WINDOWS 7

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GETTING STARTED
 Overview of Operating System
 What is Operating System?
 Introduction to Windows 7
 Logging on to Windows 7

Overview of Operating System

Introduction

Hello Friends! Let’s begin our learning with understanding the concepts of operating
system. You might already know that there isn’t any single part called the "computer."
A computer is really a system of many parts working together. The physical parts,
which you can see and touch, are collectively called hardware. These different parts
perform one or more functions including input, output, processing, or storage. But do
you really know how these parts interact with each other and perform specific task
told by you. How do they understand the language of humans? This is where
Operating System comes into existence. Without an operating system a computer is
just a box with different components inside. In short, we can say that without an
operating system computer is useless. ? Doesn’t it sound interesting?

History

Unlike hardware, you cannot touch or feel operating system but you will be amazed to
know that it is the first thing which gets loaded when you turn on the computer. The
earliest electronic digital systems had no operating systems. Computers of this time
were so primitive compared to those of today that programs were often entered into
the computer one bit at a time on rows of mechanical switches. With the advancement
of the commercial computer, we have come across a number of operating systems
software. Microsoft was the first to introduce the idea of an operating system which
was named as Windows. Microsoft Windows governed the world market of the
personal computers. Let’s learn now what exactly operating system is all about.

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Operating System

An operating system is a program which makes the computer usable for human
being. Without it, thousands of low level operations will have to be performed even to
do simple things. But with the help of operating system you can perform these
operations easily. The purpose of an operating system is to organize and control
hardware and software so that the device behaves in an efficient way. Operating
systems can also be considered to be managers of the resources. An operating system
determines which computer resources will be utilized for solving which problem and
the order in which they will be used. Operating system is now found in many devices
that we use every day from cell phones to wireless access points.

It feel very easy to work when you seat in front of a modern computer, but remember,
there are many complex processes which Operating System performs inside the
machine to execute various tasks. The real man behind the curtain, handling the
necessary task is the operating system. The operating system is like the director of the
movie. He is not seen in the movie but he takes care of all the dimensions in the movie
right from scripting, planning location, shot selection, acting styles, music, to
anything that affects the feel of the movie. Likewise OS does a lot of internal functions
in the computer hardware but we do not see it. Isn’t that really interesting to know!

Examples of Operating System are Windows, Novell Netware, Mac OS, UNIX and
Linux.

Functions of Operating System are

1. Communicator between the user and computer

2. Process Management
3. Peripheral Management
4. Memory Management

1. Communicator between the user and computer

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One of the major functions of the operating system is to establish standard means of
communication between the user and the computer. The computer hardware does not
understand the language used by humans to communicate with each other. But you
must be thinking now then how do we get the correct result from the computer? Well,
it is the operating system which converts our input to the language that is understood
by the hardware. It converts the output to the language understood by the user. You
must have seen the translator who converts one language to another language.
Likewise operating system is also a translator. Doesn’t that sound amazing!

2. Process Management

One of the major functions of the operating system is the process management.
Operating system allows multiple applications to run simultaneously. It keeps a track
of the number of processes waiting to get processed and manages the processing of
each and every process. Process management is like a traffic controller standing at a
traffic signal. The job of the traffic controller is to process all the traffic without any
traffic jam or accident. Likewise the job of the process management is to manage all
the processes without any collision or deadlock

3. Peripheral Management

The operating system manages the working of different input/output devices attached
to the computer. Different input output devices like printer and scanners work under
control of the operating system. Operating system is like a project manager of an
organization who delegates different tasks to its subordinates so that they perform
them efficiently. Likewise operating system is like a project manager who takes control
of all the devices so that they work effectively and efficiently. The role of Operating
System is truly amazing!

4. Memory Management

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Memory management is one of the most critical jobs of the operating system. The
operating system decides which file will be stored at which location in the memory.
Both primary (RAM) and secondary (ROM) memories work under the control of the
operating system. In simpler terms, RAM is like a showroom where as Hard Disk is
like a warehouse and CPU a shop owner. Whenever a user demands for any program
from CPU, it checks in RAM first (Showroom) or else it fetches from hard disk
(warehouse). That’s so easy to understand!

From the functions discussed, you can understand the importance of operating
system in a computer system. Practically, no computer that you see is without the
operating system. OS actually makes the hardware work as per the instructions
provided by the user. In short, we can say that it is simply impossible to work on the
computer system without the operating system.

What is Operating System

Operating System

An operating system is the program that manages all the other programs in a
computer after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program. It is the
most basic program in a computer. The other programs are called applications or
application programs. The application programs make use of the operating system by
making requests for services through a defined application program interface (API).

Functions of Operating System are

 Managing Resources: - The operating system’s job is to control the computer at

the most fundamental level. It manages memory, controls access to peripheral
devices and serves as a translator between the user and the hardware,
providing the means for the user and application programs to tell the hardware
what to do.

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  Providing User Interface: - Users interact with application programs and
computer hardware through a “user interface”. Many older operating systems
use a character-based interface in which users communicate with the operating
system through written commands. Almost all newer operating systems use a
“graphical user interface (GUI)”.

Services Provided By Operating System

An operating system performs these services for applications:
 It manages the sharing of internal memory among multiple applications
 It handles input and output to and from attached hardware devices, such as
hard disks, printers, and dial-up ports.
 It sends messages to each application or interactive user (or to a system
operator) about the status of operation and any errors that may have occurred.

Booting

Starting or restarting a computer is called “booting” the system. There are two ways
to boot a computer, a warm boot and a cold boot. A “warm boot” occurs when the
computer is already on and you restart it without turning off the power. For example,
in Windows 7, you can restart a running computer by pressing the “Start” button,
clicking on the arrow to the right of the “Shut down” button and selecting “Restart”.
Starting a computer that has been turned off is called a “cold boot”

Common Features of Operating System

Operating systems have several features in common with application programs, such
as the following ones.

 Icons: These are graphic representations for a program or function.

 Pointer: This is controlled by a mouse and changes shape depending on its
current function. For example, when shaped like an arrow, the pointer can be
used to select items such as an icon.

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  Windows: These are rectangular areas for displaying information and running
programs
 Menus: These provide a list of options or commands.
 Dialog Boxes: These are windows that provide information or request input.
 Help: Online assistance is provided for different operations and procedures

Software Environment

The operating system is often referred to as the “software environment” or

“platform”. Almost all application programs are designed to run with a specific
platform. For example, the standard version of AppleWorks is designed to run with the
Mac OS environment.

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Introduction to Windows 7

Windows 7

Windows 7 is the latest release of Microsoft Windows. It has the Windows Aero
graphical user interface which was introduced in Windows Vista. Glass window
borders and surfaces make the interface look both professional and beautiful. Some of
the new features are advancements in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition.
Now support for virtual hard disks and additional file formats have been included. It
also provides improved performance on multi-core processors. Users will see improved
boot performance as well as kernel improvements.

Features

There are some great new features which make working on the desktop a cool
experience. Automatic Changing of Desktop Wallpaper is one of them. The “Aero
Peek” feature enables you to peek at the desktop or into the contents of an open
window. The “Aero Snap” feature enables easy handling of windows on the desktop.
The “Jump Lists” feature provides easy access to items you need. You’ll learn about
these features in detail in the following lab.

Blue-Ray Discs

Nowadays, Blue-Ray discs have won the high-definition DVD war. A single Blue-Ray
disc can store a large amount of data equivalent to a single hard disk. Windows 7
includes native functionality to read & write Blue-Ray discs. This Windows version
allows you to stream live videos and media files within the Windows Media Player.
Streaming is possible on both the local network or from the Internet.

Multiple Instances

Have you ever opened multiple instances of same program on the earlier versions of
Windows? Of course not, but Windows 7 lets you do that. Simply hold the SHIFT
key while left-clicking on the first instance of the program in the taskbar. The
second instance will be opened

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Windows XP Mode

Most applications run fine on Windows 7, but there are some which are not
compatible with the latest version of the Windows operating system. So to configure
this incompatibility problem, Windows 7 has introduced the feature of Windows XP
Mode. This feature allows you to run a full functional version of XP within Windows 7,
with the help of a set of tools called Virtual PC

Direct Access

It has been reviewed that Direct Access is one of the more compelling reasons that
businesses are moving towards upgrading to Windows 7. Direct Access enables you to
establish Bi-Directional Links among internal networks or over the Internet. This
feature facilitates multiple users to remotely access corporate servers and networks
over the Internet.

Booting Time

An appreciable feature of windows 7 is its booting time; it is 20% faster than Windows
Vista. It takes about 27 seconds for the login prompt to appear after boot, in
comparison with Windows Vista which takes 34 seconds for the same.

Windows Action Center

In Windows 7, the security centre which is called Windows Action Center

encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer.

Encryption

The full-drive encryption feature that first debuted in Windows Vista has been
updated in Windows 7 to support removable USB storage devices like flash memory
drives and portable hard drives.

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Windows Calculator

The Windows Calculator utility receives a major upgrade in Windows 7 with

calculation history, unit conversion, calculation templates, date calculations, and
other new features

Windows Display

Windows 7 includes numerous improvements related to computer displays, including

integrated display color calibration, improved high DPI support, Clear Type, and
improved support for external displays. A new “Windows Key + P” keyboard shortcut
helps you easily switch between connected displays. Computer only is the default
option. Duplicate clones your screen to a connected secondary display, monitor or
projector. Extend expands the desktop so that you can make room for extra windows.
Projector only turns off your monitor and turns the projector into your monitor.

Home Group

Microsoft has consolidated the most common network-based sharing tasks into a
single simple interface called Home Group. Computers in a Home Group can easily
share documents, digital media files, and printers over a home network

Snipping Tool

The Snipping Tool captures a screen shot of anything on your desktop, like a picture
or a section of webpage. You may snip a whole window, a rectangular section of the
screen, or draw a freehand outline with your mouse or tablet pen.

Parental Control

The parental control functionality in Windows 7 supports multiple games rating

systems and parental control providers.

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Problem Steps Recorder

Windows 7 includes a new utility called the Problem Steps Recorder that captures
screen shots of the steps a user is taking so that help desk personnel can provide a fix
without physically having to visit the desktop.

Ribbon

Microsoft has evolved the Ribbon control from Office 2007 and made it part of the
operating system in Windows 7. This new version of the Ribbon, called the scenic
Ribbon, is used by two Windows 7 applications, Paint and WordPad, and can be used
by third party applications as well.

Jump List

Windows 7 includes a new Jump List-like utility for finding and connecting to Wi-Fi,
mobile broadband, dial-up, and VPN connections. Unlike the similar User interface in
Windows Vista, this utility, called View Available Networks, does not require you to
navigate through a series of dialogs and windows.

Windows Media Player

Microsoft’s media player received a major makeover in Windows 7 with several new
features, including enhanced DVD playback, a sleek new Now Playing mode,
dramatically improved format compatibility (including AAC and H.264), Windows
Taskbar Jump List customization, PC-to-PC and Internet-based media streaming, and
a new Play To feature.

Credential Manager

The new and improved Windows 7 Credential Manager lets you save credentials, like
user names and passwords, so that you can more easily logon on to Web sites,
networked computers and other resources automatically.

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Latest Versions

Windows 7 ships with the latest version of Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer
8, which offers new features such as the Favorites Bar, Web Slices, Accelerators,
Visual Search, and In Private browsing.

Virtual Hard Disks

Windows 7 allows you to mount a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) as a drive in Explorer so
that you can navigate its contents like a physical hard disk. It also supports the
ability to boot from VHD images.

Windows Live Services

Windows 7 integrates with a growing collection of Windows Live services, including

Windows Live Photos, Windows Live Profile, Windows Live People, Windows Live
Spaces, Windows Live Home, Windows Live Sky Drive, Windows Live Groups,
Windows Live Calendar, Windows Live Events, Windows Live Hotmail, and more.

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Logging On To Windows 7

Turning Computer ON

The first step to log on to Windows 7 on your computer is to plug in your computer
and then switch it on. Turn on the UPS if you have one connected and then turn on
the CPU and switch on the monitor. Wait for the computer to boot up

Logging on Windows 7

The Windows 7 log on screen is displayed. Click on your user name and enter your
password for logging on to Windows 7. Wait until all startup programs are loaded. The
startup time depends on the number of programs that are scheduled to run when you
log on. After a few minutes, you can see the Windows 7 desktop where your
applications, short cuts and menus are located. Now you are ready to start working.

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PERSONALIZING WINDOWS 7

(A) Exploring the Desktop

Windows Desktop

Windows desktop is like the working surface of a desk. When your computer is booted
up and ready to use, the screen you see is called the “Desktop”. Desktop is where
your applications, folders and short cuts are located. The desktop can be customized
to suit individual needs. Items that can be viewed on the desktop are:

 Icons: An important graphic feature that you find on the desktop is an “Icon”.
An Icon is a small colorful graphical picture that is linked to an object like a file,
folder, program or other hardware components of the computer. Every icon has
a label which identifies it. Icons Provided By Windows 7 are Documents,
Computer, Network Places, Recycle Bin etc.

 Tool Tip: Most icons and toolbar buttons display a “Tool Tip” containing a
brief description of the item when you rest the mouse pointer on it. Double-
clicking on an icon runs the program or accesses the related file and right-
clicking accesses a menu offering options, actions and properties. The label of
an icon can be changed by right-clicking the icon, selecting “Rename” and
typing in the new label. Icons can be moved around on the desktop by clicking
and dragging them.

 Start Button: At the extreme left of the task bar, you can see a circular button
with the Windows logo. This is the Windows “Start” button. This provides a
launch point for all the commands and applications on your system .

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Recycle Bin

The "Recycle Bin" on the desktop serves as a trash can. When you delete a file or
folder, it goes into the Recycle Bin where it stays until the bin is emptied. Double-
clicking on the icon opens a window that shows you its contents. If you delete
something you shouldn’t have, you can find it in the Recycle Bin and restore it to its
proper place. When the Recycle Bin is emptied, everything in it is permanently
deleted.

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B) Changing the Desktop Background

Desktop Background

Desktop background also known as wallpaper is an image used as a background of a

graphical user interface on a computer screen. You can make your desktop as
attractive and colorful as you wish by setting a wallpaper of your choice.

Opening Desktop Background

Open Desktop Background by clicking the Start button →Control Panel→

Appearance and Personalization→ Change Desktop Background.

Applying Desktop Background

Click the picture or color you want for your desktop background. If the picture you
want to use is not in the list of desktop background pictures, click the Picture location
down arrow to view other categories, or click Browse to search for the picture on your
computer. When you find the picture you want, double-click it. It will become your
desktop background and appear in the list of desktop backgrounds

Picture Position Color Selection

In the “Desktop Background” window, under “Picture Position”, choose to have the
picture fit the screen, tile, or be centered on the screen, if you choose to have a
centered picture as your desktop background, you can also have a color background
to frame your picture. Click “Change background color”, click a color from the
displayed palette, and then click “OK”.

Desktop Slideshow

Windows 7 includes a desktop slideshow that changes the desktop background in a

designated amount of time with a smooth fading transition. Select the check boxes for
the pictures that you want to include in your slide show. Then click on the drop down
arrow of the “Change picture every” box and select how often you want the pictures to
change. Finally, click “Save changes”.

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Setting Picture as Background

You can make any picture stored on your computer or a picture on the Internet that
you are currently viewing as your desktop background. Simply right-click the picture
and select “Set as desktop background” or “Set as Background”.

C) Applying a Screen Saver

Screen Saver

A screen saver is a program that displays an image, animation, or just a blank screen
on a computer after no input has been received for a certain length of time. Screen
savers were originally designed to prevent damages (called burn-in) to CRT screens.
The screens manufactured nowadays are much more resistant to damages. Today
screensavers are used primarily for entertainment or security.

Applying Screen Saver

To set a screen saver, click on “Screen Saver” in the “Personalization” window. In the
“Screen Saver Settings” window, select a screen saver from the list. In the “Wait” field,
specify the number of minutes of idle time after which you want the screen saver to
start.

Previewing Screen Saver

Click “Preview” to see how the selected screen saver will appear on your monitor. To
clear the screen saver after it has started, simply move your mouse or press any key.
To change the setting options for your screen saver, click “Settings” and make the
adjustments you like. Save your settings and click “OK” in the “Screen Saver Settings”
window.

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C) Changing the Display

Screen Resolution

Screen resolution refers to the clarity of the text and images on your screen. At higher
resolutions, items appear sharper. They also appear smaller, so more items fit on the
screen. At lower resolutions, fewer items fit on the screen, but they are larger and
easier to see. At very low resolutions, however, images might have jagged edges.

Changing Display Settings

You may change various settings related to the display of your monitor. Select
"Screen resolution" by right clicking on your desktop. Click the down arrow in the
Resolution box and move the slider to the resolution you want. Then click Apply. In
the displayed window, click “Keep changes” to use the new resolution, or click Revert
to go back to the previous resolution.

Refresh Rate

Another consideration in getting the best possible display from your monitor is the
screen Refresh Rate. If the refresh rate is too low, the monitor can flicker, causing eye
strain and headaches. Click “Advanced Settings” in the “Screen Resolution” window.
Click the “Monitor” tab in the window that comes up and make a selection from the
“Screen refresh rate” box.

Orientation

You can also change the orientation of your screen. Click the down arrow in the
“Orientation” box and choose a suitable choice and then click “Ok”.

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D) Applying Theme

Theme

Microsoft has introduced style and desktop slide shows in Windows 7. Styles are
called as Themes and Windows 7 Themes or Styles are a formal combination of
desktop background, aero glass window color, sound scheme, and screen saver

Different Types of Theme

Select "Personalize” by right clicking on your desktop. The window is broken down
into three sections: "My Themes," "Aero Themes," and "Basic Themes." "My Themes"
are themes downloaded from the Internet and they are stored in this location. "Aero
Themes" are the system delivered themes from Microsoft. "Basic Themes" are the
themes used if you do not have a high-powered graphics card capable of displaying an
Aero theme. You can also use these themes if you want to give a borderline computer
a performance jolt.

Applying Theme

Click the desired theme and in a moment your theme is displayed. You can click on
all the themes available to see which on you like best. You can have a single picture or
a slide show of pictures as your desktop background. Use your own pictures, or
choose from the pictures that come with Windows. To change the color of your
window borders, taskbar, and Start menu, click “Window Color” and select the color
that you want to use. Adjust the color intensity, and then click “Save changes”. To
change the sounds you hear when events occur on your computer, click “Sounds”.
Select an item in the “Sound Schemes” list, and then click “OK”. To change the
screensaver, click “Screen saver” and select screen saver from the list and then click
“OK”. Your new theme will appear under “My Themes” as an unsaved theme. If you
want to come back to your unsaved theme later, make sure you save it.

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E) Windows Touch

Ever wish you could just point at what you want and move things around with your
hand? With a touch-sensitive screen and Windows 7, you can. Microsoft has
introduced multi-touch screen capabilities to Windows users with the new operating
system Windows 7.The Start menu and taskbar now sport larger, fingertip-friendly
icons. Familiar Windows 7 programs are also touch-ready. You can even finger-paint
in the Windows application “Paint”! You can browse online newspapers, flick through
photo albums, and shuffle files and folders using nothing but your fingers.

Gestures

Gestures are considered as one or two fingers touch inputs that translate into some
kind of predefined action that the user performs. When a user touches a touch-
sensitive Windows 7 enabled device, gestures are detected. Then the operating system
sends a gesture message to an application. This message contains all the information
needed for decoding and making it work. Windows 7 supports the following gestures:

 Zoom
 Single Finger and two fingers pan
 Rotate
 Two Fingers tap
 Press and Tap

Touch Keyboard

You can type into any application without a physical keyboard by using the onscreen
touch keyboard. To open the keyboard, click the “Start” button and type “tablet” into
the “Search” box at the bottom of the Start menu. Select “Tablet PC Input Panel”.
Select the keyboard from the toolbar. You can dock the keyboard by going to the
“Tools” menu, pointing to “Docking” and selecting an option.

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Writing Pad

Another feature of the Tablet PC Input Panel is the Writing Pad. Click the “Writing Pad
“button on the Input Panel toolbar to open the pad. You can write freehand style or
input text character by character and even teach it your handwriting style

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F) Changing Mouse Settings

Mouse Pointer

We all love to have nice animated mouse pointer. Though the default mouse pointer
looks good, you might want to customize it to give a fancy look. You can customize
your mouse in a variety of ways. For example, you can swap the functions of your
mouse buttons, make the mouse pointer more visible, and alter the scroll speed of the
mouse wheel

Changing Mouse Pointer

In the “Personalization” window, click “Change mouse pointers”. The “Mouse

Properties” window is displayed with the “Pointers” tab active.

Settings

You can see the scheme that has been applied to your mouse pointer in the “Scheme”
box. The “Customize” list displays a set of pointers for the scheme that will be
displayed during various activities such as selection, working in background etc. You
may select a new scheme by clicking the down arrow in the “Scheme” box.

Customization

To change an individual pointer, click it in the “Customize” list. Then click “Browse”.
In the window displayed, click the pointer you want to use, and then click “Open”.
You may use the other tabs such as “Buttons”, “Pointer Options” and “Wheel” to
specify other mouse settings. Click “OK” when you are done

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Using Applications

Start Button

Start Button

The Start Menu and Start Button are user interface elements of the Microsoft
Windows operating systems. The Start Button provides a central launching point for
application and tasks. The Windows "Orb" logo has a fade-in highlight effect when the
user moves the mouse over it and the Start menu has a two-column layout.

Start Menu

The Start menu has three basic parts:

 The large left pane shows a short list of programs on your computer. Clicking
“All Programs” displays a complete list of programs
 At the bottom of the left pane is the “Search” box, which allows you to look for
programs and files on your computer by typing in search terms.
 The right pane provides shortcuts to commonly used folders, files, settings, and
features. The area at the bottom is used to log off from Windows or turn off your
computer

Libraries

The "Documents", "Pictures" and "Music" buttons link to the Libraries of the same
name. A "Devices and Printers" option is also available that displays a new device
manager.

System Properties

You can view a summary of important information about your computer like Windows
Edition, system configuration, computers name and software activation. To view the
System properties, click on Start button and open Control Panel. In the Control Panel,
click on “System” icon to view system properties. In the window displayed, you can

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check the following information. Windows edition: Lists information about the version
of Windows running on your computer.

System

Displays your computers Windows Experience Index base score, which is a number
that describes the overall capability of your computer. Your computers processor type,
speed, and quantity are listed, if your computer uses multiple processors. For
example, if your computer has two processors, you will see "(2 processors)" displayed.
Also displayed is how much random access memory (RAM) is installed and, in some
cases, how much of the memory is usable by Windows.

Computer name, domain and workgroup settings

Displays your computers name and workgroup or domain information. You can
change this information and add user accounts by clicking Change settings. Windows
activation: Activation verifies that your copy of Windows is genuine, which helps
prevent software piracy.

Search Box

The search box in the Start menu is one of the most convenient ways to find things on
your computer. Click the “Start” button, and then type a word or phrase in the search
box. As you type, the search results appear above the search box in the left pane of
the Start menu. Click any search result to open it. Click the “x” shaped button in the
search box to clear the search results and return to the main programs list.

Run Command

Run command is a quick way to open programs, files and folders. It can be also used
to open websites when you are connected to the Internet. You can also use the search
box on the Start menu in place of the Run command.

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Using Run Command

To open Run command, click the Start button. In the search box, type run, and in the
list of results displayed, click Run. To open a program, type the name of the program
you want to open in the run window. For e.g., type notepad and press enter to open
Notepad. The notepad window will be displayed on the screen.

Shut-down Button

At the lower right-hand side of the Start menu, you can see the “Shut down” button.
As the name suggests, this can be used to shut down the computer system. Next to
this button, there is a triangle which gives multiple options which are as follows:

 Switch User: Allows a user to remain logged on while another user logs on to
the computer via a different account
 Log off: Closes all open programs of a user but does not put the computer off.
Another user may log on right away. This is useful for shared computers.
 Lock: Locks down the system while the computer remains powered on. The
user must provide his password in order to regain entry.
 Restart: Powers down the computer and reboots it. It is usually done for
updates or if system is experiencing problems
 Sleep: A power-saving state that allows the computer to quickly resume full-
power operation within a few seconds. It is very useful when you want to get on
your computer right away
 Hibernate: Like sleep, hibernation is a power-saving state. But while sleep
saves your settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation
saves your open documents and programs to your hard disk and then turns off
your computer. The hibernation state uses the least amount of power.

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Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player 12

Windows 7 ships with the Windows Media Player 12. Windows Media Player provides
an intuitive, easy-to-use interface to play digital media files, organize your digital
media collection, burn CDs of your favorite music, rip music from CDs and shop for
digital media content from online stores. To start Windows Media Player, click “Start”
and select “All Programs -Windows Media Player”.

Modes of Media Player

Windows Media Player allows you to switch between two modes: the Player Library,
which gives you comprehensive control over the Players many features; and the Now
Playing mode, which gives you a simplified view of your media that’s ideal for
playback. When the player is started, it shows the Player Library. You can go to the
Now Playing mode by clicking the “Switch to Now Playing” button in the lower-right
corner of the Player. To return to the Player Library, click the “Switch to Library”
button in the upper-right corner of the Player

Navigation Pane

In the navigation pane at the left of the Player Library, you can choose a category,
such as Music, Videos or Pictures. The details are displayed in the pane at the center.
To play a music or video file, double-click the title in the central pane. The Search box
at the top of the Library enables you to search for a specific artist, album title or song
name. Videos are displayed in the Now Playing mode.

Playback Controls

The Playback controls area at the bottom can be used to perform functions such as
stop, mute, move to previous item etc. in both modes

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Managing Libraries

To display items from other locations in the Player Library, select “Organize→
Manage Libraries” and choose a category. In the displayed window, to add a folder
containing your music files, click the Add’ button. Then click OK.

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Paint

Paint

Paint is an application included with Windows that you can use to draw, color, and
edit pictures. You can use Paint like a digital sketchpad to make simple pictures,
creative projects, or to add text and designs to other pictures, such as those taken
with your digital camera. To start Paint, click “Start” and select “All Programs -
Accessories - Paint”.

Parts of Paint Window

You can see an empty window. This is a new document. Like WordPad, this
application also includes the Ribbon and the Quick Access toolbar. Drawing and
painting tools are located in the Ribbon at the top of the window. The illustration on
screen shows the different parts of the Paint window

Drawing Tools

The ribbon in Paint includes a handy collection of drawing tools. You can use these
tools to create freehand drawings and add a variety of shapes to your pictures. Some
tools and shapes, such as the Pencil, Brush, Line, and Curve, let you make a variety
of straight, curved, and squiggly lines. The Pencil and Brushes can be used to make
completely random, free-form shapes.

Saving File

First, let us save this document and give it a name. Click on “Paint” button and then
click “Save”. In the “Save As” window, browse to the location where you want to save
the file. You may select the type of file you want to create from the “Save as type” list.
For now, let the default type PNG remain. Enter the file name and press “Save”. The
file is saved with the extension “.png”. Alternatively, to save the document, you may
click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

38
Inserting Shape

Let us learn to create a birthday card in Paint. First we will insert a shape. On the
“Home” tab in the “Shapes” group click on the arrow at the bottom to view the list.
Now, click on the “Rectangle” shape from the list. Drag the pointer in the drawing area
to draw the shape.

Color 1 Color 2 Boxes

The “Color 1” box in the “Colors” group indicates the foreground color and the
“Color 2” box indicates the background one. Since the default foreground color is
black, the shape we drew has been drawn in black. Click on “Color 2” and select “light
yellow” color square. Now click on the “Fill” drop down list in the “Shapes” group.
From the displayed options select “Solid Color” to fill the rectangle with the color
selected.

Drawing Rounded Rectangle Shape

Let us insert a Rounded rectangle inside the rectangle we inserted. Click on the
“Rounded Rectangle” icon in the Shapes gallery. Now click on the “Purple” color
square. Now click on the “Outline” drop down list in the “Shapes” group. Select “No
Outline” from the list so that the rounded rectangle doesn’t have any outline. Drag the
pointer in the drawing area now to draw the shape as shown. Now, insert the rest of
the shapes and fill them with color as shown in a similar way.

Brush Tool

We will learn now how to use brush tool. On the “Home” tab from the “Brushes” drop
down list select “Airbrush”. Now, click on “Color 1” and then click on the “Orange”
color square box. Drag the airbrush tool to draw the ribbon for the balloon as shown.
Draw the images in a similar way using the various brushes available in the brush
tool.

39
Eraser Tool

You may use the Eraser tool to erase areas of your picture. On the “ Home” tab, in the
“Tools” group, click the “Eraser”. To change the size of the eraser, click “Size”, and
make your selection. Let us erase the green line we drew. You need to remember that
any areas that you erase will reveal the background color i.e. “Color 2”. So we first
need to set “Color 2” to the background color of our picture, in this case, “light
yellow”. Now drag the eraser over the area that you want to erase.

Text Tool

Now we will insert some text in our card. Click on “Text” in the “Tools” group and
drag the pointer in the drawing area to create a text box. A new “Text” tab appears
under the heading “Text Tools”. In the “Font” group, select a suitable font, size, and
style. Choose the color for the text box background by clicking on “Color 2” and
choosing the color from the “Colors” group. Now click on “Opaque” in the
“Background” group to apply it. Resize the text box as required and drag it to a
suitable position as shown. Your card is ready now.

Set as Desktop Background

Once you have completed the Greeting card, you can directly apply it as a Desktop
background from Paint. To do so, click on Paint button and select “Set as desktop
background”. You can set your painting as a desktop background in following ways.

 Fill: Fill the entire desktop screen with your picture.

 Tile: Tile the picture so it repeats and fill entire screen.

 Center: Center the picture in the middle of the screen.

40
Save as Picture

You can convert your greeting in various file formats and save it as a different type of
picture file. When you save a picture in a different format, the original picture is not
replaced; instead, a new picture file is created and saved. To save a picture in a
different file type Click the Paint button, point to save as, and then click the new
picture file type for the picture or drawing. Type a file name in the File name box, and
then click Save.

41
NotePad

Note Pad

Notepad is a basic text editing program and it is most commonly used to view or edit
text files. This is especially useful for creating HTML documents for a Web page. To
start Notepad, click “Start” and select “All Programs - Accessories - Notepad”.
When the application opens, a blank workspace is ready for you to begin typing to
create a new document.

Entering Text

In the open Notepad, type your Name and then press “Enter”. Type your Address and
press “Enter” again. You may wish to change the way your text appears. For this,
select “Format - Font” from the menu bar. In the “Font” window, select the font along
with the style and size you require. Press “OK” to apply your selection to the complete
text in your document.

Saving File

To save the file, select “File - Save”. Since this a new document which is being saved
for the first time, the “Save As” window is displayed. In the “Save As” window, you
may specify the location where you wish to save the file and the name of the file. Click
“Save”. Your file is stored with the extension “.txt”. The “Save As” command can be
used to save a copy of a stored file with another name.

Printing File

Now, you may want to print a copy of your document. Click the File menu, and then
click Print. Another way to do this is by directly pressing “Ctrl+P”. Make the
appropriate selections from the “Print” window and click “Print”.

42
43
WordPad

WordPad

WordPad is a basic word processor that is included with almost all versions of
Microsoft Windows. It is more advanced than Notepad but simpler than Microsoft
Word. It is a text-editing program that you can use to create and edit documents.
Unlike Notepad, WordPad documents can include rich formatting and graphics, and
you can also link to or embed objects, such as pictures or other documents.

Starting WordPad

To start WordPad, click “Start” and select “All Programs → Accessories →

WordPad”. WordPad in Windows 7 uses the Microsoft user interface called the
Ribbon. This toolbar runs across the top of the WordPad screen and separates
commands by tabs and groups. The “Ruler” at the top is used to check the layout and
placement of text in your document and set tab stops. The “Status Bar” at the bottom
provides additional information about the WordPad document such as zoom settings.

Word Wrap

Now let’s begin typing text into the document. As you reach the end of a line, the text
is carried over to the following line without the need to press “Enter”. This feature is
called “Word Wrap”. After you have entered your text, you may need to make some
modifications. This is called “Editing” text. The first change you want to make to this
document is to add a title. Click at the beginning of your text. Press “Enter” and then
use the “Up Arrow” key to move the insertion point up. Now enter the title

Deleting Text

After looking over the text, you may decide to remove a word. The two most common
ways to remove text are to use the “Backspace” key to delete unwanted characters to
the left of the insertion point, or the “Delete” key to remove characters to the right.
You can also select the text you want to delete and then press “Delete” to remove it.

44
To select the text, drag from one end of the area of the text to the other. A quicker way
to select a word is to double-click on it

Formatting Text

Let us enhance the appearance of this document. You want to center the title between
the margins, make the characters larger and display the characters in another color.
Before you can apply the formatting effects, you first need to select the text you want
to format. Since you want to select the entire title, you can click in the left margin of
the line to select the entire line quickly. Then on the “Home” tab, from the
“Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon. You can see that the title moves to the
center of the line.

Change Font Size

To further enhance the appearance of the title, you would like to increase the font
size. “Font size” refers to the height and width of printed characters. In the “Font”
group, click the down arrow in the “Font size” box and select the font size you wish.
You may also increase the font size using the “Home tab - Font group - Grow font
icon.

Making Text Bold

Next, you will make the title text bold and apply a color to it. In the “Font” group, click
the “Bold” icon to embolden the title. Click the small arrow to the right of the “Text
color” icon and select a color from the displayed palette. The title now appears in the
selected color.

Saving a File

To save the document, click the “WordPad” button to the left of the “Home” tab and
click “Save”. The “Save As” window appears on the screen. Select the location to save
the file. Let us save the file on desktop and type the desired file name. Then click
"Save" to save the file. Your file is stored with the default extension “.rtf”. Close the
document by clicking the “X” shaped Close button at the top right corner

45
Opening WordPad Document

You can see the document icon for the WordPad file. Notice that this icon does not
display the arrow symbol that appears in shortcut icons. This is because the file is
actually stored in the desktop folder and the icon is not a shortcut to an object that is
in another location. To open this file, double click on the file icon. The file is opened
and displayed in the workspace. The file name is displayed in the title bar before the
program name and the Windows taskbar displays a button for the open application.

Finding and Replacing Text

To find or replace specific characters, on the “Home” tab, from the “Editing” group,
click “Find”. Specify your search criteria in the “Find what” box of the displayed
window and click “Find Next”. If you want to replace some text with other text, from
the “Editing” group, click “Replace”. Specify your search criteria and enter the new
text in the “Replace with” box. Then click “Replace”. Click “Replace All” to replace all
occurrences of the original text. You may refine your search by checking the boxes
against “Match whole word only” to find whole words matching your search criteria
and “Match case” to make your search specific to capital and small alphabets.

Moving and Copying Text

To cut text that you want to move to another location, select the text, and then from
the “Clipboard” group, click “Cut”. To copy text for placing at another location, select
the text, and then click “Copy”. To paste text you have cut or copied, place the
insertion point where you want to paste the text, and then click “Paste”. You may
undo your actions by clicking the “Undo” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

Inserting Picture

You can also add pictures to a WordPad document. On the “Home” tab, from the
“Insert” group, click "Picture". In the “Select Picture” window, browse to the
required picture and then click “Open”. The picture is inserted in your document

46
Resizing Picture

You may resize the picture using the sizing handles. These appear when you click on
the picture. The handles at the corners enable you to change the height and width
simultaneously while those at the sides can be used to change either the height or
width. To delete a picture, ensure that it is selected and press “Delete”. Now save the
WordPad document

47
Calculator

Windows Calculator

Windows Calculator, commonly known as Calculator is an application used to

perform basic calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
It also offers the advanced capabilities of a programming, including the scientific and
statistical calculator.

Starting Calculator

To start Calculator, click “Start” and select “All Programs - Accessories -

Calculator”.

Performing Calculations

To perform a simple calculation involving addition, subtraction, multiplication or

division,
1) first, type the first number in the calculation.

2) Then, click “+” to add, “-” to subtract, “*” to multiply, or “/” to divide.

3) After that, type the next number in the calculation.

4) Type other operators and numbers in the same way.

5) Finally, click “=” or press the “Enter” key to get your result.

Calculator Modes

In the “View” menu, you will discover three modes in addition to the Standard Mode.
The Scientific Mode is useful for more advanced and scientific calculations including
squares, square roots, factorial, and log calculations. The Programmer Mode in the
Windows Calculator applications allows you to make Hex, Oct, and Bin conversions.
In addition, you can use this mode to make Word size or length calculations. The final
mode available on the Windows 7 calculator is the Statistics Mode. Here you can
make a variety of Summation, Standard Deviation, and other statistics calculations.

48
Calculation History

Calculation history keeps track of all the calculations that Calculator performs in a
session and is available in Standard and Scientific modes. You can change the values
in the calculations in your history. To open the history, click the “View” menu, and
then click “History”. Double-click the calculation that you want to edit and enter the
new values that you want to calculate. Then press Enter.

49
50
Working on the Desktop

Desktop Shortcut

To access a frequently used program quickly, you can create a desktop shortcut. For
this, select “Start → all Programs “and locate the program for which you wish to
create a shortcut. Right-click on that program, and point to “Send To” and then click
on “Desktop (create shortcut)”. A shortcut icon with an arrow at the bottom left
appears on the desktop. You may use this shortcut to quickly access your program

Arranging Icons

To arrange icons on the desktop, right-click on the desktop and choose “View” from
the shortcut menu; be sure that “Auto Arrange” option is not selected. To arrange
desktop icons manually, just click any icon and drag it to another location.
Alternatively, you can right-click the Windows 7 desktop and from the shortcut menu,
choose “Sort By” and then click the criteria for sorting your desktop shortcuts

51
Using the Task bar

Task Bar

At the bottom of the screen, you see a long, thin bar which is called the “ Taskbar”.
You know that the taskbar at the bottom of the screen has the “Start” button at the
left end. The currently active tasks are displayed in the form of buttons on the
taskbar. When you move your mouse over a button, a thumbnail image of the window
is displayed and you can peek into the window contents. This feature is called “Aero
Peek”. You can even close windows and pause video and songs from the thumbnail
preview which is a big time saver.

Show Desktop

The “Show Desktop” button at the extreme right of the taskbar lets you "peek" behind
all the open windows on your desktop and easily view the Windows Gadgets or files on
your desktop. Place your mouse pointer on the “Show Desktop” button to peek at your
desktop. Click it to actually go to the desktop.

Quick Launch Icons

You may see icons on the taskbar. These are called "Quick Launch" icons that allow
one-click access to frequently used programs even when the desktop is not visible.
They are permanently pinned to the taskbar. You may drag any icon from the desktop
and pin it to the taskbar for easy access.

