesnt matter all ps © noe i © 1013, ather than what has aa === Prosen Gata 06 Click the icon of someone working with you on a document to see other ways you can contact them. Be aware that how well realtime collaboration works depends on the strength of your internet connection. On slow or flaky connections, you won't immediately see edits that other people make and they won't see yours immediately — there will be a lag. So it’s always best, when possible, to have the strongest connection possible when collaboratin, Tackle tasks with Tell Me Althouah collaboration is the biaaest addition to Word 2016 there are several other newdo a task that you haven't done before or have forgotten how to do. It's a text box just to the right of the Ribbon tab labels at the top of the screen with the words “Tell me what you want to do” in it. Type in a task, and you'll get a list of possible matches. Click the task you want to get instructions on how to do it. For example, | typed “address an envelope” and chose the “Envelope” result, and the screen you use for addressing envelopes appeared. When | typed in the more general query “write an essay,” it popped up a link to Word's Researcher feature that lets you do research from right within Word, add sources from the research you find, and then cite the sources in the document properly. If you type in a query and hover your mouse over a result instead of clicking it, you'll see a screen describing what you can do if you click the results. 7 ‘The biggest new feature in Word 2016 that tt people perorm cea, ments together from anyhace inthe work th an Internet cont onto ‘de Docs has long had and Word uses should be leased to eit in Wore 20%. Th reauierent the document must be stored OneDine, OneOrve for Busnes, or Shar, @ "etm Prostan Gala /106 Tell Me gives advice on addressing an envelope (or any other task). (Click image to enlarge it) It's a big time-saver, because you don't have to hunt through the Ribbon to find the command you want. And it remembers the features you've previously selected in the box, so when you click in it, you first see a list of previous tasks you've searched for. That way, tasks that you frequently perform are always within easy reach.