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Before you get started with Word, you should have the skills taught in Windows: Getting Started. These skills include using a mouse to do the following:
Select commands from menus (including the Start menu).
Select options from a list, including drop-down lists.
Use scrollbars.
Bring up a shortcut menu.
Size and move windows.
Microsoft Word is a powerful word processing program you can use to produce professional-looking documents. You can combine text, spreadsheets, and graphics in Word documents. You can also use Word to create Web pages. Word's pull-down menus, toolbars, and buttons make learning and using Word easy.
To begin working on a new document, select Word from the Start menu. (Look for it in the Programs folder.)
At the top of the Word window, the blue title bar shows the name of the document you're editing. New documents are named "Document#;" for example, the first new document you open is named "Document1," the second "Document2," and so on. You'll find out how to name and save these documents later in this handout.
You can easily switch between writing a term paper and a letter to your Aunt Nancy in Word, or go from Word to surfing the Web or checking your email. How? Use the control buttons at the top right corner of the Word window to close or change the size of the Word window, as explained next.
Minimize Button : Click this button to shrink the current window:
To see the window again, click the button for it on the Windows taskbar, usually found at the bottom of your screen.
Maximize Button : Click this button to enlarge the window to fill the entire screen:
Restore Button : This button only appears when a window is maximized. Click it to restore the maximized window to its original size:
Close Button : This button closes the current window:
Before closing a window, check the title bar to be sure you're closing the right one. If you try to close a document that you have not saved, Word asks if you want to save changes first. This is a safeguard against losing work--more about that later.
What about that second row of control buttons?
The top row controls the program window while the bottom row controls the individual document window. In Word, you can minimize, maximize, restore or close the document using the lower row of buttons. Remember these tips for Word:
If you minimize the program window, you can bring it back up by clicking its button in the taskbar.
If you minimize a document window, you can bring it back up by opening the Window menu and selecting the file name.
The number of control buttons you see depends on the number of documents you have open: If you have only one document open, two Close buttons appear, one on top of the other. Use the lower button to close the document and keep Word running. If you have more than one document open, each has its own separate window with one row of control buttons you can use to close or change the size of the window. Each Word document also has its own button on the Windows taskbar. To switch between documents, select a button on the taskbar, or select the document name from Word’s Window menu. Also remember that you can switch between Word and other programs by selecting different buttons on the Windows taskbar.
The status bar at the bottom of the window provides information about your document, such as what page you're currently editing.
Word presents documents to you more or less as if you were writing on a pages of paper. The blinking vertical bar is the "insertion point" or "cursor"; anything you type appears to the left of this insertion point. A short, horizontal bar shows you the end of the document and moves down as you add to the document. The insertion point and bar do not print.
Under the program's title bar, you'll see the menu bar, which begins with the File menu. Open a menu by clicking its name, or by holding down the Alt key and typing the letter underlined in the menu name. For example, Alt-f opens the file menu. To select an option listed in the menu, either use your mouse to select it or type the underlined letter in the word; for example, in the File menu, the option to create a new file appears as New, so with the menu open, you can type n to start creating a new document.
Beginning with Word 2000, not all menu commands are available at first. In each menu, only the most commonly used options appear. To see all of the choices, point at the double arrows at the bottom of the list. If you consistently expand a certain menu, Word “remembers” and automatically makes all items available.
In Word XP, by clicking on the double arrows, you will open a dialog box. You will notice that you can ask the program to show the toolbars in two rows. Also, for adding or removing buttons, you may slide your pointer over “add” or remove” buttons. You will notice that Word XP allows you to choose which toolbars need modification.
As you work with the menus in Word, take a look to the right of the options listed in each. You may find a helpful keyboard shortcut, which you can later use instead of the menu. To use a shortcut, hold down the Control key and press the specified letter. For example, to create a new file, you can press Ctrl-n .
Below the menu bar you usually find at least two toolbars, the Standard Toolbar :
and the Formatting Toolbar :
To find out what a button on a toolbar does, place the mouse pointer on it. A yellow flag pops up with the name of the button. If a toolbar button is gray instead of black, the command is not available at that time. You'll learn more about using toolbars throughout this document. The Standard and Formatting toolbars work in similar ways in other Office applications, so what you learn about them in Word can help you, for example, in PowerPoint and Excel.
