Review: How to Clean Up a Messy Word Document

Techniques and Tips for Copyeditors Preparing a Text for Publication (2025) from Margaret Hunter

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been at your wits’ end trying to figure out how to clean up a messy Word document. Help is at hand in this slim publication chock-full of practical clean-up tips and procedures. Aptly titled How to Clean Up a Messy Word Document, this resource by Margaret Hunter is written for both PC and Mac users and available in print and e-book versions. The whimsical cover image immediately signals the author’s good-natured approach to the issue of messiness.

What is meant by messiness?

Messiness as a copy editing concept entails any number and variety of inconsistencies and unwanted items in a Word document. Common examples range from the relatively simple problems of spaces and formatting of paragraphs to the more complex problems of manually numbered notes, errant shading, hidden fields, list style inconsistencies and mix-up of styles.

Why does messiness matter to copy editors?

Trying to manage messiness and edit simultaneously is inefficient and distracts you from your main job of editing the text. The author argues convincingly that the time spent on an initial, well-conceived and executed clean-up will increase your efficiency — and clear the way for you to concentrate on the content of your document.

By a copy editor for copy editors

The author, an editor with thirty-five years of editing and publishing experience, explains procedures collegially and in step-by-step instructions, which makes it easy to understand. Potential snags are addressed honestly, and alternative procedures are given for almost every clean-up task. 

Even copy editors more advanced in their careers will discover new and more efficient ways  to deal with messiness. For copy editors at the beginning of their careers, it is also a good introduction to what messiness is and why it matters.

Core components

The core of the publication is unit 6, which is a compilation of twenty-one of the more common messiness issues. These issues are listed in alphabetical order for easy navigation. To resolve each of those issues, a variety of clean-up procedures are demonstrated that draw on Word’s own powerful tools, as well as Wildcards, macros and PerfectIt, among other options. The use of AI is not included as a suggested clean-up tool.

The numerous screenshots, which correspond to the PC version of Word, but include Mac labels, are very instructive. Many sections begin with a screenshot of where to start in Word, acknowledging that not knowing where to find something in Word is often an obstacle. The images are well sized in the print version. The fact that the print version lies flat on your desk when opened is a much-needed convenience. The e-book version, however, may be the better option to enable use of the more unwieldy macros and Wildcards presented in the text.

Clean-up as a mindset

Copy editors may be tempted to head straight to unit 6 to look for solutions to specific issues of messiness. This is a perfectly legitimate and practical way to use this publication. I suggest, however, to first read units 1–5 and 9. Those thirty or so pages introduce you to the author’s philosophy of clean-up and the benefits of analyzing issues of messiness and building your own adaptable clean-up toolkit.

Granted, we could look for solutions on the internet to all the issues of messiness addressed in this publication, but having a curated reference on hand that is based on the experience of an editorial expert is analogous to why we often prefer the expertise of a cookbook to downloads of random recipes.

Disclosure: A free copy of the print version was made available by the author.

A special offer for Editors Canada members: Get 15% off until December 31, 2026, by entering the code ec1526. This code is valid for print or e-book versions, but a print order will have added shipping (and tax) depending on location.

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