How to edit document in word

Click Edit Document > Edit in Word for the web to make changes to a document.
To make changes to your document, switch to Editing view, where you can add and delete content and do other things, such as:

1. Add tables and pictures.
2. Apply styles.
3. Adjust formatting.
4. Edit headers and footers.

How do I enable editing on a Word document?

Enable editing in your document

1. Go to File > Info.
2. Select Protect document.
3. Select Enable Editing.

Why can’t I edit my Microsoft Word document?

If you cannot edit your Word document, it’s probably protected with a password. In case you don’t want to enter the password every time you access the document, you’ll need to disable document protection, and delete the password.

How do I unlock a Word document that is locked for editing?

Resolution

1. Save all your work, and then quit all programs.
2. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to open the Windows Security dialog box.
3. Click Task Manager, and then click the Processes tab.
4. Click Winword.exe, and then click End Process.
5. In the Task Manager Warning dialog box, click Yes.

How do I edit a read only document in Word?

Remove read only

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button. , and then click Save or Save As if you have previously saved the document.
2. Click Tools.
3. Click General Options.
4. Clear the Read-only recommended check box.
5. Click OK.
6. Save the document. You might need to save it as another file name if you have already named the document.

Why can’t I write on my Word document?

If text is not appearing on your screen, there is a good chance that Number Lick has been turned on by mistake. To check this, locate your “Num Lock” key, which often is the same button as “F11” on your keyboard. Press the key and then try typing. Text should appear on your screen.

What are the editing tools in MS Word?

Many of the editing toolbar icons look and function the same as the editing icons in Microsoft applications.
Editing Tools

• Format text.
• Insert/edit an image.
• Insert/edit a link.
• Paste content.
• Insert an emoticon.
• View and edit HTML.
• Page preview.

How do I edit a Word document online?

How do I edit a Word document online? To edit, click Edit Document in the top left corner and select Edit in Word Online. The document will then open in the editor and allow you to make changes to the document.

Why is a Word document locked for editing?

The file might be locked because: The file is shared and another user is currently editing it. An instance of the Office app is running in the background with the file already opened. The file has been marked as Final and can no longer be updated.

How do you unlock a Word document on a laptop?

Simply pressing control + shift + F11 keys simultaneously should unlock the locked fields.

Why Microsoft Word selection is locked?

As per your description, in Office 365 the two most common causes of the “selection is locked” message are one is unactivated version of Office( Office is in reduced functionality mode) and second a document that is protected in some other way.

How do I get rid of edit marks in Outlook?

Turn specific formatting marks on or off

1. From a new email message, select File > Options > Mail > Editor Options > Display.
2. Check or uncheck the formatting marks you want to see on the screen.

How do I change a file from read only to edit?

Read-only Files

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the file you want to edit.
2. Right-click the file name and select “Properties.”
3. Select the “General” tab and clear the “Read-only” check box to remove the read-only attribute or select the check the box to set it.

Why do my Word documents open in read only?

The content is in protected view
This is also commonly the case with email attachments or files you’ve downloaded. To help protect your computer, files from these potentially unsafe locations are opened in Protected View. By using Protected View, you can read a file and see its contents while reducing the risks.

How do I edit a Word template?

Edit templates

1. Click File > Open.
2. Double-click This PC. (In Word 2013, double-click Computer).
3. Browse to the Custom Office Templates folder that’s under My Documents.
4. Click your template, and click Open.
5. Make the changes you want, then save and close the template.

Why can’t I edit in Onedrive?

If the issue persists, you may try the following steps: Open the Word client and go to File -> Options. Select Trust Center Settings in the Trust Center tab. Untick all the options in the Protected View tab.

Where is editor in Word?

Look for Editor on the Home tab. For more information about Editor in Word for Microsoft 365, see Check grammar, spelling, and more in Word.

How do I edit a word document in Office 365?

Login to your Email in Office 365, and click on OneDrive and select the document you wish to edit. This will open your OneDrive document in the Read Only version. To edit, click Edit Document in the top left corner and select Edit in Word Online.

How do you edit someone else’s word document?

How to Co-Edit a Document in Word 2016

1. Save your Word document to OneDrive or a SharePoint Online.
2. Click the Share button in Word and then enter one or more email addresses of people you want to share with.
3. Set their permissions to “Can edit” (selected by default).

Can you unlock a Word document without the password?

Re-open the modified Rich-Text file in Word, go to “Review”, “Restrict Editing” and click on “Stop Protection” (german version: “Überprüfen” – “Bearbeitung Einschränken” – “Schutz aufheben”). Uncheck all tick-boxes. Done. You’ve unprotected your Word file without ever knowing the password.

The greatest advantage of using a word processor is how easy it is to edit text throughout a document. One quick and easy way to edit text is by selecting it and then typing over it to replace it.

Select Text

Selecting text is a very important skill in Word. Whenever you want to edit or format text, you first need to select it. There are multiple ways to select text, letting you select a small amount to entire paragraphs at once.

1. Click and drag across the text you want to select.

   You can select any amount of text with this method, from a single character to your entire document.

