Shadow Cursor

[rbw]

I'm used to a "shadow cursor" which I used in Word Perfect. When the cursor
is placed near the center of a line, a "shadow cursor" tells you exactly
where the center is. Then, when typing a heading, for example, the heading
"centers" automatically. Is this feature available in Word? I have been
unable to find it.

 

[Luc]

rbw,
Don't know what version of Word you are using, but from version 2002 on (I
think) there is the click and type option. You can enable/disable it on the
Edit tab in Tools - Options. When it is active you will see a mousepointer
which will change appearance as you navigate over your page if you put it
near the center it will change in an I-pointer with some lines under it,
double click and you will center the text you are typing.
I have not used WordPerfect for a number of years now, so I do not know if
it will help.
Luc Sanders (MVP - Powerpoint)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

FWIW, I would find it a lot easier just to click Ctrl+E to center text.

 

[rbw]

Luc, thank you for your reply. It helped me out -- I always wondered what
those little lines were for. I tried using them for the shadow cursor
purpose in the past to no avail but today it seemed to work for me. I'm so
used to Word Perfect I think I need lessons on using Word (2003). Thanks
again.

 

[rbw]

Suzanne -- that works much better! Where did you learn that? I tried the
Help section many times and I couldn't find any help in this area.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You could also use the Center button on the Formatting toolbar. For keyboard
shortcuts, see Word's Help topic "Keyboard shortcuts."

 

[Luc]

Hello Suzanne,
Personally I hate click and type. Especially when you click in the middle of
the page and Word applies a series of paragraph markers. Just when you
convinced someone to use sections and the page setting menu to vertically
center a page, they come up with the click and type solution. It is so easy,
why bother to do it the right way.

Luc Sanders (MVP - Powerpoint)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have never used click and type, and I advise against it. I thought it was
an abomination from the get-go and a step in the wrong direction (trying to
make Word more of a page layout app, which is just further confusing to
users). I accept that some users will use it, anyway, but I can't help
feeling that if they kept nonprinting characters displayed all the time, as
I do, they'd soon learn to appreciate a "clean" document.