When
you use Word 2002, at the very least you will want to type some text,
correct any typing errors you make, add or delete text, save what you
have typed, and print out a copy of your masterpiece. You'll probably
also want to reopen a saved document to make additions or changes to it,
and eventually you'll want to exit Word. This section is devoted to these
bare-bones basics. Spelling and grammar check are also covered as these
are visible, ongoing, automatic features of the program.
Creating
a Document
Once
you have started Word, to create a document all
you have to do is start typing when the document window appears on the
screen. The text will begin at the top left corner of the page.
Note:
Word also has a "click and type" feature that allows you to start typing
anywhere on the page. Double-click where you want to begin typing and
Word will do the appropriate formatting for you center the text, or
set a tab, for example. To find out more about "click and type" use
Microsoft Word Help (as described in
"How to Learn More".
The
large blank area is like a clean sheet of typing paper that has been rolled
into a typewriter. As you type, the text will appear on the screen (in
the window). When you reach the end of a line (the right margin) the text
will automatically continue, or wrap, to the next line. You need press
the ENTER key only at the end of a paragraph or at the end of a line that
is shorter than full width of the page.
After
the window fills with text, the beginning of the document will start to
disappear off the top of the document editing portion of the screen one
line at a time as you type. When a page is filled, a new page will begin
automatically. In Normal View a dotted line indicates where there will
be a page break in your printed document.
Basic
Editing Features
Correcting
Errors
"Erasing"
Mistakes as You Type. To correct an error immediately after it is
typed, tap the BACKSPACE key (located at the top righthand side of the
main keyboard). Tapping BACKSPACE "erases"
mistakes one character at a time to the left of the insertion point. When
you have "erased" the incorrect character(s), type the correct character(s)
and continue entering text.
Deleting
Text. To delete a character (or characters) at some location other
than the current insertion point, first move the I-Beam pointer to the
desired location and click the primary mouse button once. Use the BACKSPACE
key to delete to the left of the insertion point (i.e., backward); use
the DELETE key (on the keypad between the main keyboard and the numeric
keypad) to delete to the right of the insertion point (i.e., forward).
To
delete a section of text several words, a sentence, or a paragraph,
for example do the following:
-
Move the I-Beam pointer to the beginning of the text to be deleted.
-
Click and hold down the primary mouse button.
-
Drag the mouse to the right (and possibly down, depending on the amount
of text to be deleted) until the text you want to delete is highlighted
(e.g., white in a black background).
-
Release the mouse button.
-
Tap the DELETE key.
The
highlighted text will disappear.
Restoring
a Deletion. If you delete something by mistake, you can reverse what
you just did by clicking the Undo button on the Standard Toolbar
(see illustration, left.)
"Undo"
Notes:
-
The Undo feature will reverse the last change you made to your document.
If the last change was a deletion, that is what will be reversed (undone).
If the last thing you did was add a sentence to your document and
you choose Undo, the sentence you just typed will be removed.
-
To reverse an Undo, click the Redo button.
Adding
Text
If
you decide you want to insert more text somewhere because, perhaps,
you left out a word, do the following:
-
Move the I-Beam pointer to the position where you want to add the text
and click once.
-
Type whatever it is you want to add. The text you add will be inserted
and the text following it will reformat to fit the margins.
-
To continue working on your document, move the I-Beam to the end of
the document, click once, and begin typing.
Moving
Text
Three
buttons on the Standard Toolbar can be used to move text around in your
document. These are the Cut (scissors), Copy (two sheets
of paper), and Paste (sheet of paper and clipboard) buttons (see
illustration, above left).
To
move a section of text, do the following:
- Highlight
(select) the text to be cut or copied by clicking and dragging the I-beam
pointer from the beginning to the end of the text selection (i.e., across
and/or down).
- Click
the appropriate button for action you wish to perform:
- Click
Cut if you wish to delete the text from its current location
and paste it somewhere else, or
- Click
Copy if you wish to leave the text where it is and also paste
a copy somewhere else.
- Move
the insertion point to (i.e., click the I-beam pointer at) the location
where you want the pasted text to begin.
- Click
the Paste button to place the text in the new (or additional)
location.
Note:
If you cut or copy two or more items, Word's Collect and Paste
feature is initiated. Normally, a floating Clipboard toolbar displays
automatically when you cut or copy two or more items, but if it doesnt,
you can display it by clicking View on the Menu Bar and selecting
Toolbars then Clipboard. From the Clipboard toolbar
you choose items to paste (all at once or individually).
