MS Word
MS Word
MS Word tutorial provides basic and advanced concepts of Word. Our Word tutorial is designed for
beginners and professionals.
Microsoft Word is a computer application program written by Microsoft. It is mainly used to design text
for presentation.
Our MS Word tutorial includes all topics of MS Word such as save the document, correct error, word
count, font size, font style, apply a style, customize a style, page size, page margin, insert header and
footer and more.
Microsoft Word is word processing software. It is developed by Microsoft and is part of Microsoft
Office Suite. It enables you to create, edit and save professional documents like letters and
reports.
Brief History
Microsoft word was released in 1983 as Multi-Tool Word. Its first version was based on the framework of
Bravo which was world's first graphical writing program.
Microsoft renamed Multi Tool Word to Microsoft Word, and then in October 1983, Microsoft released its
first version for the IBM PC.
In 1985, Microsoft ported it to the Macintosh which was different from its DOS-based counterpart, i.e.
Macintosh offered various major interface changes.
In 1989, Microsoft released a new version of Word for its Windows operating systems. It was the Microsoft
Word who introduced the concept of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), i.e. it allowed to create
and display bold and italics text.
In 2014, Microsoft developed the source code for Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a.
MS Word Index
MS Word Tutorial
o MS Word Tutorial
o Microsoft office button
o Quick Access Toolbar
o Title Bar
o Ribbon and Tabs
o Ruler
Text Basics
o Insert Text
o Delete Text
o Select Text
o Copy and Paste Text
o Save the Document
Proofing Features
o Correct Errors
o Check Word Count
Formatting Text
Formatting Paragraph
o To Insert Table
o Convert Text to Table
o Add Row in Table
o Add Column in Table
o Delete Column/Row
o Modify Table
o Split Text to Column
Inserting Illustrations
o Create Lists
o Use Symbols as Bullets
Using WordArt
o Insert WordArt
o Format WordArt
Office Button
Microsoft Office or MS Office Suite is an all-in-one package of several programs that help us perform most
office-related tasks, such as creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, etc. Some of
the essential software programs of MS Office Suite include MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint, etc. To make
all these software user-friendly and effective, Microsoft tries to make the user interface similar for the
common options, allowing users to find commands and tools with ease. Office button is one such common
option in all the software of MS Office Suite 2007.
In this article, we are discussing the Microsoft Office button (also called the Office button). The article also
concludes the function of the office button along with the options listed under it.
The office button is an essential element of Microsoft Office Suite 2007. This button was introduced in
Office 2007 with the new Ribbon feature. When we click on the Office button, it displays some useful
options which are used very frequently. Specifically, the Office button provides us options to open, save,
print any document, or perform other common functions. Additionally, the office button allows us to
configure the preferences or settings of the particular Office product.
The office button found in MS Office 2007 products looks like this:
ADVERTISEMENT
The office button is located on the top-left corner of Office 2007 programs, namely Excel, Word,
PowerPoint, etc. The button is attached with the ribbon and is identified by a circle containing an Office
logo inside it.
Office Button Menu Options
The following options or commands are displayed when we click on the Office button:
o New: This option allows us to create a new, blank file in the corresponding Office program, such
as MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
o Open: This option allows us to open an existing file from the local storage on our computer.
o Save: This option allows us to permanently save a temporary file to our computer after finishing
the work. Additionally, we can save the changes to the current file using this command.
o Save As: This option allows us to save a copy of the active file with the desired file name and file
extension to a desired location on the computer storage.
o Print: This option allows us to take a hard copy of the desired document on paper through a
printer. Alternately, the print option can help us save a copy of the active document to a PDF
format.
o Prepare: This option allows us to prepare the active file for distribution. In particular, the prepare
option helps us view and modify the document properties accordingly. Furthermore, we can also
inspect the hidden metadata of a specific file using this option.
o Send: This option enables us to send or share the desired files directly through the opened Office
program with others. In particular, we may share active documents by e-mail, upload them to
OneDrive, or post to a specific blog. The send option is renamed as 'Save and Send' in Office Suite
2010.
o Publish: This option enables us to distribute the desired document to people. We can even create
a specific blog article with the content inside the file.
o Close: This option helps us to close an active document in a corresponding Office program.
Note: The Office button has been removed in Office Suite 2010 and later. However, the menu options still
exist and are moved under the 'File' tab.
Quick Access Toolbar
Quick Access Toolbar lies next to the Microsoft Office Button. It is a customizable toolbar that comes with
a set of independent commands. It gives you quick access to commonly used commands such as Save,
Undo, Redo, etc.
When you click the drop-down arrow next to toolbar it offers more commands. With a left click you can
add any of these commands to Quick Access Toolbar. You can also remove the commands added to the
tool bar. The indent, spacing values, individual styles and other features that appear on the ribbon cannot
be added to quick access toolbar. The following image is showing the menu of quick access toolbar.
