Microsoft Word's Preferences dialog offers twelve categories of preferences that you can set to customize the way Word works for you:
View preferences control Word's onscreen appearance.
General preferences control general Word operations.
Edit preferences control editing.
Print preferences control document printing.
Save preferences control file saving.
Spelling and Grammar preferences control spelling and grammar checker operations.
Track Changes preferences control the track changes feature.
User Information preferences contain information about the primary user.
Compatibility preferences control a document's compatibility with other applications or versions of Word.
File Locations preferences specify where certain Word files are stored on disk.
Security preferences enable you to set file encryption, file sharing, and privacy options for a file.
Note Recording preferences control the recording quality of audio notes.
Tip
Word's default preference settings are discussed and illustrated throughout this book.
1.
Choose Word > Preferences (Figure 1) or press to display the Preferences dialog (Figure 3).
2.
In the list on the left side of the dialog, click the category of preferences that you want to set.
3.
Set options as desired.
4.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for other categories of preferences that you want to set.
5.
Click OK to save your settings.
I illustrate and discuss all Preferences dialog options throughout this chapter.
If Word is running, choose Word > Quit Word (Figure 1) to quit it.
In the Finder, open the folder at this path: ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/ (where ~/ represents your Home folder).
Locate the file named com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist (Figure 2) and drag it to the Trash.
Choose Finder > Empty Trash.
Open Word.
Tips
When the com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist file is deleted, Word automatically creates a new file with the same name, using default preference settings.
As you may have guessed, Word creates a com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist file for each user.