Uses of Microsoft Word in Business
Nineteenth century business owners armed with manual typewriters created business documents that took time to type. Today, you can use modern computer programs, such as Microsoft Word, to help you create documents and manage your business. Many of Word’s most powerful formatting and processing tools may remain hidden until you discover where they are and learn how to use them.
Image Editing
While not as full-featured as Photoshop, Word's image editing features can often help you transform bad pictures into good ones and good ones into excellent ones. After importing an image or pasting one from the clipboard, you can resize the image, crop it and enhance your picture using a variety of formatting tools. Drag the Brightness slider, for instance, and transform pictures that are too dark into lighter ones you can use. Access Word's picture formatting window by right-clicking an image and clicking "Format Picture." Save the image by selecting "Save Picture" from the right-click menu.
Desktop Publishing
People often use Word's extensive formatting features to create professional newsletters. Word is not as powerful as Microsoft Publisher, but you can manipulate text, insert headings, create borders, add tables and move images wherever you like using Word. Use your own pictures to design your newsletter or include images from the clip art library. Add colorful flair to publications using WordArt.
Mailing
When you need to send out a newsletter or other material, you can use Word's label wizard to generate and print your own labels. If you have a mailing list in Excel, or another data source, use Word's mail merge feature to extract that data and generate customized letters that contain personalized information. You might, for example, design a generic form letter that contains basic information and have mail merge generate unique letters for each customer by adding their names and addresses.
Templates
Microsoft makes free templates available to Word users. A template is a blueprint used as a starting point to create other documents. If you need a calendar or budget report, for instance, use Word's template search feature to find and download one of those templates. After customizing a template, you can save it as a new template and allow others in your organization to use it as a starting point for their documents and publications. You also have the option to search for templates at Microsoft's Template website (link in resources).
Interested in improving your Microsoft Word Skills?
