MICROSOFT WORD BASICS TUTORIAL

TUTORIAL CLASS 1
Microsoft Office Word 2010 allows you to create and edit personal and business documents, such as letters, reports, invoices, emails and books. By default, documents saved in Word 2010 are saved with the .docx extension. Microsoft Word can be used for the following purposes −
  • To create business documents having various graphics including pictures, charts, and diagrams.
  • To store and reuse readymade content and formatted elements such as cover pages and sidebars.
  • To create letters and letterheads for personal and business purpose.
  • To design different documents such as resumes or invitation cards etc.
  • To create a range of correspondence from a simple office memo to legal copies and reference documents.

Audience

This tutorial has been designed for computer users who are willing to learn Microsoft Word in simple steps and they do not have much knowledge about computer usage and Microsoft applications. This tutorial will give you enough understanding on MS Word from where you can take yourself to higher levels of expertise.

Prerequisites

Before you begin with this tutorial, we assume you have a basic understanding of Computer peripherals like mouse, keyboard, monitor, screen, etc. and their basic operations.
HOME
In this chapter, we will discuss how to get started with Word 2010. We will understand how to start a Word 2010 application in simple steps. Assuming you have Microsoft Office 2010 installed in your PC, to start the Word application, follow these steps −
Step 1 − Click the Start button.
Windows Start Button
Step 2 − Click the All Programs option from the menu.
Windows All Programs
Step 3 − Search for Microsoft Office from the submenu and click it.
Microsoft Office 2010
Step 4 − Search for Microsoft Word 2010 from the submenu and click it.
Microsoft Word 2010
This will launch the Microsoft Word 2010 application and you will see the following window.
Word Window

EXPLORE WINDOW 
In this chapter, we will understand how to explore Window in Word 2010. Following is the basic window which you get when you start the Word application. Let us understand the various important parts of this window..
Explore Word Window

File Tab

The File tab replaces the Office button from Word 2007. You can click it to check the Backstage view. This is where you come when you need to open or save files, create new documents, print a document, and do other file-related operations.

Quick Access Toolbar

This you will find just above the File tab. This is a convenient resting place for the mostfrequently used commands in Word. You can customize this toolbar based on your comfort.

Ribbon

Word Ribbon
Ribbon contains commands organized in three components −
  • Tabs − These appear across the top of the Ribbon and contain groups of related commands. Home, Insert, Page Layout are examples of ribbon tabs.
  • Groups − They organize related commands; each group name appears below the group on the Ribbon. For example, group of commands related to fonts or group of commands related to alignment, etc.
  • Commands − Commands appear within each group as mentioned above.

Title bar

This lies in the middle and at the top of the window. Title bar shows the program and document titles.

Rulers

Word has two rulers - a horizontal ruler and a vertical ruler. The horizontal ruler appears just beneath the Ribbon and is used to set margins and tab stops. The vertical ruler appears on the left edge of the Word window and is used to gauge the vertical position of elements on the page.

Help

The Help Icon can be used to get word related help anytime you like. This provides nice tutorial on various subjects related to word.

Zoom Control

Zoom control lets you zoom in for a closer look at your text. The zoom control consists of a slider that you can slide left or right to zoom in or out; you can click the + buttons to increase or decrease the zoom factor.

View Buttons

The group of five buttons located to the left of the Zoom control, near the bottom of the screen, lets you switch through the Word's various document views.
  • Print Layout view − This displays pages exactly as they will appear when printed.
  • Full Screen Reading view − This gives a full screen view of the document.
  • Web Layout view − This shows how a document appears when viewed by a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer.
  • Outline view − This lets you work with outlines established using Word’s standard heading styles.
  • Draft view − This formats text as it appears on the printed page with a few exceptions. For example, headers and footers aren't shown. Most people prefer this mode.

Document Area

This is the area where you type. The flashing vertical bar is called the insertion point and it represents the location where text will appear when you type.

Status Bar

This displays the document information as well as the insertion point location. From left to right, this bar contains the total number of pages and words in the document, language, etc.
You can configure the status bar by right-clicking anywhere on it and by selecting or deselecting options from the provided list.

Dialog Box Launcher

This appears as very small arrow in the lower-right corner of many groups on the Ribbon. Clicking this button opens a dialog box or task pane that provides more options about the group.

