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In Word for Mac, you can view documents in several different ways. Each view is optimized for different tasks and presents your document differently. You can switch quickly from one view to another to make your work easier and to access the features that you want to use. Some content or functionality may become inaccessible when you switch from one view to another. If this happens, you can usually restore access to content or functionality by switching back to the previous view.
To switch views, on the View tab, click the name of the view that you want (Print Layout, Web Layout, Outline, or Draft), or click a view icon on the view changer. The view changer is located in the lower-right corner of the Word window.
Note: Notebook Layout view is no longer available in Word 2016 for Mac. To take notes and share them with others, use OneNote 2016 for Mac. OneNote files are saved and automatically synched to OneDrive, but you can keep working offline in the cached (locally saved) copy of the notes.
The following table describes the different views that are available in Word 2016 for Mac.
|
View |
Description |
|
Print layout |
Use print layout view to see the document as it appears on the printed page. Print layout view is the default view when you open a new document. |
|
Web layout |
Use Web layout view to conceptualize how content appears when it is published to the web. This view provides an approximation of how content appears, not an exact match. Note: Web layout view does not contain HTML coding. To convert a document that you create by using Web layout view, save the document as a web page. |
|
Outline |
Use outline view to create an outline and manipulate text easily. Move text up and down, expand and collapse levels, change heading levels, or show only one kind of heading level. Note: If you switch from outline view to another view, the levels disappear. To see the outline levels, switch back to outline view. |
|
Draft |
Use draft view to edit and format text quickly when you don't have to see how the content looks when you print it. Draft view shows text formatting but simplifies the layout of the page so that you can type and edit quickly. In draft view, some page elements do not appear, such as the boundaries between pages, headers and footers, backgrounds, and pictures that do not have text wrapping style set to In Line with Text. Draft view also allows you to display the styles for each paragraph in a style area. To do this, from the Word menu, click Preferences > View > Style area width. |
To switch views, on the View menu, click the name of the view that you want (Draft, Web Layout, Outline, Print Layout, Notebook Layout, Publishing Layout, or Focus), or click a view icon on the view changer . The view changer is located in the lower-left corner of the Word window.
The following table describes the different views that are available in Word for Mac 2011.
|
View |
Description |
|
Draft |
Use draft view to edit and format text quickly when you don't have to see how the content looks when you print it. Draft view shows text formatting but simplifies the layout of the page so that you can type and edit quickly. In draft view, some page elements do not appear, such as the boundaries between pages, headers and footers, backgrounds, and pictures that do not have text wrapping style set to In Line with Text. |
|
Web layout |
Use Web layout view to conceptualize how content appears when it is published on the Web. This view provides an approximation of how content appears, not an exact match. Note: Web layout view does not contain HTML coding. To convert a document that you create by using Web layout view, save the document as a Web page. |
|
Outline |
Use outline view to create an outline and manipulate text easily. Move text up and down, expand and collapse levels, change heading levels, or show only one kind of heading level. Note: If you switch from outline view to another view, the levels disappear. To see the outline levels, switch back to outline view. |
|
Print layout |
Use print layout view to see the document as it appears on the printed page. Print layout view is the default view when you open a new document. Note: Switching from print layout view to publishing layout view can make some text uneditable. If this happens, switch back to print layout view, where you can edit all the text. |
|
Notebook layout |
Use notebook layout view to take notes in a meeting or lecture, create an outline for a project, collect research material, record and play back audio notes, or capture thoughts quickly. The default format for notebook layout view is a list format. If you have Outlook for Mac installed, you can convert any items in your notebook layout view document to an Outlook task. Note: Notebook layout view is intended primarily for taking notes. When you print a document that you create in notebook layout view, only the content prints. The notebook elements that you see in notebook layout view — such as the rule lines, notebook rings, and tabs — do not print. |
|
Publishing layout |
Use publishing layout view to create newsletters, brochures, flyers, or other format-rich documents. Publishing layout view includes a standard toolbar that contains a set of the most frequently used commands and elements that are used for format-rich documents. In publishing layout view, you can reorder overlapping objects such as pictures, graphics, and text boxes. In addition, you can turn on ligatures, which gives you quick access to many more fonts. |
|
Focus |
Use focus view when you want to minimize distractions while working in a reading or authoring mode. Note: If you are using Office 2011 (version 14.1 or earlier) focus view is called full screen view. Note: Focus view provides only a basic set of authoring tools and is intended primarily for reading documents. To access the other authoring tools, switch to another view, such as print layout view. |
