Lab 2b

Lab 2b

Microsoft Word

[Submit: an edited Word file]

Objectives:

What is Microsoft Word? 

Microsoft Word (or just Word, for short) is a word processing program that allows the user to format text with attributes such as bold, italics, font size, and margins. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications and is a highly popular program for the workplace. You may also find it useful for writing English papers or Chemistry lab reports.

The Environment

To open Word, Windows users will probably go to Start -> Programs -> Word or Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Word. Mac users will open Finder, then go to Applications -> Microsoft Office -> Word.

The Word application environment is broken up into two distinct regions. The first region is the Word application window. All open Word documents are displayed within the confines of this window. The Word application window is further broken down into sub-regions. Here's a list with a basic description:

1. Application Title Bar - This is the blue bar at the top of the Word application environment. Almost all Windows applications have a title bar. It displays the title of the application and often the name of the file that you opened, such as "Microsoft Word - lab5.doc".
2. Menu Bar - This is immediately underneath the Application Title Bar. It provides access to pull down menus that list Word's features.
3. Toolbar(s) - The toolbar(s) display icons which provide shortcut access to Word tools and functions. They are typically located immediately underneath the Menu Bar, but they can be moved to anywhere inside the Word application window. You can have as many toolbars as you want. Leave the mouse cursor over a toolbar icon for a few seconds (don't press the mouse button) to find out what feature that icon represents; a brief description will appear in a "bubble."

4. Status Bar - Located at the bottom of the Word application window, the status bar is generally used to show your location within a document, but non-critical messages from Word are also displayed here.

 The second region of the MS Word Application window is the document area. This is where the work on a document is actually performed. While more than one document can be displayed in the document area at one time, only one can be active. A dark blue title bar indicates the active document. All typing is directed to the active document. The active document window is broken down into several sub-regions as well.

1. Document Title Bar - this is located immediately below the toolbars. It acts like the title bar for the application window and displays the title of the document (Note: If the active document is maximized within the workspace, the document title bar will not be displayed, and the Ruler will be immediately below the tool bars).
2. Ruler - Located immediately below the document title bar, the ruler shows margins and tab stops. It usually displays using inches and can be configured or turned off.
3. View Mode Buttons - Located at the lower left of the active document window, they allow the document to be viewed in Normal View, Outline Layout View, Page Layout View, and Outline View. We will discuss these different views in detail later.

4. Scroll Bars - These are located to the right and bottom of the active document window and are used to navigate the document.

Features in Word

Word is a WYSIWYG (pronounced wiz-ee-wig) program, which stands for "What You See Is What You Get." That means that the style of the text you see on the screen is what you see when you print the document. When you make the text larger or underlined, the text on the screen will also appear larger or underlined. We will only discuss some of the most common and useful features of Word in this lab. For more help, browse through the menus and consult the online help manual. Help can be accessed at any time with the F1 button on your keyboard.

File operations

To start working on a new file, go into File -> New... (this means go into the File menu and choose the New... option). Choose New Document and click OK.

• To load an old file, go into File -> Open... and find your file using the drop-down menu called "Look in:" (it's at the very top of the dialog box).

• To save a file, go into File -> Save or File -> Save As... Use Save As... when you want to give your file a new name. Use Save when you want to save your file with the name you gave it last time.

DANGER: SAVE EARLY AND SAVE OFTEN!!!!! Your computer or application can and will crash at any time, and you will lose all the work you've done since you last saved!!

 

• To quit word, choose File -> Exit.

Views

You can look at your document in various ways in Word. Some views will show the formatting options applied while others will show you what your document will look like if you print it. Some of the different views are:

• Normal view - Akin to a standard word processor. Shows a white work area with text and graphics. This view is not completely WYSIWYG, so you will not see columns or headers and footers, etc. Instead, you will be able to see page breaks and section breaks (more detail about those features later). Invoke this view by choosing View -> Normal.
• Outline Layout view - In outline view, Word simplifies the text formatting to help you focus on the structure of your document. Each heading level is formatted with the appropriate built-in heading style (Heading 1 through Heading 9) or outline level (Level 1 through Level 9). Paragraph formatting doesn't appear. Also, the ruler and the paragraph formatting commands are not available. Invoke this view by choosing View -> Outline Layout.
• Page Layout view - Displays a document as text on a piece of paper. The display is very close to the way the document will look when printed. Page layout view is used for precise placement and sizing of objects within a document. Invoke this view by choosing View -> Page Layout.

• Outline view - Displays a document as an outline. No graphics are shown in this mode. The ruler will not be displayed in this view. Invoke this view by choosing View -> Outline.

Text formatting

Fonts and sizes

The list of fonts should be on the second toolbar, in the second drop-down menu. If you press the arrow on the drop-down menu, you can scroll up and down in the list and choose a new font. You will be using the new font when you start typing.

