Microsoft Word tries to anticipate the settings the average user will want, but this doesn't always correspond to the way you personally work. Why not take a few minutes to change a few key default settings in Word so you won’t have to make the same tweaks over and over?

This article by Susan Harkins from TechRepublic lists the steps to change ten default settings in Word 2003, 2007, and 2010:

• Set the line spacing
• Turn off "Smart" (or curly) quotes
• Paste Special without keeping the formatting
• File location when Saving
• Spacing between paragraphs
• Hide the mini toolbar that displays after selecting text
• Disable the drawing canvas
• Customizing the "normal" template
• Word selection (partial vs. whole words)
• Spelling, grammar, and formatting identifiers

Click here for the full article.

Also don't miss our previous blog post here with more tips for Microsoft Word.