   Here are some other ways to select text you’ll find useful:

   • Press and hold down the Shift key, and move the insertion point either with your mouse or the arrow keys to select text.
   • Double-click a single word to select it.
   • Press the Ctrl key and click in a sentence to select it.
   • Triple-click in a paragraph, or double-click in the left margin next to a paragraph, to select it.
   • Click in the left margin to select an entire line, or click and drag in the left margin to select multiple lines.
   • Press Ctrl + A to select everything in the document.

   

Edit Text

1. Select the text you want to replace, then start typing the new text.

   

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While there’s no doubt that you will use Microsoft Word 2016 to type text into a document, you will also be using Word to edit the text in a document.  When you edit text, you change it, format it, move it from one place in the document to another, or cut chunks out of the document completely. 

Selecting Text

The first step in editing text that appears on the screen in Word is to learn how to select it for editing. You can always click within a document to move the cursor to change text, or use Backspace and Delete to remove text.   However, this can be time consuming.   What if you want to remove a whole chunk of text?   Or what if you want to move one paragraph to another location?   Well, by selecting text, you can delete or move entire paragraphs or pages. You can also format your document. You can change the font size, color, style, or any number of other things.    Being able to select text in Word 2016 is mandatory, even for the absolute beginner. 

Whenever you select text in Word, the text appears highlighted, as shown below.

Selecting text is easy and done in three easy steps.

1. Move the cursor to the beginning of the text that you want to select. 
2. Click and hold in the left button on your mouse. 
3. Drag it over the text you want to select. It will highlight the selected text, as shown above. Simply release the mouse button when you are finished selecting text.

If you want to select the entire document, simply click on the Home tab and click Select on the far right in the Editing group.

Click the downward arrow beside Select and choose Select All.

This will highlight all your text for formatting. Also note that you can select objects or text with similar formatting as your selected text when clicking on ‘Select.’

Once you’ve selected text, there are several things that you can do with it.   Naturally, you can select text to format it. Perhaps you want to change the font type or size.   We’ll cover how to do that later. 

However, you can also cut selected text from a document as a way to either delete it from one location, then paste it elsewhere in the same or different document.  

If you’d like to remove text from one location in the document to paste into another location, use the Cut command.

For example, below is an excerpt of the biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Let’s say we want to reverse the two paragraphs.   In other words, we want the second paragraph to be the first paragraph.

We will use the Cut feature in Word to accomplish this.

1.  Select the text or object to be cut and copied. We’ve selected the second paragraph. 

2.    Click the Cut icon  in the Clipboard group under the Home tab. As you can see below, the paragraph is now cut from the document. 

3.   Now, click on the area in the document where you want to «paste» the text that you just cut. Using our example, it’s before the first paragraph. Once you see the cursor, go to the Ribbon. Under the Home tab, click Paste in the Clipboard group. 

Delete and Cut should not be used interchangeably. When you cut an object, it is copied to the Clipboard. When you delete an object, it is simply removed from the document and the only way to restore it is by clicking the Undo Typing button. To delete text, select the text, then click Delete on your keyboard.

Copying Text

Once you select text, you can also copy it. Copying text means you copy the text you’ve selected, then you can paste it somewhere else in the document – or in another document.   When you copy text, the text you’ve copied remains in the document. 

There are three ways to copy text and objects to the clipboard.

1.  Select the text or object to be copied and click the copy icon  in the Clipboard group under the Home tab.

2.  Select the text or object to be copied, position the mouse pointer over it and right click. Then select Copy from the menu.

3.  Select text or object to be copied and hit CTRL + C.

The Clipboard

Whenever you copy anything in Word, it is automatically sent to the Clipboard. The Clipboard does just as its name implies. It holds the text that you copy and paste for you to use. The Clipboard and its associated tools can be found on the Home tab at the far left end of the ribbon. The Clipboard group looks like this:   

Click the arrow at the bottom of the Clipboard group to see its contents.

The clipboard will open as a long window to the left of your document. It can only hold 24 objects. When a 25th object is added, the first copied item is removed. To empty the Clipboard, click the Clear All button at the top of the Clipboard menu.

You can remove individual items from the clipboard by moving the mouse pointer over the item, then clicking the arrow button that appears to the right of the object. In the dropdown menu, select Delete.

       

Paste

The Paste command allows you to copy an object from one location in the document to another, or from another Office Program into Word 2016. You can use the Cut or Copy feature to move an item to the clipboard, then use Paste to place it elsewhere into a document.

There are three ways to Paste text or an object into a document:

1.  Move the cursor to the point in your document where you want to place the item and click the Paste icon. It looks like this:

2.  Move the mouse pointer to the place you wish to insert the item and click the right mouse button. Select one of the paste options from the dropdown menu. We’ll discuss the options in just a minute. 

3.  Move the cursor to the point in your document where you wish to place the item and press CTRL + V.

Ordinarily, Word pastes the most recently copied item. To paste an object that was copied earlier, position the cursor at the point in your document you wish to paste the item, then open the clipboard and click the item you wish to paste. You can also move the mouse pointer over the item to be pasted, and click the arrow that appears to the right of that item.   Then select a paste option.

