1. Introduction
2. Starting Word and creating a document
3. Choosing the printer
4. Opening an existing document
5. Entering text
6. Saving a document
7. Closing a document
8. Exiting Word
9. Scrolling
10. Editing/changing text
11. Moving text with cut, copy, and paste
12. Finding and changing text
13. Formatting characters
14. Formatting paragraphs
15. Setting margins and page breaks
16. Using tabs
17. Checking spelling
18. Printing
19. Getting help

Introduction

This handout is a quick reference for Microsoft Word.  Instructions to start Word and print are specific to use in the CIRCA Labs.

The handout assumes you are familiar with the Microsoft Windows 95/98 environment and with using a mouse. Refer to the CIRCA handout, Using Microsoft Windows in the CIRCA Labs, to learn more about Microsoft Windows 95/98.

Starting Word and creating a document

Select Start. Click Programs. Select Office '97.  Click Microsoft Word.  Word will begin and you will see a blank document named Document1

Choosing the printer

You must select a printer before creating or modifying an existing document. Your printer choice affects the fonts and formatting. You will always need to do this once when you begin using Windows and Word for Windows.

To select a printer, choose Print from the File menu. Highlight a printer in the list of printers and click the OK button. You should select the printer that you will use to print the file. So if you are going to print the file on an HP LaserJet III printer, choose the option HP LaserJet III on LPT1:. Your computer may not have any printer or it may have a different kind of printer attached to it, but you still want to choose an HP LaserJet III printer if that's the printer you will use later.

Opening an existing document

You can open an existing document by choosing Open from the File menu and selecting the appropriate file.

Entering text

The cursor (the blinking vertical bar) shows where text is inserted when you type.

When a paragraph is longer than one line, unlike a typewriter, you do not need to hit a carriage return at the end of the line. Word automatically "wraps" sentences by moving words to the beginning of the next line. While it is possible for you to put a carriage return (press the Return key) at the end of your line, in general it is better to let the words "flow" for you.

A paragraph is any amount of text followed by a paragraph marker. A paragraph marker is inserted in the document when the Return key is pressed. Word treats a paragraph as a unit for the purposes of selecting and formatting.

Saving a document

New documents are automatically called Document1. To save a new document choose the Save command from the File menu. A dialog box appears where you can enter a name for the document and some other information. Enter the information if you wish and then click the OK button.

Choose the Save As command from the File menu to save an existing document with another name.

Closing a document

Choose the Close command from the File menu to close the active document and remove it from the document window. Closing a document is not the same as exiting because Word is still stored in the computer's memory.

Exiting Word

Choose the Exit command from the File menu.

Scrolling

The document window can only show one screen of a long document at a time. To see other parts, you scroll the document.
 

To scroll:	Do this:
One line	Click the down or up scroll arrow in the vertical scroll area. The cursor is not moved. The down and up arrow keys move the cursor down or up one line at a time. When the cursor is at the bottom or top of the window, the window scrolls.
One window	Click inside the vertical scroll area beneath the scroll box to move to the next window or click above the scroll box to move to the previous window. The cursor is not moved.  Press the Page Down key to move to the next window. Press the Page Up key to move to the previous window.
To the top or bottom of the document	Drag the scroll box to the top or bottom of the vertical scroll area.
To the middle of the document	Drag the scroll box to the middle of the vertical scroll area.

Editing/changing text

Selecting text

When you edit text in Word you use a technique called "select-and do". You select some text by highlighting it and then perform the desired action on the highlighted text.
 

To select:	Do this:
A word	Double-click on the word.
A paragraph	Click in the selection bar (the left margin area in which the pointer arrow points inward) next to the line.
The entire document	Choose the Select All option from the Edit menu.
Other amounts of text	Drag the mouse pointer from the beginning of the text to the end of the text. Release the mouse button.

Deleting text

Press the Backspace key to remove the character to the left of the insertion point. Press the Delete key to remove the character to the right of the insertion point. Press either of these keys to remove any text that is selected.

Replacing text

Select the text to be replaced. Type the replacement text. The selected text will disappear when you enter the first character of the new text.

Undoing an action

Choose the Undo Typing command from the Edit menu. Note that the Undo option changes depending upon your last action; the option may be Undo Typing, Undo Formatting, or others. Use this option to fix any mistakes you may make.  You can continue to undo until the option is no longer highlighted on the Edit menu.
 

Moving text with cut, copy, and paste

Cutting (deleting), copying, and pasting is done from the Edit menu. Cut or copied text is stored in an area called the Clipboard. It holds only the most recently selected text that you cut or copied. Text remains in the Clipboard until other text is cut or copied into it.

Cutting text

Select the text and choose the Cut command from the Edit menu. This deletes the text from the document and stores it on the Clipboard.

Copying text

Select the text and choose the Copy command from the Edit menu. This leaves the text in the document and stores a copy of it on the Clipboard.

Pasting text

Move the cursor to the place you want the text to be inserted. Choose the Paste command from the Edit menu. Pasting makes a copy of the contents of the Clipboard and inserts it into your document.

