Information Technology

Word Processing
 Word Processing

Word Processing is the preparation of

documents such as letters, reports,
memos, books, or any other type of
correspondences. A word processor is
an application software that allows you
to create and edit these documents.
 Examples of Word
Processing

 Microsoft Word
 Lotus
 Word Pro
 Word Perfect
Starting Microsoft Word

To start Microsoft Word using the start

button on the task bar:
Click start

Select programs

From the program menu select

Microsoft Office
Then select Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word Window
 Title Bar

The title bar is the first bar from the top of the
screen. It displays the name and the type of
document that is open. It also displays the
control menu icon in the left hand corner and
three buttons (minimize, maximize and close)
in the right hand corner.
 Title Bar Cont’d
 The Minimize button, which reduces Word
to an icon on the taskbar.
 The Maximize button, which resizes Word so
that it takes up the whole screen. When
Word is maximized, the Restore button is
displayed instead, which restores Word to
its previous size.
 The Close button, which closes Word.
 Menu Bar

This is where the pull-down menus that allow

you to perform various tasks in Microsoft
Word are displayed. The pull-down menus
options shown are File, Edit, View, Insert,
Format, Tools, Tables, Window and Help. The
pull-down menus contain additional options,
that drop down from the menu bar when an
option is selected.
 Toolbars

Toolbars provide easy access to the

commands contained in the menus. Each
toolbar option is shown by using an icon (a
small picture) that represents the command.

By default, Word displays two toolbars:

Standard Toolbar

Formatting Toolbar
 Toolbar Cont’d

Standard Toolbar:
The standard toolbar has shortcuts to most
frequently used instructions on the menu bar.
For example, “open a file”, “print a
document” and “save a file”, are represented
as pictures called icons and are placed on this
bar.
 Toolbar Cont’d

Formatting Toolbar:
This toolbar contains icons that allow you to
format and edit the appearance of the
document, such as bold, underline and center
text and change the size and colour of text,
etc.
 Toolbar Cont’d

Other Toolbars:
Microsoft Word provides several other toolbars
to use for various task. However, to
maximize screen space, very few of them
are displayed at any given time.
 Toolbar Cont’d

You can hide or show a toolbar by:

Clicking View, then Toolbar

Click the menu item for the desired toolbar.

If the toolbar was not currently being shown,

it will now be displayed and a check mark will
be placed beside its menu item. Otherwise it
will now be hidden.
 Ruler

The ruler displays the measurements,

indents, and tabs of your document.

Hiding/Displaying the Ruler bar:

Select view from the menu bar

Click ruler
 Scroll Bars

The scroll bars are used to scroll the text

on the screen. Two types of scroll bars
are:
vertical scroll bar – that scrolls from
top to button or button to top
horizontal scroll bar – that scroll from
left to right or right to left.
 Status Bar

The status bar displays information about the

document, such as the total number of pages
the document has, the current page, the
position of the cursor from the top of the
page and the current line.

Items on the status bar includes page, sec,

1/1, At, Ln, Col, REC, TRK, EXT and OVR
Hiding/Displaying the Scroll
Bars and the Status Bar
 Select tools from the menu bar
 Click options
 Select view
 Under the show heading, click in the check
box of the Horizontal Scroll Bar, Vertical
Scroll Bar and/or Status Bar as required
 Click ok
 View Buttons

These are icons that control the type of screen

displayed. These buttons are located to the
left of the horizontal scroll bar. They are:
Normal view

Web layout view

Print layout view

Outline view

Reading layout
 Task Pane
The task pane window appears to the right of the main
word window. It provides guide lines in carrying out
certain task.
To show or hide the task pane:
Click view

Then select task pane

To switch to the task pane of a different task:

Click the down arrow

Click the name of the desired task pane

 Document Window

The area for inserting text and pictures.

It is also referred to as the work area or
worksheet.
 Cursor

The cursor (insertion point) is a blinking

rectangular bar that indicates where text will
appear when you begin to type, or delete
when you press the backspace or delete key
on the keyboard.
 Default Settings

Microsoft Word has default settings such

as the margin and font size, type,
colour.
 Word Wrap

A word processing feature which

automatically adjusts lines of text to fit
within the page margins.

When a line of text is typed that extends

beyond the right margin, Microsoft word
automatically continues to the next line.
 Auto Complete

A feature that suggests text automatically

based on the first few characters that a user
types.

This feature in Word guesses names of

calendar items, such as the days of the week
and months, as you type them, and then
suggests the complete word.
 Saving a Document

Saving a new document:

 Click File on the menu bar

 Then click save or save as

 From the save as window that pops

up, select the storage location, type
the file name
 Click ok
 Save and Save as
When saving a file for the first time the save as
window will appear whether you select save or save
as option.

The difference comes about when you are resaving a

file. In this case, the save option will save the file
without prompting you to enter the storage location
or file name, while the save as option will give you
the opportunity to select a storage location and enter
a new file name. The save as option in this case will
allow you to have the file stored two or more times.
 Exit Microsoft Word

 Click File on the menu bar

 Then select exit

or

 Click the red X at the right hand

corner