If you’re a charity communicator, chances are that you use Microsoft Word every day for creating your copy. By now, you already know the basics. But did you know that embedded in the programme there are a host of easy-to-use tools that can make your life a lot easier?
Next time you’re writing raw copy for a blog, copyediting a colleague’s fundraising brochure, or bashing out a newsletter, try these easy tips:
Set your language to English (UK)
To enable in Word 2007:
Click on the language tab at the bottom left hand side of panel > select ‘English (United Kingdom)’
Oscar Wilde quipped that America and England are two nations divided by a common language. To avoid American spellings flavoring (rather than flavouring) and coloring (rather than colouring) your copy it pays to set your spellcheck to English (UK) rather than English (United States) at the bottom of your page.
Check your readability
To enable in Word 2007:
Review tab > Spelling & Grammar > Options > tick ‘show readability statistics’
Hidden away in Word’s spellchecking function is a handy readability checker. On the latest version you’ll find it if you hit the spellcheck icon and then explore the options. When enabled, it reveals the percentage of passive sentences in your copy, along with a score showing how easy it is to read.
Find and replace
To enable in Word 2007:
Press Ctrl + F
Does your colleague constantly refer to your charity as an ‘organization’, rather than an ‘organisation’ in their copy? Curse him or her no longer and instead simply use the find and replace tool to seek out their mistakes while painlessly inserting the correct spelling.
Use tracked changes
To enable in Word 2007:
Review tab > select ‘Track Changes’
Firing up the tracked changes tool (it’s in the review panel on the latest edition of Word) is fantastic when you’ve got multiple people feeding into a document. Not only can you track exactly who has made what changes, you can also insert your own comments on the text for others to follow.
