INTRODUCTION TO MS-WORD

INTRODUCTION

Let us consider an office scene. Many letters are typed in the office. The officer dictates a
letter. The typist first types a draft copy of the letter. The officer goes through it to check
mistakes regarding spelling errors, missing words, etc. and suggests corrections. The
typist changes the letter as suggested by the officer. This is a simple example of word
processing.

There are many software packages to do the job of word processing. Some of them work
in DOS environment. Examples are WordStar, Word Perfect and Professional Write. But
in these days working in WINDOWS is becoming more and more popular. So let us
consider software for word processing which works in WINDOWS. Our choice is MS-
WORD because it is the most popular software in these days.

MS-WORD is a part of the bigger package called MS OFFICE, which can do much more
than word processing. In fact when you open up MS OFFICE you will find four main
components in it. They are MS-WORD (for word processing), MS EXCEL (for
spreadsheet), MS ACCESS (for database management) and MS POWERPOINT (for
presentation purposes). However, we will limit ourselves to MS-WORD only in this
lesson.

OBJECTIVES

After going through this lesson you should be in a position to

• start the MS-WORD package

• be familiar with the MS-WORD screen
• advantages and Features of Word Processing
• some common Word Processing Packages
• how to invoke Ms-Word
• learn the capabilities of Ms-Word

WHAT IS WORD-PROCESSING?

Word Processor is a Software package that enables you to create, edit, print and save
documents for future retrieval and reference. Creating a document involves typing by
using a keyboard and saving it. Editing a document involves correcting the spelling
mistakes, if any, deleting or moving words sentences or paragraphs.
(a) Advantages of Word Processing

One of the main advantages of a word processor over a conventional typewriter is that a
word processor enables you to make changes to a document without retyping the entire
document.

(b) Features of Word Processing

Most Word Processor available today allows more than just creating and editing
documents. They have wide range of other tools and functions, which are used in
formatting the documents. The following are the main features of a Word Processor

i. Text is typing into the computer, which allows alterations to be made easily.
ii. Words and sentences can be inserted, amended or deleted.
iii. Paragraphs or text can be copied /moved throughout the document.
iv. Margins and page length can be adjusted as desired.
v. Spelling can be checked and modified through the spell check facility.
vi. Multiple document/files can be merged.
vii. Multiple copies of letters can be generated with different addresses through the
mail-merge facility.

(c) Some Common Word Processing Packages

The followings are examples of some popular word processor available

• Softword
• WordStar
• Word perfect
• Microsoft word

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF MS-WORD

Ms-Word not only supports word processing features but also DTP features. Some of the
important features of Ms-Word are listed below:

i. Using word you can create the document and edit them later, as and when
required, by adding more text, modifying the existing text, deleting/moving some
part of it.

ii. Changing the size of the margins can reformat complete document or part of text.

iii. Font size and type of fonts can also be changed. Page numbers and Header and
Footer can be included.

iv. Spelling can be checked and correction can be made automatically in the entire
document. Word count and other statistics can be generated.
 You can go inside MS-WORD by the following way

1. Take the mouse pointer to START button on the task bar. Click the left mouse
button.
2. Move the pointer to programs. You will notice another menu coming up to the
right.
3. In that menu identify where Microsoft word is placed. Move the cursor
horizontally to come out of programs.
4. Move into the rectangular area meant for Microsoft word. Click the left mouse
button there. The computer will start MS-WORD. You will find the screen as
follows.

Let us discuss the important components of the screen.

a. Title Bar: The title bar displays the name of the currently active word document.
Like other WINDOWS applications, it can be used to alter the size and location of
the word window.

b. Tool Bars: Word has a number of tool bars that help you perform task faster and
with great ease. Two of the most commonly tool bars are the formatting
tool bar and the standard tool bar. These two toolbars are displayed just below the
title bar. At any point of time any tool bar can be made ON or OFF through the
tool bar option of View Menu.

c. Status Bar: The Status Bar displays information about the currently active
document. This includes the page number that you are working, the column and
line number of the cursor position and so on.

d. Main Menu: The Word main menu is displayed at the top of the screen. The
main menu further displays a sub menu. Some of the options are highlighted
options and some of them appear as faded options. At any time, only highlighted
options can be executed, faded options are not applicable. Infect if the option is
faded you will not be able to choose it. You may not that any option faded under
present situation may become highlighted under different situations.