Correcting
Spelling and Grammatical Errors
Word
provides ongoing spelling and grammar checking. It also makes automatic
corrections of some perceived errors (AutoCorrect).
AutoCorrect.
The AutoCorrect feature makes corrections to various spelling errors
as defined in the program. These include correcting some common "typos"
(such as "teh" to "the") and capitalizing the first letter of a sentence.
AutoCorrect
Options. You can control how AutoCorrect operates (or disable it
altogether) by clicking Tools on the Menu Bar and selecting AutoCorrect.
In the dialog box that appears, and starting with the AutoCorrect tab,
make any changes desired (adding or deleting check marks in selections
boxes).
Note:
There is also a feature called AutoFormat that modifies formatting
changing straight quotes ("...") to "smart quotes" (...) and a double
hyphen (--) to an em dash (), for example. AutoFormat options can be
set in the AutoCorrect dialog box (as described above).
Spell
Check. A red wavy line under a word indicates a possible spelling
mistake. When you see a red wavy line under a word, you can respond in
one of three ways:
- You
can ignore it (if you're sure you haven't made a mistake);
- You
can correct the mistake; or
- You
can see what Word suggests (and correct the error) by doing the following.
- Click
somewhere in the potentially misspelled word.
- Click
the secondary (e.g., right) mouse button to display a popup shortcut
menu.
- If
you see the correct spelling on the pop-up menu, simply click the
appropriate selection to replace the incorrectly spelled word
and you're done.
Spell
Check Notes:
-
If a word is spelled correctly and you prefer not to see the wavy red
line, choose Ignore All from the spell check pop-up menu.
-
To add a correctly spelled word to Word's dictionary, choose Add.
-
The menu also includes a Spelling option. If you choose that
option, a dialog box will be displayed in which you can make choices.
A
misspelled word and spell check pop-up menu are shown in Figure 1 (below).
FIGURE 1.
Spell Check Illustration
![Misspelled word (mistery) with alternate spelling choices (including mystery)](images/beg02-fig01.gif) |
Grammar.
A green wavy line under a word section of text indicates a potential grammatical
error. When you see a green wavy line under a word or section of text,
you can respond in one of three ways:
- You
can ignore it (if you're sure you haven't made a mistake);
- You
can correct the mistake; or
- You
can see what Word suggests (and correct the error) by doing the following.
- Click
somewhere in the potentially grammatically incorrect word or phrase.
- Click
the secondary (e.g., right) mouse button to display a pop-up shortcut
menu.
- The
shortcut menu may include alternate suggestions (see Figure 2, below).
If you want to correct the grammar as suggested, simply click the
alternate wording and you're done.
FIGURE 2. Grammar
Check Illustration
![Grammatical error and popup menu](images/beg02-fig02.gif) |
Grammar
Check Notes:
-
If you're happy with the grammatical structure of your sentence and
you prefer not to see the wavy green line, choose Ignore from
the grammar pop-up menu.
-
The Grammar selection on the pop-up menu provides a dialog box
containing additional options.
-
The About this Sentence menu selection provides a "Office Assistant"
bubble that describes the grammatical structure of the sentence and
suggests alternative ways of writing similar sentences. For example,
there is a problem with subject-verb agreement in the sentence shown
in Figure 2 (above), and the "Office Assistant" says "The
verb of a sentence must agree with the subjection in number and person"
and provides a couple of examples.
Saving
a Document
It
is a good idea to save a document frequently, particularly before printing
it, to safeguard against losing your work.
Saving
a Document for the First Time
To
save a document, click the Save button on the Standard Toolbar
(see illustration, left). The first time you save a document a dialog
box will appear as shown in Figure 3, below.
FIGURE 3. "Save
As" Dialog Box
!["Save As" dialog box](images/beg02-fig03.gif) |
When
you save any document for the first time, Word suggests a file name for
you in the "File name:" text box that corresponds to the first heading
or sentence in your document (up to 255 characters). If you like that
name, simply click the Save button to save the file in the default
(or last used) folder on your computer ("Personal" in Figure 3, above).
If
you want to give the file a different name, replace the suggested file
name with the name you want to give your document (up to 255 characters,
spaces allowed), then click the Save button (or tap the ENTER key).
Document
Naming Notes:
-
To remove the suggested name all you have to do is start typing. The
highlight (i.e., colored bar highlighting the suggested name) and the
name will disappear as soon as you start to type. If you inadvertently
remove the highlight by clicking in the typing area without actually
typing anything, you will have to highlight or delete the suggested
name before typing the name you want to give your document.
