Microsoft Word ® Tools Menu - Commands including Word Count and AutoSummarize

This tutorial covers the Tools Menu in Microsoft Word, including explanations of the various commands.

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The Tools Menu in Microsoft Word

The Tools Menu is the sixth menu in our using Microsoft Word tutorial.

Spelling and Grammar: This command will check the spelling and grammar of the current Microsoft Word document. It also allows you to add words to the dictionary, as well as changing the dictionary language (if available).

Language: The language tool has various options, including setting the language of the document, translating text, open the thesaurus and manage hyphenation.

Word Count: This will open the Word Count dialogue box, enabling you to count the amount of words in the whole document, or the currently selected text.

AutoSummarize: This can be a handy feature of Microsoft Word, depending on the type and format of your document. It will summarize a document using the attributes you give it, for example, you can choose the percentage of the document to be used for the summary, as well as the format of the summary.

Speech: This will open the Speech Recognition feature of Microsoft Word (if installed/available).

Track Changes: Clicking on this command will cause Microsoft Word to track any subsequent changes to the document. These changes can then be viewed by turning on the Markup option on the Edit menu.

Compare and Merge Documents: This feature enables you to easily compare and/or merge 2 documents.

Protect Document: This command allows you to control the protection of the document, including tracked changes, comments and forms.

Online Collaboration: Enables NetMeeting allowing you to communicate with others in real time via the internet or local network.

Letters and Mailing: Gives you access to various features, including the Mail Merge Wizard, the Letter Wizard, the Envelopes and Labels tool, and the Mail Merge Toolbar.

Macro: This opens the Macro Dialogue box, allowing you to manage subsequent and existing macros. We will be covering Microsoft Word macros in a future tutorial.

Templates and Add-Ins: Opens the Templates and Add-Ins Dialogue box, allowing you to add, remove or update styles and template.

AutoCorrect Options: Opens the AutoCorrect dialogue box, enabling you to manage capitalisation, and also the replace text as you type settings.

Customize: Allows you to customize the Microsoft Word toolbars, commands, and other options.

Options: This opens the main options dialogue box in Microsoft Word. It allows you to change many aspects of the current document and Microsoft Word environment.

see also: File Menu - Edit menu - View menu - Insert menu - Format menu - Table menu