Tip: you can show or hide non-printing characters such as paragraph marks, spaces, and tab characters by selecting the Show/Hide button on the Standard toolbar.
Tip: you can show styles and formatting applied to your document by choosing the Styles and Formatting button on Formatting toolbar.
To open an existing document, select the Standard toolbar's Open button:
Or select Open... from the File menu. The Open window appears. In the Open window, you have several options, including the following:
To open a file, double-click it.
To select a range of files, click on one and then hold the Shift key down and click on the last file in the range. For example, to select files A through Z, click file A and then hold the Shift key down while you click file Z.
To select files that are not next to each other, press the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click each file name. Then select Open .
You may need to switch to a different folder or drive to find your document. Refer to the “More About Folders” section later in this document for additional information.
There are several options for getting help as you use Word.
The Office Assistant appears as an animated character in the lower right corner of the Word window. While you work, the Office Assistant may display a light bulb, your signal that it has a tip about what you are doing. Simply click the Office Assistant to read the tip. To ask the Office Assistant for other help, click it, and do one of the following:
Click a tip provided in the Assistant’s window
Search for help on a specific topic by typing a word or question in the space provided in the Assistant’s window, and then clicking Search . Select a topic from the list the Assistant provides.
The Microsoft Word Help window then appears. If you do not find the answer to your question, you can select a different option from the Office Assistant or try a different search.
Yes, you do have some control over the Office Assistant:
To see the Office Assistant less often, you can hide it. Select the Help menu, and then select Hide the Office Assistant . The Office Assistant appears again when you select Microsoft Word Help from the Help menu, when you press the F1 key on your keyboard, or when it has a tip for you.
To stop using the Office Assistant altogether, click it, select Options , and make sure the box next to Use the Office Assistant is not checked.
You may also right-click on the Office Assistant and then choose hide.
To turn on the Office Assistant, select Help and then Show the Office Assistant .
You can use the options discussed next if you turn off the Office Assistant. To turn it off, click on the Office Assistant, select Options , and make sure the box next to Use the Office Assistant on the Options tab is not checked.
Select Microsoft Word Help from the Help menu. (You can also get to the Help window by pressing the F1 key.) In the Microsoft Word Help window, a help article appears on the right. In Help articles, you can often select links to see related information. On the left side of the Help window, a set of tabbed cards appears. To select from a list of topics, use the Contents tab. To search for specific topics by keyword, use the Index tab. To search for help by asking a question, use the Answer Wizard tab. After you open the Help window, a button for it appears on the taskbar. Switch back and forth between the Help window and your Word document just as you would switch between two different programs.
Notice the drop down menu next to the “document close” button in Word XP. You may type the question that you want answered and press Enter . It will open the Help options.
To print an article from Help, click the printer icon at the top of the Help window.
The Help menu also includes the following options:
What's This? For a brief description of what a particular toolbar button does, select Help , then What's This? , and then click the button in question.
WordPerfect Help : No, Word will not turn into WordPerfect, but you can find out what commands are equivalent to those you already know and love by choosing this option from the Help menu.
Detect and Repair : Normally, you should rarely, if ever, need this option. Use it if you suspect that Word is not working properly. Word detects problems it may be having, and, if necessary, restores program files that have been deleted, misplaced, or corrupted.
Type text in your new document using your computer's keyboard. If you make a simple mistake, you can use the Backspace key to back up over one character at a time, or the Delete key to erase one character in front of the cursor. (Later, you will learn how to delete larger blocks of text efficiently.)
Text automatically wraps to the next line as you reach the right margin. If you're used to using a typewriter, you need to break the habit of pressing Enter at the end of every line. Unnecessary returns can cause problems later if you change your text's formatting. Use the Enter key only when you want to create a new paragraph. Create a blank line in your document by pressing Enter twice.
To insert text in another location, you must move the insertion point (also known as the blinking cursor). To move the insertion point, move your pointer arrow to the new location and click once.
Tip : The Status Bar shows where the insertion point is in your document, including the page number and distance from the margin.
To move to a different part of your document, use the scroll-bars on the side of the Word window. Click the up or down arrow to move one line at a time, drag the scroll box to move more quickly, or click above or below the scroll-box to move up or down a screen at a time.
