Microsoft Office / Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word XP (2002) Free Tutorial

Move the Insertion Point

To move the insertion point in your document, simply position your mouse pointer where you want to type, and then click. The mouse pointer indicates where you can type by changing to an I-beam .

You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move up, down, left, or right. The up and down arrow keys move the insertion point up or down one line at a time, while the left and right arrow keys move the insertion point one character at a time.

Move around the Document 1

The vertical and horizontal scrollbars at the edge of Word’s document window let you use your mouse to move around an open document. You move up and down, a line at a time, by clicking the up and down scroll buttons. To scroll up or down a screen at a time, click anywhere on the scrollbar above or below the scroll handle (box).

When you click and drag the scroll handle, Word moves up or down the document in the direction you drag until you reach the beginning or end.

The left and right scroll buttons let you scroll to the left and right when the document is viewed at a width larger than the Microsoft Word window.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts to quickly navigate to various points in your document:

  • Press HOME to move to the beginning of a line, and END to move to the end of a line.
  • Press Ctrl + HOME to move to the beginning of the document, and Ctrl + END to move to the end of the document.
  • Press Page Up to move up one screen, and Page Down to move down one screen.
  • Press Ctrl + Page Up to move to the top of the previous page, and Ctrl + Page Down to move to the top of the next page.

Move Around the Document 2

When viewing and editing long documents, it’s much easier to browse page by page, or to jump directly to a specific page, than it is to use the arrow keys or mouse to scroll screen by screen. Microsoft Word provides methods for browsing the document page by page (or item by item, if you’re browsing by graphics, for example) and for moving directly to a specified page (or item) in a document.

To browse the document page by page (or item by item), click the Next and Previous buttons on the vertical scrollbar of the document window:

  1. First, click the Select Browse Object button, located near the bottom of the vertical scrollbar.
  2. In the menu that pops up, select the type of item you want to find in your document.

For example, select to move from page to page in your document.

  1. Click the Next or Previous button to go to the next or previous item (for example, page) in the document.

To go directly to a specific page (or item, such as a graphic) within the document:

  1. Open the Edit menu and select Go To, or press Ctrl + g on your keyboard.

The Find and Replace dialog opens to the Go To tab.

  1. Under Go to what, make sure Page is selected.

Tip:

As you can see, you can jump to many types of items in a document, not just a page. For instance, to go to a graphic, select Graphic instead of Page.

  1. Enter the page number you want to go to and click the Go To button (which appears after you enter the page number).

Tip:

In most cases, you don’t have to enter anything into the field; you can browse item by item simply by clicking Next.

When a Word document includes hyperlinks, you can use these to navigate to the linked-to locations, both within and outside the document. Just click the hyperlink, and Word jumps to the location, opening another file if necessary.

Word also opens the Web toolbar, which you can use to move back to your original location and forward to the location whose link you followed.

How to Split the Screen

Splitting the screen in a Microsoft Word 2002 document allows you to view multiple parts of a document at the same time. For example, you can have the table of contents in a frame at the top and the document in the bottom frame.

  1. Choose “Split” from the Window Menu.
  2. A bar appears in the middle of screen, drag it up or down to set the size of each “frame”.
  3. You can scroll up or down independently in each frame section.
  4. To remove the split, choose “Remove Split” from the Window menu.

Menu & Dialog Box Options

All the commands you use to create, edit, save, and print a document are found in Microsoft Word’s menu bar, located at the top of the window.

Each menu groups together related commands, sometimes using submenus to further group commands:

  • File menu – Create, open, save, print, and close documents.
  • Edit menu – Perform editing functions on your document, including copying, cutting, and pasting text and objects, moving to various points in the document, and undoing and redoing actions.
  • View menu – Change the document’s display size and style.
  • Insert menu – Insert objects into your documents, including graphics, page numbers and other fields, symbols, AutoText, and hyperlinks.
  • Format menu – Apply formatting to the text and objects in your documents.
  • Tools menu – Use Word’s tools, such as the spell and grammar checker, macro recorder, and track changes, and set your Microsoft Word preferences.
  • Table menu – Insert and format tables.
  • Window menu – Work with multiple open document windows.
  • Help menu – Access Microsoft Word’s online help.

Note:

Additional menus may appear when you install a program that includes a Microsoft Word plug-in.

To access a menu command, click the main menu to open it, and then select (click) the command. Word hides those commands you don’t use frequently, so if you don’t see a command, click the double arrows at the bottom of the menu to expand it. Word then displays all the available commands. Once you select a command, Word includes it with the others you commonly use.

Selecting a command from a menu often opens a dialog box, which prompts you to select or enter information. Dialog boxes may use a combination of tabs, text fields, menus, and preview panes to group selection choices and to display information. For instance, the Preview pane in many dialog boxes, like the Page Setup dialog, displays the changes that will result from your selections.

