WORD

PROCESSORS
 Factors to consider when choosing a word processor
The choice of a word processor depend on:
1. The type of operating system. For example, most microcomputers are
currently running on Windows based operating system such as
Microsoft Windows. This means that you should consider acquiring a
graphical user interface based Word Processor,
2. Its user-friendliness, i.e. ease of use.
3. Its formatting and editing features. They should be good and varied.
 Using a word processing package (Microsoft Word)
Starting Microsoft Word
There are a number of ways you can start Microsoft Word. However the
Simplest is by using programs start menu.

Starting Microsoft Word from the start menu

1. Click the start button.
2. Scroll down to microsoft office and click on the drop down menu.
3. Click on microsoft word to open it.
 Microsoft Word screen layout
Once you start Microsoft Word, it provides you with a blank document
window referred to as the new document template where you can
create your document.
 With Windows multitasking capability, you can have more than one
document window at the same time sharing one application window.
 Parts of a window
Title bar
 A title bar is mostly a blue strip at the top of the window that displays the
title of the currently running application or task. However it is possible to
change the color of the title bar using the display properties.
 The title bar also enables the user to move the window around the
desktop. This is possible by pointing to it then dragging using the
mouse.
minimize, restore/ maximize and the close buttons.
 The minimize button reduces a window to become a button on the
taskbar.
 The restore/maximize button stretches the window to cover the entire
desktop or restore it to its original size respectively.
 The close button is used to close and exit a window.
Menu bar
 Provides a drop down list of commands that one can use to perform a
task. Examples are File, Exit, Window and Help. Figure 1.4 shows the File
drop down menu.
 menu Minimize,
bar Restore/Maximu
Standard tool m Close buttons
bar
Formatting
ruler tool bar
document
window

scroll bars
Status bar
 Tool bar
These are rows of buttons or icons that represent commands. The
command buttons are shortcuts to the same commands you can
access from the menu bar. There are various toolbars available in
Microsoft Word but the most common are the Standard and Formatting
toolbars.
 To see what other commands are, just point to the icon on the toolbar
and a text tip will be displayed showing the function of the icon.
 Most of these commands will be discussed later.
 Hiding and displaying the toolbars
 1. Click the View menu option.
 2. Position the pointer on Toolbars.
 3. Click the type of tool bar required to select it.
 Selected toolbars have ticks or check marks next to them as shown in
Figure 1.7.
 Rulers
 Microsoft Word provides the user with vertical and horizontal on screen rulers
that helps the user position text or objects in the right position.
 If the ruler is not visible on the screen, then display it using the following
procedure.
 1. Click the View menu option.
 2. On the drop down menu that appears, click Ruler. A check mark or tick will
appear next to it showing that the ruler is displayed on the screen.
Work area
 This is the working area where you can enter text or graphical objects. All
windows based application programs provide the user with a unique working
area suited to that particular application.
Status bar
 This is an interactive strip at the bottom of the screen that acts as a
communication link between the user and the program. It displays interactive
activities like saving, opening, background printing, cursor position etc.
Scroll bars/button_ and scroll arrows
 Scroll bars or buttons are horizontal and vertical bars on the borders of a window
that the user drags to scroll upward, downwards, to the right or left of a
document. Scroll arrows are arrows at the end of the scroll bars that the user
clicks instead of dragging the scroll button. Using scroll bars or arrows is
equivalent to using the arrow keys on the keyboard
 Running the program
Creating a document
 When you start a new document, you will see a blinking vertical bar
called an insertion pointer. You can move your insertion pointer by
using the arrow keys or the mouse.
 In case you are in Microsoft Word and you want to create another new
document, you should proceed as follows:
 1. Click the File menu,
 2. Choose new, from the resulting dialog box, click Blank Document Or
select template by clicking any template's tab
 3. Click the OK button.

 Saving a new document
1. From the file menu, click save or Save As or simply click the save
Button on the Standard toolbar. The difference between save and save
as is that although both give the save as dialog box when saving for
the first time, Save allows the user to save document without the
opportunity to change the file name or the location.
2.In the file name box, type a unique name for the document
3.Select a the location or drive you want to save in, by clicking the down
arrow on the right of save in list box,
4.To save the file in a different format or type such as Word 6.0, Word for
Macintosh etc. click the down arrow on the right of Save as type list
box and choose a file type.
5.Click the save button. The file will automatically be saved as a Microsoft
Word document.
 Opening an existing document
1.From the file menu, click Open command or on the Standard toolbar,
click the Open button. Alternatively press Ctrl + 0 key combination on
the keyboard. The Open dialog box shown appears.
2.Select a drive or folder where the file is saved.
3.In the file name box, type or select the name of the document you want
to open.
4.Click the open button

To open a document created in another program, click the file format you
want in the files of type box, and then double click the document name
in the folder list. You can also use wildcards in the file name box for
example, type *. Document to find Microsoft Word files.
Protecting a document with a password
A password is a combination of characters that prevents other users
from opening and changing a document without permission. If a
document is protected by a password, only the person who
knows the password can open the document or edit it.