To type text right over existing text, double-click OVR on the status bar or press the Insert key on the keyboard. Double-click OVR or press the Insert key again to turn overtype off. You can also turn overtype on and off by pressing the Insert key on your keyboard.
When your document reaches the end of a page, Word automatically inserts page breaks. Automatic page breaks appear as a line of dots across the screen. If you want a page to end at a particular point in your text, you can insert a manual page break by pressing Ctrl-Enter . Page breaks you insert are labeled Page Break on the screen. To remove an inserted page break , delete it as you would any other character.
Before you can change a block of text. move it, for example, change its typeface, or copy it - you have to select it. When you move your arrow pointer over the document page, it changes shape to what is called an I-beam . Place the I-beam at the start of the text you want to change, press and hold the mouse left button, and drag the I-beam over the text. When the text is highlighted or selected release the mouse button. If you make a mistake, click anywhere on the screen to turn off the selection.
To move text, select it first, and then click the Standard toolbar's Cut button.
The original text disappears from the document, and is temporarily stored in your computer's clipboard .
To place the text elsewhere, click in the new location and then click the Standard toolbar's Paste button. You can also cut and paste by selecting Cut and Paste from the Edit menu.
Another easy way to move text to a nearby location is to drag and drop it. After selecting the text, point and click the middle of the highlighted area, hold down the mouse button, and drag the text to a new location. While dragging text, the pointer arrow has a gray box at its base and a gray insertion point at its tip. Use the insertion point to position the text; to drop it in place, release the mouse button.
Select a block of text, then click the Standard toolbar's Copy button:
The original text remains in the document, and a copy goes onto the clipboard:
Move the insertion point to the new location and then click the Paste button. You can also copy and paste by selecting Copy and Paste from the Edit menu.
The easiest way to copy selected text to a nearby location is to drag and drop while pressing the Ctrl key on your keyboard. Press the Ctrl key while you point and click in the middle of the highlighted text, and drag it to a new location. Use the gray insertion point to position the text, and release your mouse to drop it in place.
You can paste information you cut or copy into other documents and other Windows applications. Simply position your insertion point in the other document or application and paste the text. Look in the application's Edit menu for the Paste command.
You can repeatedly paste what you cut or copy until you cut or copy another selection or exit Windows. This feature was enhanced beginning with Word 2000 when the Clipboard got its own toolbar. First, copy or cut objects you want from a document or another Windows program. Select Toolbars from the View menu and place a checkmark beside Clipboard to turn it on.
The Clipboard toolbar has buttons for each of the objects copied or cut. To find out what a button represents, point at it and read the yellow flag that describes it. To paste an object, click its button. To paste all objects in the order in which you placed them on the clipboard, select Paste All . Word 2000 stores up to 12 text selections on the Clipboard; while XP stores up to 24 selections.
The Clipboard in Word XP appears as a dialog box on the right-hand side of your screen. To activate the clipboard, select Office Clipboard from the Edit menu. Click on the arrow next to the text or object that you want to paste; you will notice that a dialog box appears that lets you paste or delete that text or object. If you simply click on the text, Word will paste it.
You can use buttons on the Formatting toolbar to quickly format characters and paragraphs. For example, clicking once on the B button makes selected text bold. Clicking a second time turns bolding off. For more information on formatting, see the ATN Document, Word XP/2000 Basic Formatting (dww24).
You can undo many commands, such as copying, pasting and formatting characters by clicking the undo button on the Standard toolbar:
To see a list of commands you can undo, click the drop-down arrow next to the undo button. You can undo actions in reverse order by selecting from this list. You can also redo commands using the redo button, which is right next to the undo button, and works the same way.
Word checks your spelling as you type, and corrects errors as it finds them. If Word doesn't recognize a word, it puts a squiggly red line under it. You can ignore the line, or right-click the word, and choose an option from the menu that appears. The menu may have the correct spelling of the word, or simply Word's best guess at what the unfamiliar word might be.
To turn off the spell-checker, select the Tools menu and then Options . On the Spelling & Grammar tab, turn on Hide spelling errors in this document or turn off Check spelling as you type , and then OK the change.
To look at your document in different ways, select either the View buttons on the bottom left corner of the Word window or the View menu. Changing these views does not change the document, just how it looks to you on screen.
Normal : This document view is the one commonly used for creating and editing.
