This handout provides an introduction to the fundamentals of Microsoft Word. It covers starting Word, the Word interface, creating a Word document, editing a Word document, selection techniques, paragraph and character formatting, spell checking, printing, graphics and tables.
Starting Word
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1. On the PC, select Start, Programs, and Microsoft Word from the Start list.
2 Double-click on the icon of any Word document. Word documents can be anywhere. Word opens with the selected document already loaded.
Exploring the Word Interface
Components of the Word Window
Besides the usual PC window components (close box, title bar, scroll bars, etc.), a Word window has other elements, as shown in the following figure.
Component Functionality or Purpose of the Component
Menu Bar Contains File,Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Table, Window and Help menus
Standard Toolbar Contains icons for shortcuts to menu commands.
Formatting Tool Bar Contains pop-up menus for style, font, and font size; icons for boldface, italic, and underline; alignment icons; number and bullet list icons; indention icons, the border icon, highlight, and font color icons.
Ruler Ruler on which you can set tabs, paragraph alignment, and other formats.
Insertion Point Blinking vertical bar that indicates where text you type will be inserted. Don't confuse the insertion point with the mouse I-beam. To move the insertion point, just click the mouse where you want the point moved.
End-of-File Marker Non-printing symbol that marks the end of the file. You cannot insert text after this mark.
Selection Bar (Gutter) Invisible narrow strip along the left edge of the window. Your mouse pointer changes to a right-pointing arrow when it is in this area. It is used to select a line, a paragraph, or the entire document.
Split Handle Double-click to split the window in two (to view different portions of the same file). Double-click to return to one window
Status Bar Displays page number, section number, and total number of pages, pointer position on page and time of day.
Task Pane Displays and groups commonly used features for convenience.
Office Assistant An animated character that can provide help and suggestions. There are multiple characters to choose from, and it is possible to turn the Office Assistant off.
Creating and Saving a Document
Opening and Closing A Document
To open a file, select Open... from the File menu. In the dialog box, click on the filename and then on the Open button. If your file is not in the opened folder, click on the down arrow (next to folder name) to see a directory listing. The Up One Level button icon on the right enables you to move up one level. You can then switch to the floppy disk, hard drive or Desktop where the appropriate file or folder is located.
For example, to open a file from a floppy disk, select Open... from the File menu. If the disk's name does not appear on the left side of the dialog box, click on the down arrow. Select its name in the box at the left or if it is not displayed, click the Up One Level button to see a different display of files and folders. When you locate the desired diskette or file, click Open. (Double-clicking on the name will also open it).
To close a document, click its close box in the upper right of the title bar (box with the large X on it) or select Close from the File menu. The keyboard shortcut is
Saving a Document
Your document and changes you make to a document are not saved to disk until you issue a save command. Saving is quick and easy. You should save often to minimize the loss of your work. Word has two save commands - Save and Save As. - that work similarly. Both are under the File menu.
Save Save As
When you save a new document for the first time, Word displays a dialog box (see figure, below). Select where you want to save your document and give it a name. When you save an existing document that you have been editing, the newly saved version is written over the older version. This command always displays a dialog box where you can choose a document name and disk (see figure, below). Use the Save As. command whenever you want to save a copy of the current document under a different name or in a different folder (or disk). The newly saved copy becomes the active document.
Adding and Modifying Text
Entering Text
To enter text, just start typing. Word inserts the text you type at the insertion point. If you press a wrong key, use the Delete key to erase the mistake. Word automatically starts a new line when you reach the end of the current line. This is called "word wrap". Do not press Enter at the end of a line. Press Enter only at the end of paragraphs.
Type the following paragraph. Remember, don't press Enter at the end of the line.
Microsoft Word is part of the Microsoft Office software. It allows you to create, edit, modify and enhance documents. Word is not a simple text processor. It is a document production system.
To move the insertion point with the mouse, click the mouse in the desired location. If the location you want is not visible, use the scroll bars to move up or down in the document. To move the insertion point to the top of the document, press
To insert new text, just click the mouse at the point where you want to insert the additional text and start typing. Existing text moves to accommodate your additions.
