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It is surprisingly common to walk into a busy office and see staff struggling with the same tasks they have done a thousand times before. We spend hours every week in Microsoft Word, but many people are still doing things the long way. If you are fighting with your keyboard or constantly reformatting, you are burning time that could be much better spent elsewhere. At Good Choice IT, we believe good IT support is about helping your team master the basics so they can actually get their work done without the frustration.
The setup: Save before you start
The first thing I see people doing wrong is starting a document and just typing away without saving it. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Before you even write a word, save your document. Give it a sensible name and put it in a logical folder. If you work on OneDrive, you have that extra layer of security, but the rule remains the same: save it, then work on it. If your computer decides to crash or Word gets bogged down, you will be glad you did. Do not just store files in random places—it makes finding them later impossible.
Get your typing sorted
I say this as someone who isn’t a typing speed champion: learn to touch type. If you are ‘hunting and pecking’ at your keyboard with two fingers, you are literally throwing hours away every single week. There are plenty of free tools online to help you learn. It might feel like a chore to spend a day learning technique, but think about the time you save over a year. At Good Choice IT, we focus on proactive solutions for businesses in London and Surrey, and that starts with making sure individuals have the foundational skills to use their kit efficiently.
Key takeaways
- Always save your document with a clear filename in a sensible folder before you start writing.
- Learning to touch-type is one of the biggest productivity wins you can get.
- Write all your content first; deal with the formatting and spellcheck once your thoughts are finished.
- Master the basic control shortcuts to speed up your daily workflow.
- Use templates to standardise your documents instead of copying and pasting old files.
The workflow: Write then format
The biggest mistake I see is people trying to format their text while they are writing. They spend ten minutes making an intro look perfect, then delete it. It makes no sense. Just get the content down on the page. Ignore the red and blue squiggly lines for a minute; just write. Once your thoughts are finished, press the F7 key to run your spellcheck. Then, and only then, go back and tidy up the look. Write first, edit later. It is so much faster than right-clicking every time you spot a typo.
Essential shortcuts you need
If you want to speed things up, stop touching the mouse for everything. Here are the basic shortcuts that keep me sane:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + S | Saves your work immediately |
| Ctrl + A | Selects all text in the document |
| Ctrl + C | Copies the selection |
| Ctrl + X | Cuts the selection |
| Ctrl + P | Opens the print menu |
Efficiency is about smart habits
When you are finished with a document, if you need to use a similar layout again in the future, don’t just open an old file and hit save. That is how you end up accidentally overwriting your work. If you have a document you use often, save it as a template. Or, at the very least, get into the habit of using ‘Save As.’ It saves you from the headache of accidentally deleting months of hard work. And if you ever get truly stuck, the Help menu—or even the F1 key—is actually full of useful information. You do not need to be a tech genius; you just need to work a little smarter than you were yesterday.
