Free 200-page Advanced Microsoft Word Tutorial for Theses, Reports and Publications
I am a professor at Ghent University in Belgium and I have written a free tutorial (200+ pages) on advanced Microsoft Word. The tutorial is useful for everybody who is writing larger documents, such as technical reports, MSc or PhD theses, publications, law documents, etc. Topics include: Paragraph styles Field codes (SEQ, STYLEREF, REF) Bookmarks and cross-references Equation numbering Multi-level lists Headers and footers Sections VBA macros Reference management Word XML structure PDF/A export The document is freely available and feedback is welcome. Here is the download link: https://composites.ugent.be/downloads.html Best regards, Wim VAN PAEPEGEM
Custom Bullets Transparency Issues
So I've been using custom bullets for years, in January 2025 there was no issue. I was unable to work on my document since then because of issues with my PC. Yesterday when I opened my document, my bullets no longer had transparency. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem because the background is also white, but in this document, I have background images as well. As you can see the background on the bullets stand out. The file is a PNG with a transparent background. I have tried replacing it more than once, I have 2 different bullets in this document and they are both doing it. I checked another document that was fine in the past and it too is having the issue. I opened a brand new doc and changed the background color of the doc and it does the same thing. I contacted M365 support, it was painful they didn't even know how to do a custom bullet, they were looking for picture settings... Hehe. Anyway, they told me to post here. To me it's something in Word itself because it was working before. The doc is NOT in compatibility mode or anything like that. I can't find anything on the Internet and its frustrating me to no end. Of course I could take the custom bullets out but this is going to be a publish book, that little extra flair is everything, and this is the 4th book in the series, and having it differ from the first three.... Again it's in the details, readers might not care, but I care.