Click the mouse pointer after the word, "enhance" and type:
beautiful
Click the mouse pointer before the word, "not" in the second line and type:
just
Type
Your name and press Enter .
Today's date and press Enter
The name of the school where you teach and press Enter, Enter.
Deleting Text
The Backspace key deletes one character to the left of the insertion point. The Delete key deletes one character to the right of the insertion point. You can use these keys any time. To delete more than just a few characters, select the text and press the Delete key. Selecting text is covered below.
Undoing Mistakes
If you make a terrible mistake-you accidentally delete an important paragraph, for example-use the Undo command under the Edit menu immediately (The keyboard shortcut is < Ctrl + Z >). Do not issue any other command until after you have undone your mistake.
Selecting Text to Bold, Italicize, and Underline
You select a portion of text in order to perform some operation on it. You can then delete, replace, copy, move, or format it. The Selection Bar is located to the left of the document window. When you put your mouse pointer, which is a left pointing arrow in that area, the arrow swings to the right. The following table explains how to select various blocks of text.
To Select this... Do this...
Word Double click anywhere on the word.
Line Click right-pointing arrow in the selection bar to left of line.
Sentence
Paragraph Double-click the right-pointing arrow in the selection bar to the left of the paragraph, or triple-click in paragraph.
A block of text of any size Click at one end of the block and shift-click at the other end of the block. Or click at one end of block and drag to the other end of the block.
Entire document Press < Ctrl + A> or hold down the Ctrl key and click in the selection bar.
And to... Do this...
Deselect text Click anywhere outside the selection.
Extend a selection Shift-click an additional block. For example, if you have selected a paragraph and you shift-click on another paragraph, it will be added to the selection.
Copy and Paste Text
You can copy selected text from one place to another with the Copy and Paste commands or with the Drag and Drop procedure. You can move selected text from one place to another with the Cut and Paste commands, and with the Drag and Drop procedure. These commands and procedures are described below.
Cut - The Cut command extracts the selected text and puts it on the Clipboard (a temporary storage area). The contents of the Clipboard are overwritten with each copy or cut.
Copy - The Copy command puts a copy of the selected text on the Clipboard.
Paste - The Paste command inserts the Clipboard's contents at the insertion point. Existing text moves to accommodate pasted text. If text is selected, it is replaced by the pasted text.
Drag and Drop - This procedure does not involve the Clipboard and works best when moving text a short distance. To move text, select the text and drag it to its new location. To copy text; hold down the
Check the Spelling
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Word has a built-in spelling checker. You can have Word check a selected portion of your document (one word, a paragraph, etc.) or the entire document. If you select text before starting the spelling checker, Word checks the selection, then asks whether it should stop or check the rest of the document. To check the entire document, move the insertion point to the top of the document ( Ctrl + Home) before you select the spelling checker.
To start the spelling checker, select Spelling and Grammar from the Tools menu. Word will begin to check for misspellings. If Word finds a word that is not in its dictionaries, it pauses, displays the word, and if possible, suggests alternatives (see figure below).
You have several choices at this point described in the table below. If the word is spelled correctly, you can have Word ignore it or add it to a custom dictionary. If the word is incorrect, you can have Word replace it with one of its suggestions or with a spelling you supply in the Change To: box.
If the word is spelled correctly...
To ignore only this occurrence of the word, click Ignore
To ignore all occurrences of the word, click Ignore All
To add the word to a custom dictionary, click Add
If the word is misspelled...
First, click correct spelling in Suggestions list or type the correction in the Change To: box. Then...
To change only this occurrence of the word, click Change
To change all occurrence of the word, click Change All
After you make your choice, Word continues checking spelling. Remember to save your document after using the spelling checker in order to retain the changes.
Formatting Text and Paragraphs
Formatting Text
You can format text that you are about to type or text that already exists. To format new text, turn on the formatting features you want, type the text, and then turn off the features (select them again or select new features). To format existing text, select the text and choose the formatting features. For example, to create a heading that is Helvetica, bold, 18-point text, select the font and size from the pop-up menus on the Tool Bar (see below). Then, click on the B button to turn on bold.
