Can't WORD just leave me alone??? NO bells and whistles!! :(

Just downloaded Office 2013 (including WORD) and I have the usual complaint. Is there somewhere you can turn off all the bells and whistles??? I just want to type using my own methods - space bar, tab, etc. My biggest pet peeve is when doing an outline. It keeps wanting to "help" and set it up for me. Also, making spaces between words and paragraphs. Is there somewhere where you can just shut everything down and use it like a typewriter, adding what you want, not adding what they THINK you want??

Frustrated!

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Jay Freedman

If you really want no bells and whistles, don't use Word. Try WordPad instead -- it can handle Word documents, and fonts and such, but it doesn't have the features that you find in your way.

There are some things you can do to tame Word -- for example, go to the Options dialog, click Proofing and then AutoCorrect Options, and uncheck everything in the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab of the dialog. This idea is expanded a bit in this article. But if you're looking for an electronic typewriter, Word will never suit your purposes.

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Stefan Blom

To turn off the automatic formatting that Word applies, do the following: Click File | Options | Proofing | AutoCorrect Options. On the AutoFormat As You Type tab, clear the options under "Apply as you type" and "Automatically as you type." Click OK twice.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
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Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
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Can't WORD just leave me alone??? NO bells and whistles!! :(

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