WHAT IS WORD PROCESSOR ?
A word processor is a software program capable of creating, storing, and printing documents. It helps you to create a document, format it, correct your mistakes, save, review and print it.
Cut, copy and paste text
Insert or delete text
Set page size and margins
Search and replace
Word wrap
Print
Word Processors that support only above features (and may be few more) are called Text Editors. Most word processors, however, are quite advanced and support many additional features as listed below:
Allows to create, delete, move, copy, rename and search for files.
Allows to specify font, size, colour, header, footer, page numbering, footnote, cross-reference, bullets and numbering, table, images, graphics, table of contents and indexes.
Allows to specify page layout, page orientation and margins.
Allows use of spell checker, thesaurus, macros, merges.
Allows to open and edit multiple documents at the same time in separate windows.
The word processors that support above features are called full featured word processors. There are many word processors available in the market. We will consider MS Word 2007 for our study. We will understand what the above feature are and how we can use them.
WORD BASICS
In this section we will cover how to start, open, create, save and close a word document and what do different parts in a Word window stand for. The editing and formatting of the created document will be covered in the next section.
Starting Word
You can start MS Word by either of the following two ways:
Click on Startà All ProgramsàMicrosoft Officeà Microsoft Office Word 2007.
Double click on the MS Word icon on the desktop (if you have one).
When word opens, a new document with default name as Document1 is opened. For each additional document you open, the number increases by one. Please note that you can open more than one document at a time.
You may also start Word by clicking on a document saved on your hard drive. Word will open automatically and the document will be displayed in the document area.
When you open word from the menu or desktop icon, the screen will look like in Figure
Introduction to Commands and Resources in Word Window
Let us familiarize ourselves with the key commands and resources in Word Window:
The Microsoft Office Button
It is the button in the upper-left corner of the Word Window. When you click on the button, it displays a menu that can be used to create a new document, open an existing document, save a document, print a document and perform many other tasks.
The Quick Access Toolbar
It is present next to the Microsoft Office Button on the top. It provides you access to the commands you frequently use. By default Following appear on the Quick Access Toolbar:
Save: To save your file (you may also press keyboard button Ctrl+S).
Undo: To rollback the action that you last took (Ctrl+Z).
Redo: To reapply the action you rolled back or to repeat an action(Ctrl+Y).
The Title Bar
It is next to the Quick Access toolbar at the top. It displays the title of the document on which you are currently working. By default, the first new document is named as Document1. For each additional document you open, the number increases by one. You may save the documents by any legal filename you want.
The Ribbon
The Ribbon is the panel at the top portion of the document, right below the Title Bar. To begin with it has following seven tabs:
Home: It has basic commands for creating and formatting the documents. It has controls for working with the clipboard, setting fonts, formatting paragraphs, applying styles and using Find and Replace.
Insert: It has commands for inserting pages, tables, pictures, shapes, other illustrations, links, headers, footers, symbols, signature line and much more.
Page Layout: The commands here help to set the layout of the document, apply a theme to the document to set the overall look of the document, set the margins, background colours, etc.
References: It has commands that let you create Table of contents, footnotes, indexes, etc.
Mailings: Has commands for creating mail merges.
Review: Has commands to track changes and add comments to the documents.
View: Helps to change the document views.
(We cover in detail each of the above features in the later sections of this unit.) Besides these basic tabs, additional tabs appear from time to time, depending on the context we are working in. These tabs are called contextual tabs. For example, if you select a drawing, a Drawing Tools contextual tab appears that has commands to help you manipulate the drawing. These contextual tabs appear in a different colour to make them easy to spot.
The commands on each tab are organized into groups. Hence, a group is a collection of logically related command buttons that you can use to develop or edit your Word document. Commonly used features are displayed on the Ribbon and additional options can be accessed through the dialog box launcher at the bottom-right corner of each group.
The Ruler
The ruler can be found right below the Ribbon. The ruler is useful for document layout purposes. It is used to set the margins, tab stops, align text, graphics, tables and other elements in a document. You may change the setting to show or hide the ruler.
The Text Area
You can type you content in the Text Area. The blinking vertical line is the cursor which marks the insertion point. As you type, text displays at the cursor location. The vertical scroll bar on the window helps you to move up and down the document.
The Status Bar
The Status Bar is at the very bottom of the window. It provides information such as the current page and the number of words in the document. You can change what displays on the Status Bar by right clicking on the Status Bar and selecting/ deselecting the options from the menu. You may also view your document in one of the following ways using the hot buttons in the status bar:
Draft View: It is used to quickly edit your document. It shows the page in a simplified format and is most frequently used view.
Web Layout: Shows how a page will appear when viewed from a Web Browser.