Paste Options is what you see when you right click your mouse to paste into a document. See below.

You also see Paste Options when you click the downward arrow below Paste on the Ribbon.

Paste Options allows you to specify the method of pasting that you want to use.   This will be important if you want to keep or remove formatting for the selected text. 

Let’s explain what we mean. Let’s say for example, that we want to paste a paragraph of this article into another article with a different font size, or into another document with a different font. Word 2016 gives us the option of preserving formatting, making the formatting match the area of the document where we paste our text, or pasting text only and not any images that we cut or copied.

Again, Paste Options only appears when you right click your mouse to paste – unless you select your Paste option from the Ribbon.   Once you’ve copied or cut selected text, then right click, you’ll see this:

These are your paste options:

Paste using original formatting of pasted text.

Merge formatting. Paste using the formatting of the majority of the text in the document. 

 Allows you paste text only. Any graphics or images will not be pasted, only text.

 Paste using the formatting of the destination text, or the text where you paste into.

 Paste a Picture.

Inserting Text

You can insert text anywhere in a document simply by moving the cursor to the desired location and typing. 

Word automatically moves all text to the right of the cursor over as you type. However, if you’d rather replace the text as you type, Word 2016 gives you two options:

1. Select the text you’d like to replace and start typing. This deletes the highlighted text and positions the cursor in its place.
2. Use Overtype Mode. To turn on overtype mode, click on the File tab, then select Options.

You will then see this dialogue box.

Click on Advanced in the left column.

Put a Checkmark beside «Use the Insert key to control overtype mode» or the «Use overtype mode» box.

If you select the «Use the Insert key to control overtype mode» box, you can toggle overtype mode on or off by pressing the Insert key. 

If you select only «Use overtype mode» you must manually turn it off by deselecting it.

AutoCorrect

AutoCorrect automatically corrects some errors you make. For example, by default, Microsoft Word will start the first letter of every new paragraph with a capital letter.   It also may recognize certain words and make corrections for you without ever having to use Spell. However, you can customize AutoCorrect to find and correct certain errors — or to leave certain «errors» alone. 

To customize AutoCorrect, click on the File tab, then click Options on the left. 

Click Proofing in the column on the left.   

Next, click the AutoCorrect Options button. The screen you will see will look like the one below.

Click on the AutoCorrect options button, and you can specify words or even math that you want Word to correct as you type. 

As you can see, by default, Word will automatically turn: (into a smiley face emoticon: J. It will also create a trademark symbol ™.   These are default corrections that Word makes for you. You can add your own too. 

To add your own, type in what word or symbols you will enter in that you want Word to automatically correct. We’re going to type «Universal Class» and have it replaced by «Universal.» We’re doing this to have uniformity in our documents. Click the Add button when you’re finished.

Now, let’s click the Math AutoCorrect tab in the dialogue box.

However, you can set AutoCorrect for mathematics just as you would with text.

Undo and Redo    

But let’s say you accidently delete something or deleted it and then decided that you want it back.   You grit your teeth and start to grumble, trying to remember the exact wording. It’s a lost cause, right? Wrong. The makers of Word anticipated this problem and supplied an easy solution. The Undo button!  

The Undo button is on the Quick Access Toolbar. It looks like this: . You can click the downward arrow beside the Undo button to determine how many steps backward you want to take with your undo.

If you scroll down the list above to the bottom to AutoFormat, everything above AutoFormat will be undone too. You can undo up to 100 actions. 

The Redo button is to the right of the Undo button.  It looks like this: . The redo button allows you redo an action that you just undid or to repeat the last action. If Word cannot redo the last action, the button will be faded.

Hyphenation

Word 2016 can hyphenate words at the end of lines for you, or you can choose to do it yourself. By default, hyphenation is turned off, which means Word won’t hyphenate words that are at the end of a line. Instead, it will just move the word to the next line.  

To use the hyphenation feature in Word 2016, click on the Layout tab, then go to the Page Setup group on the ribbon. You’ll see Hyphenation, as shown below.

If you click the downward arrow beside Hyphenation, you’ll see that None is selected. This means no hyphenation (default.) 

If you want Word to hyphenate words for you, select Automatic.   This means that Word 2016 will hyphenate words that appear at the end of a line rather than moving it down to the next line to keep your text within the margins. Word will use its settings to decide how to hyphenate words.   Just keep in mind, it does NOT mean Word will hyphenate words such as ‘how-to.’ It won’t.

You can also select Manual. This box will pop up and ask you to specify how you want words hyphenated. Word will search your text for words that can be hyphenated and ask you how you wanted hyphenated.   See the snapshot below:

You can also set options to tell Word the maximum amount of space to allow between the word and the right margin. This is called the Hyphenation Zone. To set the amount of space yourself, go to Hyphenation, click the downward arrow, then click on Hyphenation Options.   

In this window, you can also select to automatically hyphenate the entire document, hyphenate words that are in CAPS, and manually set hyphens as we just learned to do.