 

How to change existing text from one font to another:

1. Highlight the text (move your cursor to just before the first character you want, click down, and drag the cursor to include the last character you want, then let go of the mouse button. Your selection should be now be displayed in a different color).

2. Go to the font drop-down menu and choose a different font.

The list of font sizes is right beside the list of fonts. Differently sized fonts are often used for headings or titles to make them stand out. You change font sizes the same way that you change fonts.

 

 

Style

There are various ways to make your words stand out more, such as bold, italics, and underline. Their icons are on the second toolbar, next to the list of font sizes. They look like B, I, and U, respectively. Click each option to turn it on, and then click again to turn it off. If you want to change existing text, hightlight the text and click one of the buttons.

 

 

Paragraph formatting

Word defines a paragraph as text with a carriage return at the end of the line. These are some options you can apply to paragraphs.

 

Alignment

You can make all the text line up on the left margin, right margin, both margins, or the center of the page. The buttons for Align Left, Center, Align Right, and Justify are next to the Bold/Italics/Underline buttons on the second toolbar.

 

Spacing

You can single-space, double-space, or set your own spacing for your paragraphs. Single-spacing leaves very little white space between two lines of text in a paragraph. Double spacing leaves one line of blank space between lines of text.

 

How to change the line spacing from single to double:

1. Go into Format -> Paragraph...

2. A dialog box will pop up that lists the sections "Indentation" and "Spacing". Look under the "Spacing" header and look for the "Line Spacing:" header. Change the value in the drop-down box from "Single" to "Double".

Moving text

If you want to move text from one part of your document to another, you can cut, copy, paste, or move text using the mouse.

• To cut text, highlight the text, then select Edit -> Cut (or type Ctrl-x).
• To copy text, highlight the text, then select Edit -> Copy (or type Ctrl-c).
• To paste text, move the cursor to the desired location and select Edit -> Paste (or type Ctrl-v).

• To move text, use your mouse to highlight and drag the text around. When you have found the place you want to leave the text, let go of the mouse button.

Section vs. Page Breaks

 

Section

A section is a user-defined area where the formatting you apply to the section does not disturb the formatting in any other part of the document. Sections are useful for separating off parts of the document that need different line spacing, different number of columns (we'll discuss columns in more detail later), or headers and footers.

 

How to create a section:

1. Go into Normal view by choosing View -> Normal (if you are not in Normal view, you will not be able to see the section breaks that Word puts in).
2. Put the cursor on the line just above where you want your section to start.
3. Choose the Insert -> Break... menu option.
4. Under the "Section breaks" heading, choose "Continuous". Your new section starts after this point.

5. If your section does not continue to the end of the document, you will also want to define where you want your section to end. Simply repeat steps 1 through 3. The area within the two section breaks is your new section.

Note: to get rid of a section break, go into Normal view, position the cursor on the section break, and hit Delete on your keyboard.

 

 

Page

Each "page" in Word contains text and/or graphics that will fit on a sheet of paper in your printer. You can set the margins (amount of blank space on the top, bottom, left, and right edges of the paper) that you want.

 

Word automatically determines when text should be moved to another page to comply with margin settings, but sometimes you may want to force your text onto a new page. You can do this by inserting a page break.

 

How to insert a page break:

1. Go into Insert -> Break...

2. Make sure the "Page break" option is on, and click OK.

Note: to get rid of a page break that you inserted (you can't get rid of ones that Word makes to fit the text into your margins), go into Normal view, position the cursor on the page break, and hit Delete on your keyboard.

 

Header, footer, and page numbers

• A header is for text that must go in the top margin of every page of your document or section.
• A footer is for text that must go in the bottom margin of every page of your document or section.

• Page numbers can be inserted anywhere in your document, but you need to put it in the header or footer if you want to put it on every page of your document or section.

How to create/edit a header, footer, and page numbers:

1. Go into View -> Header and Footer.
2. Type in the text you want to put in the header or footer (you may need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the footer space and up to see the header). You can format the text using standard options such as bold, italics, font sizes, text alignment, etc.

3. If you want to put in page numbers, click on the icon that looks like a sheet of paper with "#" on it. Click OK.

Note: to see how the header or footer looks, go into Page Layout view.

 

 

Columns

Word can make your text flow in newspaper-like columns. This feature is often useful for desktop publishing.

 

How to create columns:

1. Select the text that you want to flow in columns.
2. Go into Format -> Columns.

3. Change the "Number of columns" field to "2" (or whatever number of columns you want) and click OK.

Tables

Columns are great for flowing text, but if you need to control the exact layout of data, you want to use tables. The following is an example of a table; note that both graphics and text are in this table.

The fundamental element of a table is a rectangular area called a cell. Individual cells are referenced by the intersection of their column and row. The following is an example of a small table with cells labeled.

