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Technology Tip of the Week - January 2, 2007
Happy New Year Everyone!

Taking Back Control in Microsoft Word

Although Microsoft Word has many helpful features, sometimes it can try too hard. A good example of this is the autoformatting feature. Have you ever pressed the Enter key when typing in a document and had a bullet automatically inserted ... even if you didn't want it? That's autoformatting! Of course you can always override it by pressing the Enter key a second time or by clicking on the bullet icon to deselect it, but it sure can be annoying. Here's a quick way to take back control and turn off that autoformatting function:

  1. Open Microsoft Word
  2. Click on the Tools option from the menu bar at the top
  3. Scroll down and select the AutoCorrect Options...
  4. Click on the Autoformat As You Type tab
  5. Click in the box next to Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic numbered lists to deselect them (the checkmarks will disappear)
  6. Click on OK to save the changes.

That's it! Now bulleted lists and numbered lists will only occur when you choose those options.

For more help with these features, please contact one of the IT Instructional Support team (Norm Grant, Gene Grande or Linda Beith) or faculty mentors Tony Basilico or Kathy Beauchene.

Website of the Week

LearningTimes.org

LearningTimes.org is an open, online community for educators by educators. You can join for free and start discussions, join ongoing discussions and debates, listen to a whole library of podcasts, participate in interactive live webcasts and interviews, take part in polls and receive the results or browse best practice case studies, projects and paper presentations. Since the site is open to educators all over the world, you'll see lots of thought-provoking commentary. To join this community, go to: http://www.learningtimes.org/ and click on the green Become a Member button. You just have to supply your e-mail address and create a password. I guarantee you'll start the new year with lots of new ideas!

Feel free to post your thoughts or opinions of this site in the Teaching Forum message board.

These tips are provided by the Department of Information Technology instructional support team. If you have any questions on these tips, or wish to offer your own, please feel free to contact Linda Beith at lbeith@ccri.edu or call 825-2487. View an archive of past technology tips at http://it.ccri.edu/Training/Tips/tip_week.shtml.
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