Microsoft Word Guide

MICROSOFT WORD
APPEARANCE OF WORD ..................................................................................... 2
VIEWING THE TOOLBARS ................................................................................... 3
CREATING A NEW DOCUMENT OR A TEMPLATE DOCUMENT .............................. 3
OPENING YOUR DOCUMENT .............................................................................. 4
SAVING YOUR DOCUMENT ................................................................................ 4
PRINTING YOUR DOCUMENT.............................................................................. 4
FORMATTING TEXT ............................................................................................ 5
Highlighting Text........................................................................................... 5
Font Formatting ............................................................................................ 5
Copy/Paste Text............................................................................................. 5
Cut/Paste Text ............................................................................................... 5
Alignment ...................................................................................................... 5
Spacing/Paragraph Formatting ..................................................................... 5
Start/Stop Auto Formatting............................................................................ 6
Lists............................................................................................................... 6
Font Color and Highlighting ......................................................................... 6
INSERTING ......................................................................................................... 7
Tables............................................................................................................ 7
Creating a Table......................................................................................... 7
Formatting a Table ..................................................................................... 7
Pictures ......................................................................................................... 7
Page Numbers ............................................................................................... 8
Date and/or Time........................................................................................... 8
Links.............................................................................................................. 8
Breaks ........................................................................................................... 8
Symbols ......................................................................................................... 8
CREATING HEADERS OR FOOTERS...................................................................... 9
CREATING ENDNOTES OR FOOTNOTES ............................................................... 9
PAGE SETUP ...................................................................................................... 9
LANGUAGE TOOLS ........................................................................................... 10
Spell Check.................................................................................................. 10
Grammar Check .......................................................................................... 10
Word Count ................................................................................................. 10
USING MAIL MERGE ........................................................................................ 11
USING ENVELOPE WIZARD .............................................................................. 12
USING LETTER WIZARD ................................................................................... 12
 Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is the most common word processing application that can be used
for everything from simple document writing to publishing. Word includes many
features that make writing easier and more efficient.
The purpose of this guide is to provide step-by-step instructions that will cover
basic use of commonly used features of Microsoft Word. This document was written
specifically for Microsoft Word 2000 on a Windows machine, but Word on a Mac should
work similarly. Another useful tool is Word Help, which is found under
Help→Microsoft Word Help. This help menu will cover many topics not covered in
this quick guide, and is always a good resource.

Appearance of Word
After opening Microsoft Word, the window below will open. At the top of the
window are the menus, such as File or Tools. Below the menus are the toolbars. The
toolbars include functions such as Save, Spell check, and ways to format your font.
View
1. As a default, use View→Print Layout to see the document as it would be printed
2. You can also choose Normal, Web, or Outline views
Zoom
1. To change the zoom of the document, go to View→Zoom… and choose the
percent size you want or Page Width to see the page take up the entire window

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 Viewing the Toolbars

The toolbars in Microsoft Word provide easy access and functionality to the user.
There are many shortcuts that can be taken by using the toolbar. First, make sure that the
proper toolbars are visible on the screen.
1. Click View
2. Select Toolbars
3. Make sure Standard and Formatting are selected
(Other toolbars can be selected if you want)

The most commonly used toolbar icons are now visible. The following is a guide to
some of the most useful icons:
New Document Print Preview
Open Spell Check
Save Cut
Print Copy
Align Right Paste
Align Center Highlight
Align Left Font Color
Numbering Columns
Bullets Bold
Undo Italics
Redo Underline
Insert Table Boarders
Email Help

Creating a New Document or a

Template Document
To begin a new document, you can just begin
writing. You can also go to File→New and then
choose Blank Document and click OK. To create a
document using a template, go to File→New and
choose the tab of the type of template you wish to
use, select the proper document, and click OK.
Using letter, fax, memo, and report templates can
often make creating these types of documents easier
and more efficient.

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 Opening Your Document
1. To open a document you or someone else previously was working on, click the
open icon on the toolbar or go to File→Open
2. Next to the Look in: click the arrow to pull down the menu and find where you
had saved your document. The default place to look in is My Documents
3. If you cannot find your document, click on the Tools pull down on the right and
click on Find… and then type in the File name under Value or change the
Property you wish to search by and where to Look in: and click Find Now

Saving Your Document

1. To save an existing document to the same location, just click the save button on
the toolbar or go to File→Save or hit the Save icon in the toolbar
2. To save with a different name, format, or location, go to File→Save As.
3. To change the name, simply retype the File name as you want it
4. To change the format, use the pull down menu next to Save as type: and choose
the format
5. To change the location of the file, use the pull down menu near the top of the
window next to Save in: to choose where you want the document saved

6. To save to a new folder that doesn’t exist yet, click the icon and name the
new folder and then click OK and then click Save

Printing Your Document

1. To preview your document before printing, go to File→Print Preview
2. To print your document, go to File→Print or hit the Print icon in the toolbar

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 Formatting Text
Highlighting Text
1. To select an entire sentence, hold control (Ctrl) and click the sentence
2. Click and drag up or down along the left side of a document to select multiple lines
in the document
3. To highlight the entire document, go to
Edit→Select All

Font Formatting
1. Highlight text you want to format
2. Go to Format→Font
3. Select the font, style, size, and color
4. Click OK

Copy/Paste Text
1. Highlight text you wish to copy
2. Go to Edit→Copy to copy text
3. Then click where you want text copied to
4. Go to Edit→Paste

Cut/Paste Text
1. Highlight text you wish to move
2. Go to Edit→Cut to copy and remove text
3. Then click where you want text copied to
4. Go to Edit→Paste

Alignment
1. Highlight text you want aligned, or
go to Edit→Select All for entire
document
2. Then click on the Left, Right, Center,
or Justify Alignment button on the
toolbar

Spacing/Paragraph Formatting
1. Highlight text you want formatted,
then go to Format→Paragraph
2. To change the spacing to double
spaced, under Spacing select the Line
spacing to be Double, click OK
3. You may also change the Indentation
of the selected text in this menu

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Start/Stop Auto Formatting
Recent versions of Microsoft Word include a feature called "AutoFormat" which
attempts to automatically correct typing errors and apply formatting based on which task
it thinks you are trying to perform. Unfortunately, Auto Formatting can often produce
undesired results.
1. Click on the Tools→AutoCorrect... and then click the AutoFormat As You
Type tab.
2. Enable or disable the options as you wish and click OK
3. If you usually want a particular feature (for example, a numbered list) but come
across an instance where you don’t want it, simply click undo (Ctrl + Z) to
remove the formatting.

Lists
1. Most bullets and numbering
occurs automatically, after
numbering the first item, word
continues to number for you
whenever the Enter key is hit
2. If you do not want a number
after hitting Enter, then Undo or
Backspace until the number is
gone.
3. For special lists with bullets,
letters, or roman numerals, go to
Format→Bullets and
Numbering
4. Choose numbers, letters, or
roman under the Numbered tab,
or choose Bulleted for different types of bullet options and click OK
5. To start numbering not at 1, under Format→Bullets and Numbering click
customize and then choose the number to start at

Font Color and Highlighting

1. To change the color of text, highlight it and then click on the arrow next to the
Font Color icon or go to Format→Font and choose the font color
2. To color highlight text, select the text you want highlighted and click the highlight
icon or go to Format→Font and choose the underline style and then choose the
underline color

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 Inserting
Tables
Creating a Table
1. Place your cursor where you want the table to
go
2. Go to Table→Insert→Table…
3. Choose the number or columns and rows you
want and then click OK
4. Click on the cell you wish to enter information
and begin typing
5. Use the arrow keys to navigate throughout the
table
6. You can create an Excel table within Word by
going to Insert→Object→Microsoft Excel
Worksheet

Formatting a Table
1. To select a row for formatting, place your cursor to the left of the first cell and
click. For an entire column, go to the top of the column and when the cursor
becomes a little black arrow, click. For the entire table, drag cursor across table
2. If you want to format the font within a table, do so as you would any other text
and it is helpful to use View→Toolbars→Tables and Boarders to edit your
table.
3. To auto fit your cells to the text, go to Table→AutoFit→Autofit to Contents
4. In order to sort a table go to Table→Sort and choose what you wish to sort by
and ascending or descending order.
5. To fill cells with color or shading, use the Table toolbar described above and
select the cells you want filled then hit the fill shortcut (paint can)

Pictures
1. Click where you want to insert the picture
2. On the menu, click Insert→Picture→From File
3. Locate the picture you want to insert
4. Double-click the picture you want to insert
5. To modify how a picture looks, right click the picture and close Format Picture
6. Text wrapping around pictures can be changed under the Layout tab
7. Resizing from the format menu often distorts the image. You can reduce the size
of a file by linking a picture. In the Insert Picture dialog box (Insert→ Picture→
From File), click the picture, click the arrow to the right of the Insert button, and
then click Link to File. While you can't edit the picture, you can see it in your
document and print it when you print the document
8. You can also use the Picture Toolbar, under View→Toolbars→Picture

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Page Numbers
1. Click Insert→Page
Numbers
2. Choose where you want
the numbers, Bottom or
Top of Page
1. Choose Left, Right, or
Center of Page
2. Unclick Show number
on first page if you
have a title page that
shouldn’t be numbered
3. To use Roman numerals or letters click on Format… and change the Number
Format
4. To start at a number besides 1, click on Start at: and choose the number to start at

Date and/or Time

1. Go to Insert→Date and Time
2. Select the format you want and click OK
3. If you want the date and time to be updated automatically, click Update
Automatically, then OK

Links
1. Go to Insert→Hyperlink and enter the Text to display and the webpage name
2. You can also Browse for the file or webpage or choose Bookmark for a page
already bookmarked
3. An email address can also be inserted by choosing the Email address tab

Breaks
1. When using different page types within a document (columns, text wrapping), it is
often necessary to insert a page break.
2. This will make sure that all material after the break will always start on a new
page
3. Go to Insert→Break. Choose the type of break you want. Section breaks do not
start a new page, but will start a new page format.

Symbols
1. If there is a symbol or character that is not found on a normal keyboard that you
wish to insert, go to Insert→Symbol and choose the character you want and then
click insert
2. If you are using a symbol that you will be using often, it is often beneficial to
create a shortcut key for the character. Go to Insert→Symbol and then click on
the Shortcut Key… under Press new shortcut key, just type the keys you want to
indicate the symbol, and then click Assign.

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 Creating Headers or Footers
1. Go to View→Header and Footer
2. Insert text or click on Insert AutoText on the toolbar and choose the information
you wish to add

Creating Endnotes or Footnotes

1. Go to Insert→Footnote…
2. You can choose a Footnote or Endnote and the numbering system
3. If you click Options… you can change formatting options

Page Setup
1. To change the margins, go to File→Page Setup
2. Under the Margins tab, you can choose margin size and which pages to apply it
to
3. If you click on the Paper Size tab, you can choose Portrait or Landscape
orientation and the size of the paper

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 Language Tools
Spell Check

1. Misspelled words will be automatically underlined with a red

squiggly. These markings will not appear if the document is
printed
2. If you right click on the misspelled word, options of the correct
spelling will be listed. You can also go to Tools→Spelling
and Grammar
3. If a word is not recognized by the spell check, but it is correct,
you can choose Ignore All or Add (to the dictionary)
4. The misspelled word can also be added to the Autocorrect list,
which will automatically change the misspelled word by right
clicking on the word and choose Autocorrect and the correct
spelling

Grammar Check
1. Grammatical errors will be automatically
underlined with a green squiggly. These
markings will not appear if the document is
printed
2. If you right click on the grammatical error,
options of the correct grammar will be
listed
3. You can Ignore the single error, or under
Grammar… after you right click, choose
Ignore Rule to ignore all grammar errors of this type.

Word Count
1. To find the word count of your document, go to Tools→Word Count
2. This is also where you can find the number of characters, paragraphs, pages, and
lines

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 Using Mail Merge
1. Mail Merge can be used to create letter or envelope templates for mass mailings
using outlook contacts or manually entered data
2. Open the Contacts folder in Outlook and set up your filtering criteria
(View→Current View→Customize Current View→Filter)
3. On the Tools menu in Outlook, click Mail Merge
4. In Mail Merge, click to select the appropriate options, and then click OK. Word
will be started and the Word Mail merge toolbar will be visible
5. Type your letter, and then click Insert Merge Fields to reveal the Outlook
contact fields. Click to select the fields one at a time to place them in your
document
6. Once the merge fields have been placed in the document and the letter is finished,
on the Tools menu, click Mail Merge, and then click Merge, or click the
appropriate merge button on the toolbar, such as Merge to New Document, Merge
to Printer, or Mail Merge. If you merge to a new document, you can save the new
document for later use

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 Using Envelope Wizard
1. To create a mailing address for an envelope, go to File→New… and choose the
Letters & Faxes tab. Click
on the Envelope Wizard and
click OK
2. Choose to create one envelope
or numerous for a mailing list
3. Type in the delivery and
return addresses and click
Options to change the font or
envelope size and click Print
4. When prompted by the
printer, insert an envelope into
the feeder using the Feed
guide at the bottom right to
help

Using Letter Wizard

1. To create a professional letter using the letter wizard, go to File→ New… and
choose the Letters & Faxes tab. Click on the Letter Wizard and click OK. You
can also find the Letter Wizard under Tools→Letter Wizard…
2. Choose the Letter Format and then click Next> and enter the Recipient info and
the Salutation, click Next>
3. If you want to include other elements such as a reference line or subject, you can
check the box and choose the option you want, and click Next>
4. Finally, enter the sender info and a closing and then click Finish

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