Best Practices

This is our definitive list of guidelines, suggestions, recommendations, etc
Number 1 - 25 are general recommendations.
Numbers 26 - 30 are recommendations involving VBA.

1) Save your workbook with the right file extension to avoid compatibility mode.
Make sure that no files are using the old 97-2003 file format.
Use a descriptive file name containing underscores or dashes (no spaces or full stops).

2) Use Styles in your documents to apply consistent formatting
Avoid creating custom styles and try and use the built-in styles where possible.
SS - style pane

3) Have a file size less than 20 MB for maximum performance.
Large file sizes cause lots of problems especially if the files are being shared between different teams.
You can try the following suggestions to try and reduce the file size of your workbooks.

4) Avoid saving anything to your Normal.dotm default template
This file can easily get corrupted and often has to be deleted.

5) Use Paragraph Formatting correctly

6) Use Character Formatting correctly
Also called Font Formatting
Extended Type - distance between individual characters

7) Apply Direct Formatting only when absolutely necessary

8) Always have Paragraph Marks displayed

9) Avoid using Justified paragraph alignment for professional documents

10) Apply Bullets correctly

11) Use line spacing and paragraph spacing correctly

12) Follow all the Accessibility Rules

13) Avoid inserting a Section Break unless absolutely necessary.
Unless you need a different orientation or different headers or footers a page break should be used.

14) How to quickly find / search for stuff
Use Find & Replace dialog box
Search bar is to find ribbon features (not for document content)

15) When creating new styles do not use "style based on"

16) Use a built-in microsoft font, that is pre-installed

17) Do not embed fonts because it increases the file size

18) When creating templates use "automatically update styles" from template

19) How and when to use Tracked Changes

20) How and when to use Compare Documents

21) Where and how to save files

22) Turn on the Auto Save feature

23) Turn off the AutoCorrect / AutoFormatting options

24) How to add a signature to your letters
how to insert equations

25) Check in/check out workflow

26) How to use Document Protection

27) Always add images insode a table
avoid inserting images inside a paragraph with the text moving around it

28) Pin files that you access frequently

29) Consistent file naming system that clearly indicates which file is the latest version

30) How to link charts from Excel

31) When creating templates/styles use two fonts that look different and contrast
keep font sizes between 10-12
create a formatting guide for all your users

32) How can you customise the status bar

33) Use the macro recorder to start exploring the power of VBA

34) Use the normal.dotm to store your personal macros

35) Run your macros from a shortcut key for fast access

36) Run your macro from the Quick Access Toolbar at the top of your application