What’s the trouble with Word?

When I teach a class on Excel there is usually a long waiting list. If I teach Power Point, the class is always full. But when I teach Word, it’s hard to get any ‘takers’.

This lack of interest bothers me. Do people believe they have mastered Word because they can hack their way through a cover letter or a resume? If so, there is a significant lack of respect being shown. Using Word to create a one page document and thinking you have mastered it is like boiling an egg and believing you can make a souffle.

Here are a few things that you should know how to do if you want to use Word like a boss:

  1. Customized multi-level lists
  2. Customized styles associated with specific templates
  3. Different first page headers and footers
  4. Inserting images properly so that text flows the way you want it to
  5. Bookmarks to section titles so they automatically update

I could go on and on, but I won’t. All I am saying is: Show “Word” some respect! If you don’t know how to do the things I listed, and you work with text documents, you owe it to yourself to learn Word.