Introduction to Microsoft Word 1

Table of Contents
Opening a New Document ......................................................................................................................... 3
Navigating the Toolbar .............................................................................................................................. 3
Clipboard................................................................................................................................................... 3
Cut......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Copy ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Paste ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Format Painter .................................................................................................................................... 4
Font ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
Changing font and text size .................................................................................................................. 5
Bold/Italicize/Underline text ................................................................................................................ 5
Other font tools .................................................................................................................................... 6
Paragraph .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Bulleted and numbered lists ................................................................................................................. 7
Indenting ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Alignment and spacing ......................................................................................................................... 8
Shading and borders ............................................................................................................................ 9
Styles ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
Inserting Content ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Pages ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
Cover Page ........................................................................................................................................ 11
Blank Page ......................................................................................................................................... 11
Page Break ......................................................................................................................................... 11
Tables ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Table Design ...................................................................................................................................... 12
Layout ................................................................................................................................................. 12
Illustrations ............................................................................................................................................. 13
Pictures ............................................................................................................................................... 13
Shapes ................................................................................................................................................. 14
Icons .................................................................................................................................................... 15
Charts ................................................................................................................................................. 15
Header and Footer .................................................................................................................................. 16
Header ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Footers ................................................................................................................................................ 16
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Page number ...................................................................................................................................... 17

Text ......................................................................................................................................................... 18
Text box .............................................................................................................................................. 18
Word art ............................................................................................................................................. 19
Drop caps ........................................................................................................................................... 19
Signature line ..................................................................................................................................... 19
Date and time ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Symbols................................................................................................................................................... 20
Equations ............................................................................................................................................ 21
Symbols ............................................................................................................................................... 21
Layout ........................................................................................................................................................ 22
Page Setup .............................................................................................................................................. 22
Margins ............................................................................................................................................... 22
Orientation .......................................................................................................................................... 23
Size ...................................................................................................................................................... 23
Columns .............................................................................................................................................. 24
Paragraph ................................................................................................................................................ 25
Indent .................................................................................................................................................. 25
Spacing................................................................................................................................................ 25
Reviewing Your Document ..................................................................................................................... 25
Proofing................................................................................................................................................... 25
Check document ................................................................................................................................. 25
Thesaurus ............................................................................................................................................ 26
Word Count ........................................................................................................................................ 27
Language ................................................................................................................................................. 27
Translate ............................................................................................................................................. 27
Language ............................................................................................................................................ 28
Comments ............................................................................................................................................... 29
Tracking .................................................................................................................................................. 29
Changes ................................................................................................................................................... 29
MW Keyboard Shortcuts ........................................................................................................................ 30
Additional Resources ............................................................................................................................... 32
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Opening a New Document:

• Open Microsoft Word (MW or Word) and navigate to the templates menu
• If you want to customize the layout, design, and formatting, select blank document
• If you want to use a premade template for a specific type of document, select from the
given options or choose more templates

Navigating the Toolbar:

• There are four main sections of the toolbar: Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, and Styles.
Clipboard:
• The MW Clipboard is a tool that allows you to virtually copy or cut text, images, or other
content, and paste them elsewhere in the document.
• There are four tools in the clipboard section of the toolbar: Cut, Copy, Paste, and Format
painter
o Cut: This action becomes available when content is selected/highlighted. Choose
this option to remove the content.
o Copy: This action becomes available when content is selected/highlighted.
Choose this option to duplicate the content. Note: after you click ‘copy’ the
content does not appear in the document; MW holds the copy virtually until you
indicate where you would like to place the copied content in the document.
o Paste: This action becomes available when you have cut or copied content from
your document or another application. Choose the default paste option to maintain
the original formatting of the content. If you want to paste content with formatting
that is different than the source, choose the drop-down menu, select paste special,
and choose the option that suits your need.
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o Format Painter: This action allows you to copy formatting from one part of your
document and replicate it elsewhere in the document. To use, select the text with
the formatting you would like to copy, select the format painter icon, and then
highlight the text that you would like to format.

CUT

COPY

FORMAT
PAINTER

Font:
• The font section contains tools that format your text, including changing font and text
size, bold/italicize/underline text, strikethrough, sub- or superscript, highlighting or
changing text color, adding text effects, and changing case.
• Changing font and text size:
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o Click the left-hand drop-down menu to change the font. Scroll to view all
available fonts and click to select your choice. To change the font of existing text,
highlight the text first, then click the drop-down menu and select the desired font.

o Click the right-hand drop-down menu to change the text size. Select the desired
size, or click in the text box to manually type a specific size. You can also use the
icons to the right of the text box to either increase text size (A^ ) or decrease text
size (A ). To edit existing text, select the text before changing the size.