To navigate a dialog box like the one above, first click the tab containing the choices you want to see, and then select your choices from the list boxes or drop-down menus. Finally, click OK (or Close, in some cases) to accept the changes, or Cancel to discard them.

Word provides you with a number of ways to accomplish most tasks. Besides the menu bar, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts, many dialog boxes include buttons that open additional dialog boxes. Although these dialogs are normally directly accessible from the main menus and the toolbars, Word lets you handle related tasks at the same time. In the dialog box above, for example, you can apply borders your page at the same time you define the other properties of the page layout, simply by clicking the Borders button.

Navigate in Word

The Microsoft Word window is made up of a menu bar, toolbars, a document window, and the status bar.

The menu bar contains all the commands required to create, edit, format, print, and save documents, grouped into logical categories. To access these commands, you just point to the menu and click on it to view the available commands, then click the command you want to access.

The toolbars group common commands together, using buttons to provide quick access. While working in your document, you can click a button on a toolbar to apply formatting, save or print a document, use Word’s drawing or reviewing features, and insert a variety of objects.

You compose and format your text in the document window, which Word can display in several different views—normal, print layout, web layout, or outline. Use your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the pages of your document. To move up or down your document several pages at a time, use the vertical scrollbar on the right side of the document window.

In addition, the rulers at the top and left side of the document window display the document’s measurements and let you use the mouse to change the document’s margins, increase or decrease indentations, and quickly set tabs.

You can also view two parts of the same document at the same time. This is done by splitting the window. Splitting the window is useful when you want to compare different pages, or cut and paste text or objects from one page to another.

  1. Move the mouse over the split handle , or box, at the top of the vertical scroll bar.
  2. When the mouse pointer changes to a double horizontal line with arrows, click and drag the split handle down to the middle of the screen.

Tip:

You can also split the window by selecting Split from the Window menu.

To adjust the size of each of the windows, click and drag the border (split handle) separating them.

To return to a single window, click and drag the split handle off the screen, or simply double-click it. (You can also select Remove Split from the Window menu.)

In addition, you can zoom in on or out of your document, simply by changing the display size in the Zoom menu (located on the Standard toolbar).

Finally, the status bar at the bottom of the Microsoft Word window displays information about your current location within the document, and lets you quickly turn on and off features like the spelling and grammar checker and track changes.

All of these elements will be covered in more depth in subsequent tutorials.

Word Toolbars

Word includes a number of built-in toolbars that provide shortcuts to the commands found in the menus. To show or hide a toolbar, open the View menu, select Toolbars, and then select the toolbar you want to show or hide.

Tip:

You can also access the toolbar menu by right-clicking anywhere on a visible toolbar.

The most frequently used toolbars are the Standard toolbar and the Formatting toolbar.

The Standard toolbar contains buttons for opening, saving, printing, and editing documents.

The Formatting toolbar contains drop-down menus and buttons for changing the font and applying formatting to text.

By default, these two toolbars appear next to each other, just below the menu bar.

Other toolbars available in Word are:

  • AutoText – Create and insert AutoText.
  • Clipboard – View and select the contents of the clipboard.
  • Control Toolbox – Insert ActiveX controls into a form.
  • Database – Insert and work with data from a Microsoft Access database.
  • Drawing – Insert and format drawing objects.
  • Forms – Insert form objects.
  • Frames – Create framesets and frames for a Web document.
  • Picture – Insert and format pictures.
  • Reviewing – Insert, edit, and delete comments for or by document reviewers.
  • Tables and Borders – Insert and format tables and apply borders to objects.
  • Visual Basic – Record and run macros, and work with Microsoft Word Visual Basic code.
  • Web – Navigate a Web document.
  • Web Tools – Insert Web objects into a Web document.
  • WordArt – Insert and format WordArt.

You can customize any of these toolbars by adding and removing buttons, or you can create your own toolbars to group your favorite commands.

Working With Toolbars

To show or hide a Microsoft Word toolbar, right-click any toolbar and select the one to show or hide from the shortcut menu.

You can also access this menu by opening the View menu and selecting Toolbars. Visible toolbars are indicated with checkmarks.

To show and hide several toolbars at once:

  1. From the shortcut menu, select Customize.

  1. Check the toolbars you want to display, and uncheck any toolbars you want to hide.
  2. Click Close.

You can use the Customize dialog to create your own, custom toolbars, as well:

  1. Right-click any toolbar and select Customize from the shortcut menu. The Customize command also appears in Word’s Tools menu.
  2. In the Customize dialog, click New.
  3. In the dialog that opens, enter a name for the toolbar, and select the template or document where you want the toolbar to be saved.

Tip:

If you select a specific document, the toolbar will be available only in that document. If you select Normal.dot, the default Microsoft Word template, the toolbar will be available in any document you create that uses that template.

