Word Processing

Punctuation (common character names)
Click here to learn more.

,	comma (down)	'	apostrophe (up)
.	period	:	colon
"	quotation mark	;	semi-colon

Spacing rules:

Examples

ONE SPACE

between words

Otsego Knights

after any period

1. USA Mrs. Bradley

NOTE - Most typing teachers (on a typewriter with mono-spaced fonts) used to teach two spaces after a period, but the current standard for word processing (with proportional spaced fonts) is only one space after a period. Read more about "Spacing after full stop" at Wikipedia Changed to this in the 2002 Computer Course of Study Meetings.

after a comma

Grand Rapids, Haskins, and Weston are great!

between sentences

Knights are number 1. They're the best.

NO SPACE

before a period

Knights are number 1. They're the best.

before a comma

Grand Rapids, Haskins, and Weston are great!

within a number

1,234.99

before the
punctuation at the end of a sentence

Who's the best? Otsego Knights are the best!

word wrap

within a paragraph let the computer decide when to go to the next line - don't press enter until the paragraph is finished - "word wrap" is sometimes called "text wrap" or just "wrap"

use of enter key

only press the enter key when you definitely want a new paragraph or a new line - don't press the enter key in the middle of a paragraph- pressing the ENTER key moves the cursor down one line and makes a paragraph marker that you might not see, remember, a paragraph marker means "the end of a paragraph" - use ENTER to make a blank line - to add a new line at the top of what you have already typed: put your cursor at the very beginning of the document (even before the tab arrow), press enter, then use the up arrow to place your cursor on the new line and begin typing

edit text ("edit" means "to change")

Place the cursor where you need to make a change
Backspace	erases what is to the left of the cursor - x\|xx
Delete	erases what is to the right of the cursor - x\|xx
As I type, it's erasing what I already typed - click here to find out what to do

use tab to indent paragraph

Press the tab key once to indent a paragraph (don't press the space bar). Look at your work - each paragraph should be indented the same amount. If a paragraph is over more than another, you might have pressed TAB twice, or it might be caused by that computer being set to automatically indent after you indent the first paragraph - to fix it just delete on of the "indents". You might see an "arrow" when you press the tab key - just ignore it, it will not print, it is just there to help you know you did press the tab key.

Spell checker

To use spell check press the F7 key. Remember, the computer is not saying the word is misspelled, it is just telling you the highlighted word is not in its dictionary - most proper nouns, such as your name, will not be in the dictionary. Click here for spell checking tips.

Change
(suggestions, type in own)

Look at what is in the "Change" box, if it is not correct or not what you want either type in the box or click on a suggestion, then click change. If you missed a space after a period put the cursor where the space should be, press the space bar, and then click change.

Ignore

If you are sure you typed a word properly, click Ignore.

Add (edit dictionary)

Please do not add words to the school computers' dictionary. Sometimes misspelled words are added by mistake - please be careful.

Font name and size

Font name changes the way the letters look - the font name must be installed on a computer for the font to be viewed the same.

Font size lets you make letters larger or smaller - some programs have size limits. You must highlight (select) before making a change. "Drop" down to the desired name/size in the ribbon's Home tab, in the Font group. You may also type in a size number rather than clicking one of the choices - after you type in a size number press the enter key. You could also highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl [ (left bracket) to make the font smaller, or Ctrl ] (right bracket) to make the font larger.

See acceptable font information.

Line spacing (double space, single space)

The easiest way to change line spacing is to highlight the text (CTRL A), then use the keyboard shortcuts: double space is "CTRL 2" (CTRL or Control), 1-1/2 line spacing is CTRL 5, or use the shortcut button in the toolbar, or from the menu bar Format - Paragraph - Line Spacing. More. Line spacing does not have anything to do with the spacebar - it does NOT mean to put two spaces between words.

print preview

Get in the habit of looking at your work as it will print, BEFORE you print. Click the Office Button at the top left, click Print, click Print Preview. Check to be sure you don't have an extra page or pages that are empty - Do you see the word Next or Pg 1/2 or something similar? - You may have accidentally pressed the enter key too many times at the end.

