Writing a textbook in word

If you want to write a book, you’ll need book writing software that’s up to the task. Yes, you can invest in dedicated book writing programs. But you don’t have to: a great writing tool is likely already at your fingertips, if you know how to write a book using Microsoft Word.

There’s a lot of book writing software out there. Many of these programs claim to offer intuitive use, help with organization, and even say they’ll keep you from distraction. The options can be overwhelming.

There’s still one tried and true option if you’re not interested in all that (or can’t afford the fancier programs): Microsoft Word.

I write most of my books in Microsoft Word, not to mention short stories. Here’s the rundown of how to write a book using Microsoft Word, and why that might be your best choice.

The Benefits of Microsoft Word for Book Writing

You most likely already have it. And so does everybody else. Word is the standard, accepted across platforms, and is easy to access for non-writers (your beta readers). It’s been around forever, so most people know how to use it.

There are book formatting templates. A ton of them. They have them for short story format and for manuscript format. Personally, I don’t use those templates, but they’re a nice baseline for beginners, or even old hats that just want to hurry up and write without setting up their document first.

It’s simple and uncluttered. There are a ton of apps and programs out there that will allow you to keep your plot structure notes close at hand, to rearrange your chapters with the click of a button, and to keep detailed character profiles right in the program. That’s all a little too much for me. I prefer handwritten notes and nothing else blocking my screen while I’m typing and Word gives me that.

It is worth noting that if all that sounds appealing to you, you can do those things in Word as well, it just won’t be as fancy as other programs.

Hey writer: the first step to writing a book is coming up with a great idea. The second step is figuring out the structure of your book. If you have an idea but you need help with the structure, check out our new book The Write Structure. In it, we’ll teach you how to apply timeless story structure principles to write a great book. Get The Write Structure »

How to Navigate Your Book in Microsoft Word

When you have a 90,000-word manuscript, navigating becomes daunting. Luckily there are ways to do it in Word that make it easier if you know where to look.

Chapter Headings

Word doesn’t divide your book into chapters for you like some other programs. There will be no easy way to click and drag to rearrange chapters.

What I recommend is using headings. On Word’s Home page, there are already standard headings listed. Definitely mess with them and change their formatting to something simple.

No one needs giant blue words as their chapter headings. (You can set your simpler formatting as your default style as well, so you don’t have to change it every time.)

Make the title or number of each chapter a heading. Then you can easily bounce around to different chapters through the navigation pane (check the Navigation Pane box under the View menu).

Bookmarks

These basically work the same way as headings, but they’re for anywhere in your document. Have a specific scene you need to do more research on? You can bookmark it and jump back to it later.

Bookmark by going to the Insert menu and clicking Bookmark. Name your bookmark and voilà. You can delete them easily from the popup menu as well.

Find and Replace

CTRL+F brings up a simple search option to find words and phrases in your document. CTRL+H brings up the full gambit. From that dialogue box, you can search, replace certain words with others (i.e. Jennifer now becomes Julia all through the manuscript), and go to any page, section, heading, bookmark, etc. that you need to go to.

Microsoft Word is Great for Editing Your Book

Word has a ton of options for editing your story, including comments, tracking changes, and comparing documents. All of these are under the Review menu.

I use the comments feature to make notes to myself where I need to recheck facts or add description later. It’s easy to navigate through the comments with the search feature or the buttons under the Review menu. Don’t forget to remove them all before saving your document as a PDF or sending it off to an editor.

Tracking changes is awesome and a lot of editors (for short stories anyway) will use this feature to collaborate with you during the editing process. You can accept or reject changes or even revert back to the original.

Finally, make sure you have grammar and spellcheck on! Grammar check even allows you to check style issues (like how to use an ellipsis correctly) and passive voice. It’s invaluable.

Pro tip: To keep you on track while you’re writing, turn off some of the more fine-tuning features of grammar check. There’s nothing that will ruin your flow more than a bunch of underlining you feel like you need to take care of immediately. I recommend running the full check when you’re done (or at least done for the day).

Formatting Your Book in Microsoft Word

Make sure you’re familiar with standard manuscript format for novels and formatting short stories. Take a look at those links and follow their instructions. You don’t want to get rejected out of hand because you tried some weird formatting that’s hard to look at.

One of the biggest gripes I see from editors is writers using spaces to indent paragraphs. Don’t do this. It makes it super hard on them when they’re putting a book together. Instead, use the ruler in Word (under the View menu) or the paragraph settings (under the Home menu) to adjust your tabs. A half inch is standard.

Despite what most of us were taught in school, the standard is now one space after periods, not two. This is another sticking point with editors, so don’t do it. If you’re used to two, there’s a grammar check feature in Word you can turn on to highlight every time you use two spaces.

Finally, use the page break option to break for a new chapter, not enter or a million spaces. You can find the page break under the Insert menu.

Pro tip: When in doubt about your formatting, you can turn on the Show/Hide option under the Home menu (looks like a paragraph symbol) to see all your formatting symbols.

Now That You’ve Mastered Microsoft Word, Go Write Your Book

Don’t let choosing writing software stagnant your writing. Don’t overthink it. You don’t need to keep up with the Joneses with the latest writing technology that’s trotted out on tech forums and in writing chats.

The important thing about writing a book is actually writing it. No fancy book writing software is going to help you with that.

So get writing!

Ever used Word to write a book? Do you have any more tips for how to write a book using Word? Let me know in the comments!

Create a booklet or book

1. Go to Layout and select the Page Setup dialog launch icon at the bottom-right corner.

   

2. On the Margins tab, change the setting for Multiple pages to Book fold. The orientation automatically changes to Landscape.

   

   Tip: If you have a long document, you might want to split it into multiple booklets, which you can then bind into one book. Under Sheets per booklet, choose how many pages to print per booklet.

