Work with Word….Report Writing

On the Technical Report Writing course, we have a section that presents the useful tools in MS Word in order to help you with reports. The older delegates say it is … mind blowing. The younger delegates not so much. It’s as if they have this in the womb already. I’m talking millennials an younger. But, when pushed, the laconic response is … “Ok, I did learn something.”

Here are the essentials:
TURN YOUR REVEAL CODES ON
This is that musical caret looking character halfway across the Home ribbon. This helps you know where you hit tab, hit enter and hit space. It also shows your soft page breaks. (Ctrl Enter, for those who don’t know yet.)
LEAVE A PAGE FOR YOUR TABLE OF CONTENTS
This is always good. Also, don’t style the heading “TABLE OF CONTENTS”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY COMES FIRST
Of course, you won’t do it first. It just comes first, so between TOC and INTRODUCTION, leave a page with the heading EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
TYPE IN YOR HEADINGS AND STYLE THEM
Main headings, subheadings. Of course, you’ve already decided on the structure for your report, including the standard sections for the introduction (Purpose, history, Scope, Needs, Methods and Definitions).
MULTILEVEL NUMBERING
Don’t apply simple numbering. Apply MULTILEVEL NUMBERING. This is the second one down on the multilevel numbering combo box. All the headings will MAGICALY BE NUMBERED!
USE OUTLINE VIEW
This one very few people know about. Click view/outline view. This is your report map. You can move your headings up and down and it will automatically renumber them. This is VERY NEAT. Make sure you choose “show level” and your lowest level. I think MS Word goes down nine levels, as does MS Project. Hint – when you add text, hit enter after your heading and “demote to body text” using the demotion arrows.
USEFUL DICTATION
As long as you are online, and your company hasn’t blocked features, use the dictation tool. Microsoft have really improved this substantially. It’s about 90% accurate. Just pause after your sentence before you say “new line”. Ditto “period”. Or “Full stop” if you’re a confused South African.