One of the common mistakes that people, including myself, make when writing documentation is writing in a passive voice. It is a hard habit to break and identifying passive sentences is just as hard.

However, I recently discovered that Word could help me in my quest to write in an active voice. You can configure Word to underline any passive sentences, the same way it underlines spelling mistakes.

To tell Word to watch for passive sentences:

1. Within Word, click Options from the Tools menu.
2. Select the Spelling and Grammar tab.
3. Click the Settings button.
4. Under the Styles heading, place a check beside the Passive sentences option.
5. Click OK.

[tags]Word, document, Microsoft Office, word processor, doc[/tags]