10 keys to successful patch management

The recent spate of Java vulnerabilities has required a number of large vendors to react almost instantly to optimize security levels. But as good as these reactions are, organisations urgently need to apply insightful strategic thinking to ensure that security updates are reaching the entire organisation’s IT estate.

CentraStage analyzed anonymous hardware and software data (including thousands of PCs and servers in 6,000 organisations across public sector establishments currently running our solution) and found that 40 percent of servers and workstations are missing security patches. In addition, six vendors — Microsoft, Adobe, Mozilla, Apple, Oracle, and Google — together released 257 security bulletins/advisories fixing 1,521 vulnerabilities in 2011. In 2010, these vendors fixed 1,458 vulnerabilities, demonstrating the extent of the issue as well as the numbers of bulletins we annually face.


With more and more organizations supporting remote working, the challenge isn’t just to implement patches as they are released, but to be fully confident that devices have been updated and are thus continuously safeguarded. So what areas should IT experts tick off the list for a successful patch management implementation?

1: Ensure transparency


At the heart, asset discovery is essential. If you don’t know what you’ve got, you don’t know the extent of the problem you may have. If you do nothing else, make sure you know where your IT assets are; this is a quick gain that will put your house in order.

Once the estate is established, you need to have real-time visibility of the assets you support. With the urgency in which we need to manage patches, the first secret is to not only have full awareness of the estate but instantly know the health of it too.

2: Don’t just look at the security

Knowing the whereabouts and health of the IT estate is paramount, as it provides the intelligence for ensuring its security. A study of public sector CIOs in December 2012 found that 87% of respondents were either concerned or very concerned about the risks associated with IT security breaches. In addition to security, keep an eye on securing IP, as it can be used in protecting data flows between a pair of hosts (host-to-host), between a pair of security gateways (network-to-network), or between a security gateway and a host.

3: Define your patch nirvana

While the audit and assessment element of patch management will help identify systems that are out of compliance with your guidelines, you should also work to reduce noncompliance. Start by creating a baseline — a standard you want the entire estate to comply with. Once complete, it’s easier to bring controls in line to ensure that newly deployed and rebuilt systems are up to spec with regard to patch levels.

4: Face the facts

You must know which security issues and software updates are relevant to your environment. Further analysis of our data showed that 50 percent of PCs and laptops are still running Windows XP, and 32 percent of devices are more than four years old.

Beyond patch management and the protection against vulnerabilities and exploits that by now must have caught the attention of IT leaders globally is the preparation and planning for end-of-life Windows XP support. If you do not replace, there is no way to safeguard. If you do replace, this has implications on expenditure. Make sure that you have a realistic view of patch management and its limitations, but also ask whether the discipline of patch management indirectly ensures the infrastructure and IT estate is viable from support and budget perspectives.

5: Do it your way with software policies

You can customise policies targeted at filters or groups at the account or profile level. The filter targets can be either the default filters provided within your account or any custom filters you have previously defined. The secret here is to define custom filters or groups to identify devices with specific criteria. One or more of these filters can be associated with a policy to target those devices.

This goes back to your baseline creation. Set the policies from the outset and customisation will be a simple step forward.

6: Get the timing right

Why wouldn’t you implement a patch management update as soon as you can? With baseline mechanisms in place, there’s no need to delay. However, you should consider the time of day for updates by policy — what time will have the least impact on day-to-day business? The ideal timing for updating patches should follow any rollout best practice. Consider the day of the week, the impact on the business if something doesn’t go smoothly, and whether there is sufficient time and resources to rectify if necessary. If your IT management solution is on-premise rather than cloud- based, you might have to take responsibility of scale and load of the update.

7: Audit first — is it too broken to be fixed?

Gaining visibility of devices that are vulnerable is crucial, but so is analysing the overall health of each device. Ensure that all devices are audited prior to rolling out patches or patch policies. There could be a more urgent matter requiring attention before the device can be brought in line.

8: Keep it simple

We are led to believe that the bigger the enterprise estate, the more complex the management. But in most cases, solutions are easily scalable. The issue comes with usability. As complexity increases (and in some cases, the number of solutions and providers also grows), the technology team is used more and more to ensure the estate is kept up to date. Keep usability as simple as possible. There are solutions that do not even require a technically skilled person to ensure the estate is kept up to date quickly and easily.