Notification Area

To the right of the taskbar is the “Notification” area. It indicates the tools that are
automatically started when you turn on your computer and are running in the
background, such as antivirus protection. The notification area has; the standard
Volume, Network and Action Center status icons. No other application icons are
shown unless the user has chosen for them to be shown. You may click on the small
triangle to the left of the visible notification icons to see hidden notifications, if any.

52
Jump-Lists

You can get right to the documents, pictures, songs, and websites you use most often
simply by right-clicking a program button on the taskbar with the help of Jump-Lists.

Snipping Tool

Snipping Tool

The Snipping Tool captures a screen shot of anything on your screen, like a picture or
a section of a webpage. You can snip a whole window, a rectangular section of the
screen, or draw a freehand outline with your mouse. Then you can annotate, save, or
e-mail the image using appropriate buttons in the Snipping Tool window

Types of Snips

To start Snipping Tool, click “Start” and select “All Programs→ Accessories
→Snipping Tool”. Click the arrow to the right of the “New” button to see the various
types of snips:

 Free-form Snip. It is used to draw an irregular line, such as a circle or a

triangle, around an object.
 Rectangular Snip. It is used to draw a precise line by dragging the cursor
around an object to form a rectangle.
 Window Snip. It is used to select a window, such as a browser window or dialog
box that you want to capture.
 Full-screen Snip. It is used to capture the entire screen.

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54
Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes

One of the Windows 7s cool new features is Sticky Notes. With sticky notes you can
quickly write a reminder for yourself or some other note. In fact, they are as useful as
real paper sticky notes. You can use Sticky Notes to write a to-do list, write down a
phone number, or do anything else that you would have used a pad of paper for.

Starting Sticky Notes

To start Sticky Notes, click “Start” and select “All Programs - Accessories - Sticky
Notes”. Your note is ready to use, simply start typing your text! To create additional
notes, click the “New Note” button. You can also open a new note by pressing
“Ctrl+N”. To delete a note, click the "X" in the top right corner or press “Ctrl+D”. To
change its color, right click the note and then click the color you want.

Games

Games Explorer

Games Explorer is your one-stop-shop for both casual and hard-core gaming on
Windows 7. Windows 7 comes with a variety of games to play. There are board games,
card games, multiplayer Internet games, and even games for kids

Open Games

Open the Games folder by clicking click “Start” and select “All Programs→ Games”.
To start playing, just click a game icon. Some games would require you to be
connected to the Internet. For detailed instructions regarding how a game is to be
played, you may click “Help”.

55
Games Included in Windows 7

The games included in Windows 7 are

 Chess titans

 FreeCell

 Hearts

 Mahjong Titans

 Minesweeper

 Purble Place

 Solitaire

 Spider Solitaire

 Internet Backgammon

 Internet Checkers

 Internet Spades

56
Tablet PC Input Panel

Tablet PC Input Panel

In Windows 7, Tablet PC Input Panel is the standard interface for converting

handwriting to text in a Windows-based program. It’s the method by which tablet pen
users enter text into applications that do not include a custom handwriting interface.
Using Input Panel, users can insert text into website forms, word processing and e-
mail applications, web browsers, and more.

Starting Tablet PC Input Panel

Open a new Notepad document. To start Tablet PC Input Panel, click “Start” and
select “All Programs → Accessories →Tablet PC → Tablet PC Input Panel”. Input
Panel includes two input areas for entering text: the Writing Pad, and the Touch
keyboard. The writing pad can be used to write in freehand style or character by
character. Use the “Tools” menu to specify the writing style.

Writing Pad

The writing pad converts handwriting into typed text. Drag with the mouse to write
the text as shown. Click “Insert” to insert the text

Editing Text

Text written using the writing pad can be edited in various ways such as correcting,
deleting, splitting or joining.

On-Screen Keyboard

Now let’s see the working of on-screen keyboard. Click the Touch Keyboard icon at the
top left corner. The on-screen keyboard works just like a standard keyboard. Simply
type your text as usual.

57
Closing Input Panel

Click the “Writing Pad” icon to revert to the writing pad. Click the “X” shaped Close
icon at the top right corner to close the Input Panel. To redisplay it, click the edge of
the Panel at the side of your screen. To exit completely, select “Tools - Exit”.

58
Math Input Panel

Math Input Panel

Math Input Panel is a new feature that has been introduced in the Windows 7. It can
assist you when using input devices like touch-screens, digital pens or even an
ordinary mouse to write formulas and math equations. The tool can recognize math in
your written text, including numbers and letters, arithmetic, calculus, functions, sets,
algebra and more. To start Math Input Panel, click “Start” and select “All Programs
→ Accessories→ Math Input Panel”.

Writing Math Expressions

Now in the writing area, using your mouse, write a math expression. The Math Input
Panel automatically recognizes the math expression and displays it in the preview
area.

Erase Write

If you make a mistake in the written text, you may use the tools on the side of the
application. You may use Undo and Redo buttons to revise your work. Click the
“Erase” button to wipe out the sketches that resulted from accidental strokes. After
erasing, click “Write” to re-write what you were supposed to write.

Select and Correct

If your handwritten math is misrecognized, you can also correct it by clicking on the
“Select and Correct” button. Drag to select the part to be corrected. A pop up list
appears from which you can select the correct interpretation and continue your
writing.

Inserting Math Expression

When you are done, simply click “Insert” at the bottom to paste the element to your
desired document. By default, Math Input Panel saves its work on the clipboard. If
your word processing document is active, the formula is inserted into it. If the formula

59
is not automatically inserted, you can manually paste it by using the “Paste”
command or the “CTRL + V” shortcut. Please note that Math Input Panel can only
insert math into programs that support the insertion of mathematical structures. The
Microsoft Word word-processor is one such program.

60
CONCEPT OF OPERATING SYSTEM

Categorization of OS

There are various operating systems, but they can all be categorized into the following
types

 Embedded OS: “Embedded operating systems” are used for handheld

computers and smaller devices like PDAs. The operating system programs are
stored on read-only memory (ROM) chips and embedded in the device. Popular
embedded operating systems include Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded.
 Network OS: “Network operating systems” are used to control and coordinate
computers that are linked together. Network operating systems are generally
located on one of the hard disks of the connected computers. This computer is
called the “network server” and it coordinates communication between the other
computers. Popular network operating systems include Netware, Windows NT
Server, Windows XP Server and UNIX.
 Stand-Alone OS: “Stand-alone operating systems” also called “desktop
operating systems”, control a single desktop or notebook computer. These
operating systems are located on the computer’s hard disk. Popular desktop
operating systems include Windows, Mac OS and some versions of UNIX.
 Multi User OS: A Multi-user operating system allows two or more users to run
programs at the same time. Some operating systems permit hundreds or even
thousands of concurrent users.
 Multiprocessing OS: A Multiprocessing operating system supports running a
program on more than one CPU. The operating system determines which
applications should run in what order and how much time should be allowed
for each application.
 Multitasking OS: A Multitasking operating system allows more than one
program to run concurrently.
 Multithreading OS: A Multithreading operating system allows different parts of
a single program to run concurrently.

61
 Real-time OS: A Real-time operating system responds to input instantly.
General-purpose operating systems, such as DOS and UNIX, are not real-time
 Desktop OS: Often desktop computers and notebooks are part of a network. In
such cases, the desktop operating system works with the network’s operating
system (NOS) to share and coordinate resources. Here, the desktop operating
system is referred to as the “client operating system”.
 Mobile OS: Like a computer operating system, a mobile operating system is the
software platform on top of which other programs run. When you purchase a
mobile device, the manufacturer would have already chosen the operating
system for that specific device. The operating system is responsible for
determining the functions and features available on your device, such as
thumbwheel, keyboards, WAP, synchronization with applications, e-mail, text
messaging and more. Some of the well-known Mobile operating systems include
the following:
1. Symbian OS
2. Windows Mobile
3. Android
4. Palm OS
5. Mobile Linux
6. MXI

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63
Popular Operating Systems

Mac OS

“Mac OS” is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based
operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer
systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical
user interface. It is a powerful, easy-to-use operating system that is popular with
professional graphic designers, desktop publishers and many home users.

Mac OS X

The latest version of the Macintosh operating system is “Mac OS X”, also known as
“Tiger”. It provides powerful features such as “Spotlight” and “Dashboard Widgets”.
Spotlight is an advanced search tool that can rapidly locate files, folders, e-mail
messages, addresses and much more. Dashboard Widgets are specialized programs
that constantly update and display information.

Snow Leopard

The “Snow Leopard” is an enhanced version which focuses on increasing the

performance, efficiency, and stability of the operating system. The latest version
“Lion” has new features such as a “Launch pad” which supports multi-touch
gestures. Users can navigate through multiple screens to launch all the applications
that are currently installed. The “Leopard” version includes “Boot Camp” which
allows Apple computers to use both Mac OS and Windows XP.

UNIX

UNIX is a powerful multitasking operating system that was developed in 1969. It was
originally designed to run on minicomputers in network environments. Now, it is also
used by powerful microcomputers and Web servers. There are many different versions
of UNIX, although they share common similarities. The most popular varieties of UNIX
are Sun Solaris, GNU/Linux, and MacOS X. The UNIX operating system is made up of
three parts; the kernel, the shell and the programs.

64
Linux

Linux is a popular version of UNIX. It was initially created as a hobby in 1991 by a

graduate student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland. He
allowed free distribution of the operating system code and encouraged others to
modify and further develop the code. Linux is being installed on the system BIOS of
laptop and notebook computers, which will enable users to turn their devices on in a
matter of seconds, bringing up a streamlined Linux environment. Many of the popular
Web 2.0 services on the Internet, such as Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, and Google all
rely on Linux as their operating system.

65
Introduction to Windows Operating System

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user

interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment
named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the
growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs)

Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world’s personal computer market,

overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984. As of October 2009, Windows
had approximately 91% of the market share of the client operating systems for usage
on the Internet. The most recent client version of Windows is Windows 7; the most
recent server version is Windows Server 2008 R2; the most recent mobile OS version
is Windows Phone 7.

Versions

66
Windows 7

The most widely used versions of Windows, i.e. Windows XP was introduced in 2001
and Windows Vista was released in 2007. The next major version, Windows 7,
which is the latest one, was released in 2009.

Features of Windows 7

You can see multiple programs running simultaneously on different areas of your
screen

67
Windows Interface

The Windows interface is based on “Graphical User Interface” or GUI, which means
that the interface uses graphics or pictures to help the user navigate and access
programs. Right-clicking the mouse on any object displays a “context” menu which
you can use to execute many useful commands easily.

Shortcuts

You can use shortcuts to open a program without having to find the program on your
hard disk.

Help

Help is always near. Pressing the “F1” key in most situations either displays detailed
instructions or brief descriptions of the controls. The help has a search feature, too,
allowing you to find the desired information by typing in a keyword.

Clipboard

The “Clipboard” is a temporary storage area for information that you have copied or
moved from one place and plan to use somewhere else. For example, you might want
to copy a section of text from a document, and then paste that text into another
document. The Clipboard is available in most Windows programs.

Compatibility

The Windows operating system is designed to be compatible with the largest

combination of PC hardware. By offering such a large degree of compatibility,
Microsoft has made Windows the number one operating system for the majority of
computing tasks.

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Benefits

Windows offers various benefits like great software support and user familiarity

 Software support: Windows offers a huge user base to any manufacturer of

software. A majority of the available software is designed to run primarily with
Windows
 User Familiarity: The Windows desktop and its simple user interface have
become synonymous with computing. Windows remains the most popular and
the most recognizable simply by virtue of its earlier successes and the familiar
look of each release of the operating system.

69
Installation of Windows 7

System Requirements

Whenever you purchase software or hardware for your computer, you should first
make sure your computer supports the system requirements. If you want to run
Windows 7 on your PC, these are the requirements:

 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
 DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
 Depending on resolution, video playback may require additional memory and
advanced graphics hardware
 Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with
DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance
 DVD/CD authoring requires a compatible optical drive and music and sound
require audio output
 Windows Touch and Tablet PCs require specific hardware and Home Group
requires a network and PCs running Windows 7

Installation Procedure

The step-by-step procedure for a typical installation of Windows 7 is as follows:

 Insert the Windows 7 DVD into your computers DVD-ROM drive, and restart
the computer

 Windows 7 Setup should start automatically. If Setup does not start

automatically, ensure that your computer is configured to boot from the DVD
drive.

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 You are asked to select regional options for the Windows 7 installation. Make
your selections and then click Next to continue.

 In the next dialog box, you are prompted to start the installation. Click Install
Now to begin the installation. This produces a screen that tells you that Setup is
starting.

 In the Software License Terms dialog box, ensure that you read and understand
the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA). When you’re ready, select the I
Accept the License Terms option and click Next to continue.

 The next screen provides two options, Upgrade and Custom (advanced). The
upgrade option is for those who wish to upgrade an existing installation of an
older version of Windows to Windows7.You can select the Custom (Advanced)
option if you’re performing a new installation on a blank hard disk.

 Clicking on the Custom button brings the install location selection screen. In
the case of a normal installation all your hard drive partitions (e.g. C:\, D:\ etc.)
will be listed here. If you plan to perform a clean installation on your computer
that is currently running some earlier Windows version, be sure to get your data
and other files off the computer beforehand. And when you’re ready to proceed,
click next.

 The Installing Windows dialog box appears and gives you an updated status of
the upgrade process.

 After some time, your computer restarts and the newly installed Windows 7
loads. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete your Windows 7 installation

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Installation of Windows 7 Drivers

Windows 7 Drivers

Updating drivers in Windows 7 is necessary when a hardware device doesn’t install

automatically, when the hardware is having some kind of problem, or as part of some
other hardware related troubleshooting.

Download Driver

Download the latest drivers from the hardware manufacturer’s website. As part of this
driver update process, you can choose to update drivers from a hardware installation
disc or from Windows Update but updating drivers manually is usually more effective.

Device Manager

Open the Device Manager by clicking the Start button, and selecting “Control Panel
→ System and Security → Device Manager”. If you are prompted for an
administrator password or confirmation, do the needful.

Installation of Drivers

Now, locate the hardware device that you want to update the drivers for. Navigate
through the categories of hardware devices by clicking the triangle icon. After finding
the hardware you are updating drivers for, right click on the hardware’s name or icon
and choose "Update Driver Software". In this window, click "Browse my computer
for driver software" and follow the instructions.

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74
Optimizing Windows 7

Optimize Windows 7

No matter how fast or shiny computers might be when they are new, they all seem to
get slower over time. Whatever the cause, there are lots of ways to help speed up
Windows and make your PC work better.

Tips

Windows 7 offers a significant performance improvement over its predecessor,

Windows Vista. But if you want to get the very best performance possible, you should
make a few system tweaks to eliminate resource-hogging programs and features.
Here are some tips to help you optimize Windows 7 for faster performance.

Maximize PC’s Performance

To maximize your PCs performance, first hunt down and install Windows 7 drivers for
all of the critical components attached to your system.

ReadyBoost

Readyboost is the simplest way to speed up your PC. Readyboost is a disk cache
component of Microsoft Windows, first introduced with Microsoft Windows Vista in
2006 and bundled with Windows 7 in 2009.

Working of ReadyBoost

Readyboost works by using flash memory, a USB flash drive, SD card, Compact Flash
or any kind of portable flash mass storage system as a cache. It is designed to help
when your PCs memory is running low. Basically, it is almost like adding more RAM
on-the-go without having to crack open your PC case and install it.

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How to Use ReadyBoost

To use Readyboost, just plug in USB flash drive or flash memory card into your
computer. The computer will detect the device and AutoPlay will pop-up. Click on
Speed up my system to enhance the performance of your system

Tweak7

Microsoft has increased both the power and complexity of its popular Windows
operating system with the release of Windows 7. The Tweak7 tweaking utility helps
you configure Windows 7 to meet your personal needs by improving performance and
customizing system settings. Unlike other power tools for Windows, Tweak7
automatically prompts enhancement recommendations, offering easy “one click”
updates to otherwise complex configuration changes.

Enhance Windows

A few other ways to enhance the performance of Widows 7 are

 Delete programs that you never use

 Limit how many programs run at start up
 Defragment your hard disk regularly
 Clean up your hard disk
 Run fewer programs at the same time
 Turn off visual effects
 Check for viruses and spyware
 Check your computer’s speed

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77
Working with Windows

Parts of a Window

Window

Whenever you open a program, file, or folder, it appears on your screen in a box or
frame called a Window. A window is a rectangular section on the screen that is used
to display information and other programs. Each program that you open is opened in
its own window. It is very important to learn the parts of a window. It makes working
with Windows much easier, more pleasant and less frustrating

Active Window

This window is special in comparison to all the other windows because it allows you to
work on it. It is the topmost window displayed on the screen and it accepts input from
the mouse and the keyboard. If more than one window is open, the title bar for the
active window (the window which you are currently working) has a color or intensity
different from the other title bars. The difference in the title bar colors allows you to
distinguish the active window from all the other windows.

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Parts of Window

Although the contents of every window are different, all windows share some things in
common. For one thing, windows always appear on the desktop which is the main
work area of your screen. In addition, most windows have the same basic parts:

 Menu Bar: The menu bar contains the available menus from which you can
choose commands. Clicking on any of the choices on the menu bar will bring up
a corresponding pull-down menu.
 Title Bar: The title bar is at the very top of every window. This part of the
window shows the name of the application, document, group, directory, or file.
 Maximize/Minimize/Close Buttons: The farthest right Close button on the
Title Bar, the red one with the X on it, closes the window or program when you
click on it. The Minimize button at the left which looks like a small underline
character minimizes the window. That means when you click it, the window
disappears off your desktop and remains as a single button down at the bottom
of your screen on the taskbar. When you click this button on the taskbar, the
window comes back up again. The middle button is called the Maximize
button. When a window is maximized, it takes up your entire monitor screen.
 Restore Button: This button replaces the maximize button after you enlarge a
window. The restore button returns the window to its previous size
 Scroll Bars: The scroll bars allow you to move through a document or a list
when the entire document or list does not fit in the window or the allotted
space. They may appear at the right of the screen i.e. vertical scrollbars or at
the bottom i.e. horizontal scroll bars. To move up or down a document, click on
the up or down scroll arrows. Similarly, use the right and left scroll arrows to
move horizontally. Between the arrows, there is a bar with a sliding object called
a thumb. You may click on it and drag to move through the document.
 Windows Border: The window border is the outside edge of a window. You can
change the size of a window by lengthening and shortening the borders

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Work Space

The work space is the area below the menu bar.

Tool Bar

It contains various icons and buttons that will differ from one program to the other. A
toolbar gives you quick access to commonly used functions, without having to search
through the menus to find the functions

Resizing and Moving Windows

Moving Resizing Windows

To make the desktop more convenient to use, you can move and resize windows. With
the help of the buttons in the Title Bar you can minimize a window, maximize a
window to its largest size, restore a window to the original size or close a window.

Maximizing Restore Button

To make a window fill the entire screen, click its “Maximize” button or double-click
the windows title bar. To return a maximized window to its former size, click its
“Restore” button which appears in place of the Maximize button. Or, you can double-
click the windows title bar.

Resizing a Windows

For resizing a window, point to any of the windows borders or corners. When the
mouse pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, drag the border or corner to shrink or
enlarge the window. Dragging a corner changes the height and width simultaneously.
A window that is maximized cannot be resized. You must restore it to its previous size
first.

Moving a Windows

For moving a window, point to its title bar with the mouse pointer. Then drag the
window to the location that you want. Dragging means pointing the mouse to an item,

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holding down the mouse button, moving the item with the pointer, and then releasing
the mouse button.

Aero

AERO stands for "Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open". The Aero desktop
experience mixes cool graphics with useful new ways to manage your desktop. Aero
visual hallmarks include subtle animations and translucent glass windows, which you
can personalize. There’s more to Aero than style.

Aero Snap

Aero Snap is a quick new way to resize open windows, simply by dragging them to the
edges of your screen. Depending on where you drag a window, you can make it
expand vertically, take up the entire screen, or appear side-by-side with another
window. Snap makes reading, organizing, and comparing windows easy.

To Arrange Windows Side by Side

To arrange windows side by side using snap, drag the title bar of a window to the left
or right side of the screen until an outline of the expanded window appears. Now,
releases the mouse to expand the window.To snap an active window to the side of the
desktop using the keyboard, press Windows logo key +Left Arrow or Windows logo
key +Right Arrow.

To Maximize a Windows Using Snap

To maximize a window using snap, drag the title bar of the window to the top of the
screen. You can see that the windows outline expands to fill the screen. Now, release
the window to expand it to fill the entire desktop.

To Expand a Windows vertically using Snap

To expand a window vertically using snap, point to the top or bottom edge of an open
window until the pointer changes into a double-headed arrow. Now, drag the edge of

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the window to the top or bottom of the screen to expand the window to the entire
height of the desktop. You can see that the width of the window doesn’t change.

Aero Shake

Aero Shake allows users to clear up any clutter on their screen by shaking or dragging
back and forth a window of their choice with the mouse. All other windows will be
minimized, while the window the user shook stays active on the screen. When the
window is shaken again, all minimized windows are restored. Press Windows logo
key +Home to minimize all windows except for the currently active window. Press
Windows logo key +Home again to restore all windows.

Aero Peek

Aero Peek is a newly introduced feature in Windows 7. As the name indicates, you can
peek into the desktop if you have lots of Windows open. With this feature, you can
quickly have a look at the desktop without having to minimize any of the windows you
were working with. It gives you the power of X-ray vision, so you can peer past all
your open windows straight to the Windows 7 desktop.

How to Peek at the Desktop

You can temporarily view or peek at the desktop by just pointing to the Show Desktop
button at the right end of the taskbar. Any open windows fade from view, revealing the
desktop. To make the windows reappear, move the mouse away from the Show
desktop button. Aero Peek can be activated using the keyboard shortcut Windows
Key + spacebar.

Peek at an Open File on Desktop

You can also use Peek to take a quick look at other open windows without clicking
away from the window you’re currently working on. First point the mouse pointer on a
program button of an already open file on the taskbar. Thumbnail previews of the
open files associated with that program appear above the taskbar. You can point to a
thumbnail to preview that window’s contents, and all the other open windows on the

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desktop fade away to reveal just the window you’re previewing. To open the window
you’re previewing, click the thumbnail.

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Windows Controls

Most windows have “controls” that allow you to select commands, change settings, or
perform other actions related to the working of the window. Let us have a look at some
of them.

Menus

To keep the screen free of unnecessary items, Menus are hidden until you click their
titles in the “Menu bar”. To choose a command listed in a menu, click on it. If a
command is shown in gray, it is unavailable and cannot be clicked. Some Menu
controls are shown by an arrow next to a word or picture.

Command Button

A Command button performs an action when you click it. Command buttons may also
appear as small icons without any text.

Split Buttons

Split buttons change into two parts when you point to them. Clicking the main part of
the button performs a command, whereas clicking the arrow opens a menu with more
options.

Option Buttons

Option buttons enable you to make one choice among multiple options. They are also
called “Radio buttons”.

Check Boxes

Check boxes enable you to select one or more independent options. Unlike option
buttons, which allow you to choose a single option only, you can choose multiple
options at the same time using check boxes.

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Slider

A Slider enables you to adjust a setting along a range of values by dragging it toward
the value that you want

Text Box

A Text box is used to type textual information. This is the most commonly used
windows control.

Drop-down Lists

Drop-down lists are similar to menus. Here, options are available for selection instead
of commands to be executed. A drop-down list shows only the currently selected
option when it is closed. The other options are displayed when you click the control.

List Box

A List box displays a list of options that you can select from. Unlike a drop-down list,
some or all of the options are displayed without having to open the list.

Tabs

In some windows, information is displayed on multiple Tabs. The currently selected

tab appears at the front. You can switch to a different tab by clicking on it.

Scrollbar

A Scrollbar is a control that allows the user to navigate a document in two directions
by clicking the button that displays an arrow.

Dialog Box

A Dialog box is a special type of window that asks you a question, allows you to select
options to perform a task, or provides you with information. Data may be entered
using push buttons, option buttons, check boxes, text boxes, list boxes, combo boxes
and other such controls.

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86
Working with Multiple Windows

Arranging Windows Automatically

You can automatically arrange the windows on your desktop. To choose an

arrangement, right-click on an empty area of the taskbar, then choose one of the
options “Cascade windows”, “Show windows stacked”, or “Show windows side by
side”.

Switching between Windows using ALT + TAB

You can cycle through all the opened windows and the desktop by holding down the
“Alt” key and repeatedly pressing the “Tab” key. Release the “Alt” key to show the
selected window.

Windows Flip 3D

Windows Flip 3D arranges your windows in a three-dimensional stack that you can
quickly flip through. To use Flip 3D

 Hold down the Windows logo key and press TAB to open Flip 3D
 While holding down the Windows logo key, press TAB repeatedly or rotate the
mouse wheel to cycle through open windows.
 Release the Windows logo key to display the front most windows in the stack.
Or, click any part of any window in the stack to display that window.

Switching Between Windows using Flip 3D

Alternatively, Flip 3D can be invoked using a combination of the Windows + Ctrl +

Tab keys. In that case, you may also use the arrow keys to cycle between windows.

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Copying Between Applications

Copying Picture

It is possible to copy text, pictures and other objects from one document to another.
Let us copy a picture from Paint into a WordPad document. In the Paint document,
select the portion of the drawing area you wish to copy using the “Image group -
Select” icon. Then copy it using the “Clipboard group - Copy” icon. The contents of
the selected area are copied to the Clipboard.

Inserting Picture

Open any WordPad document. Position the cursor where you want to insert the
picture. Now on the “Home” tab in the “Clipboard” group, click on the “Paste”. The
picture is inserted into the document. The original Paint document containing the
picture remains unchanged. You may verify this by clicking on its taskbar button.

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Windows Explorer

Files, Folders and Libraries

Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is a file manager application which provides a graphical user

interface for accessing the file systems. It is sometimes referred to as the Windows
Shell, Explorer.exe, or simply Explorer. Windows Explorer is one of the default icons
in the Windows 7 taskbar. Click the taskbar icon to open the Windows Explorer. You
can also launch the Explorer by opening the Start menu and selecting All
Programs→ Accessories→ Windows Explorer.

File

In a computer, a File is an item that contains a collection of related information. Each

document, whether it is a plain text file, a letter in Word or music is called a File. A
computer represents files with icons. By looking at a file icon, you can tell what kind
of file it is. Some common file icons are displayed here. The name of a file consists of
two parts, the File Name and the Extension. Different types of files are stored with
different extensions. For example, a document created using Microsoft Word 2007 is
stored with the extension “.docx”, while a document created using Notepad is stored
with the extension “.txt”.

Folder

A Folder is a container in which you can store files. Arranging files into logical groups
makes it easy to locate any particular file. It is a named area on a disk that is used to
store related subfolders and files. A folder within a folder is known as a Subfolder.

Libraries

The new “Libraries” feature in Windows 7 makes it easier to manage your files and
folders. Libraries are user-defined collections of folders, and actions that are
performed on the library will be applied to all folders in the library. Libraries let you

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access and arrange items from one or more folders quickly without moving them from
their original location. Libraries themselves do not store your files or folders. Instead,
they point to different folders on your hard disk, or on an external drive attached to
your computer. This gives you easy access to a category of files no matter where they
are stored. For instance, if you have music files in folders on your hard disk and on
an external drive, you can access all of your music files at once using the Music
library.

Default Libraries

By default, a new user account in Windows 7 contains four libraries, for different file
types

 Documents library: Use this library to organize and arrange word-processing

documents, spread sheets, presentations, and other text-related files .

 Music library: Use this library to organize and arrange your digital music, such
as songs that you copy or rip from an audio CD or that you download from the
Internet.

 Pictures library: Use this library to organize and arrange your digital pictures,
whether you get them from your camera, scanner, or in e mail from other
people.

 Videos library: Use this library to organize and arrange your videos, such as
clips from your digital camera or camcorder, or video files that you download
from the Internet.

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Explorer Views

Explorer Views

Since you use Windows Explorer very often, wouldn’t it be nice to personalize it in
your own way, making it a little easier to work with? Well, your wish is granted, as
there are lots of ways to make Windows Explorer look and feel your way.

Navigation Pane

The Windows Explorer features a Navigation pane on the left, with five major sections:
Favorites, Libraries, Home group, Computer, Network. The Favorites section lets
you go directly to your favorite folders while the Computer section lets you drill down
through all the drives and folders and subfolders on your computer system.

Folder System in Navigation Pane

In the navigation pane, folders created in the main folder appear indented below the
main folder. Subfolders appear indented below their parent folders. So a “Folder
System” is made up of folders and subfolders. A Folder System is also called a
“Directory System”. When you move the mouse pointer into the area of the
navigation pane, you see a small triangle next to each folder which has subfolders.
Click the triangle to expand the folder. Click the resulting triangle to collapse the
expanded list.

Details Pane

The Details pane to the right of the navigation pane displays details about a file such
as the file size, the file type and the date on which it was created.

Back Forward Buttons

At the very top of the Explorer window are back and Forward buttons. Use the Back
button and the Forward button to navigate to other folders or libraries you’ve already
opened without closing the current window.

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Toolbar

Above the navigation and details panes is a context-sensitive Toolbar. The contents of
the toolbar change depending on what you have selected in the navigation pane. The
one constant in the toolbar is the Organize button. Click this button to display the
Organize menu. This menu features all types of file-related operations, such as Cut,
Copy, Paste, Delete, and so on.

Address Box

The bigger box next to the forward button is the Address box also called as
Breadcrumbs bar. This box displays the folder path which can be used to navigate to
a different folder or library. It can also be used to go backward through the path by
clicking any folder in the path. You can also click the right arrow next to a folder and
you see all the subfolders branching out from that folder in the form of a dropdown
list.

Search Box

The second box at the top of the Explorer window is the Search box. You can use this
box to search for files and folders on your system; just enter the file or folder name or
part thereof. As you type your criteria, Explorer will return a list of items that matches
your search.

Column Headings

Use the Column headings to change how the files in the file list are organized. For
example, you can click a column heading to change the order the files and folders are
displayed in. To filter the files in different ways, place your mouse pointer on a column
heading and click on the down arrow that appears on the right. For example if you
wish to see all files that have been modified today in a specific folder, click the down
arrow in the “Date modified” column. Then click in the box in front of “Today”.

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Change your View

At the right of the toolbar you can see the “Change your view” button. Click the
small “More options” arrow to the right of this button. Here, you may select the way
you would like to see your files displayed.

Preview Pane

Explorer has a Preview pane which is off by default. Click on a document name and
then click the “Show the preview pane” button at the right of the toolbar. The
preview pane appears on the right and you can see an overview of the contents of the
document. Click the same button once again to turn off the preview pane.

Enabling Preview Pane

There are some alternative ways to enable the preview pane. Click the Organize menu
and select “Layout→ Preview pane”, or use the keyboard shortcut Alt + P

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Creating Folders and Libraries

Creating Folders

Folders are a convenient way to store and organize files on your computer. For
example, you will probably want to create folders within the Documents and Pictures
folders to help you manage your files. You can create any number of folders and even
store folders inside other folders. Go to the location where you want to create a new
folder. Let’s create a folder on the desktop. Right-click a blank area on the desktop,
and then point to “New”, and click “Folder”. Type a name for the new folder, and then
press ENTER. The new folder you created appears on the desktop. You may also use
the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Shift + N” to create the folder.

Alternate Ways for Creating Folders

A new folder can be created within an existing folder in a similar way. You can also
use the “New folder” button on the Windows Explorer toolbar to create a new folder.
The following characters cannot be used in a folder or file name: \ /: *? >< |.

Creating Library

To create a new library

 Click the “Start” button and then click your user name. This opens your
personal folder. In the left pane, click “Libraries”. All your existing libraries are
displayed.

 On the toolbar, click “New library”.

 Type a name for the library, and then press Enter

 You could also access the “New library” button by clicking “Libraries” in the
navigation pane of an open explorer window

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Working With Files and Folders

Working with Files folders

You can copy or move a file from one folder to another. In a similar way, you can also
copy or move a complete folder. Moving a file or folder on the same disk relocates it
whereas dragging it from one disk to another copies it so that it appears in both
locations. Let’s learn now how all this can be done.

Selecting Multiple Files

Multiple files and folders can be moved at one time. You can select multiple files by
keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed and then clicking on the file names. To quickly select
adjacent files, click the first one and keeping the “Shift” key pressed, click the last
one. To select all the files and folders in a window, click “Select All” on the
“Organize” menu or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + A”.

Copying Files or Folders

To Copy a File or Folder

 Open the drive or folder containing the file or folder you want to copy.
 Select the files or folders you want to copy.
 Click the “Organize” button on the toolbar, and then click “Copy”.
 Open the destination folder where you want to copy the files or folder
 Click the “Organize” button on the toolbar, and then click “Paste”.

Moving File or Folder

To Move a File or Folder

 Open the drive or folder containing the file or folder you want to move.
 Select the files or folders you want to move.
 Click the “Organize” button on the toolbar, and then click “Cut”.
 Open the destination folder where you want to move the files or folder.
 Click the “Organize” button on the toolbar, and then click “Paste”.

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Copy/Move a File/Folder using Drag and Drop

To Copy or Move a File or Folder Using Drag and Drop

 Open the drive or folder containing the file or folder you want to copy or move.
 Select the files or folders you want to copy or move.
 In the Navigation pane, point to a folder list to display the Expand and Collapse
arrows.
 Click the arrows to display the destination folder
 Pressing the left key drag the selected files or folders it to the destination folder.
The files or folders are moved if they are dragged in the same drive but they are
copied if they are dragged to any other drive.
 Pressing the right key drag the selected files or folders to the destination folder.
A pop-up message appears informing you what will happen. Click “Copy Here”
or “Move Here” from the displayed options.

Drag Drop File/Folder/Library

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Sending Files and Folders

To send a file or folder to a new location on your computer use the “Send To”
command, located on the shortcut menu. For example, you can send a file or folder to
a removable disk to make a quick backup copy of the file or folder, to a mail recipient
as an electronic message, or to the desktop to create a shortcut.

Renaming Files and Folders

To rename a folder, click on the folder name and select “Organize → Rename” from
the menu bar. Alternatively, you may also select the folder, right-click it and select
“Rename”. Files can be renamed in a similar way.

Windows 7 Properties

Windows 7 maintains certain properties associated with every file and directories in
addition to the file contents. Such properties include file size in bytes, file date/time,
file attributes, read-only bit, directory bit, hidden bit, system bit, etc. These properties
are mostly maintained by various components of the operating system and they are
handled automatically. So, the users may not be concerned with them. However,
manipulating some of the properties is not very difficult and it can even be quite
useful at times.

Hidden Files

Although you usually can not see a hidden file in normal explorer view, its an
ordinary file in all other respects. You can choose whether a file is hidden or visible by
changing its properties. Right click on a file icon and then click Properties. Next to
Attributes, select the Hidden check box, and then click OK. If a file is hidden and you
want to display it, open Windows Explorer and in the “Tools” menu, click on “Folder
options”. Click “View” tab in the “Folder option” window and enable “Show hidden
files, folders and drives” to see hidden files.

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Read Only

To protect your important files and folders, you can change the attribute to read-only
which can help them protect from unintentional or unauthorized changes. When a file
is set to read-only, it cannot be changed.

 Right-click the file that you want to set to read-only, and then click Properties.
 Click the General tab, select the Read-only check box, and then click OK. If you
need to make changes to the file later, you can turn off the read-only setting by
clearing the Read-only check box. Read-only files can’t be modified, but they
can be copied, moved, renamed, or deleted.

Setting a Folder into Read Only

You can also apply read-only attribute to a folder in the same way. However, it does
not affect the folder itself. Setting a folder to read-only makes all the files currently in
the folder read-only. Any files that you add to the folder after you set it to read-only
won’t automatically be read-only files.

Customizing Desktop Icons

You can also customize the Desktop icons easily and change their appearance
individually for regular folder icons.

 To change the folder icon, Right-click the folder icon you want to change and
choose Properties.
 The Folder Properties window will now open.
 Choose the Customize tab and click on "Change Icon" to open the window for
changing the folder icon. In the change Icon window, you can select an Icon
from the List shown containing default Windows icons. You can also browse to a
folder containing any .ico files.
 Once you have selected desired icon, click OK and apply the setting in the folder
properties window. You will see the customized icon for the selected folder.

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Deleting Files and Folders

When you no longer need a folder you can delete it. If you delete a folder containing
subfolders and files, all the subfolders and files contained within the folder are
removed.

 Select the folder that you wish to delete.

 Press the “Delete” key or select “Organize→ Delete” from the toolbar. Confirm
deletion by clicking “Yes” in the “Folder Delete” window.
 When you delete an item, its temporarily stored in the Recycle Bin.
 To delete permanently without storing in the Recycle Bin, use the “Shift +
Delete” keys.

Keyboard Shortcuts

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Working with Libraries

Include Folder from computer into Library

To include a folder from your computer in a library

 In the taskbar, click the “Windows Explorer” button. In the navigation pane at
the left, navigate to the folder that you want to include and click it.
 In the toolbar at the top, click “Include in library”, and then select a library from
the dropdown list, for example, Documents.
 To create a new library with the same name as the selected folder, click the
“Create new library” option from the list.

Alternatively, you can also right click on a folder, point to “Include in library” and
select the library name. Please note that an included folder can be accessed as part of
the library but it is still stored in its original location.

Remove a Folder from Library

To remove a folder from a library

 Open a Windows Explorer window.

 In the navigation pane), click the library that you want to remove folders from.
 In the library pane (above the file list), next to “Includes”, click “Locations”.
 In the dialog box that appears, click the folder you want to remove, click
“Remove”, and then click “OK”.

Alternatively, you can also right click on a folder and select “remove location from
library”. Please note that though the folder is no longer a part of the library, it is not
deleted from its original location.

Change a Libraries Default Save Location

You may specify one of the folders included in a library as the default folder to save
everything new that is copied, moved or saved into that library. By default, everything

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in a library is saved into a user’s personal folder such as My Documents, My Music
etc. To change a library’s default save location

 Open the library you’d like to change.

 In the library pane, click “Locations”.
 In the “Library Locations” dialog box, right-click a library location that’s not
currently the default save location. Click “Set as default save location”, and then
click “OK”.

Alternatively, in the navigation pane, right click on the library that you want to set the
default save included folder for, and click on “Properties”. Click the included folder
that you want to set as the default save folder. Now click on the “Set save location”
button and then click “OK”

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Creating and Deleting Shortcuts

Shortcuts

A shortcut is a link to an item such as a file, folder, or program on your computer.

While exploring the desktop, you learnt that you can create shortcuts and then place
them in a convenient location, so that you can easily access the item that the shortcut
links to. Shortcuts can be distinguished from the original file by the arrow that
appears on the icon. Let’s learn to create a shortcut to a file.

