Michael C. MabalayMentor

Starting Word1. 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 InterfaceComponents 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.

The Standard toolbar

Function of commonly used buttons

Creates a new blank document based on the default template

Opens or finds a file  

Saves the active file with its current file name, location and file format

Prints the active file - for more print options go to the File menu and select Print

 

Print preview - Shows how the document will look when you print it.

Spelling, grammar and writing style checker

 

Cut - Removes the selection from the document and places it on the clipboard

Copy - Copies the selected item(s) to the clipboard

 

Paste - Places the content of the clipboard at the insertion point

Format painter - Copies the format from a selected object or text and applies to other objects or text

Undo - Reverses the last command, use pull-down menu to undo several steps

Redo - Reverses the action of the Undo button, use the pull-down menu to redo several steps

Displays the Tables and Borders toolbar

Insert a table into the document, or make a table of selected text

Insert an Excel spreadsheet into the Word document

Columns - Changes the number of columns in a document

Displays or hides the Drawing toolbar

Zoom - Enlarge or reduce the display of the active document

The Formatting toolbar

Function of commonly used buttons

Select the style to apply to paragraphs

Changes the font of the selected text

Changes the size of selected text and numbers

Makes selected text and numbers bold

Makes selected text and numbers italic

Underlines selected text and numbers

Aligns to the left with a ragged right margin

Centers the selected text

Aligns to the right with a ragged left margin

Aligns the selected text to both the left and right margins

Makes a numbered list or reverts back to normal

Add, or remove, bullets in a selected paragraph

Decreases the indent to the previous tab stop

Indents the selected paragraph to the next tab stop

Adds or removes a border around selected text or objects

Marks text so that it is highlighted and stands out

Formats the selected text with the color you click