-
The name of a document may contain 1-255 characters, including spaces.
-
The name of a document may not contain the following characters:
|
\ < > ? " :
-
The extension .doc will be associated with the file name to identify
it as a Word document; however, you will not see the extension unless
the Windows operating system has been set to show extensions.
-
When you save a document it will be stored in the default folder, such
as "Personal", unless otherwise specified. For additional information,
see "Saving Files" in the "File
Management" section (saving a document to a floppy disk, for example).
Saving
a Previously Saved Document
If
you have already saved your document at least once, when you click the
Save button, Word will automatically save your modifications under the
same file name you previously gave the document (and in the same folder).
No dialog box will appear. The modified version will replace the previous
version of the document.
Printing
a Document
To
print the document currently on your screen you can click the Print
button on the Standard Toolbar a picture of a printer (see illustration,
above left). The entire document will be printed.
If
you want to print only a part of a document, do the following:
-
Click File on the Menu Bar. A list of menu options will drop
down.
-
Choose (click) Print... to display the Print dialog box (as shown
in Figure 4, below).
-
Make the selection desired. For example, to print only the current page
(i.e., the page where the insertion point is located), click Current
Page. Note that the default selection is All.
-
When you are ready to print, click the OK button (or tap the
ENTER key).
FIGURE 4. "Print"
Dialog Box
!["Print" Dialog Box](images/beg02-fig04.gif) |
Closing
a Document Window
When
you have finished working on a particular document but want to continue
working in Word (on some other document), you should close the current
document window and, if appropriate, save your document.
Document
Window Note: Although you may have more than one document window
open at the same time, it is recommended that you work on one document
at a time until you become comfortable using Windows.
To
close a document window and continue working in Word, do the following:
-
Click File on the Menu Bar. A list of menu options will drop
down.
-
Choose (click) Close to close the currently displayed document.
-
If you have already saved all modifications to the document, the
document will be closed immediately; that is, without confirmation.
-
If you have made changes to the document since you last saved it,
you will see a dialog box or "Office Assistant" bubble
asking if you want to save the changes you made to the document.
- To
save changes before closing the document, click the Yes
button.
-
If, for some reason, you don't want to save the changes, click
the No button.
-
To cancel the request to close the document (i.e., to continue
working on it), click the Cancel button.
Note:
When you close your document, the editing area and many Word features
will disappear from view (only the File and Help items will remain on
the Menu Bar, for example). To start a new document (and thereby get the
editing screen back), click the New Blank Document button on the
Standard Toolbar (a sheet of paper with a downturned corner; see illustration,
above left) to display a new working window.
Opening
an Existing Document
It
is likely that you will want to work on a document, close and save it,
and then open it again later to add more material or edit what you've
already typed. There are two ways to open a document in Word.
If
the document you want to open is one of the last four documents you worked
on, you can simply click File on the Menu Bar and choose the document
desired from the list near the bottom of the drop-down menu (see Figure
5, below).
FIGURE 5. File
Menu with Most Recently Accessed Files Listed
![](images/beg02-fig05.gif) |
To
open any document, you can do the following:
-
Click the Open button on the Standard Toolbar (see illustration,
above left).
-
In the Open dialog box that appears, you'll see a list of documents
(see Figure 6, below). Look for the document name desired, then click
that file name to highlight it and click the Open button.
QuickTip:
You can double-click the document name to open a document.
FIGURE 6. "Open"
Dialog Box
!["Open" dialog box](images/beg02-fig06.gif) |
Notes:
-
If there are more documents than fit the space provided, you may have
to use the horizontal scroll bar to find the document you want.
-
If the file is not listed, you may need to change drive in order to
find it from drive C to drive A, for example, if the file is stored
on a floppy disk.
Ending
a Word Session
When
you are ready to stop working in Word, you can exit the program in one
of the following ways:
-
Click File on the Menu Bar and choose (click) Exit.
-
Click the Word Close button (i.e., the control button with a
X on it).
-
Use the Windows shortcut key ALT+F4.
Notes:
-
If you have more than one document open, close each document separately.
When the last document is closed, you'll exit the program.
-
If you try to close a document that has not been saved since you
last made changes to it, you'll see a dialog box asking if you want
to save the changes. This is the same dialog box you get when you
close a document (see Figure 7, above). If the dialog box appears,
do one of the following:
-
To save changes before closing the document, click the Yes
button.
-
If, for some reason, you don't want to save the changes, click
the No button.
-
To cancel the request to close the document (i.e., to continue
working on it), click the Cancel button.
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