9: Consider automated solutions

Often, patch management is a distress purchase because vulnerabilities such the ones we’ve seen recently place patch management in a crisis management budget and not an ongoing IT budget. Of course, this has financial implications. Some enterprise IT management solutions may save you money by providing tools that automatically audit and monitor. If automation is behind the scenes, it doesn’t interrupt the business and will keep all software solutions running smoothly, without input.

10: Visualize your patch management

Make sure you can see a graphic representation of your patch management, tailored by severity and whether the patch requires a reboot or user interaction. This also fundamentally supports measurement and service level agreements by reporting SLAs in a way that’s visual. Not only will this help with compliance, but it will demonstrate that IT is making a difference to the business. This makes for better relationships throughout an organisation, whether internal or external.

10 underused Office features

There’s a saying that 80 percent of users will use only 20 percent of an application’s features. This is probably true of most Office users because they don’t know the features exist. Once they see the features in action, they put them to use. Here are 10 features that are among the most underused but easy-to-implement features in the Office suite. Most applications share many of these features; I’ve noted those that are application-specific.

1: Paste

Older versions had limited paste options. Now there are several, and they go well beyond simple pasting. They’re available via the Paste option in the Clipboard group on the Home tab. Paste is in all of the applications, but options are application-specific and contextual, as you can see in Figure A.
Figure A


The options are different, but Paste is available in all Office applications.

Perhaps the most helpful step you can take is to change the feature’s default. Office retains the source formatting when pasting content. To disable this behavior or customize it to suit your working style, access the settings as follows:

-> Office 2010: Click the File tab, choose Options, and select Advanced in the left pane.
-> Office 2007: Click the Office button, click application Options, and select Advanced in the left pane.
-> Office 2003: Choose Options from the Tools menu and click the Edit tab.

In addition, Paste is a versatile feature that can perform calculations, transpose text, and much more. To learn a few advanced Paste techniques, read 10 powerful ways to use Excel’s paste features.

2: Recent

Finding a file when it’s not where you know you put it is frustrating. You can use Windows Search feature, but that route can be hit or miss, and it’s slow. A quicker and easier way to find a lost file is to use the Recent option, shown in Figure B. Click the File tab and choose Recent in the left pane to view a list of recently used files. In 2007, click the Office button.
Figure B



Quickly access files using the Recent feature.


This area is enhanced in 2010:
Click the Recover Unsaved Documents link at the bottom of the screen to recover recently unsaved files. It doesn’t always work, but it can be a lifesaver when it does.
Don’t ignore the little pushpin icons next to the files. Use these to pin a file to the list and keep it there until you unpin it.
To the right are recent places you’ve visited.

To learn more about this feature, read Put Word’s recent documents list to work for you.

3: Templates
Some users revamp similar settings every time they create a new document. In the moment, it’s only a few clicks; over time, it adds up. When new files share common properties and formats, it’s efficient to create a custom template (or adjust the default template). Most users know about templates, but they find them a bit confusing, so they avoid them. To learn more about using templates, read The right way to create a Word template and Modify Excel’s default sheet to fit your needs.

4: AutoCorrect
AutoCorrect automatically corrects common typos, such as replacing teh with the. But there’s more to this feature than just fixing a few typos. You can use it to enter repetitive text, symbols, and more. To learn how to apply AutoCorrect in unusual ways, read How to enter symbols using Office AutoCorrect, Five keyboard shortcuts for inserting arrows into a Word document, and Tweak an annoying AutoCorrect entry instead of deleting it outright.

5: Replace

Most users know how to use Replace, but they don’t realize how versatile and powerful the feature is. For instance, you can replace multiple spaces with a tab, append text to an existing phrase, change all instances of italicized text to bold, and much more. To move beyond this feature’s basic use, read 10 cool ways to get more from Word’s Find and Replace feature. Excel’s Replace feature is more limited than Word’s, but some of these tips will also work in Excel.

6: Word styles

Using styles can save a lot of time and ensure consistency throughout an organization. Although styles are the most efficient way to tame formats, most users hate them because they’re a bit unruly. To learn more about styles, read Microsoft Word 101: A quick look at formatting styles.