Creating Shortcuts

To create a shortcut

 Open the location containing the item that you want to create a shortcut to.
 Right-click the item, and then click “Create shortcut”. The new shortcut
appears in the same location as the original item.

This shortcut can then be moved to another location from which you can easily access
this file. Shortcuts to folders can be created in a similar way.

Deleting Shortcuts

To delete a shortcut

 Right-click the shortcut that you want to delete, click “Delete”, and then click
“Yes”

If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password

or provide confirmation. When you delete a shortcut, only the shortcut is removed.
The original item is not deleted.

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CUSTOMIZATION

Control Panel

Control Panel

The Control Panel is a part of the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface which
allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls via applets,
such as adding hardware, adding and removing software, controlling user accounts,
and changing accessibility options. In short, it is the central location for all your
operating system configuration needs.

Opening Control Panel

Open Control Panel by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel.
There are two ways to find Control Panel items:

 Use search: To find a setting youre interested in or a task you want to perform,
type a word or phrase in the search box. For example, type "sound" to find
specific settings for your sound card, system sounds, and the volume icon on
the taskbar.
 Browse: You can also explore Control Panel by clicking different categories. For
example:-System, Programs and Features, or Ease of Access Center.

Category View

To display the Control Panel with the Category View, click on the “View by” drop down
menu arrow on the right, and select “Category”. Select “Large icons” to view control
panel items with large icons view or “Small icons” for small items view. The names of
the options may vary slightly in the different views.

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Date & Time Setting

System Date Time

The System Date and System Time are the date and time as maintained by the
computers internal clock. Windows uses these settings to identify when files are
created or modified. In order to change the date and time in Windows 7, click on the
clock from the taskbar and then on “Change date and time settings”. Alternatively,
click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel → Date and Time”.

Date Time Settings

A new window will open with three tabs: Date and Time, Additional Clocks and
Internet Time. Click the “Change Date and Time” button on the “Date and Time”
tab to change the date and time settings. In the displayed window, set the appropriate
date from the “Calendar”. To set the time, enter the correct time into the box under
“Time”. To change only the hour, double-click the hour, and then click the arrows to
increase or decrease the value. Similarly you may change the value of the minutes,
seconds and the AM/PM indicator.

Calendar Settings

1. Click Change Calendar Settings.

2. In the “Customize Format” window, you may change the date format on the
“Date” tab.
3. Use the “Time” tab to change the time format.
4. Click “OK” when done. You may use the “Region and Language” window to
specify other settings.
5. Click “OK” in this window and then “OK” once again in the “Date and Time
Settings” window.

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Internet Time Setting

 You may also synchronize your computer clock by an Internet time server.
 For this, make sure you are connected to the Internet.
 On the “Internet Time” tab in the “Date and Time” window, click “Change
Settings”.
 If the box against “Synchronize with an Internet time server” is empty, click
on it.
 Select the appropriate server and then click “Update Now”. Then click “OK”.

Changing the Time Zone

 Time zones are areas of the Earth that have adopted the same standard time,
usually referred to as the local time.
 To change your time zone, activate the “Date and Time” tab and click “Change
time zone”.
 Select your current time zone from the list and click “OK”.
 Now you may close the “Date and Time” window.

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Gadgets

Windows contains mini-programs called Gadgets, which offer information at a glance

and provide easy access to frequently used tools. For example, you can display news
headlines right next to your open programs .This way, if you want to keep track of
what’s happening in the news while you work, you don’t have to stop what you’re
doing to switch to a news website

Available Gadgets

In order to see the gadgets available, right-click on the desktop and click “Gadgets”.
To see information about a gadget in the displayed gallery, click the gadget, and then
click “Show details”. You can add any gadget that’s installed on your computer to the
desktop. Some of the gadgets that come with Windows 7 are Clock, Weather,
Calendar, Feed Headlines, Slide Show, and Picture Puzzle. You can download
additional gadgets online from the Windows website by clicking on “Get more
gadgets online”.

Adding Gadgets

 Double-click a gadget to add it or simply drag it from the Gadget Gallery to the
desktop.
 To remove a gadget, right-click the gadget, and then click “Close Gadget”.

Alternatively, move your mouse over it and click on the “X” sign next to it.

View / Hide Gadgets

To hide gadgets on the desktop, right-click on the desktop, point to “View”, and then
click “Show desktop gadgets” to clear the check mark. To re-display the gadgets,
right-click on the desktop, point to “View”, and then click “Show desktop gadgets”
once again.

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Action Center

Windows 7 Action Center is a central place to view alerts and take actions that can
help keep Windows running smoothly. It lists important messages about security and
maintenance settings that need your attention. This is useful because problems can
be addressed instantly. Click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel → Action
Center”.

Action Center Options

“Red items” in Action Center are labeled Important, and indicate significant issues
that should be addressed soon, such as an outdated antivirus program that needs
updating. “Yellow items” are suggested tasks that you should consider addressing,
like recommended maintenance tasks. To troubleshoot on various tasks, click
“Troubleshooting”. In the displayed window, you can see various categories under
which you might possibly have problems. Click the related links for suggested
solutions.

New Messages

You can quickly see whether there are any new messages in Action Center by placing
your mouse over the Action Center icon in the notification area, at the far right of the
taskbar. Click the icon to view more details, and click a message to address the issue.

Turning Off Notification Messages

Some users may find the notification messages annoying and choose to turn them off.
The Action Center settings provide options to customize the notifications. Click
“Change Action Center settings” in the left pane of the Action Center window. In the
displayed window, you may check or uncheck the various items. The issues that you
have left unchecked will not be treated as a problem when the Action Center displays
notifications.

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Pinning Items to the Task Bar and Start Menu

Pinning

Pinning is a great way to add shortcuts to your most-often used programs in Windows
7. Pinned items will always be displayed in the specified list until they are unpinned.
You can pin items to the Taskbar or to the Start menu. This saves a lot of clicks and
makes you more efficient.

Pin Unpin Items

 Let’s pin the Paint application to the taskbar.

 Click the Start button and navigate to this application. Now, right-click on the
Paint icon and then click "Pin to Taskbar".
 The program will be pinned to the Taskbar.
 You can also pin the program to the Taskbar by dragging it.
 For doing this, click on the icon, and while holding the mouse button down,
drag it to the Taskbar. You will see a semi-transparent version of the icon, with
the phrase "Pin to Taskbar".
 Simply release the mouse button, and the program will be pinned to the
Taskbar.
 To unpin an item from the taskbar, right-click it and select “Unpin this
program from taskbar”.

Pin to Start Menu

 If you use a program regularly, you can create a shortcut to it by pinning the
program icon to the Start menu.
 Pinned program icons appear on the top left side of the Start menu.
 Right-click the program icon you want to pin to the Start menu, and then click
“Pin to Start Menu”.
 Similarly, to remove a program, right-click the program icon, and then click
“Remove from this list”.

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  Removing a program icon from the Start menu doesn’t remove it from the All
Programs list or uninstall the program.

Jump List

 Jump Lists on the taskbar give you quick access to the things that you use
most often.
 To view the Jump List for a program right-click the programs button on the
taskbar.
 To open an item from a Jump List click the item.
 To pin an item to a Jump List, open the programs Jump List, point to the item,
right click on the item, and then select “Pin to this list” or click the “Pushpin”
icon.
 To unpin an item from the list, right-click on it and select “Unpin from this
list” or click the “Pushpin” icon once again.

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Taskbar Settings

Taskbar

The Windows 7 taskbar is one of the most important parts of the Windows 7 user
experience and customizing it to your specific needs will go a long way in making
Windows 7 easier to use. There are several ways to customize Windows 7 taskbar and
personalize it to your liking.

Taskbar Properties

Most of the configuration options are located in the taskbar properties window. To
open this, right click on a blank space of the taskbar and select “Properties”. The first
set of options from the “Taskbar” tab helps you to customize the way the taskbar
looks and how it is positioned. You can make the following configurations:

 Lock and unlock the taskbar- Locking the taskbar will make the taskbar stay
fixed in its place. It won’t allow you to move it or change its size. To unlock it,
uncheck this option. An alternative is to right click on a blank space in the
taskbar and uncheck the Lock the taskbar option.
 Auto-hide the taskbar - This option lets you hide the taskbar when you are not
using it. When checked, the taskbar will only show up when you take your
cursor to the taskbar zone.
 Use small icons – This option when checked will make the taskbar icons look
smaller which helps you save some space.
 Taskbar location on screen - With this option you can move the taskbar to
different positions on your desktop. Click on the drop-down menu and select
the position you desire.
 Taskbar buttons - This helps you select how to see the buttons of applications
opened on the taskbar. You may select one out of the three options: Always
combine, Combine when taskbar is full or never combine.

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Adding Toolbar to Taskbar

To add a toolbar to the taskbar, right-click on an empty area of the taskbar, point to
Toolbars and select a toolbar from the list or choose New Toolbar to add a custom
toolbar.

Customizing Taskbar

 Finally, you can customize Windows 7 taskbar by changing its color or

transparency.
 Right-click on a blank area of your Windows 7 desktop and select
“Personalize”.
 Click “Window Color”.
 Click a color under “Change the color of your window borders, Start menu
and taskbar” to customize the taskbar color.
 Clear the “Enable transparency” check box if you do not want to view your
desktop background through the taskbar.
 Use the “Color intensity” slider to make the taskbar color more or less intense.
 When you are done, click “Save changes” and close the “Personalization”
window

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Granting Access

User Account

A user account is a collection of information that tells windows which files and folders
you can access, what changes you can make to the computer, and your personal
preferences, such as your desktop background or screen saver. User accounts let you
share a computer with several people, while having your own files and settings. Each
person accesses his or her user account with a user name and password.
There are three types of user accounts. Each type gives users a different level of
control over the computer:

 Standard accounts are for everyday computing

 Administrator accounts provide the most control over a computer, and should
only be used when necessary
 Guest accounts are intended primarily for people who need temporary use of a
computer.

User Account Control

User Account Control or UAC is a feature in Windows that can help you stay in
control of your computer by informing you when a program makes a change that
requires administrator-level permission. It works by adjusting the permission level of
your user account. User Account Control helps defend your PC against hackers and
malicious software. Any time a program wants to make a major change to your
computer, UAC lets you know and asks for permission

Opening UAC

 Open User Account Control Settings by clicking the Start button, and then
clicking Control Panel.
 In the search box, type UAC, and then click Change User Account Control
settings.
 Move the slider to the setting you require and click “OK”.

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Parental Controls

Parental controls help you manage how you want others to use the computer. For
example, you can set limits on the hours that your children can use the computer, the
types of games they can play, and the programs they can run. To set up Parental
Controls for your child, you’ll need your own administrator user account. Before you
get started, make sure each child that you want to set up Parental Controls for has a
standard user account. Parental Controls can be applied only to standard user
accounts.

Turn ON Parental Control

To turn on Parental Controls for a standard user account

 Open Parental Controls by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, and
then Parental Controls
 Click the standard user account that you want to set Parental Controls for. If
the standard user account is not set up yet, click Create a new user account to
set up a new account.

Parental Control Settings

1) The “User Controls” window is displayed when you click a standard user
account. Under Parental Controls, click On, enforce current settings.
2) Once you have turned on Parental Controls for your childs standard user
account, you can adjust the following individual settings that you want to
control
 Time limits. You can set time limits to control when children are allowed to
log on to the computer
 Games. You can control access to games, choose an age-rating level, choose
the types of content you want to block, and decide whether you want to allow
or block unrated or specific games.
 Allow or block specific programs. You can prevent children from running
programs that you don’t want them to run.

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Windows Utilities

Types of Utility

Utility Software

Utility software is a kind of system software designed to help, analyze, configure,

optimize and maintain the computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called
a utility or tool. Utilities are specifically designed to help the end-user manage and
tune the computer hardware or software, operating system or application software
and perform a single precise task.

Various Utility Programs

There are various utility programs such as:

 “Troubleshooting” or “Diagnostic programs” that recognize and correct

problems before they become serious.
 “Antivirus programs” that guard against computer viruses, worms, and Trojan
horses that can damage your computer system.
 “Uninstall programs” that allow you to safely remove programs that you do not
need from your hard disk.
 “Backup programs” that make copies of files to be used in the event of the
originals being lost.
 “File compression programs” that reduce the size of files for easy storage and
transfer over the Internet

Utility Suite

A Utility Program performs a specific task. When several utility programs are
combined into a single package, it is known as a Utility Suite. Buying the package is
less expensive than buying the programs separately.

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Utility Software

Some of the utility software supported by Windows 7 is given below:

 Presto! PVR 5.70: This utility software enables users to watch, pause, and
record TV programs right from their computer screens.
 Norton Online Backup: This utility software enables you to quickly recover
your data in case of hard drive crash, file system damage, or natural disasters.
It also stores your files online; so, you can retrieve them anytime, anywhere
using any PC with web access.
 Smart Defrag: Smart Defrag helps to defragment your hard drive most
resourcefully. It also optimizes disk performance.

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Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows

designed to free up disk space on a computers hard drive and improve system
performance. When you surf the Web, many nonessential files are saved on your hard
disk. The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer
of any use, and then removes the unnecessary files. There are a number of different
file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when performing the initial disk analysis.
They are:

 Compression of old files

 Temporary Internet files
 Temporary Windows files
 Downloaded Program files
 Recycle Bin
 Unused applications or optional Windows components
 Setup Log files
 Offline files

Start Disk Cleanup

 To start Disk Cleanup, click “Start” and select “All Programs → Accessories
→ System Tools → Disk Cleanup”.
 In the “Drives” list, click the hard disk drive that you want to clean up, and
then click “OK”.

Deleting Files

The space that will be made free by the cleanup is calculated and the files suggested
for cleanup are displayed. Verify the files, check or uncheck the boxes as required and
click “OK”. In the displayed window, click “Delete Files”.

Disk Cleanup Process

The Disk Cleanup process begins and the selected files are removed.

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Back Up

Backup utilities can make a copy of all information stored on a disk, and restore
either the entire disk or the selected files. Windows Backup allows you to make copies
of data files and also create a system image which includes your system settings,
programs and files. In Windows 7, you can choose your custom location for the data
backup and whether or not to include the system image during backup.

Start Backup

Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” and then click “Backup and
Restore”. When you use the Backup utility for the first time, you would need to
specify backup settings by clicking “Set up backup”.

Choose Location

In the displayed window, specify the location where you want to create your backup.
Then click “Next”. In this window, you can choose what to backup. You can either
leave it to Windows choice or choose your own folders and libraries. Then click “Next”.

Change Schedule

 If you chose to select your own files, you will be presented with a window where
you can select the files for backup.
 Click “Next” after you have made your selections. In the displayed window, you
can review your backup settings.
 Click “Change schedule” to specify any change to the default schedule.
 Click “OK” after specifying your new backup schedule.
 When you are satisfied with all settings, in the review settings window, click
“Save settings and exit”.

Complete Backup

In the “Backup and Restore” window, click “Backup up now” to start the backup.
Click “View progress” to take a look at the actual progress. Once the backup process

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is over, all information about your backup is displayed. The backup will be scheduled
regularly as per your specifications. You may manually take a backup at any time by
clicking “Back up now”.

Restore

You may restore your files from the backup whenever required using the various
options under “Restore”.

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Disk Defragmenter

Disk Defragmenter is a utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to increase

access speed by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage
locations. This technique is commonly known as Defragmenting. The purpose is to
optimize the time it takes to read and write files to and from the disk.

Start Disk Defragmenter

 To start Disk Defragmenter, click “Start” and select “All Programs →

Accessories → System Tools → Disk Defragmenter”.
 Click “Configure schedule” to specify the schedule for the defragmentation
process to be run automatically.
 In the “Modify Schedule” window, click “Select disks” to specify the disks to
be defragmented and click “OK”.
 Click “OK” in the “Modify Schedule” window.

Analyze Disk

You may manually defragment any disk you wish. Before doing this, you can analyze
the disk to know the percentage of fragmentation. For this, select a disk, and click on
the “Analyze disk” button. To defragment it, click on the “Defragment disk” button.
You will now see the progress of the defragmentation. When finished, click on “Close”.

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Windows Update

Windows Update is a web-based software update service. It helps in keeping your PC

safer by fetching the latest security and feature updates from Microsoft via the
Internet. It offers a one-stop location for downloading critical system component
updates, service packs, security fixes or patches and free upgrades to selected
Windows components. Additionally, it automatically detects your hardware and
provides driver updates when available, and can offer beta versions of some Microsoft
programs.

Start Windows Update

 To start “Windows Update”, click “Start” and select “All Programs

→Windows Update“.

 In the left pane, click “Check for updates”, and then wait while Windows looks
for the latest updates for your computer.

 If you see a message telling you that important updates are available, or telling
you to review important updates, click the message to view and select the
important updates to install.

 In the list, click the important updates for more information. Select the check
boxes for any updates that you want to install, and then click “OK”.

 Click “Install updates”.

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Windows Networking
Using Home Groups
Home Group
A Home Group is a group of computers on a home network. The Home Group feature
in Windows 7 makes file and printer sharing on a home network very easy. You can
share pictures, music, videos, documents, and printers with other people in your
Home Group. Other people can’t change the files that you share unless you give them
permission to do so. You can protect your Home Group with a password, which you
can change at any time. Please note that all computers in a home network must be
running Windows 7 to participate in a home group. You can join a home group in any
edition of Windows 7, but you can only create one in Windows 7 Home Premium,
Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise editions.
Create a Home Group
 Click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel”.
 When the Control Panel window opens, choose “Home Group”.
 Click the button labeled, “Create a home group”. The window opens,
displaying the features you can share - Pictures, Documents, Music, Printers
and Videos.
 Check the “boxes” for those items you wish to share and click the “Next”
button.
 Next, Windows 7 generates a password to allow other computer users to join the
Home group.
 Click the “Finish” button.

Joining a Home Group

 To join an existing home group, click the “Start→ Control Panel→ Home
group”.
 In the displayed window, click “Join now”.
 The “Join a Home group” window is displayed.
 Check the “boxes” for those items you wish to share.

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  Click “Next”.
 Type in the home group password and click “Next”.
 You are informed that you have joined the home group.
 Click “Finish”.

Accessing a Home Group

 When two computers in a home group are switched on, you can access all the
Home Group libraries from either of the computers.

 Click the “Start” button and select the user name.

 Click “Home group” in the left pane of the displayed window.

 You can see the name of the other computer.

 To see the libraries within the Home group network, click the small triangle at
the left.

 To see the contents of Library, such as Documents, click Documents.

 Its contents appear in the right pane.

 Simply double-click to access a file.

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 So, now you can understand the potential of Windows 7 Home group and its
usefulness in a networking situation.

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Security Features

Windows 7 Security

Windows 7 simplifies computer security, making it easier for you to reduce the risk of
damages caused by viruses, spyware and other malware. Windows 7 also features an
improved backup solution to help in keeping your information safe, and its improved
parental controls help you to protect your family.

Features

The new and improved safety, security, and privacy features in Windows 7 are:

 Bit Locker Drive Encryption encrypts your Windows hard disk to help keep
documents, passwords, and other important data safe. Once you turn on Bit
Locker, any file that you save on that drive is encrypted automatically.
 Windows Firewall helps protect your computer from hackers and malicious
software
 The Microsoft backup system creates copies of your most important files, so
you are always prepared for the worst.
 Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download for Windows 7 that helps
protect your computer from viruses, spyware, worms, Trojans, and other
malware.
 Windows Defender helps in protecting your computer from pop-up ads, slow
performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted
software.
 User Account Control: This is an infrastructure that requires user consent
before allowing any action that requires administrative privileges such as
installing new software or changing system settings.
 Parental controls: An administrator can apply parental control restrictions to
other users on the computer. Facilities include web content blocking,
restrictions on what kind of games may be played and what programs may be
executed.

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 INTERNET
GETTING STARTED

Overview of Internet

History of Communication

The history of the world is the on-going story of how its gotten smaller and smaller in
terms of information exchange and communication. In historical times,
communication meant sending the message-carrying pigeon. People had to take
letters, decrees, etc. to their destinations the same way they got there, whether by
boat between nations or across on horses and wagons.

Communication Development

Over time, the railroads and the new telegraph technology evolved, with the railroads
providing a coast-to-coast route. The telegraph and later telephone, television and
computer reduced the time for news to get around the globe from weeks to mere
moments.

The Communication Revolution

Communication revolutionized with the advancements in technology. Through the

1980s and 1990s, computer technology kept advancing, while communications
technology also "went digital”. Today communication capabilities are nearly limitless.
It is instantaneous. One can send text messages in real time, or share a video chat
over the Internet, or be connected to the technology wherever one is and with a variety
of devices. The Internet has demonstrated how rapidly technology and the free
exchange of information have impacted everyday life. It has provided a wealth of
information that would have been near unattainable

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Advantages

The advantages of the smaller world through instant information exchange are evident
to all. Greater efficiency means more work getting done by more people, and without
restrictions based on geography or location. The ability to bring together teams from
around the world to work together, even in real-time on a shared document, has
changed the whole notion of teamwork. It has also helped create a world that even
now has German cars being built in Alabama and American iPods being made in
China.

Uses

Without the limitations of travel and distance, people have more time to collaborate
with more people, and in more ways. Communication and sharing information is the
most popular use of the Internet, with email topping the list of all the technologies
used. Some of the types of communication technologies used also include email
discussion groups, Usenet news, chat groups, and IRC.

What is Internet

Internet

The word “Internet” is derived from the word inter-networking which means
connecting different networks together. Thus the Internet can be termed as a Network
of Networks.

History of Internet

In the second half of the decade from 1960 to 1970, the United States Department of
Defense began a project on computer networks. This project was named ARPANET.
Gradually, after 1970, Universities, Government Departments and Research Centers
also began using this network.

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Communication Medium

To send data along telephone lines, wireless telephones and even satellites,
researchers developed a new set of rules called Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol or TCP/IP. The roots of the giant network called Internet
can be traced back to this project.

Modern Internet

By 1993 the concept of Internet had changed completely. Instead of having a central
system of limited machines, new independent centers were created in different places.
This led to the birth of the modern Internet.

Internet as a medium of information

Today the Internet has become a popular medium for information. You can have
access to entertainment, information, companionship and many other opportunities
on the Internet. It has become a popular medium for business, education, shopping,
playing, advertisement and news.

Internet for Shopping

“Shopping” is one of the fastest-growing Internet applications. Using the Internet, you
can search for bargains and make purchases or simply window shop or look for the
latest fashions. “Searching” for all types of information has become very convenient
using the Internet. You can find the latest local, national and international news
using the Internet. You can access some of the world’s largest libraries directly from
your home computer.

Internet for Entertainment and Education

“Entertainment” in different forms such as movies, music and games is available

using the Internet. You have additional options such as live concerts, movie previews,
book clubs and more. “Education” or “e-learning” which supports flexible learning

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anywhere, anytime for anyone is possible due to the Internet. You can take classes on
various subjects. Some courses are free while others have to be paid for.

Internet for E-commerce

Transactions of large industries are also effected over the Internet. With the help of
Internet, monetary transactions are also being carried out. This is known as e-
commerce.

Internet for Buyer

Electronic Commerce i.e. e-commerce is the buying and selling of goods over the
Internet. For a buyer, it offers the convenience of purchasing at any hour of the day or
night. It does away with the need to physically travel to the seller’s location. The
Internet offers a chance to survey a wide variety of products.

Internet for Seller

From the seller’s perspective, the costs associated with operating a retail store can be
eliminated. Also, a seller is not required to maintain a physical inventory of goods and
products are shipped directly from warehouses. The Internet offers a chance to reach
out to a larger number of customers.

Disadvantages

While there are numerous advantages of e-commerce, there are some disadvantages
too. These include

 The inability to provide immediate delivery of goods,

 The inability to “try on” prospective purchases and questions relating to the
security of online payments.

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Tips on How to Shop Online

 Consult product review sites: These sites offer evaluations or opinions on

products. “www.consumersearch.com” and “www.epinions.com” are
examples of review sites on the Web.
 Use a shopping bot: A shopping bot is an automated shopping assistant that
searches the Internet for the best price of a product. You can enlist it to
compare prices. Two well-known shopping bots are located at
“www.mysimon.com” and “www.shopping.yahoo.com”.
 Consult vendor review sites: Even if a vendor offers attractive prices, you need
to check his reputation before placing an order. You may visit vendor review
sites such as “www.gomez.com” and “www.bizrate.com”.
 Select a payment option: Once you have selected the product and the vendor,
you have to place the order and make the payment. Security of your credit card
number is important. You may consider payment options from secure sites
using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) for making transactions such
as PayPal, eBay, Amazon, etc.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

“Business-to-consumer (B2C)” involves the sale of a product or service to the general

public or end users. This arrangement often eliminates the wholesaler by allowing
manufacturers to sell directly to customers. Existing retail stores use B2C e-
commerce to reach out to customers through the Web.

B2C Applications

The three most widely used B2C applications are as follows:

 “Online banking” enables customers to perform various banking operations

such as accessing account information, transferring funds, paying bills and
applying for loans without having to visit the bank.
 “Online stock trading” allows investors to research, buy and sell stocks and
bonds over the Internet.

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  “Online shopping” as you know includes buying and selling consumer goods
over the Internet.

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

“Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)” involves individuals selling to individuals. This is

done in the form of classified ads or an auction. In “Web auctions”, sellers post
descriptions of products at a web site and buyers submit bids electronically.

Auction House Sites

“Auction house sites” sell directly to bidders. The merchandise presented is typically
from a company’s surplus stock. You can often get bargain prices and these sites are
generally considered safe places to shop.

Person to Person Auction Sites

“Person-to-person auction sites” provide a forum for buyers and sellers. They
facilitate the bidding process but are not involved in completing transactions and
verifying the authenticity of the goods sold. Buyers and sellers need to be cautious
while interacting with these sites.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

“Business-to-business (B2B)” involves the sale of a product or service from one

business to another. This is typically a manufacturer-supplier relationship. For
example, a furniture manufacturer would require raw material such as wood, paint
and varnish which he would purchase from the related suppliers.

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Cheques and Credit Cards

The single greatest challenge for e-commerce is the development of fast, secure and
reliable payment methods for purchased goods. The three basic payment options are
as follows:

 “Cheques” are the most traditional and cheque purchases take the longest time
to complete. The buyer mails a cheque to the seller. If it is a valid cheque, the
purchased item is dispatched by the seller.
 “Credit card” purchases are faster and more convenient. But credit card fraud
over the Internet by criminals known as “Carders” is a major concern for both
buyers and sellers.

Digital Cash

“Digital cash” is electronic currency that only exists online. It is a system that allows
a person to pay for goods or services by transmitting a number from one computer to
another. Buyers purchase digital cash from a bank that specializes in electronic
currency and use it to purchase goods. Sellers convert it to regular currency through
the bank. This method is more secure than credit cards.

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Web Utilities

Utilities are programs that make computing easier. “Web Utilities” are specialized
utility programs that make using the Internet and Web easier and safer. Some utilities
facilitate sharing resources over the Internet while others enhance the capabilities of
your browser.

Application Programs

Normally application programs are owned by individuals and organizations and stored
on the computer’s hard disk. The aim of “web-based services” such as Think Free is
to free users from owning and storing applications. This free service provides access to
programs similar to Microsoft’s Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Web-Based Applications

A “web-based application” is a software package that can be accessed through a web

browser. Most application service providers (ASPs) charge a fee to access and use their
applications. To use a web-based application, you must connect to the ASP’s web site.
The ASP downloads a copy of the requested application to your computer’s hard disk
drive from where you can run it. When you exit the program, it is automatically
deleted from your hard disk.

File-Transfer Protocol (FTP)

FTP is an Internet standard for transferring files. “Downloading” is the process of

copying a file from a computer on the Internet and saving it on your computer. You
can also use FTP to copy files from your computer to another computer on the
Internet. This is called “uploading”.

Plug-ins

“Plug-ins” are programs that are automatically started and operate as part of your
browser. Many web sites require you to have some plug-ins in order to view their
content fully. Some widely used plug-ins includes Acrobat Reader from Adobe,

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Windows Media Player from Microsoft, QuickTime from Apple, RealPlayer from
Real Networks and Shockwave from Adobe. These are used for a variety of purposes
ranging from viewing and printing documents to playing audio and video files.

Downloading Plug-ins

Some plug-ins are included in browsers and operating systems. Others need to be
installed before they can be used by your browser. To learn more about plug-ins and
how to download them, you may visit some of the sites listed in the displayed figure.

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Filters

“Filters” are programs that block access to selected sites. The Internet has a lot of
content which is not suitable for unrestricted viewing. Filters allow parents of young
children as well as organizations to block access to certain sites and set time limits.
Additionally, these programs can generate reports regarding time spent on the
Internet as well as at individual web sites, chat groups and newsgroups.

List of Filters

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Internet Security Suites

An “Internet security suite” is a collection of utility programs designed to maintain

your security and privacy while you are on the Web. These programs control spam,
protect against computer viruses, provide filters and much more. Two of the best
known Internet security suites are from McAfee and Norton.

Information Highway

Using Internet you can communicate with or find out about what is happening in any
part of the world. It is popularly known as the "Information Highway" which is used
as a versatile means for information sharing. Chatting with your friends in virtual
chat rooms is another facility that is available. You may chat using the keyboard.

Exchange using Internet

Anyone with access to the Internet can exchange text, data files, and programs with
any other user. Today, using voice chat, you can also chat with the other person as if
you were talking on the telephone. You can also play different games on the Internet.

Applications on the Internet

There are a large number of applications that can be used on the Internet for various
purposes. Examples are

 Electronic Mail (e-mail)

 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
 Telnet to connect to another computer
 Newsgroups
 Mailing lists
 Chat groups
 World Wide Web (WWW or Web)
 Instant Messaging

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Communications

Computer communications is the process of sharing data, programs and information

between two or more computers. Some of the applications that depend on
communication systems are as follows.

E-mail & Instant Messaging

This provides a fast and efficient alternative to traditional mail by sending and
receiving electronic documents. Instant Messaging supports direct, “live” electronic
communication between two or more individuals.

Internet Telephone

This provides a low cost alternative to long distance telephone calls using electronic
voice delivery.

Browsers

Web Browser

A Web Browser is a software tool used to browse the Internet. It is a special

application program that brings information from any part of the world through the
Internet to your computer screen. Using a browser, you can communicate with any
computer over the Internet. Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Mozilla are
some examples of the browser applications that are commonly used.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

Each web site has a distinct, separate and unique address. This address is known as
the Uniform Resource Locator or URL in short. You can connect directly to a web site
by typing the URL of that site in the address bar or location bar of the web browser.

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Parts of a URL

 The first part of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) presents the “protocol”
used to connect to the resource. Protocols are rules for exchanging data
between computers. The protocol “http://” is the most widely used Web
protocol.
 The second part presents the “domain name”. It is the name of the server
where the resource is located.
 The last part of the domain name following the dot is called the “top-level
domain (TLD)”. It identifies the type of organization or what country the website
is from. For example “.com” indicates a commercial site and “.in” indicates
India.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Most browsers have a Graphical User Interface (GUI). This allows easy viewing of
text, images, and animations, playing audio and video files and running programs.

Using Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is a world-class browser that is designed to support various internet

standards across a variety of platforms. Since it is created by Microsoft, it is closely
integrated with the Windows operating system. With an Internet connection and
Internet Explorer, you can find and view information about anything on the Web
To start Internet Explorer, click on the “Launch Internet Explorer Browser” icon on
your desktop. If you do not see this icon, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs → Internet Explorer”.

Address Bar

At the top, you see a long rectangular box called the “Address Bar”. When you want
to visit a website, type the website address or URL in the address bar, for example,
http://www.microsoft.com/ and press “Enter”.

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Navigating the Web

Another way to navigate the web is to go the address bar and type what you are
looking for. Say you are looking for “digital cameras”. Type “digital camera” and
press “Enter”. Internet Explorer automatically sends your query to a search service
and displays the results. The URL of the web page is displayed in the address bar.

Button on the Address Bar

To the right of the address bar, you can see the “Refresh” button. You may use this to
reload a web page. The “Stop” button to its right is used to stop a page from loading.
Use the “Back” button to the left of the address bar to go to the previous page you
were on. If you clicked the back button and you want to move forward to the page you
were on just before you clicked it, you may use the “Forward” button. To quickly go
back to a website you visited earlier, you may click the down arrow just to the right of
the Forward button and select the webpage from the dropdown list.

Toolbar

Below the address bar, you can see a toolbar. Right-click on a blank space on the
toolbar and select “Menu Bar”. You now see a menu displayed above the toolbar.

Home Page

The default page displayed when you start Internet Explorer is called the “Home
Page”. The Home Page of a website is the opening or main page of the website, which
is intended chiefly to greet visitors and provide information about the site or its owner.
You may change the Internet Explorer Home Page to a site of your preference. Select
“Tools →Internet Options”. On the “General” tab, you may enter your preferences
under “Home page”.

Tabbed Browsing

Tabs enable you to have multiple websites open in one Internet Explorer window at
one time. You can quickly switch between open websites by simply clicking on the

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tabs. To create a new tab, click the “New Tab” button or use the keyboard shortcut
“Ctrl + T”. To close a tab, click on the “X” to the right side of it.

Quick Tabs

To see a thumbnail view of all the websites you have open in your tabs, click the
“Quick Tabs” button to the left of the first tab. Click on a thumbnail to view a
particular website.

Tabbed Browsing Option

To access the Internet Explorer Tabbed Browsing options, select “Tools → Internet
Options”. Under “Tabs”, click “Settings”. In the “Tabbed Browsing Settings”
window, you may enter the settings you require.

Auto Complete

Internet Explorer automatically records Web addresses, forms data, and passwords.
To access the Internet Explorer AutoComplete options,

 Select “Tools → Internet Options”.

 On the “Content” tab, under “AutoComplete”, click “Settings”.
 In the “AutoComplete Settings” window, you may enter the settings you
require.

Scrolling and Selecting Links

 Scrolling Links: You can scroll through a web page using the horizontal and
vertical scrollbars.
 Selecting links: When you point to a link on a web page, the pointer changes to
a hand and the URL is shown in the status bar. When you click on the link, the
web page related to the link is opened. Links may be in the form of underlined
text, buttons or pictures.

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Using Frames

The browser area can be divided into different scrollable areas called frames. When
you click on a link on one page included in a frame, the related page is displayed in
another frame. You may adjust the size of the frames by dragging the border between
the frames.

Viewing Thumbnails

Thumbnail images are small images shown on a web page because of space
limitations and the time required for downloading. Click on thumbnails to view related
documents.

Displaying web pages in other languages

Some Web sites offer their content in several languages. To view these pages in your
preferred language, you can add languages to your list of languages in Internet
Explorer.

 Select “Tools → Internet Options”.

 On the “General” tab, click “Languages”.
 In the “Language Preference” window, click “Add”. In the “Add Language”
window, select the language you want to add and click “OK”.
 Click “OK” in the other windows as well. If you speak several languages, you
can arrange them in order of priority.
 If a Web site offers multiple languages, content will appear in the language that
has the highest priority.

Internet Explorer 9

Introduction

Internet Explorer is a world-class browser that is designed to support various internet

standards across a variety of platforms. Since it is created by Microsoft, it is closely
integrated with the Windows operating system. Windows Internet Explorer 9 which is

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abbreviated as IE9 is the current version of the Internet Explorer web browser from
Microsoft. It was released to the public on March 14, 2011. The system requirements
for Internet Explorer 9 are Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista
Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2 with the Platform Update. With an
Internet connection and Internet Explorer, you can find and view information about
anything on the Web To start Internet Explorer, click on the “Launch Internet
Explorer Browser” icon on your taskbar. If you do not see this icon, click on the
“Start” button and select “All Programs → Internet Explorer”.

Address Bar

At the top, you see a long rectangular box called the “Address Bar”. When you want to
visit a website, type the website address or URL in the address bar, for example,
http://www.microsoft.com/ and press “Enter”.

Navigating the Web

Another way to navigate the web is to go to the address bar and type what you are
looking for. Say you are looking for “digital cameras”. Type “digital camera” and press
“Enter”. Internet Explorer automatically sends your query to a search service and
displays the results. The URL of the web page is displayed in the address bar.

Button on the Address Bar

To the right of the address bar, you can see the “Refresh” button. You may use this to
reload a web page. The “Stop” button to its right is used to stop a page from loading.
Use the “Back” button to the left of the address bar to go to the previous page you
were on. If you clicked the Back button and you want to move forward to the page you
were on just before you clicked it, you may use the “Forward” button. To quickly go
back to a website you visited earlier, you may right click on the Back button and
select the webpage from the dropdown list.

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Toolbar

Below the address bar, you can see a toolbar. Right-click on blank space on the
toolbar and select “Menu Bar”. You now see a menu displayed above the toolbar.

Home Page

The default page displayed when you start Internet Explorer is called the “Home
Page”. The Home Page of a website is the opening or main page of the website, which
is intended chiefly to greet visitors and provide information about the site or its owner.
You may change the Internet Explorer Home Page to a site of your preference. Select
“Tools→ Internet Options”. On the “General” tab, you may enter your preferences
under “Home page”.

Tabbed Browsing

Tabs enable you to have multiple websites open in one Internet Explorer window at
one time. You can quickly switch between open websites by simply clicking on the
tabs. To create a new tab, click the “New Tab” button or use the keyboard shortcut
“Ctrl + T”. To close a tab, click on the “X” to the right side of it. Each sites icon and
primary color is used to help your more easily identify each site, which is helpful
when you have many sites to choose from. Also, a site indicator shows if the site is
one you visit often or not. Your favorite sites are shown with the sites you visit most
frequently listed first.

Tabbed Browsing Option

To access the Internet Explorer Tabbed Browsing options, select “Tools → Internet
Options”. Under “Tabs”, click “Settings”. In the “Tabbed Browsing Settings” window,
you may enter the settings you require.

Auto Complete

Internet Explorer automatically records Web addresses, forms data, and passwords.
To access the Internet Explorer AutoComplete options, select “Tools → Internet

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Options”. On the “Content” tab, under “AutoComplete”, click “Settings”. In the
“AutoComplete Settings” window, you may enter the settings you require.

Scrolling and Selecting Links

 Scrolling Links: You can scroll through a web page using the horizontal and
vertical scrollbars.
 Selecting links: When you point to a link on a web page, the pointer changes to
a hand and the URL is shown in the status bar. When you click on the link, the
web page related to the link is opened. Links may be in the form of underlined
text, buttons or pictures.

Using Frames

The browser area can be divided into different scrollable areas called frames. When
you click on a link on one page included in a frame, the related page is displayed in
another frame. You may adjust the size of the frames by dragging the border between
the frames.

Displaying web pages in other languages

Some Web sites offer their content in several languages. To view these pages in your
preferred language, you can add languages to your list of languages in Internet
Explorer.

 Select “Tools → Internet Options”.

