Getting Started with Microsoft Word 2010
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Microsoft Office Word is a word-processing application—perhaps the most widely used word-processing application in existence. You can use Word to write letters, memos, reports, and essays. Because it is so pervasive and allows you to save in a variety of file formats, there's an excellent chance you can create a version of a given Word document that can be opened by almost any recipient.
In this introductory chapter, you'll learn about the Word interface, working in different views, and entering and editing text. For information on launching and quitting Word, as well as performing basic document-related tasks, such as creating, opening, saving, and closing documents, see Chapter 2.
The Word Interface
Figure 4.1 (below) shows the interface elements you'll use when creating and editing Word documents. Many, such as the Ribbon, File tab, and Quick Access Toolbar, can also be found in Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
)
Figure 4.1 Elements of the Word 2010 interface.
File tab. Click this tab to perform file-related activities in Office Backstage (Figure 4.2), such as creating, opening, saving, and printing. Click Options to set Word preferences. To open a document on which you've recently worked, click its name in the Recent list. The Exit command can also be found here.
)
Figure 4.2 When printing the current document in the Backstage, Page Setup options and a print preview are automatically displayed.
Quick Access Toolbar. Icons for common commands (such as Save, Undo, and Redo) can be found on this customizable toolbar.
Help. Click this icon or press 
to open the Word Help window (Figure 4.3).
)
Figure 4.3 Click text links in Word Help to view help topics. Click the close box (X) or exit Word to dismiss Word Help.
Ribbon. The Ribbon is Office's replacement for the program menus found in Word 2003 and prior versions. Similar commands and procedures are listed together on a tab, such as Insert or View. Within each tab, procedures are further divided into groups, based on similarity of function. To perform a command, you switch to the appropriate tab by clicking its name and then click the command's icon or control.
Rulers. Click the View Ruler icon to hide or show the horizontal and vertical rulers. Use the controls on the horizontal ruler to set or change tab stops and indents for the currently selected paragraph(s). The vertical ruler is visible only on the document page that contains the text insertion mark.
Styles pane. To make it easier to apply a Word character or paragraph style to selected text, you can display the Styles pane by clicking the launcher icon at the bottom of the Styles group on the Home tab. Click a style name to apply it to currently selected text.
Office Clipboard. The Office Clipboard is shared among Office applications and allows you to copy and paste multiple items within a document, between documents, and even between applications. To show the Office Clipboard pane, click the launcher icon at the bottom of the Clipboard group on the Home tab. Click the pane's close box (X) to dismiss the pane.
Document. Most of Word's window is reserved for the current word-processing document. You can close the Office Clipboard and other panes to increase the display area for the document.
Scroll bar and scroll box. You can click in the scroll bar or drag the scroll box to navigate through a document's pages.
Page indicator. This indicator displays the current page number, as well as the total number of pages in the document. Click the indicator to open the Find and Replace dialog box to the Go To tab (Figure 4.4).
)
Figure 4.4 On the Go To tab, you can go to a specific page by entering a page number and clicking Go To.
Words indicator. This indicator shows the word count for the document. If text is selected, it shows the number of words in the selection. Click the indicator to open the Word Count dialog box (Figure 4.5).
)
Figure 4.5 For detailed word count information, open the Word Count dialog box.
Proofing indicator. This indicator shows if there are proofing errors that need to be addressed, such as misspellings, repeated words, or extra spaces between words. Click the indicator to move from one suspected error to the next.
View controls. Click an icon to switch views (Figure 4.6). You can also switch views by clicking the View tab and then clicking an icon in the Document Views group. The purpose of each view is explained in the next section.
)
Figure 4.6 You can quickly change views by clicking an icon at the bottom of the document window.
Zoom controls. Change the current magnification by dragging the slider, clicking the + (increase) or - (decrease) button, or clicking the zoom percentage icon.
Close. Click the close box (X) to close an open document or to quit Word. (When the current document is the only one that's open, clicking the close box quits Word.) You can also close the active document by clicking Close in the Backstage (see Figure 4.2).