Computer Studies Course for Rusty Readers by Titus Kamau - HTML preview

MICROSOFT WORD

Definition

Word processing – this is storage, preparation, editing and printing of text suing electronic means (Computer), i.e. invitation cards, letters magazines

Word processor – this is the software that performs word processing. Ms Word, Word star and word perfect are examples of word processing software.

Opening Microsoft Word

1. Click Start
2. Click All programs
3. Click Microsoft Office
4. Click Microsoft Office Word 2007

You can also open an existing word document by double clicking or Run the program;

       Click start

       Click run

       In the rub dialog box that appears, type the name WINWORD

Quitting a Program

       Click the close button in the title bar

       Click file and then click exit

N.B// A window is a rectangular part on the screen designed for a specific task.

Parts of a window

*Title bar – located at the top of the screen and indicates the program that is running. Also contains the minimize, restore/ maximize and the close buttons

*Menu bar – contains a list with drop down/ pull down menus with commands to be carried out

*Tool bar – it contains icons which represent commands some of which are found in the menu bar (shortcuts)

*Ruler – consist of horizontal and vertical rulers which assist in positioning the text

*Working area – used to enter text and objects

*Scroll bars – consist of horizontal and vertical scroll bars. Horizontal scroll bars are used to move the page, on either the left or right directions. Vertical scroll bars are used to scroll the page either upwards or downloads

*Status bar – gives more information about the text

Saving a document

Ms Word provides two saving options.

Save As – Saving for the first time or saving an existing document with a different name.

Procedure

1. Click file
2. Click Save As
3. Select the location to save your document in the save in bar
4. Type the name of the document in the file name bar
5. And then click save

Save – Saving changes to an existing document

Procedure

1. Click file
2. Then click save

Keyboard shortcut for saving is CTRL + S

Opening an existing document

1. Click file
2. Then click open
3. Select the location in the look in bar
4. Type the name of the document in the file name bar
5. Click open

Keyboard shortcut for opening is CTRL + O

Editing

This is the process of making necessary changes to an existing document.

How to select a text

You can select characters, words, lines, paragraphs or the whole text. To select the whole page, use CTRL + A

Cut/ Copy / Paste

Both cut and copy are used together with paste. Pasting is the process of retrieving back cut/ copied items from the clipboard. Clipboard stores cut/copied items temporality.

Cut

This is the re-locating of text from one place to another. It can also be an object relocated to another position

Procedure

1. Select the item to be cut
2. Click edit
3. Click cut
4. Select the new location
5. Click edit
6. Then click paste

Keyboard shortcut for cutting is CTRL + X

Keyboard shortcut for pasting is CTRL + V

Copy

This is producing a duplicate of a text/object

Procedure

1. Select the item to be copied
2. Click edit
3. Click copy
4. Select the location of the copied item
5. Click edit
6. Click paste

Keyboard shortcut for copying is CTRL + C

Undo and redo

Undo – removing something

Redo – this is to repeat your last action

Keyboard shortcut for Redo is CTRL + Y

Keyboard shortcut for Undo is CTRL + Z

Find and Replace

Finding involves searching for a particular text/object. Replacing involve giving an alternative to the searched text/object

Procedure

       Click edit

       Click find

Keyboard shortcut for find and replace is CTRL + F

In the find & replace dialog box that appears, type the word to be searched in the “Find what” bar .Click replace tab and hen type the alternative for the item. Then click replace all.

Formatting

This is applying different styles of features to enhance the appearance of a document. You can format a text/object. To format any text/ object you must select what you want to format. You can apply Bold, Italics and Underline among other effects.

Procedure

1. Select the text
2. Click format in the menu bar
3. Click font
4. In the font dialog box that appears, click font tab
5. Select the style that you want and then click Ok

You can format text by changing font style, font size and color. 

Alignment

This is the position of a text on a page in a document. There are four types of alignment.

-Right alignment

-Left alignment

-Centre alignment

-Justification alignment

Drop Cap

This is enlarging and dropping a particular character in relation to the text. It’s mostly applied during emphasis (to catch the eye).

Procedure

1. Select the letter to be dropped
2. Click format
3. Click drop cap

If using Ms Office Word 2007, click insert then drop cap

Bullets and Numbering

This is listing a procedure or outlining a list in an item using bullets/ objects and numbers.

Procedure

1. Select the text to be listed
2. Click format
3. Then click bullets and numbering
4. Click either bulleted/ numbered tab
5. Select the style of the numbers/ bullets
6. Click Ok

Changing case

This is changing the style of characters to enhance the appearance of the text. There are five types of cases.

1. Upper case/ capital letters
2. Lower case/ small letters
3. Sentence case/ normal sentence staring with capital letters
4. Toggle case/ sentence starts with small letters while having capitals
5. Title case – every word starting with a capital letter

Paragraph indenting

This is moving the text away from the margin. There are various ways of paragraph indenting;

       First line indenting – only the first sentence is indented

       Hanging indenting – where the whole text is indented apart from the first line

Procedure

1. Select the paragraph to be indented
2. Click format
3. Click paragraph
4. Select the position of indention in relation to the margin
5. And the type of indention
6. Then click Ok

Columns

This is partitioning a block of text into different sections

Procedure

1. Select the text
2. Click format
3. Click columns
4. Choose the type of column you want

Tables

It is a grid of rows and columns that are used to organize an enhanced display of information