Formatting Paragraphs
In Microsoft Word , a paragraph is any amount of text followed by a paragraph symbol (¶). A one-word heading is a paragraph. A 100-word job description is a paragraph. Even a blank line terminated by a ¶ is a paragraph.
You can perform paragraph formatting from the Format menu.
You can also choose icons from the Formatting Tool Bar to format paragraphs.
1. Font and font sizes,
2. Paragraph alignment icons, and
3. Indention icons.
4. Numbered and Bulleted lists.
Using Word’s Multiple Clipboard:
Word uses the MS Office clipboard which allows for multiple items to be stored at the same time (unlike Windows clipboard which only allows 1 item at a time). Word 2000 will store up to 12 items, Word 2002 and 2003 will store up to 24 items. The same clipboard is used in all Office programs (Word, Excel, Outlook, Power Point, etc.), so you can copy from one program and paste into a different program.
1. To place items on the clipboard
a. select the item and copy it as you would to the Windows clipboard
b. to open the multiple clipboard in Office 2002 or 2003 click on the Edit menu Office Clipboard, in Office 2000 click on the View menu Toolbars Clipboard
c. Repeat item 2 above until you have several items on the clipboard
2. To paste the items on the clipboard, place your insertion point in the proper position on your document and click on the item to be pasted
Removing formatting
• Click on Undo button (if you just made the change)
• Select the text, and use the formatting commands again to remove formatting
Applying Formatting With The Format Painter
Use the format painter to quickly apply formatting to several pieces of text. Example -- you
have 15 titles within a document and you have just formatted one as Arial, Bold, Centered, 14. It
would be time consuming to select every title then apply the same 4 formatting features. If you use the
Format Painter you apply formatting once and then copy the formatting to the rest of the titles!
Steps:
1. Select the formatted text
2. Double click on the Format Painter button
3. The mouse pointer turns into an I-beam with a paint brush
4. Select the text through out the document that you want to apply the formatting to.
5. Click once on the Format Painter to turn it off.
ALIGNMENT
Use buttons on the formatting toolbar or the following keyboard combinations to adjust paragraph alignment.
The default alignment for every new Word document is left justified, single spaced.
To change alignment, click within the paragraph (or line of text) then use one of the following methods:
Buttons Keyboard Result
Using The Find And Replace Command
FIND TEXT
• Edit, Find
FIND TEXT AND REPLACE IT WITH DIFFERENT TEXT
1. Edit, Replace
2. Type in the text you are searching for, then strike the Tab key.
3. Type in the replacement text exactly as you want it to appear in the document.
4. Choose Replace All to replace all instances or Find Next and Replace to replace an instance at a time.
Numbering Pages With the Header and Footer
Headers and footers typically contain titles and page numbers for a document. A header is text that appears within the top margin on each page, whereas a footer appears in the bottom margin. You can set a different header and footer on the first page by selecting Page Setup from the File menu, clicking the Layout tab from the open dialog box and then selecting Different First Page from the available options.
To create a header (or footer) in a document, select Header and Footer from the View menu. Type the header or footer text in the header or footer window (see below). The default text is left aligned with a centered tab set at 3 " and a right tab at 6. You can format Header and Footer text using the Ribbon and Ruler similar to a paragraph in your document. Click on the Header and Footer tool bar buttons to insert a page number, the current date, the time, and to switch between the Header and Footer template.
Bullets And Numbering
Automatic Bullets Or Numbers
To create a numbered or bulleted list automatically: Go to Tools AutoCorrect, Choose the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Confirm that Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic numbered lists are checked. Press OK. Position the cursor where you want the list to begin. Enter a number or an asterisk, Press Tab, type the first item in the list, press Enter, Word 2000 automatically starts a bulleted or numbered list for you. To end the list, press enter twice.
