Create Floating Definitions in Word

Q: I have a large Word document in which I want to insert a definition for a word or phrase, which you can read by hovering over the word or phrase with the definition becoming visible or via pop-up. For example, take the sentence, "The Governing Body is meeting to compose a vision for future expansion and direction of construction". When you hover over the underlined phrase, I would like this definition to appear: "A group of individuals that has the legal authority to make decisions for a company". The second problem is replacing the non-underlined phrase "Governing Body" with the definition-equipped Governing Body. I am using Word 2003, but also have Word 2000 and Word 2007. - Michael Fairshter.





A: While this type of popup definition is fairly common in Web pages, it's not something that's built into Word. However, by making use of the tools Word does offer, you can come very close. Here's how you'd do it in Word 2007:
Highlight the phrase to be defined and copy it to the clipboard
Click the Insert tab
Click Bookmark in the ribbon
Paste the phrase in as the bookmark name, replacing any spaces with underscores
Click Add
Click Hyperlink in the ribbon
In the Hyperlink dialog click the Bookmark button
Select the bookmark you just created and click OK
Click the Screen Tip button and enter your definition.
Click OK

That's it. When the reader hovers with the mouse over the underlined phrase the screen tip will appear. The phrase "Ctrl click to follow link" will also appear, but by linking the phrase to the bookmark we've ensured nothing bad will happen if the reader does Ctrl Click.

As for putting the same screen tip on other instances of the same phrase, you're going to have to do a little manual labor. Copy the tip-equipped phrase to the clipboard, then use Ctrl F to find each additional instance and paste over it. It's not a completely elegant solution, but it does the job. - Neil J. Rubenking.