Tech for Luddites

Today’s T3 includes tips for fixing formatting glitches in Microsoft Word, replacing your home air filter and saving some bucks on a Kindle for Kids Bundle.

1. Fixing Word Formatting Problems

I’ve written previously about how to turn off Microsoft Word’s AutoCorrect formatting options, but sometimes you run into formatting issues that have nothing to do with AutoCorrect. Maybe you pasted text from one document to another with a different template or added a paragraph break that changed something or simply had a run-in with technology gremlins (happens to me all the time!).

If you experience this there are a few things you can do:

• If the problem is that you’re changing one paragraph and it’s affecting another one as well, make sure you’re using paragraph breaks between two blocks of text and not line breaks. A
  paragraph break occurs when you hit the Enter key and a line break occurs when you hit Shift+Enter. For example, in the screenshot below, it looks like there are three paragraphs. But when you click the Paragraph Marks button in the toolbar (looks like a backwards P), you’ll see the first line is a full paragraph, but the second and third lines go together to create a paragraph. So if you tried changing the style of the second line, it would change on the third line as well, because they’re the same paragraph.

• If you have a paragraph that’s the way you want it, you can copy and paste the paragraph symbol from the correct one to the incorrect one and the latter will pick up all the formatting of the former.
• If nothing you’re doing is working, you can use the Clear Formatting button in the toolbar and it will convert the entire paragraph to normal text so all you have to do is reapply the style or other formatting elements you want without retyping anything.

If you have any other tips for fixing wonky formatting, please share it in the comments below!

2. Changing Furnace Filters

Whether you’re moving from spring to summer or autumn to winter, if you haven’t changed your home air filter in the last 2-3 months, now would be a good time as you switch from using your furnace to your air conditioner or vice versa. Here are a couple of good articles about how to know when it’s time to change it and how to do so.

How Often Should You Replace Your Home Air Filter? (Angie’s List, 11/13/15)

How to Replace Furnace Filters (Consumer Reports, 02/29/16)

3. Kindle for Kids Bundle Deal

Got a kid who loves reading (or know one)? Until June 9th, save $10 on the Kindle for Kids Bundle at Amazon. The bundle includes the basic Kindle E-reader without sponsored screensavors, a cover available in 5 colors, and a 2-year, no-questions-asked guarantee. Note that the $10 savings is on top of the normal discount over buying the items individually.

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Create Different Headers in Word

Save Text Snippets to Easily Reuse in Microsoft Word

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