Once a document is onscreen, your administrative efforts are complete, and the creative phase can begin. While odds are good that you’ve processed words before, Chapter 2 covers the nuts and bolts of editing in detail.
As a reminder, here are the very, very basics of word processing:
Don’t hit Return at the end of a line. Word automatically wraps the text to the next line when you reach the edge of the window.
Don’t type hyphens to break end-of-line words, either. To divide words at the end of lines, use Word’s hyphenation feature, as described on Automatic Hyphenation.
Press Return at the end of a paragraph. To create a blank line between paragraphs, don’t press Return twice; that can cause awkward problems, such as an extra space at the top of a page. Instead, change the paragraph’s style to leave more space after each paragraph, as described on Styles. Using this more advanced and graceful method also lets you edit, add, and subtract paragraphs at will. As you do so, the spacing between the paragraphs remains consistent.
For similar reasons, don’t press Tab to indent the first line of a paragraph. If, instead, you set a first line indent using the Formatting Palette, as described on Indentation, Word automatically creates the indents each time you start a paragraph. Indents created this way remain consistent as you edit the document. In addition, the amount of indentation you choose isn’t dependent upon the positions of your tab stops.
Don’t press Return at the end of a page. Word automatically wraps the text to the next page. If you want your next thought to start at the top of a new page, choose Insert → Break → Page Break instead. Now, no matter how much you edit before or after the section break, your new section always starts at the top of a new page.
Press the Space bar only once—not twice—after punctuation such as periods, colons, and semicolons. Double-spacing after punctuation is a holdover from the days of the typewriter, when you had to manually add extra space after punctuation for an attractive, readable result. Word automatically places the correct amount of space after each period or other punctuation mark. Adding an extra space is superfluous, clutters your file with extra characters, and cramps your thumbs.
Save early, save often. Choose File → Save (or press ⌘-S) after every paragraph or so.
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