Excel has cell styles. They’re less complex to implement and manage but still underused. The article Use an Excel style to identify data input cells explains an interesting use of cell styles.

7: Word’s Document Map

Document Map is part of Word 2010’s Navigation Pane. Figure C shows a simple document’s outline. This feature reduces a document to heading nodes. That means you must employ the built-in heading styles for this feature to be of use. Clicking a node takes you to that heading in the document, so it’s a quick way to navigate a complex or long document. The map also highlights where you are in a long document. In addition, you can drag a heading in the map to move that heading and its text in the document. If you forget about this feature, open the Navigation Pane and leave it open so you’ll remember to use it.
Figure C



Use the heading nodes to navigate and manipulate a document.


Although the Navigation Pane was introduced with Word 2010, the Document Map is available in earlier versions — it’s just not quite as feature-rich. To display it in Word 2007, click the View tab and choose Document Map in the Show/Hide group. To display it in Word 2003, choose Document Map from the View menu.

8: PowerPoint’s Set As Default

Formatting a shape or text box can take a bit of time. To apply the same formats to subsequent objects, you can set the formatted object as the default for that type of object. Simply right-click the formatted object and choose Set As Default object. PowerPoint will remember the formatting defaults until you change them or close the presentation.

9: Outlook’s search folders

One of Outlook’s most underused features is the search folder. Using this folder, you can set search criteria and then quickly access the filtered mail in one spot. Doing so allows you to view all the filtered messages as a whole, instead of rooting through different folders. Search folders continue to group the filtered mail until you delete the folder. To learn how to use this feature, readFind Outlook messages quickly with an All Mail search folder.

10: Excel tables

Excel tables are new to 2007 and they’ve yet to catch on with users, despite their advantages. With a few quick clicks, you can turn any data range into a table, making the data easier to manipulate and manage:
Format using AutoFormat.
Insert a new row and the table extends formulas and formatting.
Apply AutoFilter instantly.
Add totaling rows with a quick click.
Use table nomenclature to reduce errors in formulas.


Tables do have limitations, but if you can live with those limitations, tables make most everything you do a little easier. To learn more about Excel’s table feature, read Put Excel 2007’s new Table feature to work for you, Use Excel tables for quick formula auto-fill, and Use Excel’s table nomenclature to quickly create dynamic formulas.

10 advanced formatting tricks for Excel users

Most Excel users know how to apply basic numeric and text formats. But users who push beyond the basics will create more readable and effective sheets. In addition, knowing how to apply just the right formatting to specific cells quickly and easily helps users work more efficiently. These 10 tips will help users get more out of Excel’s formatting features.

1: Use the fill handle to copy formatting

The fill handle is a versatile and powerful tool. Besides copying formulas and creating series, the fill handle can copy formats with just a few quick clicks:

1. Select the cell that contains the formatting you want to copy. In Figure A, I’ve selected A2 to copy the bold font and gray fill color to the remaining cells in column A.
2. Double-click the cell’s fill handle. The fill handle’s series behavior has kicked into gear by overwriting the TOTALS label with January. Don’t worry about that, you can undo that next.
3. Click the resulting AutoFill Options control to display the list shown in Figure B.
4. Select the Fill Formatting Only option.

Figure A

Select the source cell — the cell containing the formats you want to copy.

Figure B

Choose the Fill Formatting Only option to cancel the series overwrite and still copy the formats from the source cell.

You can see that the fill handle canceled the series values in Figure C. In addition, the action reverted to the original data and applied the formats from A3 to the destination range. This method isn’t superior to Format Painter, but you won’t have to select the target range, which can be awkward with a large one.

Figure C

Excel’s fill handle copied only the source cell’s formats.

2: Use Paste to copy formatting

Another quick copy trick utilizes the Paste feature. Again, the Format Painter works great with a small range, but this trick is helpful when copying formats to an entire column or row:

1. Select the source cell and press [Ctrl]+C.
2. Click anywhere inside the destination column or row.
3. Press [Ctrl]+[Spacebar] to select the entire column or [Shift]+[Spacebar] to select the entire row. (This works only with a blank data range.)
   2010: With the column or row selected, choose Formatting from the Paste drop-down (in the Clipboard group).
   2007: Choose Paste Special from the Paste drop-down and click Formats in the Paste section.
   2003: Right-click a selected cell and choose Paste Special from the submenu. In the resulting dialog, click Formats in the Paste section.
4. Using Live Preview, you can see what the applied formats will look like. Click OK if you decide to apply them.

