Microsoft Word XP (2002) Free Tutorial

Enhance Your Work

Use the Formatting toolbar to quickly change the type, size, style and color of text in your document.

1. Select the text you want to change, or, to apply formatting to new text, place the insertion point where you plan to type.
2. Select a font name from the Font box.

1. Select a size from the Size box.
2. Click the Bold button to apply bold formatting.

You can also click the Italics and Underline buttons. Click the buttons again to remove the formatting from the text.

Tip:

To apply simple formatting using keyboard shortcuts:

1. • For bold, press Ctrl+b.
   • For italics, press Ctrl+i.
   • For underline, press Ctrl+u.

 

1. To change the color of the text, click the down arrow to the right of the Font Color button and pick a color from the menu that appears.

Tip:

When you pick a color, the Font Color button changes to display the new color. To apply that color to more text, select the text and click the Font Color button.

The Font dialog provides more options for formatting text, as well as for enhancing text with special effects such as embossing, engraving and animation.

To access the Font dialog, open the Format menu and select Font.

Tip:

You can also open the Font dialog by right-clicking and selecting Font from the menu that pops up.

In the Font dialog, click the Font tab to select a font (type), size and style:

1. Select Verdana from the Font list.
2. Select Bold from the Font style list.
3. Select 11 from the Size list.

The Preview pane shows you how the font will appear in your document.

You can also change the font color and add special formatting, such as a shadow:

1. Open the Font color menu and pick Red.
2. Under Effects, select the Shadow check box.

1. Click OK to close the dialog.

This is how the text now appears in the document:

You can choose from a number of formatting options under Effects; simply select the check boxes to apply an outline, embossing, engraving or other effects.

To add animation to text, use the Text Effects tab:

1. With your text selected, open the Font dialog again and click the Text Effects tab.
2. Select Blinking Background from the Animations list.

1. Click OK.

The text now appears with a blinking black background.

The Character Spacing tab lets you adjust the width of text, the spacing between characters, and the position of text in relation to the normal baseline:

1.Select a short block of text.

2.Open the Font dialog and click the Character Spacing tab.

3.The Scale menu lets you select a percent by which to scale the width of your text. The first figure below shows text with a default scale; the second figure shows the same text scaled to 200%.

4.Use the Spacing menu to specify spacing, in points, between characters:

a.From the Spacing menu, select Expanded or Condensed. Expanding text adds space between characters, while condensing compresses the space between characters.

b.In the By box, enter the number of points by which you want to expand or condense the text.

Notice that the Preview pane shows the effect on the text.

You can continue to adjust the number of points using the up and down arrows next to the By box.

5.Use the Position menu to move the text above or below the baseline. The baseline is represented by the horizontal black lines in the Preview pane.

a.From the Position menu, select Raised or Lowered.

b.In the By box, enter the number of points by which you want to raise or lower the text in relation to the baseline.

In the figure below, I’ve raised the text by 5 points. It appears above the horizontal lines in the Preview pane.

Tip:

Raising and lowering text is not the same as creating a superscript or subscript, which makes text smaller. To change a character to superscript or subscript, click the Font tab and, under Effects, select Superscript or Subscript.

Introduction to Styles

Styles are collections of formatting choices that you can apply to the text or objects in your document. Later, you can quickly change the formatting of all the text in your document that uses a particular style, simply by changing the formatting of the style.

Microsoft Word includes a large number of built-in styles, which you can apply to body text, to headings and subheadings, and to headers and footers, as just a few examples.

The styles available in a document appear in the Style drop-down menu on the Formatting toolbar. To apply a style to a selection of text, select the style from the menu.

You can also view and apply styles from the Style dialog:

1. Select the text or object you want to apply the style to.
2. Open the Format menu and select Style.

The Style dialog opens.

The Style dialog lists all the current styles available for use. (You can filter this list by selecting Styles in use or User-defined styles from the List menu.)

1. Highlight a style and click the Apply button.

Create a New Style

Although Word includes many built-in styles, you may need to modify some of them, or create new styles of your own. You do this using the Style dialog (from the Format menu, select Style).

To change the formatting of an existing style:

1. Highlight the style in the Styles list.
2. Click the Modify button.

The Modify Style dialog opens.

1. Click the Format button to select the type of formatting you want to change. For example, selecting Font opens the Font dialog, which lets you select a new font, as well as a weight, style, size, color, etc.

1. You can select as many options as needed from the Format menu. When you’ve finished formatting the style, click OK to close the Modify Style dialog.

To create a new style from the Style dialog:

1. Click the New button.

The New Style dialog opens.