To save a document with a password

1. Create or open the document you want to protect
2. From the file menu, choose Save As.
3. Click the down arrow on the Tools button in the save as dialog
box
4. Click General options.
5. Type in a password in the password to open. This prompts the
user to enter password when opening a document.
6. Type in a password in the password to modify. This prevents the
user from making changes to a document unless the user enters
the correct password.
7. Finally click OK.
 Closing a document
Closing a document means unloading the current active document from
memory so that the user can create or open another without
necessarily exiting from Word.
To close a document:
1. Click the File menu.
2. Choose Close.
 Exiting from Word
1. To exit from Word, make sure all open documents are saved.
2. Click File menu,
3. Click Exit command.

NB: You can exit from Microsoft Word by pressing Alt + F4 keys or by
double clicking the application icon at the left most comer of the title
bar. If you have not saved any of the open documents, Microsoft Word
prompts you to save the document first.
 Editing and formatting a document
Editing
Editing refers to making necessary changes to an existing document.
Apart from manual editing using delete, insert and overtype/overwrite
commands, Microsoft Word provides the user with inbuilt tools such as
the spelling and grammar checker, thesaurus, undo and re-do, find and
replace etc.
 Block operations
Selecting (highlighting) a block of text
The purpose of selecting text is to enable the user perform a number of
editing or formatting operations on the selected block of text.
Selecting with a mouse
1. To select a word, place the insertion pointer on the word then, double
Click it.
2. To select a sentence, positions the mouse pointer at the left margin
until it changes to a right arrow, and then click once.
3. To select a paragraph, place the pointer at the beginning or end of the
paragraph. Notice that the pointer changes to I-beam. Now drag the I-
beam over the text to be selected and release the mouse button at the
end of the text you wish to work on.
Selecting with the keyboard
To select one word, move the insertion pointer to the beginning or End of
the word then press Shift+Ctrl+Right or left arrow.
2. To select one line, press Shift+Up or Shift+Down arrow key.
Alternatively, move the insertion point to the end or beginning of The
line then press Shift+Home or end keys respectively.
3.To select an entire page; press Shift+Page Down or Shift+Page Up.
4. To select the entire document, press Ctrl+A or place the cursor at the
beginning of the document then press Shift+Ctrl+End.
Deleting text
1. To delete a character or a word from the right to the left, place the insertion pointer
on the right of the word then press the backspace key.
2. To delete a character to the right of the cursor position, place the Insertion pointer
on the left of the word then press the Delete key.
To delete a block of text
1. Highlight the text to be deleted.
2. Press the Delete key.
Restoring deleted text
To restore text that has just been deleted in the current word processing session: click
the Edit menu, then the Undo command
Copying and moving (cut) text and objects
Copying means creating a duplicate of text or an object while moving means changing
the position of text or an object in a document. In Microsoft Word, you can copy or
move a block of text.
To copy a block of text:
1. Highlight the text,
2. Click Edit, then Copy or simply click the Copy button on the standard Toolbar.
3. Position the insertion pointer where you want to copy the text,
4. Click Edit then Paste or simply click the Paste button on the standard toolbar.
NB: To use the keyboard shortcut keys, press Ctrl + C to copy, then Ctrl + V to paste
To move text and objects
Highlight the text,
Click Edit, then Cut or simply click the Cut button (whose icon is a Pair of
scissors) from the standard toolbar.
Position the insertion pointer where you want the text to be placed,
Click Edit then Paste or click the Paste button on the standard toolbar.

NB: To use the keyboard shortcut keys, press Ctrl + X to cut, then Ctrl + V
to paste
Typing modes
There are two typing modes in a word processor that assist the user in
typing or editing text documents. These are:
1. Insert mode.
2. Overtype/typeover mode.

Insert mode
This is the default mode in most word processors. In this case when text is
inserted between words or characters it pushes the existing text away
without replacing it.
Typeover mode.
In this case, when text is typed between existing words or characters, the
new text automatically replaces the existing text by deleting it.
To switch between typeover and insert mode, simply press the insert key
on the keyboard or double click the OVR label on the status bar.
 Turn on Overtype mode
 In Word, choose File > Options.
 In the Word Options dialog box, choose Advanced.
 Under Editing options, do one of the following:
 To use Insert key to control Overtype mode, select the Use Insert key
to control overtype check box.
 To keep Overtype mode enabled always, select the Use overtype
mode check box.
Find and replace
When you need to search for a word or phrase in a large document, use
the Find command. In case you wish to replace a word or phrase, use
the Replace option.
Find
1.Click Edit menu, then click Find command. The find dialog box appears.
2.Type the text or phrase you want to search for then click FindNext
3.Step 2 can be repeated if you wish to find other occurrences of the
same word or phrase.
4.Click OK when a message appears telling you that Microsoft Word has
finished searching the document. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.