The same text can be pasted as often as needed as long it remains in the Clipboard (it will be replaced by another cut or copied text). Text can also be pasted into other documents.

Finding and changing text

Finding text

Choose the Find command from the Edit menu. Type in the text you want to find and click on the Find Next button.

Replacing text

Choose the Replace command from the Edit menu. Enter the text you want replaced in the Find What box . Click in the Replace With box and type in the replacement text. Now click on either the Find Next or the Replace All button as appropriate. When using Find Next, when the text is found, click on Find Next to skip, or Replace as needed.

Formatting characters

Changing text to bold, italic, underline

Select the text. Click on the bold, italic, or underline buttons on the ribbon at the top of the screen. Click the button again to remove the formatting. The buttons look like this:



Changing fonts and text size

Select the text. Click and hold the arrow next to the Font Name. Drag the pointer to one of the available fonts, and then release the mouse button to select that font. Use the same procedure to select a font size.

The font and font size buttons look like this:

Formatting paragraphs

Changing the alignment

Select the paragraph(s). From the ruler, click the desired alignment box: left justified, centered, right justified, or block format. The alignment boxes contain varied-length horizontal lines. The alignment of the lines reflect how the formatted text will appear on the screen. The alignment buttons look like this:



In this case, the left justified box has been selected.

Indenting the first line

Select the paragraph(s). Make sure the Ruler Bar is visible by selecting Ruler from the View Menu.  From the ruler, drag the first-line indent marker (the upper triangle) to the desired indent on the ruler. Only the first line of each paragraph is indented. Here is an example of part of the ruler as it might appear without any indenting:



You can see the upper and lower triangles of the indent marker. Here is an example of how the ruler might appear when indenting the first line of a paragraph:



Creating a hanging indent

Select the paragraph(s). Drag the left-indent marker (the lower triangle) to the desired indent on the ruler. All of the lines except the first line of each paragraph are aligned with the hanging indent. Here is an example of how the ruler might appear when using a hanging indent



All of the above as well as more paragraph format options are available by selecting the Paragraph dialog box in the Format menu.

Setting margins and page breaks

The preset margins for a document are 1 inch for top and bottom, and 1.25 inches for left and right. The 0 mark on the ruler starts at the left margin setting, i.e., at 1.25 inches from the left side of the paper. If you align text within ruler settings that are wider than the margins can accommodate, the text will start at the left margin and extend into the right margin space. If the ruler settings let text extend beyond the printable region of the paper, the text is truncated.

Setting the margins

Choose the Page Setup command from the File menu. Edit the margin settings in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right boxes. Click OK.

Inserting page breaks

Move the cursor to the location of the desired page break. Hold the Ctrl key and press the Enter key.

Page breaks that you insert appear as closely spaced dotted lines. These page breaks do not move even when margins or line spacing is changed.

Deleting manual page breaks

Move the cursor to the page break. Press the Delete key.

Using tabs

Setting tabs

Select the paragraph(s) to contain the tab settings. Select the Tabs option from the Format Menu.  Type the desired placement for your tab and alignment.  When done with that, press set to make it effective.  Continue the process if more tabs are needed.  When you are done, press OK.

Here is a description of the four different kinds of tab settings.
 

tab setting	description
left adjusted tab	left justifies text on the tab setting
centered tab	centers text on the tab setting
right adjusted tab	right justifies text on the tab setting
decimal aligned tab	aligns decimal points on the tab setting

You may also put the cursor on the ruler where you want the tab and click. To change the type of tab, select the tab type box to the far left of the horizontal ruler bar.  Here's an example of the first four tabs as they would appear on the ruler:



Changing tabs

Select the paragraph(s) containing the tabs to be changed. Drag the tab markers to the new location on the ruler.

Removing tab settings

Select the paragraph(s) containing the tabs to be removed. Drag the tab markers off the ruler.

Checking spelling

Checking Spelling as you Type

Spell Check automatically begins to check the spelling of words when you start a document.  Misspelled words are underlined in red as you type.  If you would like to disable this setting, select Options from the Tools Menu.  Click Spelling and Grammar.  Uncheck Check Spelling as you Type.

Starting the Spell Check

Select the text that you want to check for spelling. If no text is selected, then the entire document is checked. Choose the Spelling command from the Tools menu.

Correcting words

When a word is not found in the dictionary, it is highlighted. If the word is correct, click the Ignore button. If the word is incorrect, you have two options:

• Type the correct spelling in the Not in Dictionary box and click the Change button.
• The first choice of suggestions will appear in the Suggestions box. Click on the Change button to accept that spelling, or click on a different spelling in the Suggestions box and then click on the Change button.  Selecting Change All will change all instances of the spelling mistake in the document.

Printing

Printing the entire document

Choose the Print command from the File menu. Click OK.

Printing a range of pages

Choose the Print command from the File menu. Click Pages and enter the page numbers you wish to print.  Click OK.

Printing multiple copies of the document

Enter the number of copies in the Copies box in the Print dialog box. Click OK.

Getting help

Choose Help Contents and Index from the Help menu to use the on-line help utility.