 On the “General” tab, click “Languages”.
 In the “Language Preference” window, click “Add”. In the “Add Language”
window, select the language you want to add and click “OK”.
 Click “OK” in the other windows as well. If you speak several languages, you
can arrange them in order of priority.
 If a Web site offers multiple languages, content will appear in the language that
has the highest priority.

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Features of Internet Explorer 9

Notification Bar

Internet Explorer 9 shows notifications that allows for faster browsing. Instead of
dialog boxes popping up unexpectedly all notification messages are consolidated in
the Notification Bar, located at the bottom of the browser frame. Notifications wont
interrupt your browsing by forcing you to act on them before you can continue. You
can ignore them if you choose and act on them whenever you like.

One Box

You can navigate to a website or start a search from a single place in Internet Explorer
9 i.e. One Box. You can start typing a web address and AutoComplete anticipates
what you’re looking for to help you get to your websites quickly. And because search
functionality is integrated into One Box, you don’t have to worry about remembering
the full web address. You can just type in familiar terms like “news” or “music” and
you can get to the sites in a flash.

Pinned Sites

You can get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar without having to
open Internet Explorer first. Click the icon to the left of the web address in One Box,
or the tab for the website, or the websites icon on the New Tab page, and then drag it
to the taskbar. Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate from
Internet Explorer. Now click it to get to your favorite website.

Compatibility View

Sometimes the website you are visiting doesn’t look right. It shows up as a jumble of
out-of-place menus, images, and text boxes. The site might have been designed for an
earlier version of Internet Explorer. If Internet Explorer recognizes that the webpage
isn’t compatible, you will see the Compatibility View button on the Address bar. Click
it and the websites will be displayed as if you were viewing them in a previous version
of Internet Explorer.

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In Private Browsing

Sometimes you don’t want to leave a trace of your web browsing activity on your
computer whether it’s shopping for a gift on a shared PC or checking an account at an
Internet café. In Private Browsing helps prevent your browsing history, temporary
Internet files, form data, cookies, and user names and passwords from being retained
by the browser. You can start In Private Browsing from the Safety menu, by pressing
Ctrl + Shift + P. Closing the browser window will end your In Private Browsing
session.

Download Manager

Internet Explorer 9 has an integrated way for you to access, monitor, and interact
with the files you download: Download Manager. It’s a single program that lets you
see the status of your downloads, provides information about whether they might be
potentially harmful, offers a full range of security checks on the downloaded files, and
shows you the final location of your downloads.

NAVIGATING THE WEB

Using the Favorites Center

Favorites List

Internet Explorer Favorites are used to save links to sites that you want to visit again.
Creating a list of favorites allows you to visit those sites with a single click, rather
than having to type the sites URL each time you want to visit it.

Adding items to the Favorites List

 Go to the page that you want to add to your list.

 Click the “Add to Favorites” button on the toolbar and select “Add to
Favorites.”
 The “Add a Favorite” window is displayed. You may type a new name for the
page in the “Name” text box.

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Organizing

You may organize your favorite pages in folders and save items under different folders.
To place this favorite in an existing folder, from the “Create in” drop-down list, select
the desired folder and click “Add”.

Creating a Folder

 Alternatively, you may create a new folder for a favorite.

 For this, click “New Folder”.
 Enter a name for the new folder in the “Create a Folder” window and click
“Create”.
 Now click “Add” in the “Add a Favorite” window.

Favorites List and Favorites Center

The “Favorites” list contains all the favorites you have created. This list appears
under “Favorites” when you click the “Favorites Center” button on the toolbar. If
you would like to display the Favorites Center at the left of your screen at all times,
you may pin it to the window by clicking on the “Pin the Favorites Center” button.
To unpin it, simply click on the “X” shaped, “Close the Favorites Center” icon.

Organizing your Favorites

You may wish to organize your favorite pages by topic. Click the “Add to Favorites”
button, and then click “Organize Favorites”. In the “Organize Favorites” window,
you may use the different buttons in the lower part to create, rename or delete a
folder. You can also move items from one folder to another by using the “Move” button
or dragging the item to the appropriate folder.

Organizing Favorites

You may also use the Menu Bar to add items to your Favorites list and to organize
your Favorites. For this, select “Favorites → Add to Favorites” and “Favorites →
Organize Favorites” from the Menu Bar.

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Using the History List

Internet Explorer keeps track of the web pages you have previously visited in the form
of history. To view the History list,

 Click the “History” button in the Favorites Center.

 Now, click on one of the calendar icons. History items are displayed sorted by
website.
 Click on one of the yellow icons to see what pages you visited at a particular
site.
 You may then click on a website link to open the related page. You may re-sort
your History items by clicking on the arrow next to the "History" button and
making your selection.

Deleting Items from the favorites list

To delete an item from the Favorites List, right-click on it and select “Delete”. Click
“Yes” in the displayed window.

Printing and saving web pages

Printing and saving web pages

To print the current page, select “File → Print” from the menu. The “Print” window is
displayed. You may print all pages, selected text, the current page, a specific page or
range of pages by making the appropriate selection under “Print Range”.

Previewing a web page

To have a look at how a page will look before it is printed, you can use the Preview
option. For this, select “File → Print Preview” from the menu.

Saving an entire web

Select “File →Save As” from the menu. The “Save Webpage” window is displayed.
Specify the location at which you wish to save your file. You may save the web page

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with a new name by making changes in the “File name” field. You may choose a
format for the page from the dropdown list in the “Save as type” field. Now click
“Save”.

Saving an image from a page

You may wish to save only an image from a web page.

 For this, position the mouse pointer over the image.

 Right-click to display a pop-up menu.
 Choose “Save Picture As”.
 The “Save Picture” window is displayed.
 Choose a folder in which to save this image.
 Type a file name for the image and then click “Save”.

Saving a page without displaying it

 Position the mouse pointer over the link to the web page you wish to save.
 Right-click to display the pop-up menu.
 Choose “Save Target As”.
 The “Save As” window is displayed.
 Specify the location at which you wish to download the web page.
 Type a file name and then click “Save”.
 Click “Close” when the download is completed.

Finding Information on the Web

Using Search Services

Search Services

As you know, there is a vast ocean of information available on the World Wide Web.
Search services help you to quickly locate information about a specific topic from
multiple websites. A number of search tools have been developed and are available on

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different web sites. A search can be done by entering a keyword, a descriptive word or
phrase or by browsing a topic list.

Category of Search Services

Search services can be categorized into two types, web directories and search engines.
Web directories are databases of Internet sites that are organized by topics or
subjects. Search engines are also huge databases of web sites, but typically offer no
categories or differentiation between different types of material.

Crawler or Spider

The Search engines use a program called crawler or spider to check out websites read
and store specific types of information and add new sites to their existing database of
sites. The database is updated periodically by the spider.

Search approaches

Search engines provide two different search approaches: Keyword search and
Directory search. In a keyword search, you enter a keyword or phrase reflecting the
information you want. The search engine compares your entry against its database
and displays a list of “hits” in the form of hyperlinks to related web pages. For
example, if you entered the keyword “travel” you get thousands of hits. These are
ordered according to those sites most likely to contain the information requested and
are usually in groups of 10.

Subject Directories

You may find relevant information on the web using “Subject Directories”. Subject
directories are collections of Internet resources organized into subject categories. They
are useful for looking for information on a specific subject or to gain familiarity with a
topic. Advantages of subject directories are that they generally contain good quality
sites and they save time since subject wise information is available.

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Google subject Directory

Let us have a look at the Google subject directory.

 Enter the URL “http://directory.google.com” in the address bar and press

“Enter”.
 You can see the Google directory on your screen showing links to various
subjects.
 Clicking on a subject will show you more detailed lists from which you may
make your selections.

Using the search Box

One of the new features of Internet Explorer 7 is the “Search Box” located at the top
right. You can search the internet using most search engines from the search box
instead of going to other search engine sites. If you want to find something on a page
you are currently on, click on the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and
select “Find on this Page”. Enter your search criteria and click “Next”.

Finding Search Services

There are numerous sites providing search services such as www.google.com ,

www.yahoo.com , www.ask.com , www.lycos.com , www.live.com. As all search
engines use different techniques and resources, it advisable to use more than one
search engine for conducting a search. You may add search providers to Internet
Explorer 7. For this, click on the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and
select “Find More Providers”. Then, click on the name of a provider in the displayed
web page. Now click “Add Provider” in the window that comes up.

Change Search Defaults

You may change the default search engine if you wish. For this, click on the down
arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and select “Change Search Defaults”.
Click “Set Default” and then “OK” to make the search provider you just added as the
default one.

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Metasearch Engines

When you research a topic, you may need to visit different web sites in order to use
different search engines. This would be time-consuming and duplicate responses
would be inevitable. “Metasearch Engines” offer an alternative. They are programs
that automatically submit your search request to several search engines
simultaneously. The metasearch engine receives the results, eliminates duplicates,
orders the hits and provides the edited list to you.

List of Metasearch Engines

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Specialized Search Engines

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Content Evaluation

You must keep in mind that not all information available on the Web is accurate. In
fact, anyone can publish content on the Web. Many sites such as Wikipedia.org, allow
anyone to post new material, sometimes anonymously and without critical evaluation.
To evaluate the accuracy of information found on the Web, you need to consider the
following points.

 Authority: Is the author an expert on the subject? Is the web site an

individual’s personal one or an official one?
 Accuracy: Has the information been critically reviewed for correctness? Does
the web site provide a method of reporting inaccurate information?
 Objectivity: Is the information reported biased or based on actual facts? Does
the author gain personally by convincing the reader or changing his opinion?
 Currency: Is the information up to date. Is the date when the site was updated
specified?

Google

“Google” is one of the most popular search engines. Start the Internet Explorer
browser and type www.google.com in the address box. Press “Enter” to display the
Google home page.

Searching by Topic

The Google web site interface consists of many links to various topics and a search
text box. You may click on the link of your choice. Click “more” to view additional
links. Click “even more” to see some more useful links.

Searching by Keyword

Some simple tips for entering keywords are be specific, use more descriptive words as
opposed to general ones, use multiple words and leave out non-essential words. Type
the keyword on which you wish to search in the search text box. Then press the
“Google Search” button”. The search results displayed have links to the pages

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containing matches to your desired keyword. The result displayed is page wise if the
resulted list is big. Click the links to visit the related web pages.

I am feeling Lucky

You may try using the "I am Feeling Lucky" button when you have entered your
search terms. This takes you straight to the most relevant website that Google finds
for your query. You will not see the search results page at all, but if you do, the "I am
Feeling Lucky" site would be listed on top.

Advanced Search

Once you know the basics of Google search, you might want to try Advanced Search,
which offers numerous options for making your searches more precise and getting
more useful results. Click “Advanced Search” to enter your options.

Preferences

You may configure your search exactly as you want it. Click “Preferences” to enter
your requirements. You can filter inappropriate material, set the interface language
and search for pages written in specific languages.

Language Tools

Click “Language Tools” to specify your language preferences for a particular search.
If you typically search only pages in a specific language, you can save this as your
default search behavior on the “Preferences” page.

Communication Using E-mail

Using Web E-mail Services

Electronic Communication

You know that communication is the most popular Internet activity. At a personal
level, friends and family can stay in touch even when separated by thousands of

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miles. At a business level, electronic communication has become a standard and
preferred way to stay in touch with suppliers, employees and customers.

E-mail

E-mail, or electronic mail, enables communication by sending and receiving written

messages via a computer over the Internet. You need an e-mail program and a
connection to the Internet. This is a very powerful tool for communication and a prime
reason for the popularity of Internet. E-mail has become very popular because of its
speed, low cost and absence of time restrictions. The use of e-mail in our country,
especially in urban areas, has increased rapidly in recent years.

E-mail Address

Just as every web page has a unique address, similarly every e-mail account has a
unique address. A complete e-mail address is normally in the form of
“[email protected]”. In this, “ahmedkhan” is the name of the person;
and “060383” is the date of birth of the person; and “gmail.com” is the name of the
domain or server.

Concept

When an e-mail is sent, it is not necessary for the person to whom the e-mail has
been sent to be available, or for his computer to be on. The mail sent by you is sent to
the mail server. When the mail server identifies the recipient, it sends the message to
his address. At the other end, the identity of the recipient is verified and then the mail
is forwarded. When the recipient switches on his computer and connects to the mail
service, all the mail that has been received is downloaded to his computer.

Types of E-mail Services

There are basically two types of e-mail services you can use. The most popular is the
free web mail service that many web sites provide. Some of the examples are
mail.Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Rediffmail.com, Indiatimes.com, etc. The other is

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based on Post Office Protocol (POP3) using which you may download mails onto your
computer or send mails stored on your hard disk.

Registration

To use the e-mail facility the user has to register with the web site providing the
facility. The web site has a registration page that will ask you to enter some
information and also make you accept a user agreement. You have already seen how
to fill in an online form. The website provides you with a unique user name and you
can also specify a password.

Creating an e-mail account

Creating an e-mail account is fairly simple. Let us create a free e-mail ID on

Yahoo.com. To go to the Yahoo home page, type “www.yahoo.com” in the address bar
and press “Enter”. Now, click “Free Mail: Sign Up”. You see a form displayed on your
screen.

Providing Personal Information

The first step is to fill out your personal information. Next, enter an ID which will act
as both your login name and your email address. If the ID you select has already been
taken by someone else, try a variation of the name. After you have chosen a name,
you have to create a password.

Security Question

Then you may enter an alternate e-mail address if you have one. Select a security
question and enter a suitable answer. You will be asked to answer this question in
case you forget your password.

Marketing Preferences

You may check the “Marketing Preferences” box if you wish to receive promotional
offers from Yahoo by e-mail. To verify your registration, type the code shown in the
box exactly as you see it.

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“Terms of Service” and “Privacy Policy”

Read the "Terms of Service" agreement and “Privacy Policy” by clicking on the
related links and check the box after “Do you agree?” to confirm that you agree to
them. Now click the “Create My Account” button. Your e-mail account is then created
and you may use it to send and receive messages.

Common Features

The different websites have different features for the e-mail facility they provide. Some
of the common features are a Login Page, Inbox, Address Book, Auto Reply and
Customized Signature. Besides these, many more personalization features are also
provided.

Login Page

To access your mail account, you must first login. For this, you have to enter the user
name you selected during the registration process and also your password. The
website authenticates your user login information and then provides access to your
mailbox.

Basic Elements

A typical e-mail message has three basic elements: header, message and signature .

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Addresses

Addresses of the person sending, receiving and optionally persons receiving copies are
generally included in an e-mail message. You know that an e-mail address has two
parts. The first part is the user’s name and the second part is the domain name which
includes the top-level domain.

Subject

This is a one-line description used to present the topic of the message.

Attachments

You can attach files such as documents and pictures to a mail message. If a message
has an attachment, the file name is displayed in the header area on the attachment
line.

Signature Line

After the header area, comes the actual message text. Finally, the signature line
provides additional information about the sender. Typically, in case of official mails,
this information includes the sender’s name, address and telephone number.

Spam

E-mail, like many other valuable technologies does have some drawbacks. We often receive
many unwanted e-mails. These are mostly related to commercial advertising, often for
products for questionable quality, get-rich-quick schemes, or something similar. This
unwelcome junk mail is called “spam”.

Spam Blockers

In an attempt to control spam, some countries have anti-spam laws as part of their
legal system. This has limited impact because a lot of spam originates from other
countries as well. A more effective approach has been the development and use of
“Spam Blockers”. These programs use a variety of approaches to identify and

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eliminate spam. The Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail program which is available for free
download at “www.mozilla.com” comes with built-in spam blocking software.

CAN-SPAM Act

In the United States of America, the CAN-SPAM Act has been enacted which requires
that every marketing-related e-mail provides an opt-out option. When the option is
selected, the recipient’s address is to be removed from future mailing lists.

Using Messengers for Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging enables you to have a conversation with another person or a group
of people concurrently. It is similar to e-mail. The difference is that you can send and
receive messages as soon as they are typed. If both parties are online at the same
time, you can have a complete conversation. There are different instant messengers
available such as Google talk, ICQ, Yahoo messenger, etc.

Download and Install

To use a messenger, it must first be downloaded from the Internet and installed on
your computer. Now, download the Google Talk and install it.

Starting Google Talk

Select “Start - All Programs”. In the “Google Talk” folder, click “Google Talk”.

Sign in

Enter your e-mail address and password that you created and then click “Sign In”.

Adding a Contact

Before you can chat with someone, you need to add his name to your list of contacts.
Click the “Add” button. In the box enter your contact’s e-mail address. Or else click
on “Choose from My Contacts” and in the window displayed, check the box against

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the address that you wish to add. Click on “Ok”. Then click on “Next” and then click
“Finish”.

Online Contacts

You can see that the contact is displayed in your list. In the contacts list, you can see
which of your contacts are online and offline at any given time. You can chat with any
contact that is online. When a contact comes online, you are notified about it.

Chatting With Your Contact

Now, you are ready to begin your chat. Click the name of an online contact. In the box
at the bottom of the conversation window that comes up, type your message and
simply press “Enter”. This message is displayed immediately on your contact’s screen.

Conversation Window

In the same way, messages from your contact are displayed on your screen. You can
see the complete conversation in the upper section of the “Conversation” window.

Offline Contact

You can also send messages to contacts who are offline. When you click on the name
of a contact who is offline, you are informed about his status. Offline contacts will
receive the messages once they come online.

Changing the color scheme

You may change the color scheme of the Google talk.

 Click on “Settings”.
 In the window displayed, click on “Appearance”.
 Select a suitable choice from the drop-down list of chat theme.
 Click on “Ok”.

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Changing the Display Picture

You may change the picture that is displayed against your name.

 Click on your picture at the top of the screen.

 Choose a picture.
 The new picture is then displayed.

Changing your Status

You may wish to display a specific status against your name such as “Busy”, “Out to
lunch” etc. For this, click on the arrow below your name at the top of the screen and
then click on the status you wish.

Other Activities

Right-click on a contact’s name in the main window to perform various activities such
as call, send files, set picture, remove etc.

Saving your Conversation

You may save your complete conversation. For this,

 Click on the “Settings”.

 Select “Chat” from the list and then choose “Save Chat History in my Gmail
Account”.
 Click “OK”.

Social Networking

One of the fastest growing uses of the Internet is “social networking” i.e. connecting
individuals to one another. There are three basic categories of social networking sites:

 Reuniting: “Reuniting” sites are designed to connect people who have known
one another but have lost touch. When you join a social network by connecting
to a reuniting site, you provide profile information such as your age, gender,
school name etc. This information is added to the site’s database. Members can

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 search the database to locate individuals. Many sites even notify you when
someone joins with parts of his profile matching yours. Two popular reuniting
sites are Facebook and Classmates Online.
 Friend-of-a-friend: “Friend-of-a-friend” sites are designed to bring together two
people who do not know each other but share a common friend. For example, a
network could be started by an acquaintance that provides his profile
information and list of friends. You could then visit his site to connect to his
friends and join his list of friends as well. Two well-known friend-of-a-friend
sites are Friendster and MySpace.
 Common interests: “Common interest” sites bring together individuals that
share common interests or hobbies. For example, if you are looking for business
contacts, you might join LinkedIn. If you wanted to locate or create a special
interest group, you might join Meetup.

Summary Of Social Networking Sites

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Internet Concepts

What is a Network

Network

When computers are connected to each other, they form a network. A network may
consist of just two computers next to each other or can even extend to a large number
of computers located in different parts of the world.

Computer Network

A “computer network” is a communication system that connects two or more

computers so that they can exchange information and share resources. Computers in
a network can be set up in different ways to suit the needs of users.

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Node and Client

 Node: This is a device that is connected to a network. It could be any device

such as a data storage device, a printer or a computer
 Client: This is a node that uses a resource from another node. Typically, a
client is a user’s microcomputer.

Server

This is a node that shares resources with other nodes. A dedicated server is a
computer that specializes in performing specific tasks. Dedicated servers are typically
used for websites that have high traffic, and are quite powerful. A non-dedicated
server can function as both a client and a server.

Hub

This is the central node for other nodes. It may be a server or simply a connection
point for cables from other nodes.

Network Administrator

This is a person who is a computer specialist responsible for efficient operation of the
network and implementation of new networks.

Distributed Processing

This is a system where computing power is located and shared at different locations.
In decentralized organizations, computer systems at different locations are networked
to a main or centralized computer.

Host Computer

This is a large centralized computer, usually a minicomputer or a mainframe.

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Network Interface Cards (NIC)

These are expansion cards located within the system unit that connects the computer to a
network. They are sometimes referred to as “LAN adapters”.

Network Operating Systems (NOS)

They control and coordinate activities such as electronic communication and resource
sharing between the computers and devices on a network.

Types of Networks

Different types of channels allow different kinds of networks to be formed. Telephone

lines for example may connect communications equipment within a home or building.
Networks may also be citywide and even international. The network types based on
the geographical area they serve are local area, metropolitan area and wide area
networks.

Local Area Network or LAN

Usually when computers in one office are connected to one another, the network is
known as a Local Area Network or LAN for short. When this is done over longer
distances, the network is known as WAN which stands for Wide Area Network.

LAN Nodes

The nodes of a LAN are in close physical proximity, within the same building.
Typically, LANs span distances less than a mile and are owned by individual
organizations. They are used to link microcomputers and share printers and other
resources.

Uses of LAN

While LANs have been widely used within organizations for years, they are now being
commonly used by individuals in their homes. These LANs are called “Home
Networks” and allow different computers to share resources, including a common
internet connection.

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Metropolitan Area Network or MAN

A “Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)” is the next step up from the LAN. MANs span
distances up to 100 miles. They are frequently used as links between office buildings
that are located throughout a city. A MAN may be owned by an organization, jointly
owned by a group of organizations or by a network service provider who charges a fee
to provide network services.

Wide Area Network or WAN

Wide Area Networks (WANs) are countrywide and worldwide networks. They provide
access to regional service (MAN) providers and span distances greater than 100
miles. They use microwave relays and satellites to reach users over long distances.
The widest of all WANs is of course, the Internet which spans the entire globe.

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Network Types

Network Architecture

This describes how a network is arranged and how resources are coordinated and
shared. Network architecture encompasses network configurations and strategies.
Configurations describe the physical arrangement of the network while strategies
define how information and resources are shared.

Configurations

A network can be configured or arranged in several ways. This is called the network’s
topology. The four principal network topologies are star, bus, ring and hierarchical.

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Star Network

In a “star network”, a number of small computers or peripheral devices are linked to

a central unit which is the “network hub”. The hub may be a host computer or file
server. All communications pass through the central unit and control is maintained
by “polling”. Each connecting device is asked or “polled” whether it has a message to
send and is allowed to send its message in turn.

An advantage of the star topology is that it can be used to support a “time-sharing

system”. This means that multiple users can share resources (or time) on a central
computer. The star topology is commonly used to link microcomputers to a mainframe
containing an organization’s database.

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Bus Network

In a “bus network”, there is no host computer and each device handles its own
communications. All communications travel along a common connecting cable called
a “bus” or “backbone”. Each device examines information as it passes along the bus
to see whether it is the intended recipient. This arrangement is commonly used for
sharing data stored on different microcomputers.

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Ring Network

In a “ring network”, each device is connected to two other devices, forming a ring.
There is no central computer and messages are passed around the ring till they reach
the correct destination. Distributed data processing is possible using a ring network.
Processing tasks can be performed at different locations and programs, data and
resources can be shared.

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Hierarchical Network

The “hierarchical network” consists of several computers linked to a central host

computer, just like a star network. However, these computers are also hosts to
smaller computers or peripheral devices. A hierarchical network is useful in
centralized organizations. For example, microcomputers in a department are
connected to individual departmental minicomputers. The minicomputers are in turn
connected to the corporation’s mainframe which contains data accessible to all.

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Network Configurations

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Strategies

Every network has a strategy of coordinating the sharing of information and

resources. The most common network strategies are

 Terminal Network: In a “terminal network”, processing power is centralized

in one large computer, usually a mainframe. The nodes are either terminals
with little or no processing capabilities or microcomputers running special
software that allows them to act as terminals. Many airline reservation systems
are terminal networks.
 Client/Server Network: “Client/server networks” are based on specialization
and use one computer to coordinate and supply services to other nodes on the
network. Server nodes coordinate and supply specialized services and access to
resources. Client nodes request the services. Client/server networks are widely
used on the Internet.
 Peer-to-Peer Network: In a “peer-to-peer network”, nodes have equal
authority and can act as both clients and servers. For example, microcomputers
may obtain files from other microcomputers as well as provide files to them.

Organizational Internets

Most large organizations have a wide range of network configurations, operating

systems and strategies. Internet technologies are applied to integrate all these
networks. Communication within and between organizations is supported using
intranets and extranets.

Intranets

Many organizations have internal networks similar to the Internet which have web
pages that contain company information, newsletters, pricing structures etc. and from
where standard forms can be downloaded. Such networks are known as “Intranets”
and may or may not be connected to the Internet. An Intranet is accessible only from
within the organization.

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Extranets

An “Extranet” is an intranet, or part of an intranet, which can be accessed by certain

external users via the Internet. Specific information such as product ranges, prices,
online order forms etc. may be made available to suppliers or potential customers
using an extranet. Entry into extranets is controlled by usernames and passwords
which establish the identity of the user and grant access to the areas of the extranet
that he is entitled to view.

Difference between Intranet and Extranet

The main points of difference between an intranet and extranet are as follows:

 An intranet is a private network within an organization while an extranet is a

private network that connects more than one organization.
 Like the public Internet, intranets use browsers, web sites and web pages. They
provide e-mail and other services accessible only to those within the
organization. Extranets are used by some organizations to allow suppliers and
others limited access to their networks. The purpose is to increase efficiency
and reduce costs.

Firewalls

A “firewall” is a system that secures a network, shielding it from access by

unauthorized users. Firewalls can be implemented in software, hardware or a
combination of both. In addition to preventing unrestricted access into a network, a
firewall can also restrict data from flowing out of a network.

Proxy Server

Most organizational firewalls include a special computer called a “proxy server”. It acts
as a gatekeeper, mediating traffic between a protected network and the Internet. All
communications between the internal network and the outside world must pass
through it. It then decides whether it is safe to allow a message or file to pass into or
out of the organization’s network.

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What is WWW

World Wide Web (WWW)

The World Wide Web (WWW) is information organized in the form of Web pages
containing text and graphic images. You can retrieve documents, view images,
animations and videos; listen to sound files, exchange voice data and view programs
that run on practically any software in the world.

Internet and Web

It is easy to get the Internet and the Web confused, but they are not the same thing.
The Internet is the actual physical network made up of wires, cables and satellites. It
connects millions of computers and resources throughout the world. When you
connect to this network you are described as being “online”. The Web is a multimedia
interface to the resources available on the Internet. This means that web pages
consist of multiple media such as text, graphics, video, animation and sound.

CERN

The World Wide Web was originally developed in 1990 at CERN, the European
Laboratory for Particle Physics. The World Wide Web Consortium now manages it. The
name of its website is http://www.w3.org.

Accessing the WWW

You can access the World Wide Web on the Internet by using any browser application
such as Mozilla, Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc. A web page is simply a document
formatted in a standard language known as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). It
contains hypertext links represented by underlined text and images that lead to
related information.

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Applets

Web pages also can contain special programs called “applets” that are generally
written in a programming language such as Java. Java applets are used for
presenting animation, displaying graphics, providing interactive games and more.

Web Surfing

"Web Surfing" means moving through different web pages. This may be done by
following hyperlinks, either from a search or through a series of linked pages. You
may even move between pages at random, in the course of learning something, or just
having fun.

Categories of Information on WWW

The information on WWW can be classified in different categories based on the type of
their content such as Business and Commercial, Educational, Advocacy (to influence
readers to support a cause or idea), News, Statistical Information and Personal
Information.

Information flow over the Internet

Protocols

Sending and receiving devices follow a set of communication rules for the exchange of
information. These rules for exchanging data between computers are known as
“protocols”.

Rules

The Internet uses some rules or standard set of protocols for communication between
computers. This ensures uniformity among users using various types of computer
systems. Protocols are used to create an Internet connection for your computer and
they handle the data transfer over network lines.

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TCP/IP

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the name of the core

protocol used on the Internet. Using this protocol, the information to be transmitted is
broken down in the form of small packets. Each packet contains the address of its
destination computer as well as the computer of its origin.

The other protocols are Point to Point Protocol (PPP) and Serial Line Internet
Protocol (SLIP).

Routers

A network also has components called “Routers” that help choose the best path for an
individual packet to travel and reach its destination. The packets are reassembled at
the destination to get the original information.

Features

The essential features of this protocol involve

 Identifying sending and receiving devices

 Reformatting information for transmission across the Internet

Identification

Every computer on the Internet has a unique numeric address called an “IP address
(internet protocol address)”. These addresses are used to deliver e-mail and to locate
web sites. Because these numeric addresses are difficult to remember, a system was
developed to automatically convert text-based addresses to numeric IP addresses.
This system uses a “domain name server (DNS)” that converts text-based addresses
to IP addresses. For example, if you enter a URL, say “www.example.com”, a DNS
might translate it to an IP address say, “198.103.132.4” before a connection can be
made.

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Reformatting

Information transmitted across the Internet travels through various interconnected

networks. Before a message is sent, it is reformatted or broken down into smaller
parts called packets which travel separately on different routes towards a common
destination. They are reassembled into the correct order at the receiving end.

Communication Systems

“Communication Systems” are electronic systems that transmit data from one location
to another. Every communication system has four basic elements which are as
follows:

 Sending and receiving devices: These may be computers or specialized

communication devices
 Communication channel: This is the actual medium that carries the message.
It may be a physical cable or it can be wireless.
 Connection devices: These act as the interface between the sending and
receiving devices and the communication channel. They convert messages into
packets that can travel across the communication channel.
 Data transmission specifications: These are procedures that coordinate the
sending and receiving devices by defining the way in which the messages will be
sent across the communication channel.

For example, when you send an e-mail, your computer would be the “sending
device”. Your modem would be the “connection device” which would modify the
message so that it could travel efficiently across the “communication channel” which
is the telephone line. How the message is modified and sent would be described in the
“data transmission specifications”. At the receiving end, another modem modifies it
once again so that it can be displayed on the “receiving device” which would be
another computer.

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Communication Channels

You know that communication channels are an essential element of every

communication system. There are two categories of communication channels. One
category connects sending and receiving devices by providing a physical connection
such as a wire or cable. The other category is wireless.

Physical Connections

“Physical Connections” use a solid medium to connect sending and receiving

devices. They include telephone lines, coaxial cable and fiber-optic cable.

Telephone Line

Telephone lines consist of twisted-pair cable which is made up of hundreds of copper

wires. A single twisted pair culminates in a wall jack into which you can plug your
phone and computer.

Co-axial Cable

Coaxial cable is a high-frequency transmission cable and consists of a single solid-

copper core. Coaxial cable is used to deliver television signals as well as to connect
computers in a network.

Fiber-optic Cable

Fiber-optic cable transmits data as pulses of light through tiny tubes of glass.
Compared to coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable is lighter and more reliable at
transmitting data as compared to coaxial cable.

Wireless Connections

Wireless connections use air to connect sending and receiving devices. They do not
use any solid substances like wires and cables. Primary technologies used for wireless
connections are infrared, broadcast radio, microwave and satellite.

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Infrared

“Infrared” uses infrared light waves to communicate over short distances. Since the
light waves travel in a straight line, sending and receiving devices must be in clear
view of one another. One of the most common applications is to transfer data from a
portable device such as a notebook computer or PDA to a desktop computer.

Broadcast Radio

“Broadcast radio” uses radio signals to communicate with wireless devices. Cellular
telephones and many Web-enabled devices use broadcast radio to place telephone
calls and to connect to the Internet. Some users connect their notebook or handheld
computers to a cellular telephone to access the Web. Most Web-enabled devices follow
a standard known as “Wi-Fi (i.e. wireless fidelity)”.

Microwave

“Microwave” communication uses high-frequency radio waves. Microwaves travel in a

straight line and therefore can be transmitted across relatively short distances.
Microwave is a good medium for sending data between buildings in a city or a large
college campus. For longer distances, the waves are relayed by microwave stations
with microwave dishes or antennas.

Bluetooth

“Bluetooth” is a proprietary open wireless technology that is used for data exchange
over short distances. It is essentially a cable-replacement technology.

Personal Area Network (PAN)

Conceived initially by Ericsson, Bluetooth is a small, cheap radio chip to be plugged

into computers, printers, mobile phones, etc. It creates a wireless personal area
network (PAN) and provides a way to connect and exchange information between two
devices over distances of about 30 feet. It aims to simplify data synchronization
between Internet devices and other computers.

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Satellite

“Satellite” communication uses satellites orbiting above the earth as microwave relay
stations. Satellites can amplify and relay microwave signals from one transmitter on
the ground to another. They can be used to send and receive large volumes of data.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

The “Global Positioning System (GPS)” is a network of 24 satellites developed by the

United States Department of Defense which continually sends location information to
the earth. GPS devices use that information to determine the geographical location of
the device. GPS devices provide navigational support in some automobiles. They are
sometimes mounted with a monitor to display maps and with speakers to provide
spoken directions to the driver.

Communication Channels

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Connection Devices

We have seen that connection devices act as the interface between the sending and
receiving devices and the communication channel. A great deal of computer
communication takes place over telephone lines. Telephones send and receive analog
signals which are continuous electronic waves. Computers, on the other hand, send
and receive digital signals which are binary signals.

Modems

The word “modem” stands for modulator-demodulator. “Modulation” is the process

of converting digital signals to analog form. “Demodulation” is the process of
converting analog signals to digital form. The modem thus enables digital
microcomputers to communicate across analog telephone lines.

Transfer Rate

The speed at which modems transfer data is called “transfer rate”. This is typically
measured in “bits per second (bps)”. The various units to measure transfer speed are
shown in the displayed chart.

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Types of Modems

There are four basic types of modems:

 External: The “external modem” stands outside the computer and is

connected by a cable to the computer’s serial port. Another cable connects the
modem to the telephone wall jack.
 Internal: The “internal modem” consists of a plug-in circuit board inside the
system unit. A telephone cable connects the modem to the telephone wall jack.
 PC Card: The “PC Card modem” is a credit card-sized expansion board that is
inserted into portable computers. A telephone cable connects the modem to the
telephone wall jack.
 Wireless: A “wireless modem” may be internal, external or a PC Card. Unlike
other modems, it does not use cables. It sends and receives signals through the
air.

Connection Service

Standard telephone lines and conventional modems provide a “dial-up service” which
is quite slow. Large corporations lease special high-speed lines from telephone
companies which provide very high capacity. These lines are known as T1, T2, T3 and
T4 lines and do not require conventional modems.

Dial-up Service

While special high-speed lines are very expensive, there are other affordable
connections which provide significantly higher capacity than a dial-up service. These
include DSL, cable modems, satellite and cellular services.

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DSL, ADSL and Cable Modems

 “Digital subscriber line (DSL)” uses existing telephone lines to provide high-
speed connections.
 ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) is one of the most widely used
types of DSL
 “Cable modems” use existing telephone cables to provide high-speed
connections.

Cellular Services

Satellite/air connection services use satellites and the air to send data to users at
faster rates than dial-up connections. “Cellular services” are used by mobile devices
and laptops. These devices use “3G cellular networks” to download data from the
Internet.

Costs and Speeds

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Data Transmission and Bandwidth

 Data Transmission: Several factors such as bandwidth and protocols affect

how data is transmitted.
 Bandwidth: This is a measurement of the width or capacity of the
communication channel. It indicates the volume of information that can move
across the communication channel in a given time. Audio and video files require
a wider bandwidth than text documents to be transmitted. There are three
categories of bandwidth.
1) “Voice band” is used for standard telephone communication.
Microcomputers with standard modems and dial-up service use this
bandwidth. This is also known as low bandwidth.
2) “Medium band” is the bandwidth used in special leased lines to
connect minicomputers and mainframes as well as to transmit data
over long distances.

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 3) “Broadband” is the bandwidth used for high capacity
transmissions. Specialized high-speed devices and microcomputers
with DSL, cable and satellite connections use this bandwidth.

Unleashing the Power of Internet

Online Services

Internet: A part of Everyday

The Internet has become a part of our everyday life. It is being used worldwide for
hundreds of different purposes. There are millions of applications available and the
dependence of some people on the Internet is almost as much as the dependence on
other utilities such as electricity, water etc. In fact many people would think that a
vital part of their life is missing if they are not able to log on for even one day.
Common uses of the Internet include sending emails, chatting on voice and video,
conferencing, and transferring files and documents. Let’s learn how the Internet can
assist us in some additional ways.

Making Reservations

In the past, planning for a trip or a vacation took very long. Written requests for
information on destinations were sent through the mail. Upon their arrival, they were
sorted and looked over before a decision was made. Then phone calls had to be made
to hotels, airlines and rental car agencies to secure the best price. This entire
procedure took a great deal of time, sometimes even months.

Travel Agent

Another alternative was to find someone like a travel agent to do all the work for you.
Of course, the agent needed to be paid for his services. He would then deliver a packet
of information with tickets and itinerary right before you leave for your trip.

Fast Booking

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The internet has changed the way we do things today. We can make our own travel
arrangements within a short while. What once took months can now be accomplished
in a few hours. There are travel websites that search all the airlines for the best
available price. This eliminates the need to contact individual airlines. The same thing
is applicable for hotel and car rental comparisons.

Online Travel Plan

In one day, a whole trip can be planned and booked. If you wish to cover minute
details, the internet can provide you with the means to make dinner reservations and
buy show tickets as well. So using the Internet, you can become your own travel agent
by just booting up your computer, visiting a few websites and making a few decisions.
In a short while, you will have e-mail confirmations, tickets and all the necessary
information to enjoy your trip.

Bill Payment

Paying bills is no one’s favorite activity. The Internet makes payment of bills a whole
new experience. No standing in lines and no missed dates. Paying bills online is so
convenient and such a time saver. You can check the status of payments and access
payment history as well. You save both money and time by paying your bills online
because you do not need to write checks, spend postage or visit a payment counter.
Use of credit cards to pay bills ensures timely payment of bills even when you do not
have sufficient balance in your account.

Signing Up

To pay a bill online, you may directly visit the website of the company you need to
pay. Some sites require you to sign up. Others simply require entry of identification
details such as an account number or membership number. Some banks enable you
to pay various service providers through their websites.

General Process for Bill Payment

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If you are logging on to your banks website, you need to type your user name and
password in the correct boxes. If you are creating an account with an online bill
payment service provider, you will need to enroll details such as your name, address,
phone number, and email address. The steps may vary slightly in case of different
banks and online bill payment service providers. Ensure that you read the "Bill
Payment Terms and Conditions" carefully and then verify your acceptance of the
terms.