3. Select and increase the value of Gutter to reserve space on the inside fold for binding.

4. Go to the Paper tab and select the Paper size. The final size of the booklet is one half width of the paper size.

   

   Tip: You can add many embellishments to your booklet’s appearance. For example, to add borders to every page, on the Layout tab of the Page Setup window, click Borders.

5. Click OK. If your document already has content, the text is formatted automatically, but you might need to adjust objects like images and tables manually.

Print settings for booklets

When you print the booklet, check the print settings to make sure you print on both sides of the paper and flip the papers correctly for the printing to work as intended.

1. Go to File > Print.

2. If your printer supports automatic printing on both sides, change Print One Sidedto Print on Both Sides. Choose the option Flip pages on short edge to avoid printing the second side of each sheet upside down.

   

3. If your printer doesn’t support automatic printing on both sides, select Manually Print on Both Sides, and feed the pages back to the printer when prompted. To avoid pages from printing upside down, flip the sheets on the short edge of the paper according to your printer’s instructions.

   Tip: For a professional touch, consider adding page numbers in the header or the footer. For more info, see Add page numbers.

See Also

Create a booklet using a Word template

Booklet: Page numbering tips.

Create different headers or footers for odd and even pages

Get Microsoft publishing templates

Create a booklet or book

1. Go to Layout > Margins > Custom Margins.

2. Change the setting for Multiple pages to Book fold. The orientation automatically changes to Landscape.

   Tip: If you have a long document, you might want to split it into multiple booklets, which you can then bind into one book. Under Sheets per booklet, choose how many pages to print per booklet.

3. To reserve space on the inside fold for binding, increase the width of the Gutter.

4. You can add many embellishments to your booklet’s appearance. For example, to add borders to every page, on the Layout tab of the Custom Margins window, select Borders.

5. Select OK.

   If your document already has content, the text is formatted automatically, but you might need to adjust objects like images and tables manually.

6. Go to File > Page Setup and check the paper size. Keep in mind that the final size of the booklet is one half of the paper size. Make sure your printer is stocked with paper of the right size.

Print settings for booklets

When you print the booklet, check the print settings to make sure you print on both sides of the paper and flip the papers correctly for the printing to work as intended. If your printer supports automatic printing on both sides, follow these steps.

1. Click File > Print.

2. Under Two-sided, select Booklet.

   Tip: For a professional touch, consider adding page numbers in the header or the footer. For more info, see Add page numbers.

Note: If your printer doesn’t support automatic printing on both sides, you’ll need to print each page manually.

See Also

Create a booklet using a Word template

Booklet: Page numbering tips.

Create different headers or footers for odd and even pages

Get Microsoft publishing templates

Microsoft Word comes with pre-built page settings for creating books. Whether you’re creating a memoir or event guide, these settings let you create a beautiful book or booklet, from start to finish.

Create a Book or Booklet

First, go ahead and open Word. It’s recommended that you adjust these setting before writing the content of your book to prevent formatting issues late on.

Once you’re in Word, head over to the “Layout” tab. In the “Page Setup” group, click the small arrow at the bottom-right.

This opens the “Page Setup” window, where you will automatically be on the “Margin” tab. In the “Margins” group, you’re able to set the margins of the page. By default, the “Gutter” margin will be set to 0. This could cause issues further on, as the gutter margin is the amount of space between the content of your book and the fold where the pages of the book will be bound together. That said, go ahead and give the gutter a 1” margin, so the content of your book doesn’t get lost in the fold.

Next, select the arrow next to “Multiple Pages” in the “Pages” group, then select “Book Fold” from the drop-down menu. Once selected, you’ll notice your page orientation automatically changes from “Portrait” to “Landscape.”

Tip: You may notice a “Reverse Book Fold” option. This is for content that reads from right to left, such as Japanese-style books.

Once you’ve adjusted the settings, click “OK.”

The page setup for creating a book or booklet is now complete. There’s a ton of stuff you can do from here depending on what you require for your book. You may want to add a header or footer, create a table of contents, or give your book page numbers for easier navigation. We’ll leave the content and add-ons to you—we’re just here to show you how to create the setup.

It’s also worth noting that, depending on the length of your document, you may need to split it up into multiple booklets due to the sheer size of the document. That’s fine—you can bind them into one book later.

RELATED: How to Reduce the Size of a Microsoft Word Document

Print Your Book or Booklet

Once you’ve finished composing your book, it’s time for printing. Select the “File” tab, then select “Print” found in the left-hand pane.

Next, select the second option in the “Settings” group.

A drop-down menu will appear, presenting a few different printing-style options. If you have a duplex printer, select (1) “Print on Both Sides” (and whether or not to flip the page on the long or short edge). If your printer doesn’t have this functionality, you’ll need to select the (2) “Manually Print on Both Sides” option.

All that’s left to do now is select Print, and you’re good to go!

READ NEXT

• › How to Search for Text in Word
• › How to Use Outline View in Microsoft Word
• › Save Hundreds on Elegoo’s New PHECDA Laser Engraver Through Kickstarter
• › Android’s Nearby Share Has (Unofficially) Arrived on Mac
• › Why Your Phone Charging Cable Needs a USB Condom
• › Spotify Is Shutting Down Its Free Online Game
• › Five Types of Phone Damage That Aren’t Covered by Your Free Warranty
• › This 64 GB Flash Drive From Samsung Is Just $8 Right Now

Word is a powerful program for formatting books. Whether you’re self-publishing or submitting to a publishing house, following the proper steps will make your book look professional and help it stand out from the competition. Do you have a book that you want to format for self-publishing? Are you unsure of how to go about it? This basic guide will walk you through the process of formatting your book in Word!

