Writing is one of the most important tasks a lawyer engages in.  Having the ability to quickly and effectively edit your documents is an essential part of legal writing.  This document is intended to ensure that you have the tools necessary to word process your documents for your legal education. 

When using Microsoft Word, there are often several ways to perform one task. This document provides one set of instructions for performing each task listed. If you are familiar with another method of performing the task, it is acceptable that you continue to perform the task in the manner you are familiar with.

Changing AutoCorrect Features

MS Word has an AutoCorrect feature that recognizes certain things you type and turns them into something else, such as typed characters into a symbol or misspelled words into their correct forms. For example, you might intend to type (c), but the AutoCorrect keeps changing it into ©.

To edit the list of items that the AutoCorrect feature adjusts:

1.  Go to Tools

2. Select AutoCorrect options

3.  Select the “AutoCorrect” tab

To add a new option:

1.  In the “Replace:” box, enter the text that you would want to be changed as you type your document

2.  In the “With:” box, enter the text that you want Word to replace the entered text with

3.  Click OK   

To remove an option:

1.  In the list of options under the “Replace:” box, select the option that you  want to remove

2.  Click the Delete button

3.  Click OK

How to turn on and off auto-format features (such as automatic numbering and bulleted lists):

1.  Go to Tools

2.  Select AutoCorrect options from the drop-down list

3.  Select the “AutoFormat As You Type” tab

4.  Select (or deselect) “Automatic Bulleted Lists and Automatic Numbered Lists” under the “Apply as you Type” subheading

5.  Click OK

Legal Profession Format

When you write documents for your legal profession class, they need to be in a specific format.  Every document should have one inch margins, be double-spaced, be in 12-point Times New Roman, Courier New, or Arial font, and have appropriate pagination.

To set one inch margins:

1.  Go to the File Menu

2.  Select “Page Setup…” from the drop-down menu 

3.  Select the “Margins” tab

4.  Adjust the top, bottom, right, and left margins to 1”

5.  Click OK

To set double-spacing:

1.  Go to the Format Menu

2.  Select “Paragraph…” from the drop-down menu

3.  Select the “Indents and Spacing” tab

4.  Use the drop-down menu under line spacing to select double

5.  Click OK

To set 12 point Times New Roman/Courier New/Arial font:

1.  Go to the Format Menu

2.  Select "Font…” from the drop-down menu

3.  Select the “Font” tab

4.  Under “Font,” select either Times New Roman, Courier New, or Arial

5.  Under “Size,” select 12

6.  Click OK

To insert page numbers:

1.  Go to the Insert Menu

2.  Select “Page Numbers…” from the drop-down menu

3.  Select the desired settings, including the position for the page number

4.  Click OK

To set single-spacing:

1.  Go to the Format Menu

2.  Select “Paragraph…” from the drop-down menu

3.  Select the “Indents and Spacing” tab

4.  Under “Line Spacing,” use the drop-down menu under to select “Single”

5.  Click OK

To indent a block of text:

1.  Select the block of text to indent

2.  Go to the Format Menu

3.  Select “Paragraph…” from the drop-down menu

4.  Under “Indentation,” under the “Left:” margin option, select the appropriate indentation

5.   Click OK

To insert the § and ¶ symbols:

1.  Go to the Insert Menu

2.  Select “Symbol…” in the drop down menu

3.  Select  the appropriate symbol to insert

4.  Click the Insert button

5.  Click Close to close the dialog box

Note – There are shortcuts for inserting each symbol. The shortcut for the § is ALT + 0167, and the shortcut for the ¶ is ALT + 0182; you must use the number pad to type the numbers for the shortcut to work

Removing Identifying Information from a Document

One of the benefits of using e-File and ExamSoft to submit work is that professors are able to grade your papers anonymously. To ensure the anonymity of your work, it is advisable that you also remove your identifying information from your document’s properties.

To remove identifying information:

1.  Go to the Tools Menu

2.  Select “Options” from the drop-down menu

3.  Select the Security tab

4.  Check the box for “Remove personal information from file properties on save”

5.  Click OK

Using the Tracking and Comments features

The Tracking feature of Word allows you to see all the changes you make to your text. When you save a document with the Tracking feature turned on, and then send it to someone else, that person will be able to view all of your tracked changes. If you do not want the person to whom you are sending your document to be able to view your changes, you need to turn off the tracking feature before saving your document. To turn this feature on or off:

To turn Tracking on or off:

1.  Go to the Tools Menu

2.  Select “Track Changes” from the drop-down menu

To add a comment:

1.  Go to the Insert Menu

2.  Select “Comment” from the drop-down menu

Outlining View

Outlining view allows you to see your document as an outline. When you hit enter, it will create a new level of the outline for you. You can adjust the levels up and down as needed.

To switch from any view to outlining view:

1. Go to the View Menu

2.  Select “Outline”

OR

1.  Press the outline view icon in the bottom left of your screen. It looks like this:

To switch from any view into normal view:

1.  Go to the View Menu

2.  Select “Normal”

OR

1.  Press the normal view icon located in the bottom left of your screen. It looks like this:

Remove a Hyperlink

When you copy text from a website that contains a hyperlink, the hyperlink will get transferred to your document. If you do not want the hyperlink to appear in your document, you will need to remove the hyperlink and its formatting. There are two methods to approach this: to paste the text and then remove the hyperlink, or to paste special without formatting.

Remove the Hyperlink:

1.  Paste the text into your document

2.  Right-click the hyperlink

3.  Select Remove Hyperlink

Paste Special:

1.  Select the text you want to copy

2.  Right-click the text

3.  Select Copy

4.  Click your document in the location you want to place the text

5. Go to the Edit Menu

6.  Select Paste Special 

7. Select Unformatted Text

8.  Click OK