 

The most common use of tables is for displaying numbers, but each of the cells in the above table can contain text, a picture, an object, or any combination of the three.

 

How to create a table:

1. Go into Table -> Insert Table.
2. Type in the number of columns and number of rows.
3. Click OK.

4. Click on the cell you wish to edit, and enter your data. (Repeat for each cell you want to edit.)

Sometimes, you will need to add new columns or rows to a growing table or remove columns or rows that contain data you no longer need.

 

How to add a row:

• To add a row to the bottom of the table, go to the bottom right cell and press tab.

• To add a row to the middle of a table, select the row that will be underneath the new one (basically, the new row will be added above your cursor location). Select Table -> Insert Rows from the menu bar.

How to add a column:

1. Decide where you want to place the column, and select the column that will be to the right of the new column by placing the cursor in a cell in the column and selecting Table -> Select Column.

2. Choose Table -> Insert Columns from the menu bar.

How to delete a row or column:

1. Select the row or column you wish to delete by placing the cursor in a cell belonging to that row or column. Choose Table -> Select Row or Table -> Select Column.

2. Now choose Table -> Delete Row or Table -> Delete Column to remove the selected row or column.

Text Box

Like tables, text boxes can enhance the presentation of data. A text box is essentially a movable data holder. If you consider the whole document to be laid out on a piece of paper, a text box would be a separate sheet of paper placed on top of the main document and thereby movable within the main document. Formatted text, graphics, tables, or any other supported object can be placed within a text box. If you move the text box, the data inside moves too. Also note that when a text box is placed in the middle of a body of text, the text is shifted around the text box; this is a very powerful feature. Here is an example of text boxes in a Word document:

 

How to insert a text box:

1. Make sure that you are in Page Layout view.
2. Choose Insert -> Text Box from the menu bar.
3. The mouse cursor will change to a set of fine cross hairs. Use the cross hairs to create a text box by clicking within the document and dragging the mouse.
4. A rectangle will be drawn as the mouse is dragged. Release the mouse button when you are satisfied with the size of the text box. A new empty text box will be inserted.

5. Click anywhere within the new text box to enter data.

Working within a text box is exactly like working within any Word document. You can format the text or insert graphics (next section).

 

 

Pictures

In Word, you can insert graphics to make your document more colorful and interesting.

 

How to insert a picture:

1. Make sure that you are in Page Layout view.
2. Choose Insert -> Picture -> Clip Art from the menu bar.

3. Click on a picture, and click the Insert button.

Spell Check and Grammar Check

Always proofread your documents before you release them to your audience!! Word's Spell Check and Grammar Check features are very useful for this purpose. Word can check your document as you type. Red wavy lines under your text denote possible spelling errors, and green underlines denote possible grammar errors. Right click on the underlined words to see why Word thinks they are wrong.

How to spell check and grammar check your whole document:

1. Place your cursor at the beginning of your document.

2. Choose Tools -> Spelling and Grammar.

• If Word thinks a word is questionable, you can make it ignore this instance of the word, ignore all instances of the word, add the word to the dictionary, take Word's suggestion, or fix it yourself.

• If Word thinks a sentence is questionable, it will tell you why it thinks the sentence is grammatically incorrect and give you some suggested fixes. You can choose them or click directly on the text in your document to edit the sentence. Click the Resume button on the Spelling and Grammar dialog box when you are done correcting the sentence.

Print Preview

When you are done with your document and want to print, use the Print Preview feature to make sure things look right.

 

How to use print preview:

1. Go into File -> Print Preview.

2. Scroll through the pages to make sure things look fine.

Note: you can't make editing changes in this view. Click the Close button to return to editing your document.

 

 

Your Assignment - Editing an Existing Word File

Your assignment for this lab is to obtain the existing Word file from the web, edit it, and turn it in with Part a using JES.

Find the Existing Word file online

Click here and save the file to your computer. Open up Microsoft Word to edit the file.

 

Edit the Word file

1. Read the first paragraph of instructions and then delete it, the "Lab 4" heading, and the dotted line separator. When you are done, the first line of your document should be "History of Programming Languages".
2. Change all the text (but not the ASCII art at the end of the document) to Times New Roman 12 pt.
3. Center the title and author's name. Bold the title and all the headings.
4. Insert a page break just before the ASCII art.
5. Doublespace the first three paragraphs only (hint: highlight the paragraphs before you choose doublespace).
6. Add footer with page number to all the pages. Put the page number on the right corner.
7. Hightlight the ASCII art and put a text box around it. Resize the box for the ASCII art to display correctly.
8. Spell check the document.

9. Use print preview to make sure everything looks right.

10. Save and turn in the file (instructions in Lab 2a).



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• Lauren Biddle last edited on 14 October 2003 at 10:01 pm by r37h125.res.gatech.edu