Two-letter words often cause more complicated sentences with reduced clarity, and they work towards passive voice. These days, we teach students that legal writing should be simple, clear, and concise. I advise students that they should look for two-letter words and consider whether they might simplify the phrase or sentence by eliminating the word.

So how do you find all the two-letter words in a document? Wildcards. This article could not possibly cover the range and complexity of Office wildcard searches, but this one is pretty easy.

(1) Cntrl + F to open the search navigation pane;

(2) Click the drop-down arrow, and select “Advanced Find;”

(3) Click More (bottom left of the Advanced Find window);

(4) Select “Use Wildcards;”

(5) In the dialogue box, type: <[a-z]{2}>

Voila, you are searching for words with only 2 letters. Happy editing!

Ok, so this isn’t really an Office feature, but it is quite a nifty Windows feature. Mac has a similar option.

Have you ever wanted to keep one window static while working in another window? For example, writing in Word while researching in Chrome. It’s a bother to go back and forth between windows or to resize the windows, right? How about a third window? A fourth?! This is madness, Joshua!

Just choose a window, and drag it all the way to the left or to the right of the screen. You’ll notice a flash. Release the mouse, and that window will now remain static on exactly half the screen. Other open windows will appear on the opposite side of the screen so that you can select the second window to occupy the second half of the screen. Nifty. (Be sure that you’ve enabled multi-tasking in settings.)

On Mac, at the top left of a window, long click the green dot that takes a window into full screen. The long click splits the screen and places that window on one side, allowing you to choose the second window.

These folks explain it quite well.

This is especially helpful during Zoom meetings. Enjoy!

I’m so thankful that Hedgehogs and Foxes published this piece.

https://hedgehogsandfoxes.org/index.php/2020/09/22/joshua-a-jones-sunday-child-exchange/