You can also format a new chart using Paste. Select the source chart and press [Ctrl]+C. Select the destination chart and choose Paste Special from the Paste drop-down. Choose Formats and click OK.

3: Copy styles between workbooks

If you use the same custom cell styles in multiple workbooks, don’t spend time re-creating each style. Instead, copy the style from one file to another as follows:

1. Open the source workbook and a destination workbook.
2. From the destination workbook, click Cell Styles in the Styles group on the Home tab. In Excel 2003, choose Styles from the Format menu.
3. Choose Merge Styles at the bottom of the gallery.
4. In the resulting dialog, select the open workbook that contains the styles you want to copy.
5. Click OK twice.

If you want all new workbooks to share the same custom style, open Excel’s default workbook, book.xltx as the destination. (Open book.xlt in Excel 2003.) Add the style, then save and close the template file. All new workbooks based on book.xltx will contain the merged styles.

4: Create a custom format for readable data

Numbers with a few digits are easy to read. Once you drop in that second thousands separator, numbers become less readable, especially if your data contains lots of them. Fortunately, a custom format can reduce the number of digits, making them easier to read, but without changing the scale. To illustrate, we’ll apply this custom format to the values in the bottom range (so you can compare):

1. Select B9:E13 and click the Number group’s dialog launcher or press [Ctrl]+1 to display the Format Cells dialog.
2. From the Category list (on the Number tab) choose Custom.
3. In the Type control, enter the $#.##,,” M”; format string, as shown in Figure D. The pound sign combined with the two comma characters displays a character in the millions position, if one exists. The M component displays a literal M character, to denote millions.
4. Click OK to see the results in Figure E.

Figure D

Add this custom format string.

Figure E

Compare the results of the custom format to the unformatted values.

Refer to Create or delete a custom number format for a comprehensive list of formatting codes.

5: Create a cell style that indicates purpose

Using a Cell Style to identify purpose helps users acclimate quicker. It also provides an easy way to ensure consistency in an organization. For example, you might use color to distinguish input and label cells. Using a Cell Style is an efficient way to put that convention to work. Let’s illustrate this concept by creating a Cell Style for input cells:

1. Click the Home tab and then click Cell Styles in the Styles group. In Excel 2003, choose Style from the Format menu and skip to #3.
2. Click New Cell Style at the bottom of the list.
3. In the resulting dialog box, enter a name for the style, such as InputCell.
4. Click Format. In Excel 2003, click Modify.
5. Click the Border tab and choose the Outline option in the Presets section.
6. Click the Fill tab and choose light blue.
7. Click OK to view the selected formats shown in Figure F.
8. Click OK again.

Figure F

We’ve created a Cell Style using these formats.

Anytime you want to indicate an input cell or range, do the following:

1. Select the cell.
2. On the Home tab, click the Cell Styles option. In Excel 2003, choose Style from the Format menu.
3. Click InputCell as shown in Figure G and Excel will apply that style to the selected cell or range. In Excel 2003, choose InputCell from the drop-down list and click Add.

Figure G

You’ll find the custom Cell Style in the gallery.

Using a Cell Style is efficient for the workbook’s author, but it also helps users quickly identify a cell or range’s purpose.

6: Copy formats quickly

An efficient copy technique is a good tool, especially if you can choose what to copy on the fly. To do so,  select the destination cell or range. Then, right-click the border and drag it to the target cell. When you release the mouse, Excel will display the submenu shown in Figure H. Choose the Copy Here As Formats Only option. That was easy!

Figure H

This copy trick lets you choose what to copy on the fly.

7: Add a background image

Adding a background image to a sheet is so easy that you might be tempted to spruce up all your sheets this way. (You’ll refrain from doing so, of course.) To add an image to a sheet’s background, do the following:

1. Click the Page Layout tab.
2. Click the Background option in the Page Setup group.
3. Browse to the file and double-click it.

