Topic: Selecting Text

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Automatically Selecting Words When editing a document, Word normally selects entire words as you use the mouse to select text. This tip explains why this occurs and how you can change this behavior, if you desire. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Easily Extending Selections The extend mode (initiated with the F8 key) provides a very powerful way to select text. You can use the mode to instantly extend your selection to any key you press. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Quickly Selecting Text You can select huge blocks of text quickly and easily by using the mouse. As described in this tip, you only need to click at the starting point of the block and then hold down the Shift key as you click and the ending point. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Replacing Text Selections By default, Word uses what you type to replace anything you had selected when you started typing. If you don’t like that approach to editing, you can change Word’s behavior by making just one little change in the Options dialog box. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Selecting a Group of Words Want to select a chunk of text in a document? Perhaps the easiest way to do this involves using the mouse in conjunction with the keyboard, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Selecting a Line of Text Many word processing programs include commands that allow you to select a line of text. Word doesn’t, but you can use the mouse to select lines of text, and it is probably easier than you think. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Selecting a Sentence You can select entire sentences using your mouse, if you first hold down the Ctrl key. This tip explains some of the ins and outs of using this handy editing technique. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Selecting a Text Block Everyone knows how to select text; especially if that text is sequential, such as a few words or a sentence. An often overlooked method of text selection is to select non-sequential text. You do this using the Ctrl+Shift+F8 shortcut, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Selecting a Word Selecting text is a critical skill to possess when you want to work with a Word document. This tip explains how you can select entire words with just a quick double-click of the mouse. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Selecting an Entire Paragraph Paragraphs are an elemental building block for documents. This tip explains the different ways you can select entire paragraphs of text. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Selecting an Entire Section Documents can be subdivided into sections, with each of them formatted differently. If you want to select all the text in a particular section, then you can follow the steps outlined in this tip, or create your own shortcut using the included macro code. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Selecting Sentences with VBA Need to select an entire sentence at once? You can do so by creating a short macro that does the task for you, or you can assign shortcut keys to some built-in Word commands that aren’t normally accessible. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Selecting Sentences with WordBasic A WordBasic macro that allows you to step through a document, sentence by sentence. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95

Selecting the Entire Document with the Mouse The mouse is used in Word to accomplish many editing and formatting tasks. Want to select a Word? Just double-click. Select a paragraph? Triple click. What about selecting the entire document, however? This tip explains where to click to select everything in the document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Using ASCII and ANSI Characters Word natively supports several types of character sets. The most common characters sets are known as ASCII and ANSI characters. This tip explains what these are and how to use them in Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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