E-Bills

Certain companies offer eBills i.e. electronic versions of your paper bills. This makes it
easy to preserve bills and eliminates the need for filing. Electronic bills and receipts
can be sorted by biller, date, amount and category; so finding them becomes quick
and easy. You can sign up for e-bills to be sent to your bank or online bill payment
service provider by answering a few security questions or by entering the username
and password you used to sign up for the original account. You are then relieved of
the hassle of physically paying your bills.

Online Banking

Online banking is the practice of making bank transactions via the Internet and
includes online bill payments. Online banking allows you to make deposits,
withdrawals and transfer funds with the click of a mouse. Online banking customers
find it very convenient while some other people appreciate the face-to-face customer
service that comes with going to a bank.

Benefits of Online Banking

Online banking customers do not have to wait for the bank statement to arrive in the
mail to check account balances. They can check the balance every day just by logging
onto their account. In addition to checking balances and transactions, you can catch
discrepancies in the account right away and deal with them swiftly. The best part is

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that this can be done anywhere! As long as one has Internet access, one can practice
online banking. More and more people are turning to various online outlets to take
care of their routine financial obligations with a couple of clicks, saving time and
offering the freedom to bank at their own convenience.

Feature of Online Banking

There is usually a minimal fee for various online banking services. But those who
partake in online banking all agree the benefits are more than the costs. Online
banking also eliminates paper waste, which not only reduces paper work, but also
helps the environment. Of course, even though you transact online, you would need to
visit your bank or ATM to deposit cash or cheques.

Security

Security is always a concern. Although the chances of your account being hacked are
slim, it does happen sometimes. Banks do take large scale measure to prevent this
from happening. Surely, the benefits far outweigh the risks. In some ways, online bill
paying is actually safer than other methods. People who pay their bills online can
keep better track of their account activity, so they know right away if anything is
amiss. They can also receive their statements and other financial notices through e-
mail, so there’s no chance someone can steal them from their mailboxes or other
places.

Online Shopping

In the past, when you needed to buy a gift, you were required to shower, dress, go out
and face crowds of shoppers. You would wait for stores to declare sales before you
made your purchases. Your shopping had to be done within certain time periods when
the shops were open. Today, thanks to the Internet, you can choose to shop
differently. For purchase of many items, you do not need to go the store anymore!
Instead, you can shop at virtual stores online. Purchases can be made by day or
night.

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Advantage of Online Shopping

Online shopping presents consumers with the advantage of getting good bargains.
Prior to shopping via the Internet, finding the lowest price for an item meant going
through catalogues and circulars, travelling from one store to another or calling
multiple suppliers for information on rates. The Internet makes finding good deals so
simple!

Shopping Fees

You often have to pay shipping fees for your online purchases to be delivered to your
doorstep. To cut down on shipping fees, try to order many items at once from a single
retailer. Your purchases should be grouped together into one large package with one
shipping fee attached.

Shortcomings of Online Shopping

Despite the convenience of online shopping, not everyone chooses to purchase items
and services online. Some people like the idea of physically going through the
shopping process. They like to touch the purchased item, try on clothing, and be
around other people. Sometimes, people fear that the products for sale are not
accurately displayed on the websites. Also online shopping does not allow you to take
you purchases home on the same day. Returning a defective item purchased online is
a lengthier process as compared to returning a physical purchase.

Disadvantage of Online Shopping

Others worry that due to shopping online they may become victims of identity theft.
This is because it is necessary to provide credit card or debit card information when
purchasing products online. It is advisable to ¬use credit cards, rather than debit
cards, for online shopping. Credit cards represent an extension of credit, while debit
cards draw directly from your bank account. Once in possession of your banking
information, hackers can do more damage to your finances than with your credit card
number.

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Online Applications

A “Web application” or “Online application” is one that is accessed over a network

such as the Internet. Online applications contain a variety of tools that provide great
functionality without the need to install anything on your local PC. With online
applications the data resides on a server which is accessed over the Internet. So to
utilize these applications, you only need an Internet connection and a web browser.

Benefits of Online Applications

There are a number of other benefits of using online applications. You do not need to
install them and upgrade the software. They prove quite cost effective and many
applications are available for free. Online software is already well tested and
operational, therefore is more reliable. Especially when you work on multiple
computers, you would reap great benefits if you had your data on the web rather than
on a PC.

Online Data Security

The thought of storing your personal finance data on an online software providers
servers may concern you, but your data is possibly more secure there than on your
home computer. Online financial software usually provides the highest level of data
security such as that provided by online banks and other financial institutions. Also
your data is stored in encrypted form so that no one can see it.

Google Docs

“Google Docs” is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form,

and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit
documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. A lot of free
utilities can also be found at the website “online-utility.org”.

Online Libraries

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We all know a library as a collection of objects such as books, CDs etc. housed within
a structure. Today the Internet has widened the scope of a library with the
introduction of online libraries. Online libraries save the time and effort of going out to
get what you need. Various trade publications, newspapers, magazines, journals and
reference books can be found at online libraries.

Free vs. Paid Online Libraries

There are many free online libraries where you can browse for a book you want and
read a digital version on your computer screen itself. Sometimes, you may not find
what you want in a free online library. Then you would need to subscribe to an online
library website. These offer different schemes and payment plans to cater to all
classes of readers.

Other Offerings through Online Libraries

Some websites offer physical books, games and movie CDs and DVDs on rental basis.
You need to pay registration fees and then login to specify your requirements. What
you need is delivered right to your doorstep. When you are finished with the borrowed
items, you can have them picked up as well.

Government Communications

The freedom of citizens to communicate is an important component of every society.

Communication is vital for personal and political good as well as economic
development. The use of the Internet provides low cost, more capable communication
channels. Governments have also recognized the importance of giving suitable
opportunities for communications by supporting public forums on the Internet.

E-Government

“E-Government”, short for electronic government, also known as “digital

government” or “online government” involves the creation of a comfortable,

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transparent, and cheap interaction between government and citizens. E-governance
involves the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government
services to benefit citizens.

Governments Worldwide

Governments worldwide are moving aggressively to provide services online by creating

government websites which give information and have links which citizens can use to
contact government bodies. E-governance offers great promise for reshaping politics
and stimulating economic opportunities.

Matrimonial Services

Matrimonial sites are especially popular in India and among Indians settled overseas.
Arranged marriages are still quite common in Indian families. These sites serve as a
meeting place for like-minded individuals. They facilitate wishful young men and
women to find their suitable life partners. These sites take advantage of the latest Web
technologies to bring you fast and friendly services.

Registration on Matrimonial Sites

Users are first required to register on matrimonial sites. Then they are able to upload
their profile to a database maintained by the website. The database can be searched
using different criteria such as nationality, age, gender, availability of photograph and
often religion, geographic location and caste

Advantages of Online Matrimonial Sites

Online Matrimony helps people spread across the globe to find suitable partners living
in remote places but matching his/her specific interests and requirements. A few

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websites cater to specific communities. Some websites charge registration fees while
others are free to use. The free websites gain their revenues through advertisements.
Some communities run websites on non-profit basis.

Precautions using Online Matrimonial Sites

Using online matrimony services has proved quite convenient and successful for
many. But one needs to exercise care and caution in giving out information. Recent
trends have shown that there is a possibility of your information being misused. One
needs to verify the credibility of the details posted on these websites before making
final decisions.

Wikipedia

“Wikipedia” is one of the most popular reference sites on the Internet. It is a web-
based free content, multilingual encyclopedia written by contributors around the
world. It is the result of the combined efforts of an online community of people
interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia in a spirit of mutual respect.

Features

It offers quick understanding on various issues and current affairs. It consists of 195
independent language editions sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.
Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest
reference Web sites.

Editing Content

This is a special type of website, called a “Wiki” where anybody can edit and add to an
article. Many people are constantly improving Wikipedia content. Content is
meticulously appraised and inappropriate changes are removed. Repeat offenders may
be blocked from editing. Anyone is welcome to add information as long as they do so
within Wikipedia’s editing policies. For example, if you add information to an article,
you must include appropriate references.

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Using Go and Search

This encyclopedia can be found at www.wikipedia.com.

 Select the language of your choice to go to the Main Page.

 Let us click on “English”.
 On the left-hand side of the screen you can see a “search” box with two buttons
under it labeled "Go" and "Search".

Searching Information

Let us look for information related to the great scientist Albert Einstein. Type
“Einstein” into the box, and press enter or click “Go”. This will take you directly to
Wikipedia’s most relevant article on the entered keyword. Here you will most likely
find all the information you need.

Searching Additional Pages

If you wish to look up additional Wikipedia pages, click “Search” after you have
entered your keyword. You see a page which displays links to other pages. Simply
click a link to view the related page. So, using Wikipedia, you can research on any
topic with great ease.

Wikileaks

“WikiLeaks” is an international organization that publishes anonymous submissions

and leaks of otherwise unavailable documents without disclosing the sources of
information. Its website, launched in 2006, can be found at wikileaks.org. It claims to
be a public service designed to protect informants of wrong doings, journalists and
activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public. WikiLeaks has
released more classified intelligence documents than the rest of the world press
combined.

Initiative

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This initiative began with an online dialogue between activists in different parts of the
globe. The overwhelming concern of these people was that a great deal of human
suffering stems from government resources being diverted through corruption of
governance. The founders of WikiLeaks thought at length about how this problem
could be fixed, and particularly about how information technologies could offer
solutions on a world wide scale.

Beliefs

This site functions on the belief that transparency in government activities leads to
reduced corruption, better governance and stronger democracies. It advocates that it
is not only the people of one country that keep their government honest, but also the
people of other countries who are watching that government. No official will take a
chance with a secret, corrupt transaction when the public is likely to find out.
WikiLeaks believes that “Principled leaking” has changed the course of history for
the better; it can alter the course of history in the present; it can lead us to a better
future.

Presentation Style

WikiLeaks uses the comfortable presentation style of Wikipedia, although the two are
not otherwise related. WikiLeaks applauds the courage of those who expose injustice,
and seeks to reduce the risks they face. It also runs a network of lawyers and others
to defend its work and sources.

Exposing a Corruption

For online submissions, all a person exposing a corrupt practice needs to do is upload
the document and specify the language, country and industry of origin, likely
audience and the reasons for leaking. He also needs to specify how the authenticity of
the document can be verified. The WikiLeaks network also collects materials in person
and from postal drops.

Photo Sharing

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Photo Sharing Service

We all love to take pictures at different occasions. This is because the photographs of
today are memories of tomorrow. “Photo Sharing” may be defined as the publishing
or transfer of digital photos online, thus enabling sharing with others. In today’s
digital world it is so easy to share your special moments with someone who is miles
away and make him feel that he was physically present. The Internet makes this
possible using various “Photo Sharing” websites. These websites facilitate the upload
and display of images. You need to sign up with these websites to use them. Let’s
have a look at some of them.

Flickr

In terms of popularity, audience, and features “Flickr” is one of top photo sharing
sites, used by various types of users. This site offers free storage up to a certain limit.
Beyond this, you are required to pay a yearly fee. Once the fee is paid, you are allowed
unlimited storage, unlimited categories, sets and collections.

Picasa Web Album

“Picasa Web Album” is another robust photo sharing and uploading site. It offers free
storage up to a certain limit, a photo search engine, photo tagging, and a photo
organization tool.

Zooomr

“Zooomr” is a very robust and feature-rich photo sharing site, but has not been able
to gain much popularity. This site has removed the storage limit for free accounts, so
you can upload as many photos as you want.

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Photobucket

“Photobucket” is a popular photo sharing site for online community forums. It offers
a certain amount of free storage as well as some custom URLS for your photo albums.
It is a top destination for users who want to share their photos and videos as well.

Photoshop Express

“Photoshop Express” is another photo sharing site with great features that you would
certainly enjoy. Officially it’s an online version of the top image editing software
Photoshop. It offers a 3D gallery for sharing photos that have been enhanced using
the online image editor. The bandwidth required to run the site smoothly is quite
high. If you have a fast Internet connection, you’d definitely enjoy using Photoshop
Express.

Photoblog

A “photo blog” is a form of photo sharing and publishing in the format of a blog.
Unlike a regular blog, there is predominant use and focus on photographs rather than
text. Photo sharing also facilitates setting up online photo galleries such as creation of
a photography portfolio, a stock photo gallery, or an auction gallery. Various social
networking sites such as “Facebook” and “Orkut” also allow sharing of photos and
videos.

YouTube

YouTube is a website that specializes in publishing user-posted video clips. It is one of

the top ten most popular websites on the Internet. The visitors to this site are mostly
teenagers and young adults. Its slogan is “Broadcast Yourself” meaning that
everyone is free to broadcast whatever they wish, provided it is not potentially
offensive.

History

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Started in 2005, the site was purchased one year later by Google. It can be found at
www.youtube.com. While much of the content consists of original amateur videos,
professional content is now being provided by some advertisers and media producers.

Features

Various people have used YouTube to achieve celebrity status by dancing, singing,
posting video resumes, and in other creative ways. Browsing through the loads of
available videos is simple and uploading your own video is almost as simple.
YouTube’s phenomenal appeal lies in its simplicity and global reach. There are a
number of other video sharing sites but so far, none of them have been able to match
the cultural impact or enormous volumes of YouTube.

Registered vs. Unregistered

Unregistered users can watch most videos on the site, while registered users are
permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. YouTube discourages users from
downloading videos to their own computers, preferring that they watch videos online.

Controversies

Like most other social-networking sites, YouTube has been the focus of controversies
related to some sensitive political and personal issues. Because of this, the site has
been banned in a few countries.

Twitter

Twitter is a popular website which is used by all classes of people. It can be found at
www.twitter.com. Other than youngsters who use this site for staying in touch with
friends, you’ll find many film personalities, sports persons and politicians with Twitter
accounts! It is a mini-blogging platform that you can use to send messages of 140
characters or less to family, friends, or just the general Web community at large. It is

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a rich source of instantly updated information. It makes it easy to stay updated on an
incredibly wide variety of topics.

Communication

Twitter is changing the way that many people connect and communicate online. This
website is free to join and you can get set up with an account in a matter of just a few
minutes. Twitter has two main components. Just like social networking sites, you can
add "followers" and follow other people as well. They’ll receive your updates and
you’ll receive theirs. In a way, Twitter can be seen as a traffic generation tool. The
placement of links within profiles and conversations can direct visitors to a specific
website. Let’s have a look at some of the things you could use Twitter for!

Expand Friend Circle

Like any other social network, Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and
track the messages of other users. This is an easy way for you connect with people
outside your usual circle.

Get Feedback

If you need a perspective regarding the right course of action to take on an issue,
simply tweet out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other
users.

Connect Customers

Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online.

Businesses can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants about latest event
happenings or changes. With Twitter, your target market can be at your fingertips.

Get Employees

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Twitter provides a very quick and easy way to hire people. Simply send out a message
specifying the required skills.

Read News

Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles. The site serves as a source of scoops
and alternative news. You can also subscribe to twitter feeds for specific websites or
conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly.

Provide Live Coverage

You can use Twitter to provide real-time commentary on any happening which can
prove very useful for citizen journalism.

Drawbacks

On the flip side, services like Twitter are leaving some people with a feeling of NOT
being connected. By elevating the importance of being “constantly updated,” it
makes them feel that they are missing something if they’re not twittering frequently.

LinkedIn

“LinkedIn” is a business-oriented social networking site. Launched in May 2003, it is

mainly used for professional networking. This site can be found at
www.linkedin.com and is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese
and Spanish. The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of
contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are
called “Connections”. Users can invite anyone, even if he is not a site user to become
a connection.

Building a Contact Network

The list of connections can be used in various ways. A contact network is built up
consisting of direct connections, second-degree connections i.e. connections of
connections and third-degree connections i.e. connections of second-degree
connections. This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to

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know through a mutual, trusted contact. Users can post their own photos and view
photos of others to aid in identification. The "gated-access approach" where contact
with any professional requires either a pre-existing relationship or the intervention of
a contact is intended to build trust among the services users.

Linking Employers and Employees

LinkedIn can be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended
by someone in the network. Employers can list jobs and search for potential
candidates. Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which
of their existing contacts can introduce them. Users can follow different companies
and can get notifications about the opportunities available.

Research

LinkedIn also allows users to research companies with which they may be interested
in working. When typing the name of a given company in the search box, statistics
about the company are provided. These may include the ratio of female to male
employees, the percentage of the most common positions held within the company,
the location of the company’s headquarters and offices, or a list of present and former
employees.

LinkedIn Features

The feature “LinkedIn Answers”, allows users to ask questions for the community to
answer. This feature is free, potentially business-oriented, and the identity of the
people asking and answering questions is known.

LinkedIn Groups

The searchable “LinkedIn Groups” feature allows users to establish new business
relationships by joining alumni, industry, or professional and other relevant groups.

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LinkedIn groups can be created on any subject and by any member of LinkedIn. Some
groups are specialized ones dealing with a narrow domain or industry whereas others
are very broad and generic in nature.

LinkedIn Polls

Another LinkedIn feature is “LinkedIn Polls”. These Polls allow you to easily find
answers to your business and market research questions. You can target
professionals with the right expertise, and the results are analyzed to show you how
factors such as seniority, company size, job function, age and gender influence
responses.

Useful Websites

Accessing Information

You know that the Internet is a huge database of all kinds of data. You can access
information related to different categories such as travel, services, shopping,
classifieds, health and more. Let’s look at a few useful websites.

Justdial.com

The “Just dial” website at justdial.com enables you to get information regarding any
Indian city. You can access data regarding various categories of products, services
and even jobs by simply entering the city name and related key words.

Amazon.com

“Amazon.com” is a website set up by an American-based multinational e-commerce

company. It began as an online bookstore but has expanded into a full-fledged store
that retails all kinds of products. “Flipcart.com” is a similar Indian website.

Websites Related to Sports

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A website which would make all sports lovers happy is “espnstar.com”. This site
offers the latest updates on all the sports events of different countries. For cricket
lovers, the site to visit would be “cricinfo.com”.

Weather Forecasts

To know the local weather conditions and forecasts in India, you could visit the
website at “imd.gov.in”. This would help you plan your day and also know what
weather conditions to expect when visiting another city.

Epic Browser

The “Epic Browser” is a free browser created by Indians, for Indians. This browser is
the first of its kind and has been created specifically with Indians in mind and has a
distinctive Indian flavor. The credit for this goes to the software company Hidden
Reflex founded by Alok Bhardwaj in 2007 and based in Bangalore. With the Epic
browser, the company has attempted to create the most secure, most productive and
most “Indian” browsing experience.

Indian Experience

It offers a complete Indian experience because of the wallpapers, themes, icons and
direct shortcuts to major Indian websites. For example, you can get cricket match
score updates, share market updates, video streams and more. Epic Browser is built
on the Mozilla platform. Currently Epic browser has over 1500 applications. It is
presently available only for the Windows operating system.

Downloading Epic Browser

This browser can be downloaded at “www.epicbrowser.com”. A striking feature of the

browser is the sidebar at the left. This contains various icons to activate different
applications which make your browsing experience truly wonderful. Let’s have a look
at some of Epic’s features.

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Features: Epic India

This application enables a user to get all kinds of information about India such as
Regional, National and International news. Epic India has information on various
topics like Bollywood, Shopping, Local Events, Videos, Travel, Job Opportunities,
Stock Market, Cricket, and more.

Changing Browser Theme

Epic themes are called Skins. Click the ‘Skins” icon on the sidebar to view the
different theme styles available under the categories People, Culture, Regional, Sports,
Films, Art, Music, Religious, Politics and Nature. You may dress up your browser as
you like!

Anti virus

The Epic browser has built-in Anti Virus and Anti Spyware software to keep malware
and Trojans out of your PC. This software not only scans your downloaded files but
also offers you options to scan your computer or selected folders in it.

Word Processing: Epic Write

 Click the “Write” icon on the sidebar to invoke Epic’s full-fledged word
processor.
 You can easily create text documents, tables, images and reports using this
application.
 This word processor has Indic language support which can be accessed through
a drop-down menu situated at the right-hand side of the page with a check box.
 Let’s try to create Hindi text.
 Check the box and select “Hindi”.
 Type your text in English as shown.
 When you press the spacebar after a word, your text is displayed in Devnagiri
fonts.

Typing in Regional Languages

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Using the “Indic” icon: The “Indic” icon can be used to type text in any regional
language as well. You can then save and copy the text into an email or a web page
which doesn’t have the option to type in Indian languages using the “Save and Copy”
button. You may also paste this text into “Epic Write” using the button below this.

Social Networking

Epic makes it easy to visit popular social networking websites. Simply click on any of
the icons available on the sidebar for sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut etc.

Games

Epic has some exciting games for your entertainment and recreation. Scroll down the
sidebar to view the “Games” icon. Epic games are offered under different categories to
suit all classes of users.

WORD PROCESSING
GETTING STARTED

Overview of Word Processing

History of Writing

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Hello friends! Since time immemorial, man has used writing as a means of
communication. Cave men wrote on the walls of their caves using sharp objects. Since
then, man started writing on stones, metals and wood. Around 105 AD, paper was
invented. Since then, the nature of writing has been constantly evolving, particularly
due to the development of new technologies over the centuries. The pen was invented.
But man got busier and wanted to save his time. He wanted characters to be formed
on paper by the press of a button, rather than making physical motions with his
hands. Enter the typewriter! For some time man was satisfied. He improved the
typewriter as best as he could by making it lighter, handier and easier to use.

Typewriters

But the wonderful ever-active brain of man continued to work. He realized that a
though a typewritten document was better than a hand written one, once it was
created, it could not be modified. He had to use correction fluid every time he made a
mistake. Carbon papers had to be used for making copies. To correct copies, typists
had to go from one copy to another, trying not to get their fingers dirty as they leafed
through the carbon papers. The typewriter did not have any facility for enhancing the
documents in terms of character shapes and sizes. Images had to be manually
inserted in the document. Enter the Computer and Word Processing applications!

What is Word Processing

Welcome to the world of Word Processing! What exactly is this world all about? Word
processing involves the use of a computer to create, edit and print documents. The
keyboard of a computer is similar to that of a typewriter, but the capabilities of Word
Processing software extend far beyond. For example, you don’t have to press the
Return or Enter key at the end of every line. In Word Processing, the line "wraps
around" when it reaches the margin you’ve set and allows you to continue typing
without stopping. You only press Enter (or Return) when you want to start a new
paragraph or insert blank lines. If you make a mistake while typing, you simply use
backspace or delete to erase it. Documents can be saved, closed and opened again to
continue working on them.

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Features of Word Processing

A Word Processor frees you to express ideas more clearly and let’s your thoughts flow
because anything can be changed or deleted later. To create beautiful professional
looking documents that make a great impression, you do not have to rely on experts!
Word processing software enables you to easily create various documents such as
letters, project reports, invoices, resumes and flyers complete with pictures, tables,
graphs, charts and more. The visually pleasing interface lets you see what your
document will look like when printed right on your computer screen. Documents can
be replicated and modified to quickly create similar documents. Documents that you
use often can be saved as templates. These are just a fraction of the things that a
Word Processor can do. Aren’t you eager to learn more?

Popular Word Processor

Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Writer are a few of the popular Word Processors.
Notepad and WordPad are two simple word processors which come preinstalled with
any Windows Operating System. There are also some very useful online Word
Processors such as Google Docs, EtherPad, WriteOnline, Microsoft Web App, etc.
We’ll learn to use Microsoft Word 2010 which is a complete Word Processor
Application. It is a component of the Microsoft Office 2010 system. Its rich features
and user-friendliness will leave you spellbound!

Features of Word 2010

Microsoft Word 2010 contains an abundance of helpful tools. For instance, the
spelling and grammar checking features prevent writers from making errors. Users
can add clarity to long documents by using the header and footer tools. Displaying
page numbers and titles automatically on each sheet adds a professional touch. Text
can be organized in a multi-columnar format with a few clicks. The use of mail
merging tools saves countless hours by automating an otherwise time consuming job.
Language and translation tools enable you to work in various languages effortlessly.

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Several users can work together on the same document utilizing a computer network.
Users can also share their work with others via email or by uploading files to a
network.

Starting Word 2010

To begin using Word, you will need to first open the application. Click on the “ Start”
button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Word
2010”. When you start Word, you are presented with a new blank document. The
Word screen at first glance may appear very intimidating. But when you start using
Word, you’ll quickly learn what everything is.

The User Interface

The User Interface is the way in which you interact with your computer. The Microsoft
Office user interface is quite uniform across its components. Before you start using
the rich features of Word 2010, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the Word
2010 screen elements. Come, let’s explore the Word Screen!

Quick Access Toolbar

Quickly! This is how today’s world wants everything. As the name suggests, this small
toolbar contains buttons that allow you to quickly perform common actions, such as
saving a document, undoing your last action, or repeating your last action.

Title Bar

We all have names, even our pets do! The horizontal title bar at the top of the Word
document window displays the name of the program and document.

Ribbon

If you see a sea of commands, you may simply drown! Small gentle waves are soothing
to the soul. The Ribbon, which is part of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface, is

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made up Tabs. The tabs are like gentle waves which are designed to show you just the
commands you would need to complete the task at hand without overburdening you.
Within each tab there are Groups that contain logically related command buttons.
These buttons execute a command or display a menu of commands. Ribbons are
made up of

 Task-oriented tabs.
 Groups within each tab that break a task into subtasks.
 Command buttons in each group that execute a command or display a menu of
commands

Contextual Tabs

When you first launch most of the Microsoft Office applications you’ll find yourself in
the Ribbon’s Home tab, which includes the most commonly-needed commands. Extra
"Contextual" tabs appear and disappear as you work. For example, if you click in a
table, two extra Table Tools tabs appear, one for Design and the other for Layout.
You’ll see similar contextual tabs if you click on a picture. The contextual tabs contain
the controls you need to format items like tables, pictures and text boxes.

Dialog Box Launcher

The Ribbon displays the important or key commands required for a task. The Dialog
Box Launcher is a button with a small arrow on it which appears in the lower-right
corner of many groups. Clicking it opens a dialog box that provides many more
options.

Work Area

This is the area to be used by you! This is the main area where you type the document
contents. The flashing vertical bar - called the insertion point - represents the location
where text will appear when you type.

Scroll Bar

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You are free to decide the dimensions of your document! The length and width of your
document is not restricted to the size of your monitor. Scroll bars appear at the
bottom and right edge of a window whose contents are not entirely visible. Each scroll
bar contains a small box, called a scroll box, and two scroll arrows. Drag the scroll
box or click the scroll bar arrows to display additional content.

Status Bar

This horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen displays information about the
document you are editing. At any given time, you have access to information such as
how many pages and words your document contains, whether there are any proofing
errors, etc.

View Buttons

You can display your document in different ways. For example, you may want to see
how your document would appear when printed or when it is displayed in a Web
browser. The View buttons positioned at the right of the status bar enable you to
change the display mode of the document.

Zoom Buttons

You need not strain your eyes! You can adjust the magnification level of your
document as required. The zoom buttons at the bottom right corner are used to make
your documents appear larger or smaller. You may click the minus and plus icons or
drag the slider to the required level.

Repositioning the Quick Access Toolbar

By default, the Quick Access toolbar appears to the right of the Word 2010 icon above
the Ribbon at the top of the screen. To position it below the ribbon, click the arrow to
the right and select “Show below the Ribbon”.

Adding Commands

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  To add an additional command to the Quick Access toolbar, click the arrow on
the right and click an icon name, such as “New”, from the menu that appears.
 To add other commands, click “More Commands”.
 In the “Choose commands from:” box, you may select the command category.
 Click an icon from the displayed list and then click the “Add” button.
 Click “OK”.
 You can see that your chosen icon now appears on the Quick Access toolbar.
 To quickly add a command from the Ribbon, right-click on it and select “Add to
Quick Access Toolbar”.

Removing commands

To remove an icon from the Quick Access toolbar, right-click on it and select “Remove
from Quick Access Toolbar”.

Hiding the Ribbon

You can hide the Ribbon if you wish to have more work space. For this,

 Right-click anywhere on the Ribbon and choose “Minimize the Ribbon”.

 To restore the Ribbon, right-click any tab and choose the “Minimize the
Ribbon” command again.
 You can also use the arrow located next to the Help icon on the Ribbon.
 Click on the arrow to minimize the Ribbon and click again to maximize it.

Help

Clicking the question mark symbol at the right end of the Ribbon brings up the Help
window related to Office application that are using. When you move your mouse over
most command buttons, a “Super-tooltip” is displayed. This provides a detailed
description of what the button does. Equivalent keyboard shortcuts are also displayed

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if applicable. These can be used as an alternative to mouse clicks. You may use them
when you are more familiar with the commands.

Access Keys

Access keys are a set of keyboard shortcuts used to access the Ribbon. They relate
directly to the tabs, commands, and other things that you see on the screen. You first
need to press the “Alt” key. You then see little labels, or badges, showing the Key Tips
for all the tabs. After you press a key to activate a particular tab, the badges showing
the Key Tips for the commands on that tab appear. Every single command on the
Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar has an access key, and every access key is
assigned a Key Tip. Press the “Alt” key once again to hide the Access keys.

Galleries and Live Previewing

Built into some tabs are galleries which contain the visual options for changing an
item. The results of a menu or gallery can be viewed before making the actual choice.
You can see the results of selecting an option from a gallery by moving the pointer
over the option. Similarly, moving the pointer over the options in a drop down list
displays a live preview. Now that you’re familiar with the user interface, let’s go to the
next assignment and create a simple Word document.

Creating a Simple Document

Creating a new document

You know that when you first start Word you see a new blank document. It is like a
blank piece of paper that has certain default settings which are the most commonly
used ones. When an existing word document is open, to create a new blank
document, click the File Tab and select “New” in the left pane. In the central pane, you
can see various template categories. A Template is a pre-designed document created
for common purposes such as a fax, invoice or business letter.

Using Templates

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  To create a new document using one of the standard templates, click “Sample
Templates” and then the desired template in the central pane.
 Then click the “Create” icon in the right pane.
 Here you are! A new ready-to-use document is created based on the template
you selected which can be modified as required.
 For now, we let’s to create a document from scratch, so we’ll close this
document.
 Click the “X” shaped icon at the top right corner. Click “Don’t Save” in the
window that comes up because we do not want to save this document at
present.

Entering Text

 To create a new blank document when the Word application is running, activate
the File tab and select “New - Blank Document - Create”.
 The insertion point is displayed as a blinking cursor. Now we’re ready to start
typing text.
 This involves pressing the keys on the keyboard. As you press any alphabet key
on the key board, that alphabet is inserted before the cursor or the insertion
point and the cursor moves one position ahead.
 We shall now type the main heading as shown.
 Press the “Shift” key along with an alphabet key to type a capital letter.
 Press the Spacebar to leave a space between each word.
 Press Enter.
 This moves the cursor to the next line. Press Enter once again to leave a blank
line.

Text Wrapping and Tabs

Now type the other text as shown. As you go on typing, the cursor automatically
moves to the next line unlike a regular type writer. This feature of Word is called as
“Text Wrapping”. However, if you want to move to the next line before reaching the
end of line, press the Enter key. The cursor moves to the next line in your document.

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When you want to insert more than one black space between words, you may use the
“Tab” key instead of pressing the spacebar multiple times. The Tab key moves the
cursor one tab stop ahead.

Selecting Text

 To select a section of text, click & hold at the point you want to begin and drag
your cursor to the right and release it when you have reached the end of the
selection.
 A single word can be selected by double clicking on it. To select an entire line or
paragraph you can use the “Selection Bar” which is an invisible area outside the
left margin.
 When you put your mouse pointer in that area, it changes to an arrow which
points to the right. To select a line, click in the Selection Bar.
 To select a paragraph, position the mouse in the Selection Bar and double click.
To select the entire document, click in the Selection Bar thrice.
 To deselect text, click anywhere outside the selected area.

Editing Text

 After entering the text of a document, you may like to make some changes.
 In order to delete a section of text, select it and press “Delete”.
 To remove individual characters, you may press "Delete" for characters to the
right of the insertion point and "Backspace" for characters to the left.
 To delete an entire word, you may also use "Ctrl + Delete" for words to the right
of the insertion point or "Ctrl + Backspace" for words to the left.
 To delete a blank line, click on that line and press “Delete”.

Undoing and redoing editing Changes

 Sometimes after making some changes, you may decide they are not necessary
after all.
 You can reverse your last action by using the “Undo” command.
 Let us first delete a line of text. Select the entire line and press “Delete”.

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  Now to undo this action, you may select “Undo” from the Quick Access toolbar
or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Z”.
 The line is displayed once again.
 You can also redo an action that has been undone.
 For this, select “Redo” from the Quick Access Toolbar or use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl + Y”.
 The line that was displayed is now re-deleted.

Navigating Through a Document

Navigation using the mouse

We’ll use a document with multiple pages to understand navigation clearly. The
Mouse is a very handy tool when it comes to navigating through documents. You
know that in a document, the insertion point is in the form of a blinking cursor. When
you move your cursor over the text in your document, the cursor changes into an I-
beam. This indicates that you can now move to any part of the document using the
mouse. To change the location of the insertion point, take the I-beam to the desired
location and click.

Using Scroll bars

You may use the scroll bars on the right and bottom of your screen for navigating
through your document. Using the mouse, click on the scroll box at the right and drag
it upwards or downwards to reach the desired location. Similarly, the scroll box at the
bottom helps you to move to the left or right.

Using the Keyboard

You can move through your document using your keyboard as well. To do that you
can use the four arrow keys: Up, Down, Left and Right. Using these keys, you can
take the insertion point to the desired location and type or modify the text. Use the
“Page Up” or “Page Down” keys to move to the next or previous pages of your

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document respectively. You can also use a combination of keys to navigate through a
document. The keys, “Ctrl + Home” take you to the beginning of the document and
the keys “Ctrl + End” take you to the end.

Using the Navigator Pane

In Word 2010, Microsoft has introduced a new and improved navigation experience
with the “Navigation Pane”. To open the navigation pane, activate the “View” tab and
in the “Show” group, click the box in front of “Navigation Pane”. By default the
navigation pane opens at the left of your document window.

Search for specific Text

 You can search for specific text within a document by entering it in the “Search
Document” box.
 All instances of the text are highlighted.
 Click the “Browse the results from your current search” tab to see each
instance displayed in a separate box.
 Some text before and after the searched text is also displayed.
 You can use the scroll bar or the Previous/Next arrows to move between the
instances.
 Click in a specific box to move to the related instance.
 Click the “X” shaped icon in the “Search Document” box to end your search.

View and visit the page

You can view and visit any page of your document by selecting the “Browse the
pages in your document” tab in the navigation pane. This shows you thumbnails of
all the pages. To go to a particular page, simply click on the related thumbnail.

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Browse view the pages

You may have graphics, tables, endnotes or footnotes in your document. You’ll learn
about all these in detail a little later. You can directly go to these sections by selecting
the related option from the list that appears by clicking the down arrow at the right of
the “Search Document” text box. For example, if you select the graphics option,
thumbnails of the pages containing graphics in your document will be displayed in
the Navigation Pane. Click on a specific thumbnail to move to the related page.

Go to Option

 Now if you want to go to directly to a specific page in the document, then in the
“Search Document” text box, click the down arrow and select “Go To” from the
options displayed.
 The “Find and Replace” window is displayed with the “Go To” tab active.
 Select “Page” in the “Go to what” list.
 Now enter the page number in the box at the right and click the “Go To” button.
 Your cursor moves to the specified page.
 Click “Close” in the “Find and Replace” window.
 You can also navigate to a specific line, section, footnote, endnote etc. in a
similar way.
 An alternative way to access the “Go To” option is to activate the “Home” tab
and in the “Editing group”, select “Find - Go To”.

The File Tab

In Word 2007, the “File” tab was present as the Office Button, situated at the top left
corner of the screen. In Word 2010, the Office Button is replaced by the File Tab on
the Ribbon. Clicking the File Tab displays the “File” menu which is also called the

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“Backstage View”. The Office Backstage contains all the “Out” features i.e. the
features which don’t act on a specific point in the document, and whose effects don’t
appear on the page. It contains the usual options of opening, closing, printing files
and saving in different formats. Options such as setting permissions and document
properties that don’t help you to change the document, but let you see it in various
ways are available in the backstage view.

Saving a Document

Saving your work at regular intervals is very important. This will prevent data loss
due to power failure or unforeseen circumstances. A regular Word document is saved
with the extension “.docx”. There are three ways to save your document in MS Word.

 Click the File Tab and select “Save”.

 Click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + S”.

Saving a New Document

When you save a new file for the first time, the “Save As” window is displayed. Specify
the name, folder and location for the file and then click “Save”. You may also save an
existing file with a new name using the “File tab - Save As” option.

Creating a New Folder

You can create a new folder at the time of saving the file. The steps to do so are:

 Click the File Tab and select “Save As”.

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  In the displayed window, navigate to the appropriate location where you wish to
place the new folder.
 Click the “New Folder” button.

Saving in a New Folder

 A new folder is created as a subfolder in the active directory.

 Type the name of the new folder in the “New Folder” window and press “Enter”.
 Click “Open” to open the new folder.
 Press “Save” to save your file with the same name in the new folder.
 If you wish to change your file name, make appropriate changes in the “File
name” box and then click “Save”.
 Your document is now saved in the newly created folder.

Closing a Document

 To close a document, click the File tab and select “Close” Alternatively, you may
click on the “X” shaped icon at the top right corner of the window Or use the
keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + W”.
 If you try to close an unsaved file, Word asks you if you want to save your
document before closing it.
 Click the Save button in the displayed dialog box to save your work.
 When you close your document, the Word application continues running if there
are other open documents.
 To exit the Word Application, use the “Exit” option on the File tab.

Opening a Document

The simplest way to open a document is to double click on its icon. This starts the
Microsoft Word application and opens the file. There are numerous ways in which you
can open a document when the Word application has already been started.

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  Click the File Tab and select “Open”.
 In the “Open” window, navigate to the location of your document;
 Select the file and click “Open”.
 you may use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + O”

Opening a Recent Document

 To open a recently used document, you may click on the File Tab and then click
“Recent”.
 Now click on a document name from the “Recent Documents” list in the central
pane.
 You can also access a document in any of the recently used folders in the
“Recent Places” list.
 For this, click on a folder name and navigate to the required document in the
“Open” window and click Open.
 Right-clicking the Word taskbar button displays a jump list displaying a list of
recently used documents.
 You can open a document by clicking on an item from the list.

Pinning a Recent Document

When the list of recent documents is full and you open a new / existing document, the
last document in the list is removed from the list. You may wish to have certain
important documents displayed in this list at all times for quick access. For this, you
may pin them to the “Recent Documents” list. Each document in the list is marked by
an inactive pin. You can pin a document by clicking its pin to transform it into an
active pin. This ensures that this document will never be removed from the recent list.
Folders in the “Recent Places” list can be pinned in the same way. To unpin a
document or folder, simply click its pin to transform it back to an inactive pin.