Font styles

highlight (select) the text before making a change

Bold

makes font darker - use the shortcut button in the Font group or press control+b

Italics

put the font on a slant like the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" - use the shortcut button in the Font group or press control+i

Underline

put a line under the text - use the shortcut button in the Font group or press control+u

Alignment

highlight (select) the text before clicking the align button

Align Left

This is left aligned (usually the default).

Center

This is centered.
Don't use the tab key to "center"
use the center alignment button.

Align Right

This is right aligned.

Font color

"Drop" down to the desired color in the ribbon's Home tab, in the Font group.

set margins

In the ribbon's Home group, within the Page layout tab, go to the Page setup group and drop down at Margins. Select a desired pre-set margin ("narrow" is .75" and works well for top, bottom, left, and right) or set a custom margin. If you will be changing orientation, please change it before you set margins. Click to learn more about Margins.

set page breaks

Force a page to begin where you want it rather than letting it happen automatically where you don't want it. Place the cursor where you want the next page to begin, press Control Enter (while holding the Control key press the Enter key and then release both keys).

Clip art

Placement and Direction

In the ribbon, click the Insert tab, click ClipArt,

under construction - summer 2010

move and change the size as needed.

CLIPS ONLINE - From the menu bar, click Insert, click Picture, click ClipArt, click Clips Online (you will be taken to the Microsoft Design Gallery automatically if you are already on the Internet; you always are connected to the Internet at school, probably not at home). Type a keyword for what you want, next to that drop down and click on "clip art". Find the clip art you want and click once in the box beneath it to put a check mark in it (don't double click), go back up to the pale blue bar and click Download 1 item, click Download now, (if a small AutoComplete window opens, just close it), click Open. On the new window that appears click on the clipart you want, click the Insert button (the top one) on the menu that appears; move and change the size as needed. If it won't let you insert, close the windows, then go to clipart within Word and click on the Downloaded Clips category - you should see your choice and insert from there.

MOVE clipart

To be able to MOVE the clipart in the document you will have to format its layout. Click on the clipart that you just put in your document, in the menu bar click Format, click Picture, click the Layout tab, click square (usually), click OK. Now click in the center of the clip art and drag it where you want it.

Resize clipart

Change the size of a picture by placing the mouse pointer on a corner so the pointer changes to a diagonal double pointing arrow. Then either push toward the center of the picture to make it smaller, or pull it out to make the picture larger. Do not push or pull from a midpoint - it will distort the picture.

Graphics

Placement and Direction

Insert From a File

From the menu bar, click Insert, click Picture, click From File, locate the filename for the picture you want, double click that filename; position and resize as needed.

Insert From the Internet

--- --- --- --- --- ---
Right click the graphic, click Copy from the pop-up menu, put the cursor where you want the graphic in your document, right click, click Paste; position and resize as needed. Be sure to cite the source of the graphic.

***If you just get a blank white space instead of the picture: When you right click on the picture, click Save Picture As – save as a jpg in your own folder. Then go to your document - Place your cursor where you want the picture – Insert – Picture – From File – get to your own folder, click on the filename for the picture – click Insert

***Remove the hyperlink (if when you put your mouse on the picture you see a pointing finger instead of an arrow): Right click on the picture – Hyperlink – Remove Hyperlink

***To be able to move the picture you must click on it, then - Format – picture – layout – square - ok

Edit features

Cut

Highlight what you don't want. Click the CUT button in the toolbar to erase it. It is now in the clipboard and you could immediately PASTE it somewhere else.

Copy

Highlight what you want to duplicate. Click the COPY button in the toolbar. It remains showing in your document and is also in the clipboard so you can now PASTE it somewhere else.

Paste

To put in something that you CUT or COPIED so you can see it, you must place the cursor where you want to see the item, then click the PASTE button in the toolbar.