MAIN MENU OPTIONS

The overall functions of all the items of main menu are explained below.

(a) File: You can perform file management operations by using these options such as
opening, closing, saving, printing, exiting etc. It displays the following sub menu.

(b) Edit: Using this option you can perform editing functions such as cut, copy, paste,
find and replace etc. It displays the following sub menu.
 (c) View: Word document can be of many pages. The different pages may have different
modes. Each mode has its limitations. For example in normal mode the graphical picture
cannot be displayed. They can only be displayed in page layout mode. Using the option
"View" you can switch over from one mode to other. It displays the following Sub menu.

(d) Insert: Using this menu, you can insert various objects such as page numbers,
footnotes, picture frames etc. in your document. It displays the following Sub menu.

(e) Format: Using this menu, you can perform various type of formatting operations,
such as fonts can be changed, borders can be framed etc. It displays the following Sub
menu.

(f) Tools: Using this menu, you can have access to various utilities/tools of Word, such
as spell check, macros, mail merge etc. It displays the following Sub menu.

(g) Table: This menu deals with tables. Using this menu you can perform various types
of operations on the table. It displays the following Sub menu.

(h) Window: This menu allows you to work with two documents simultaneously. This
would require two windows to be opened so that each one can hold one document. Using
this menu, you can switch over from one window to another. It displays the following
Sub menu.

\ (i) Help: Using this menu, you can get on-line help for any function.

MAIL MERGE
In any working environment, there are situations when a similar type of letter or
document is to be sent to many persons who reside at different locations. The letters may
contain the address of each recipient, in addition to the standard information contained in
the letter. One way of doing this is to print the letters by changing the address each time
in the document after printing such letter. But this would mean lot of effort and time and
also results in bad organization.

Such problems are taken care of by the Mail Merge facility. In word processing, Mail
Merge is the process of transferring selected information from one document to another
document.

Step 1: Create the main document Open the document in Word, and then start the mail
merge. To start a mail merge, follow these steps.
 1. On the Tools menu, click Letters and Mailings, and then click Mail Merge.
2. Under Select document type, click Labels, and then click Next: Starting
Document.
Step 2 of the Mail Merge appears.
3. Under Select starting document, click Change document layout or Start from
existing document.
Click Next: Select Recipients.

Step 2: Select the data source

The data source contains the information that can vary in each label. You can open an
existing data source created in Word, or you can create a new data source and fill in the
addressee information.

a. Under the Select Recipients heading in the Mail Merge task pane, select
the appropriate data source option. The options are to use an existing list,
select from Outlook contacts, or type a new list.
Click Next: Select Recipients, and then click Type a new list under the
Select Recipients heading.
b. Click Create to display the New Address List dialog box. The dialog box
contains a list of field names that are frequently used in form letters,
mailing labels, and envelopes.
To customize your fields in this dialog box, click Customize. You can
rename the fields and remove the fields that you do not need. To add field
names, click Add, type the field name, and then click OK. When you
finish your customizations, click OK. When you finish typing your data,
click Close to close the New Address List dialog box.
The Save Address List dialog box appears.

Name the file, and then click Save.

Word displays the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box to edit your data
more. When you finish your editing changes, click OK.

Step 3: Edit the main document

1. In the Mail Merge task pane, verify that the Arrange your labels step is
displayed. In this step, you can lay out your labels.
 2. Word displays the items that you can use to lay out your labels, such as Address
block, Greeting line, and Electronic postage. Use the More items options to
add specific fields.
3. When you finish setting up one label, click Update all labels to replicate all
labels.
4. Click Next: Preview your labels to preview your merged data.

