Jefferson Parish Library Computer Training Team

Basic Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a word processing program which allows you to create text files. Word calls those files documents. A document can be anything from a memo to the great American novel.

Upon opening the program you are presented with a blank sheet of paper on which you can just start typing. To type, the insertion point or cursor must be present. This appears as a vertical blinking line on the page. Anything that you type will appear on the page at the point where the insertion point is blinking. You will also see an endmark. Typing cannot be done past the endmark. The Status bar shows the position of the insertion point and how many pages are in your document. Status Bar

Insertion point (Cursor) Endmark This document now consists of only a single page. 1/1 shows that the insertion point is on page 1 of a one page document. If the document was 4 pages long and the insertion point was on page 2 this would read 2/4. The insertion point is on page 1 The distance from the top The line of the page of text

Scroll area

Unless you create additional columns there is only a single column

All documents start out as a single section. You must add section breaks to have more than one section in a document.

Word automatically wraps text around to a new line as you type. Once you reach the end of a paragraph the Enter key will move the insertion point down to a new line. The Enter key should only be used at the end of a paragraph or to insert blank lines. Once you have begun typing if you need to erase and correct any errors you can use the backspace and delete keys. Backspace - erases to the left of the insertion point (cursor) Delete - erases to the right of the insertion point (cursor) To move the insertion point around in the area you have typed without affecting the text, use the arrow keys on the keyboard or point with the mouse to where you wish to move the insertion point and click.

Title Bar Menu Bar Standard Toolbar Formatting Toolbar

Menu Bar

When you first click on any item on the menu bar you are presented with a concise menu displaying only the commands that are most popular and those that have been used most recently. In a few seconds the menu expands to show all commands. The raised commands are the ones that appeared on the concise menu.

Clicking on the double-headed arrow will immediately expand the menu.

If you wish for the entire menu to always open when you click on the menu bar click on Tools, then Customize, then Options.

Remove the checks from these two items.

Standard & Formatting Toolbars

A quick and easy way to do many of the things found on the menus is to use the buttons on the Standard toolbar or the Formatting toolbar. If you are not sure what a button will do, simply point to it, allow the pointer to rest there a few seconds and a screen tip will open identifying the function of that button.

Working with Multiple Documents

One way to open a new document is to click on the New Blank Document button on the standard toolbar. This presents you with another blank sheet of paper. Or, if you use the New command from the File menu you may choose from a variety of templates including resumes, professional letters and brochures.

Word temporarily names your new file Document1 as seen on the Title Bar.

When only a single document is open the buttons on the Title Bar operate as program buttons. Resize Minimize Close Minimize Reduces program to a button on the Taskbar Resize First click - reduces size of program window Click again - restores window to full screen Close Closes the program

With a single document open there is also a close button beneath the Title Bar. This button will close the single document you have open. You may open multiple new documents which Word temporarily names Document2, Document3, etc.You rename these when you save the files. With more than one document open the buttons on the Title Bar are no longer program buttons. They now become document buttons and will minimize, resize and close only the document you have on screen without affecting the program in any way.

Moving Between Documents

There are two ways to move back and forth between documents: Each document that you open is represented by a button on the taskbar. 1) click on the button on taskbar that represents the document 2) click on the Window menu. A list of open documents appears with a check next to the document you are presently viewing. Click on any document listed and you will move to that document.

