Introduction

Welcome to Word 2016 For Professionals For Dummies, a book that uncovers the truth about parapsychology and the people in Asia who hand-place sesame seeds on the hamburger buns used by Burger King. I'm not serious, of course. I'm just checking to see whether you're actually reading this introduction.

This book goes way beyond the beginner's user level when it comes to word processing with Microsoft Word. This isn't a technical book, but rather a book geared toward the professional or anyone else who is serious about the words they write. Word is a powerful program, and few people venture into its more sophisticated levels. That's sad because many of Word's features can save you time and help you create a better document

About This Book

Are you still reading the introduction? That's really weird. Most people don't even bother. In fact, they simply take the copy of this book that they illegally downloaded, get the information they want, and then go on Facebook and lament how the economy is crumbling. I love that story.

Still, I'm proud of you for continuing to read the introduction. Truly, it's the best part of the book. That's because this is where I explain how this book covers a lot of material not found anywhere else. Google? Forget it. I've looked. Those people who put "help" up on Google don't know what they're talking about. If you really want to understand Word, and create outstanding documents, you have the best resource in your hands right now.

This book is a reference. It's designed to cover a topic quickly and let you get back to work. Each chapter covers a topic, and major sections within the chapter go into detail. Within each section are specific activities, complete with steps or further instructions that help you accomplish a task. Sample sections in this book include

• Creating custom paragraph numbers
• Splitting a table between two pages
• Wrapping text around an object
• Opening an Excel worksheet inside of Word
• Converting your WordPerfect documents
• Creating the master document
• Marketing your eBooks
• Creating an AutoText building block
• Recording a macro

The topics covered are vast, but you don't have anything to memorize. Information is cross-referenced. Technical tidbits are carefully shoved to the end of a section or enclosed in a box. Though it would be great to master all that Word offers, my sense is that you prefer to find out only what you need to know and then get back to your work.

How to Use This Book

This is an active book. When you explore a topic, you see steps you follow to accomplish a given task or create an example. These steps involve using Word and the computer - specifically, the keyboard and mouse. If you have a touchscreen, that works as well, but it's far more effective to use a mouse or another pointing device.

The mouse can point, click, double-click, and right-click. These are the basic mouse activities used through the text. The click always means a left-click. Point means to position the mouse at a certain location on the screen but not to click.

The mouse pointer is referred to as "the mouse pointer," and its common icon is shown in the margin. This pointer is often called the cursor.

In a document's text, the mouse pointer changes to the I-beam pointer, shown in the margin. When you click the mouse in the text, you move the insertion pointer, which shows where new characters appear as you type. I may also refer to the insertion pointer as the toothpick cursor.

Keyboard shortcuts are shown like this:

Ctrl+D

Press and hold the Ctrl (Control) key and then tap the D key.

Multiple key combinations are also presented:

Ctrl+Shift+S

Here you press Ctrl and Shift together and then tap the S key. Release all the keys.

Word presents its commands on a Ribbon. The commands are organized into tabs and then groups. Each command is a button, and the button's artwork appears in this book's margins.

Some buttons feature menus. To view the menu, you either click the button itself or click a down-pointing triangle next to the button. The text directs you whether to click the button or its menu.

When a menu features a submenu, this text uses the following format to show how the submenu or command is chosen:

Page Number???Current Position???Plain Number

This direction tells you to click the Page Number button and, from its menu, choose the Current Position submenu and then the Plain Number item.

Other, more specific directions for some of the unusual things Word does are explained throughout the text.

Foolish Assumptions

This book assumes that you have a basic knowledge of Word. You know how the program works, and you've created crude and ugly documents. Perhaps you didn't believe them to be crude and ugly, but they are. And that's why you purchased this book, because you want to create more professional, respectable documents.

You are using Word 2016, which is the current version of Word as this book goes to press. Some of this book may apply to Word 2013 and possibly Word 2010, but the material isn't specific to those releases. You can have the stand-alone version of Word 2016, or you can use the Office 365 subscription version. Any differences between versions are noted in the text.

This book does not cover Word for the Macintosh. If you see an Apple logo on your computer, I can't promise that anything in this text applies to your software.

Parts of this book reference other Office applications - specifically, Excel and Outlook. Even so, you don't need to have these programs installed to get the most from the book.

If you need more basic information on Word, I can recommend Microsoft Word 2016 For Dummies (Wiley). That book covers material deemed too basic or common for this book, though it's still good material. For example, that book covers mail merge, which this book shuns like that steaming pan of gray goo at the back of an all-you-can-eat five-dollar buffet.

Icons Used in This Book

Festooning this book's pages are icons and micons. The icons consist of the traditional four For Dummies margin icons. They are:

This icon flags a useful suggestion or kindhearted tip. I'd like to think of all text in this book as a tip, but my editor dislikes it when I overuse the Tip icon. So only the very bestest tips are flagged.

This icon appears by text that gives you a friendly reminder to do something, to not forget something, or to do something else, which I don't recall at the moment.

This icon highlights things you're not supposed to do, like try to put sheet metal into a computer printer. That sounds cool, but if you really want a document to shine, I have better advice.

This icon alerts you to information you can happily avoid reading. I use it to flag parts of the text where I get technical, go off on a tangent, or mention material that's not really necessary to the topic, but my inner nerd just can't control himself. Feel free to avoid anything flagged with the Technical Stuff icon.

Along with the icons, you'll find margin art. These marginal masterpieces represent various items you see on the screen while using Word. They might be command buttons, doodads, controls, gizmos, or flecks of paint that look interesting. These micons (margin icons) help you navigate through steps in the text.

Beyond the Book

The publisher maintains a support page with updates or changes that occur since this book has gone to press. You'll also find bonus content in the form of an online cheat sheet, which isn't really cheating and definitely isn't a sheet.

To peruse the online content, visit www.dummies.com, but that's not the right page. You'll need to search for Word 2016 For Professionals For Dummies, and open the Download tab on this book's dedicated page. I'd offer more specific information, but I don't have any further details. Even I don't know where the online material is really hidden. When I asked, the publisher muttered something about "elves" and she then proceeded to consume dry coffee grounds.

Where to Go from Here

The first thing you need to do is stop reading the introduction. I'm serious: It's over. The book's vast pages await a bright reading light and your eager gaze.

Check out the table of contents and see what interests you. Peruse the index and look up a special topic. Or just flip to a page and become enlightened. Word does so much and offers so many tools to help you make better documents that you can truly start anywhere.

My email address is dgookin@wambooli.com. Yes, that's my real address. I reply to all email I receive, and you'll get a quick reply if you keep your question short and specific to this book or to Word itself. Although I enjoy saying Hi, I cannot answer technical support questions or help you troubleshoot your computer. Thanks for understanding.

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