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Tips for Using Word on Mac

Download Instructions as PDF

Page Settings

Check page size

  • Click Layout tab.
  • Click the Size icon.
  • Select US Letter (8.5" X 11")

Check margins

  • Click Layout tab.
  • Click the Margins icon.
  • Click Custom Margins.
  • Enter the following settings in the Document dialogue box that opens.
    • Margins tab
      • "Top:" = 1"
      • "Bottom:" = 1"
      • "Left:" = 1.25"
      • "Right:" = 1.25"
      • "Gutter:" = 0"
      • "Gutter position:" = Left
      • "Multiple pages:" = Normal
      • "Apply to:" = Whole document
    • Layout tab
      • "Header:" = 0.5"
      • "Footer:" = 0.5"
      • "Apply to:" = Whole document
  • Hit OK
  • If you have multiple sections in your document, check each section.

Spacing

Turn off Widow/Orphan control

  • Select all the text in your document.
  • In the Mac menu bar, open the Format menu.
  • Click Paragraph. This will open a dialogue box.
  • Click the Line and Page Breaks tab
  • If the box for Widow/Orphan control has a check mark, click the box to remove the check.
  • Hit OK.

Check line spacing

  • Select all the text in your document.
  • In the Mac menu bar, open the Format menu.
  • Click Paragraph. This will open a dialogue box.
  • Click the Indents and Spacing tab and enter the following settings.
    • "Before:" = 0 pt
    • "After:" = 0 pt
    • "Line spacing:" = Double
    • Click the box that says “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style.”
  • Hit OK.
  • Now you can create heading spaces by simply hitting enter twice.

No gaps or white space in text

  • Continue the text to the 1” bottom margin.
    • EXCEPTIONS: Places where it is acceptable to have a gap or white space.
      • At the bottom of the page if there is a subheading and the white space is not large enough for the heading space, the subheading, and 2 lines of text below the subheading. This also applies if there are two subheadings in a row, there must be at least 2 lines of text below the bottom-most subheading.
      • At the end of a chapter.
      • If you are using footnotes and there needs to be a white gap because on the top line of the next page is a footnote that would not fit if the line were moved to the previous page.

Section Breaks

Insert a section break

There are two ways you can do this. Use whichever method you prefer.

Method 1

  • Place your cursor where you would like the section to end.
  • Click the Layout tab.
  • Click the Breaks icon.
  • Click Next Page.

Method 2

  • Place your cursor where you would like the section to end.
  • In the Mac menu bar, open the Insert menu.
  • Hover your cursor over Break.
  • Click Section Break (Next Page).

Add "Insert Page Section Breaks" to Quick Access Toolbar

  • Locate the Customize Quick Access Toolbar button and click it.
    • In the top, left corner are the Save, Undo and Redo buttons. Next to those is a button that has a small horizontal line with a down arrow under it. Click it to edit the Quick Access Toolbar.
  • Select More Commands...
  • This will open the "Ribbon & Toolbar" dialogue box.
  • Click Quick Access Toolbar tab.
  • In the commands list on the left, scroll to "Insert Page Section Breaks" and click it.
  • Click the right arrow button to add to the list on the right.
  • Hit Save.

Adding section breaks using the Quick Access Toolbar

  • Place your cursor where you would like the section to end.
  • After following the steps above, a new button should appear in the Quick Access Toolbar button.
  • This button has two stacked rectangles with an arrow pointing down on the right side. Click it.
  • Click Next Page.

Page Numbers

No page numbers on MAIN HEADING pages in the preliminary pages

NOTE: This applies only to second pages of Abstract, Table of Contents, Lists of Figures and Tables, Acknowledgments, and all preliminary pages. (Numbers do not appear on pages with main headings).

  • Insert a section break at the end of the preceding page if there isn’t already one there.
  • Click in the footer space on the bottom of the second page of the section where you would like a page number to appear.
  • Make sure “Link to Previous” is turned on (it will have a darker background color).
    • EXCEPTION: When inserting a page number onto a second page of an abstract, you do not want “Link to Previous” turned on.
  • Make sure the box stating “Different First Page” has a check mark.
  • Insert page number (Roman numerals in center bottom of page).
    • For the Abstract
      • Click Page Number icon.
      • Select Page Number and enter the following settings.
        • "Alignment:" = Center
        • Make sure box for "Show number on first page" is not checked
      • Click Format... button and enter the following settings.
        • "Number Format:" = i, ii, iii…
        • "Start at:" = iii
        • Hit OK to save formatting
      • Hit OK to save and insert page number
    • For all other sections
      • Follow the same procedure described for the Abstract, but start at whatever is the first page of the current section.
  • If you have done it correctly there will be no page number on the first page, but page numbers will appear on all subsequent pages of the section.
  • Repeat by creating a new section for each MAIN HEADING page (Abstract, Table of Contents, etc.).

No page numbers on MAIN HEADING pages

  • Create a new section by inserting a section break at the end of the preceding page.
  • Click in the header space at the top of the second page of your new section.
  • Make sure “Link to Previous” is turned on (it will have a darker background color).
  • Make sure the box stating “Different First Page” has a check mark.
  • Insert page number (Arabic numerals in top right of page).
  • If you have done it correctly there will be no page number on the first page, but page numbers will appear on all subsequent pages of the section.
  • Repeat the steps above and create a new section for each MAIN HEADING page.
    • For the first main text section (your first chapter), make sure the box “Link to Previous” is NOT selected in either footer or header.

Alternative methods to remove page numbers 

  • Leave the page numbers on each page and create a borderless white fill text box formatted “In Front of Text” to cover the page numbers on the MAIN HEADING PAGES
  • After converting to PDF, remove the page numbers on the MAIN HEADING PAGES using Acrobat Pro

Correct number placement on landscape pages

The University of Aberdeen has a tutorial that details how to rotate landscape page numbers to match the Portrait layout.

Footnotes

Formatting footnotes

  • Place your cursor where you want your first footnote number.
  • In the Mac menu bar, open the Insert menu.
  • Click Footnote... This will open a dialogue box.
  • Enter the following settings.
    • "Footnotes:" = Below text
    • "Apply changes to:" = Whole document
  • Hit Insert.
  • This will help eliminate white gaps caused by footnotes.

Correct spacing for footnotes

  • Select your footnote text.
  • In the Mac menu bar, open the Format menu.
  • Click Paragraph. This will open a dialogue box.
  • Click Indents and Spacing tab.
  • Enter the following setting.
    • "Before:" = same as your font size (e.g., 12 pt)
  • Hit OK.

Pasting from other documents

When pasting from other documents, double check your paragraph, line spacing, and widow/orphan control settings for that text!  The original settings can be pasted into the document (even if you click “keep text only”) and can create future formatting problems.

Marriott Library Services

Tech support: Ask the Library

Workshops

Check the schedule for these valuable, intensive workshops that will help you learn how to correctly format your dissertation or thesis.

  • Dissertation Boot Camps
  • Formatting your thesis or dissertation in LaTeX
  • Thesis & Dissertation Formatting in Word 2016

Visit the Marriott Library website for more info on these services.
Graduate Student Resources

Last Updated: 6/8/23