Word processing lesson: Microsoft Word. Created by Helen Mongan-Rallis (June, 2005)

Word Processing Lesson

Contents:

Word Processing Lesson......

Contents:......

Menu bar:......

Commonly Used Menu items......

File......

View......

Insert......

Format......

Tools......

Table......

Window......

Help......

Customizing the toolbars:......

Most Commonly Used Tools in Toolbar......

Standard......

Formatting......

Outlining......

Drawing......

Picture......

This lesson can be accomplished using either Windows or Macintosh operating systems and using most word processing programs, although the exact functioning of programs, naming conventions for steps, and location of tools may vary from program to program. The specific examples in this lesson, however, will be taught using Microsoft Word..

The following are skills you should master within Microsoft Word. Review each, briefly for those skills that you can already do, and spending in-depth time on those skills you have not yet accomplished.

Menu bar:

  1. Explore the menu bar, clicking on each item and seeing what items are listed under each. Make a note of those items you want to return to later to learn more about.
  2. Notice that some items have icons and short cuts listed next to them. What this means is that there is more than one way of performing the task. Typically (in Microsoft Word and many other programs) there are three ways (1) using the menu bar and selecting the item from the drop-down menu (2) clicking on the icon that appears in a tool bar (3) using the keyboard shortcut, which involves pressing a combination of keys. e.g. Under the “File” menu you will see that next to “save” there is a picture of a computer disk and also the short cut “Cntrl + S” (which means “hold down control key and then the “S” key).

Commonly Used Menu items

A number of the items that appear in the menu items are the same as those in the commonly used toolbars (see later in this lesson).

File

  1. Open
  2. Save: use this the first time that you save a file and when you want to save updates to the file
  3. Save as: use this when you want to keep a copy of the original file and then make copy (if you do this you will have two versions of the file: the original one that you saved, and then the subsequent one that you saved as)
  4. Save as web page: this converts your word file to an HTML document (i.e. a document that can be uploaded to the web and viewed as a web page). Note: When a Word file in saved as a web page, the html formatting code is at best “messy” and it a poor way of creating a web page. However, it does work, even if the document appearance may be altered (in some very strange ways!) and it will not conform to web page standards. It is sometimes a useful option if you want to create a web page quickly and do not have time to create one in an html authoring program (such as Mozilla Composer or Macromedia Dreamweaver).
  5. Print
  6. List of recently opened word files
  7. Undo/redo: very useful if you make a mistake (such as deleting something you didn’t intend to delete).
  8. Cut, copy, office clipboard, paste
  9. Clear
  10. Select all
  11. Find, replace, go to

View

  1. Normal, web layout, print layout
  2. Task pane
  3. Toolbars
  4. Rulers
  5. Document map
  6. Header and footer
  7. Markup
  8. Full screen, zoom

Insert

  1. Break
  2. Page numbers
  3. Date and time
  4. Auto text
  5. Symbol
  6. Reference
  7. Picture, diagram, text box, file, object, bookmark, hyperlink

Format

  1. Font, paragraph, bullets and numbering, borders and shading
  2. Columns, tabs, drop case, text direction, change case
  3. Background, themes, frames, auto format, styles and themes, reveal formatting

Tools

  1. Spelling & grammar, thesaurus, hyphenation, dictionary, language
  2. Word count, auto summarize, auto correct
  3. Track changes, merge documents, protect documents, flag for follow-up
  4. scrapbook, reference tools, compatibility report, project palette
  5. Data merge manager, envelopes, labels, letter wizard, address book
  6. Tools on the web
  7. Macro, templates and add-ins, customize

Table

  1. Draw table
  2. Insert, delete, select
  3. Merge cells, split cells, split table
  4. Table AutoFormat, AutoFit, heading rows repeat
  5. Convert, sort, formula, gridlines
  6. Table properties

Example of some options within a table:

This cell was split into 3 cells / Sideways text
These cells are merged / This cell is colored blue (from “Format” menu  “borders and shading” / This is a photo inserted into a cell

Window

  1. Zoom window, minimize window
  2. Bring all to front
  3. New window, arrange all, split
  4. Document

Help

Even if your style of learning is only to ask for help or to use the help option only when all other options fail, if you are learning to use computers and various computer applications on your own or in a class that relies a lot on independent study and outside of class work, then you need to get into the habit of becoming familiar with the help feature that comes with the program. The advantage of doing this, rather than seeking other written help (such as a book or online tutorial about the program), is that the help files that accompany a program are designed for that specific version of the program and for the operating system that you are using. So make a habit of familiarizing yourself with the help menu as soon as you begin using any program!