Using Proofing Tools
STARTING SPELLING & GRAMMAR CHECK
• Move your cursor to the top of the document (ctrl + home)
• Click on either the spell and grammar check button or click Tools, Spelling and Grammar
THESAURUS
1. Highlight the word you want to look up.
2. Click on Tools, Language, Thesaurus.
3. Click on a word from the list
4. Select Replace
Understanding the Different Types of Indents
There are 4 different types of indents:
• A Left Indent moves the left margin of a paragraph to the right.
• A First Line Indent moves only the first line of a paragraph to the right
• With a Hanging Indent, the first line aligns on the left and the rest of the paragraph "hangs" from the first line.
• A Right Indent moves the right margin of a paragraph to the left
Indenting Paragraphs Using the Formatting Toolbar
The Indenting buttons on the Formatting toolbar moves the Left Indent Marker in increments of 5 spaces.
1. Select the paragraph(s) you wish to indent.
2. On the Formatting toolbar, do one of the following:
To indent a paragraph: Click:
To the right:
To the left:
Indenting Paragraphs Using the Ruler
1. Select the paragraph(s) that you wish to indent.
2. Drag the Indent Marker (found on the ruler) to indent the paragraph by the appropriate value:
1. To create a First Line Indent, click and drag the First-Line Indent Marker to the right to the desired value.
2. To create a Left Indent, click and drag the Left Indent Marker (the bottom square) to the right.
The entire "hourglass" should move. If it splits as in the photo above, carefully move the marker back to the original position and try again, moving the cursor down slightly to select ONLY the bottom square.
1. To create a Hanging Indent, click carefully on the bottom triangle and drag the Hanging Indent Marker to the right. The"hourglass" will split, as in the photo above.
2. To create a Right Indent, drag the Right Indent Marker to the left of the right margin.
Sometimes unintentional indents are set that go way beyond the left margin. If this should happen, click in the paragraph that is out of line and look at the Ruler. It will probably look something like this.
Try to determine what kind of indent was set. If one part of the indent marker cannot be seen, Click on the left horizontal scroll arrow until the indent marker shows on the ruler. At this point, move the triangle that is out of line so that it lines up with the other at the margin.
Clicking on the right horizontal scroll arrow will realign the page on the screen. If all else fails, click on the Undo arrow until your margins are realigned.
Understanding tabs
When you press the TAB key, the insertion point moves to the next tab stop position and the space is filled with a tab character. By default, tab stops are set at 0.5-inch intervals from the left margin. You can set and change the alignment of tab stops in selected paragraphs. When you set a new tab stop, Word clears any default tab stops to the left of the new tab stop.
1. Decide which tab you would like to insert.
2. There are 2 components of tabs. A tab is inserted into text by pressing the TAB key. Secondly, a tab stop must be set, using either the Ruler or Menu. If there are no tabs set, the cursor will move to the next default tab setting (set at 1/2 inch intervals). Leaders (... between text) can also be set using the Tabs menu.
Although the tab character is always inserted when you press TAB, it can only be viewed when the Show Paragraph command from the Toolbar is turned on. Word has four types of tab stops that can be used to format information more effectively: The diagram below illustrates these tab styles.
3.
4. To insert a tab in your text, click in the text where you wish to insert the tab, press the TAB key.
Setting tab stops and tab leaders using the Tabs menu
1. Select the paragraph(s) that you wish to format with tabs.
2. From the Format Menu, choose Tabs. This will open the Tabs dialog box.
3. At Tab Stop Position:, type the position at which you want to set the tab.
4. At Alignment, click the alignment option.
5. At Leader, click type of leader character, if desired.
1. Leaders are the dashed, dotted, or solid lines that follow the tab. They are used to add visual clarity to text.
6. Click Set.
7. Click OK to close the Tabs dialog box. You should see the tab stop in the Ruler.
Clearing tab stops using the Tabs menu
1. Select paragraph you wish to format.
2. From the Format menu, choose Tabs.
3. To Clear a stop, click on the Tab stop that you wish to clear and click the Clear button. New stops can
4. Click OK.
Setting tab stops using the Horizontal Ruler
1. If the Ruler is not visible in the document window, from the View menu, choose Ruler.
2. Select the paragraphs you wish to set stops.
3. Click the desired tab style from the Tab Alignment button on the Ruler. It will switch between tab styles with each click.