8: Quickly apply table formatting

If you select a range and choose a built-in format from the Format As A Table drop-down, Excel (2007 and later) converts the range to a Table object. If the format works for you, but you don’t want a Table object, you can keep the format and dump the Table. Doing so takes a few clicks, but probably fewer than formatting manually. To format the data range quickly using a built-in Table format, do the following:

1. Click anywhere inside the data range.
2. On the Home tab, click the Format As Table drop-down and choose a format from the gallery.
3. Choose appropriately when Excel asks if the range has headers and click OK.
4. Click anywhere inside the table.
5. With the contextual Design tab current, choose Convert To Range in the Tools group.
6. Click Yes to confirm the action.

You’ll format a data range with only six clicks (or a few more depending on how many times you click the thumb in the gallery).

9: Save formats as styles

When you use the Number Formats drop-down in the Number group (on the Home tab), you’re actually applying a style — a style you can control. For instance, the Percent style displays two decimal values, and you might want to inhibit all decimal values for percentages. To do so, click the Number group’s dialog launcher, click the Number tab, choose Percentage, change the Decimal Places value to 0, and click OK.

We tend to think of these styles as formats set in stone, but they’re not. Modify them to suit your needs. Styles are available only to the workbook in which you save them, but you can modify the styles in your templates.

10: Format as you go

For a quick one-time solution, you can format some values as you enter them:

• To enter currency, type a dollar sign ($) before typing the value to apply the Currency format.
• To enter most fractions, type 0. Then, press the spacebar and type the fraction, including the slash. Excel will display the value as a fraction and store the decimal value.
• To enter a percentage, simply follow the value with a percent sign.

10 steps to animating clipart in PowerPoint

Experts don’t care for clipart, but it offers an alternative for the non-artists among us (that includes me). With a few basic skills, you can turn a piece of clipart into a purposeful message using animation. In this article, you’ll ungroup a clipart object and then animate individual pieces to create a simple spring scene. I’ve kept the example simple to keep you focused on the tools rather than the art. (This article includes instructions for PowerPoint 2003 through 2010.)

Note: You can download the demo files for this technique if you want to see it in action.

1: Insert the clipart

You can work with most any graphic, as long as PowerPoint can ungroup it. The example clipart file is available at Microsoft. com. Download it and then insert it as follows:

1. Click the Insert tab. In PowerPoint 2003, choose Picture from the Insert menu and then choose From File. Skip to step 3.
2. In the Images group, click Picture.
3. Locate your file, as shown in Figure A.
4. Double-click it or select it and click Insert.

You can also copy most graphics from the Clipboard onto a slide.

Figure A

Locate the graphic file and insert it into a slide.

2: Enlarge it

You’ll find this type of work easier with a large object. Using the sizing handles at any of the four corners, enlarge the picture. Be sure to use the corners to maintain the object’s proportions. The picture doesn’t need to fill the entire slide, so don’t worry too much with it. Do be sure to enlarge the picture before you ungroup it.

3: Ungroup it

Now you’re ready to ungroup the aggregate so you can work with its many pieces, as follows:

1. Select the object and click the contextual Format tab. In 2003, right-click the picture, choose Grouping, choose Ungroup, and then skip to step 3.
2. Choose Ungroup from the Group option’s drop-down (in the Arrange group), as shown inFigure B. If PowerPoint dims the Group option, you can’t ungroup the selected object using PowerPoint. Without specialized knowledge, it’s easier to find a new graphic to work with.
3. When PowerPoint prompts you to convert the object, click Yes.
4. Repeat step 2 to ungroup the object a second time. Figure C shows the resulting pieces, ungrouped and selected.

Figure B

The Group drop-down is an icon in the Arrange group.

Figure C

PowerPoint ungroups the many pieces in the graphic file, enabling you to work with them individually.

4: Strip out the extra pieces

At this point, assess the pieces you’ve just ungrouped to discern what you don’t need. Click the areas you want to remove and paste them to another slide for safekeeping. You can always press [Ctrl]+Z to undo something. Figure D shows the example graphic with the borders and background shapes removed. After deleting the letters in the middle (Spring), I also added more raindrops and a third cloud.

Figure D

Remove the pieces you don’t need and add more where necessary.