Printing a Document

 To print your document, click the File Tab and select “Print” from the left pane.
 You may also use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + P”.

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  The “Print” interface is displayed. In the right pane, you can see a preview of the
page in which the cursor is currently positioned.
 The Zoom level can be adjusted using the slider at the bottom right of the
window.
 Drag the slider to the right or left as required.

Specifying Settings

In the central pane, specify the number of copies required at the top. Other default
settings are shown. You might need to change some of them. The displayed visual
would help you with this.

Other Settings

You may use the “Printer Properties” link to specify settings related to the selected
printer. Use the “Page Setup” link to specify other finer settings. Finally, click the
“Print” button to start printing.

Quick Printing

You can simplify the printing process by adding the Quick Print link to the Quick
Access Toolbar. The Quick Print command does not show the option screen. It
automatically chooses the settings and Printer that was last chosen and prints
accordingly. So it comes in handy when you consecutively print a lot. To add this
command to the Quick Access Toolbar, click on the arrow at the right end and click on
Quick Print.

THE HOME TAB

Introduction

The Home tab contains the most commonly-needed commands. It is divided into five
groups. A brief description of each of them is given below.

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  Clipboard: This group contains the main editing commands such as Cut, Copy
and Paste.
 Font: These commands enable you to modify and enhance the appearance of
your text.
 Paragraph: These commands enable you to format complete paragraphs
 Styles: These commands enable you to apply pre-defined formatting instructions
 Editing: These commands help you to find and replace text as well as make
selections.

Clipboard Group

Copy

The “Copy” icon is used to copy a selection to the “Clipboard” which is a temporary
storage area. This command when used along with the “Paste” command enables you
to copy a section from one part of your document to another. Select some text and
then on the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click “Copy”. You may also use the
keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + C”. The document itself does not change, but the selected
text is copied to the clipboard.

Cut

The “Cut” icon is used to move a selection to the “Clipboard”. This command when
used along with the “Paste” command enables you to move a section from one part of
your document to another. Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the
“Clipboard” group, click “Cut”. You may also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + X”.
The text is removed from the document and placed on the clipboard.

The Clipboard Task Pane

The Clipboard Task Pane is used to view the contents of the Clipboard. On the “Home”
tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click the Dialog Box Launcher to display the Clipboard
Task Pane. Here you can see all items that you have copied or cut. The “Paste All”

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button is used to insert the complete contents while “Clear All” clears all the contents.
Click any item to insert it individually.

Paste

The “Paste” icon is used to insert the latest copied or cut item from the Clipboard into
the document. “Copy” plus “Paste” is used to copy a section from one part of your
document to another while “Cut” plus “Paste” is used to move a section from one part
to another. Any selected text or objects are replaced by the pasted contents. Place your
cursor suitably. Then, on the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click “Paste” or
use the shortcut “Ctrl + V”. The contents of the clipboard are placed at the current
cursor position.

Paste Options

When you paste an object or some text, a small “Paste Options” icon is displayed. Click
this to view the various Paste Options:

 “Keep Source Formatting” preserves the look of the original text.

 “Merge Formatting” changes the formatting so that it matches the text that
surrounds it.
 “Keep Text Only” removes all the original formatting from the text.

Paste Preview

Move your mouse pointer over the individual Paste Options to preview results and click
your preferred option. This facility is called as “Paste Preview”. The default is pasting
the items with identical formatting as the source. You can also see the Paste options by
clicking the arrow below the “Paste” icon in the Clipboard group.

Format Painter

The “Format Painter” command is used to copy the formatting applied to a section of
text to another section.

 First, select the section of text which has formatting applied.

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  Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click “Format Painter”.
 Your mouse pointer changes to a paint brush.
 Now drag it over the text to which you wish to apply the formatting.
 You can now see the same formatting in both the sections of text.
 If you wish to apply the selected formatting at multiple places, double-click the
“Format Painter” icon.
 You can then drag over multiple areas.
 Click “Esc” when done.

Drag & Drop

All Windows applications have the ability to copy or move selections using the “Drag
and Drop” feature. Let us now move the text that we moved using the Cut and Paste
commands back to its original location. First, select the item to be moved. Then, place
the mouse pointer on it and drag to the new location keeping the mouse button
pressed. You may now drop the selection by releasing the mouse button.

Copying Between Multiple Documents

 You can also Copy-Paste or Cut-Paste between two documents.

 Save the current document by clicking “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now open a new Word document.
 This second document becomes the “active” program.
 The previous document we were working with is the “dormant” program now.
 The inactive program appears dimmed on the taskbar.
 Make it active by clicking on its taskbar button.
 Now select some text.
 Copy it by clicking the “Clipboard group - Copy” icon.
 Move to the new document by clicking on the related taskbar button.
 Paste the contents by clicking the “Home tab - Clipboard group - Paste” icon.

Font Group

What is Formatting

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Setting up the way a page of text will look by entering certain attributes is called
“Formatting”. The Font group contains various commands for formatting text. To
apply formatting to existing text, you have to select it first. Let us select the title which
is the first line of text and change the font. When text is selected, a "Mini Toolbar" is
automatically displayed. It remains semi-transparent until you move your mouse
pointer over it. It provides easy access to the most-used formatting commands. You
will be comfortable using it after you are more familiar with the Word application. For
now, let us use the command buttons on the Ribbon.

Font

A “Font” is a design for a set of characters. The “Font” box is used to change the font of
selected text. Changing the font can be used to enhance the appearance of text or to
make it appear different from the surrounding text. On the “Home” tab, in the “Font”
group, click the down arrow in the Font box. In the displayed menu, move your mouse
over the different fonts. The "Live Preview" feature allows you to preview pointer how
the selected font would affect the appearance of the text, without actually applying it.
Click on the font you like.

Font Size

The “Font Size” box is used to apply a uniform size to the characters of selected text.
It is measured in points; a point is 1/72 of an inch. Normally, a larger font size is used
for headings and important text. On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the
down arrow in the “Font Size” box and select a suitable option.

Grow Font & Shrink Font

The “Grow Font” icon is used to proportionately increase the size of selected text. This
icon enables you to increase the font size without specifying the actual size in points.
On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the “Grow Font” icon to increase the

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font size. You may click it as many times as needed to get the required size. Similarly,
the “Shrink Font” icon is used to proportionately decrease the size of text.

Font Color

The “Font Color” icon is used to change the color of selected text. Using different
colors makes text more attractive. Different categories of text can be colored differently
to make them appear distinct. On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow
next to the Font Color icon and select a color from the displayed palette. Have a look!
Your text is now displayed in the selected color.

Bold

The “Bold” icon is used to make text appear darker and thicker. Bold text is often used
for titles, headings and other text required to be prominently displayed. Select some
text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Bold”. You can see that the
text appears in bold font.

Italic

The “Italic” icon is used to make the characters of selected text slant to the right.
Italics are often used to emphasize words or make them appear different from other
text. Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Italic”.
Your text now appears in italics.

Underline

The “Underline” icon is used to draw a line below text. Text is normally underlined
when you wish to call attention to it. Select some text and click “Underline”. Your text
is now underlined. You may choose other underline styles and colors by clicking the
arrow to the right of the “Underline” icon.

Change Case

The “Change Case” icon is used to change the capitalization of text. This means you
may specify which parts you want in capital letters and small letters. Select the

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heading text. Now on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Change Case”. Select
an option from the ones displayed. Let us select “UPPERCASE”. You can see that your
text is displayed with all capital letters.

Text Highlight Color

The “Text Highlight Color” icon is used to make text look like it was marked with a
highlighter pen. The reader surely cannot miss seeing highlighted text! Select the text
which you want to highlight. On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click on the
arrow next to the “Text Highlight Color” icon and select a color from the palette. Your
text appears with the selected color in the background. You can remove text
highlighting by selecting “Text Highlight Color → No Color”. When no text is
selected, clicking this icon displays the pointer as a highlighting pen. Drag it over the
area you wish to highlight and press “Esc” when done.

Text Effects

The “Text Effects” icon is used to apply various effects to selected text. Applying text
effects enhances the appearance of text. Select some text and on the “Home” tab, in the
“Font” group, click “Text Effects”. Various text styles are displayed for selection.
Additionally, you can select Outline, Shadow, Reflection and Glow effects from the list
below by rolling over an option to see the related list. Click on an effect to apply it to
the selected text. Doesn’t this text look great now?

Clear formatting

Sometimes you may decide that the formatting you have applied doesn’t look too good.
The “Clear Formatting” icon is used to clear all applied formatting. This is also useful
in removing the formatting of copied text or when you want the text to appear plain.
Select some text to which formatting effects have been applied. Then on the “Home”
tab, in the “Font” group, click “Clear Formatting”. The formatting is removed and the
text is restored to its original status.

Strikethrough

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The “Strikethrough” icon is used to draw a line through the middle of selected text.
This proves useful when you need to strike out unwanted text while editing or proofing
a document. Select the text and on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click
“Strikethrough”. The text is not actually deleted, but a line is drawn across it.

Subscript & Superscript

Subscripts and Superscripts are used in formulas, mathematical expressions and

descriptions of chemical compounds. The “Subscript” icon is used to create small
letters below the text baseline. To subscript text, select it and then on the “Home” tab,
in the “Font” group, click “Subscript”. The text now appears smaller and moves below
the other text. Similarly, the “Superscript” icon is used to create small letters above
the line of text. To superscript text, select it and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font”
group, click “Superscript”. The text appears smaller and is raised above the other text.

The Font Dialog Box

The “Font” dialog box is used to apply a combination of various formatting effects. On
the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the Dialog Box Launcher to display the
“Font” window. Enter your requirements and click “OK”.

Paragraph Group

Alignment

Alignment refers to the way text is positioned horizontally in a given space. This is
usually the space between a page’s margins but it can also be the space within a
table’s cells, text box, or in any other object that can hold text. Let’s learn how to align
text. The “Align Text Center” icon is used to align text to the center margin. Select the
text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Align Text Center”
or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + E”. You can see that the text gets central
alignment such that it is equidistant from the left and right margins. Similarly, the
“Align Text Right” or “Ctrl + R” is used to align text to the right margin. The “Justify”
icon or “Ctrl + J” is used for alignment of text to both the left and right margins,

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adding extra space between words as required. Click “Align Text Left” or use the
keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + L”. You can see that the text gets aligned to the left margin.

Indentation

Indentation determines the distance of the paragraph from either the left margin or the
right margin. Indentation ensures proper alignment as well as makes the document
look well-formatted and professional. Click within a paragraph. Then on the “Home”
tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Increase Indent” to move the paragraph to the
right. Click the same icon once again to move it further. Now click “Decrease Indent”
twice to move the paragraph back to its original position.

Using the Ruler for Indentation

You can also use the horizontal Ruler just below the Ribbon for Indentation. If you do
not see the Ruler, click the “View Ruler” button at the right corner just above the
vertical scroll bar. Click within a paragraph and drag the square “Left Indent” marker
along the ruler bar to where you want the entire paragraph indented. To indent only
the first line of a paragraph, drag the “First Line Indent” marker to the required
position. Similarly, to indent all but the first line of a paragraph, use the “Hanging
Indent” marker. To apply indentation to multiple paragraphs, select them and then use
the markers on the Ruler.

Line Spacing

The “Line Spacing” icon is used to change the spacing between lines of text. Let’s
learn how to use it. Click within a paragraph or select the text you would like to
change the line spacing for. On the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click the
“Line and Paragraph Spacing” icon and make your selection from the options
displayed. Look, the space between the lines has been adjusted!

Bullets

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The “Bullets” icon is used to create a bulleted list. A bulleted list is normally used for
logically related information. Creating such a list makes specific information stand out
from the rest of the text. Let’s learn to create a bulleted list from existing text.

 Select the required text.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click “Bullets”.
 Your text now appears as a bulleted list.
 To choose a bullet style, click the arrow next to the Bullets icon and make your
selection.
 You can create a bulleted list from scratch as well.
 Simply click the Bullets icon and start typing your list.
 Pressing Enter takes you to the next bulleted point.
 To end the list either click the icon once again or press Enter twice.

Numbering

The “Numbering” icon is used to create a numbered list. Such a list is normally used
to convey a sequence of events. Let’s see how this list is created.

 Select the required text and on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click
“Numbering”.
 Your text now appears as a numbered list.
 You have the option to restart numbering, continue numbering or even skip
some numbers from the previous list used.
 Simply right-click on the number and select from the options “Restart at 1”,
“Continue Numbering” or “Set Numbering Value”.

Multilevel List

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The “Multilevel List” icon is used to create a multilevel list. Such a list shows the list
items at different levels rather than at one level. Different items are indented to
represent their level in a document’s structure.

 Click where you want to begin your list.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Multilevel List” and select a
list style.
 Now type the first item of the list and press Enter.
 Press the Tab key and then type the next level item.
 Press Enter and then Tab.
 Now type an item at the third level.
 To type another item at the same level, simply press Enter without pressing Tab.
 Press Enter twice to enter an item at the previous level.
 You can see that all levels are numbered appropriately.

Changing Levels

You can easily change the level of an item in a multilevel list by clicking near the item
and increasing or decreasing the indent by using the “Increase Indent” or “Decrease
Indent” keys respectively.

Borders

The “Borders” icon is to create a border around text. This is useful when you want the
text to appear within a separate box-like structure. Select the required text and on the
“Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click the arrow next to the “Borders” icon and
select the type of border you require. Your text is now displayed with the specified
border. To remove borders, select the text and then select “Borders - No Borders”.

Shading

The “Shading” icon is used to shade the background behind selected text. Select text
and on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click the arrow next to the Shading

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icon. Select a color from the displayed palette. The background of the text is now of the
selected color.

Sort

The “Sort” icon is used to sort text, data or numbers according to specified criteria in
ascending or descending order. Let us sort the list in the document displayed. Click
anywhere within the list and on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Sort”.
In the “Sort” window, you may select the options that you want and then click OK. You
can see that the list is now sorted as specified.

Show/Hide

The “Show/Hide” icon is used to display nonprinting characters in your text, such as
paragraph marks, line breaks, tab stops and spaces. On the “Home” tab, in the
“Paragraph” group, click the “Show/Hide” icon. All formatting marks in the document
are displayed. To remove this, click this icon once again.

The Paragraph Dialog Box

The “Paragraph” dialog box is used to apply a combination of various paragraph

formatting effects. On the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click the Dialog Box
Launcher to display the “Paragraph” window. Enter your requirements and click “OK”.

Setting Tab Stops

A “Tab Stop” is the amount of spacing that is applied each time you press the “Tab”
key. When more than a single space is required to be inserted between words, it is
advisable to use tabs rather than spaces to avoid problems with text alignment. Let us
learn to set the position of a tab stop in a blank document. On the “Home” tab, in the
“Paragraph” group, click the Dialog Box Launcher to display the “Paragraph” dialog
box.

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The Tabs Window

 In the “Paragraph” window, on the “Indents & Spacing” tab, click “Tabs” to
display the “Tabs” window.
 In the “Default tab stops” box, enter “2 cm” and click “OK”.
 Now enter the text as shown, pressing the “Tab” key after each word.
 You can see on the ruler that each word appears at a distance of 2 cm from the
other.
 To quickly set tab stops, simply click the ruler at the location you want your tab
stop.
 Now enter the same text pressing the “Tab” key after each word.
 You can see that this time, the distance between the words is as per the new tab
stops specified.

Styles Group

Styles Gallery

The “Styles” gallery is used to apply styles. A “Style” is a set of pre-defined formatting
instructions that you can use repeatedly throughout the document. Using styles helps
you format your document consistently and enables quick formatting modifications.
Let us apply styles to the displayed document. Click in front of the main title or
anywhere within it and then click the “Heading 1” style. Now apply the “Heading 2”
style to all the sub-headings. You can see that applying a style requires just a click.
Isn’t this better than manually formatting text?

Change Styles

The “Change Styles” icon is used to change an applied style. Let us learn how to do
this.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” group, click “Change Styles”.

 Move the mouse over the first option “Style Set”, and then over the various sub-
options.

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  Changing the style set allows you to change all the styles used.
 You can see a live preview of how your document will appear if you select a
different style set.
 Now hover over the Colors option and related sub-options.
 After that, view the Fonts option and sub-options.
 You can even use the Paragraph Spacing option to modify the spacing between
the lines of your document with a single click.

Modifying Styles

You may modify an existing style in other ways as well. The wonderful part is that the
modification is reflected throughout the document.

 Right-click the “Heading 2” style in the Styles gallery and select “Modify”.
 In the “Modify Style” window, you may change any of the properties of this style.
 Let’s change the color and then click “OK”.
 Look at this, all sub-headings which have this style applied are displayed with
the new color. Isn’t this great? Imagine the time it would take to manually
change the headings of a really long document.

Creating a New Style

You can create your own custom styles. Select some text and change its color and font.
Now right-click and from the popup menu, select “Styles - Save Selection as a New
Quick Style”. In the window displayed, enter a name for the style and click OK. There
you are, your style is displayed in the styles gallery, ready to be applied anywhere else!
Now apply this style to some other text.

The Styles Dialog Box

The “Styles” dialog box is used to manage your styles. On the “Home” tab, in the
“Styles” group, click the Dialog Box Launcher to display the “Styles” window. You may
use the buttons at the bottom to create new styles and modify existing ones. Click the
X- shaped icon at the top right corner to close this window.

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Editing Group

Find

The “Find” icon is used to search for a word or phrase in a document. Let’s learn to
use it.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group, select “Find” or use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl + F”.
 This displays the “Navigation Pane” at the left. Enter the text you wish to search
for in the box at the top.
 All instances of the text are highlighted in your document.
 In the Navigation Pane, each instance is displayed in a separate box along with
some text before and after the searched text.
 You can use the scroll bar or the Previous/Next arrows to move between the
instances.
 Click in a specific box to move to the related instance.
 Click the “X” shaped icon at the top right to close the Navigation Pane.

Replace

The “Replace” icon is used to replace a searched word or phrase in a document by

some other text.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Editing” group, select “Replace” or use the
shortcut “Ctrl + H”.
 This displays the “Replace” tab of the “Find and Replace” window.
 Enter the text you wish to find in the “Find what” box and the text with which
you wish to replace it, in the “Replace with” box.
 Click the “Replace” button.
 The first occurrence of the searched text is highlighted.
 Click “Replace” again to replace it with the new text.
 The cursor moves to the next occurrence of the searched text.

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Replace All

 You may click the “More” button to specify additional search options.
 Click “Find Next” to move to the next occurrence of the searched text.
 You may click the “Replace All” button to replace all occurrences of the
searched text by the new text.
 A window appears showing the number of replacements made.

Select

 To select a section of a document, you need to simply click and drag your mouse
over it.
 To select an object such as a shape, click on it.
 To make multiple selections which are not adjacent, keep the “Ctrl” key pressed
and select.
 The “Select” icon can be used to make various other types of selections.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group click “Select”.
 You may use the displayed options to make selections.
 Click “Selection Pane” to display the “Selection and Visibility” pane at the
right.
 The purpose of the pane is to list all the objects on the current page.
 When you select an object such as a picture or shape in the “Selection and
Visibility” pane, Word also selects it in the document itself.
 You’ll learn more about objects later.

Overview

Friends, we have just learnt about the key features and commands of the Home Tab
which is probably the most useful tab. After applying these features, our document
looks like the one displayed on screen. You may try to enhance the document on your
own by using different options and variations from the Home Tab. There’s a lot more
that you can do with your document. You can make it more attractive and informative

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by adding Pictures, Illustrations, Tables and other objects. These can be done using
the Insert Tab. So let’s move to next Lab and learn to use the Insert Tab.

THE INSERT TAB

Introduction

The Insert Tab is the second tab in Microsoft Word 2010. This tab has a lot of useful
features that enable you to insert things like pictures, clip art images, shapes, Smart
Art graphics, charts and a lot of other items. Let us review a few of these features in
this exciting new tab. First, let’s see which groups are contained in this tab.

 Pages: This group contains the commands which you can use to insert a cover
page, a blank page or a page break.
 Tables: The options in this group enable you to insert various kinds of tables
and spreadsheets.
 Illustrations: These commands enable you to insert various types of
illustrations and screenshots.
 Links: These commands enable you to create bookmarks, links and cross
references.
 Header & Footer: These commands enable you to insert headers, footers and
page numbers.
 Text: These commands enable you to present text in different ways and insert
embedded objects.
 Symbols: These commands enable you to insert equations and symbols.

The Pages Group

Cover Page

The “Cover Page” icon is used to insert a cover page at the beginning of the document.
The use of a cover page adds a professional touch to documents such as project
reports, manuscripts and even resumes. On the “Insert” tab, in the “Pages” group,
click “Cover Page”. A gallery of attractive ready-to-use cover page designs is displayed.

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Click on a suitable one. The cover page you select is inserted at the top of your
document as the first page. Click in the placeholders and enter the text you require.
Isn’t this a very useful feature?

Blank Page

The “Blank Page” icon is used to insert a blank page at the current cursor position.
This is useful when you need to insert a new page between two existing pages. Click at
the point you want a blank page. Then on the “Insert” tab, in the “Pages” group, click
“Blank Page”.

Page Break

The “Page Break” icon is used to position the cursor on the next page. This is useful
when you want to write on the next page even though there is some blank space at the
bottom of the current page. To insert a Page Break, place the cursor at the point where
you want a new page to begin. On the “Insert” tab, in the “Pages” group, click “Page
Break”. Alternatively, you may use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Enter”. A fixed page
break is inserted and the cursor is now at the beginning of the next page. Any text
following the break point is moved to the next page.

The Tables Group

Table

The “Table” icon is used to insert a table in a document. A table is used to organize
information into an easy-to-read format of horizontal rows and vertical columns.

 To insert a table, on the “Insert” tab, in the “Tables” group, select “Table - Insert
Table”.
 In the “Insert Table” window, enter the Table size in respect of number of
columns and rows.
 Click “OK”.
 Your table is displayed on the screen and two contextual tabs named “Design”
and “Layout” appear under the heading “Table Tools”.

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  The Design tab contains tools for formatting the table while the Layout tab
enables you to change the layout of the table by inserting and deleting columns,
rows, or cells.

Entering Table Data

A table can be created in various other ways.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Tables” group, select “Table” and drag with your
mouse to specify the dimensions of the table.
 Click a cell in the table and enter your data.
 Press “Tab” to move to the next cell.
 Use the arrow keys to move between cells.

Drawing a Table

You may even use the “Table - Draw Table” option to create a table. This is
particularly useful when you need a table in which the number and sizes of rows and
columns is not fixed. When you use this option, the cursor changes to a pencil shape.
Click in your document and drag to draw the table’s outline. To draw a row, drag from
the left side to the right side of the table. Similarly, to draw a column, drag from the
top to the bottom of the table. Press the Esc key when you’re done creating the tables
columns and rows.

Creating a Table without a Mouse

You know, it’s possible to even create a table without using the mouse and ribbon
commands in Word. Type the plus signs and dashes as shown. Here the pluses
represent the column borders and the dashes represent the width of the each column.
Press Enter after the last plus to create the first row. Pressing Tab in the last cell of a
row creates an additional row.

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Quick Tables

Word has several ready-to-use tables which you can quickly insert in your document.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Tables” group, select “Table - Quick Tables”.
 Then click on a table from the displayed gallery.
 Here you are! The table is inserted in your document.

Sizing and Moving a Table

You may change the size and position of a table as required. When you rest the mouse
pointer over a table, you see a resize handle at the bottom right corner and a four
headed arrow at the top left corner. To quickly change the overall table size, drag the
resize handle at the bottom right corner of the table to an appropriate size. To change
the width of a column or the height of a row, place the pointer on a boundary and drag
when it appears as a two headed arrow. To move your table, place the pointer on the
top left corner and drag with your mouse to a new location. To select the complete
table, click the four headed arrow at the top left corner.

The Contextual Layout Tab

 When your cursor is within a table, two contextual tabs named “Design” and
“Layout” appear under the heading “Table Tools”.
 Activate the Layout tab.
 To insert additional rows or columns, in the “Rows & Columns” group, select
“Insert Above” to insert a row above the current row.
 Deselect the inserted row by clicking outside it.
 Then select “Insert Below” to insert a row below the current row.
 Similarly, “Insert Left” inserts a column to the left and “Insert Right” inserts a
column to the right.
 To insert multiple rows or columns, select the same number of rows or columns
required to be inserted and then click on the appropriate icon.

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Shifting Cells

 You may shift a few cells or a complete row or column.

 Select some cells which you would like to shift to the right.
 On the contextual “Layout” tab, in the “Rows & Columns” group, click the dialog
box launcher.
 In the “Insert Cells” window, select “Shift Cells Right” and click “OK”.
 You see that the data has been moved to the right and a new blank column has
been inserted.

Merging Cells

 You may combine two or more table cells located in the same row or column into
a single cell.
 For this, select them and on the “Layout” tab, in the “Merge” group, click “Merge
Cells”.
 Look, your cells have been merged.

Splitting Cells

You can split a cell into multiple cells.

 Click in a cell, or select multiple cells that you want to split.

 On the “Layout” tab, in the “Merge” group, click “Split Cells”.
 In the window that comes up, enter the number of columns or rows that you
want to split the selected cells into and click “OK”.
 Your cells are now split as specified by you.

The Contextual Design Tab

Activate the contextual “Design” tab. You can enhance the appearance of your table
using various options on this tab. A quick way of formatting a table automatically is to
use the Table Styles offered by Word. The available auto formats consist of a
combination of fonts, colors, patterns, borders and alignment settings. In the “Table
Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to display the complete gallery of styles. Move

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your mouse over the styles to preview how the table will look like if you select that
option. Then click on a suitable one.

Converting Text into a Table

You can create a table from existing text. Let’s see how it’s done.

 Insert separator characters such as commas or tabs to indicate where you want
to divide the text into columns.
 Use a paragraph mark such as the Enter key to indicate where you want to
begin a new row.
 Select the text that you want to convert.
 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Tables” group, click “Table”, and then click “Convert
Text to Table”.
 In the window that comes up, verify that the number of columns is correct.
 Under “Separate text at”, click the option for the separator character that you
have used.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your data is now displayed in tabular form!

Converting a Table into Text

You can also convert the data contained in a table to regular text.

 Click within the table and on the contextual “Layout” tab, in the “Data” group,
click “Convert to Text”.
 In the window that comes up, click the option for the separator character that
you want to use in place of the column boundaries.
 Then click “OK”.
 Have a look, the table data is now displayed in textual form!

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Deleting a Table

 To delete an entire table, click within it.

 On the Layout tab, from the “Rows & Columns” group, select “Delete - Delete
Table”.
 Press Undo on the Quick Access toolbar to re-display the table.

The Illustrations Group

Picture

The “Picture” icon is used to insert an existing picture into a document. Let us insert a
picture of the company logo in our document.

 Position your cursor where you want the picture to be inserted.

 On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture appears in your document.
 Size the picture as required by using the sizing handles.

Enhancing a Picture

When you insert a picture or select an already inserted picture in a document, a new
“Format” tab appears under the heading “Picture Tools”. This tab contains various
tools you can use to modify the appearance of your picture. For example, you could
choose to color the picture differently or apply a picture style. Try exploring the various
options yourself!

Applying Artistic Effect

You may apply various artistic effects to an inserted picture.

 First select the picture.

 Then on the contextual “Format” tab, in the “Adjust” group, click “Artistic
Effects”.
 A gallery of different effects is displayed.

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  Choose a suitable one.
 Your picture is now modified as per the selected effect.

Cropping a Picture

You may crop a picture to remove unwanted parts.

 On the contextual “Format” tab, in the Size group, click “Crop”.

 Eight cropping handles appear on the edges of the picture.
 Drag these inwards to remove parts of the picture that you do not need.
 You may also crop a picture into a specific shape.
 For this, click the lower part of the “Crop” icon and select “Crop to Shape”.
 Select a suitable shape from the displayed Shapes gallery.
 Look, your picture is displayed within the shape!

Removing Picture Background

You can remove the background from a picture to highlight the subject of the picture
or to remove distracting details.

 First select the picture.

 On the contextual “Format” tab, in the “Adjust” group, click “Remove
Background”.
 The “Background Removal” tab is displayed and the picture is surrounded by a
box.
 This box indicates the area that will be retained.
 The area that will be removed is colored in a dark shade.
 Drag the handles on the box to change the boundaries of the area you want to
keep.
 This area is shown in normal colors.
 Now click “Keep Changes” in the “Close” group.
 Your picture is now displayed without the background.

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Background Removal Tools

Sometimes, simply adjusting the size of the box doesn’t serve your purpose of removing
the background. For such cases there are some additional tools on the “Background
Removal” tab to refine your selection. Clicking the “Mark Areas to Keep” button
allows you to draw lines to outline the parts you want to keep. Similarly, “Mark Areas
to remove” allow you to draw lines to outline the parts you want to delete. “Delete
Mark” is used to remove the most recent line drawn.

Wrapping Text around a Picture

There are various ways in which a picture interacts with the surrounding text. Let’s
learn how this can be controlled.

 Click the picture to select it. This displays the contextual Format tab.
 From the Arrange group, click “Wrap Text”.
 The default wrapping style is “In Line with Text”.
 This places the image in line with your text.
 The image is treated like a large single character.
 If you wish to be able to move your image freely around the document by simply
dragging, you could try using one of the other wrapping options.

Specifying an Edit Wrap Boundary

You may want your text to be displayed a little away from your picture. In that case
you can specify a boundary around your picture. On the Format tab, in the Arrange
group, select “Wrap Text - Edit Wrap Points”. Your picture is surrounded by a red
frame with black dots on it. Drag the dots as shown. Your text will now be positioned
outside this boundary.

Specifying Picture Position

You can specify the position of a picture on a page. For this, on the “Format” tab, in
the “Arrange” group, select “Position”. Move your mouse over the displayed options and
click on a suitable one.

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Clip Art

The “Clip Art” icon is used to insert various readymade illustrations, audios and videos
offered by Microsoft. Let us learn to insert a picture from the Clip Art gallery.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Clip Art”.

 The Clip Art pane is displayed on the right.
 In the “Search for” box, enter a word or phrase that describes what you’re
looking for.
 In the “Results should be:” box, click the down arrow and click the Illustrations
and Photographs boxes.
 Click the box in front of “Include Office.com content” to include pictures from
the Microsoft Office website.
 Then click “Go”.
 From the displayed pictures, drag a suitable one into your document.
 Size it as required and close the Clip Art pane.

Shapes

The “Shapes” icon is used to insert predefined shapes into your document.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes” to display the
Shapes gallery.
 Click on a shape and drag your mouse to create a shape of the size you wish.
 You may drag to place the shape at another location.
 When you insert a shape, a new Format tab appears.
 You may use the various options available to enhance the appearance of the
shape.
 Let us apply a shape style by clicking on one from the “Shape Styles” gallery.
 Like all other objects, shapes can also be copied.

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Adjusting Shapes

Shapes can be adjusted after they are drawn. Let’s first draw a shape.

 You can change the orientation of a shape using the green rotation handle at the
top.
 Place your pointer on it and drag to the left or right to rotate your shape.
 Some shapes display a yellow diamond adjustment handle as well.
 This can be used to change the size, proportions, or location of parts of the
shape.
 You can also edit the points of most shapes.
 On the contextual Format tab, in the “Insert Shapes” group, click “Edit Shape
- Edit Points”.
 A number of black dots appear on the shape outline. You may drag any of them
to adjust the shape.

Smart Art

The “Smart Art” icon enables you to add several types of useful diagrams to your
document. You may choose from various categories such as Process, Hierarchy, Cycle,
Relationship and others. Each category contains different layouts. Let us create a
Smart Art graphic in our document.

 Position the cursor appropriately.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Smart Art”.
 In the “Choose a Smart Art Graphic” window, select a category.
 Now select a suitable graphic and click “OK”.
 Two new “Smart Art tools” tabs named “Design” and “Format” are displayed.
 These can be used to change the color scheme and style of the graphic, and
make changes to the individual shapes in the graphic.

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Modifying Smart Art

Let us make some changes to the Smart Art graphic we inserted. We’ll enter additional
levels by using the Design tab.

 In the “Create Graphic” group, click “Add Shape” twice to add additional shapes.
 You can also modify the layout of your graphic.
 Click the “More” arrow in the Layouts group to see the complete gallery. Click on
a suitable one.
 To change the colors, in the Smart Art Styles group, click “Change Colors” and
select a color scheme.
 Then apply a Smart Art style by selecting one from the gallery. You may resize
the graphic as required by dragging any of the corners.

Using the Text Pane

 Now that your Smart Art graphic is complete, you are ready to enter text.
 Click in the first box and type your text.
 Similarly, enter text in the second box.
 You can also use the Text Pane for entry of text.
 On the Design tab, in the “Create Graphic” group, click “Text Pane” and enter
the text for the balance levels in the displayed pane.
 Close the text pane by clicking the “X” icon at the top right corner.

Chart

The Chart icon is used to insert a chart in a document. A chart is a visual

representation of data and conveys information in an easy to understand and
attractive manner. Let’s insert a chart in our document.

 Position the cursor appropriately.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Chart”.
 In the displayed window, select the chart category and type and then click “OK”.

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  A sample chart is displayed in your document and an Excel worksheet appears
in another window.
 Delete the data in the worksheet and enter your data as shown.
 As you enter the data, corresponding changes are made to the chart.
 Now close the Excel window.
 Resize the chart as required.

Modifying Charts

 When a Chart is created, three new contextual tabs named “Design”, “Layout”
and “Format” are displayed under the heading “Chart Tools”. These can be used
to modify the chart in different ways.
 On the Design tab, in the “Chart Layouts” group, let’s click on a layout which
displays percentages.
 The chart is modified as per the selected layout.
 Next let’s activate the Layout tab.
 Here we’ll change the position at which the legend is displayed.
 The legend, as in a map, shows which color is used to represent what.
 In the Labels group, click Legend and select a suitable option.
 Now we’ll activate the Format tab.
 Let’s apply a shape style to the chart area by selecting one from the Shape Styles
group.
 The chart looks great now!

Screenshots

The “Screenshot” icon allows you to insert an image of a specific screen into your
document. This is particularly useful to capture information on web pages such as a
list of available flights and rates on a travel Web site. Screenshots are also helpful for
copying from Web pages whose formatting might not be maintained when copied.
Position your cursor appropriately.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Illustrations” group, click “Screenshot”.

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  Open program windows that are not minimized to the taskbar are displayed in
the “Available Windows” gallery.
 Click on the required one.
 The screenshot is inserted in your document.
 As in the case of a regular picture, the Picture Tools contextual tab is displayed
to enable you to perform picture related tasks.

Screen Clipping

 If you only need to insert a portion of your screenshot, select “Screenshot -

Screen Clipping”.
 The last screen you displayed is redisplayed.
 It appears faded with some crosshairs.
 Drag to select an area.
 This is then pasted into your Word document.

Arranging Objects

 When objects such as pictures and shapes are created, contextual tabs are
displayed.
 In a blank document, let us create two objects.
 Now drag one and place it in such a way that it slightly overlaps the other.
 When you click on the shape at the top, you see the contextual “Format” tab
under the heading “Drawing Tools”.
 We’ll learn to use some of the options on the Arrange group of this tab.
 To send the active shape to the back, on the “Format” tab, in the “Arrange”
group, click “Send Backward”.
 The shape is moved back and the other shape is displayed in the front.
 Similarly “Bring Forward” is used to bring an object to the front.
 You may use the “Rotate” button to rotate or flip a selected object.

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Grouping Objects

Sometimes, you may create a graphic using multiple objects.

 To treat various objects as a single entity, you can group them.

 To select multiple objects, click them one-by-one keeping the Ctrl key pressed.
 Now on the “Format” tab, in the “Arrange” group, click “Group”.
 The objects are treated as a single object and can be moved together, formatted
together, etc.
 To ungroup the objects select “Group - Ungroup”.

The Links Group

Hyperlink

The “Hyperlink” icon is used to create a connection to a location in the current

document, another document or to a Web site. A hyperlink may be in the form of text
or a graphic. Let us create a hyperlink from some text in our document to another
document in the same folder.

 Select the required text. On the “Insert” tab, in the “Links” group, click
“Hyperlink” or use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + K”.
 In the “Insert Hyperlink” window, select the folder which contains the document
you wish to link in the “Look in” box.
 Click “Current Folder” and then click on the document name in the displayed
list.
 Click “OK”.
 You now see that the hyperlink text is underlined.
 When you press & hold the “Ctrl” key and click on this text, you can view the
linked document.

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Removing Hyperlink

 To remove a hyperlink while retaining the text, right-click on it and select

“Remove Hyperlink”.
 If you do not see this option, click within the hyperlink and press “Ctrl + K” to
display the “Edit Hyperlink” window.
 Click “Remove Link”.
 To remove all hyperlinks from a document, first select the entire document using
“Ctrl + A”.
 Then, while holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys, press F9.

Bookmark

The “Bookmark” icon is used to mark a certain location in a document. Using a

bookmark makes it easy to move to a particular location easily.

 Let us insert a bookmark before the text “Schedule”.

 Click before this text.
 Then on the “Insert” tab, from the “Links” group, select “Bookmark”.
 In the “Bookmark” window, enter a name for your bookmark and click “Add”.
 Now position your cursor at the top of the document.
 To move to your bookmark, click the Bookmark icon once again and click “Go
To” in the Bookmark window.
 Your cursor now moves to the bookmark location.
 Click “Close” in the “Bookmark” window.

Deleting a Bookmark

 To delete a bookmark, on the “Insert” tab, from the “Links” group, select
“Bookmark”.
 In the “Bookmark” window, click on the appropriate bookmark and click
“Delete”.
 Then click “Close”.

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The Header & Footer Group

Header & Footer

The “Header” and “Footer” provide information like page number, document name,
etc. that typically appears at the top and bottom of each page in a document. The same
header and footer can be used throughout the document or different ones can be used
in different sections.

 To add a Header, on the “Insert” tab, from the “Header & Footer” group, click
“Header”.
 A list of header styles is displayed.
 Click on a suitable one.
 The header area becomes active and a new “Design” tab is displayed.
 Enter your header text.
 To format this text as required, select it and use the various options on the mini
toolbar.
 Now click “Close Header and Footer” at the right end of the “Design” tab.
 You may insert Footer in a similar way using the “Footer” icon.

First Page Header or Footer

You may specify a different header or footer for the first page of your document. Let’s
add a header on the first page of the displayed document.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header”.
 Select a suitable option from the displayed ones.
 On the contextual “Design” tab, in the “Options” group, click the box in front of
“Different First Page”.
 Now create your header as usual.
 Click within any other page of the document and create a header again.
 This will be applied to all pages other than the first one.
 Different first page footers can be created in a similar way.

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  To create different odd and even page headers and footers click the box in front
of “Different Odd & Even Pages” on the Design tab.