Title Bar
It lies next to the Quick Access Toolbar. It displays the title of the currently open document or application.
It is present on almost all windows displayed on your computer. So, if there are several windows across
the screen, you can identify each window by looking at the title bar. In many graphical user interfaces,
you can also move a window by dragging the title bar.
The Ribbon is a user interface element which was introduced by Microsoft in Microsoft Office 2007. It is
located below the Quick Access Toolbar and the Title Bar. It comprises seven tabs; Home, Insert, Page
layout, References, Mailing, Review and View. Each tab has specific groups of related commands. It gives
you quick access to the commonly used commands that you need to complete a task.
Home tab:
The Home tab is the default tab in Microsoft Word. It has five groups of related commands; Clipboard,
Font, Paragraph, Styles and Editing. It helps you change document settings like font size, adding bullets,
adjusting styles and many other common features. It also helps you to return to the home section of the
document.
Insert tab:
Insert Tab is the second tab in the Ribbon. As the name suggests, it is used to insert or add extra features
in your document. It is commonly used to add tables, pictures, clip art, shapes, page number, etc. The
Insert tab has seven groups of related commands; Pages, Tables, Illustrations, Links, Header & Footer,
Text and Symbols.
It is the third tab in the Ribbon. This tab allows you to control the look and feel of your document, i.e. you
can change the page size, margins, line spacing, indentation, documentation orientation, etc. The Page
Layout tab has five groups of related commands; Themes, Page Setup, Page Background, Paragraph and
Arrange.
References tab:
It is the fourth tab in the Ribbon. It allows you to enter document sources, citations, bibliography
commands, etc. It also offers commands to create a table of contents, an index, table of contents and
table of authorities. The References tab has six groups of related commands; Table of Contents,
Footnotes, Citations & Bibliography, Captions, Index and Table of Authorities.
Mailings tab:
It is the fifth tab in the ribbon. It is the least-often used tab of all the tabs available in the Ribbon. It allows
you merge emails, writing and inserting different fields, preview results and convert a file into a PDF
format. The Mailings tab has five groups of related commands; Create, Start Mail Merge, Write & Insert
Fields, Preview Results and Finish.
It is the sixth tab in the Ribbon. This tab offers you some important commands to modify your document.
It helps you proofread your content, to add or remove comments, track changes, etc. The Review tab has
six groups of related commands; Proofing, Comments, Tracking, Changes, Compare and Protect.
View tab:
The View tab is located next to the Review tab. This tab allows you to switch between Single Page and
Two Page views. It also enables you to control various layout tools like boundaries, guides, rulers. Its
primary purpose is to offers you different ways to view your document. The View tab has five groups of
related commands; Document Views, Show/Hide, Zoom, Window and Macros.
Ruler
The Ruler is located below the Ribbon around the edge of the document. It is used to change the format
of the document, i.e. it helps you align the text, tables, graphics and other elements of your document. It
uses inches or centimeters as the measurements unit and gives you an idea about the size of the
document.
The basic steps to insert text or to create a new document in Word are listed below;
You can easily delete the text in Word including characters, paragraphs or all of the content of your
document. Word offers you different methods to delete the text; some of the commonly used methods
are given below;
o Place the cursor next to the text then press Backspace key
o Place the cursor to the left of the text then press Delete key
o Select the text and press the Backspace or Delete key
o Select the text and type over it the new text.
Place the cursor next to the text then left click the mouse and holding it down move it over the text then
release it. The text will be selected.
Word offers different methods to copy and paste text. Some of the popular methods are given below;
Method 1;
Select the text you want to copy
o Select the Home tab and click the Copy command
o Place the cursor where you want to paste the text
o Click the Paste command in Home tab
Method 2;
o Select the text
o Place the cursor over the text and right click the mouse
o A menu will appear; with a left click select the "Copy" option
o Now, move the cursor to a desired location and right click the mouse
o A menu will appear; with a left click select the 'Paste" option.
When you create a document it is important to save the document so that it can be viewed or reused
later. The basic steps to save a document are listed below;
o Click the Microsoft Office Button
o A list of different commands appears
o Click the 'Save As' command
o it displays 'Save As' Dialogue Box
o Save the document to desired location with a desired name
You can also choose 'Save' command from the list to save the document to its current location with same
title. If you are saving a fresh document it displays 'Save As' dialogue box.
The shortcut method to save a document is to press "Ctrl+S" keys. It opens the 'Save As' dialogue box
where you can name you document and save it to a desired location.
When you type text in a document, by default the Word informs you if there is any contextual, spelling or
grammatical error. Word informs you in different ways for different errors;
If there is any contextual error in the document, it will underline the text with blue line.
If there is any spelling error in the document, it will underline the text with red line.
If there is any grammar error in the document, it will underline the text with green line.