Web Layout : This view makes online reading easier. The window is divided into a "Document Map" on the left side and the document itself on the right. Click in the Document Map to move quickly through the document and keep track of where you are.
Page Layout : Good for final editing, viewing tables, and placing graphics. Displays the edge of the document page, as well as headers and footers.
Outline : Displays the Outline toolbar. With experience and practice, you may find it easy to create outlines in this view using Word's built-in heading styles.
You can use the Zoom Control menu on the Standard toolbar to zoom in and out of your document like a camera. Select from the range of 10% to 500% magnification or opt to show the width of the current page by selecting Page Width .
To turn one of Word’s many toolbars on or off, choose Toolbars from the View Menu , and select a toolbar. Once it is on, the toolbar may appear as a free-floating window or be "docked," that is, locked into the window, like the Formatting and Standard toolbars. To dock a toolbar, drag its title bar to the top, bottom, or side of the Word window. To move a docked toolbar, click and drag it by the double ridge on its far left side.
If you're planning to keep your document, you need to save it to a disk drive, the computer equivalent of a filing cabinet. For example, you might save the file to your computer’s hard disk, a floppy disk, or a network disk drive.
To save your document for the first time, click the Standard toolbar's Save button (or select Save from the File menu ). The Save As window appears. The Save in box at the top of the window shows the location where you are about to save your file. Type the file name in the File Name box. The name can be up to 255 characters long and may contain spaces. To finish saving the document, click Save or press Enter .
If you edit your saved document and then save it again, it is saved without prompting you for the filename or location. Save your files every 15 minutes or so , and be sure to save before trying something unfamiliar or risky, before switching to another application, and before leaving your computer. If you forget to save a file before closing Word, it asks you whether you want to save your changes.
After a document is saved, you may want to edit another copy under a new name or save a backup copy on another disk. Open the document and choose Save As... from the File menu. In the name box, type the new name of the copy of the document. Then click Save . Notice that the title bar of the document shows the new name of the working in the document you just named, and the original document has closed. Remember, you can re-open the original by selecting its name from the list at the bottom of the File menu.
If you want to share a file with someone who uses a different word-processor, such as WordPerfect or an earlier version of Word, you may need to save your document as a different file type. When you save a file, Word automatically saves it as a Word file, but you can change the file type in the Save As window. Select File and then Save As . In the lower part of the window, click the arrow to the right of the Save as type box, and select the appropriate file type. If you are unsure what word-processor someone is using, try saving a copy in the Rich Text Format (.rtf), which many word-processors can open, and which preserves most formatting.
In Word, you can keep your documents more or less organized by storing them in different folders, and keep them safe by saving a back-up to a different disk drive.
You can work with different files, folders, and drives in the Open or Save As windows. From the File menu, select either Open or Save As . The two windows are quite similar. At the top of the Open window, the Look in box shows the folder you are currently looking in; at the top of the Save As window, the same box is called Save in , and your file will be saved in this folder. To open or save a document in a different folder, you have several options:
To open a folder shown in the current window, simply double-click the folder.
To change to a different drive or folder not shown in the current window, select the arrow next to the Find in or Save in box the top of the window, and then select a drive or folder from the list.
To create a new folder, click the New Folder button at the top of the window and type a folder name. Note : if you plan to save a document in this new folder, be sure to double-click it to open it first.
On the left-hand side of the Save As and Open windows, you can select buttons to quickly go to specific folders: History, My Documents, Desktop, Favorites, Network Places and Web Folders. You can learn more about disk drives, folders, and files in the ATN document Windows 98/2000: File Management.
Before you print a document, it's a good idea to preview it. Select Print Preview from the File menu, and make sure you like how it looks. To continue editing the document, select Close . To print the document, choose Print , make any necessary changes in the Print dialog box, and click OK or press Enter to start printing.
Tip : If you have trouble printing, look for the print icon in the taskbar. Double-click it to bring up the printer window, see if you can determine the problem, and fix it.
Word XP has new options in the Print window. For example, the Pages per sheet option listed under Zoom works like a photocopier’s reduction feature: use it to print more than one page on a single sheet of paper. Also, Manual Duplex allows you to manually print on both sides of the sheet.
To close Word, select Exit from the File menu or click the Close button. If a document has not been saved, Word asks if you want to save it before closing. Click the appropriate button: Yes , No , or, if you did not mean to exit the program, Cancel .