BACKSTAGE VIEW

In this chapter, we will discuss the Backstage View in Word 2010. The Backstage view was introduced in Word 2010. This acts as the central place for managing your documents. The backstage view helps in creating new documents, saving and opening documents, printing and sharing documents, and so on.
Getting to the Backstage View is easy: Just click the File tab, located in the upper-left corner of the Word Ribbon. If you already do not have any opened document, then you will see a window listing down all the recently opened documents as follows −
Word Backstage View
If you already have an opened document, then it will display a window showing detail about the opened document as shown below. Backstage view shows three columns when you select most of the available options in the first column.
Word Backstage View 2
The first column of the backstage view will have following options −
S.NoOption & Description
1
Save
If an existing document is opened, it will be saved as is, otherwise it will display a dialogue box asking for the document name.
2
Save As
A dialogue box will be displayed asking for document name and document type, by default it will save in word 2010 format with extension .docx.
3
Open
This option is used to open an existing word document.
4
Close
This option is used to close an open document.
5
Info
This option displays information about the opened document.
6
Recent
This option lists down all the recently opened documents
7
New
This option is used to open a new document.
8
Print
This option is used to print an open document.
9
Save & Send
This option will save an open document and will display options to send the document using email, etc.
10
Help
This option is used to get the required help about Word 2010.
11
Options
This option is used to set various option related to Word 2010.
12
Exit
Use this option to close the document and exit.

Document Information

When you click the Info option available in the first column, it displays the following information in the second column of the backstage view −
  • Compatibility Mode − If the document is not a native Word 2007/2010 document, a Convert button appears here, enabling you to easily update its format. Otherwise, this category does not appear.
  • Permissions − You can use this option to protect your word document. You can set a password so that nobody can open your document, or you can lock the document so that nobody can edit your document.
  • Prepare for Sharing − This section highlights important information you should know about your document before you send it to others, such as a record of the edits you made as you developed the document.
  • Versions − If the document has been saved several times, you may be able to access the previous versions of it from this section.

Document Properties

When you click the Info option available in the first column, it displays various properties in the third column of the backstage view. These properties include the document size, the number of pages in the document, the total number of words in the document, the name of the author etc.
You can also edit various properties by clicking on the property value and if the property is editable, then it will display a text box where you can add your text like title, tags, comments, Author.

Exit Backstage View

It is simple to exit from the Backstage View. Either click on the File tab or press the Esc button on the keyboard to go back to the working mode of Word.


ENTERING TEXT

In this chapter, let us discuss how to enter text with Microsoft Word 2010. Let us see how easy it is to enter text in a Word document. We assume you know that when you start Word, it displays a new document by default as shown below −
Enter Text
Document area is the area where you type your text. The flashing vertical bar is called the insertion point and it represents the location where the text will appear when you type. keep the cursor at the text insertion point and start typing the text. We typed only two words "Hello Word" as shown below. The text appears to the left of the insertion point as you type −
Hello Word
The following are the two important points that will help you while typing −
  • You do not need to press Enter to start a new line. As the insertion point reaches the end of the line, Word automatically starts a new one. You will need to press Enter, to add a new paragraph.
  • When you want to add more than one space between words, use the Tab key instead of the spacebar. This way you can properly align text by using the proportional fonts.

MOVE AROUND

In this chapter, we will discuss how to move around in Word 2010. Word provides a number of ways to move around a document using the mouse and the keyboard.
To begin with, let us create some sample text. To create a sample text, there is a short cut available. Open a new document and type =rand() and press Enter. Word will create the following content for you −
Word Sample Text

Moving with Mouse

You can easily move the insertion point by clicking in your text anywhere on the screen. There may be instances when a document is big and you cannot see a place where you want to move. Here, you will have to use the scroll bars, as shown in the following screenshot −
Word Scroll Bars
You can scroll through your document by rolling your mouse wheel, which is equivalent to clicking the up-arrow or down-arrow buttons in the scroll bar.

Moving with Scroll Bars

As shown in the above screenshot, there are two scroll bars: one for moving vertically within the document, and one for moving horizontally. Using the vertical scroll bar, you may −
  • Move upward by one line by clicking the upward-pointing scroll arrow.
  • Move downward by one line by clicking the downward-pointing scroll arrow.
  • Move one next page, using the next page button (footnote).
  • Move one previous page, using the previous page button (footnote).
  • Use the Browse Object button to move through the document, going from one chosen object to the next.

Moving with Keyboard

The following keyboard commands, used for moving around your document, also move the insertion point −
KeystrokeWhere the Insertion Point Moves
Forward ArrowForward one character
Backword ArrowBack one character
Upward ArrowUp one line
Downard ArrowDown one line
PageUpTo the previous screen
PageDownTo the next screen
HomeTo the beginning of the current line
EndTo the end of the current line
You can move word by word or paragraph by paragraph. You would have to hold down the Ctrl key while pressing an arrow key, which moves the insertion point as described here −
Key CombinationWhere the Insertion Point Moves
Ctrl +Forward ArrowTo the next word
Ctrl +Backword ArrowTo the previous word
Ctrl +Upward ArrowTo the start of the previous paragraph
Ctrl +Downard ArrowTo the start of the next paragraph
Ctrl + PageUpTo the previous browse object
Ctrl + PageDownTo the next browse object
Ctrl + HomeTo the beginning of the document
Ctrl + EndTo the end of the document
Shift + F5To the last place you changed in your document.

