While working on a document, you'll often need to move the text cursor around to change where you're typing.
Move the Insertion Point
The insertion point is the blinking vertical bar that represents where text will be inserted as you type.
- Click anywhere inside the document.
The insertion point moves to where you clicked—or, at least, as close as possible. If you click in a margin, or after the end of the text toward the bottom of the page, the insertion point moves to the closest point it can.
You can also move the insertion point around using the keyboard. This method is described in the table below.
| Press | To Move the Insertion Point |
|---|---|
| Arrows (↑ ↓ ← →) | Up or down one line; or left or right one character. |
| Home | To the beginning of the current line. |
| End | To the end of the current line. |
| Page Up | Up one screen, while also scrolling the page the same distance. |
| Page Down | Down one screen, while also scrolling the page the same distance. |
| Ctrl + Arrows (↑ ↓ ← →) | Up or down one paragraph; or left or right one word. |
| Ctrl + Home | To the beginning of the document. |
| Ctrl + End | To the end of the document. |
Scroll in a Document
When a document gets long enough, it can be tough to navigate through the whole thing with just the keyboard. You can use the scroll bars on the right and bottom sides of the window to move through the document quickly.
- Click the arrow buttons at the top, bottom, and sides of the scroll bar to scroll one line at a time.
- Click and drag a scroll bar to move quickly though a document, releasing it when you’ve reached the page you want.
Use the Navigation Pane
If you have a longer document with multiple pages, or you’ve set up your document into sections with headings, you can use the Navigation Pane to move quickly through sections and pages.
- Click the View tab on the ribbon.
- Select the Navigation Pane checkbox in the Show group.
The Navigation Pane appears on the left side of the screen, showing headings used in the document. Clicking one will jump to that heading.
- Click Pages.
The Navigation Pane now shows every page in the document, represented by a thumbnail.
- Click a page in the Navigation Pane.
Word navigates right to the selected page.
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