COM 111: COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

CHAPTER SIX: WORD PROCESSING

At the end of the chapter the learner shall be able to;
 Explain the different word processing terms
 Creating new documents and open existing ones
 Type and edit text
 Use Save and Save As
 Perform spelling and grammar check after typing a document
 Apply formatting to text and page
 Print preview a document and print it
 Follow the mail Merging wizard to mail merge a document

Word processors are programs that enable you to Create, Edit and Format documents. Examples of word processors
are, Microsoft Word, Word perfect, Word star.

Microsoft Word (MS-WORD 2007 / 2010)

Ms Word is a powerful word processing program that helps the user create, edit, format and save documents.

6.1 Loading Ms-Word

 Click start button at the task bar
 Point at programs
 Click at Microsoft word

Loading can also be achieved by clicking the Ms Word icon on the Microsoft shortcut bar (only if it is available)

6.2 The Ms-Word Screen

The Ms Word screen contains various features. The common ones are:
1. TITLE BAR: This bears the name of the application followed by the name of the current document or the
file.
2. STANDARD BAR: It contains shortcut command buttons for some of the commonly used commands.
3. MENU BAR: It contains menus. Each menu has a set of commands.
4. FORMATTING BAR: It has formatting features and commands e.g. B I U
5. DRAWING BAR: It consists of drawing tools.
6. STATUS BAR: Gives information about the current selection or cursor position.

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Ms-Word Screen
When the program starts, the following document window will be displayed on the screen.
Title Bar

Office Button
Menu Bar
Quick Access
Tool Bar Clipboard Font Tool Bar Paragraph Tool Bar Styles Toolbar
Tool Bar

Status Bar Zoom tool

Scroll Bar
Quick Access Tool
1. Provides access to commonly and frequently used command such as Save, Undo, Redo, New etc

2. More command icons can be displayed on the Quick Access toolbar by selecting from the Customized quick
Access Toolbar

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Types of Menus
A. Home Menu
Tools Bars

Sub-menus under this menu

a) Clipboard: Cut, Copy, Paste
b) Font – Font, Font size, Bold, Itallics, Underline, Strike out, subscript, Super Script, change case, text 3.
highlighting, font colour, etc.
c) Paragraph:- Bullets, Numbering, Multilevel list, Decrease & Increase Indent, Sort, Paragraph Align Left,
Center, Right & Justify, Line Spacing, Shading and Borders.
d) Styles Toolbar;- font style (heading style & Normal styles)
e) Editing Toolbar;- Find, Replace and Select tools

B. Insert Menu

Sub-menus under this menu

a) Pages toolbar;- Cover page, Blank page & Page break
b) Tables Toolbar
c) Illustrations Tool bar; Picture, Clip Art, Shapes, Smart Art, Chart
d) Links; Hyperlink, Bookmarks, Cross-reference
e) Header & Footer Tool bar; Header toolbar, Footer Toolbar, Page numbering toolbar
f) Text Toolbar; Text Box toolbar, Quick Parts, Word Art, Drop Cap, Signature Line, Date & Time, Object
g) Symbols; Equation, Symbol

C. Page Layout Menu

Sub-menus under this menu

a) Themes Toolbar; Themes, Colors, Fonts & Effects
b) Page Set-up; Margins, orientation, Size, Columns, Breaks, Line Numbering, Hyphenation
c) Page Background; watermark, page color, page borders
d) Paragraph; Indenting, Spacing
e) Arrange; position, bring to front, send to back, text wrapping, Align, rotate etc.

D. References Menu

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Sub-menus under this menu
a) Table of content;
b) Footnotes;
c) Citation and Bibliography
d) Captions
e) Index
f) Table of Authority

E. Mailings Menu

Sub-menus under this menu

a) Create mailing labels
b) Mail Merge
c) Write and Insert fields
d) Preview results
e) Finish & Merge

F. Review

Sub-menus under this menu

a) Proofing; Spelling & Grammar checking, Thesaurus, Word Count, Translate
b) Comments; insert, Delete, previous & next
c) Tracking;
d) Changes; Accept, Reject, Previous & Next etc
e) Compare
f) Document protection

G. View Menu

Sub-menus under this menu

a) Document Views; print layout, Full Screen reading, Web layout, Outline, Draft etc
b) Show/Hide; Ruler, Gridlines, Document Map, Thumbnails
c) Zoom;
d) Window;
e) Switch Window
f) Macros

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6.3 Creating, Saving and Closing Documents
Creating
Option 1
1. Click the Office button, click New then double click the Blank Document icon.