This step can be involved and tedious. You can select several pieces at once by dragging and selecting. Be sure you save your work periodically.

5: Start the shower

We want the raindrops to fall from the sky in a gentle shower. To make this happen, select them all — just hold down the [Shift] key while you click each one. With the raindrops selected, do the following:

1. Click the Animations tab. In 2003, choose Custom Animations from the Slide Show menu.
2. From the Animation drop-down, choose More Entrance Effects (just below the gallery thumbnails). In 2003, use the Add Effect drop-down in the Custom Animation pane.
3. In the resulting dialog, select Float Down (in the Moderate section), as shown in Figure E. In 2003, use the Descend effect.
4. Click OK.

Figure E

We’ll use Float Down effect to simulate rain falling from the sky.

6: Randomize the timing

You can preview the slide in Normal view by clicking the Animation Pane option in the Advanced Animation group and clicking Play. As is, the raindrops fall in unison. You might like that effect, but random raindrops are probably more interesting. Create random rainfall as follows:

1. Display the Animation pane if necessary.
2. Click the first animation’s drop-down and choose Start After Previous, as shown in Figure F. Doing so automates the sequence during the slide show.
3. Repeat step 2 for each of the raindrops, selecting either Start After Previous or Start With Previous. Some animations will require precision, but we’re simulating raindrops, so the more random, the better.
4. Play the animation to check your settings and change the start settings until you’re satisfied.

Figure F

Choose a start setting.

7: Mix up the timing

You can also make specific raindrops fall faster or slower. Select a small group of raindrops by dragging the mouse over them. Doing so will select the animation items (in the Animation pane) for those objects. Then, do the following:

1. Right-click the selection and choose Timing, as shown in Figure G.
2. In the resulting dialog, change the Delay setting shown in Figure H to 0.5 seconds (or a slower speed).
3. Click OK.

Figure G

Change the timing for small groups of raindrops.

Figure H

Reduce the setting to speed up some of the raindrops.

8: Grow flowers

The next animation will simulate growing flowers. To create this animation, do the following:

1. Hold down the [Shift] key while you click the flower heads to create a multi-selection. Select only the petal components of each flower (no leaves or stems).
2. From the Animation gallery, choose Grow/Shrink. In 2003, use the Change drop-down to select the Grow/Shrink Emphasis effect.

Right now, the flowers grow after all the raindrops have fallen, so let’s mix that up a bit. With all the flowers still selected (you can tell because their animation icons are orange instead of white) right-click their block of animation items (in the Animation pane) and choose Start With Previous, setting all of them at once, as shown in Figure I.

Figure I

All the flowers are now set to grow with the previous animation.

9: Move the “growing” animations

Step 8 probably doesn’t make much sense, as it doesn’t change much — -not yet. To disperse the growing flowers, we need to change the order in which PowerPoint triggers them. First, select a raindrop near or above a flower to select that raindrop’s animation in the Animation pane. Figure J shows Freeform 98 selected, just above the first flower on the left. Now, here’s what you do:

1. After noting a raindrop above the flower (Freeform 98), select the flower (Freeform 189) in the Animation pane.
2. Using the Reorder arrow (at the bottom of the Animation pane), move the flower (Freeform 189) up until it’s immediately below the raindrop (Freeform 98), as shown in Figure K.

Figure J

Note the animation item for a raindrop above the flower.

Figure K

Fig

Move the flower’s animation to just below the corresponding raindrop’s animation.

Here’s where step 8 comes in. Because the trigger is Start With Previous, the flower seems to grow when the raindrop above, falls. Now, reorder the remaining flower animations, as follows:

• Freeform 185 below Freeform 194.
• Freeform 181 below Freeform 196.
• Freeform 177 below Freeform 201.
• Freeform 173 below Freeform 99.
• Freeform 193 below Freeform 103.

Figure L shows some of the items in the Animation pane. As you can see, the Grow/Shrink animation items are interspersed throughout the Float Down items. Before, they all followed the Float Down items.

Figure L

The Animation pane shows the reordered items.

10: Let it rain!

The last step is to play the animation by pressing [F5]. If you’re running the downloadable demo, click past the first slide, which contains the original graphic, and enjoy the spring shower. Figure M is just a single moment; it shows about half the raindrops and a couple of grown flowers.

