By Sharael Feist
May 12, 1999
Microsoft Word is one of the most essential software programs. It is fundamental for writing letters to friends and family, creating faxes for business purposes, or putting together your resume. However, for beginning computer users, learning a new program can be intimidating. So we’re going to hold your hand and provide you with some easy-to-learn tips that will make MS Word a snap to use.
<b>All About Fonts</b>
When creating a Word document, you’ll first want to choose a font. The default is lO-point Times New Roman.
To change your font:
1. Go to the tool bar at the top of the page and click on Format*
2. Scroll down to Font
3. Click on the Font tab
Here you can choose which font you want to use, what size you want to make the font, and whether you want to your text in bold or italics. You can also add effects such as strikeout text. If you want to get fancy, click on the Animation tab. This lets you make your text do things like blink.
*Most tool bars also have buttons that allow you to do these things as well.
<b>Paragraph Formatting </b>
Make your document visually appealing by using indents and spacing. Figure out how you want your text to be spaced.
Here’s how:
1. Go to the Toolbar and Click on Format*
2. Choose Paragraph
3. Click on the Indents and Spacing tab
Here you can choose how you want to align the text on the page (left, middle, or right). You can also set the indent for your text and adjust the spacing between lines (single space, double space, and so on). If you click on the Line and Page Breaks tab you can insert page breaks. This is good when you don’t want to fill the whole page with text, but you don’t want to scroll down to get to the next page.
*Most tool bars also have buttons that allow you to do these things as well.
<b>Finishing Touches </b>
To finalize your Word document, you should Spell Check it to guard agains embarrassing spelling mistakes or typos.
Here’s how to Spell Check your document:
1. Go to the Toolbar and click on Tools*
2. Choose Spelling and Grammar. This will walk you through your document and point out any spelling
or grammar mistakes. When it comes across a misspelled word, it will give a choice to ignore, add, or change the word.
*You can also click on the ABC icon in the Toolbar or hit F7.
To access the Thesaurus:
1. Go to the Toolbar and click on Tools*
2. Choose Language
3. Click on Thesaurus
*You can also hit shift+F7
To see what your final document will look like when you print it, preview it by following these steps:
1. Go to the Toolbar and click File
2. Choose Print Preview
3. When finished click Close
Next you’ll want to print the document:
1. Go to the Toolbar and click on File*.
2. Choose Print: Here you can choose how many copies you want to print, which printer you want it to print to, and which pages you want to print.
*You can also print by clicking on the printer icon button in the Toolbar or by pressing Ctrl+P.
Finally you’ll want to save the document:
1. Go to the Toolbar and click on File*
2. Choose Save
3. Make sure you save it to a folder where you can find it
*You can also click on the floppy disk icon in the Toolbar or press Ctrl+S.