Five benefits of formatting a book in Word

When you format a book in Word, you are taking the time to properly layout your book’s text and design elements. This can result in many benefits for both you and your readers. Here are five benefits of formatting a book in Word.

1. Word is easy to learn

Many first-time authors ask themselves which word processing software is best for formatting their book. While there are many different programs, Microsoft Word is often the most recommended option. Formatting a book in Word has many benefits. One of the main reasons why people prefer the Word is that it’s easy to learn. Even if you’ve never used the program before, you’ll be able to figure out how to format your book quickly.

Several helpful tutorials and guides are available online, so you can always find answers to any questions. In addition, Word is highly versatile, so you can format your book exactly how you want it. With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that Microsoft Word is the go-to option for formatting books.

2. No need to start from scratch

One benefit of formatting a book in Word is that you don’t have to start from scratch. If you have a Word document you’ve used as a first draft, you can easily format it into a professional-looking book. This can save you time and effort, as you won’t have to create a new document from scratch. You can make formatting changes to your existing document.

It includes adding page numbers, adjusting margins, and creating headers and footers. In addition, formatting a book in Word can help ensure consistency throughout your book. You can create a polished and professional-looking final product using the same formatting for all your chapters.

3. You can work with your book everywhere

Another benefit of formatting a book in Word is that you can work on it anywhere. You can open and edit your book if you have Microsoft Word installed on your computer. This is convenient if you want to make changes while you’re on the go. You can also save your book to the cloud to access it from anywhere.

This means you can format your book on your laptop while at home and edit it on your tablet while on the bus. Formatting a book in Word gives you the flexibility to work on your book wherever and whenever it’s convenient for you. Whether you’re writing a novel, a textbook, or a cookbook, formatting your book in Word can help to make the process easier and more efficient.

4. Great support and many templates online

Formatting a book in Word means getting excellent support that is available online. Many forums and websites are dedicated to helping authors format their books in Word, and you can download several templates. This means finding the help you need if you encounter any problems is easy. is easy

Another benefit of formatting your book in Word is the wide range of available templates. Whether you want a simple design or something more complex, you will find a template that meets your needs. This makes it easy to create a professional-looking book, even if you have limited design experience. 

5. Easy collaboration and editing

Formatting a book in Word also makes it easy to collaborate with others and make edits. If you need to share your book with an editor or beta reader, you can send them the Word document. This is much easier than sending a PDF or print copy. In addition, if you need to make changes to your book, you can do so quickly and easily in Word.

This is especially helpful if you find typos or want to make last-minute changes before publication. Formatting a book in Word can help make the editing and collaboration process smoother and more efficient.

Ten tips for formatting a book in Word

If you’re looking to format your book in Microsoft Word, you’ll want to read these ten tips. Formatting a book can be difficult, but with these tips, you’ll be able to do it quickly and easily.

1. Margins

One of the most important aspects of formatting a book in Word is setting the margins. Margins control the amount of space between the text and the edge of the page, and they play a vital role in determining your book’s overall look and feel. There are a few things to remember when setting margins for your book. First, all margins should be uniform throughout the entire document.

Second, the size of your margins will depend on the trim size of your book. And finally, you’ll need to consider the bleed when setting your margins. The bleed is the amount of space that will be trimmed off when your book is printed, and it’s essential to ensure that your text doesn’t extend into this area. With these things in mind, you can set the margins for your book and ensure that it looks professional and polished.

2. Font

Formatting a book in Microsoft Word can be tricky. Your book can look like a jumbled mess if you’re not careful. One of the most important things to keep in mind when formatting your book is font choice. The wrong font can make your book difficult to read and affect the overall look of your book. When choosing a font for your book, it’s essential to pick one that is easy to read and has a clean, professional appearance.

Some popular book fonts include Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri. Once you’ve chosen a font, stick with it throughout your book for consistency. You may also consider using larger font size for chapter titles and section headers to help break up the text and make your book easier to navigate.

3. Paragraph spacing

Another important aspect of formatting a book in Word is setting the appropriate paragraph spacing. Too much space between paragraphs can make the text appear disconnected and difficult to read, while too little space can make it seem cramped and cluttered. The best way to determine the ideal paragraph spacing for your book is to experiment with different settings until you find a look that feels right.

Generally, starting with moderately wide margins is a good idea, then adjusting the spacing as needed. Remember that your book looks on the screen may not be identical to how it will look when printed, so it’s always a good idea to check your formatting before sending your file to the printer. 

4. Headers and footers

One thing to keep in mind is to use headers and footers. The first step is to create a separate section for each chapter. Go to the Layout tab and click on Breaks > Next Page. This will insert a break and start a new section on the next page. Then, go to the Insert tab and click on Header. From the drop-down menu, select the desired header style. For instance, you might choose to have the chapter name and number appear in the header of each page.

Once you have inserted the header, you can add text by clicking in the header area and typing or by inserting objects such as images or shapes. To format the footer, go to the Insert tab and click on Footer. From the drop-down menu, select the desired footer style. For example, you might choose to have the page number appear in the footer of each page. Once you have inserted the footer, you can add text or objects in the same way as with the header. 

5. Section breaks

When formatting a book in Word, section breaks are an essential tool to use. Section breaks allow you to control the formatting of your document, which can be very helpful when you want to change the layout of your book. For example, if you’re going to start a new chapter on a new page, you can insert a section break before the chapter begins. Or, if you want to change the margins or page orientation for a specific section of your book, you can insert a section break and then make the changes.

Section breaks are also helpful if you need to insert extra space between parts of your book, such as between chapters or sections. To insert a section break in Word, go to the Insert tab and click on the Section Break button. Then choose where you want to insert the break. You can choose between a subsequent page, continuous, even page, or odd page break. Once inserted into the break, you can format your document as desired. Experiment with different section breaks to see what works best for your book.

