What is Microsoft Word?Microsoft Word is a word processing application for both Macintosh and Windows. It is a application that can be used to create reports, memos, and form letters. Word allows you to insert graphics, build tables, fill in form letters and create envelopes. Creating a New documentBy default, Word will create a new blank document as soon as it starts. To give the document a name, click then click . Any time you save a Word document on the Mac, make sure you check the Append File Extension checkbox. This will make your files easier to open on a Windows machine running Microsoft Word. To create a new document at a later time, from the menu select . If you would like to create a new document from a template, click , . Opening a documentTo open a pre-existing or previously saved document, from the menu select . Word will open up a new window that shows the contents of your drives and any network drive you are connected to. Use the bar to choose the device (eg. Desktop, Home, etc.). Then double-click the folder the file is in, click on the file, and click on the button. Saving a documentTo save a document, from the menu select . The first time you save a new document, you will be asked to select a filename for the document. Subsequent saves will not ask you to select a name. If you would like to save a second copy of the file under a different name, click . Any new changes will modify only the new file; the original file will stay in the same state it was right before the . Printing a documentFrom the menu, select . A new dialog box will appear with the various options available for printing in it. The box will have a choice of available printers. These printers icons represent all the printers whose drivers are installed on the computer, possibly including network printers. Once you have the printer selected, click on the button to send the document to the printer. If you are trying to print to a network printer and it is not listed, please refer to www.usc.edu/its/doc/printing for help on setting up that printer. If you have a local printer that is not listed, please refer to your printer manual for information on how to install its driver. ITS does not support the installation of local (non-network) printers. Inserting GraphicsMicrosoft Word is able to insert graphics stored in many common picture types, including JPEGs and GIFs. To insert a picture from a file you have previously saved, click , then , then , then direct Word to the picture file you saved earlier. Mail MergingMail Merging is quick and simple way to make a form letter or email with many recipients. Mail Merging allows you to create a list of contacts, each of whom has fields, such as First Name, which can be inserted into the letter. This allows you to edit one master letter, but still have it personalized when its sent off. To start mail merging, go to , . In the window that appears, click , . From the button, you have many choices as to where your fields are to come from.
The following assumes you are creating a new data source. Other configurations will be similar. From the list of fields that pops up, add any additional fields that you will be using. Click ok to continue, and Word will ask you to save the data source. Choose a folder and a name for he data source and click save. Next, it will take you to a window in which you can create new entries with fields. Add all the entries you will be sending the mail to, then click ok. You will be taken back to the document, but the Data Merge Manager window will still be open. You can now type out your letter and drag fields from the Data Merge Manager window into the letter. The Data Merge fields will appear as only one field, but every copy of the letter will be customized For a particular entry in your data source. When fields are put into the document, they will appear as <<Field>>.Formatting a pageThe format of a page is set in the , menu. This menu allows you to set up the margins (blank space around the outside of the text), paper size and orientation, header and footer options, and the document grid. The Page Attributes from the pulldown menu allows you to set the size of the paper, and whether it is oriented Portrait or Landscape. To modify the margins, select Microsoft Word from the settings pulldown menu. From the button, you can set the margin, header, and footer sizes. There are many different standards for margins, so make sure the margins you select a standard appropriate to the type of document you are writing. Keep in mind that the smallest margin a printer is expected to print inside properly is 0.5" on each side. From the Layout tab, you can set whether the headers and footers should be the same on every page or have a different first page. The Different first page checkbox is useful if you are going to be making a title page, or if you would like your header to do something like listing the page number on every page from the second page on. The Margins tab allows you to put blank space around the edges of a document and set the orientation of the page. In standard practice, most pages are oriented as Portrait. Selecting Landscape puts the page on its size, which can be useful for printing a foldable booklet. There are many different standards for margins, so make sure the margins you select a standard appropriate to the type of document you are writing. Keep in mind that the smallest margin a printer is expected to print inside properly is 0.5" on each side. The Layout tab allows you to set up the headers and footers. It allows you to change the size of the headers and footers, and allows you to set a different first page. The different first page checkbox is useful if you are going to be making a title page, or if you would like your header to only list the page number on every page from the second page on. Setting up Headers and FootersA header shows up at the top of every page above the body text of that page. A footer shows up at the bottom of every page below the body text. To set up headers and footers, click , then Header and Footer. This will make it so that the headers and footers, which are usually not editable are now visible. Type into the headers and footers exactly as you would type into the body. If you would like your name to appear at the upper right corner of every page, use the right align button and simply type your name. Additionally, a Header and Footer menu will appear to allow you to customize the headers and footers. The menu allows you to select special fields which are dynamically generated for each page. For instance, if you select Page X of Y, then the X and Y will be generated for every new page. SpellingBy default, newer versions of Microsoft Word usually check spelling automatically as you type. Misspelled words appear underlined in red. To correct these words, simply right click (Control-Click) on the word. Word will give you choices from its dictionary. Select one of those correction choices. If the word is spelled correctly, it may not be in the Microsoft dictionary. You can permanently add the word the the dictionary of the computer you are working on by clicking . You can ignore the word for this session by clicking Ignore. will not permanently add the word to the dictionary. If Word is not automatically checking spelling, click on , then . You can use this menu to manually check your spelling, or you can click on the button to change the settings. Inside the Spelling and Grammar options, you can check the box that says Check spelling as you type in order to have Word check your document automatically. If you select Check grammar as you type, grammar errors will appear underlined in green. Exiting Microsoft WordTo exit Microsoft Word, from the menu select . Microsoft Word will prompt you to confirm that you do want to quit the program, click on the button. Getting HelpMicrosoft Word has a powerful and interactive help system. To invoke the help system pull-down the menu located in the upper right hand corner of the window. Last Updated: Friday, June 02, 2006 at 12:07PM PDT |