1. Enter a name for the new style. Be sure the name is unique, as Word won’t allow a style to uses the names it’s reserved for built-in styles (like “Heading 1”).
2. To build the style from an existing style, select the existing style from the Based on drop-down menu. This prevents you from having to select formatting that another style may already include.
3. The Style type drop-down menu lets you specify the type of style you’re creating, and Style for the following paragraph tells Word what style to apply to the text that follows the paragraph using your new style.

For instance, if you’re creating a heading style, Word, by default, will apply the same heading style to the paragraph that follows your heading. However, it’s more common for body text to follow a heading; in such a case, telling Word to automatically apply the “Normal” or “Body Text” style to the paragraph following your heading prevents you from having to change the style over and over again.

1. Click the Format button to select the formatting you want the new style to use.
2. When you’ve finished formatting the style, click OK to close the dialog.

Add Borders

You can add custom borders to a paragraph, a table or table cell, or to entire pages:

1. Select the element you want to add a border to.
2. Open the Format menu and select Borders and Shading.

Tip:

You can also right-click the element and select Borders and Shading from the shortcut menu.

The Borders and Shading dialog opens.

Note:

To add a border to the pages of your document, open the File menu, select Page Setup, and in the Page Setup dialog, click the Layout tab. On the Layout tab, click the Borders button. Word opens the Borders and Shading dialog with Whole document selected under Apply to.

In the Page Setup dialog, click the Layout tab.

1. Under Setting, select the type of border you want to use.

Tip:

You can use the Preview pane to apply the border manually, and you should do this if you’re adding a custom border. Simply click the button indicating the side of the element where you want to apply a line. Click the button again to remove the border. You can also click on the edge of the picture to apply a border to that side of the element without using the buttons.

Note that if you use the Preview pane to apply a custom border (for example, if you add a vertical line to the left side of the page), Word automatically selects Custom, changing the selection if necessary.

1. Select the line style, color, and width. Optionally, you can select a picture border from the Art menu.

Tip:

If you change elements of the line style after applying a custom border, you will need to remove the border using the Preview pane and then reapply it. When you reapply the border, it will appear in the Preview pane with your new line style settings.

1. To adjust the margins of the border, click the Options button.
2. When you’ve finished, click OK to apply the border and close the dialog.

Aligning Text

Microsoft Word provides four options for aligning text: left, right, centered, and justified. Because text is aligned in relation to the paragraph margins, any alignment you apply to a text selection will be applied to the entire paragraph.

By default, the text you type is left-aligned—that is, it is aligned along the left margin. Use the Formatting toolbar to change the alignment:

1. Select the text you want to align (or position the insertion point where you plan to type).
2. On the Formatting toolbar, click the Align Right button.

The text is aligned with the right margin, but not with the left.

1. Now, click the Align Left button.

The text is once again aligned along the left margin.

1. Click the Center button.

The text is centered between the left and right margins.

1. Finally, click the Justify button.

Word inserts spaces between the words, forcing the text to line up along both the left and right margins.

Tip:

Because Word inserts additional spaces when justifying text, justification is not normally recommended for Word documents.

The alignment options also appear in the Paragraph dialog box:

1. From the Format menu, select Paragraph.
2. If necessary, click the Indents and Spacing tab.
3. Select the alignment from the Alignment drop-down menu.

Set Line Spacing

Line spacing is the amount of vertical space between the lines in your document. Commonly, lines are single-spaced or double-spaced. In Word, you specify line spacing using the Paragraph dialog:

1. Open the Format menu and select Paragraph.

The Paragraph dialog box opens.

1. If necessary, click the Indents and Spacing tab.
2. From the Line Spacing drop-down menu, select the line spacing you want.

1. You can specify more precise spacing by selecting Exactly and then entering a point value into the At field.

1. Use the Before and After fields to specify different values for the amount of space you want to appear before (above) and after (below) a line of text. The Preview pane shows how the text will appear.

Add Line Numbers

Line numbers are often included in draft documents to facilitate reviewing by readers. To add line numbers to a document:

1. Open the File menu and select Page Setup.

The Page Setup dialog opens.

1. Click the Layout tab.

1. Click the Line Numbers button.

The Line Numbers dialog opens.

1. Select the Add line numbering check box.

1. The remaining fields in the dialog box are enabled, allowing you to set options for the line numbers. When you’ve finished, click OK.

Tip:

Line numbers can create instability in Word documents and may potentially cause Word to crash. Don’t use line numbers unless absolutely necessary, and save your document frequently.