Mail Merges

 The intimidating Mail Merge is our next topic. I admit I was intimidated the first time I was tasked with one of these, but they were surprisingly straightforward.

You will be starting with completing your document before you start on the merging aspect.

For the purpose of this blog, I will be using a business letter as my document. You will type that out first and save it. After you have typed your document and saved it you will go into the "Mailings" menu and "Start Mail Merge", as shown below:

With your document typed, make sure you insert spaces for your addresses and greeting lines to go.

Have your cursor on your address line before adding your address block.

Now add your Greeting line, you will also put your cursor where you want your greeting to go.

If you have done it correctly you should have these two lines, Address Block and Greeting Line.

Now let's make our recipients list. Above is the menu selection for adding recipients, and below is the screen that will pop up when you start a new list.

Once your recipients are entered you will "Highlight Merge Fields" and "Preview." The preview will show you if you have done the merge correctly. This is also a great time to make sure your document is edited.

Once that is verified, click "Finish & Merge."

Your merge is all done. 

Mailing is a great tool for things like address labels and envelopes. It saves lots of time and manual labor!

Enjoy your new skill!

The "IN's and Out's" of Inserting Text Boxes.

 Text boxes can be added to Documents such as flyers and newsletters. When there are graphics or tables inserting a text box enables you to bring attention to important things you want to highlight for your reader.

Here are some images of text boxes:

We will be going to the "Insert" menu to "Insert" the Text Box.

The example above is of a flyer. 

Good Luck with Formatting!

Having fun with Templates

 Hello again! Thanks for returning. Today we will be playing with templates. The reason I say play, is because they can be so fun and really allow you to be creative.

Word has a template for almost any project you can imagine. Templates come already formatted. From the font to the margins, templates are a great way to save time and give your document character.

Let's get into it. Templates can be found under the "File" menu. Word has shortcuts for commonly used templates and you can also search for a specific one. Templates are also customizable. 

Let me show you some of these gems😍

Preview from the "File" menu of the possibilities.

With the holidays upon us, you can use templates to make lists, cards, and invitations, really the possibilities are virtually endless.

Here is an example of a fun "To-Do" list. The tasks are customizable and when you click on the bullets they change to check marks!

You can also find resume and cover letter templates. Templates are also great when you don't know how to format documents properly.

Clicking on any information you want to change and simply hitting backspace makes customization easy.

Now go forth and create documents for EVERYTHING! Word templates have so many possibilities. Enjoy!

Changing Case in Word

Thanks for joining me again.

We will be learning how to change cases in Word documents. Have you ever typed the wrong case in a document? Now you have to re-type...😖Or do you? Today I am sharing a simple shortcut to fix your errors.

CTRL+F3= your shortcut for fixing casing errors. Now if you have a laptop, you may need to add the "Function" key to the mix. You will use the F3 key to toggle while you hold down CTRL.

You can also change the case from your "Home" menu, I will post pictures below!

Hopefully, this will save you some headaches next time you find yourself in this situation.

Until next time Freshman!

Purpose of Reference Initials

 Welcome Back to another installment of "Formatting for Freshman."

Today we will talk about reference initials, what they are and when to use them.

Reference initials are the initials of the typist of the document. They should be placed two lines below the body of a memo and two lines below the writer's identification. They are typed in all lowercase and would include three initials, first, middle and last.  They should always be left aligned. Most typically used in Memos and letters.

Below is an example of reference initials:

Note the initials circled.

Thanks for coming back, see you next time!