Microsoft Word 2003 is a good upgrade to the previous version Microsoft Word 2000. You still get a high powered word processor plus more features to assist you in creating your word documents.

Here are some tricks that you can use with Microsoft Word 2003 to make your word processing an easier and better task.

* Let Microsoft Word 2003 give you tips on Shortcut Keys.

Using the mouse to go to the menu bar and scrolling down through the options or to click a button can be annoying if you have been using your keyboard during your Microsoft Word 2003 session. To prevent this, Microsoft Word 2003 has shortcuts that you can use so you don't hand to remove your hand from the keyboard.

By simply pressing Ctrl+ a letter, you can ask Microsoft Word 2003 to perform your chosen task. However, it can be difficult to remember these Microsoft Word 2003 shortcuts. Don't worry, here is a simple step that will help you remember the Microsoft word 2003 shortcuts.

Go to Tools, and click on Customize. On the dialog box, choose the Options tab. Check the box beside Show shortcut keys in Screen tips. Click on Close to confirm the action.

Now, every time you hover over a button, Microsoft Word 2003 will show you the shortcut key for that task.

* Want to introduce your Microsoft Word 2003 document through different sections? Use the Table of Contents.

So how do you generate a table of contents using your Microsoft Word 2003? First, check if you used the outline mode in creating your Microsoft Word 2003 document. If you did, it will be easier to generate the table of contents.

If you did not, follow these steps. Highlight the text that you wanted to be used as a heading, then press ctrl + alt + 1. Do this for every text that you wanted to be used for the succeeding sections. The text style of these highlighted text will be changed to Heading 1 and will stand out from the remaining text.

If you wanted to create a sub-header, select the area of text for the subheading and hold down ctrl + alt + 2. For a sub-sub-header, use ctrl + alt + 3. If you have done this or if you have formatted your Microsoft word 2003 in outline mode, you can now create the table of contents.

Go to Insert, scroll down to Reference and click on Indexes and Tables. On the dialog box, select the tab labeled Table of Contents. Then press OK to generate the table of contents.

If you edited your Microsoft Word 2003 file after this, you need to have your table of contents updated to show the new page numbers or headings. To do this, right click on the table of contents and select the Update Fields option. If a dialog box appears, choose Update entire table and confirm your choice by clicking on OK.

These are just some of the cool tricks that you can use while word processing using Microsoft Word 2003. With Microsoft Word 2003, creating and editing text files became an easy, interesting and less time-consuming task. More tips and tricks are published online. Printed materials are also available from your library or your local bookstore.