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The Navigation Pane in Microsoft Word 2010

The Navigation Pane in Microsoft Word 2010

As a technical writer, I am always looking for tools and features within them that would make my job easier; be it a graphics tool that would make my diagrams look more visually appealing or an application that would help me draft documents quickly and easily.

The Navigation Pane in Microsoft Word 2010As I explored the new features of Microsoft Word 2010, the one thing that caught my eye was the Navigation Pane that allows us to navigate the document using:

  • Headings – this is a new improved version of the old Document Map
  • Pages – this is a new name for the thumbnails of the earlier versions of Word
  • Search results

Browse Using Headings

This tab of the Navigation Pane is akin to the “document map” of the earlier versions of Microsoft Word.

Undoubtedly, the new “document map” has a better look and feel; the headings are displayed as 3D tabs. More importantly, it now helps us:

  • choose the depth of headings to display in the Document Map. For example, you can choose to view only up to Heading 2.
  • reorganize content easily using drag-and-drop. When you drag a heading to a new location, the heading and the content under it is moved.
  • delete content. When you delete a heading, the heading and all the content under it is deleted.
  • add new headings and sub-headings. The new headings are added to the document at the selected location. You have to add the required content under the heading in the document.
  • promote/demote the level of a selected heading. The level of any sub-headings that existed would change automatically.
  • print a heading and all content under it.
  • duplicate a heading and all content under it.

The Updated Document Map in Word 2010

Browse Using Pages

This tab of the Navigation Pane displays thumbnails of the pages in the document and we can navigate to a page by simply clicking on its preview.

If we search for a term, this view displays a preview of only those pages that contain the specified term.

Search Results

This tab of the Navigation Pane displays the search results. Click on an entry in the search result to navigate to that spot in the document. The search term is also highlighted in the document.

Interesting, isn’t it?

I found have found other interesting stuff like coauthoring. More on that later

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