Type to enter
specific font size Increase (left) and
value decrease (right) font size

• Bold, italicize, and underline text:

o Bold: select the B to type bolded text. To bold existing text, select the text first,
then select the B

o Italicize: select the I to type italicized text. To italicize existing text, select the text
first, then select the I
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o Underline: select the U to underline text as you type. To underline existing text,
select the text, then select the U. To change the style or color of the underline, select
the drop-down menu and choose the desired style.

• Other font tools:

o Strikethrough: Select the ab to strikethrough text as you type. To strikethrough
existing text, select the text first, then select the ab.

o Subscriptexample: Select the x2 to type a subscript. To change existing text to a

subscript, select the text first, then select the x2

o Superscriptexample: Select the x2 to type a superscript. To change existing text to a

superscript, select the text first, then select the x2
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o Highlighting: Select the existing text that you wish to highlight and click the
highlighter icon. To change the color of the highlighter, click the drop-down menu
and select the desired color

o Changing text color: Select the drop-down menu by the text color icon and choose
a theme color, standard color, or customize the shade by clicking more colors. To
change the color of existing text, select the text first, then choose the color.

o Adding text effects: Select the drop-down menu by the and choose the desired effect.
To add effects on existing text, select the text first, then select the desired effect.

o Changing Text Case: To change text case, select the drop-down menu by the Aa
icon and choose from Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each
Word, or tOGGLE cASE. To change the case of existing text, select the text first
and then choose the desired case.

Paragraph:
• The paragraph section contains tools for formatting the basic layout of your document,
including bulleted and numbered lists, indenting, alignment and spacing, and shading and
borders.
• Bulleted and numbered lists:
o To start a bulleted or numbered list, click the corresponding icon. Use the drop-
down menu to change the shape of the bullet or the style of numbering. To indent
underneath one of the points in the list, hit ‘enter’ to create a new bullet and then
hit ‘tab’. To create a list out of existing content, select all of the content and then
click the icon of the list you want to create.
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• Indenting
o To change the indent of your paragraph, or how far it is from the edge of the
paper, place your cursor to the left of the text, then select either the ‘decrease
indent’ or ‘increase indent’ icons

Decrease indent Increase indent

• Alignment and spacing

o There are four alignment options in MW: left, center, right, and justify. Left- and
right-align will align content with their respective margins. The center alignment
will center content on the page. The justify alignment evenly distributes the text
between the margins. To set alignment, click the corresponding icon. To change
alignment of existing content, select the content first, then click the icon

Left-align
Justify
Center-align Right-align
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o To change text spacing, select the drop-down menu by the spacing icon. Then,
choose the preset spacing you want, or select ‘Line Spacing Options…’ to
customize the spacing. There is also the option to ‘add/remove space after
paragraph’. Selecting this option will change how much space is automatically
added when pressing the enter button to create a new line

• Shading and borders

o Shading: Shading is similar to highlighting, but offers a wider range of colors. To
shade your content, select the drop-down menu by the paint bucket icon and
choose a color. To shade pre-existing content, select the content first, then choose
a color.

o Borders: Use the border feature to add an outline to your content. Select the drop-
down menu by the grid icon and choose which borders you want to apply to your
content. To add borders on pre-existing content, select the content first, then
choose the border you want. Select ‘Borders and Shading…’ from the drop-down
menu to change the style , color, or weight of the borders
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Styles:
• The styles section contains preset formatting options that can be applied to your
document overall. Open the drop-down menu to view all available presets, or select
‘Create a Style’ to save your current formatting to the Styles library.

Inserting Content

• The inserting content menu can be accessed by selecting the ‘Insert’ tab on the toolbar. It
is organized into a number of sections, including pages, tables, illustrations, header &
footer, text, and symbols
Pages:
• The pages section allows you to insert a cover page, blank page, or page break

o Cover page: select the cover page drop-down menu and choose one of the cover
page templates. You can also view an extended library of templates by clicking on
‘More cover pages from Office.com’
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o Blank page: select this to insert a new blank page below your cursor. MW will
automatically insert a blank page as you are typing when you reach the end of a
page
o Page break: select page break to add a new page below the one you are working
on and move to that page.