NB: You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F to find. Some search
options:
You can specify search options by clicking the more buttons to display
them. They include:
 Match case: This identifies only text that matches in case with that in
the find what box e.g. it will not find the word DEEN if you typed deen
and selected the match case option.
 Whole Word: Searches for a word or phrase that is whole. If it is part of
another word it will not be found, e.g. the word ever will not be found
in words like however, whenever etc. during the search.
 Use wildcards: Wildcards are special symbols such as * and? That are
used to represent a set of words with certain characters in common
e.g. names like Jeff, Joe, Jane can be represented using a wildcard as J*
which means all names starting with J.
 Like: Searches for words, which are similar in pronunciation e.g.,
fare and fair.
Replace command
Click Edit menu then Replace command. The dialog box appears.
 Type the name you want to replace in the Find what box and the one
that will replace it in the Replace with box.
 Click the Find next button to find the next occurrence of the word then
click Replace button to replace it.
 To replace all the occurrences of the word in the document at once,
click the Replace all button.
WELCOME TO TODAYS
CLASS
 Paragraph formatting
Text alignment
 Textalignment refers to how text is lined up
on the page relative to the left, right or center
of the page.
 Leftalignment-Lines of text are lined up
evenly along the left margin but unevenly
at The right margin.
 Right alignment-This is opposite of left
alignment. Lines of text are lined up evenly
along the right margin but unevenly at the
left margin.
 Centeralignment-The lines of text are centered
unevenly between the left and right margins.
  Justification-Linesof text are arranged evenly along
the left and right margin.
Drop caps
There are times when you wish to attract the
reader's attention by making the first character in a
sentence large, taking more space in the next line.
Such kind of a character is said to be "dropped".
To apply drop cap;
 1. Highlight the first character in the sentence
 2. From the Format menu, click Drop Cap. Drop cap dialog box
appears
 3. Click Dropped or In Margin
 4. Select font in case you wish to apply a certain font to the
dropped Cap
 5. Specify the number of lines to drop.
 6. Click OK
 Indenting paragraphs
 Indentation refers to moving the text away from the margin. You
can indent the first sentence in a paragraph (first line), the
whole paragraph (full indent) or the rest of the text except the
first line (hanging indentations).
First line indent
 Select the paragraph to be indented
 From the format menu click paragraph. Paragraph properties
dialog box appears
 Click the down arrow in the list box under Special and select
First Line.
 4. Specify by how far the paragraph is to be indented from the
margin
 In the by text box
 Click OK to apply the indent and close the dialog box. The
paragraph will be indented
NB: You can also indent the first line by positioning the cursor at
the beginning of the paragraph then press the Tab key.
 Hanging Indent
 1. Select the paragraph to be indented
 2. From format menu, click Paragraph.
 3. Click the down arrow in the list box under Special
and select Hanging. 4. Specify by how far the
paragraph is to be indented from the margin In the
by text box
 5. Click OK to apply the indent and close the dialog
box. The paragraph will be indented
Full indent­
 1. Select the paragraph to be indented or position
the cursor anywhere in the paragraph
 2. From the formatting tool bars, click the Increase or
Decrease indent Button
 Setting tabs
 Tabs are used to indent the first line of a paragraph or create
columnar data. By default the tab stop is set at 0.5 of an inch. To
change the default setting:
 From the format menu, click Tabs
 Enter a new value for tab stop in the Tab stop Position box.
 Choose the type of tab either left, center or right.
 4. If need be specify the Tab leader option
 5. Click the Set button then OK.
Setting tabs using the ruler
 The easiest way to set tabs is by using the ruler. On the left comer of
the horizontal ruler is a tab alignment button that lets the user
select the type of tab.
 To set the tab using the ruler;
 1. Click on the tab button to choose the required tab type. Notice
that the tab type keeps on changing as you click the tab button.
 2. Set the tab stop by clicking where you want it to be on the ruler.
 ButtonName Purpose