When you start typing, the Word automatically counts the number of words and number of pages and
displays the information on the status bar. If the word count is not available on the status bar, you can
right click the status bar and select the Word Count option from the menu. Basic steps to check the word
count are listed below;
o Open the document
o Look at left bottom corner of the document
o You will see the total world count and the number of pages
To know the word count of a specific line or paragraph you have to select it then Word will display its
word count along with the total word count, e.g. 15/40. In this example, the selection has 15 words out
of the total number of words (40).
How to Change Font Size in MS Word
You can easily change the font size of your text in the document. The basic steps to change the Font size
are listed below;
o Select the text that you want to modify
o In Home tab locate the Font group
o In Font group click the drop-down arrow next to font size box
o Font size menu appears
o Select the desired font size with a left click
o Select the text and click the increase or decrease font size buttons
You can easily change the text case in your document by following the steps given below;
o Select the text you want to change
o In Home tab locate the Font group
o Click the drop-down arrow in 'Change Case' button
o It displays text case menu
o Select the desired case with a left click
The case menu offers four options;
Sentence case: It capitalizes the first letter of each sentence.
Lowercase: It changes the text from uppercase to lowercase.
Uppercase: It capitalizes all the all letters of your text.
Capitalize Each Word: It capitalizes the first letter of each word.
Toggle Case: It allows you to shift between two case views, e.g. to shift between Capitalize Each Word
and cAPITALIZE eACH wORD .
See the image:
You can change the text alignment in your document to make it more presentable and readable.
The basic steps to change the text alignment are given below;
Text box allows you to control the position of a block of text in your document. You can also format them
with borders and shading. The two commonly used methods to insert Text Boxes are given below:
Method 1:
o Select the Insert tab
o Locate the Text group
o Click the Text Box button
o It displays Built-In text box menu and an option to draw table
o With a left click select the desired text box format from the menu
Method 2:
Select 'Draw Text Box' option
A cross shaped cursor appears
Left click the mouse and holding it down drag it to draw the box of desired dimensions
These commands are given in the Font group in the Home tab. Their functions are given below;
o Bold: It allows you to Bold the text of your document
o Italic: It allows you to Italicize the text of your document
o Underline: It allows you to underline the text of your document
You can create professional and presentable documents in MS Word by applying different styles. The basic
steps to apply a style in a document are listed below;
You can add new styles to your list of styles, i.e. Word allows you to set the styles for font, figure,
paragraph, etc. It helps you to keep consistency in all the documents of a topic or subject. The steps to
create new styles are given below;
o Select the Home tab
o In Styles group click the arrow at the right bottom corner of the group
o It displays the 'Styles' task pane;
o Enter the name for new style and make all the desired changes
o Click OK, the new style will be added to the list of styles
How to Change Page Orientation in MS Word
Page Orientation refers to the direction in which a document is displayed. It is of two types; portrait
(vertical) and landscape (horizontal). The default orientation is portrait; it can be changed to landscape by
following these steps;
To customize Margins select 'Custom Margins'. It displays a 'Page Setup' dialog box. Enter the desired
margin size and click Ok.
See the image:
How to Insert Page Break in MS Word
Word inserts a page break at the end of each page. It also allows you to insert a page break at some other
place in the document. The steps to insert page break are given below;
o Place the cursor where you want to insert the break
o Select the Page Layout tab
o In Page Setup group click the 'Breaks' command
o A list of Page Breaks appears
o With a left click select the desired page break from the list
See the image:
To insert a header and footer in Microsoft Word, follow the below given basic steps -
Step 1: Open the new or an existing Word document in which you want to insert header and footer.
Step 2: Go to the Insert tab at the top of the Ribbon.
Step 3: Click on either header or footer drop-down menu in the Header & Footer section.
Note: In our case, we are going to use Header drop-down option.
Step 4: A Header or Footer drop-down menu will display on the screen with a list of built-in Header or
Footer options. Select your desired option from the Built-in list.
Step 5: A Design tab with Header & Footer option will appear at the top of the document (on the Ribbon),
as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 6: Type your desired information into the header or footer section.
ADVERTISEMENT Step 7: Once you type your desired text in the Header section, click on Close Header and
Footer under the Design section on the Ribbon or press the Esc key from the keyboard to remove the
dotted underline. Now, you can see that the Header is inserted to the Word document.
2. A Date and Time dialog box will appear on the screen in which do the following -
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Now, you can see that your selected format will appear on the Word document.
Edit Header and Footer in Word document
Once you create Header and Footer in Word document, you can also edit it based on your requirement.
There are the following steps to edit Header and Footer in Word document.
Step 1: Go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon and click on either Header or Footer drop-down menu that you
want to Edit.
ADVERTISEMENT
Note: In our case, we are going to edit a Header, so we select Header drop-down option.
Step 2: A Built-In Header option window will appear on the screen. Click on the Edit Header option.
Step 3: Edit Header based on your requirement. Once you edit Header, click on the Close Header and
Footer option at the top right corner of the document to disappear the blue dotted lines.
Now, you can see that Header is edit based on your requirement.