Full Screen Reading: Shows the page in a way that it makes it easy and comfortable to read your document onscreen.
Print Layout: Shows the document as it will look when it is printed.
Outline View: Displays the document in outline form. The outline view allows you to see either the entire contents of the document, or just chapter headings or section heading and so on.
Setting up Your Word Environment
Before you begin creating Word documents, you may want to set up your Word environment and become familiar with a few key tasks such as how to maximize and minimize the Ribbon, configure the Quick Access toolbar, display the ruler, etc.
Minimize and Maximize the Ribbon
Right click anywhere in the main menu
Select Minimize the Ribbon in the menu that appears. This will toggle the Ribbon on and off.
The check mark beside 'Minimize the Ribbon' option indicates the feature is active. You may choose to use this option, if you prefer not to use the Ribbon, but use different menus and keyboard shortcuts. This has the advantage of giving you more screen space to work on the document.
Add Commands to Quick Access Toolbar
Click the arrow (customize quick access toolbar) to the right of the Quick Access toolbar.
Select the command you wish to add from the drop down menu. The command will appear in the Quick Access Toolbar
You may want to add frequently used commands to your Quick Access Toolbar, to make the specific Word features more convenient to you.
Display or Hide the Ruler
Click the View Ruler icon over the scrollbar.
The View Ruler icon is a toggle button that shows or hides the ruler.
Customize the Status Bar
Right click anywhere on the Status Bar.
From the menu that appears, select the options that you want to see on the Status Bar. Each click on an option will toggle it between show and hide on the Status Bar.
Customizing the Environment Using Word Options
The Word options menu allows you to customize Word 2007 according to your preferences.
Click the Microsoft Office Button
Click on 'Word Options' button located at the bottom of the menu.
When you click on 'Word Options' button, an extensive menu will open. It is has more than hundred configurable options, not including submenus!
You can set your preferences for Autocorrect, printing, saving, custom directories, colour scheme, spell check, grammar check, updating fields and much more. In addition this menu contains help options, such as repairing Microsoft Office or changing security settings. You may not be able to understand most of these options for now. We will take up some examples now and cover some more options while we progress through this unit.
Change the Colour of the Office Ribbon:
a. Click the Office Button.
b. Click the Word Options.
c. On the Popular Tab, under Color Scheme, select the preferred colour.
Change the Default Document Folder:
a. Click the Office Button.
b. Click the Word Options.
c. On the Save Tab, under Save Documents, click Browse button next to the Default File Location text box.
d. Navigate to and click the folder you want to be your default.
e. Click OK twice.
Reorder Items on Quick Access Toolbar:
a. Click the Office Button.
b. Click the Word Options.
c. On the Customize Tab, under Customize Quick Access Toolbar, select the command and then use the up/ down arrow key to change its position on the bar.
Creating a New Document
You can create a new document as follows:
Click the Microsoft Office Button.
Select New. The New Document dialog box appears.
Select Blank Document under 'Blank and Recent' section. It will be highlighted by default.
Click Create. A new, blank document appears in the Word window.
You may also use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+N to create a new document.
Opening an Existing Document
You can open an existing document in one of the following ways:
Click the Microsoft Office Button.
Select Open. Select the required document in the dialog box.
OR
Use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+O to select and open an existing document.
OR
If you have recently used document then
Click the Microsoft Office Button.
Choose from the Recent Documents section.
OR
Go to Windows Explorer. Find your document. Right mouse click on the document and select Open.
Saving a Existing Document
Click the Microsoft Office Button.
Select Save from the menu.
OR
Use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S
OR
Use Save on the Quick Access Toolbar
On using any of these options, the document is saved in its current location with the same file name. If you are saving the document for the first time, then Save As dialog box appears which accepts the document name and location (folder) where it is to be saved.
Using Save As Option
You may use Save As option as below:
Click the Microsoft Office Button.
Select Save As from the menu. The Save As dialog box appears. Select the location where you wish to save the document.
Enter the name for the document Click the Save button
The Save As option can be used to:
Create a backup copy of the document by saving it at another location or by different name.
Save the document as a template
Save the document in a format that is fully compatible with Word97-2003 Save the document in other formats, for example PDF
Working with Multiple Documents
Multiple documents can be opened simultaneously if there is such a need. To see the list of open documents:
Click on View tab of the Ribbon
Click on Switch Windows in the Window group. A drop down list of all open documents is displayed.
The current document has a checkmark besides its name. You may select any document from the list to make it current.
Closing a Document
To close a document:
Click the Microsoft Office Button.
Select Close from the menu.
The current document closes. The next document in the list becomes current. If there is no other open document, then only Word window is there.
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