Text Formatting

• Bold / Italic / Underline: Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I / Ctrl+U
• Change font size: Select text → click font size box in ribbon → type size or use Ctrl+[ / Ctrl+]
• Highlight text: Home → Text Highlight Color → select color → drag over text
• Clear formatting: Select text → Ctrl+Space or Home → Clear All Formatting (eraser icon)
• Format Painter: Click text with desired format → Home → Format Painter (paintbrush) → drag over target text
• Align text: Ctrl+L (left), Ctrl+E (center), Ctrl+R (right), Ctrl+J (justify)
• Bullets/numbers: Home → Bullets or Numbering icons, or type - then Space and press Enter to auto-create

Using Styles (Recommended)

• Apply a heading: Click in the line → Home → Styles → pick Heading 1 / 2 / 3 (or Ctrl+Alt+1/2/3)
• Normal body text: Select text → Styles → Normal
• Why use styles? Styles automatically populate the Navigation Pane and Table of Contents, and make reformatting the entire document easy
• Navigation Pane: View → Navigation Pane → click headings to jump around the document instantly

Track Changes & Comments

• Turn on Track Changes: Review → Track Changes (Ctrl+Shift+E) — all edits now show as colored markup
• Accept a change: Click tracked change → Review → Accept
• Reject a change: Click tracked change → Review → Reject
• Accept all changes: Review → Accept → Accept All Changes
• Show/hide markup: Review → Show Markup → toggle what's visible
• Add a comment: Select text → Review → New Comment (Ctrl+Alt+M) → type in the comment box
• Reply to a comment: Click comment → click Reply → type response
• Resolve a comment: Click comment → Resolve (grays it out but keeps history)
• Delete a comment: Right-click comment → Delete Comment
• Compare documents: Review → Compare → select original and revised files to see all differences

Saving & Exporting

• Save: Ctrl+S (saves to current location)
• Save As: F12 → choose location and file format
• AutoSave: Toggle AutoSave (top-left) when saved to OneDrive — saves every few seconds automatically
• Export to PDF: File → Export → Create PDF/XPS → Publish. Or File → Save As → change file type to PDF
• Save as older format: File → Save As → change type to .doc if recipient has older Word
• Version History: With AutoSave on → File → Info → Version History → restore any previous version

Sharing & Collaboration

• Share via link: Save to OneDrive first → Share (top-right) → Copy Link → set permissions (view or edit)
• Co-author in real time: Both users open the same OneDrive file — changes appear live with colored cursors showing who's editing where
• Email as attachment: File → Share → Email → Send as Attachment
• Send as PDF by email: File → Share → Email → Send as PDF
• Restrict editing: Review → Restrict Editing → set password-protected restrictions

Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Useful Features

• Word count: View → Word Count or check status bar at bottom-left
• Thesaurus: Right-click a word → Synonyms → pick replacement
• Insert table: Insert → Table → drag to select rows/columns
• Read Mode: View → Read Mode — distraction-free reading layout