  1. To locate the help menu  select “Microsoft Word Help from “help” on the menu bar. Then you can use this help menu in the following ways:
  2. View the Table of Contents.
  3. Type a question in the Answer Wizard.
  4. Search for specific words or phrases, choose from a list of keywords in the Index, or browse the help table of contents.
  5. Connect to the Microsoft Word help on the Web.
  6. To learn more about the help index, type “help index” in the Assistant balloon box.

Customizing the toolbars:

  1. From the menu bar  select “View”  toolbars  customize.
  2. This opens a dialog box that enables you to select which toolbars you would like to be open at the top of your document so that you can use the toolbox icons to perform various functions as you work within your document. You can also select toolbars individually from the “View” menu by selecting them from the drop-down menu. For example: The toolbars that I find most helpful to have open by default, since I use them frequently, are: standard, formatting, drawing, picture, and tables & borders.
  3. A good way to find out what is on each toolbar is to use the “customize” dialog box. As you select a check box next to each type of toolbar, that bar will open on your window. Take a look at the options it offers and see if you think they are options you are likely to use. If you aren’t sure, play around with them to see what they do (tip: do so only when you have a file open that doesn’t contain important information in case you do something that you don’t want and then can’t figure out how to undo it!).
  4. Explore these options for each toolbar using the customize box and decide on the set that you want to keep. Remember that you can always return to the customize box or else just the “View” menu and deselect these if you no longer want them. Similarly, you can add toolbars later should you need them.
  5. Note: you can have toolbars be “docked” (which means that they appear at the top or bottom of your document) or “floating” (which means that they float on your screen and can me moved around on your window.

Most Commonly Used Tools in Toolbar

Experiment with using each of the following items. Try different approaches to doing the same task (e.g. Using menu bar, icon, and short cut). Push yourself to learn new functions with which you are not familiar. If you get stuck, use the help menu. If you can’t find the answer there, go to the online help. If you still can’t find the answer there, jot down your question and bring it to class or post it in the class Web Crossing “Help” folder.

Standard

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Word processing lesson: Microsoft Word. Created by Helen Mongan-Rallis (June, 2005)

  1. New document
  2. Open
  3. Save
  4. E-mail
  5. Print
  6. Print preview
  7. Spelling and grammar check
  8. Cut
  9. Copy
  10. Paste
  11. Undo typing
  12. Redo typing
  13. Insert hyperlink
  14. Tables & borders
  15. Insert table
  16. Insert Excel spreadsheet
  17. Columns
  18. Drawing
  19. Document map
  20. Show/hide paragraph marks
  21. Zoom
  22. Microsoft Word Help

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Word processing lesson: Microsoft Word. Created by Helen Mongan-Rallis (June, 2005)

Formatting

  1. Style
  2. Font
  3. Font size
  4. Bold, italics, underling
  5. Alignment, line spacing
  6. Number, bullet: to change the formatting of numbers and bullets, from the “Format” menu select “Bullets and numbering.”
  7. Increase and decrease indent
  8. Outside border, highlight, font color
  9. Format paragraph: place the cursor in the paragraph that you wish to format, and then from the “Format” menu select “Paragraph”  then follow the prompts in the dialog box.

Outlining

Used to set the style of your text. This is particularly useful if you are creating a document that has many headings and subheadings and for which you will want to generate automatically a table of contents (TOC). For example, the table of contents for this Microsoft Word Lesson was generated using this.

Drawing

This allows you to draw graphics within your word processed document – so that you can enhance the visual appeal of your document and add to reader understanding with graphics. For example:

The drawing tools include:

  1. Shapes: auto shapes, line, arrow, square, circle
  2. Text box
  3. Word art
  4. Insert diagram, clip art, picture
  5. Color: fill color, line color, text color
  6. Line: line style, dash style, arrow style
  7. Shadow and 3D style

Picture

This can be used separately or in conjunction with the drawing tools for inserting clip art and photos. Example:


  1. Insert picture
  2. Edit picture: color, contrast, brightness; crop, rotate, line style, compress, text wrap, set transparent color
  3. Text wrap: to insert text around a picture.
  • Locate a picture  insert it into your document.
  • Select “Help” from the menu bar  select “Microsoft Word Help  text wrap in the box  click “search.”
  • From the list of choice that appear, select “wrap text” and click on “Around a picture or drawing object.
  • Follow the directions for wrapping text around a picture (your picture is not on a drawing canvas). Experiment with different wrapping styles. For example, this text here set to wrap around the picture in tight format, left justified.
  • Another way to access the text wrapping tools: From menu bar  view  toolbars  select “Picture.” This makes the picture toolbar visible. From this, click on the text wrapping icon.
  • You can also experiment with the placement of the picture in relation to the text by clicking on the picture, dragging it, and dropping it in different places on the document.

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