Page Number

The “Page Number” icon is used to insert the page number on every page of your
document at a position of your choice. Some header and footer styles include the page
number. Let’s learn to use the “Page Number” icon.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Header & Footer” group, click “Page Number”.
 Inserting the page number at the bottom of the page overwrites a previously
inserted footer, if any.
 Similarly, inserting the page number at the top of the page overwrites a
previously inserted header.

The Text & Symbols Group

Text Box

The “Text Box” icon is used to insert Text Boxes in your document. Text boxes give
you control over the position of a block of text. You can place text boxes anywhere in
the document and format them as required. Let us create text boxes to label the
displayed pictures.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw the text box at a suitable position.
 You can see the cursor flashing within the box.
 Enter the required text.

Modifying Text Boxes

 Let us modify the text box we created using the contextual “Format” tab.
 We’ll first make the background of this text box transparent so that the
background color is visible.

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  On the “Format” tab, from the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next to
“Shape Fill”.
 From the options displayed, select “No Fill”.
 We’ll also remove the outline of this text box.
 For this, select “Shape Outline - No Outline”.

Text Box Fills

You can fill a text box in different ways.

 On the contextual Format tab, in the “Text Box Styles” group, click “Shape Fill”.
 You may select a color, gradient, texture or pattern.
 You can even fill the text box with a picture.
 This proves useful when you need to quickly insert a picture of a specific size at
a specific place.
 Select “Shape Fill - Picture”.
 Then browse to your picture and click “Insert”.

Quick Parts

The “Quick Parts” icon enables you to quickly add preformatted content to your
documents. Portions of text can be reused whenever required. There are numerous
Building Block galleries available in Word such as Headers, Footers, Text Boxes, Cover
Pages, Watermarks, Quick Parts, etc. which help make your document look more
professional. We’ll learn to add an item to the Quick Parts gallery. The displayed
document has the company name and logo at the top. We’ll create a building block
which includes the name and logo so that we can easily insert this at the top of other
documents.

 First, select the logo and name.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Quick Parts”, and then click
“Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery”.
 In the “Create New Building Block” window, enter a unique name for the
building block in the “Name” box.

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  To save the building block, we’ll select the Quick Parts gallery itself.
 Now click “OK”.

Inserting Quick Parts

Let us insert the Quick Part we created into another blank document.

 Click where you want to insert the block.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Quick Parts”.
 If your block is not displayed, scroll down and then click on it.
 The logo and company name is now displayed in the blank document.
 You may insert a building block into any of the other galleries such as Footers,
Headers, etc. in a similar way.
 When you’ve created a new building block, exiting from Word displays this
window.
 Click Save if you wish to save this block for future use.

WordArt

The “WordArt” icon is used to enhance the appearance of text. This is done by adding
special effects such as 3-D and shadows. Let’s apply WordArt to the heading of our
document.

 Select the text and on the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, select “WordArt”.
 Select a WordArt style from the displayed gallery.
 A new “Format” tab appears displaying various tools to modify your WordArt.

Creating WordArt

You need not apply WordArt to existing text only. To insert WordArt text on a blank
line, click the WordArt icon, select your style and then enter the required text.

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Drop Cap

The “Drop Cap” icon is used to enlarge the first character or characters at the
beginning of a paragraph. Drop Caps may cover several lines. Let’s learn to create a
drop cap.

 Click within the first paragraph.

 Then select “Drop Cap” in the “Text” group on the “Insert” tab.
 Click “Drop Cap Options” to display the “Drop Cap” window.
 Click on “Dropped” under “Position”.
 Then specify the “Lines to drop” as “2”.
 Let’s leave the font and the distance of the drop cap from text unchanged for
now.
 Click “OK”.
 You can see that the first letter of the paragraph is displayed as a drop cap.
 To display more than one letter as a drop cap, select the letters and then choose
the drop cap options.

Date Time

The “Date & Time” icon is used to insert the date and time into a document. Let us
insert the current date into our document.

 Place the cursor at the required position.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Text” group, select “Date & Time”.
 In the displayed window, select the format you want.
 To automatically display the correct date when it changes, click the “Update
automatically” box.
 This update is seen when you next open your document.

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Insert Object

The “Insert Object” icon is used to insert an embedded object in your document. The
advantage of inserting an embedded object is that you can work with it in the original
program it was created. Let use insert a Bitmap Image.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Text” group, click “Object”.

 In the “Object” window, select “Bitmap Image” and click “OK”.
 The Paint Application is opened since this is the application used to create
bitmap images.
 Create your picture and close Paint.
 The picture is displayed in your document.
 Now, whenever you need to edit the picture, simply double-click on it. Isn’t this
convenient?

Symbol

The “Symbol” icon is used to insert Symbols or Special Characters in your document.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Symbol” group, click “Symbol” icon.

 Click “More Symbols” to display the “Symbol” window.
 This window can be used to insert symbols as well as special characters.
 On the “Symbols” tab, click on a symbol of your choice and click “Insert”.
 Then click “Close”.
 The symbol is inserted at the current cursor position.

Overview

Friends, we have learnt about the key features and commands of the Insert Tab. After
applying these features, our document looks like the one displayed on screen. You may
try to insert various items into the document on your own by using different options
and variations from the Insert Tab. Also try exploring the various contextual tabs.
There’s still more that you can do with your document. You can make it more
attractive and informative by using themes, adding borders, watermarks and applying

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a background color. You can also specify the page size and margins. All this can be
done using the Page Layout Tab. So let’s move to next Lab and learn to use the third
tab – The Page Layout Tab.

GREETING

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at this greeting card. The alphabets in the word “Birthday” are arranged on
separate lines and each line is colored differently. At the center and bottom, two
messages have been written. So let’s start creating a similar card by opening the Word
application.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Setting the Page Size

Let us select a suitable page size for the card.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Setup” group, click the “Size” icon.
 Make a selection from the options displayed.

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Creating a Text Box

First, we’ll create a text box and then insert our text.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box of a suitable size so as to fit within the
page.
 A new “Format” tab with the heading “Drawing Tools” appears.
 You can see the cursor flashing within this text box.

Entering Text

 Activate the “Home” tab and from the “Font” group, select a “Font” of your
choice.
 Start typing the alphabets in the word “Birthday” in uppercase as shown.
 Press “Enter” after each alphabet.
 Now select all the alphabets and select a suitable “Font Size” so as to spread the
alphabets evenly till the bottom of the text box.
 To embolden this text, from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Deselect the text by clicking anywhere outside it.

Applying Paragraph Shading

Since each alphabet is written after pressing “Enter”, it is treated as a separate

paragraph. So we’ll use the “Paragraph” group to apply shading.

 Click in front of the first alphabet “B”.

 From the “Paragraph” group, click the arrow next to the “Shading” icon.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 Wow! You can see that the entire line has been shaded with this color.
 Click in front of each alphabet and choose a different color.
 This makes the text box look really attractive doesn’t it?

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Removing Text Box Outline

Ok, now we shall remove the outline of this text box.

 For this, select the text box.

 Activate the “Format” tab.
 In the “Text Box Styles” group, select “Shape Outline → No Outline”.

Making a Text Box Transparent

Now create another text box at the center and remove its outline. To make the
background visible, we’ll make this text box transparent. For this, in the “Text Box
Styles” group, select “Shape Fill → No Fill”.

Entering Text

We are now ready to enter the text within this text box.

 Activate the “Home” tab and from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon
to position the cursor at the center.
 Enter text as shown using the fonts of your choice.
 Similarly, create another text box at the bottom and enter the required text.
 This completes your greeting card level 1.

LEVEL 2

Arranging Text

Open the document containing the greeting card we created in the previous
assignment. We’ll first arrange the alphabets.

 Click in front of the first alphabet “B” and press the spacebar.
 Similarly, insert the required number of spaces in front of the other alphabets.

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Changing Font Color

Now that the alphabets are arranged, let’s change the font color.

 Select the first alphabet.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Font
Color” icon.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 Use different colors for the other alphabets in the same way.
 Similarly, apply different colors to the text in the text box at the bottom.

Inserting Shapes

Next, we’ll create a shape at the center.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Select a shape and drag to draw it at a suitable position.
 You can see a green rotation handle at the top of the shape.
 Place your mouse pointer on it and drag to tilt the shape as required.

Coloring Shapes

Let’s apply a different color to the outline of the shape.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Outline” icon and select a color.
 Now it’s time to color the entire shape.
 Let’s apply a texture instead of a plain color.
 Click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon and select “Texture”.
 Click on a texture of your choice.

Arranging Objects

The text box we created earlier at the centre is hidden by this shape. So we need to
move this shape backwards. There are totally four objects which overlap each other –

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the main text box, two text boxes containing text and the shape. We want the shape to
be placed on the main text box. So we have to move it two levels behind.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Arrange” group, click “Send Backward”.

 Do the same once again.
 Now the shape is positioned on the main text box and you can see your text.

Using Clip Arts

What remains is the addition of pictures. We’ll use pictures from the “Clip Art” gallery.
We’ll create a text box first and then insert a picture within it. This makes it easy to
reposition the picture.

 So create a text box of a suitable size, remove its outline and make it
transparent.
 Then, click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Illustrations” group, select “Clip Art”.
 In the Clip Art panel at the right, enter the criteria related to the picture you
want and click “Go”.
 Click one of the displayed pictures.
 It appears within the text box. Size and incline it suitably.
 Reposition as required by dragging the text box.

Completing the Document

 Insert other pictures in the same way.

 When you are done, close the Clip Art panel by clicking the “X” shaped “Close”
icon at the top right corner.
 Your greeting card is complete! Doesn’t it look really pretty?
 Save your document by pressing the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now, try designing different kinds of greeting cards using the various skills that
you have learnt!

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CD CASE

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the CD case displayed. Two rectangular shapes have been used to
design the front and back sides. The shapes have been attractively colored. Text boxes
have been used for the entry of information. Different fonts have been used for text
entry. So let’s start creating a similar CD case by opening the Word application.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Inserting Shapes

The first step in designing the CD case is the creation of the outer rectangle for the
front side of the case.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Select a shape and drag to draw it at a suitable position.
 Draw a similar rectangle for the back of the case below the first rectangle.

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Coloring Shapes

We’ll color these shapes now. Let’s use a shape style for the front side.

 Select the upper rectangle.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Shape Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Choose a suitable one by clicking on it.
 Then select the lower rectangle.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon and
select a color from the displayed palette.

Creating Text Boxes

Next we’ll create text boxes to enter textual information.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box at a suitable position within the upper
rectangle for entry of the name of the CD and music house.
 Color the text box by making a selection from the “Shape Fill” gallery on the
“Format” tab under “Drawing Tools”.

Creating More Text Boxes

In the same way, create two more text boxes within the lower rectangle and color them
as required.

Making a Text Box Transparent

Create an additional text box at the bottom of the lower text box as shown. To make
the background visible behind it, on the “Format” tab, from the “Shape Styles” group,
select “Shape Fill - No Fill”.

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Removing Text Box Outline

To remove the outline from this text box, from the “Text Box Styles” group, select
“Shape Outline → No Outline”.

Entering Text

Now we’re ready to enter details within the text boxes we created.

 Click within the text box in the upper rectangle.

 Activate the “Home” tab and from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font”,
“Font Size” and “Font Color”.
 Enter the text as shown.
 Similarly, enter details within the text boxes of the lower rectangle using suitable
fonts.
 That’s it! Your CD case level 1 is ready.

LEVEL 2

Inserting Pictures

Open the document containing the level 1 CD case.

 Select the upper rectangle.

 Activate the “Format” tab. In the “Shape Styles” group, select “Shape Fill →
Picture”.
 In the “Select Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The selected picture appears as the background of the rectangle.

Creating Shape Outline

Now let’s create an outline for the rectangle.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Outline” icon.
 Select a color from the displayed palette. Yes, now the front side looks nice!

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Applying Gradient

You can apply a gradient to the box for a better look. For that,

 Select the rectangle and from the “Shape Styles” group click the arrow next to
“Shape More Gradients”.
 In the displayed window, you may specify the type of gradient.
 Apply gradients to other text boxes in the same way.

Inserting a Table

Next, we’ll create a table for entry of the names of the songs at the back of the CD case.

 Click within the large text box in the lower rectangle.

 Select the text in a text box and press “Delete”.
 Now activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Tables” group, select “Table → Draw
Table”.
 The mouse pointer appears in the shape of a pencil.
 Drag to draw the required rows and columns of your table.
 Press the “Escape” key when done.
 You can see that a new “Design” tab has appeared under the heading “Table
Tools”.

Removing Table Borders

When you place the mouse pointer on the table, you can see a four headed arrow at
the top left corner.

 Click it to select the complete table.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Table Tools” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon and select “No Border” from the options displayed.
 Click outside the table.

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Entering Information

Now that the table is ready, we can enter information within it.

 Click in the top row and enter the text using suitable fonts as shown.
 Enter details in the other table cells as well.
 Use the “Tab” key to move between cells.

Inserting Picture

What remains is the insertion of a picture on the back of the CD cover. This time, we’ll
create a text box first and then insert the picture within it. This will make it easy to fit
the picture exactly within the space between the table and the lower text box.

 So create a text box as shown.

 Remove the text box outline.
 On the “Format” tab, from the “Text Box Styles” group, select “Shape Fill →
Picture”.
 In the “Select Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture is displayed within the text box. Your CD case is ready!

Saving the Document

 Save your document by pressing the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now, try to apply the various skills that you have learnt to design other
interesting objects in Word!

BOOK COVER

LEVEL 1

Objective

What you can see is a simple book cover. This has some information on the front cover
as well as on the back cover. It has been created using a table created in Microsoft
word. The text in various sections of the cover has been inserted in different cells and

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formatted suitably. The background of the table has been colored as required. So let us
open the Word application and learn to create a book cover like the one displayed.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Specifying the Page Size

We first need to decide the dimensions of our book cover. This involves specifying the
orientation and size. Normally the “Landscape” orientation is used to give more width
so that details on the front and back sides can be accommodated easily.

 So click the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Page Setup” group, click “Orientation” and make your selection.
 The next step is to specify the size that we want the cover to be.
 For this, click “Size” in the “Page Setup” group.
 Make a selection from the options displayed.

Inserting a Table

Now we are now ready to start designing our cover. We shall create a table and insert
the various elements of the cover in different cells.

 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Tables” group, click “Table”.
 Drag with your mouse to specify the dimensions of your table.

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  A new “Design” tab appears.

Inserting Additional Rows and Columns

You may insert additional rows and columns within an existing table. Let us add a
column to this table.

 Click the “Layout” Tab under Table Tools tab and in the “Rows & Columns”
group click on “Insert left”.
 An additional column appears to the left of this cell.
 Multiple columns can be inserted by selecting an equal number of columns and
following the same procedure.

Deleting Rows and Columns

You may remove rows and columns from a table as well. Let us delete the column we
just added.

 If the column is not already selected, place your mouse pointer at the top of the
column and click when it appears as a dark black arrow.
 In the “Rows & Columns” group click on “Delete” from the drop down menu
select “Delete Columns”.

Changing Cell Dimensions

Since this table will include different content in each cell, we need to adjust the sizes of
the cells accordingly.

 Place the pointer on the boundary you want to change until it becomes a double
headed arrow and
 Then drag to get the required height or width.

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Applying a Background Color

Let us color the background of this table.

 Click the four-headed arrow at the top left corner of the table to select the entire
table.
 Click the “Design” tab and from the “Table Styles” group, click the arrow next to
the “Shading” icon.
 Select a suitable color.

Entering Text

Now that the basic structure is ready, we can start inserting appropriate content in
each cell. Let’s design the front cover first.

 We shall now enter the name of the book and the publishing house on the front
cover.
 We shall use the cell at the bottom right corner for this.
 Click this cell and enter the name of the book.
 Press “Enter” and enter the name of the publishing house.

Formatting Text

We shall make some adjustments to this text to make it look more attractive.

 Click on the “Home” tab.

 Select the name of the book and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Increase the size of this text by selecting a suitable “Font Size”.
 Yes, now the name of the book is clearly visible.
 Now, select the name of the publishing house.
 We shall move this to the right.
 From the “Paragraph” group, click the “Increase Indent” icon as many times as
required.
 You may make any other adjustments you require using the various options on
the “Home” tab.

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Entering Text and Using Indentation

Now it’s time to enter the information on the back cover.

 Click in the cell at the top left corner and type the text as shown.
 Enter some blank lines by pressing “Enter” and then type the name of the
publishing house.
 You know how to move text to the right don’t you?
 You’re right, select the name of the publishing house and then from the
“Paragraph” group, click the “Increase Indent” icon as many times as needed.
 That’s it; your basic book cover is ready.

LEVEL 2

Applying Cell Shading

Here, we can see the book cover we created in the previous assignment. Let’s apply
different colors to the various cells of the table which contain different parts of our
book cover.

 We shall let the top left cell remain as it is and shade the other cells differently.
 Click in the bottom left cell.
 To apply a color to this cell, you need to follow a procedure similar to the one
you used for the table background.
 Click the “Design” tab and from the “Table Styles” group, click the arrow next to
the “Shading” icon.
 Select a color you wish. Apply suitable colors to the other cells in the same way.
 Sometimes, the font color of text changes automatically when a new background
color is applied so that it is visible against the new color.

Entering and Formatting Text

Let’s change the font color of the text in the top left cell. For this,

 Select the text and click the “Home” tab.

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  In the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Font Color” icon and select a
suitable color.
 We want the price of the book in the cell at the bottom left.
 Click in this cell, press “Enter” and then type the price of the book.

Entering Text Vertically

The only thing left to do is to enter the name of the book and its author in the area
between the front and back cover sections. But we want the text to be vertically
oriented. Let’s see how this is done.

 Click in the cell in the middle of the top row and then click on the “Layout” tab
under “Table Tools”.
 In the Alignment group, click “Text Direction”.
 Now click the small “Align Center” icon to its left.
 Start typing your text. You can see it appears vertically.
 You can format this text as you wish.
 For this, select it and then click on the “Home” tab.
 You may use the various options displayed there. So there you are.
 Your cover is complete.

LEVEL 3

Inserting a Picture

We wish to insert a picture on the front cover.

 So click in the cell at the top right corner.

 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 To crop the image, on the “Format” tab under “Picture Tools”, in the “Size”
group, click “Crop”.
 Drag the handles to crop the image.
 We wish to add the same picture below the vertical text we entered.

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  So click in the cell at the center of the bottom row.
 This time we want a smaller picture.
 Insert the picture in the same way as you inserted the picture on the cover.
 Size and position it as required.

Inserting a Picture along with Existing Text

We also want to include a picture containing a bar code along with the price of the
book on the back cover.

 So position the cursor in front of the price in the cell at the bottom left corner.
 To insert the picture of the bar code, follow the same procedure as for the
previous two pictures.
 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Size the picture as required by using the sizing handles.
 You may re-position the price if required.
 Doesn’t the book cover look really nice now?

Removing Outlines

Finally, we shall remove all outlines from the table we used for our book cover for a
better appearance.

 For this, you need to select the entire table.

 You remember how to do this?
 Place the mouse pointer at the top left corner of the table and click when it
appears as a four headed arrow.
 Then click the “Design” tab under Table Tools.
 In the “Table Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Borders” icon and select
“No Border”.
 The borders appear as dotted lines which will not be printed.
 Now save the document and your book cover is ready to use.

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THE PAGE LAYOUT TAB

INTRODUCTION

The Page Layout Tab lets you control the look and feel of your document in Microsoft
Word 2010. You can apply a global design to your document by using one of the
available themes and color schemes. You can also change the document orientation,
page size, margins, indentation, line spacing and paragraph settings. Let’s learn some
of these interesting features. We’ll start with the groups contained in this tab.

 Themes: This group contains commands which enable you to apply themes to
your document.
 Page Setup: The commands in this group enable you to modify the structure of
your document with details like margins, page size, orientation, line numbers
etc.
 Page Background: These commands enable you to select Watermarks, Page
Colors and Borders.
 Paragraph: These commands enable you to control indentation on the left and
right sides of a page and also spacing between paragraphs.
 Arrange: These commands enable you to arrange the objects in your document
as required as well as to display the selection pane.

THE THEMES GROUP

Themes

The “Themes” icon is used to apply a “Theme” to a document. A “Theme” is a pre-

defined combination of colors; fonts and formatting effects which lets you change the
entire design of a document. Styles are one of the components of a theme. In an
existing document, you will not be able to see a theme applied, if you have not used
styles. The displayed document has some styles applied.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Themes” group, click “Themes” to display the
“Themes” gallery.

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  Move your mouse over the various themes to see a Live Preview of the themes
and select one.
 You can see that colors, fonts and effects are changed as per the theme.

Modifying a Theme

You can also specify a theme when you start creating a new document.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Themes” group, select a theme from the
“Themes” gallery.
 Now activate the “Home” tab.
 You can see that the “Font Color” and “Styles” galleries are based on the selected
theme.
 Once you select a theme, you are not restricted to the colors, fonts and effects
used.
 You may customize it using the various icons in the “Page Layout tab - Themes
group”.
 To save a customized theme, select “Themes - Save Current Theme”.

THE PAGE SETUP GROUP

Margins

The “Margins” icon is used to specify the margin sizes. This means you can specify how
much blank space you want on the top, bottom and side of your page.

 To set margins, on the “Page Layout” tab, from the “Page Setup” group, select
“Margins”.
 You may click on any of the available options or click “Custom Margins” to enter
your own specifications.
 On the “Margins” tab of the displayed window, you may enter your requirements
in one or more of the boxes.
 Let us change the left and right margins to 4 inches each.
 Click “OK”.

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  You can see that your document is displayed with wider side margins.
 Click “Undo” on the Quick Access toolbar to revert to the original margins.

Orientation

The “Orientation” icon is used to specify the orientation of a document. “Portrait” or

vertical orientation makes your document appear tall and slim and is commonly used
for letters, invoices etc. “Landscape” or horizontal orientation makes the document
appear short and wide and is good for accommodating things like tables containing
lots of data in multiple columns.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, from the “Page Setup” group, click “Orientation” and
select a suitable option.
 Your document is now oriented as specified.

Size

The “Size” icon is used to set the size of the pages of your document.

 To set the Page Size, on the “Page Layout” tab, from the “Page Setup” group, click
“Size”.
 You may click on any of the available options or click “More Paper Sizes” to enter
your own specifications.
 On the “Paper” tab of the displayed window, you may select the paper size from
preset formats like A4, A5, etc. from the drop-down list.
 You may also manually set the dimensions you require in the “Width” and
“Height” boxes.
 Click “OK” to save your settings.

Columns

The “Columns” icon is used to create Newsletter Style Columns. In a newsletter,

narrow columns help the reader read the articles more quickly. The default column
style is one column across the full width of the page. Select the text that you wish to
display in columnar format.

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  On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, click “Columns”.
 You may make a selection from the options displayed.
 Click “More Columns” to display the “Columns” window.
 Let us select “Two” as the number of columns under “Presets”.
 You may select other settings for the size and display of the columns under
“Width and spacing”.
 These settings may be applied to the whole or part of the document.
 Click “OK”.
 Your text is now displayed in columnar format.

Breaks

The “Breaks” icon is used to create various types of Page Breaks and Section Breaks.
Let’s learn to create section break. Sections can be handled individually, for example,
you may apply different formatting or margins to a specific section. In the displayed
document, position your cursor before the second paragraph of text.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, from the “Page Setup” group, select “Breaks”.
 In the displayed menu, under “Section Breaks”, you may select the type of
section break you wish.
 Let us select “Continuous”. This creates the section at the cursor position.
 To see where the section break has been inserted, activate the “Home” tab.
 In the “Paragraph” group, click the “Show/Hide” icon.
 This section break we created has divided the document into two parts.

Using Sections

 Create another section break below the bulleted list.

 Now the section we created earlier extends from the beginning of the second
paragraph and ends after the bulleted list.
 The document is thus divided into three parts.
 The third section begins after the bulleted list and extends to the end of the
document.

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  To remove the display of nonprinting characters, click the “Show/Hide” icon on
the Home tab once again.

Formatting Section

 Let us now make some changes to the second section.

 Click anywhere within this section. Then click the dialog box launcher at the
bottom right of the “Page Setup” group.
 In the “Page Setup” window, on the Margins tab, change the left margin to “5”.
 Under “Preview”, ensure that “This section” is selected in the “Apply to” box.
 Click “OK”.
 You can see that the text in this section gets indented as per the new left margin.

Deleting Section

When you delete a section break, you also delete the section formatting for the text
before the break. That text becomes part of the following section, and it assumes the
formatting of that section.

 Click the “Show/Hide” icon to display the section break.

 Now click on the second section break we created.
 Then press “Delete”.
 You can see that the formatting we had applied is removed.

Line Numbers

The “Line Numbers” icon is used to display line numbers in the margin in front of each
line of a document.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, click “Line Numbers”.
 Select a suitable option to specify whether the line numbers should be
continuous for the entire document or be restarted at each section or page.
 To remove numbering, select “Line Numbers - None”.

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Hyphenations

By default, if a word is too long to fit at the end of a line, Word moves it to the
beginning of the next line. The “Hyphenation” icon is used to split long words at the
end of a line. A short horizontal mark i.e. a hyphen is inserted between the two parts.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, select “Hyphenation →
Automatic”.
 You can see that hyphens have been automatically added in the document.
 Click “Undo” on the Quick Access toolbar to remove the hyphenation.

Manual Hyphenation

You can also manually choose whether to insert a hyphen and specify its position
within a word.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, select “Hyphenation →
Manual”.
 The first hyphenated word is displayed.
 You may click on a hyphen to decide where you want it positioned.
 Click “Yes” to accept the hyphenation.
 The next hyphenated word is displayed.
 Click “No” to reject this hyphenation.
 In this way, you may decide whether or not to insert hyphens in a document.

THE PAGE BACKGROUND GROUP

Watermark

The “Watermark” icon is used to insert a faint but distinct image as the background
of your document.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Background” group, click “Watermark”.
 You may select one of the predefined watermarks or click “Custom Watermark”
to specify your own.

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  In the “Printed Watermark” window, let us select “Picture Watermark”.
 Click “Select Picture”. In the displayed window, navigate to the location of the
picture and click “Insert”.
 If you want the picture to be displayed a little prominently ensure that the
“Washout” box is unchecked.
 Then click “OK”.
 Look, your document has a picture in the background.

Removing a watermark

To remove a watermark, from the “Page Background” group, select “Watermark -

Remove Watermark”.

Page Color

The “Page Color” icon is used to color the background of the page. Using a
background color makes your document look more attractive.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, from the “Page Background” group, click “Page Color”.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 The selected color is now applied to your document.
 Doesn’t it look great?
 You may also use other effects such as gradients, textures, patterns and pictures
for your page background.
 For this, select “Page Color - Fill Effects” and specify your preferences in the
displayed window.

Page Border

The “Page Borders” icon is used to create a border around a page. Let’s learn to use it.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Background” group, click “Page Borders”.
 In the window displayed, under “Setting”, select “Box”.
 Let’s create an artistic border.
 In the column at the center, click the arrow in the “Art” box.

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  This displays a dropdown list of designs which you can use as a border.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Next, select a suitable color for the border design from the “Color” dropdown list.
 Now, click “OK”.
 Your document has a pretty border now!

THE PARAGRAPH GROUP

Indent left and right

The Indent Left and Right boxes are used to specify the exact amount of space that you
want to shift your paragraph in from the left or right side. This is like creating margins
for a paragraph.

 Click in a paragraph and enter values in the Left and Right Indent boxes and
 Press Enter.
 Use the “Undo” icon on the Quick Access toolbar to revert to the original
settings.

Spacing Before and After

The Spacing Before and after boxes are used to change the default spacing between
paragraphs by adding additional space before or after them.

 Click within a paragraph and enter values in the Spacing Before and after boxes
and press Enter.
 This adds the specified space before and after the paragraph.
 Use the “Undo” icon on the Quick Access toolbar to revert to the original
settings.

Overview

Friends, now we have completed learning about the main commands on the Page
Layout Tab. After applying some of them, our document looks like the one displayed on
screen. You may try exploring some of the other options on this tab on your own. There

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are still many more Word 2010 features that we’ll be learning. You can create a table of
contents, add footnotes and endnotes and create cross references. All this can be done
using the References Tab. So let’s move to next Lab and learn to use the References
Tab.

LETTERHEAD

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the simple letterhead displayed. It has the company name in the header
and below it, there is text indicating where the date should be written. So let us start
creating a similar letterhead by opening the Word application.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

Every letter has the date written on it. So take the cursor to a suitable position at the
top right of the page by clicking Right align icon from the “paragraph” group and type
“Date:” You may format this text as you wish by selecting it and using the various
options in the “Font” group on the “Home” tab.

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Creating the Header

The next step is to create the header.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header”.
 There are various ready-to-use header styles that you may use.
 Let us select one of them by clicking on it.
 Enter the name of your company within the placeholder displayed.
 Then press “Escape”.
 Your header is ready.

Creating the Footer

Now it’s time to create the Footer.

 Click the “Insert” tab once again.

 This time, from the “Header & Footer” group, click “Footer”.
 We need to select a footer style which is similar to the header we used.
 Click on a suitable one.
 We want our footer to display the company address, contact numbers as well as
the name of the company website.
 So select the existing text in the footer and replace it with all these details.
 Press “Escape” when done.

Specifying the Page Size

We will now specify the size that we want our letterhead to be.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Page Setup” group, click “Size” and select a suitable one from the options
displayed.
 That’s it. Wasn’t it easy to create a simple letterhead using the available header
and footer styles?

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LEVEL 2

Creating the Header

The document displayed has the page size already set. You have learnt to do this in the
previous assignment. This time we will not use the ready headers and footers. Instead
we shall design custom ones. So let’s get started with the header. At first we will
remove the ready header which we have inserted in level01.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header” and select
“Edit Header”.
 You can see that a new “Design” tab is displayed.
 Enter the name of your company within the placeholder displayed.
 You may format this text as you wish by using the various options available on
the “Home” tab in the “Font” group.

Inserting a Picture

A letterhead often displays the company name and logo. So let’s insert such a picture
on our header.

 Place your cursor where you want to insert the picture.

 On the “Design” tab, from the “Insert” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Resize it suitably using the sizing handles.
 Click outside the picture and press “Enter”.

Inserting a Shape

We shall now insert a line below this picture.

 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on “Line” and drag with your mouse to draw a straight line below the
picture.
 A new “Format” tab is displayed.

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  Let us color the line that we have drawn.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline” icon and
select a color.

Creating the Footer

 Now click the “Design” tab and select “Go to Footer” from the “Navigation” group.
 The cursor moves to the footer area.
 Let’s enter details related to the company address, contact numbers and website
here.
 Draw and color a line in the footer area in the same way as you did for the
header.
 The only difference is that the line should appear above the entered text.

Entering Text

Click anywhere in the footer and then press the “Escape” key to exit from the footer
area.

Creating a Border

What remains is the creation of a border for this page.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Background” group, click “Page Borders”.
 Under “Setting”, click “Box” and select a suitable Style and Color.
 Then click “OK”.
 The letterhead – level 2 is ready.
 Doesn’t it look really nice now?

LEVEL 3

Adding a Watermark

Here, you can see the letterhead we created at level 2. We shall now add a watermark
to it. Let’s use a picture of the company logo for the watermark.

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  Click the “Page Layout” tab.
 In the “Page Setup” group, click “Watermark” and select “Custom Watermark”.
 In the “Printed Watermark” window, select “Picture watermark”.
 Now click “Select Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Now click “Apply” then “Close” in the “Printed Watermark” window to see the
watermark.

Creating a Text Box

Next, we shall specify the area where the actual content will be entered on the
letterhead. For this we will create a text box.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw the text box between the date and the footer
area.
 A new “Format” tab is displayed.

Removing Shape Outline

We do not want any borders for this text box. The text box will simply serve as a
placeholder and ensure that text is uniformly positioned on all pages of the letterhead.

 So on the “Format” tab, in the “Text Box Styles” group; click the arrow next to
the “Shape Outline” icon.
 From the options displayed, select “No outline”.
 Click outside the text box.
 Now doesn’t the letterhead look truly professional?
 Save it by clicking the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

Printing

To print your letterhead, click the File Tab and then select “Print”. You may specify
your settings and then click the “Print” button in the central pane.

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FLYER-SCIENCE EXHIBITION

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the simple flyer displayed. There is a heading at the top which gives the
main information regarding who is holding the event and its name. Below it, there are
other details about the event such as what will be showcased, the dates and timings.
Different font styles and colors have been used for text entry. The headings are
displayed prominently using different colors and bold text. Some important points have
been highlighted using a bulleted list. So let us start creating a similar flyer by opening
the Word application.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

 Start typing the text as shown.

 Enter the heading and then the sub-heading.
 Press “Enter” to leave blank lines wherever required. Then enter the first
paragraph of text.

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Formatting Text

Now we’ll make some changes to the appearance of this text. We’ll use the “Home” tab
for this.

 Select the first line of text.

 Change the font style and size by making suitable selections from the “Font”
group using the “Font” and “Font Size” dropdown lists respectively.
 The heading needs to attract the attention of the reader, so try to use larger
fonts.
 You may make the required changes to the other lines of text in the same way.

Changing Font Color

 To change font color, first select the text and then from the “Font” group click
the arrow next to the “Font color” icon.
 Select a suitable color from the displayed ones.

Making Text Bold

To make the heading look more outstanding, we shall embolden it. For this, select the
two heading lines and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.

Centering Text

Now let us move the two heading lines to the center of the page. To do so,

 From the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon.

 Click outside the text to deselect it.
 Doesn’t the heading look better now?

Using Bullets

A bulleted list is used to highlight important points. Let us create a bulleted list in the
next paragraph.

 First enter the paragraph heading.

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  Then format it suitably and to underline it, select it and click the “Underline”
icon in the “Font” group.
 Press “Enter” to go to the next line.
 If you see that the “Underline” icon is still highlighted, click it once again to
deactivate it because we do not want the other text to be underlined.
 Now enter the details of your list.
 To make these details appear as a bulleted list, select these lines.
 From the “Paragraph” group, click the arrow next to the “Bullets” icon and select
a suitable bullet style.
 Click outside the bulleted list to deselect it.

Completing the Flyer

Enter the other information you wish to include in your flyer and format as required.
Your basic flyer is now ready.

LEVEL 2

Creating a Table

We shall replace the bulleted list with a table.

 Select the list and press “Delete”.

 Now we are ready to insert the table.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Tables” group, select “Table → Insert Table”.
 In the displayed window, we need to specify the number of columns and rows.
 Enter values as required and click “OK”.
 Your table is ready and a new “Design” tab is displayed.

Sizing and Moving a Table

 To re-size the table, position the mouse pointer at the bottom right corner and
drag when it changes to a two-headed arrow.
 To move the table, position the mouse pointer at the top left corner.

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  When it changes to a four headed arrow, drag to position the table appropriately.

Entering Table Data

We shall now enter the details which were previously contained in the bulleted list.

 Enter the data as shown, using the “Tab” key to move between the cells.
 You may format the data if you wish.
 For this, select the data from all the cells and then click the “Home” tab.
 Use the various options in the Font group as required.

Centering Text

Let us center the text within the cells.

 Since the text is already selected, simply click the “Center” icon in the
“Paragraph” group.
 To center the heading of this table, click in front of it and press the same icon
once again.

Formatting a Table

Let us make this table more attractive by changing the color of the borders.

 Position your mouse on the top left corner of the table and click when you see an
icon with a four-headed arrow.
 This selects the table.
 Click the “Design” tab.
 From the “Table Styles” group, click the “Borders” icon.
 In the “Borders and Shading” window, select a suitable color from the “Color”
dropdown list.
 Then click “OK”.
 Click outside the table.
 Your table now has an attractively colored border!
 This completes your flyer – level 2.

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Setting Page Size

 Open the document containing the basic flyer we created.

 Let us first reduce the overall size of the flyer.
 This also makes it handier plus it will prove to be more cost effective.
 Click the “Page Layout” tab.
 From the “Page Setup” group, click the “Size” icon.
 Select a suitable size from the options displayed.

Creating a Page Border

We shall now create a border for the page.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, from the “Page Background” group, click “Page
Borders”.
 Under “Setting”, select “Box” and select a suitable color from the “Color”
dropdown list.
 Then click “OK”.
 There you are; your page has a nice border!

Applying a Background Color

Next we’ll apply a background color to our flyer.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Background” group, click the “Page Color”
icon.
 From the displayed colors, select a suitable one.
 This really enhances the look of the flyer, doesn’t it?
 This is not all.
 We’ll make the flyer even more attractive.

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LEVEL 3

Using WordArt

 Open the document containing the level 2 flyer.

 We’ll start with the heading.
 Select the first heading line and then click the “Insert” tab.
 In the text group, click “Word Art”.
 Select a style.
 A new “Format” tab under the heading “Drawing Tools” appears.
 To make the flyer more attractive don’t you think that we have to reduce the size
of the first heading line?
 For that, go to home tab and decrease the font size from the font size pull down
menu.
 Doesn’t this heading look nice?

Modifying WordArt

There’s more that we can do make the heading look better. We’ll enhance it further by
applying some text effect and changing the color and shape.

 Click the “Format” tab under the heading “Drawing Tools” and choose a suitable
text effect.
 You can apply more than one text effect to the same text where you have already
applied text effect.

Inserting a Footer

We’ll use a footer to insert the text at the bottom of our flyer. So we’ll temporarily
remove the last line and later place it within the footer. We shall use the “Cut-Paste”
feature for this. So,

 Select the last line of text and use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + X” to
temporarily remove it.
 Now click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Footer”.

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  A list of various footer styles is displayed.
 Let us select one of them by clicking on it.
 A new “Design” tab is displayed and you are taken to the footer area.
 Now paste the text that we had removed here by clicking “Ctrl + V”.
 Then click the “Close Header and Footer” icon at the right end of the “Design”
tab to exit from the footer area.

Inserting a Picture

Now it’s time to insert a picture.

 Position your cursor at the location you want your picture.

 Then click the “Insert” tab.
 In the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Size the picture suitably using the sizing handles.
 Wow! Doesn’t this change the look of the flyer totally?

Using Picture Styles

Now we’ll enhance this picture by applying a picture style.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Click outside the picture.
 Yes, this picture looks fine now!
 Our flyer – level 3 is complete.

LEVEL 4

Inserting a Shape

 Open the document containing the level 3 flyer.

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  This time, we’ll present the information regarding the date, time, venue and free
entry in a more attractive way using shapes.
 So first let’s remove these lines by selecting them and pressing “Delete”.
 Now create some blank space for the shapes by pressing “Enter” a few times.
 Now we’re ready to insert our shapes.
 We’ll first create a rectangular shape.
 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on a shape of your choice and drag with your mouse to draw it at a
suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab is displayed.

