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Briefs & other legal writing
Help on dealing with Tables of Authorities, Tables of Contents, page numbering and other headaches.
Inserting a highly-customized Table of Contents
Carol wanted an automatically-updating Table of Contents in her document. But she couldn't use Styles (the preferred and easiest method) to populate it because of some formatting issues. I showed her how to use TC fields to get around those limitations, and now I'll show you (with step-by-step video).
The 6 Best Reasons to Use Styles
Once you get past the beginner level in Word, it's tough to know what skills to master next. Here's my suggestion: Styles. For my money, Styles can give you the most leverage over your documents, save you editing time, and let you do all sorts of editing magic you didn't even imagine possible. Click below for my list of the 6 best reasons you should start using Styles ... NOW.
Table of Authorities – The Ultimate Guide
From markup to insertion to fixing TOA formatting and entries, here's a comprehensive guide to Table of Authorities in Microsoft Word.
Reader Question: How to double indent faster
Ever wanted one-click access to double-indent a paragraph (like for a lengthy quote)? One reader did, and here are the three methods I recommended.
How to recycle your [legal] briefs safely
What sort of evil stuff lurks in that text you just pasted over from your last magnum opus? And how's it going to undermine your next court filing? Click the link below to find out how to safely copy text from one legal brief to another.
How to create numbered headings using Styles
Once again, my pain is your gain. I get frustrated enough to go nosing around in Styles looking for a way to automatically number headings, and now I'm showing you step-by-step how to do it. Click the link for the fully-illustrated tutorial.
Reader Question: Copying WordPerfect footnotes to Microsoft Word
You know how I'm always telling you that the best way to get your old WordPerfect text into a new Microsoft Word document is to just copy it over? Well, that's not always the case. Sometimes Microsoft Word doesn't "translate" WordPerfect text into just the right Microsoft Word equivalent. A reader pointed out that doing a straight copy of WordPerfect footnotes into Word makes the numbering sequence go all wonky. Click the title above to find out how to copy those footnotes so you don't spend forever fixing them. (Oh, and look at the very bottom of the tutorial. You'll see a section that says "Members Only" which contains a link to a downloadable pdf version. If you don't see the link, go to https://legalofficeguru.com/login and put in your user id [your email address] and password.)
How to keep two words together on a single line
Need to make sure two words appear together on the same line, regardless of line wrap? Here's how to do that by inserting nonbreaking spaces and hyphens.
How to modify a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word
If your automatically-generated Table of Contents in Microsoft Word isn't to your liking, you can fix it. From changing fonts to adjusting spacing and indentation, it's all about modifying the TOC Styles within your document. Click through to view the entire tutorial, complete with screen shots showing each step.
Taming naughty footnotes, pt. 2 – separators
Here's how to change the footnote separator, the footnote continuation separator, and the footnote continuation notice in Microsoft Word.
Inserting a table of contents using styles
Building a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word is ridiculously easy if you use Styles to format your document headings. Here's the quick-and-dirty tutorial on inserting an easy TOC in your document.
Using sections to control page numbers, headers and footers
This is part two of a tutorial on how to control page numbers and page number formats using sections in Microsoft Word 2002-2003. Useful for changing page number styles in appellate briefs or for having distinct headers and footers in different parts of a document.
Taming naughty footnotes, pt. 1
Have a footnote in Microsoft Word 2007 that keeps dropping down to a subsequent page? Here's how to fix it.
Using Styles & Formatting
Got a brief or other long document? Ensure consistent formatting throughout with Microsoft Word's Styles & Formatting feature.
Outlook
Law offices run on email and calendars, and most law offices manage theirs with Microsoft Outlook. Learn to use it better.
Don’t miss that important Microsoft Outlook email!
If you want special alerts for important emails - messages from a particular sender or with certain text in the subject, for example - then you'll want to know how to set up Rules in Outlook. The Rules feature can examine your incoming mail and alert you to anything that you've told it is important, either with a special sound, a flag, or a pop-up box. Click through for the full illustrated tutorial.
Make your Outlook email messages un-ignorable
If you use email to send or receive assignments, requests, etc., you need an easy way to track what's due from whom. Here's how to use Outlook's flag for follow-up feature for a one-click-easy way to organize those requests.
Video: Configuring Rules in Microsoft Outlook to automate message handling
Microsoft Outlook Inbox management is a lot easier when you use Rules & Alerts to automate common tasks. Here's a video tutorial showing you how.
How to redirect a reply in Outlook
If you send an email to a large list, the last thing you want is someone hitting "Reply to All." Prevent a disaster with these two tricks in Microsoft Outlook.