Getting Around Your Word 2010 Document
Moving through a lengthy Word document doesn't have to be a chore. In this lesson you'll learn how the scrollbar, keyboard shortcuts, and the Go To and Find tools let you leap straight to the exact spot you're after.
Moving with the Scrollbar
An easy way to get around is to grab the scrollbar and drag it up or down until you reach another part of the document. That's useful for covering large distances fast in a long file. When you need finer control, click the up or down arrows to move through the document one line at a time.
Watching the Page Numbers
While you scroll, Word displays the page you're on — say, page 3 of 19. Drag the scrollbar farther and the indicator changes with you, maybe to page 11 of 19.
Where Typed Text Appears
Keep an eye on where your cursor is, since that's exactly where anything you type will go. If you scroll far down the document and start typing, the text may not show up on the page you're looking at — it lands at the cursor's position instead. In the example, typing made the view jump to page 16, where the cursor sat, even though page 11 was on screen. The remedy: scroll to the place you want, click to put the cursor there, press Enter for a new paragraph, and then type.
Stepping Along with the Arrow Keys
Your keyboard's arrow keys move the cursor too. Put the cursor where you want it and press the down arrow to go one line down, or the up arrow to go one line up. The left and right arrows shift you sideways in the same fashion.
Hopping Word by Word with Ctrl
Hold Ctrl while pressing an arrow key to move a single word at a time. Ctrl + right arrow jumps to the next word, while Ctrl + left arrow takes you back one.
Quick quiz: what happens when you hold Ctrl and press the up or down arrow? Give it a try — Ctrl + down arrow jumps to the next paragraph, and Ctrl + up arrow jumps to the previous one.
Using Page Up and Page Down
The Page Up and Page Down keys move you one screen page at a time. A screen page is just whatever fits on your screen, so Page Down takes you to the start of the text just beyond the current view. Keep in mind that pressing Page Down three times may only get you to page 2, then page 3, and then leave you on page 3 — because it moves by screen pages, not document pages.
Jumping to the Top or Bottom
Press Ctrl + Home to leap to the very top of your document. Press Ctrl + End to reach the very bottom.
Jumping to a Specific Page
Need to reach page 10 in a hurry? Press Ctrl + G to open the Go To dialog, type 10, confirm that Page is selected, and click Go To. You'll arrive on page 10. The Go To dialog can also take you to sections, lines, and many other elements in your document. Press Escape to close it.
Locating Text with Find
If you don't know where a bit of text is, press Ctrl + F to open the navigation pane and begin typing. Word finds the text and highlights it. Click the X to close the navigation pane, and the highlight goes away.
Once these navigation tricks feel natural, you can move around even the longest document without losing your place. Try combining them — scroll roughly with the scrollbar, fine-tune with the arrow keys, and use Go To or Find when you know exactly what you're after.