Microsoft Word Status Bar Explained

Word

  1. Page number. If you insert page numbering into the document, this is the page number that will print on the page on which your cursor currently resides. Double-click to bring up the Go To dialog box.
  2. Section number. This is the section number of the document in which your cursor currently resides. Double-click to bring up the Go To dialog box.
  3. Page/Pages. I like to think of this as the sheet number on which my cursor resides and the number of sheets in the document.
  4. At. This is the vertical measurement from the top of the page at which your cursor resides.
  5. Line number. This is the line of text in which your cursor resides.
  6. Column number. This is the character position in the current line (at the cursor) and not related to columns in Word at all-dontcha just love the terminology? (Thanks to my good friend Tony Jollans for this correction.)
  7. Recording. When the letters are not grayed out, this means you're recording a macro. You can double-click it to quickly begin recording a macro. Double-click again to stop recording.
  8. Track changes. This turns Tracking Changes on and off. Just double-click.
  9. Extend selection. This one's very interesting for those of us who want to find text between to other strings and delete it; especially when recording a macro. It's like holding your shift key between Find operations.
  10. Overtype mode. This is turned on if you have hit your Insert key. See this article.
  11. Language. This is the language set in the text at the location in which your cursor currently resides.
  12. Spelling and Grammar status. Right-click to view the settings in this document.

  1. Background save. When the file is saving in the background, the diskette appears here.

  1. Background open. If you have the Allow Background Open of Web Pages set in Tools