In my fifteen years of teaching and tutoring tech, I’ve seen everything–and come up with solutions for most of it. I’ll share those with you. My goal: That students (of all ages) feel empowered not frightened by technology, that it is fun not frustrating. These tips will get you there with you and your kids.
Q: If you’re like me, you don’t like MS Office 2007 or 2010’s default font of Calibri, size 11 with a double space between paragraphs. Here’s how you fix that:
- Type a couple of paragraphs in any document
- Highlight what you typed and right click
- Select font
- Change the font to what you prefer. In my case, it’s TNR 12
- Click the Default button on the lower left and approve that this is, in fact, how you’d like a future documents to be formatted when opening a new document. If it asks whether you want this for future documents, say Yes.
- Now right click again and select Paragraph
- Make sure Line Spacing is single (or double if you’re following MLS)
- Go to Spacing and make sure both Before and After show 0 pts.
- Click Default
That’s it. The next time you open a document in MS Word, it will open with this revised formatting.
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.
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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and author of two technology training books for middle school. She wrote Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a tech columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for ISTE’s Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s seeking representation for a techno-thriller that she just finished. Any ideas? Contact Jacqui at her writing office, WordDreams, or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