Option 2
2. On the standard tool bar click the ‘New’ (icon)

Saving
To save a new document
 Click Office Button and choose Save As.
 Type the file name on the File name box that appears.
 Chose the location to save the file in the Save in box e.g. floppy (A), hard disk(C) etc
 Select the Save As Type format or accept the default (.docx for word 7 and above. Previous version save as
.doc)
 Click the Save button.

Closing or Exiting Document

 Click close button on the Ms- Word desktop or
 Click Office Button.
 Either Click Close button to close the document BUT remain in Word
OR
Click Exit word to both close the file and exit word

Selecting Text/Block of Text

SELECT DO THIS
A word Drag over the word or Double click it
A graphic Click anywhere within the graphic
A line of text Drag over the text or Double click at the start of line
A sentence Hold Down Ctrl key and click anywhere in the Sentence
A paragraph Triple click anywhere in the paragraph to select
Entire document From Edit, click Select All

6.4 Formatting
a. To bold text
 Select or highlight the text.
 On the font menu click Bold button (B).

b. To Italicize text
 Select or highlight the text.
 On the font menu click Italics button (I).

c. To underline text
 Select or highlight the text.
 On the font menu click Italics button (U).

d. To change Font size and Font Type

 Select or highlight the text.
 On the font menu Select the font size OR the Font type by clicking he Down Arrow to the right of the boxes

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e. To change the font color
 Select the text.
 On the font menu select the font color by clicking the down arrow to the right of menu button shown below.

 Under color box, choose the color desired.

6.4.1. Formatting Paragraphs

Word displays text, as it will appear when printed.

a. About line spacing

Line spacing determines the amount of vertical space between the lines and text. Word uses single line spacing
by default.

b. Inserting line spaces

 In the paragraph menu.
 Click the down arrow to the right of line spacing button and select the required line spacing specification

c. Aligning text
 Select or highlight the text.
 In the paragraph menu, choose and click alignment desired i.e. left, center, right, justify

d. Creating drop caps

 Place the cursor at the beginning of the line/paragraph you want to have a drop cap on.
 In the format menu, click drop cap.
 Under position in the dialogue box choose either Dropped or in margin.
 In the lines to drop box specify the number
 Click Ok.
Note: You can specify the distance from the text and type of the font for the drop cap.
e. Change case
 Highlight or select the text.

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  In the font menu, click the down arrow to the right of the change case icon then select required change case
format.

f. Adding bullets and numbers

 Select the items, which you want to add bullets or numbers.
 In the paragraph menu section, click down arrow to the right of the bullets icon, then select the required
bullet type

For numbers.
 In the paragraph menu section, click down arrow to the right of the Numbering icon, then select the required
numbering format

g. Remove bullets or numbering

 Select the items, which you want to remove bullets or numbers.
 On the paragraph menu click the respective format Icon (Bullets or numbering)

h. Page Break
1. Position the cursor where you want the page break to appear.
2. From the Page Layout menu, Click the down arrow to the right of Breaks command

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i. Insert a picture
You can insert a clip art or a picture from the clip Gallery.
1. Position the insertion point(cursor) where you want to insert a clip art or a picture.
2. From the Insert menu, click the Picture command icon .
3. Click a clip art category then choose a clipart and click insert clip.

j. To resize the objects

1. Click inside the object i.e. clipart, word art or a drawing.
2. Position the mouse pointer in either of the placeholders.
3. Click and drag to the desired size.
4. Release the mouse button.

6.5 Editing Your Document

a. To undo mistakes
In the edit menu, click undo or click the Undo button on the standard toolbar.

b. To undo Specific actions

1. Click the down arrow to the right of the Undo Icon to display a list of the most recent actions.
2. Click the action you want to undo. If you don’t see the action, scroll through the list.

6.6 To insert page numbers, Footers and Headers

 From the Insert menu, click the arrow at the bottom of each format Icon, then select the required style
Header

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 Footer

Page Numbers

Removing Page Numbers, Header and Footer

 In the respective menu
 Click remove header, footer or page number respectively

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Copying and Pasting Text
An existing piece of text may be required in a different document. Ms Word allows the user to copy this text rather
than retype then paste it to the required area. When text or graphic is copied or cut, it is stored in the clipboard and
can be pasted into as many documents as desired.

To copy and paste text

 Select the text to copy.
 From the Clipboard menu click Copy icon.
 Position the cursor where the text is to be placed.
 From the clipboard menu click bottom arrow to the right of the paste icon, then select the relevant past type

Moving text
 Select the text to move.
 From the Clipboard menu click Cut icon.
 Position the cursor where the text is to be placed.
 From the clipboard menu click bottom arrow to the right of the paste icon, then select the relevant past type

Note: When you cut, the text is completely removed from the original location.

To spell check a Document

 From the Review Menu
 Click the Spelling & Grammar Icon

 Follow the instructions as given to replace a word, ignore, edit etc

 Click Ok button when spelling and grammar is complete.