Formatting
When you open a new blank document the following are already set: Font and size - Times New Roman is the name of the font and the size is 10pts Line spacing - all lines will be single spaced Alignment - text will be lined up straight with the left margin Margins - top = 1, bottom = 1, left = 1.25, right = 1.25 Paper Size - 8 x 11 Orientation - portrait (vertical) All preset formats may be changed before, during or after typing your document. You may select a different font and size either by using the menu bar or the formatting toolbar. You may do this before you start typing, but to make changes to text you have already typed, you must first highlight or select the text that you wish to change. To highlight or select: Any amount - place pointer at either the beginning or the end of text, hold down the left mouse key and drag across the text, or click at the start of the selection, scroll to the end of selection, and then hold down the Shift key on the keyboard and click Single word - double-click the word Line of text - move pointer to the left of the line until it changes to a right-pointing arrow, and click Paragraph - move pointer to the left of the paragraph until it changes to a rightpointing arrow, and double-click, or triple-click anywhere inside the paragraph Entire document - move pointer to the left at any point in the document until it changes to a right-pointing arrow, and triple-click
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Font & Size

To make changes from the menu bar Click on Format on the menu bar then Font.

You have many choices in the Font window including a variety of fonts, sizes, colors and effects. Each choice you make is displayed in Preview so you can try many things before actually applying those changes to the document.

Using the formatting toolbar to change the font and the size.

By clicking on to the right of Times New Roman on the formatting toolbar you are presented with a list of fonts to choose from. The top portion lists the fonts used most recently. You must scroll to view the entire list of fonts. Click on your choice.

To change the size click You may have to scroll to find the size you want or simply type in the size.

Bold

Italics

Underline

By simply clicking on the buttons you turn these options on and off.

Line Spacing & Alignment

To change the line spacing click on Format on the menu bar, then Paragraph. The Paragraph window opens. Once the Paragraph window opens click on under Line spacing. Alignment can be changed from this window but there is also a quick and easy way to set alignment by using buttons on the formatting toolbar as seen in the examples below. Click on your choice.

Preview pane displays how the changes will look. Dont forget to click on OK when you are done.

Alignment buttons
Clicking on any of the alignment buttons will change the position of the entire line of text in which the insertion point rests. If you wish to change the alignment from one line to the next remember to move your insertion point down to the next line before changing the alignment. For example: If you want the first line centered, click on the center align button and type. Then if you wish the next line to be left aligned, hit the Enter key to move down to the next line and then click on align left.
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Margins, Paper Size & Orientation

Click File Click Page Setup When Margins tab is selected, click on arrow buttons or type in size of margins.

Preview allows you to see how the page will look when printed.

Clicking on the Paper Size tab in Page Setup offers a choice of sizes including legal. Click on button to open drop-down box of choices. Click on the size you desire. You may also choose which way to type across the page; Portrait (vertical) or Landscape (horizontal). Notice the examples in Preview.

As with most dialogue boxes click on OK when you are done for your choices to take effect.

Cut, Copy, and Paste

Word Provides the cut, copy and paste commands to manipulate text within a document. Copying text allows you to keep the text in its original location, and then paste a copy of the text in a new location. Text that you cut is removed from its original location, and can then be pasted in a new location.

To Copy & Paste Text:

Select the text by highlighting the text you wish to copy. Click Copy on the Edit menu or the Copy button on the Standard toolbar. A copy of the text is placed on the clipboard, leaving the original untouched. Place the insertion point in the new destination and click Paste on the Edit menu, or the Paste button on the Standard toolbar. The text you have highlighted will appear at the new destination.

Selected Text

To Cut and Paste Text:

Select the text you wish to cut by highlighting the text. Click Cut on the Edit menu or the Cut button on the Standard toolbar. The text will be removed from its original location and placed on the clipboard. Place the insertion point at the new destination, and click Paste Selected on the Edit menu or the Paste button on the Standard toolbar. The text will be placed at the new destination.

Text

Undo/Redo If you make a mistake, dont panic! Word has an Undo/Redo feature on the standard toolbar. The left arrow is Undo. The right arrow is Redo. Clicking on Undo displays a list of the most recent actions you can undo. Click the action you want to undo. If you don't see the action, scroll through the list. But, when you undo an action, you also undo all actions above it on the list. If you decide you didn't want to undo an action after all, click Redo.

Spell & Grammar Check

The squiggly lines you see above indicate that Word views these terms as either spelling or grammar errors. This does not always means that the flagged items are incorrect. It may not recognize foreign languages or certain terms. You can run the spell/grammar check by clicking on on the standard toolbar.

