Surftrail: microsoft word interface. Monday, 18 October 2004

surftrail

microsoft word interface

I just finished my desperately overdue paper for the conference in Trondheim this week. Then I had to visit some of my favorite interface quirks in Microsoft Word X.

To skip a running head on the title page:

1. Select Format > Document
2. In the popup, click "Layout."
3. Under the heading "Headers and Footers," check "Different first page."

Why would you think it was under "view Header and Footer," where you edit everything else that has to do with running heads and footers?

To get rid of the unsightly and unnecessary hairline that separates footnotes and endnotes from the body text:

1. Switch to "Normal View." You can only edit this in "Normal View."
2. Select View > Footnotes or (this is a favorite) Insert > Footnote... > OK
3. In the Footnote pane that only opens if you started with Normal View, select "Footnote separator" from the pull-down menu.
4. Delete the hairline that appears in the footnote pane.

Intuitive interface, Microsoft style.