6. Page numbering

Also, don’t forget to add page numbers to your book. Page numbers help readers keep track of their place in the book and make it easy to reference specific sections. To add page numbers in Word, go to the Insert tab and click on the Page Number button. From the drop-down menu, select where you want the page number to appear on the page.

If you’re unsure where to start, try selecting Top of Page > Plain Number 3. This will insert the page number at the top of each page in the right corner. You can then format the page number by clicking on it and selecting Format Page Numbers from the contextual menu that appears. From here, you can change the alignment, font, and color of the page number.

7. Table of contents

One of the most important aspects of formatting a book in Word is creating a table of contents. A table of contents allows readers to quickly and easily find the information they need, and it also helps to break up the text so that it is easy to read. There are a few formatting tips to keep in mind when creating a table of contents. First, use clear and concise headings so readers can quickly identify the relevant section.

Second, ensure consistent formatting throughout the document so that the table of contents is easy to navigate. Finally, proofread the table of contents carefully before publishing to ensure accuracy. By following these formatting tips, you can create a table of contents that will be user-friendly and visually appealing.

8. Bookmarks

Bookmarks are an excellent way for readers to quickly and easily find the information they need. You can use bookmarks to link to specific sections of your book, and they can also be used to create a table of contents or index. To add a bookmark in Word, go to the Insert tab and click on the Bookmark button. Then enter a name for the bookmark and select the location where you want it to appear.

Once you’ve inserted the bookmark, you can link to it by creating a hyperlink. To do this, highlight the text you want to link and click on the Insert Hyperlink button. In the window that appears, enter the bookmark’s name in the Link field and click OK. Your text will now be linked to the bookmark, and readers can quickly and easily find the information they need.

9. Front matter

Front matter is the material that appears at the beginning of a book. This includes things like the title page, copyright page, and dedication. The front matter is crucial because it sets the stage for the rest of the book. Formatting the front matter correctly will help to ensure that your book has a professional appearance.

When formatting the front matter, there are a few things to remember. First, make sure to include all of the required elements. Second, use consistent formatting throughout the document. Finally, be sure to proofread carefully before publishing. By following these tips, you can ensure that your book’s front matter is both complete and accurate.

10. Back matter

The back matter of a book is everything that comes after the text. This includes the appendix, the index, the bibliography, and any other materials that are not essential to the story but may interest the reader. Formatting the back matter can be tricky, but there are a few tips to keep in mind. First, make sure that all of the pages are numbered consecutively.

Second, use headers and footers to keep the page numbering consistent and easy to follow. Finally, if your book includes an index, format it according to your style guide. Attention to detail ensures that your book’s back matter is correctly formatted and easy to navigate.

Five common mistakes when formatting a book in Word

Even with careful attention to detail, it’s easy to make mistakes while formatting a book. Here are five common mistakes people make when formatting a book in Word. By avoiding these mistakes, you can ensure that your book has a professional appearance.

1. Not proofreading formatting changes

One of the most common mistakes people make when formatting a book in Word is not proofreading their formatting changes. It can be easy to miss errors when you’re making a lot of changes at once, but even a tiny mistake can throw off the entire layout of your book. That’s why it’s essential to take a few moments to proofread your work after you’ve made any formatting changes.

Look over your book carefully to ensure that all of the text is aligned correctly and that there are no stray spacing or margin issues. If you catch a mistake, go back and fix it before moving on. Taking the time to proofread will save you a lot of headaches down the road.

2. Not knowing when to start a new page

One of the most common mistakes is not knowing when to start a new page. If you insert too many breaks, your pages will become cluttered and difficult to read. On the other hand, if you don’t insert enough breaks, your text will run together, and your reader will lose their place. So how do you know when to start a new page?

Generally speaking, you should start a new page whenever a significant change in scene or time occurs. For example, if your character is moving from one location to another, or if there is a time jump of more than a few hours or days, you would start a new page. You should also create a new page whenever there is a change in perspective, such as switching from one character’s point of view to another. 

3. Inconsistent margins or font sizes

Inconsistent margins or font sizes are people’s most common mistakes when formatting a book in Microsoft Word. The problem is that Word’s default settings are not conducive to creating a well-formatted book. The margins are too small, and the font size is too large.

As a result, people often end up with pages that look cluttered and unfinished. To avoid this problem, it’s essential to take the time to adjust the margins and font size to create a more pleasing and professional-looking book. With a little effort, you can ensure that your book will make a great impression on your readers.

4. Inaccurate front and back matter

Another mistake people make when formatting a book in Word is including inaccurate front and back matter. The front matter of a book typically consists of the title page, copyright page, and dedication, while the back matter typically includes the appendices and index. When formatting these pages in Word, it’s essential to use the correct layouts and spacing.

Otherwise, your book will look unprofessional and could be rejected by literary agents or publishing houses. To avoid this mistake, take the time to learn how to format a book in Word. Plenty of resources are available online, so there’s no excuse for getting it wrong. 

5. Forgetting about bookmarks and hyperlinks

Bookmarks and hyperlinks are essential when formatting a book in Word. Without them, your book will be challenging to navigate, and readers will quickly become frustrated. The good news is that they’re easy to set up, and there’s no need to hire a professional to do it for you. Open your Word document, select the “Insert” tab, and then click on “Bookmark.” from there, you can choose where you want to insert your bookmark and give it a name.

To create a hyperlink, highlight the text you want to link, click on the “Insert” tab, and click on “Hyperlink.” Enter the URL of the page you want to link to and click “OK.” With just a few clicks, you can easily add bookmarks and hyperlinks to your book formatting in Word – so be sure not to forget about them.

Frequently asked questions

Here are answers to some of your frequently asked questions about formatting a book in Word!

