This article will take your Master Document further with some nifty Word features that I find are rarely used or, for that matter, most people are not even aware of their existence. The Document Map and Thumbnail feature.

Document Map

The Document Map will display as a separate panel along the left side of your Word document giving you a brief listing of your general headings. It is similar to the Outline View except for two obvious things.

1. You are able to continue to work in your standard Print Layout View document. The Outline View doesn’t give you the visual Print Layout or WYSIWYG view of what the final print of your document is, which is the predominant preference.
2. The Outline View gives you the complete text document, while the Document Map appears on the left sidebar with a single line of information that comprises the heading, without all the subsequent information that details that heading, allowing you to locate information quickly and easily when navigating for a specific location in a document.

This is how you access the Document Map:

1. Select Document Map from the View menu (a checkmark is placed next to Document Map).

2. You can navigate Document Map by doing the following:

a. When using your Style Headings, the Document Map will break down the outline into its heading for navigating. It is the feature that you will see when you collapse the view of your headings in the Outline View. Except, once again, you are still able to work in the Print Layout View of your document when using Document Map.

b. You can go directly to the information you are looking for by clicking on the heading name in Document Map. Similar to the Find (Ctrl+F) feature, but you don’t need to know the page or section you are looking for or processing through each occurrence of a word till you arrive at your destination. You also don’t need to scroll or Page Down, with the possibility of passing the information right by. Click on the heading in Document Map and your arrive at your destination instantly.

3. To exit Document Map, select Document Map in the View menu (you will see the checkmark disappear).

Thumbnails

You’ve seen thumbnails in Adobe whenever you open PDF documents. Did you know you have that feature in Word? You betcha! This feature gives you mini pictures of your document. If you work on documents that have a distinct look throughout by using tables and / or images, this feature may come in handy. However, you will find with straight text, it is not quite so functional. You are limited to manually clicking on pages to find what you are looking for. It’s probably just easier to Page Up and Page Down. Like I said, your document would require distinct visual interest to each page for this feature to be handy.

1. Select Thumbnails from the View menu (a checkmark is placed next to Thumbnails).
2. To exit Thumbnails, select Thumbnails in the View menu (you will see the checkmark disappear).

If you like learning new things and seeing what works and what doesn’t, I hope you find this article interesting and informative. And, hey, you may actually find these two Word features useful in some of your projects.

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Related posts:

1. Word: Creating a Master Document
2. Word: Restrict Formatting & Editing
3. Word: Create an Electronic Signature