  1. Click OK to save the new toolbar.

A small blank toolbar appears near the Customize dialog.

  1. To add buttons to the new toolbar, click the Commands tab in the Customize dialog. Then highlight a category to display a list of available commands.

  1. To select a command, click and drag it from the Commands list to the toolbar.

The button appears on the new toolbar.

  1. Continue dragging commands onto your toolbar. Notice that the toolbar expands to accommodate the buttons.

  1. You can also add a menu to your toolbar by selecting Buit-in Menus from the Categories list, and then dragging a menu to the toolbar.

  1. To add a custom menu to the toolbar, select New Menu from the Categories list, and then drag the New Menu command to the toolbar. Next, name the menu and add commands to it:
    1. Right-click the New Menu button on your toolbar.

    1. In the menu that appears, click the box next to Name and enter a name.
    2. Next, click the menu button on your toolbar to display the empty list.

    1. Drag a command from the Customize dialog to the empty space on the menu.

The command now appears in the menu on your toolbar.

  1. When you’ve finished adding buttons to your toolbar, close the Customize dialog.
  2. Finally, dock the toolbar below the others by clicking the title bar and dragging it to the lower edge of the Standard toolbar.

A new row is added to accommodate the toolbar, which has changed from floating to docked.

Each of Word’s toolbars can be moved simply by clicking and dragging the title bar (if the toolbar is floating) or the move handle (if the toolbar is docked).

The move handle is located at the left edge of the toolbar. When you move the mouse over it, the pointer changes to horizontal and vertical arrows, indicating you can drag the toolbar.

  1. Drag the toolbar off the row. The toolbar changes from docked to floating.

  1. Click the title bar and drag the toolbar back into place.

If you drag a toolbar to a full row, the surrounding toolbars will shrink to make room for it. To access a button that’s no longer visible, click the chevrons at the right edge of the toolbar.

Tip:

Remove buttons you don’t use, or add new buttons, by selecting Add or Remove Buttons. In the menu, uncheck the buttons you don’t need, or check (select) new buttons to add. Select Customize to choose from all the available commands.

From the Customize dialog, drag and drop the commands you want onto the toolbar.

Tip:

Make sure you drop the button inside the margin of the toolbar, or the button won’t be added. When you’re inside the margin, you’ll see a large I Beam, indicating that you’re in an editable region.

If you need to restore the default contents of a toolbar:

  1. Right-click anywhere on a toolbar and select Customize.
  2. In the Customize dialog, click the Toolbars tab.
  3. Highlight the toolbar whose default contents you want to restore and click the Reset button.
  4. In the dialog that opens, you can choose to reset the toolbar for the default Word template (Normal.dot) or just for the current document. Make a selection from the menu and click OK.

The Reset button isn’t available for custom toolbars. Instead, if you decide you no longer need the toolbar, you can delete it:

  1. Right-click anywhere on a toolbar and select Customize.
  2. In the Customize dialog, click the Toolbars tab.
  3. Highlight the custom toolbar and click Delete.
  4. When asked to confirm, click OK.

The Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the Microsoft Word window displays information about where your insertion point is currently positioned in the document. From left to right, it shows:

  • The page number. This is based on the numbering you’ve defined, so if you’ve set the first page of the document to begin at page 10, then on the first page the status bar will display “Page 10.”

If you’ve inserted section breaks into your document, Word displays the page number defined for that page in the section. For example, if the first section of your document is a cover page, and the second section is front matter, such as a table of contents, and the third section is Chapter 1 of a report, and you’ve set the front matter (Section 2) to begin on page iv and Chapter 1 (Section 3) to begin on page 1, when you position your insertion point on the first page of Chapter 1, the status bar will display “Page 1” and then “Sec 3.”

  • The section number.
  • The physical page number (regardless of the numbering you’ve defined), out of the total number of pages in the document. If you’ve set the first page of the document to begin at page 10, the first page will still be displayed as “1” out of the total number of pages (for example, “1/25”).
  • The number of inches the insertion point is positioned below the top of the page.
  • The line number.
  • The number of characters from the left margin to the insertion point.

Also displayed is the current status of:

·The macro recorder (REC)

·Track changes (TRK)

·Extend selection mode (EXT)

·Overtype mode (OVR)

These are dimmed when the corresponding features are turned off. You can double-click inside the box in the status bar to turn on one of the features; for instance, to turn on the track changes feature, double-click TRK. To turn it off, double-click TRK again.

The spelling and grammar check status is displayed on the book icon in the status bar. If an error is found, an X appears on the book. Double-click the book to see Word’s suggestion for correcting the error.

Finally, disk and printer icons may appear when Word is autosaving or background printing the document, respectively. When you’re printing a document, Word displays the number of the page currently being printed next to the printer icon.