To find text
 On the edit menu, click Edit and choose Find.
 In the find what box, type the word/text being sought
 Click find next button
 To close the dialogue box, click cancel button

To Replace Text
You can find and replace test at the same time
 On the edit menu, click edit and choose replace
 In the find what box type word / text as above
 In replace with box type the word/ text to replace the sought word / text
 Click replace all button
 To close the dialogue box click cancel button

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Changing Page Setup
Depending on the size of the paper required and / or paper orientation and layout,
Ms –word will allow changing of the default to users requirement.

To change page setup

 Click Page Layout Menu
 Click Icon for the required page format
Margins
 Select & click the relevant page setup template
OR
 Click Custom Margins

Orientation
 Click the required page orientation Icon.

6.7. Working with Tables

A table is made up of rows and columns that can be filled with text and graphics. You can sort and perform
calculations on them. Tables make it easy to read information that would otherwise have to be written in a
representative and lengthy fashion. Use tables to organize information and create interesting page layouts with side-
by-side columns of text and graphics.

Table Menus (Accessed when a table is selected)

A. Design: Table styles options, table styles, draw borders
B. Layout;
1. Table; Select, View Gridlines, properties
2. Rows and Columns; Delete, Insert (top, bottom, right & left
3. Merge; Merge cells, Split cells, Split table
4. Cell size
5. Alignment
6. Data; sort, repeat header, convert to text etc.

The simple table:

1. Select Insert Menu
2. Select the Table menu
3. Click Insert

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 4. In the no. of columns box enter the number of columns.
5. In the no of rows box enter the number of rows.
6. Click Ok.

Creating a table with a different format

1. In the table menu click insert table
2. In the number of columns box enter the number of columns
3. In the number of rows box enter the number of rows
4. Click auto fit behaviour
5. Click Ok.

Merging cells in a tab

1. Select the cells to be merged.
2. From the table menu choose Layout menu
3. Click merge cells.

Splitting the cells

1. Select cell to be split
2. From the table menu choose split cells
3. Type the number of columns and rows each cell is to be cell split

To delete rows and columns in a table

1. Select the row or the column to be deleted
2. From the Table Layout menu click the down arrow at the bottom of the delete command icon

3. Select the required delete option

Adjusting column width

1. Position the mouse pointer over the column boundary until it changes shape
2. Drag the column boundary to the right or left

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Adding rows to a table
1. Select the Table Layout menu
2. Select the required insert row option

To delete cells in a table

1. Select the Table Layout Menu
2. Click the down arrow at the bottom of the delete command icon
3. Select delete cell option.

Sorting
Information in the table can be sorted in either ascending or descending order
1. Click any cell in the table
2. From the Table Layout menu choose sort

3. Select the appropriate sort parameters

4. Click Ok to sort

Performing calculations in a table

1. Click the cell in which you want the result to appear.
2. On the Table Layout menu, click Formula.

3. Enter the formula OR Select the function to from the Paste Function field
4. Click OK

6.8 Columns
Newspaper style columns
You can format text into multiple newspaper style columns. This is best applied when creating documents like
newspaper, newsletters or brochures.

Option 1
Using the column button on the standard toolbar
1. Highlight the text to be columned.

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2. From the Page Layout, on the page set-up menu, click Columns Icon

3. Select the required columns options.

6.9 Templates
A template is a document that contains predefined settings. The use of templates ensures that there is consistency
between documents.

1. Click the Office Button

2. Select New

3. Select the template that you want to use.

6.10. To Print a Document

You can print the active document by clicking the print icon on the standard toolbar. This will not give you the
option of choosing a variety of commands.
1. Click the Office Button
2. Click print.

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 3. Select Print View to view how the document will print
4. Select Print to open the printer dialog box

5. In the Printer name box select a printer.

6. Choose an option for the number of pages to be printed i.e.
ALL: -Prints the entire document
CURRENT PAGE: -prints the current page
PAGE: -you can select certain pages within a document
4. .In the number of copies box, specify the number of copies you want in each page.
5. Click Ok.

6.11. Mail Merging

If you had to type the same form letter 100 times, you know what boring and back breaking work it can be. Never
again, by setting up the form letter as a Ms Word merge documents, you need type the letter only once.

STEP 1 Creating data Source

1. From the Mailing Menu
2. Click Select recipients, New Address List dialogue appear as shown below
3. Remove the fields not needed and / or create new field

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 4. Type in the details
5. Click OK. A Save dialogue box appears, so thatg you can save the documey,
6. Enter an appropriate Name, storing folder. Document is saved as Microsoft Office Address list

STEP 2
1. From the Mailing Menu
2. Click Start Mail Merge, the dialogue appear as shown below

3. Select Letters

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