How many pages should I have in my book?

As any writer knows, there is no easy answer when determining how many pages should be in a book. Several factors must be considered, including the subject matter, the target audience, and the desired length of the finished product. In general, however, most books fall between 200 and 400 pages. Shorter works, such as novellas and short stories, typically fall on the lower end of this range.

Longer works, such as novels and non-fiction books, often fall on the higher end. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule – some novels may be shorter than 200 pages, while others may exceed 400 pages – but generally, this is a good starting point for deciding how many pages should be in your book.

What’s the best way to format my book title?

While there are many different ways to format a book title, some strategies are more effective than others. One important consideration is ensuring the title is easy to read and understand at a glance. For this reason, it’s generally best to avoid overly long or complicated titles.

It can also be helpful to use italics or quotation marks to set the title apart from the rest of the text. Additionally, suppose the title includes a subtitle. In that case, it’s usually best to place a colon after the main title to indicate that the two parts of the title are related. Considering these factors, you can ensure that your book title will be as effective as possible.

Conclusion

Formatting a book in Word can be challenging, but it’s essential to get it right if you want your book to look professional. With a little effort, you can avoid common mistakes and ensure that your book will make a great impression on readers. By following these tips, you’ll be well at formatting a book like a pro!

So You Want to Write a Book with MS Word

If you intend to assemble and manipulate large amounts of text in Word and would like to minimize the time you spend fighting Word, it’s a good idea to have an understanding of how Word works.

If you are hoping for an easy template for a book, you should realize that there is no such single item. There are as many potential templates as there are books. However, if you format your text according to the structure of your book, following the principles introduced and linked here, you can plug the same text into any template to control the visual appearance, and reformat and reorganize your entire book very quickly.

This webpage will also point you toward how to set up Word to write a book, a dissertation, or other long document projects that require multiple chapters. If you follow the principles introduced in this article, Word will automatically update all those things that change as you edit. For instance, it will create a table of contents and update the page numbers as you shuffle chapters, and will re-number your figures and fix the cross-references when you add another figure.

The title of this article refers to “books,” but these are principles that apply to many types of long documents. Word has been known to handle 10,000 pages in a single file, and these approaches probably start being extremely useful at about 30 pages. This article is designed to redirect you to some of the most useful pages on the web that elucidate the necessary concepts in detail, although there is also a fair amount of introductory overview on this page. This page is also designed as a gateway so that you only have to bookmark or share one link that will direct you to many useful references.

This one article answers ninety percent of the most common questions relating to books and theses, so if you are looking for a quick fix, start there. You could also try these Step by Step Instructions from a Professional Writer, which will point you toward some of the most fundamental concepts—it’s a rather more efficient but also more elliptical introduction to the process than this page. Otherwise, this compilation of links assumes that you are interested in learning how to control Word, and attempts to get you started on that task.

Although each version of Word has different features, these are general principles that apply to all versions since Word 97, including versions for the Macintosh. Note: The next versions of Word after WinWord 2003/MacWord 2004 will incorporate a new file format, XML. XML should make long document writing easier, but it is not yet clear how or whether XML will change Word. These principles should still apply, however.

Is This the Right Article for You?

If you are actually hoping to print a bunch of pages that you can fold in half and staple into a booklet, see here: WinWord;MacWord. These principles may not be necessary for you, although they should be useful if your booklet has a lot of text.

If your book is going to have multiple graphics on every page and will resemble a coffee-table book more than a novel, you may want to consider page layout software, programs that will give you more control over graphic placement than Word does and will let you flow text around images. For Windows, try Microsoft’s Publisher; on a Mac, try Apple’s Pages. The more powerful incarnations of such features are found in Adobe InDesign or Quark Xpress, both offering 30-day trials.

Contents

Overview

General Principles

• How Word Thinks
• Working Efficiently
• Keep Your Doc Fast
• Prevent Corruption

Basic Techniques

• Styles
• Templates
• Sections
• Understanding Your Document
• Navigating Your Document
• Appearance

Special Cases

• Numbering
• Tables of Contents
• Images, Tables, Figures, Equations
• References and Bibliography
• Dealing With Other People: Reviewers, Multiple Authors, Printers
• Keeping Chapters in Separate Files
• Master Documents

More Information

• Customizing Word
• Additional Resources
• If You Still Have Questions

| Full Contents | General Principles | Basic Techniques | Special Cases | More Information |

Overview

Authors generally write one chapter at a time, so that each chapter takes life as a separate entity. However, it’s tricky to print sequentially numbered pages, create a table of contents, or use cross-references when each chapter is a separate file. Word promises to make combining chapters easy with the Master Document feature, but this is likely to corrupt your documents and you are advised to avoid it.

Instead, you will generally be best off if you combine your entire document into one file and format it consistently. To do this, the most fundamental concepts you need to understand are Styles, Templates, and Sections. Section breaks between your chapters will let you mimic many of the things that you thought you needed separate files to do. Styles and templates help you enforce consistency while minimizing the work you have to do.

Styles are about structure. Working so extensively with Word demands that you learn to think a little bit like Word thinks. There are two facets to writing a book in Word.  In the manuscript phase, you write and collect all the text that is part of the book. In the formatting phase, you decide what the book will look like. These are very different actions. In the first phase, you need to format the text according to the structure of the book, not according to what you want it to look like. You don’t tell Word that you want the text under the picture to be centered and bold, you tell Word that this piece of text is a caption, by applying the Caption style. In the second phase, you tell Word what you want a caption to look like, by defining the Caption style. As long as the book is formatted according to the role each piece of text plays, it is very easy to change your mind about what you want a caption, or a heading, or a footnote, to look like. Formatting according to structure allows you to implement the final touches very easily. When the thesis czars demand 12pt footnotes, not 10pt, it only takes you a few seconds to change the Footnote style to 12pt. When the publisher asks you to use underline instead of italics, it only takes you a few seconds to change the Emphasis style.

