This strategy has been enormously successful at taking users to the 'next level.' If you live and breathe this way of working, you will get to the point that you can accomplish 95% of what you're trying to do even if you've never done it before. The steps themselves are not rocket science--it's how they're put together that makes magic.

The premise: Windows applications are set up to give you what you need, about 95% of the time, as long as you know where to look and how to ask for it.

1) Select

• Select efficiently, using the shortcuts discussed elsewhere

2) Right-click

• When performing an unfamiliar task, when no shortcut is ‘obvious’… RIGHT-CLICK!
  Trying to find and interpret commands in menus is inefficient, confusing and, often, unsuccessful. Luckily, there’s an answer: popup menus (also known as shortcut or context menus). Right-click on your selection and the popup menu will contain the commands you are most likely to need to work with that selection.
  You can often skip the ‘select' step. Right-clicking will select the object under your mouse pointer and give you a popup menu, all in one step!

3) Look for options

Once you’ve right-clicked, Microsoft has designed a path that will guide you to exactly what you need… most of the time, anyway!

The options you are looking for will appear, magically, if you know the three clues:

• Tabs: Many dialog boxes have tabbed “cards” of options and settings. Click each tab to learn what it contains.
• “…” When you see commands and buttons with ellipses, the command or button will lead you to additional options. “Follow the dots.”
• Drop-down lists: Drop-down lists always contain options. Click a drop-down arrow to reveal the list it contains.

To save a document, do one of the following:

• Choose File →  Save.
• Click the Save button.
• CTRL+S.

When something happens that destroys your work, it falls into one of two categories: a human error (a mistake you make) or a computer error (a crash of an application or system). The only way to recover from human error is to use the Undo command, and to have recently saved your document.

It's critical that you save frequently, because there may be times when things get really ugly, and you can’t undo your mistakes. In such an event, you can simply "abort ship."

To "abort ship:"

1. Close the document.
2. When prompted to save changes, click No.
3. Re-open the recently saved version of the document.

In the event of a computer error, Microsoft Office may be able to recover your work. Word, and some other Microsoft Office applications, take steps to protect your work in the event of a crash by saving your work every few minutes. This feature is called AutoRecover.

To configure AutoRecover:

1. Click the Tools menu
2. Click the Options command.
3. Click the Save tab.
4. Configure the Save AutoRecover info every x minutes setting.
5. Click OK.

Keep in mind:

• If you are working with several documents, or with large documents, the process of saving AutoRecover information can interrupt your work. If you increase the frequency of AutoRecover saves, your work will be interrupted more frequently.
• Even if AutoRecover is saving every 5 or 10 minutes, that is still a long interval. If a computer error occurs and AutoRecover executed 9 minutes ago, you have to recreate 9 minutes of work.
• AutoRecover will only help out in the event of a computer error. If you make a mistake that you cannot undo, you cannot open the AutoRecover file.

So the bottom line is: