Word Processing A word processor is a computer application used for preparing documents for viewing and printing purposes.

A word processor helps the user in writing, modifying, formatting and printing of text. The earliest versions of word processing applications solely focused on simple text processing tools. But with the advancements made in the field of desktop publishing, it is very difficult to distinguish between word processing and desktop publishing. Some of the features of a word processor are: Annotation This feature enables the users to add comments in certain sections of the document. It enhances the edit and review process of the documents. The owner sends the document to the reviewers who review it and in the process add annotations. They send it back to the owner who can now make the required changes. The annotations can also be in the audio format. Background This feature allows the user to define the background layout for the document. Borders and Shading This feature allows the user to define borders for the page, paragraph or sentence according to his / her requirement. Bullets and Numbering Using this feature the user can enable automatic numbering or bulletting a set of sentences. Font Case this feature allows the user to change the case of the selected text. The user can change the selected text to either uppercase, lowercase, sentence case, title case or toggle case. Font Specification This feature helps the user to change the font specifications of portions of text within the document. The user can specify the appearance of the font like bold, font size and font typeface. Graphics This feature enables the user to embed pictures from files and cliparts, and graphs from spreadsheets. Many word processors come with an in-built drawing tool which enables users to create line art in their documents and a Word Art tool which helps them in generating various forms of text. Headers, Figuress and Page Numbering This feature enables the users to place text that will appear on all pages. Any text placed in a header or footer will automatically repeat itself when a new page is added to that document. The word processor allows the automatic numbering of pages. Language Translation This feature enables users to translate text from one language to another. Letter Assistant Most word processors assist the users in creating letters through the use of standard templates.

Macros This feature enables the users to define macros which allow them to record a series of actions and repeat these by invoking the macro name. A macro is a character or string which represents a series of keystrokes or actions. Mail Merge This feature uses two input files, a data file and a form file and combines or merges them to produce a single output file. It enables the generation of letters based on a template. For example, an invitation letter may be sent to many people, whose names and addresses are automatically retrieved from an address book. The power and flexibility of this feature varies from one word processor to another. Footnotes and cross-references Automates the numbering and placement of footnotes and enables you to easily cross-reference other sections of the document. Page Layout This feature allows the users to specify different margins in the document. It also allows the users to define page sizes and page layouts. The word processor automatically adjusts the text according to the layout. Search and Replace This feature allows the user to search for the occurrence of a word or phrase and replace one or all occurrences with another word or phrase. Spelling and Grammar Checker This feature helps to detect typing errors and misspellings. However, the semantics of a sentence cannot be verified. On completion of a sentence or a phrase this feature checks for grammatical mistakes and provides suggestions to the users. Speech Recognition This feature enables the users to create documents by dictating the text. Most of the current word processors support this feature. Table of contents This feature enables automatic construction of a table of contents for a document. Thesaurus This feature enables the user to search for the synonyms (alternate words with the same meaning) for a word the user wants in the document. Print Preview This feature enables the user to view the document in the print copy format. This concept is referred to as What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG). Text Alignment and Line Spacing This feature enables the user to change the alignment of the text with reference to the margins. The text can be left aligned, right aligned; centre aligned; or justified. It also provides facility of customizing the paragraph indentation and specifying the type of tab stops. The facility of customizing the line spacing is also provided by the word processor. A user can edit a document with single line spacing which is the default setting or double line spacing. Text Manipulation This feature allows the users to select a set of characters, cut, copy or paste them in another location of the document. This helps the user to reorganize the text in the document.

Word Wrap This feature ensures that the word processor automatically moves the cursor to the next line when the margin of the page has been reached, and will readjust the text if the margins are changed.