4. On the ruler, place your pointer where you wish to have a tab stop and click. It will leave a tab in that spot. You will also see a vertical dotted line for visual use down your page.
Deleting and moving tab stops using the Horizontal Ruler
1. To move a tab, click on tab mark and drag to desired spot on ruler.
2. To delete a tab, click on tab and drag off the horizontal ruler.
Create Tables in Word
Using tables in Word can be a very convenient way to easily display and organize information in a document.
Microsoft Word offers a number of ways to make a table. The best way depends on how you like to work, and on how simple or complex the table needs to be.
Use the Insert Table Command
Use this procedure to make choices about the table dimensions and format before the table is inserted into a document.
1. Click where you want to create a table.
2. From the Table menu choose Insert, and slide right to Table.
3. Under Table size, select the number of columns and rows.
4. Optional: Under AutoFit behavior, choose options to adjust table size.
5. Optional: To use a built-in table format, click AutoFormat.
6. Select the options you want.
7. Click OK.
Word positions the insertion point in the first cell of the table. You can immediately type text in the table.
Use the Insert Table toolbar button
Use this procedure to make choices about the table dimensions ONLY before the table is inserted into a document.
1. Position the cursor where you want to create a table.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click and hold on the Insert Table button.
a. A grid appears below the button.
3. Drag over the grid until you've selected the number of rows and columns you want.
4. Release the mouse button.
Draw a more complex table
You can draw a complex table — for example, one that contains cells of different heights or a varying number of columns per row.
1. Click where you want to create the table.
2. From the Table menu, choose Draw Table.
a. The Tables and Borders toolbar appears.
b. The pointer changes to a pencil.
3. Click, hold, and drag to define the outer table boundaries.
a. You would want to draw a rectangle.
4. Draw the column and row lines inside the rectangle.
5. When you finish creating the table, click a cell and start typing or insert a graphic.
Note: Hold down CTRL to automatically apply text wrapping while you draw the table.
To erase a line or block of lines:
1. Click Eraser on the Tables and Borders toolbar.
2. Click the line you want to erase.
Text Borders and Shading
You can set apart paragraphs or selected text from the rest of a document by adding borders. You can also highlight text by applying shading.
1. Do one of the following:
a. To add a border to a paragraph, click anywhere in the paragraph.
b. To add a border only to specific text, select the text.
2. On the Format menu, click Borders and Shading, and then click the Borders tab.
a. Select the options you want, and make sure the correct option — Paragraph or Text — is selected under Apply to.
i. To specify that only particular sides get borders, click Custom under Setting. Under Preview, click the diagram's sides, or use the buttons to apply and remove borders.
b. To specify the exact position of the border relative to the text, click Paragraph under Apply to, click Options, and then select the options you want.
Add shading to a table, a paragraph, or selected text
1. To add shading to a table, click anywhere in the table.
a. From the Format menu, choose Borders & Shading.
b. Click on the Shading tab.
c. Select the shade you want. Remember that your text needs to be legible
d. Under Apply to, click the part of the document you want to apply shading to.
i. For example, if you clicked a cell without selecting it in step 1, click Cell. Otherwise, Word applies the shading to the entire table.
2. To add shading to specific cells, select the cells, including the end-of-cell marks.
a. From the Format menu, choose Borders & Shading.
b. Click on the Shading tab.
c. Select the shade you want. Remember that your text needs to be legible
d. Under Apply to, click the part of the document you want to apply shading to.
i. For example, if you clicked a cell without selecting it in step 1, click Cell. Otherwise, Word applies the shading to the entire table.
3. To add shading to a paragraph, click anywhere in the paragraph.
a. From the Format menu, choose Borders & Shading.
b. Click on the Shading tab.
c. Select the shade you want. Remember that your text needs to be legible
d. Under Apply to, click the part of the document you want to apply shading to.
e. For example, if you clicked a cell without selecting it in step 1, click Cell. Otherwise, Word applies the shading to the entire table.