Templates hold sets of style definitions. Templates also hold layout instructions, such as margin size and the location of page numbers. As long as all of the text is formatted according to structure, you can simply change the template you are using and redo the look of your entire manuscript in just a few seconds. If you want to use one font for print and another for the web, you simply insert the same text into a Print Template and a Web Template, and voilà, all the appearance changes are made for you.

You should realize that Word is designed for user customization and if you are writing or editing long documents, it will definitely be worth the trouble to add your own keyboard shortcuts, create your own toolbars, and record the occasional macro. This page does not emphasize such tricks, but there is a section at the end to get you started customizing Word. This page also finishes off with links to additional resources. In particular, an article titled “Bend Word to Your Will” may be useful, as it is an even more extensive compilation of tips on using and customizing Word, many of them addressed to people who are doing long documents. Also realize that there are usually multiple ways to accomplish the same task in Word.

If you are already well into the writing process, it is not too late to apply these suggestions. In fact, it’s easier to understand how styles and templates work if you already have a lot of text you can play around with, and it’s easier to design a template when you have a rough sense of the structure of your document. Just do a Save As… TestFileName to protect your work in progress, and experiment to your heart’s content. Experimentation is often the best way to learn to control Word.

If you choose not to combine the chapters, you can and should still use most of these techniques. Basing each chapter on the same custom template and using styles will still be the best way to achieve consistent formatting. Word offers slightly more complex features that enable you to manage sequential page numbering and tables of contents, etc., across multiple files. Those tips are not so well documented, but you will find a few links below.

This article is divided into a number of subsections. As the linked articles were usually written to answer specific questions, not designed to walk someone through the process of writing a book, you may find repetition, and you may find indirect answers that require you to apply what you learn and your understanding of Word to your particular situation.

Mac users: articles written based on WinWord usually hold true for MacWord, but keyboard shortcuts often need to be translated; for references to Tools>Options, substitute Word>Preferences. Many of these links (any at http://word.mvps.org) will require you to hit refresh several times if you try to access them with Safari.

If you are familiar with web design, using styles in Word instead of directly applied formatting is very similiar to using CSS, and is based on the same principle of separating content from presentation. Cascading styles in Word, however, refers to the ability for a style to be based on a different style and to inherit most of its properties from that style. Templates in Word are not nearly as powerful as templates in a program such as Dreamweaver or GoLive—once the document has been created the link with the template is broken, and you can no longer update layout or text elements, as you can with web templates. You can still use the Word template to change style definitions, however, rather like a CSS stylesheet, but you have to consciously enable it.

| Full Contents | General Principles | Basic Techniques | Special Cases | More Information |

General Principles

• How Word Thinks
• Working Efficiently
• Keep Your Doc Fast
• Prevent Corruption

How Word Thinks

This article has a brief discussion of how Word understands the composition of a document, which is very different from the way you might understand it.

You should also realize that Word doesn’t think in terms of pages.  A somewhat more extended and less technical discussion of what that means may be found here.

Though I know it may be hard to believe, the Help system can often be extremely helpful. There is a lot of information in the Help topics. It’s often tricky to find the right topic, so you might have to try a few guesses, but Help pleasantly surprises me more often than not.

Working Efficiently

Word is supposedly set up to «help» the novice user. For anyone writing a book, you want to turn off most of Word’s «helpful» features. In general, taking control of Word requires overriding many of its defaults.

Setting Up Word

Word has a number of features that let you quickly enter repetitive material, whether that material consists of plain text abbreviations for long words, accented or formatted text, tables, graphics, or fields.

Exploiting AutoCorrect

Using AutoText

When you are in composition mode, try to keep your hands on the keyboard as much as possible. This might mean you leave layout and some formatting for the editing process, rather than the composing process.

Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

Creating a Keyboard Shortcut

Keeping Your Long Document Fast

Word is a memory hog, and can slow down when working on very long documents. You will be happiest with plenty of RAM, or memory (and of course plenty of free hard drive space). In addition:

• Use styles conscientiously. Keeping track of style tags imposes less load on Word than keeping track of an infinitude of direct formatting.
• Work in Normal view as much as possible; turn off background repagination if you can bear it (Tools>Options>General), but note that it will be turned on again automatically if you shift to Print Layout view.
• Images, tables, graphics, and equations will all slow down your document, but see below for tips on those.

Keeping Your Long Document Uncorrupted

Again, styles reduce the possibility of corruption by giving Word less to keep track of. Here is an article discussing other causes of corruption.

Realize that Word does not have an AutoSave feature, only an AutoRecover in case of crashes. You can, however, set Word to automatically create backups, which will keep a copy of the last saved version of the file. In Tools>Options>Save, check the box for “always create backup copy”.

You should also try to train your fingers to hit Ctrl-S to save whenever they are not busy. My personal preference is to do a File>Save As FileName# at the beginning of every major editing session, whether I’m editing for textual content or for format. Avoid using Word’s Version feature, as it has been linked to corruption.

You should also set up a good backup strategy.

If your document does become corrupted, see these links:

• WinWord versions
• MacWord versions

Section breaks hold a great deal of information about the document, and can sometimes corrupt. Many experts will advise you toavoid section breaks. As long as these are used for good reason (beginning a chapter with «different first page” header/footer, a change in page orientation or number of columns), they should be acceptable. You can use StyleRef fields to change the text of a header/footer without section breaks, as detailed in this article.

| Full Contents | General Principles | Basic Techniques | Special Cases | More Information |

Basic Techniques

• Styles
• Templates
• Sections
• Understanding Your Document
• Navigating Your Document
• Appearance

Styles

Styles are collections of formatting instructions that let you change the formatting of large amounts of text with just a few simple steps. If you select all your text, then go up to the toolbar and change it from 10pt to 12pt, that is called direct formatting, because you have directly applied formatting to the text. An alternative is style-based formatting. Styles deal with structure, not appearance. You assign styles to text depending on the role that text plays—chapter heading, footnote, block quotation—not depending on what you want that text to look like.

