Word Tip - Four Quick Ways to Easily Select the Text of an Entire Document

This tip is provided by Reba Nance of the Colorado Bar Association.

When you want to format your whole document, you have to select all of the text in the document. This can be tricky, especially when you're dealing with a long document. Fortunately, you don't have to drag your mouse from one end of the document to the other to select all the text. Here are four alternatives:

1. Triple click in the left margin; or

2. Press and hold <Ctrl> and click once in the left margin; or

3. Press <Ctrl>and a together; or

4. Press <F8> repeatedly until the entire document is selected. This takes no more than 5 clicks.

When you want to deselect the text, press <Esc> and click anywhere in the document.

Try all 4 methods and pick the one that seems most intuitive to you. Use your method a couple of times a day over the next week and it will soon be second nature!

Feel free to contact Reba Nance at reban@cobar.org with questions.