Aligning words and sentences in contracts, agreements, and other formal documents using multiple spaces and default tabulations is an ill practice. In proportional fonts, like Times New Roman symbols have different widths, and it is hard to align numerous lines with spaces or tabs precisely. Defining a custom tab stop in Microsoft Word is a precise and straightforward alternative to counting spaces and tabs.

Sometimes you need to record new changes in the document that already has tracked changes made under your name. For example, people who have no possibility to make changes by themselves ask you to record their changes. Amendments made by different reviewers have different colors and are easy to find.

Bookmarks and references are typical examples of fields in Word documents. All fields are updated automatically on opening the document or manually by selecting them and pressing F9. However, you can lock specific fields in the document to prevent automatic updates. To update those fields, update them one by one, or select the entire text by pressing Ctrl+A and press F9.

Source Manager in Microsoft Word helps if you have a lot of sources, or for some other reason you need to manage the sources of the document. This tool simplifies you work with citations.

Whatever you write, whatever you add or insert into your document, there is always a need to edit some information. Word introduces a very convenient tool for editing citations or supplementing them with the necessary information. See also how to create a citation or placeholder in a document and how to create multi-source citations.

You can customize an existing multilevel list (see how to create a multilevel list) or apply your specifications to the format using the Define new Multilevel list dialog box.

You can customize an existing bulleted list (see how to create a bulleted list) or apply your own specifications to the bullets format using the Define New Bullet dialog box.

Bulleted lists, also named as unordered lists, are usually used for listing objects, comparable actions, etc. for which order is not important. Unlike a numbered list, all elements of an unordered list are separated by the same symbols, bullets.

You can tell Word to start from any number you prefer, restart numbering from 1, or continue numbering.

Numbered lists are similar to bulleted lists, except that instead of bullets, Word places sequential numbers in the front of the first line. This feature is handy because if you add a paragraph in the middle of a numbered list or rearrange the order of the paragraphs in a list, Word automatically renumbers the paragraphs so that they retain their sequence.