Figure M

Watch the spring showers nourish the flowers.

10+ advanced formatting tips for Word users

Formatting improves the readability of your documents and often provides visual clues to the document’s purpose. It’s an important part of most every document and users often spend a great deal of time applying formats. These tips will help you work more efficiently and judicially when applying formats.

1: Copy defaults

When copying content from another source, even another Word document, Word retains the source formatting by default. You can eliminate subsequent formatting by applying the destination document’s default style during the copy process as follows:

1. Copy the content from the source to the Clipboard using [Ctrl]+C (or some other route).
2. In the destination document, position the cursor and then click the Home tab (in Ribbon versions).
3. In the Clipboard group, choose the Keep Text Only option shown in Figure A from the Paste drop-down. In Word 2003, choose the Keep Text Only option from the Paste Options (smart tag) drop-down after pasting the content.

Figure A

The Keep Text Only option applies the destination document’s default style to copied content.

Changing the default, as follows might be more efficient:

1. Click the File tab and choose Options (under Help). In Word 2007, click the Office button and then click Word Options. Choose Advanced in the left pane.
2. In the Cut, Copy, and Paste section, choose the appropriate option. For example, you might want to retain source formatting when copying from other Word documents, but not Web sites.
3. Click OK.

In Word 2003, choose Options from the Tools menu and click the Edit tab. You can uncheck the Smart Cut And Paste option or click the Settings button to customize the feature.

2: Insert section breaks

Dividing a document into sections lets you customize formats for a section’s content and purpose. For instance, you might want a single page to be in landscape in the middle of a portrait document. Or you might want the header text or page numbering scheme to change for several pages. Using sections, you can apply different formatting as needed.

To insert a section break, click the Page Layout tab and choose a Breaks option in the Page Setup group:

• Next Page: Starts the new section on the next page.
• Continuous: Starts the new section on the same page.
• Even Page: Starts the new section on the next even-numbered page.
• Odd Page: Starts the new section on the next odd-numbered page.

In Word 2003, choose Break from the Insert menu.

Choosing Next Page creates a problem because Word also inserts a page break. If you don’t want a page break, choose Continuous.

For quicker formatting, copy section breaks when formats are identical or similar. Then, tweak as necessary rather than starting from scratch each time. Figure B shows a selected section marker after enabling Show/Hide in the Paragraph group (on the Home tab; in Word 2003, it’s on the Standard toolbar). To delete a section, select its code and press [Delete].

Figure B

Display formatting codes to select a section break.

3: Keep it together

To keep two or more words together on the same line, insert a nonbreaking space character between them by pressing [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Spacebar] instead of inserting a regular space character. The space will look the same, but Word will keep the two words on the same line.

A nonbreaking hyphen works the same as a nonbreaking space but with hyphenated words. If you don’t want Word to wrap at a hyphen character, enter a nonbreaking hyphen by pressing [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[-]. When the hyphenated word reaches the right margin, Word will wrap the entire word to the next line if necessary rather than breaking at the hyphen.

4: Format a list

Formatting just the number component in a numbered list is a bit tricky. You usually end up formatting the entire item or list, unless you know this simple trick:

1. On the Home tab, click Show/Hide in the Paragraph group. In Word 2003, click Show/Hide on the Formatting toolbar.
2. Select only the Paragraph mark at the end of the line.
3. With the paragraph mark selected, apply formats. As you can see in Figure C, only the 2 changed color because we selected only the paragraph mark for that item.

Figure C

Selecting the paragraph mark is the key to formatting only the item’s number.

To format more than one number, but not all of them, hold down the [Ctrl] key while selecting markers. To format all of the numbers in the list, without changing the format of the actual text, click any number in the list to highlight all of the numbers. Word will extend the format to new items. Formats applied to the entire list will take precedence over formats applied via the paragraph marker.

5: Remove formats

Removing formats isn’t hard, but there’s more than one way to get the job done. When you want to remove a single format, you probably select the text and click the appropriate option; most of them work as toggles. You might display the Format dialog and uncheck options when you need to delete more than one format.

