Changing the Default options in Word
Posted on 30. Nov, 2008 by Mike Halsey in guides and how to's
One of the questions I get asked most commonly is how to change the default font in Word XP and Word 2003. This, you’ll be pleased to hear is much simpler than you think it is. So I’ll go through the two simple steps.
In the image above (you can click the images to see them full-size) you will see the Fontoption highligted in the Format menu, open this.
Select the default fonr you want, here I’ve chosen Ariel 12 point. In the bottom corner of the window you will see a Default button. This isn’t the most helpfully worded button in Office but it’s the one you need to commit those changes so that every time you open Word the default font is the on you’ve chosen and not the horrible Times New Roman.
There are other options you can change too which in Office XP and Office 2003 you will find in the Tools menu under Options.
In Office 2007 and later you can click the Office Orb in the top left of your screen to bring up a menu. Click on the Word [Excel etc.] Options button.
There are a few options I can recommend you change here. These include changing the default colour scheme for Office to a colour other than blue, if the mood takes your fancy. You can also click the Language Settings button to remove US English from the dictionary list. For some reason this sticks around in Office 2007.
Under the Save section you can change the default save as option for Office too. If you are sharing documents with people who can’t open them, because they have earlier versions of Office, or they use an incompatible third-party office suite, you can change the default option here to Word [Excel etc.] 97-2004 Document.
There are security benefits to using the new Office file formats however, so you could equally point them at my article with links to download the various Office 2007 and beyond compatibility packs.
it with others, or 
