Your Guide To:

Basic Word Processing

by Ethan Lewis

October, 2001

Contents

• Introduction
• How to Enter and Edit Text
• Saving and Printing

Introduction

This introduction is for everyone who wants to learn the basics of how most word-processing programs work. It is also a good introduction to how to use any computer program.

A word processing program is a good introductory program to learn for two important reasons:

1. Word processors are good examples of competing programs that all run and work in essentially the same way. Learning one program allows you to use almost all of the competing programs.

2. Skills such as saving, copying, pasting, formatting, printing, and using old files as templates for new work are easy to understand within word processors. Many of the skills utilized in word processing programs are used in other popular applications such as spreadsheets, web browsers and e-mail programs.

This introduction will refer to the Microsoft Word 2000 for Windows; however, everything covered here will work virtually identically for any word processing program on any brand of computer. If you are using a different word processing program you may find that the screens look a bit different, and that some commands will appear in different menus, but without too much searching you should be able to find the equivalent commands no matter what program you are using. The following skills will be covered:

• Selecting text, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo.
• Printing and Saving your work.
• Paragraphs, word-wrap, and formatting
• Using fonts
• Using tabs instead of spaces to create columns of text
• Using what you have created as templates for new work (Save vs. Save As)

How To Enter and Edit Text:

When you start up a word-processing program, a window will appear for entering text, with a ruler above to indicate the paper width. You will probably also see lots of little buttons with pictures on them, as seen below. The buttons are shortcuts to certain popular commands. If you hover your mouse over these buttons (without clicking) a little tag will appear telling you what the button does.

The cursor (called a 'flashing i-beam') will blink on an off, indicating the text insertion point. Anything typed will appear at the insertion point. By clicking the mouse within the typed text, you can reposition the cursor. Additional text can then by typed, or text can be deleted:

How To Save and Print Your Work:

To save your work, choose the Save option from the File menu. This will display a window where you can type the name you wish to give the file, choose the format of the file, and select the disk or folder where you want to save the file. There are more tips about saving your work here.

To print your work, choose the Print option from the File menu. This will display a window that allows you to control what part of the document will be printed. Use the triangle at the top of the page (in the Name field) to choose from the printers that are available to your computer.