You typed a three-paragraph letter and realized paragraph 3 should be before paragraph 2. What's the fastest fix in Word?

Triple-click the misplaced paragraph to select it, press Ctrl+X to cut, click where it should go, press Ctrl+V to paste. Triple-click selects the whole paragraph, Ctrl+X removes it (saved to clipboard), click before the target spot, Ctrl+V drops it in. Two keystrokes plus a click — done.

You used the name 'Pat' throughout a long letter and need to change all of them to 'Patrick.' What's the best tool?

Press Ctrl+H, type 'Pat' in Find and 'Patrick' in Replace, check 'Match whole words only,' then click Replace All. The Match whole words option prevents 'patience' from becoming 'patrickience.'

Summary & Final Check

That's the editing toolkit!

You can now select text, format it, move it around, undo your mistakes, and search-and-replace your way through a document. That covers about 95% of what folks need to do in Word every day.

Quick Recap

Two-step dance: select first, then act. Anything you do to highlighted text applies to just that selection.
Selecting: double-click a word, triple-click a paragraph, click-and-drag for anything else, Ctrl+A for everything.
Formatting: Bold (Ctrl+B), Italic (Ctrl+I), Underline (Ctrl+U). On Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.
The clipboard trio: Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), Paste (Ctrl+V). Move text from one spot to another without retyping.
Undo (Ctrl+Z): the safety net. Use it anytime you do something you didn't mean to.
Find & Replace (Ctrl+H): change every instance of a word in one shot. Use Replace (not Replace All) if there's any risk.

One Last Knowledge Check

Two scenarios. Pick the best move for each.

You typed a three-paragraph letter to your dentist, then realized you put paragraph 3 before paragraph 2 — they need to be swapped. You don't want to retype everything.

What's the fastest fix?

You wrote a long letter and used the name "Pat" throughout. Pat just told you they go by "Patrick" now. You see at least 8 mentions of "Pat" in your document but you don't trust yourself to find all of them.

What's the best tool for this job?