You need to understand styles because Word thinks in terms of styles, and if you use direct formatting in a book, Word will fight you on every single page. You might compare it to giving a person directions in Italian when that person speaks Spanish.

An introduction to styles

Why use Word’s built-in heading styles?

How to save yourself hours by using Outline View properly

Why does text change format when I copy it into another document?

How to Apply A Style

How to Modify A Style

How styles in Word cascade

What is the difference between the Normal and Body Text styles?

Default Paragraph Font Explained

One neat trick: you can use Find & Replace to easily change styles throughout a document. [Article forthcoming]

Templates

Custom templates let you set the layout you want, and can hold a set of custom styles so that Heading 1 in the Web version of your book does not look the same as Heading 1 in the print version of your book.

Creating a Template — The Basics (Part I)

Creating a Template (Part II)

If you start by creating a custom template for your book, you will invariably find that you keep changing the style definitions and what the layout looks like. It’s very easy to switch templates by using Insert>File to insert the book into a new doc based on a different template, or to attach a different template through Tools>Templates and Add-ins. If you attach a template, all it will do is update the styles. If you have changed layout elements such as margins, or text in the header/footer, you need to use Insert>File. Insert>File has the additional benefit of creating another backup.

What Happens When You Attach a Template

Sections

As said above, section breaks between your chapters let you mimic many of the things that you thought you needed separate files to accomplish. You can have different headers and footers, you can restart page numbering, you can restart footnote numbering, etc. However, if possible, you should avoid section breaks. The more section breaks a document has, the more complex it is, and the more chances for corruption.

Making the most of headers and footers

How to set up a document with front matter numbered separately

Working with sections

How is it possible to copy an entire document into another document without bringing across the header and footer?

Where section breaks are necessary, it may be easier to leave adding them until the end. If you know what you want as the end result, you can take advantage of the fact that Word links sections by default, but once you have unlinked the headers and footers, you may find you need to repeat actions as you change what you want. You can use StyleRef fields to change the text of a header/footer without section breaks, as detailed toward the end of this article.

More Useful StyleRef Tricks

Understanding Your Document

With long documents, it is especially important to know what is going on behind the scenes. If you don’t take advantage of all the ways that Word offers to see the structure of your document, you will cripple your ability to manipulate Word and control your document.

The most important of these tools, the Style Width area and nonprinting characters, are introduced here.

What do all those funny marks, like the dots between the words in my document, and the square bullets in the left margin, mean?

How the Styles and Formatting Pane Works

Navigating Your Document

How to save yourself hours by using Outline View properly. Actually, you can do a lot more with Outline View than just navigate—you can rearrange entire sections. Be sure to read this article.

How the Document Map works in Microsoft Word

Document Map Glitches and Fixes

You can also use the Browse Object to easily navigate to specific items in your document.

I Want My Document to Look Perfect!

One thing that might help is to remember the separation between the composing/editing and the formatting process. You don’t really need to worry about what the book will look like until someone else is going to see it, and even then, you might want to ignore formatting, for various reasons. Until then, use the format that works best for your comfort as you type and edit the text.

If your book has a lot of graphics or tables, however, you do want to think about the layout in advance. There are some questions to consider in Layout Planning: Advice from a Professional Typesetter.

Typographical Tips from Microsoft Publisher

Improving the Bottom Line: Toward a more uniform page length

Creating a book, as opposed to writing a manuscript, is as much an artistic endeavor as a technical one. Consistent use of styles and templates build the foundation for a manuscript you can work with easily, but the formatting layered on top of that can be as unique and individual as the book itself.  If the publisher has not laid down rules, and you are designing the appearance of the book yourself, you might start by browsing the appropriate section of a library or bookstore, the section where you want to see your book. When you find books you find visually appealing, copy the title page and table of contents, and make some notes to use for inspiration.

| Full Contents | General Principles | Basic Techniques | Special Cases | More Information |

Special Cases

• Numbering
• Tables of Contents
• Images, Tables, Figures, Equations
• References and Bibliography
• Dealing With Other People: Reviewers, Multiple Authors, Printers
• Keeping Chapters in Separate Files
• Master Documents

Numbering

Are you using outline numbering in your book? For example: Chapter 3 has a section 3.1 then a subsection 3.1.1. You need to set up outline numbering. Numbering in Word can be extremely complicated, but follow these directions for an unbreakable system.

Create Numbered Headings

Number Headings and Figures in Appendixes

If all you want is a chapter number in the header and table of contents, see here.

Word’s Numbering Explained

Page Numbering in Word

Tables of Contents, Index, and Glossary

If you use Word properly, it will create a table of contents for you, and update the numbers as the text changes.

How to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word

TOC Tips and Tricks—make your table of contents do exactly what you want

Customizing your table of contents with switches

How can I include just part of a paragraph in my table of contents?

Whenever I update my Table of Contents it acquires unwanted tabs, and I have to press Ctrl+Q to get rid of them

Creating a Table of Contents Spanning Multiple Documents

Creating an Index in Word

How can I automatically generate an index in Word?

How to create a glossary

If Your Document Has Tables or Graphics (Equations, Figures, Images)

The Insert>Caption feature will automatically number and renumber images, tables, equations for you, and let you set cross-references to the captions, which will also update to match changed numbers.  You can use a custom label, such as Exhibit, if you prefer. If you want Word to include the chapter number with the figure number, however, you must set up outline numbering.