Step 4: Perform the merge

1. In the Mail Merge task pane, verify that the Complete the merge step is
displayed. In this step, you can merge to the printer or on the screen.
2. After the merged document appears on the screen, you can save it as a separate
document, you can print the merged document by clicking Print on the File
menu, or you can do both.

MACROS
Macros save MS Word users time by memorizing a function that is repeated often. A
macro is a simple program that records the steps required to perform a specific task.
These tasks range from simply inserting your name and address into a document to
something as complex as launching multiple programs and copying data between them.

Tasks performed by macros are usually routine in nature. Therefore, Word users can save
significant amounts of time by running a saved macro rather than going through the steps
manually. Subsequent instructions explain the setting up of a macro that selects all of the
text in one document, copies the text, opens a new document, and pastes the copied text
in the new document. Therefore, you will need to have an existing document open to
create this macro.

Familiarize yourself with the following sections to create a macro in MS Word:

1) Click the blank document button on the menu bar to open a new
document.

2) Click on the menu bar to display a menu.

3) Select to open the Macro menu.

4) Select to display a box with the heading .

 5) Enter a name in the Macro name box and click . The new macro
is now open and ready to record.

6) Click

Recording the Macro

Now that you have opened a new macro, you can begin recording the steps to copy text
from the original document to a new document. You will now see a small window on the
screen that we will refer to as the macro recording box:

Instead of an insertion point, your mouse pointer is now in the shape of an arrow with a
tape cassette dangling from it. Now that you have begun a new macro, it is important to
remember that everything you type or click on in your Word document will be recorded
until you press the stop button on the macro recording box. Subsequent instructions
explain the setting up of a macro that selects all of the text in one document, copies the
text, opens a new document, and pastes the copied text in the new document.

1) Click on the menu bar to open the Edit menu.

2) Choose to highlight and select all of the text in your document.

3) Click the icon to open a new document.

4) In the new document, click the right button on your mouse to display the
following menu.

5) Choose from this menu.

6) Click the stop button on the macro recording box and the macro will stop
recording your activity.

Executing macro in MS word

1) Click on the menu bar to open the Tools menu and select the
option to display the Macro menu. Select the option and the
Macros dialogue box displays. The new macro you have just created should be
listed as whatever name you have assigned it.
 2) To execute the macro, make sure its name is highlighted in blue, as shown in
the image above, and click the button to run your newly
created macro.

CREATING A DOCUMENT TEMPLATE

If you frequently create documents that contain a lot of specialized formatting but don't
always contain the same text, you can save yourself a considerable amount of time if you
create Word templates to use as the basis of future documents. By using Word’s template
feature, you can focus your concentration on the content of the document and leave the
formatting up to the template.

For those who are unfamiliar with templates, a template is, simply put, a style guide for
documents. A Word template can contain formatting, styles, boilerplate text, headers,
footers, and macros, in addition to dictionaries, toolbars, and AutoText entries.

Following are the steps to create a template:

1. On the File menu, click New.

2. In the New Document task pane (task pane: A window within an Office program
that provides commonly used commands. Its location and small size allow you to
use these commands while still working on your files.), under Templates, click
On my computer.
3. Click a template that is similar to the one you want to create, click Template
under Create New, and then click OK.
4. On the File menu, click Save As.
5. In the Save as type box, click Document Template. This file type will already be
selected if you are saving a file that you created as a template (template: A file or
files that contain the structure and tools for shaping such elements as the style and
page layout of finished files. For example, Word templates can shape a single
document, and FrontPage templates can shape an entire Web site.).
6. The default folder is the Templates folder in the Save in box. To save the
template so that it will appear on a tab other than General, switch to the
corresponding subfolder or create a new subfolder within the Templates folder.
7. In the File name box, type a name for the new template, and then click Save.
8. In the new template, add the text and graphics you want to appear in all new
documents that you base on the template, and delete any items you don't want to
appear.
9. Make the changes you want to the margin settings, page size and orientation,
styles, and other formats.
10. On the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to
carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.),
click Save , and then click Close on the File menu.
MS- EXCEL