Inserting a table

Procedure

1. Click insert
2. Click table
3. Click insert table
4. Enter the number of columns and rows you want the table to have
5. Click Ok

Drawing a table

1. Click insert
2. Click table
3. Click draw table
4. Draw your table

Selecting table (column/ row)

Inserting a column/row

1. Select one of the columns
2. Click table
3. Then click insert
4. Select the location of the column e.g. on the left to the right of the selected column

Inserting a row

1. Select one of the rows
2. Click table
3. Then click insert
4. Select the location of the row e.g. up and below the selected row

Deleting a column

1. Select the column
2. Click table
3. Click delete
4. Click column

Deleting a row

1. Select the row
2. Click table
3. Click delete
4. Click row

Merging cells

This is combining a number of cells to act as one

Procedure

1. Select the cells
2. Click table
3. Click merge cells

Splitting cells

This is sub-dividing cells into further rows & columns

Procedure

1. Select the cells
2. Click table
3. Click split cells
4. In the split cells dialogue box that appears, select the number of rows & columns. Finally click Ok

Formatting a table

       Click table

       Click table auto format

A table can be formatted in two ways.

-By selecting the already existing table auto formats/ table style

-Select the table, click format and your desired format option e.g. font

Converting text to table

Procedure

1. Select text
2. Click text on the menu bar
3. Then click convert

Converting table to text

Procedure

1. Select the table
2. Click tables on the menu bar
3. Then click convert

Formulae

Calculations can be performed in a table using basic functions in the computer or by designing the formulae. To perform a calculation, select the cell where the products are to be displayed.

       Click table

       Click formulae

       Complete the formulae dialog box that appears

       Finally click Ok

Spelling and grammar checking

Microsoft word has a facility which corrects miss spelt words and grammatically incorrect words. Incase a word is miss spelt or has a grammatical error, the feature automatically under lines it. To correct the errors, click tools, and then click spelling and grammar. Complete the spelling and grammar dialogue box that appears & finally click Ok

Thesaurus

This is a facility in Microsoft Word that adds taste/ vocabulary by giving similar/ alternative words.

Keyboard shortcut for Thesaurus is CTRL + SHIFT

Auto text

A facility in Microsoft word that allows the user to enter commonly used phrases e.g. dear sir/ yours faithfully

Procedure

Position your cursor where you want the phrase to appear. Click tools and then click autocorrect. In the autocorrect dialog box that appears, click auto text tab. Select the phrase in the options provided & finally click insert

Autocorrect

A facility/feature in Microsoft Word that assists the user to correct commonly miss spelt words

Procedure

1. Select a word that has been miss spelt
2. Click tools
3. Then click autocorrect options
4. Click Ok

Inserting Graphics

Graphics refers to non- text images generated by a computer, e.g. photographs, drawings and graphs. You can insert a graphical object from Microsoft Clip gallery, a scanner or by using drawing tools available in Microsoft Word 

Inserting a clip art/ picture from clip gallery

1. Position the pointer/cursor where you want your object to be inserted
2. Click insert on the menu bar
3. Point to picture
4. Then click clip art
5. Select your category
6. Double click on the object you want
7. Then click the insert button

Inserting a picture from another file

1. Position your cursor where you want your picture to be inserted
2. Click insert on the menu bar
3. Point to picture
4. Then click from file
5. Locate the file
6. To insert the picture, click once then click insert button or double click on the picture

Editing and formatting pictures

This includes adjusting brightness, contrast, cropping and resizing

Drawing objects

Objects can be drawn using basic drawing tools e.g. polygons, lines, a circle, stars etc. found on the drawing toolbar. For instance, to draw a line, a circle, an arrow or a rectangle;

1. Click the appropriate shape button & the pointer changes to a plus sign
2. Place the pointer where you want to draw that shape & drag to the required size
3. To draw an object using auto shapes, click auto shapes button & select the category from the menu that is displayed
4. Place the pointer where you want to draw that shape and drag to the required size

Editing & formatting a drawn object

1. You can resize, move, fill color & change the drawing outline
2. To resize, select the item, click on the place holders & drag
3. To move, select the object, click anywhere inside it & drag
4. To fill the object with color, select the object, click the down arrow of fill color & select the color you want to apply

Mail Merging

It is a facility in Ms Word that assist the user to send a standardized letter to different recipients e.g. Invitation letters.

Steps in Mail Merging

1. The 1st step is to create the main document
2. Create the data source
3. Create the merge fields
4. Create the form letter
5. Filter & sort the steps in mail merging

Terminologies

*Main document – this is the document that contains the standardized letter

*Data source – this is the document that contains recipient list & their address

*Merge fields – theses are special features that help/ assist to combine the main document & the source e.g. Title/ city/ First name etc.

*Form letter – this is the end product of merging the main document & the data source

*Filter & sort – this is editing the recipients list using a certain criteria

Assignment

You are the Secretary of Cambridge Academy. Write a letter to all the 4th year students inviting them for a parents meeting to be held at the schools dining hall on 12th May 2015 at exactly 10 P.M

You first need to create the main document (standardized letter) and save. Click tools, letters & mailings & then mail merge

Procedure

1. Select letters
2. Select use the current document option
3. Select type a new list option & then click create. In the new address list dialog box that appears, click customize & delete what you don’t want. Click Ok.
4. Enter the name of the recipients and save. Insert the merge fields from the merge field toolbar by clicking on the dropdown arrow & selecting the field where you have positioned your cursor
5. Preview your letters
6. Complete the merge