Moving with Go To Command

Press the F5 key to use the Go To command. This will display a dialogue box where you will have various options to reach to a particular page.
Normally, we use the page number, the line number or the section number to go directly to a particular page and finally press the Go To button.
Word Go To Command



SAVING DOCUMENT

In this chapter, we will discuss how to save a document in Word 2010.

Saving New Document

Once you are done with typing in your new Word document, it is time to save your document to avoid losing work you have done on a Word document. Following are the steps to save an edited Word document −
Step 1 − Click the File tab and select the Save As option.
Save As Option
Step 2 − Select a folder where you will like to save the document, Enter the file name which you want to give to your document and Select the Save As option, by default it is the .docxformat.
Save Option
Step 3 − Finally, click on the Save button and your document will be saved with the entered name in the selected folder.

Saving New Changes

There may be an instance when you open an existing document and edit it partially or completely, or an instance where you may like to save the changes in between editing of the document. If you want to save this document with the same name, then you can use either of the following simple options −
  • Just press the Ctrl + S keys to save the changes.
  • Optionally you can click on the floppy icon available at the top left corner and just above the File tab. This option will also help you save the changes.
  • You can also use the third method to save the changes, which is the Save option available just above the Save As option as shown in the above screenshot.
If your document is new and it was never saved so far, then with either of the three options, Word will display a dialogue box to let you select a folder, and enter the document name as explained in case of saving new document.


OPENING A DOCUMENT

In this chapter, we will discuss how to open a document in Word 2010.

Opening New Document

A new, blank document always opens when you start Microsoft Word. Suppose you want to start another new document while you are working on another document, or you closed an already opened document and want to start a new document. Here are the steps to open a new document −
Step 1 − Click the File tab and select the New option.
New Document
Step 2 − When you select the New option from the first column, it will display a list of templates in the second column. Double-click on the Blank document; this is the first option in the template list. We will discuss the other templates available in the list in the following chapters.
You should have your blank document as shown below. The document is now ready for you to start typing your text.
Blank Document
You can use a shortcut to open a blank document anytime. Try using the Ctrl + N keys and you will see a new blank document similar to the one in the above screenshot.

Opening Existing Document

There may be a situation when you open an existing document and edit it partially or completely. Follow the steps given below to open an existing document −
Step 1 − Click the File tab and select the Open option.
Open Existing
Step 2 − This will display the following file Open dialog box. This lets you navigate through different folders and files, and also lets you select a file which you want to open.
Select File
Step 3 − Finally, locate and select a file which you want to open and click the small triangle available on the Open button to open the file. You will have different options to open the file, but simply use the Open option.
File Open Options
This will open your selected file. You can use the Open Read-Only option if you are willing just to read the file and you have no intention to modify, i.e., edit the file. Other options can be used for advanced usage.


CLOSING A DOCUMENT

In this chapter, we will understand how to close a document in Word 2010. When you finish working with a document, you will proceed to close the document. Closing a document removes it from your computer screen and if you had other documents open, Word displays the last document you used otherwise, you see a blank Word window. Here are simple steps to close an opened document −
Step 1 − Click the File tab and select the Close option.
Close Document
Step 2 − When you select the Close option and if the document is not saved before closing, it will display the following Warning box asking whether the document should be saved or not.
Save Dialogue
Step 3 − To save the changes, click Save, otherwise click Don't Save. To go back to the document, click Cancel. This will close the document and if you have other documents open, Word displays the last document you used, otherwise, you see a blank Word window as shown below −
Empty Window


CONTEXT HELP

In this chapter, we will discuss Context Help in Word 2010. Microsoft Office provides more than one method for calling up Help when you need it. We will discuss a few important methods in this chapter −

Context Sensitive Help

This is the easiest way of getting help about any of the options available at word screen. You just need to bring your mouse pointer over an option and wait for 2 seconds, MS Word will pop-up a small balloon help giving you detail about the operation. If word has additional help for that option, then it gives the option Press F1 for more help as shown below when you bring your mouse pointer over the color fill option. You can press the F1 key to get further help on this option.
Context Help

Using F1 Key

You can press the F1 key when you are in the middle of doing something and Office will display the various categories of help as shown below. You can either search a keyword using the Search option or you can browse the listed categories to go through a topic in detail −
Using F1 Button

Using Help Icon

You can also have similar help window as shown above, by clicking the Help icon located just above the right edge of the ribbon as shown below −
Using Help Icon

Using Help Option

You can communicate with Microsoft using the Help option available under the File tab.
Using Help Option
As shown above, you can use Microsoft Office Help to launch the Help window, or Getting Started link to go to Microsoft’s official website, otherwise use the Contact us option to contact Microsoft via email or phone.