Tables:
• The tables section allows you to create a table right in your document. Select the table
drop-down menu and choose the size of table that you want to insert. You can also select
‘Quick Tables’ to use any of the MW table templates or ‘Draw Table’ to manually create
the table by clicking and dragging your cursor.
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Once a table has been inserted, two

Table Design Layout
new formatting tabs will appear:

• Table Design:
o This tab offers design options for your table. Select one of the premade table styles
from the drop-down menu, or use the shading and border tools to customize your
design.

• Layout:
o This tab has several sections with formatting options for your table, including
Draw, Rows and Columns, Merge, Cell Size, and Alignment

o Draw: Includes tools to draw or erase parts of a table manually

o Rows and Columns: Insert rows above or below the current row, insert columns
left or right of the current column, and delete rows or columns
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o Merge: Merge separate cells into one, split a single cell into multiple cells, and
split the table so that a row or column is separate from the rest

o Cell Size: Manually adjust the dimensions of individual cells using the arrow keys
or typing a value. Use the ‘Autofit’ drop-down menu to automatically fit the
width of your table to the width of either the whole page, or your content. Select
‘Distribute Rows/Columns’ to evenly distribute the height or width of selected
cells.

o Alignment: Use the icons to select the text alignment within table cells, click ‘Text
Direction’ to rotate the text, and select ‘Cell Margins’ to customize cell margins
and spacing between cells

Illustrations:
• The illustrations section has a variety of options for graphics that can be included in your
document, including pictures, shapes, icons, and charts.
o Pictures: selecting pictures will open your computer’s file browser, where you
can select the image you wish to insert. Once you insert an image, a ‘picture
format’ tab will be added to the toolbar, which contains tools for cropping and
resizing your photo, as well as adding effects and changing its position on the
page.
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o Shapes: click the drop-down menu by ‘shapes’ to view the menu of available
shapes. Choose the shape that you wish to insert, then click and drag on the page
to create the shape in the size that you want. Once the shape is inserted, a ‘shape
format’ tab will be added to the toolbar, with options for resizing the shape,
changing color, and changing position on the page.
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o Icons: opens a menu of premade icons that can be inserted into the document.
After the icon is inserted, a ‘graphics format’ tab will be added to the toolbar with
options for cropping, resizing, recoloring, or adding effects to the icon.

o Chart: opens a separate window where you can choose the category and type of
chart to insert. Once a chart is inserted, a corresponding MS Excel window will
open for the purpose of editing chart values. Chart titles, category labels and axis
labels can be added by clicking directly on the chart or by changing the
corresponding label in the MS Excel window. Two tabs, Chart Design and
Format, will also be added to the toolbar with options for changing color/design,
cropping, and repositioning the chart.
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Header & Footer:

• The header and footer section lets you edit the header and/or footer on your document, as
well as inserting a page number.

o Header: The header is text within the first inch of your document. It repeats on
every page and can be used to showcase information like title and author. To
insert a header click the drop-down menu by ‘Header’ and select a header
template. You can also manually format the header by choosing ‘Edit Header’
from the drop-down menu. After you select the header to insert, a ‘Header &
Footer’ tab will appear with formatting options. Header text can be formatted
using the ‘Font’ section on the ‘Home’ tab. To remove an existing header, select
‘Remove Header’.

o Footer: The footer is text within the bottom inch of your document. It repeats on
every page and, like the header, can be used to showcase information like title and
author. To insert a footer, click the drop-down menu by ‘Footer’ and select a
footer template. You can also manually format the footer by choosing ‘Edit
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Footer’. After you select the footer to insert, a ‘Header & Footer’ tab will appear
with formatting options. Footer text can be formatted using the ‘Font’ section on
the ‘Home’ tab. To remove an existing footer, select ‘Remove Footer’.

o Page Number: To add a page number, select the drop-down menu by ‘Page
Number’ and select the ‘Top of Page’ or ‘Bottom of Page’ menu, depending on
where you want to insert the page number. Then, choose a page number template.
To remove an existing page number, select ‘Remove Page Numbers’ from the
first drop-down menu.
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Text:
• The text section has options for adding non-standard text to your document.

o Text Box: A text box can be used to draw attention to important content, such as
headers or quotes. To insert a text box, select the drop-down menu and choose a
built-in text box template. You can also manually create a text box by selecting
‘Draw Text Box’. After the text box is inserted, a ‘Shape Format’ tab will open
with formatting options.
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o Word Art: Use word art to add some artistic flair to your content. To insert word
art, select the drop-down menu by the word art icon and choose the style of word
art that you want to use. The colors displayed in the drop-down menu correspond
to the preset theme colors of your document and can be changed after the word art
is inserted. Once the word art is inserted, a ‘Shape Format’ tab will appear with
options for formatting the size, color, style, and position of the word art.

o Drop Caps: Drop caps are a large capital letter at the beginning of a paragraph.
To add a drop cap, select the drop-down menu by the drop cap icon and choose
whether you want the drop cap to be dropped, or in the margin.