4. To add shading to specific text, such as a word, select the text.
a. From the Format menu, choose Borders & Shading.
b. Click on the Shading tab.
c. Select the shade you want. Remember that your text needs to be legible
d. Under Apply to, click the part of the document you want to apply shading to.
i. For example, if you clicked a cell without selecting it in step 1, click Cell. Otherwise, Word applies the shading to the entire table
Printing
Select File, Print to print your document. Save the document before selecting the Print command to avoid losing your work. You can also click on the Print icon to print the active document.
Review and Summary
To... Do This...
Open a Word document. Double-click on the icon.
Open any document within Word Select Open... from the File menu or press < Ctrl + O > . In the dialog box, click on the filename and then on the Open button.
Close a document Click its close box, select Close from the File menu, or press < Ctrl + W>.
Save a document Select Save from the File menu or press < Ctrl + S > . Type a name for the document and select a disk in which to save it.
Move text Select the text. Choose Cut from the Edit menu or press < Ctrl + X>.
Copy text Select the text and choose Copy from the Edit menu or press
Insert text from the clipboard Choose Paste from the Edit menu or press < Ctrl + V >
Set the margins Choose Page Setup from the File menu.
Change the font or size of text Select the text and choose from the Font or Size boxes on the Ribbon.
Create bold , italic or underlined text Select the text and choose the formatting features from the Ribbon.
Change the alignment or spacing of paragraphs Select the paragraphs and click on the alignment and spacing icons on the Ruler.
Add page numbers Choose Header and Footer from the View menu. Click on the page number icon.
Start the spelling checker Move the insertion point to the top of the document or press < Ctrl + Home>. Select Spelling and Grammar from the Tools menu.
Preview the document Choose Print Preview from the File menu.
Print the document Choose Print from the File menu or press < Ctrl + P >.
Create a Template in Microsoft Word
A template is a form in which the person entering the information is only allowed to manipulate areas that you allow. For instance, the student can type in their name, and the answers to a question, but not edit other text on the page such as a grading rubric.
Some good uses for templates:
• To limit the length of an essay response.
• To save time for your students by allowing them to choose responses from a drop-down box.
• To receive the information you desire in a clean, formatted, consistent manner from every respondent.
To create a Word Template, open Microsoft Word and follow these instructions.
1. You need to create a form, and in order to add form fields, you must have the Forms toolbar available. To view any toolbar, click on the View menu and go down to the Toolbars menu, slide over and select the menu you want to view, in this case Forms.
By selecting a menu there will be a check mark next to it if it is currently open and visible in Word. So, if there is already a check mark next to Forms, then it is already open, you just have to find it. The Forms toolbar looks like this:
Note: The toolbar may be docked, or connected to the typical toolbars that you see in Word, or it might be floating around in the workspace.
2. Type your text into Word, and add form fields where necessary. There are three basic options, a text form field, a drop-down form field, and a check box form field.
To add a text form field:
A text form field is used when you want to allow the user to type in text, as in their name, a paragraph answer to a question, or any other text.
For example, if you want to make a space for your students to enter their names, type Name and then click on the text form field - - on the Forms toolbar. A gray area will show up where your cursor was when you clicked on this button. If you double click on this gray area, the Text Form Field Options window will pop up allowing you to customize the field. The top four fields will be the ones you are most interested in and are explained more below.
• The Type field allows you to choose whether the text entered is regular text, a number, a date, or another specifically formatted type of text.
• The Default text field is where you type in text that will appear in the gray area, giving instruction to the person filling out the template; in this example if you were making a name field you might type in 'enter your name here'.
• The Maximum length field is used if you want to limit how many characters can be entered in the field you are creating. Keep in mind that a space is considered a character.
• The Text format field allows you to specify how you want the text to look after it is entered, you can leave this field blank and the text will appear how it is typed. However, if you choose, Uppercase then no matter what the user types in, the text will appear in uppercase. The other options are lowercase, first capital and title case.
So, if I typed Name and then created a text field next to it for user to type in their name, and set up the default text to read 'enter your name here', and the text format field to first capital, the result in Word would look as follows:
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