Microsoft Word 2003 has probably one of the most powerful drawing and illustration utilities around short of other full-fledged drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand.

The miracles start when you display the DRAW toolbar by selecting View > Toolbars > Drawing from the main menu.

The AUTOSHAPES drop-down list alone can go a long way towards creating your "masterpiece" illustrations because it's got so many options, all configurable through other buttons on the same toolbar. BY selecting a drawing object and piling up different effects from other buttons, you can create an almost infinite variety of shapes and drawings, embedded right inside your text document.

AUTOSHAPES offers the following options: Lines, Connectors, Basic Shapes, Block Arrows, Flow Chart, Stars and Banners, Callouts, More Autoshapes (which opens up the Clip Art collection in a neat sidebar).

Here is how you can pile up different effects to obtain very pleasing and complicated illustrations:

Let's assume you have selected an Block Arrow shape from Autoshapes.

MS Word will insert a canvas for you. Now your cursor has become the arrow tool and is ready for you to draw an arrow. Click and drag your mouse to draw the arrow automatically. As you can see, this arrow has no color. Let's make it RED.

Select the arrow by clicking on it. Then select the color RED on your BUCKET tool. Click the bucket and your arrow is now RED.

Let's also say you'd like to have a 3-D arrow. That;s very easy too. Click and select your arrow again and then click the 3D Style button at the far right of the DRAW toolbar. You'll be presented a great many 3D effect choices. Click one and zap! You now have a RED and 3-D arrow!

You can easily multiply the number of effects and all the crazy possibilities by experimenting with the DRAW toolbar arrows. You'll soon be addicted to this very powerful but very well-integrated smooth drawing utility and use it often.

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