AutoSummarize lengthy articles with Word

AutoSummarize is a largely unknown, but amazingly helpful, tool in Word to highlight keypoints in long articles or reports. With it you have four choices:

• highlight key points in a document
• insert an executive summary abstract at the top of a document
• create a new document and put the summary there
• hide everything but the summary.

As you read, you can also change the level of detail at any time.

AutoSummarize determines key points by analyzing the document and assigning a score to each sentence. Sentences that contain words used frequently in the document are given a higher score. You then choose a percentage of the highest-scoring sentences to display in the summary.

With so much of the news online, this provides a more efficient way "read through" lengthy articles. In researching, this assures that you are finding the author's key points. You might try it on a report you have written to see whether your key points show up.

How to use it:

Since the AutoSummarize icon is not by default on any banner in the new Office 2007, you must add it to the Quick Access toolbar and then it will remain there whenever you open Word.

1. Click the large Office button > Word Options > Customize
2. Click the dropdown menu next to Popular Commands and choose All Commands > AutoSummarize
3. Paste a lengthy document into Word and click the new AutoSummarize icon
4. Choose one of the four options which are buttons and begin with the 25% default
5. If, for example, you choose to create an Executive Summary at the beginning of the report, you may instantly change it to the Highlight keypoints option by simply rerunning Autosummarize.

Here’s a Jing Screencast to view if you want to "see it done."

http://screencast.com/t/Xm1Scdna

If you are running an earlier version of Office, AutoSummarize is available on the Tools menu. Lucky you!