4 Microsoft Word Tips All Authors Need to Know

• How to use Track Changes on your manuscript
Most editors who review a manuscript that is in a Microsoft Word file will use the Track Changes function to correct an author’s work. As an author, you’ll want to be familiar with using Track Changes so that you can get your manuscript into a publishable form.

• How to get rid of MS Word’s proofreading marks
Among the most annoying features of Microsoft Word’s Track Changes program is that every time you reopen a file, the corrections show up. To not see the corrections, you have to toggle the “Display for Review” setting to “No Markup.”

• Getting rid of a line of dots that won’t go away
Ever have asterisks turn to a whole line of them, and no matter what you do – highlight and delete them, cut and paste them to Notepad then cut and paste that back to Word – you can’t seem to delete the line? Well, there is a way to get rid of them.

• How to make copyright, trademark symbols 
Oftentimes when writing – especially nonfiction – you’ll need to add copyright, trademark and registered trademark symbols. They are easy to make in Microsoft Word. Just use the following keyboard shortcuts.

• BONUS: Should you switch to creative writing software?
For many writers, the software program MS Word often feels like a glorified typewriter. Its complex page functions, lack of vertical justification, confusing Track Changes, and many other issues often are a source of great frustration when writing books. If that sounds like your reaction when using MS Word, then creative writing software might be the answer.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

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