If the item is not an error you can choose to Ignore the alternatives offered in the Suggestions box and even Add the item to the Word dictionary so it will recognize it in the future. If the item is incorrect you may click on the correct suggestion and then on the Change button.
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Saving a Document To save your document click File on the menu bar then Save As.

When the Save As dialog box opens a location is already chosen. You can choose a different location. Click button to view other locations.

If you are on a library computer, you must save to a disk. To do this you must first insert the disk, then click on 3 1/2 Floppy (A:). Give your document a name that is short and simple, and that you will recognize when you wish to find it in the future. Highlight what is in the File name text box and simply type the name. Word adds the .doc to the end of your name. Then click on Save.

Once the document has been saved the Save As dialog box will close and the new name you have given the document will appear on the Title bar. Opening a Saved Document You can quickly access a saved document by using the Open button on the standard toolbar.

If the right location is not shown in the Look in text box, click on the dropdown arrow and click on the location where your file is saved. Then either double click on your document (the names are listed in alphabetical order) or single click on your document, then click Open.

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Places Bar Gives you one click access to five commonly used folders from the Open dialog box and the Save As dialog box. The example to the right shows that a single click on the History button lists the most recently accessed folders and documents.

Click on the document or folder from the list in the window and then on the Open button.

Back Button

The back button in the Open dialog box and the Save As dialog box moves you to your last location. If you were last in the History folder as shown in the example above, a click on the back button will take you back to the History folder.

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Print Preview

Before you print the document you may want to see how it will actually appear on the printed page. Click the Print Preview button on the Standard toolbar. This will show basically how your margins look and how the text is positioned on the page. If you would like to examine a page more closely you can zoom in on a page simply by clicking on it. Click again and you zoom back out. Often when you first open Print Preview only a single page is displayed although there are more pages to your document. The Multiple Pages button on the Standard toolbar will display all pages. How to use this feature is explained in the example below.

To exit Print Preview without printing, either click on the Close button on the Standard toolbar or the on the Title bar.

To see all of the pages that exist, click on the Multiple Pages button, drag the mouse down through all of the page frames until they all turn blue and click. Notice in this example there is actually a blank page at the end of the document.

In this case you would only want to print pages 1 and 2. You would have to go to the Print dialog box to do so. Clicking on the Print button on the Standard toolbar will simply print one copy of every page including the blank third page. You must go to the File menu and choose Print from the menu in order to have more options and control in printing.

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Printing The Print dialog box that opens when you click on Print from the File menu allows you to choose options such as the printer, which pages are printed and the number of copies. It also allows you to decide whether or not to collate your pages.

All - every page Current page - the page that the Insertion point is on Pages - individual pages and ranges of pages entered as the instructions show Selection - only the selected (highlighted) text

Click on drop down arrow to choose a different printer. Use arrow buttons to set number of copies or just type in the number. Click check box to have pages collated. Once all of your choices are set click OK.

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Help !!! Yes there is help, but there is more than one way to access Help in Word.

The Office Assistant, also known as Clippy, is one way to find information. He usually resides in the lower right hand corner of your screen. If not, click on the question mark button on the Standard Toolbar. If you click on Clippy the interactive box that you see here appears with suggested topics. You may just click on a topic or use the text box to type a question or a single word such as print. You may be presented with many choices. Click on any of the blue underlined text (see below) to move to that topic immediately.

Once you have clicked on a topic in the above box, your instructions appear in a box like the one to the right. Often you will be offered the Show Me option. If you click on it you will be shown exactly what to do.

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Resume From the File menu, select New. A frame will then appear to the right. Choose General Templates.

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Click on tab in Templates dialog box that says Other Documents.

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. Click on any of the four Resume templates listed below. . The Resume Wizard will guide you through the process whereas the other three templates allow you to do more on your own.

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Notes

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