Tables and Images can slow down your document. Link graphics as much as possible and don’t display them except when absolutely necessary. On the View tab of Tools>Options, check the box for «Picture placeholders» and clear the box for «Drawings.» This will suppress the display of all graphics, so that Word does not waste energy displaying them when you are editing the main text.

Avoid long tables, especially single-row tables. If you must have long tables, find ways to split them: for example, let subheads be in text paragraphs outside the table. In addition, the Document Map will not see headings that are inside a table. Individual tables can also become corrupted.

Table Basics

How can I create a landscape section—and still have a portrait page number?

The draw layer: a metaphysical space (and how to bring it back down to earth)

There are many more articles on the Word MVP FAQ site, well worth browsing—a whole page of links for Drawing/Graphics and another page for Tables, Fields, Forms.

If you are using equations, you might want to consider MathType, the big brother to the built-in Equation Editor. The makers of MathType provide Equation Editor to Microsoft for use in Word.  If you download the trial version but do not purchase it, MathType will automatically convert to MathType Lite after thirty days.  Even MathType Lite has a few more features than Equation Editor, and MathType Lite is cross-platform, while Equation Editor is not.

References and Bibliography, Etc.

This article gives a general overview of academic citations in Word and answers several questions, including how to put an appendix after your endnotes, what to do when random lines appear, and how to create endnotes in alphabetical order, yet still have them autonumbered by Word.

Why do my footnotes sometimes end up on a different page from their references in the text?

I want the numbers in my footnotes not to be superscripted, and I want the numbers to be followed by a dot and a tab

Dealing with Other People: Reviewers, Multiple Authors, Printers

If other people are reading your work, and they intend to use Word’s Track Changes feature to edit and respond to it, be sure to read this link so that you know how Track Changes works. You might need to send it to the reviewer too.

If you are coordinating multiple authors, you may choose not to worry about all of this (styles, templates, sections) until the book has finished the editing process. At that point, go through and reformat it. The tedious drudgery of reformatting is likely to be far less frustrating than attempting to force multiple collaborators to follow these suggestions. See Understanding Your Documentfor some tips to make the process easier, as well as Customizing Word. Also see this more detailed Advice from a Professional on coordinating multiple authors and dealing with multiple levels of review.

One exception: you may want to use templates to share macros and custom toolbars with collaborators.

If you are sending camera-ready copy to a professional printer, see here for a procedure to create crop marks.

If You Choose Not to Combine the Chapters

Creating a Table of Contents Spanning Multiple Documents

See the “Number Pages Across Files” section here.

IncludeText Fields can partially substitute for the Master Document feature.

Steve Hudson (aka Word Heretic) on how to make Master Documents work safely

Master Documents

Why Master Documents corrupt

How to recover a Master Document

With care, long document professionals who are expert in their use of Word manage to use Master Documents safely, particularly in more recent versions. Here are some instructions.

Steve Hudson (aka Word Heretic) on how to make Master Documents work safely

| Full Contents | General Principles | Basic Techniques | Special Cases | More Information |

More Information

• Customizing Word
• Additional Resources
• If You Still Have Questions

Customizing Word

The Word MVP FAQ site has an entire section on Customizing Word, but these three articles are the most frequently useful.

How to assign a command or a macro to a toolbar

How to assign a command or a macro to a keyboard shortcut

Creating a macro with no programming experience using the recorder

Don’t forget about the Tools>Customize dialog—there are far more predefined commands in that dialog than there are on the menus or common toolbars, and you can set up Word to access them quickly.

Additional Resources

Check out the Word MVP FAQ site, of course, but it almost has too much information to easily find what you need. (What’s an MVP?) Here are some sites that are likely to be most useful with reference to long documents:

The Editorium is directed toward those who edit, write, or typeset in MS Word, and its free newsletter has a wealth of useful tips. You can read the current and back issues online.

MVP Suzanne S. Barnhill’s site (author of many of the articles linked above, she also provided much of the advice in the text).

MVP Shauna Kelly’s site (author of many of the articles linked above).

MVP Stephanie Krieger’s blog concentrates on long and complex documents.

MVP Margaret Aldis has some articles that may be useful.

MVP Clive Huggan’s “Bend Word to Your Will” is a massive, dictionary-style compilation of tips and tricks for using Word, written especially with reference to MacWord.

Microsoft also provides training on their Office Online site. In particular, users of Office 2003 can take online tutorials, including some on headers and footers, and Tables of Contents.

If You Still Have Questions

This article is not designed to answer all questions, but merely to provide a convenient access point for existing webpages that are useful for long documents. If you still have questions or run into specific problems, you can ask on a newsgroup. If you have never heard of newsgroups, start with this article, which also explains the different ways you can access various newsgroups.

Tips from MVPs on posting to Word newsgroups

Google Groups archives the questions and answers on newsgroups, as well as offering access to most newsgroups. You can click here to search the archives of the Word-dedicated newsgroups hosted by Microsoft, mostly with reference to Windows versions.

If you want to use Microsoft’s Web interface to the newsgroups they host, start here for Word and other products within Office. This interface requires a Passport account to post, but you can search on that link without signing in.

Mac Users: there are Mac-specific newsgroups, although Mac-specific answers are not required for most long document questions. If you have problems with any of the linked articles, you can ask in those newsgroups to confirm whether the articles should hold true on the Mac, and for translation to Mac-speak if necessary. Again, when you see a references to Tools>Options, substitute Word>Preferences. Many of these links (any at http://word.mvps.org) will require you to hit refresh several times if you try to access them with Safari.

| Full Contents | General Principles | Basic Techniques | Special Cases | More Information |