Move

Two methods:
1 - cut it and paste it somewhere else - this is the EASIER way
2 - highlight it and drag it somewhere else - BE CAREFUL, it's easy to make a mess this way

Columns

Make your work look more like a newspaper by having vertical sections. If you have already typed text, be sure to highlight the text that you want in columns. In the Menu bar go to Format - Columns - select how many columns you want (don't set too many columns or they will be too narrow) - click OK.

TIP - When selecting paragraphs to be changed into two columns, be sure to select all parts of the paragraph, including the tab at the beginning and the paragraph marker at the end (even if you don't see them).

Orientation

Which direction does your "paper" go? Horizontally (across, Landscape) or Vertically (up and down, Portrait) To change "orientation" make sure nothing on your document is highlighted or selected, then from the Menu bar click File - Page Setup - Paper Size. - under Orientation click either Portrait or Landscape - click OK. Read more. Set orientation before setting margins.

Thesaurus

Highlight or type a word for which you want to find a synonym, an antonym, or related words. On the Tools menu, point to Language, and then click Thesaurus. Click here to learn more.

Set paper size

Most of the time you will use 8 1/2 by 11 inch (letter) paper; sometime you may need to change to a different size (legal paper, or an index card) - do this from the Menu bar - File - Page Setup - Paper Size. If you are printing to the shared laser printer at school please do not change Paper Size.

Insert a chart

Create the graph in Excel (not Word). Right click in the white space on the graph, click Copy from the pop-up menu, put the cursor where you want the chart in your document, right click, click Paste; position and resize as needed.

Table

These columns and rows within only a section of a document are a great way to organize information. From the menu bar click Table - Insert - choose the number of columns and rows you want.

Borders

You may put a line (different styles - dashed, dotted, wide, etc.) or a decorative edge either around selected paragraphs or all pages in a document.

Paragraph Border: After you have highlighted the paragraph(s) you want a border around, in the Menu bar click Format - Borders and Shading - click the Borders tab - select your choices for settings, style, and color - click OK.

Page Border: Don't highlight anything, from the Menu bar go to Format - Borders and Shading - click the Page Border tab (not borders) - select your choices for settings, style, and color - click OK.

Click here to learn more.

Header

The very top of a page is the Header. Whatever is typed here is repeated on every page of the document. Don't confuse it with a title or heading that would be on the first line of the body of the document. If you want a Header - from the Menu bar go to Headers and Footers and follow the instructions or "experiment". You can change the alignment by clicking on one of the alignment buttons in the toolbar. Click here to learn more.

Footer

The very bottom of a page is the Footer. Whatever is typed here is repeated on every page of the document. If you want a Footer - from the Menu bar go to View, click Headers and Footers and follow the instructions or "experiment". You can change the alignment by clicking on one of the alignment buttons in the toolbar. Click here to learn more.

Tabs

Preset measurements across a page - place your cursor there by pressing the tab key on the keyboard. The default measurements are every half inch - that's why it's nice to click the tab key once to indent a paragraph.

You may change a tab location by clicking on a measurement on the ruler at the top of the document; a tab marker will appear in the ruler. Remove a tab by dragging it off the ruler. Change the alignment (right, left, center, decimal) of a tab by double clicking the tab marker in the ruler and making a choice from the drop down selection menu that appears.

Click here to learn more about setting tabs.

Click here to see how to use tabs to properly align the Heading, Closing, and Signature Line in a friendly letter. NOTE: the entire letter should be aligned left, please do not use align right on any part of the letter.

Click here to see the Table of Contents instructions and example.

Text Boxes

If you intend to create a document that will have many graphics and some text, you may find it easier to control the layout by typing your words in text boxes you draw rather than just “on the paper”. Click here.

Learn more about Word toolbars: Standard Toolbar - Formatting Toolbar - Drawing Toolbar

Learn more about Word menus: File, Edit, and View - Insert and Format - Tools, Window and Help

Review - Buttons (Matching) - Spell Check (Fill-in) -
Word Processing (Flash Cards) - Spell Check (Flash Cards)

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Word Processing

Exercises: Letter Layout Table of Contents Simple Word Processing Test

Exercises: Letter Layout Table of Contents
Simple Word Processing Test