Dropped

In
Margin

o Signature Line: Add a signature line if you are creating a document requiring a
signature, such as a contract or a letter. Select the drop-down menu by the
signature line icon and click ‘Microsoft Office Signature Line’. A window will
pop up where you can enter the signer’s name and title.
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X
John Doe
Signer

o Date and Time: To insert the current date and time, select the ‘Insert Date and
Time’ icon. Choose one of the built-in formats to insert. Check the ‘Update
Automatically’ box to have the date update to whatever the current date is
automatically.

Symbols
• The symbols section includes options for inserting text that is not present on the
keyboard, including foreign and mathematic characters.
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o Equation: To insert an equation, select the drop-down menu and choose one of the
built-in equation templates. Once the equation is inserted, it can be edited directly.
More templates can be accessed by clicking ‘More Equations from Office.com’.
You can also manually build your equation by selecting ‘Insert New Equation’.
Choosing this option will open the ‘Equation’ tab, which includes symbols and
structures for writing equations.

−𝑏±√𝑏2 −4𝑎𝑐 −4±√4 2 −4(3)(5)

𝑥= 𝑥=
2𝑎 2(3)

o Symbol: To insert a symbol, select the drop-down menu and choose one of the
available symbols. If you want a symbol that is not pictured, click ‘More
Symbols…’, choose a symbol or special character, and select insert.
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Layout

• The layout tab contains options for formatting the actual pages that your content is on,
including adjusting the margins, changing orientation and page size, creating columns,
and standardizing the indent and spacing of your paragraphs

Page Setup
• Margins: To change the margins on your page, select the drop-down menu and choose
one of the built-in margin settings. To customize the margins, select ‘Custom Margins…’
and input the values you want. You can also adjust the margins by clicking and dragging
on the rulers at the top and left of the page.
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• Orientation: MW supports two orientations, portrait or landscape. The default orientation

when you open Word is portrait. To change to landscape orientation, select the drop-
down menu and click on ‘Landscape’

• Size: The default page size in Word is US Letter, 8.5” x 11”. To change the page size,
select the drop-down menu and choose one of the built-in templates. To manually enter a
custom page size, click ‘More Paper Sizes…’
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• Columns: The default setting in MW is one column. To add more columns, select the
drop-down menu and choose a column preset. To customize the column settings, choose
‘More Columns…’
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Paragraph
• Indent: Indent allows you to choose how far away to move the paragraph from either
margin. To set the values, click into either the ‘Left’ or ‘Right’ box (depending on which
margin you want to edit) and type distance you want. You can also manually change the
value by clicking on the up or down arrows to the right of the text boxes.

• Spacing: Spacing allows you to change how much space appears before and after
specific, selected paragraphs. To set the values, click into either the ‘Before’ or ‘After’
box and type the space you want before or after paragraphs. You can also manually
change the value by clicking on the up or down arrows to the right of the text boxes.

Reviewing Your Document

• The review tab contains tools for editing and revising your content with sections on
proofing, language, comments, tracking, and changes.

Proofing:
• Check Document: MW has a built-in editor that checks for spelling and grammar errors.
Content that MW labels as misspelled is underlined with red, while grammar errors are
underlined with green. To check all of the errors that MW identified in your document,
click ‘Check Document’. This will open the Editor panel. Click on ‘Spelling’,
‘Grammar’, or ‘Conciseness’ to view the errors and recommendations for correcting
them.
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• Thesaurus: Click on ‘Thesaurus’ to open Word’s built-in thesaurus, then type the word
you want to find synonyms for. You can also right-click on a word and click on
‘Synonyms’ to view a short list of similar words.
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• Word Count: Word automatically counts the number of words, pages, characters (with
and without spaces), paragraphs, and lines in your document. To view this information,
click on ‘Word Count’. You can also quickly check the number of words and pages in
your document in the lower left-hand panel of MW.

