Help files are often vague on a few points.
When in doubt on what to do on my word processing program, I ask a secretary. Secretaries know how to all kinds of cool things with a word processor.
Every once in awhile Murphy's Law prevails: What will go wrong, does go wrong. Under Murphy's Law; Back in the 90's when WordPerfect was a DOS program and Word was a Mac program, if I am having trouble with something in Word, then the only people available have their expertise in Word Perfect.
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Murphy was an optimist. Please join my campaign to repeal Murphy's Law. Start by always using the most current version of your software package. In the case of MS Word and Word Perfect ensure you installed the latest service pack.Writing Program tutorials cover Word 2003 and Word Perfect 9.
ADD Balance site has a large listing of free Microsoft Word tutorials for more complicated things one can do with Word and templates.
Kickstartnews.com Computer settings when using MS Word for proof reading a document.
Microsoft Word Tutorial for XP, 2003 and 2002 covers tables, and the basics you need to get started.
Microsoft Word Frequently Asked Questions in addition this site offers a free on-line tutors, downloads and links.
The Office Experts Mail merge, forms, outlines, tables, envelopes and lables. Site also covers Outlook, Access, Front Page, Excel, Power Point and VBA and free downloads for related utilies.
Recipes4Word free writing tools explains how to setup MS Word for the proper format of a synopsis for a novel and a query letter.
Tested better than MS Word for typesetting Smatteringsbooks novel Knife of Truth Road to Megara. The final required output is a photo ready PFD document, which can be printed via a freeware package either BullZip or PrimoPDF listed under my website authoring software page under MSWord and publish as a PDF document in Word Perfect. The only dificulty using Word Perfect is if you desire submitting your novel to SmashMouth for e-book formatting. They reqire MS Word only and do not accept epub files.
WPWriter Tips tricks updating, service packs for WP 6-12.
Word Perfect Universe How do I? Troubleshooting, macros and merges, upgrading, tips and tricks.
Word Perfect Office 12 Tutorials
Jarte Based on WordPad that comes with Microsoft but much easier to use. Has a decent help section at their site to get you started. Freeware program is compatable with MS Word with microsoft download, which sent me to the correct link to download it quickly. Exports text and images to PDF. The only downside is the lack of headers needed to lable your pages for editors with your name/worktile if you can only submit your work via the the US postal system.
Jer's Novel Writer A promising looking free software program availabe for Machintosh only.
Q10 A Windows free word processor that saves in txt format, written by a fellow witer. Reminds me of an old DOS program in some ways but uses common Windows short cuts. Similar to typing on a black sheet of paper in yellow. Great for doing writing exercises compiled on Smatterings Writers Block page. Complete with spell check, word counts, autosave, and a timer. Use with Y Writer listed on Smatterings Writers Craft page for help with turning your rough chapters of your novel into polished chapters for a book.
Rough Draft Donationware word processor designed for writers. Saves in rft format, so it's files are compatible with MS Word. It automatically generates a title page. A quality free word processor.
SoftMaker Office 2006 free office suite that is earning a rep across the Internet Word and Excel compatible. Tested in 2009 with Vista 32 and XP. Worked fine until I started working with students learning English and found out word processors are better if they come with a grammar and spell check.
Award winning writer sites suggest four free word processors the most: Niether Open Office, AbiWord, Alantis Nova, nor Angel Writer tested suitable for useable software for a writer. As one cuts and pastes and continues to revise one's manuscript, black boxes appear and refuse to dissapear even when printing. Though I did manage to cleanup The Knife of Truth, A Matter of Honor by Cynthia Willerth after converting the book version to an HML version for Kindle with Star Office (not linked to- shareware). If you still want to try this software because you know better or your professor requires it...
AbiWord 2009 Retrying- may be the best of the Word clones. Abi Word since they've added a limitted grammar checker and some plugins to thier free software package. Since Q10 formatting capabilities it might be feasible to write as far as you can and then open it with AbiWord and finish from there.
Open Office Office suite that will run on all major platforms; word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, equation editor and a drawing program. Saves files as PDF and HTML format. Lacks grammar checker but one has been written for it at Language Tool in English, German, Polish, Dutch, and other languages. Open Office seems to run in slow motion. Tested under Win 95, 98, XP and Vista. Some things stay the same over time. Imports Word files OK, but like most free word processors has trouble when doing massive revising and crashes. Linux users swear by Open Office's excellence.
Taming Open Office Resources for intermediate and advanced users of OpenOffice.org.
University of Texas Tutorials for Open Office Write and Impress, MS Word and Power Point 2003.