Left tab Text is left aligned

Center tab Text is centered

Bar tab Inserts a vertical line at

Tab stop and align text to

The right of the line

Decimal tab Text is aligned at decimal

Character

Right tab Text is right aligned

 Line and character spacing
 Line spacing refers to the vertical distance between lines of
text. The default line spacing is single spacing. This type of
spacing accommodates the characters in a text leaving a small
extra space between lines. Character spacing on the other hand
refers to the space between the characters in the text.
To change line spacing:
1. Highlight the text,
2. From format menu, click Paragraph to display the paragraph
dialog Box.
3. Click the down arrow from the Line Spacing list box and select
the Type of spacing required e.g. double, 1.5, at least etc.
4. Click OK to effect the changes. To change character spacing:
1. Highlight the text
2. From Format menu, click Font.
3. Click the Character Spacing tab
4. Adjust the spacing as required
 Bullets and numbering
 Bullets and numbers are used to mark steps in a
procedure or items in a list.
To apply bullets and numbers in a list:
1. Select the list.
2. From the Format menu, click Bullets and numbering.
A dialog box appears.
3. Do one of the following;
(a) To apply bullets, click the Bulleted tab.
(b) To apply independent numbers click the Numbered
tab.
(c) To apply outlined numbered list, click Outline
Numbered. Tab
4. Click OK to effect the changes and close the dialog
box.
 Breaks
A break is used to identify where a section, a column or
a page ends and the beginning of next. This allows the
user to apply more than one paragraph or page format
in the same document especially when it comes to
page layout, size, different margins etc.

To insert a section break

 Position the text cursor in the document where the
break is to be inserted.
 Click Insert then. Break.
 From the Break dialog box select the type of section
break to insert e.g. page break.
 Click OK.
 Formatting pages
Inserting page breaks
 A page break identifies the end of one page and the
beginning of the next. NofQ1ally, Word automatically
inserts a new page after the current. One is full.
However, there may be a need to start a new page
even if the. Current one is not full.
To insert page breaks:
 Position the pointer where the break is to be inserted.
 Click Insert then Break.
 From the Break dialog box
 Click Page break then OK.
Creating columns
To, create columns on existing text:
 Highlight the text
 From Format menu, click Columns to display the dialog
box
 In the columns dialog box, select the number of
columns or type in the Number of columns text
box
 In the Width and spacing boxes, specify the column
widths and space between columns
 Click OK
Page setup
 Page setup options let the user specify the size
of the margins, paper size, paper source and
layout.
Setting margins
 Margins are blank spaces around the edges of the
page. Only text and objects inside the margins are
printable.
To set up margins:
 1. Click the File menu then Page setup. Page setup
dialog box appears
 2. Click the Margins tab.
 3. Enter the values for the left, right, top and bottom
margins in the respective boxes.
 4. Click OK.
Setting the paper size
 By default, the paper size may be either Letter or A4.
An A4 paper has dimensions 210 mm x 297 mm
 To specify a different paper size
1. From the File menu click Page setup
2. In the page setup dialog box click the Paper size tab.
3. Select the size of paper required from the paper size list. If your size is different
from the ones provided, click Custom size and enter dimensions in the height and
width boxes.
4. Click OK.
 Specifying page orientation
 The term page orientation refers to the positioning of the page in relation to the
text. The two available orientations are:
 Portrait: text and graphics are printed with the longest side vertically upright.
For example, on an A4 piece of paper, the 210 mm edges are at the bottom and
top.
 Landscape: With landscape, text and graphical objects are placed with the
longest side of the page placed horizontally and the lines of text printed
parallel. For example, to create a timetable on an A4 page, the 297 mm side
should be horizontal.
To select the orientation:
 1. From File menu, choose Page setup.
 2. Click on the Paper size tab and a dialog box comes on the screen.
Page layout
 This option lets the user specify how text will be
placed on the page from the margins. By default, text
starts from the top margin.
To change the layout
1. From File menu, choose Page setup. The dialog box
Appears.
2. Click on the Layout tab.
3. From the Vertical alignment tab, select the alignment
required then click OK.
Inserting headers and footers
 Headers, footers and page numbers make it easy to
locate information. Headers are few words placed at
the top of every page while footers appear at the
bottom. To insert headers and footers:
Inserting page numbers
To give your document page numbers:
1. From the Insert menu, click Page numbers to display
the dialog box
2. In the Position box, specify where you want the page
numbers to be inserted.
3. In the alignment box, specify whether the number is
to be on the right, left, center, inside or outside
4. Use the Format button to choose the number format,
i.e. 1,2,3,..., A,B, C etc. You can start from any page
number by using Start at box
 Creating and editing tables
Creating tables
 A table is a feature in Microsoft Word made up of rows and
columns that is used to organise and enhance display of
information.
Creating a new table
 You can create a table either by using the Insert Table command
from tables menu, or by using Draw Table tool that resembles a
pencil to create more complex tables.
 To create a table using the insert table command;
1. Click Tables menu, position the pointer on Insert, then click
Table
2. In the Insert table dialog box displayed, specify the number of
rows and columns.
3. Click OK. The table will be displayed on the screen and you can
start entering data in it.
NB: You can insert a table by clicking the table button on the
standard toolbar, then drag to select the number of rows and