Language
• Translate: The MW translate function allows you to translate a section of your document
or to create a translated copy of your document. Select the drop-down menu and choose
the appropriate option. This will open the Translator panel, where you can enter the
language to translate to/from.
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• Language: The default proofing language for MW is English (United States). This can be
changed by going to the drop-down Language menu and selecting ‘Set Proofing
Language…’. You can also change the display language for the MW application by going
to the drop-down Language menu and selecting ‘Language Preferences…’
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Comments

• The comments section is part of Word’s built-in collaboration system. Highlight the text
you want to leave a comment on and select ‘New Comment’. A comments panel will
automatically be added to the side of your document. If you share your document with
others and they open it in MW on their computer, their comments will appear under their
name. Use the ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ buttons to jump between comments on the document.
To delete a comment, select the comment and click ‘Delete’. Use the drop-down Delete
menu to delete all comments in the document. Use the ‘Reply’ feature to discuss the
comment in the comments panel. You can also mark a comment as completed without
deleting it by selecting the comment and clicking ‘Resolve’. To revert a resolved comment,
select the comment and choose ‘Reopen’

Tracking
• The tracking section is also part of the MW collaboration system. Click on ‘Track
Changes’ to keep track of any changes that are made to your document. Text will
automatically be red and any deletions will appear as strikethroughs. If another author is
editing your document, the changes will be noted under their name.

Changes
• The changes section works with the tracking section for revising your content. Use the
‘Accept’ or ‘Reject’ buttons to accept or reject changes that have been made using ‘Track
Changes’. Choosing ‘Accept’ automatically integrates the changes into your document,
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while choosing ‘Reject’ will revert your content to what it was before the changes. Use
the ‘Previous’ or ‘Next’ buttons to jump between tracked changes. You can also accept or
reject all changes at once by clicking the respective drop-down menus and selecting
‘Accept/Reject All Changes’

MW Keyboard Shortcuts
Function: Windows: MacOS
Open a document Ctrl + O
Create a new document Ctrl + N
Save document Ctrl + S Cmd + Shift + S
Close document Ctrl + W Cmd + F4
Cut Ctrl + X Cmd + X
Copy Ctrl + C Cmd + C
Paste Ctrl + V Cmd + V
Select all content Ctrl + A Cmd + A
Bold Ctrl + B Cmd + B
Italic Ctrl + I Cmd + I
Underline Ctrl + U Cmd + U
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Function: Windows: MacOS:

Decrease font size Ctrl + Shift + < Cmd + Shift + <
Increase font size Ctrl + Shift + > Cmd + Shift + >
Center text Ctrl + E Cmd + E
Align text left Ctrl + L Cmd + L
Align text right Ctrl + R Cmd + R
Undo Ctrl + Z Cmd + Z
Redo Ctrl + Y Cmd + Y
Print Ctrl + P Cmd + P
Print Preview Ctrl + Alt + I
Copy selected formatting Ctrl + Shift + C Cmd + Shift + C
Paste selected formatting Ctrl + Shift + V Cmd + Shift + V
Indent paragraph Ctrl + M Ctrl + Shift + M
Remove paragraph indent Ctrl + Shift + M Cmd + Shift + M
Apply single spacing Ctrl + 1 Cmd + 1
Apply double spacing Ctrl + 2 Cmd + 2
All text upper case Ctrl + Shift + A Cmd + Shift + A
Hide selected text Ctrl + Shift + H
Subscript Ctrl + = Cmd + =
Superscript Ctrl + Shift + Plus sign (+) Cmd + Shift + Plus sign
Insert line break Shift + Enter Shift + Return
Insert page break Ctrl + Enter Cmd + Return
Copyright symbol Ctrl + Alt + C Option + G
Trademark symbol Ctrl + Alt + T Option + 2
Reg. trademark symbol Ctrl + Alt + R Option + R
Ellipsis Ctrl + Alt + Period (.) Option + Semicolon (;)
Hyperlink Ctrl + K
Insert comment Ctrl + Alt + M Cmd + Option + A
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Additional Resources
• MW in-application training
o Access in training within the MW application by navigating to the ‘Help’ tab,
then clicking on ‘Show Training’

• Online Microsoft Word Help and Learning

o https://support.office.com/en-us/word
• “Welcome to Word” Document Template
o MW has a built-in introductory document. To open, first open MW, then click on
the ‘Welcome to Word’ template under ‘New’