If you want to strip all of the formatting, there’s a quicker method: Select the text and press [Ctrl]+[Spacebar]. This shortcut removes all the character formatting except what’s defined by the underlying style. To remove just the paragraph formats, press [Ctrl]+Q.

6: Keep styles from updating

Word lets you update a style when you add formatting to text. This behavior can be troublesome if users don’t understand it, so you might want to disable it as follows:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. Launch the Styles dialog. In Word 2003, click the Styles And Formatting tool on the Formatting toolbar.
3. Find the style.
4. Choose Modify from the style’s drop-down or right-click the style.
5. Uncheck the Automatically Update option shown in Figure D. (This option isn’t available with Word’s default style, Normal.)

Figure D

Disable a style’s automatic updating behavior to protect styles.

By default, Word doesn’t set this option for built-in styles, but users often accidentally enable the feature. Don’t enable this behavior when basing a new style on an existing style or creating a new one unless you have a specific reason to do so.

7: Adjust the default line spacing

Word 2007 and 2010 use a 1.15 line spacing setting. That’s great if you publish a lot of content to the Web. If not, you can change the default to 1 as follows:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. Right-click Normal in the Styles Quick gallery and choose Modify.
3. Choose Paragraph from the Format list.
4. In the Spacing section, change the At setting from 1.15 to 1, as shown in Figure E.
5. Click OK.
6. Check the New Documents Based On This Template option. If you don’t want to change the template, skip this step.
7. Click OK.

Figure E

Reset the default Line Spacing option to 1.

8: Eliminate extra paragraph spacing

Another change to the latest versions is the increased spacing between paragraphs. It’s not a blank line that you could easily delete. If you don’t like that much space, you can modify it as follows:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. Click the Paragraph group’s dialog launcher (the small arrow in the lower-right corner).
3. Check the Don’t Add Space Between Paragraphs Of The Same Style option.
4. Click Set As Default, as shown in Figure F.
5. Click OK.

Figure F

Use this setting to reduce extra white space between paragraphs.

9: Save formatted text as AutoCorrect entries

AutoCorrect reduces data entry and corrects typos, but it can also apply formatting. Simply save the appropriately formatted text as an AutoCorrect entry, as follows:

1. Enter and format the text. For instance, enter Backyard Wilderness and italicize it as a title.
2. Select the formatted text.
3. Click the File menu, choose Options, and then click Proofing in the left pane. In Word 2007, click the Office button, click Word Options, and then choose Proofing in the left pane. In Word 2003, choose AutoCorrect Options from the Tools menu.
4. Click the AutoCorrect Options button in the AutoCorrect Options section. (Skip this step in Word 2003.)
5. Word will fill the With control with the selected (and formatted) title.
6. Click the Formatted Text option.
7. Enter bw in the Replace control, as shown in Figure G.
8. Click Add.
9. Click OK twice (just once in Word 2003).

Figure G

To insert the formatted title, type bw.

10: Use Find And Replace to change formatting

You probably use Word’s Find And Replace feature to replace characters, but you can use it to change formatting. For example, you might want to change all instances of bold to italics, as follows:

1. Press [Ctrl]+H.
2. Click the Find What control and click More.
3. From the Format drop-down, choose Font.
4. Select Bold in the Font Style list and click OK.
5. Click the Replace With control and click More.
6. From the Format drop-down, choose Font.
7. Select Italics in the Font Style list and click OK. As you can see in Figure H, Word displays the specified formats under both controls.
8. Click Replace All.

Figure H

Replace one format with another using the Replace option.

You can use Replace to remove an unwanted format by leaving the Replace With control empty. Or you can quickly format all occurrences of the same text by entering that text in the Find control. For more ways to use these options, see 10 cool ways to get more from Word’s Find and Replace feature.

11: Eliminate sticky borders

If you type three hyphens and press [Enter], Word will replace them with a solid line that extends from the left to the right margin. Sometimes this line sticks to the text or the bottom of the page no matter what you do to try to delete it. This happens when you enter the three hyphens directly under text; Word attaches the border as a paragraph format.

To quickly remove this sticky border, click inside the paragraph and choose No Border, as shown in Figure I, from the Border drop-down in the Paragraph group. In Word 2003, this option’s on the Formatting toolbar.

Figure I

You can quickly remove a sticky border.