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888-686-3025Selecting Text With The Selection Bar
Key Points:
- A shortcut that makes writing and editing go faster.
- What is the Selection Bar in Microsoft Word?
- To highlight a single or multiple lines do this.
- Try this to highlight a paragraph or entire document.
You’re inside your Microsoft Word document, and a lot of content needs editing or deleting. Some of the text is just a line, yet some is an entire paragraph. Is there a quicker way to highlight without holding the mouse button down and dragging it across the page?
If you do a lot of typing in Microsoft Word, discovering a shortcut to make the editing faster is always welcomed. In today’s video, Dawn shows you three ways to quickly highlight a line, paragraph, or entire document with a mouse click and the selection bar.
What Is The Selection Bar In Microsoft Word?
By default, a blank document in Microsoft Word has the header at the top, the footer at the bottom, the text body in the center of the page, and left and right margins. Along the left margin is a narrow, invisible strip known as the Selection Bar.
When your mouse pointer hovers over the header, footer, text body, and right margin, it looks like the capital letter “I” as shown here. But when you hover the mouse pointer over the left margin, it changes to an “Arrow” image.
That is the region of your document where you can quickly highlight a single line, multiple lines, a paragraph, multiple paragraphs, or the entire document.
How To Highlight A Single Or Multiple Lines
Highlighting one or more lines in your Word document from the Selection Bar is quick and easy. Below are the instructions for both.
Highlight Single Line – Hover your mouse pointer to the left of the line you want to highlight in the Selection Bar. Click the mouse button once. You will now see the entire line highlighted without dragging your mouse across the page.
Highlight Multiple Lines – Hover your mouse pointer to the left of the first line you want to highlight in the Selection Bar. Click and hold down on the mouse button. Slowly move the mouse down until you’ve highlighted all the lines you want, and release the mouse button. Now you will see the multiple lines you wanted highlighted.
How To Highlight A Paragraph Or Entire Document
To highlight a paragraph, multiple paragraphs, or the entire document in your Word document from the Selection Bar is quick and easy. Below are the instructions for all three.
Highlight Paragraph – Hover your mouse pointer to the left of the paragraph you want to highlight in the Selection Bar. Click the mouse button twice. You will see the entire paragraph highlighted without dragging your mouse across the page.
Highlight Multiple Paragraphs – Hover your mouse pointer to the left of the first paragraph you want to highlight in the Selection Bar. Click twice and hold down on the mouse button. Slowly move the mouse down until you’ve highlighted all the paragraphs you want, and release the mouse button. Now you will see the multiple paragraphs you wanted highlighted.
Highlight Entire Document – Hover your mouse pointer over the left margin. Click the mouse button three times. You will see the entire document is now highlighted.
K2 Technologies Can Help You Use The Selection Bar
Using the Selection Bar in Microsoft Word lets you highlight a line or multiple lines, a paragraph or multiple paragraphs, or the entire document. With this feature, you can edit or format it quickly and easily.
Whether trying to quickly select a large amount of text or a single line, the selection bar in Microsoft Word is the perfect tool. For any concerns with the security and support of Microsoft 365 products, you can reach out to K2 Technologies for assistance. Contact us or call (307) 200-7567 to schedule a consultation.
