How to Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in Microsoft Word

As regular Business Hacks readers know, I'm a big fan of using keyboard shortcuts--especially in Microsoft Word. But there are some program functions, like Word Count, that don't have shortcuts assigned to them. Fortunately, it's an easy matter to set up shortcuts for just about any Word command. Here's the process (for Word 2003 -- other versions may vary slightly):

1. In Word, click Tools > Customize.
2. Click the Keyboard button at the bottom of the dialog box.
3. Navigate to the function you want, starting with the Categories box on the left. Using the aforementioned Word Count example, you'd click Tools, then scroll down in the Commands box until you found ToolsWordCount. Click to select it, then press the desired keyboard shortcut (such as Alt-Ctrl-W).
4. Click the Assign button and you're done!