Enhancing a Shape

To make this shape more attractive, we shall apply a shape style.

 Click the “More” arrow from the “Shape Styles” group to see the complete gallery
of styles.
 Click on a suitable style.
 Now from the “Insert Shapes” group, click the “Edit Text” icon.
 Enter the text within the shape as shown.
 You may format this text as you wish by clicking on the “Home” tab and using
the various options in the “Font” group.

Inserting and Arranging Shapes

Our flyer is almost complete now. What remains is the addition of two triangular
shapes, one at the top left corner and the other at the bottom right. Let’s see how to do
this.

 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 This time select the “Right Triangle” shape under “Basic Shapes” and drag with
your mouse to draw it at the top left corner.
 Now to fit this shape into the corner we need to make an adjustment.
 On the “Format” tab, in the “Arrange” group, select “Rotate → Flip Vertical”.

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  Place the triangle suitably by placing your mouse on it and dragging it.
 Draw a similar triangle at the bottom right corner in the same way.
 To adjust it for this corner, you need to select “Rotate → Flip Horizontal”.

Formatting Shapes

Now we’ll color this triangle.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Fill” icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 To remove its outline, from the “Shape Styles” group, select “Shape Outline →
No Outline”.
 Click the first triangle we created and format it in the same way.
 That’s it, your professional looking flyer is complete and ready to use!
 Save your document by pressing the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Try designing different kinds of Word documents using the various skills that
you have learnt.

COLLEGE IDENTITY CARD

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the identity card displayed. It is rectangular in shape and has the name
of the college printed at the top. Other details of the student such as his name,
address, roll number etc. are included. There are two blank shapes, one for the
photograph and the other for the signature. So let us open the Word application and
start creating a similar identity card.

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Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

Let us type the text of the ID card.

Inserting a Shape

We shall create a rectangular shape first.

 Click the “Insert” tab. From the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 From the displayed shapes, click on a suitable one and drag with your mouse to
draw the shape at a suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab appears.
 You may want your rectangle to have specific dimensions.
 On the “Format” tab, in the “Size” group, enter your specifications in the “Shape
Height” and “Shape Width” fields.
 From the “Arrange” group, click on “Align” and from the drop down list select
“Align Center”.
 Now let us change the background color of the rectangle.

Inserting a Text Box

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Now that we have the identity card of the exact size we want, we can start entering
other details. We shall first create a text box at the top and enter the name of the
college within it.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box of a suitable size at the top of the
rectangle.
 You can see the cursor flashing within this text box. Enter the name of the
college as shown.

Aligning Text

 Let us move this text to the center.

 Select the two lines of text, Click the “Home” tab and from the “Paragraph”
group, click the “Center” icon.

Setting Line Spacing

 To change the spacing between the lines, in the “Paragraph” group, click the
“Line spacing” icon.
 Make a selection from the options displayed

Formatting Text

Now we’ll make some changes to the appearance of this text.

 Let us make the first line of text bold.

 For this, select it and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Change the font style and size by making suitable selections from the “Font” and
“Font Size” dropdown lists respectively.
 You may make the required changes to the second line of text in the same way.

Inserting another Text Box

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Now let us insert a text box in which a photograph of the card holder will be placed.
You know how to create a text box, right?

 Ok, draw the text box of a suitable size and position it appropriately.
 Insert text within it as shown.
 Align it centrally using the “Home” tab.

Inserting More Text Boxes

Now insert three more text boxes, enter details and format as shown.

Removing Text Box Outline

Now let us remove the outlines from all the text boxes other than the one at the center.
This will result in a better appearance.

 Click in the text box just below the central one.

 Then click the “Format” tab. In the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next
to “Shape Outline”.
 Select “No Outline” and click outside the text box.
 Remove outlines from the other two text boxes in the same way.

Inserting Shapes

What remains is the insertion of a small rectangle at the bottom right corner. The card
holder will use this for his signature. You remember how we created the main
rectangular outline? We have to follow the same steps once again.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click a suitable shape and draw it with your mouse.
 Your college identity card – level 1 is ready!

LEVEL 2

Coloring the Main Shape

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  Open the document containing the identity card we created in the previous
assignment.
 First we shall change the background color of the card.
 Click within the card.
 Then click the “Format” tab which appears.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon.
 From the displayed colors, select a suitable one.
 Now that we have colored the background, let us apply suitable colors to the
other text boxes and the rectangular shape at the bottom right.

Coloring Other Shapes

Let’s begin with the text box at the top.

 Click in the text box.

 Now let us apply a suitable background color in the same way as you did for the
main rectangle.
 Click the “Format” tab and from the “Text Box Styles” group, select a suitable
“Shape Fill” color.

Formatting Text

To change the color of the text

 Select the text from the text box and Click the “Home” tab.
 From the “Font” group click on the arrow next to the “Font Color” icon and select
a suitable color.

Making Shapes Transparent

We want the text box at the center to remain as it is. But the background of the card
should be visible through the other three text boxes and the shape at the bottom right.
This can be done by making these objects transparent. Let’s see how to do this.

 Click the text box below the one at the center.

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  Then click the “Format” tab. In the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next
to “Shape Fill”.
 From the displayed options, select “No Fill”.
 Yes, the background is visible now.
 Make the other two text boxes and the small rectangular shape transparent in
the same way.

Making Text Bold

Now we shall embolden some text within the text box with the personal details of the
card holder. By now you know very well how this is done. Yes, you need to use the
“Home” tab.

 Select the text and then from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Do the same for the other lines as well.

Inserting Lines

What remains, is the insertion of a horizontal line at the bottom just above the last text
box and shape.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click “Line” and drag to draw a line at a suitable position.
 Your identity card - level 2 is ready.

LEVEL 3

Moving Shapes

 Open the document containing the identity card - level 2.

 First we’ll move all the text boxes and shapes out from the identity card.
 This will give us a plain background space which can be enhanced easily.
 Click on the central text box to select it.
 When the mouse pointer appears as a four headed arrow, drag to move the text
box out from the main rectangle.

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  Move the other text boxes and shapes out in the same way.

Inserting Shapes

Now we’re ready to start enhancing the background.

 Select main rectangle.

 Then click the “Format” tab.
 In the “Insert Shapes” group, you can see a variety of shapes.
 Click the “More” arrow to see the complete gallery of shapes.
 Let’s use the “Arc” shape first.
 Click this shape and drag to draw an arc within the card.
 Let us color this arc differently.
 From the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon.
 From the displayed colors, select a suitable one.
 To remove the outline, click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline” icon.
 Select “No Outline”.

Enhancing Shapes

Now let us insert various curved lines at different positions. You know how to create a
curve, right?

 Ok, draw various curves of a suitable size and position it appropriately.

 To change the outline color, click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline” icon.
 From the displayed colors, select a suitable one.
 Now the background looks nice doesn’t it?

Inserting Other Shapes

Now we shall add some circular shapes.

 This time from the Shapes gallery, click on a circular shape and drag to draw a
circle.
 To color this circle, in the “Shape Styles” group, use the “Shape Fill” icon.

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  To remove the outline, select “Shape Outline → No Outline”.
 You may draw various other shapes in the same way and position them as
required.
 Now a beautiful background is ready.

Arranging Objects

It’s time to bring the text boxes and shapes that we moved out back into the main
card.

 Let us drag the central text box first.

 If you find that it is hidden behind any of the background objects, click the
“Format” tab.
 From the “Arrange” group, click “Bring to Front”.
 Do the same for all the objects that we had moved out.

Inserting More Shapes

 Let’s just add one more shape at the top.

 From the “Insert Shapes” group, click a triangular shape and position just below
the topmost text box.
 Color it suitably.

Inserting Pictures

Now we shall insert a picture on this ID card.

 Click in the text box at the center and delete the existing text.
 Click the “Format” tab.
 We shall use the “Shape Fill” feature so that the picture fits exactly into the text
box that we have created.
 In the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next to “Shape Fill”.

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  From the options displayed, select “Picture”.
 In the “Select Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.

Creating Shapes

Now we want to make this picture look more attractive. We’ll create a colored rectangle
with a suitable border and then place the picture on it.

 First let us move the text box containing the picture outside the main rectangle.
 We’ll position it back later when the background is ready.
 Now draw a rectangular shape.
 A format tab will open automatically.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, you can see a variety of styles.
 Click the “More” arrow to see the complete gallery of styles.
 Select a suitable style for the shape.

Arranging Objects

Now that the background for the picture is ready, we can position the text box with the
picture on it.

 Drag the picture and place it on this background.

 Since the picture text box was created prior to the background text box, it will be
placed behind the new one.
 Only the placeholders will be visible.
 To display the picture, we need to bring it to the front.
 Click the “Format” tab under the heading “Text Box Tools”.
 From the “Arrange” group, click “Bring to Front”.
 Now your picture appears and doesn’t it look great with this background?
 Lets position all the moved shapes back to their respective place.
 Your final college identity card is ready to use!
 You have learnt so many skills during its creation.
 Now go ahead and try creating some other interesting objects!

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THE REFERENCES TAB

On the References tab you will find commands which enable you to create various
types of references like

 Table of Contents: This group contains commands which enable you create and
update a Table of Contents.
 Footnotes: The commands in this group enable you to insert footnotes and
endnotes.
 Citations & Bibliography: These commands enable you insert references to the
sources of information in the document.
 Captions: These commands enable you to insert captions for pictures and create
references to items by creating cross-references.
 Index: These commands enable you to insert indexes.
 Table of Authorities: These commands enable you to insert a Table of
Authorities which lists the references in a legal document

The Table of Contents Group

 The “Table of Contents” icon is used to create a listing of the topics that appear
in a document with their associated page references.
 This makes locating information easier.
 Word searches through your document looking for items such as headings which
are marked for use in the TOC.
 In the displayed document, some text has been marked out as different heading
levels.
 Place your cursor at the position you want to insert your table of contents.
 On the “References” tab, in the “Table of Contents” group, select “Table of Insert
Table of Contents”.
 Let the default settings remain in theContents “Table of Contents” window.
 Simply click “OK”.
 Your table of contents is ready.

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  You may now press & hold the “Ctrl” key and click on any item to move to the
related content in your document.

The Footnotes Group

Insert footnote

 The “Insert Footnote” icon is used to add Footnotes to a document.

 These are used to explain, comment on, or provide references for text and appear
at the end of the page.
 A footnote consists of two linked parts — the note reference mark and the
corresponding note text.
 Position your cursor at the text you want the footnote to appear.
 On the “References” tab, from the “Footnotes” group, select “Insert Footnote”.
 A reference mark is inserted and you are taken to the bottom of the page.
 Type your footnote.
 Then right-click the footnote and select “Go to Footnote” to take you back to the
insertion point so you can continue working.
 When your pointer rests over the reference mark, the footnote text is displayed in
a box.

Insert Endnote

 The “Insert Endnote” icon is used to add Endnotes to a document.

 These are used to explain, comment on, or provide references and appear at the end of
the document after the last line of text.
 An endnote consists of two linked parts — the note reference mark and the
corresponding note text.
 To insert an endnote, position your cursor where you want the endnote to appear.

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  Select “Insert Endnote” from the “Footnotes” group on the “References” tab.
 A reference mark is inserted and you are taken to the end of the document text.
 Type your endnote.
 Then, right-click the endnote and select “Go to Endnote” to take you back to the
insertion point so you can continue working.
 When your pointer rests over the reference mark, the endnote text is displayed in a box.

Deleting a footnote/endnote

 When you want to delete a footnote or endnote, simply delete the note reference
mark in the main document.
 Deleting the text in the note does not delete the note.

The footnote and endnote Dialog Box

The “Footnote and Endnote” dialog box is used to insert footnotes and endnotes and
also make changes to them in respect of numbering, location and format.

 On the “References” tab, in the “Footnotes” group, click on the Dialog Box
Launcher to display the “Footnote and Endnote” dialog box.

The Captions Group

Insert Caption

 The “Insert Caption” icon is used to add a caption to an image.

 A caption is a line of text that describes an object.
 Let us add a caption to the chart in the displayed document.
 Select the chart.
 On the “References” tab, in the “Captions” group, click “Insert Caption”.
 In the window displayed, select the label that best describes the object.
 If the list doesn’t provide the correct label, click “New Label”, type the new label
in the “Label” box, and then click OK.
 Type other required text after the label in the “Caption” box.

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  Select the “Position” of the caption and click “OK”.
 The caption is now inserted at the specified position.

Cross-Reference

 The “Cross-reference” icon is used to create a reference from one part of a

document to related information in another part.
 This is useful when you need to refer to pictures, charts, tables and other
objects.
 You must first define a caption for the reference target.
 Let us create a cross-reference to the displayed chart.
 Position your cursor at an appropriate location.
 Enter suitable text as shown. Now on the “References” tab, from the Captions
group, select “Cross-reference”.
 In the “Cross-reference” window, in the “Reference type” box, select the caption
label.
 Under “For which caption” ensure that the appropriate caption is selected.
 Click “Insert” and then click “Close”.
 This displays the caption near your text.
 Now press the “Ctrl” key and click on the caption to move to the captioned chart.

Overview

Friends, we have completed learning the key commands on the References tab.
presently, our document looks like the one displayed on screen. You may try inserting
various types of references using the other options on this tab. The next step in our
journey to mastering Word 2010 is learning about the Mail Merge feature. This enables
you to create personalized copies of a common letter using a few simple steps. These
commands are available on the Mailings Tab. So let’s move to the next Lab and learn
to effectively use this Tab.

INVITATION LETTER

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LEVEL 1

Objective

On your screen you can see a two-page invitation letter. This letter has text written in
different styles, sizes and colors. Let’s learn how to create such a letter ourselves. So
let us open the Word application and get started.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Working with Multiple Documents

 Type the date on the first line and press “Enter” twice.
 Now we wish to enter some text which exists in another document.
 So we need not spend time in re-typing it.
 We shall simply copy it from that document into ours.
 Open that document and select all the text there using the keyboard shortcut
“Ctrl + A”.
 Then copy it using “Ctrl + C”.
 Re-activate your original document.
 Now press “Ctrl + V”.
 Here you are.
 The text you needed has appeared!

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Selecting Text

The first line of the text that we have copied is the heading. And a heading must be
displayed prominently, isn’t it?

 So let’s format this line to make it stand out.

 For this, you need to select this line of text by clicking in front of the line in the
left margin.
 There is another way you can select text.
 Click at the beginning of the text you wish to select and drag till you reach the
end of the text.

Aligning Text

Next, we shall move this text to the center of the line. For this, on the “Home” tab, from
the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon.

Changing Font and Font Size

The next thing we shall do is to change the style of the heading text.

 From the “Font” group, click the arrow in the “Font” field to display the font list.
 Select a suitable one from the displayed options.
 Similarly, select a suitable font size from the “Font Size” dropdown list.

Changing Font Color

Now we shall change the color of this heading.

 Click the arrow next to the “Font Color” icon and select a suitable color from the
ones displayed.
 That’s not all.
 You can do much more to make the heading look even better.

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Changing Font Style

There are various effects that you can apply to your text.

 From the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click on the “Bold” icon.
 This will make your text bold.
 To apply some more effects click the small arrow at the bottom right corner.
 This brings up the font window.
 You can see list of affects that can be applied.
 Select a suitable option from the displayed option.
 Click close and then click ok.
 The heading really looks prominent, doesn’t it?
 Now that you know how to format text, you may do the needful for the other text
as well.

Underlining Text

You wish to underline some text in the first paragraph. To do so, select it and from the
“Font” group, click the “Underline” icon.

Applying Bullets

Next, you wish to highlight some important points in the form of a bulleted list.

 So select the details and from the “Paragraph” group, click “Bullets”.
 Wasn’t that so simple?

Using Tabs

Below the bulleted list, we shall write the detailed schedule for the seminar.

 First press “Enter” and then type the headings using suitable formatting.
 Now enter the details and press the “Tab” key after each item.
 This will make the data appear as if it is placed within a table.

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Entering Text

Enter the rest of the text within the letter.

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Picture

 Open the document containing the invitation letter – level 1.

 We shall first insert a picture of the company logo.
 Click in front of the date and press “Enter” to make space for the picture.
 Position your cursor above the date.
 Then click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.

Inserting a Shape

Now it’s time to insert the shapes at the top right.

 Click the “Insert” tab once again.

 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on a suitable shape and drag with your mouse to draw the shape at a
suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab appears with the heading “Drawing Tools” above it.

Formatting a Shape

Let us apply a shape style to make this shape more attractive.

 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see the complete gallery of
styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Now you have a pretty looking shape!
 You may draw as many shapes as required in a similar way.

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Creating a Text Box

We want to enter some text below the shapes we just drew. We shall use a text box for
this.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click the “Text Box” icon.
 Select “Draw Text Box” and drag with the mouse to draw a text box at the
position you wish.
 A “Format” tab appears with the heading “Drawing Tools” above it.

Entering Text

You can see the cursor flashing within the text box.

 Type in the required text.

 You may format this text if you wish.
 Select the text and click on the “Home” tab.
 Use the various options in the “Font” group to give the text the appearance you
desire.

Formatting a Text Box

We shall apply a style to this text box in a similar way as we did for the shapes we
created previously.

 To change the size of text box, Point to a handle and drag with your mouse to the
size you require.
 Your text box looks better now, doesn’t it?
 Your invitation letter – level 2 is done.

Converting Text into a Table

 Open the document containing the letter you created in the previous
assignment.
 We have written the schedule in textual form using tabs.

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  It is very simple to covert this text into a proper table with rows, columns and
borders.
 First select all the text you wish to convert into a table.
 Then click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Tables” group, click the “Table” icon.
 From the displayed options, select “Convert Text to Table…”
 In the window that comes up, under “AutoFit behavior”, click in front of “AutoFit
contents”.
 Ensure that under “Separate text at”, the “Tabs” option is selected.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your table is ready.
 A new “Design” tab appears under the heading “Table Tools”.

Applying a Table Style

Now we shall enhance the appearance of this table. Just as there are shape styles and
text box styles, Microsoft Office provides a gallery of table styles as well. Aren’t these
galleries so convenient?

 On the “Design” tab, from the “Table Styles” group, select a suitable style from
the table styles gallery.
 Click outside the table.
 Wow, the appearance of the table has changed totally!

Inserting a Header

The next step is to define a header for our invitation letter. This will appear at the top
of each page of the letter.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header”.
 A list of various header styles is displayed.
 Let us select one of them by clicking on it.
 A new “Design” tab is displayed.
 Enter your details and format as required. Your header is ready.

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Inserting Footer

Now it’s time to create the Footer.

 From the “Navigation” group, Click “Go to Footer” icon.

 Then click “Page Number” from the “Header & Footer” group.
 From the open menu, go to “Bottom of Page”.
 A list of various page number styles is displayed.
 Let us select one of them by clicking on it. Enter the required details and format
the text as per your requirement.
 Click the “Close Header and Footer” icon at the right end of the “Design” tab to
exit from the header and footer areas.
 Remember, you could also Press “Escape” when done.
 This completes our invitation letter – level 3.

LEVEL 3

Setting Page Background

 Open the document containing the invitation letter – level 2.

 We shall apply a background color to the pages of this letter.
 Click the “Page Layout” tab. In the “Page Background” group, click the “Page
Color” icon.
 From the displayed colors, select a suitable one.
 This really enhances the look of the letter, doesn’t it?
 This is not all.
 We’ll make the letter even more attractive.

Creating a Border

We will now create a border for the page.

 In the “Page Background” group, click “Page Borders”.

 In the window displayed, under “Setting”, select “Box”.
 Then, in the column at the center, click the arrow in the “Art” field.

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  This displays a dropdown list of designs which you can use as a border.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Next, select a suitable color for the border design from the “Color” dropdown list.
 Now, click “OK”.
 Your professional looking invitation is now ready to be used.

LEVEL 4

Starting the Mail Merge Wizard

Here you can see the letter we created in the previous assignment. The only difference
is that there is an Address Block and Greeting Line at the top. This is because the
letter has been used for a Mail Merge. The Mail Merge feature of Microsoft Word
enables you to add a personal touch by addressing each person individually. A large
number of personalized letters can be created very easily. Let’s learn to use this
feature.

Creating a List of Recipients

We need to specify a list of people for whom we wish to create personalized letters. You
may use an existing list, use outlook contacts or type a new list. Let us learn to create
a new list.

 Select "Type a new list" and then click "Create".

 The "New Address List" window is displayed.
 Enter the Title, First Name, Last Name and other details of the first person.
 Click "New Entry" to add subsequent entries.
 After you are done, click "OK".
 The "Save Address List" window appears.
 Enter a name for the address list and click "Save".
 Click "OK" in the "Mail Merge Recipients" window.
 In the Wizard, you see the selection has moved to "Use an existing list".
 You may choose a different list by selecting "Select a different list".

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Adding an Address Block

We shall now specify the address format that we want at the top of each personalized
letter.

 Click “Address block”. In the window that comes up, you can specify the format
in which you want the recipient’s name and whether to insert the company name
and postal address by checking the appropriate boxes.
 You can also choose whether to format the address according to the destination
country or region.
 Click “OK” when you are done.
 You see the text “<>” inserted in your document.
 This will be replaced by the address of different recipients when the merge
process is complete.

Inserting a Greeting Line

The next thing to do is to specify how we want to greet the recipient, whether by his
first name or by his title and last name or in some other way.

 Press “Enter” and click “Greeting line”.

 In the window displayed, enter your format by making selections from the
various dropdown lists.
 Then click “OK”.
 You can see the text “<>” in your document.
 This will be replaced by the name of each recipient in the format you specified.

Previewing Letters

Now the format of the letter has been defined fully. We shall preview the personalized
letters to see if they appear as planned.

 Click “Next”.
 Yes, now you see a nice personalized letter for the first person on your list.
 Use the right and left arrows to preview letters to the others.

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  You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list.

Changing Mail Merge Settings

 After previewing your letter, you may decide to make changes to some settings.
 You may click “Previous” at the bottom of the wizard to go back any number of
steps.

Completing the Merge and Printing

 Click "Next" to complete the merge.

 You may now click "Print" to print your letters or click "Edit individual letters" to
make changes to any letter.
 You may make your selections from the windows that are displayed.
 So you saw how it’s possible to create any number of personalized letters in a
very short while!

LEVEL 5

Reviewing

Our invitation letter is complete. The only thing that remains is to check for mistakes
related to spelling and grammar. Word makes this so easy using Spelling & Grammar
dialog box.

Reviewing Documents

 Click the “Review” tab.

 In the “Proofing” group, click “Spelling & Grammar”.
 If there are any errors, the “Spelling & Grammar” window is displayed.
 In this window, spelling mistakes are indicated in red while grammatical ones
are in green.
 Corrections are suggested and you may choose to accept or ignore them by
clicking on the various buttons.

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  After you have gone through all the displayed errors, you see a window informing
you that the checking is complete.
 Congratulations! Your letter is now free from all errors and can be used as
required

ENVELOPE

LEVEL 1

Objective

Look at the three envelopes displayed. We shall use Microsoft Word to create such
Envelopes. The first one is a simple, regular envelope. The second one looks more
attractive than the first. And the third one looks better than the second and more
professional. We shall learn how to create the first one and then enhance its
appearance step-by-step. So let’s get started.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Inserting a Textbox

We now need to enter the company name and address. We shall first create a text box
and then enter these details within it. This will enable us to reposition the entire block
of text easily, if required.

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  Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box of a suitable size at the top left corner.
 A new “Format” tab appears.

Entering and Formatting Text

Now enter the name and address of the company. The text looks quite spaced out
doesn’t it? So let’s make some adjustments.

 Select the company name.

 To make it bold, click the “Home” tab and from the “Font” group, select “Bold”.
 To make the other address lines more compact, select them.
 In the “Paragraph” group, enter “Spacing After” as “0 pt” and click “OK”.

Removing Text Box Outline

 Let us remove the outline surrounding this text box for a better appearance.
 For this, click the “Format” tab.
 From the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline”
icon.
 Select “No Outline”.

Inserting another Text Box

Now that we are done with this text box, let us create another one at the center of the
envelope to enter details of the receiver.

 Click the “Insert” tab once again.

 From the “Text” group, select “Text Box → Draw Text Box” and drag to draw
the text box at the center.
 Enter the text in this text box as shown.
 Remove the outline as you did for the previous text box.

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Specifying the Page Size

We first need to decide the layout of our envelope. This involves specifying the
orientation and size of the envelope. Normally the “Landscape” orientation is used to
give more space for entry of address details.

 So click the “Page Layout” tab. In the “Page Setup” group, click “Orientation” and
make your selection.
 The next step is to specify the size that we want our envelope to be.
 For this, click “Size” in the “Page Setup” group.
 You may not find a suitable size in the displayed list.
 So you can specify a custom size by clicking “More Paper Sizes”.
 In the “Page Setup” window, enter your specifications in the “Width” and
“Height” fields and click “OK”.
 Now align the two text boxes as per your requirement.
 Your basic envelope in ready. Wasn’t that simple?

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Text Box

This is the envelope we created previously with two text boxes. We shall create a third
text box now, and add a picture within it.

 Move the text box containing company name for the third text box.
 You remember how a text box is created, right?
 Yes, we first have to click the “Insert” tab.
 Then from the “Text” group, select “Text Box → Draw Text Box” and drag to
draw a small text box at the extreme left corner at the top.

Inserting a Picture in a Text box

 The next step is to insert the company logo.

 We shall fill the text box we just created with a picture of the logo.

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  For this, on the “Format” tab, from the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow
next to the “Shape Fill” icon.
 From the displayed options, select “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the picture of your logo and click
“Insert”.

Removing Picture Outline

To remove the box surrounding the picture,

 On the “Format” tab, from the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Outline” icon.
 Select “No Outline”.

Grouping

We shall now group the text box with the company logo and the one with the name and
address. This ensures that whenever one of them is repositioned, the other moves
along with it.

 The text box containing the logo is already selected.

 Keeping the “Shift” key pressed; click the text box containing the company name
and address.
 This selects both boxes at the same time.
 Still keeping “Shift” pressed, on the “Format” tab, from the “Arrange” group; click
on the “Group” option.
 From the drop down list select “Group”.
 Now both text boxes are treated as a group.
 Place the mouse pointer at the top left corner of the logo.
 When it appears as a four headed arrow, drag with the mouse.
 You can see that both text boxes move simultaneously.
 Level 2 is complete.

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LEVEL 3

Inserting a Shape

Let us enhance the envelope we created at level 2.

 To insert the first vertical rectangle, click the “Insert” tab and in the
“Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on an appropriate shape and drag with your mouse to draw it of a suitable
size at a position you wish.

Formatting a Shape

Let us apply a shape style to make this shape more attractive.

 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow to see the gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Now you have a pretty looking shape!
 Draw and color two more vertical rectangles in the same way.

Adding Textbox in a Shape

Now for the horizontal rectangle at the bottom of the envelope.

 Draw and color the shape in the same way as the previous ones.
 We want to add the name of the company website on this shape.
 On the “Format” tab, in the “Insert Shapes” group, click on the “Text Box” icon;
draw a text box on the horizontal rectangle.
 Enter the website name.
 To move this text to the center, select it and click the “Home” tab.
 Then from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon.

Removing Shape Outline

We shall remove the outlines from all four rectangular shapes and Tex Box that we
have created for a better appearance.

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  For this we first have to select text box and all the rectangles.
 The text box is already selected. Keeping the “Shift” key pressed, click on the
other four.
 Now click the “Format” tab under “Drawing Tools”.
 In the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline” icon
and select “No Outline”.
 Click anywhere within the envelope to deselect these shapes.
 Same way remove Fill color from the text box.
 Doesn’t the envelope look really nice?
 Now that it is complete, you must save your document.

STUDENT PROJECT REPORT

LEVEL 1

Objective

We shall first create a basic project report with textual information like the one
displayed. Then we shall create a more comprehensive report by inserting some
pictures and diagrams. At the third level we’ll use additional Word features to include
things like a table of contents, headers and footers. At the final stage, we’ll create a
professional looking project report complete with an attractive cover page. So let’s start
with the basic project report and build it up to the final level.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

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Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering and Formatting Text

 Click the “Home” tab.

 Select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size” from the “Font” group.
 Enter the content of the report as shown.
 Let us make the headings stand out prominently.
 Select the first heading, change the font and increase the font size and click the
“Bold” icon from the “Font” group.
 Do the same for the other headings as well.

Applying Bullets

Next, you wish to present some points in the form of a bulleted list.

 So select the required lines and from the “Paragraph” group, click “Bullets”.
 Do the same wherever required.
 Your project report – level 1 is ready.

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Picture

 Open the document containing the project report – level 1.

 Let us insert a picture within this.
 Position the cursor at the place where you want your picture.
 Then click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.

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  You may size this picture as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 Let us move this picture a little towards the center.
 Click the “Home” tab.
 From the “Paragraph” group, click “Increase Indent”.
 Similarly, you may insert other pictures as required.

Inserting Shape

Next, let us draw a diagram. We shall use various shapes to create our diagram.

 First position your cursor suitably.

 Press “Enter” a few times to create a blank space for the diagram.
 Now we shall draw a circular shape.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 From the displayed shapes, click on a suitable one and drag with your mouse to
draw the shape at a suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab with the heading “Drawing Tools” appears.

Formatting Shapes

We shall color this shape now.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Fill” icon.
 Click on a suitable color from the ones displayed.
 We want to have a colored outline for this shape.
 For this click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline” icon and select a color.
 If you wish to have a thicker outline, select “Shape Outline → Weight” and
select a suitable thickness from the options displayed.
 Yes, this shape is ready now.
 But our diagram is not complete yet.

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Inserting more Shapes

We want some arrows drawn in front of the shape we just created. They can be drawn
in a similar fashion as the circle we just drew.

 Click the “Insert” tab once again and select a suitable shape from the Shapes
gallery.
 Since this arrow is a linear structure, we can color it simply by specifying an
outline color.
 Use the “Shape Outline” arrow to color the arrow as required and apply a
suitable thickness.
 Create as many arrows as you need in the same way.
 Now our diagram is ready.

Inserting a Text Box

Next, we want to label the various parts of our diagram. We shall use text boxes for
this.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box of a suitable size below the first shape.
 A new “Format” tab with the heading “Text Box Tools” appears.
 You can see the cursor flashing within this text box.
 Enter the text within it as shown. We shall remove the outline of this text box
now.
 For this, on the “Format” tab, in the “Text Box Styles” group, select “Shape
Outline → No Outline”.

Creating another Diagram

We now want to create another diagram which is an extended version of the one we
just created. So instead of re-doing all that we have done, we shall simply copy the
previous diagram and then add some more shapes.

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  Select the lines containing the complete diagram.
 Then copy them using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + C”.
 Position your cursor suitably.
 Press “Enter” a few times to create a blank space for the diagram.
 Then place what you have copied using “Ctrl + V”.
 Remember, you could also copy an individual shape or text box if required by
selecting it first and then using copy-paste.
 But we need all the shapes, so we copied all the lines containing the shapes.

Extending a Diagram

Now we want two small vertical rectangles in front of the arrows. You know how to
access the Shapes gallery very well by now, isn’t it.

 Yes! Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Select a suitable shape and draw it at an appropriate position.
 Color it as required.
 Create the second rectangle in the same way.
 Label the shapes using text boxes as we did earlier.
 This diagram can be extended further as shown using other shapes.

Grouping Shapes

Have a look at this diagram. This diagram has several lines grouped together.
Grouping enables all the elements of the group to be re-positioned simultaneously.
Also, in the diagram, a gradient has been used to color a shape. We shall now learn to
create a diagram like this one. This is our base diagram.

 First insert various lines of the desired colors and thickness at suitable
positions.
 Click the “Insert” tab once again.
 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on a suitable shape and drag with your mouse to draw the shape at a
suitable position.

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  A new “Format” tab appears with the heading “Drawing Tools” above it.
 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Outline” icon and select a color.
 If you wish to have a thicker outline, select “Shape Outline → Weight” and
select a suitable thickness from the options displayed.
 Yes, this shape is ready now.
 But our diagram is not complete yet.
 Similarly add other shapes too.

Creating Group

 Select one of the lines and keeping the “Shift” key pressed; select the other lines
as well by clicking on them.
 So we have multiple lines selected now.
 Click the “Format” tab under “Drawing Tools” if it is not active.
 In the “Arrange” group, click the “Group” icon and select “Group”.
 Now all the lines are treated as a group.
 Place the mouse pointer on any of the lines.
 When it appears as a four headed arrow, drag with the mouse.
 You can see that all the lines move simultaneously.

Using Gradients

Now we shall use a gradient to color a shape.

 Draw a small rectangular shape as shown in the diagram to the right of the
grouped lines.
 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Fill” icon.
 Select “Gradient” from the options displayed.
 In the window that comes up, click “More Gradients”.
 In the “Fill” section, select “Gradient Fill”.
 The “Preset colors” box appears.

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  Click the arrow to view the dropdown list and make a selection.
 Now select the variant of your choice and Then click “OK”.
 To remove the outline, on the “Line Color”section, select “No line”.
 This completes the project report – level 2.

LEVEL 3

Inserting a Header

 Open the document containing the project report – level 2.

 We shall first learn to insert a header which will appear at the top of each page
of the report.
 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header”.
 A list of various header styles is displayed.
 Let us select one of them by clicking on it.
 A new “Design” tab is displayed.
 Enter your details as required and then click the “Close Header and Footer”
icon at the right end of the “Design” tab to exit from the header area.

Inserting Footer

We shall insert the page number in the footer area.

 Click the “Insert” tab once again.

 This time, from the “Header & Footer” group, select “Page Number → Bottom of
Page”.
 Make your selection from the options displayed.
 Then click the “Close Header and Footer” icon.

Applying Heading Styles

A table of contents is a list of the parts of a book or document organized in the order in
which they appear and normally contains page number references. A table of contents
can be very easily created in a document. You first need to apply heading styles to the
various headings in your project report.

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  Select the first heading. On the “Home” tab, from the “Styles” group, click on a
suitable heading style.
 Do the same for all the other headings.

Modifying a Style

If you are not satisfied with the appearance of your headings, you may modify the style
as required.

 For this, select one of the headings.

 Click the “More” arrow to view the complete style gallery.
 In the gallery, you can see that your style is highlighted.
 Select “Apply Styles” from the bottom of the gallery.
 In the “Apply Styles” window, click “Modify”.
 In the “Modify Styles” window, select the formatting changes you need in your
document, give name if you want to new style to save click “OK”.
 Then press the “x” shaped close button.
 You can see that the modified style has been applied to all headings.
 Also, the style gallery displays the modified style.

Inserting a Blank Page

We want to create the table of contents on a separate page at the beginning of the
document. So we shall insert a blank page.

 Position the cursor at the beginning of the document.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Pages” group, click “Blank Page”.
 You can see that a blank page is inserted and all the contents of your project
report are moved to the following pages.

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Setting Margins

We first need to define the margins for our page.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Setup” group, click “Margins”.
 You may choose any of the available options or click “Custom Margins” to define
your individual specifications.

Adding a Table of Content

Now we are ready to create the table of contents.

 Click at the beginning of the new blank page.

 Then click the “References” tab.
 From the “Table of Contents” group, click “Table of Contents” and make a
selection from the displayed list.
 A table of contents is ready! Wasn’t that so simple?
 You may format the text within this table of contents as required.
 Our third level project report is now complete.

LEVEL 4

Inserting a Cover Page

 Open the document containing the project report – level 3.

 Click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Pages” group, click “Cover Page”.
 A gallery of attractive ready-to-use cover page designs is displayed.
 Click on a suitable one.
 The cover page you select is inserted at the top of your document as the first
page.

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Enhancing Shapes

Ok, now let’s make some changes to this page to make it suitable for our project.

 First, select the group of shapes at the right.

 A new “Format” tab appears under the heading “Drawing Tools”.
 Activate this tab.
 From the “Shape Styles” group, select a suitable style.

Entering Text

You can see various placeholders for entry of text. You may use them if required or
remove them if you do not need them.

 Click the “Year” placeholder.

 Enter the year of your project report.
 Alternatively, you could click the arrow at the left and make a selection from the
calendar displayed.
 You may format the year by selecting it and using the various options on the
“Home” tab →“Font” group.

Using Text Boxes

 Now click in the next placeholder and enter your project title.
 Use the various options on the “Home” tab →“Font” group to format this text as
required.
 Let us make the text box containing the title transparent.
 Click the “Format” tab, from the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to
“Shape Fill” and select “No Fill”.
 To remove the outline, on the “Format” tab, from the “Shape Styles” group, select
“Shape Outline → No Outline”.

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Creating a Text Box

Now we need to enter the sub-title of our project. So we’ll create a new text box for this.
Let’s create some space for the text box first.

 Position your mouse pointer on the picture and when it changes to a four-
headed arrow, drag the picture a little downwards.
 Now we are ready to insert a text box.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box of a suitable size at the position
required.
 You can see the cursor flashing with the box.
 Enter the sub-title and format suitably.

Modifying a Text Box

 We shall make this text box transparent and also remove the outline.
 You remember how to make a box transparent?
 Yes, we need to use “Format” tab → “Shape Styles” group → “Shape Fill”
icon → “No Fill”!
 To remove the outline, on the “Format” tab, from the “Shape Styles” group, select
“Shape Outline → No Outline”.

Changing the Picture

Now we have a picture on our page which is not suitable for our project. So let’s
change it.

 Click on the picture.

 A “Format” tab appears under the heading “Picture Tools”.
 Activate this tab.
 In the “Adjust” group, click “Change Picture”.

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  In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
Size and move this picture as required.

Enhancing a Picture

Now we’ll enhance this picture by applying a picture style.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Click outside the picture.
 Yes, this picture looks fine now!

Enhancing and Formatting Text

Now below the picture, we can see some more placeholders.

 Click in the first one which is for entry of the author name.
 Replace the existing text with your name.
 To underline your name, on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the
“Underline” icon.
 You may use a different font and color for this text as required.
 Click outside this placeholder.
 We do not need the other two placeholders below this one.
 So select them and press “Delete” to remove them.

Creating and Formatting a Text Box

You also want to enter information about your class and the subject of the project on
the cover page. We shall create another text box above the Author placeholder for this.

 Click the “Insert” tab and draw a text box as shown.

 Make it transparent and remove its outline.
 Enter and format the text as required.
 Then click outside the text box.

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Creating a Page Border

The only thing that remains is creating a border for our cover page.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Page Background” group, click “Page Borders”.
 In the displayed window, under “Setting”, select “Box”.
 Then select a suitable “Style”, “Color” and “Width” for your border.
 In the “Apply to:” box, specify the areas of the document for which you wish to
create borders.
 Then click “OK”.
 There you are; your cover page has a nice attractive border!
 Your cover page is complete and so is your project report!
 With a report looking like this, you stand a good change of scoring top marks!
 Now go ahead and try to create other types of reports using different cover page
styles.

THE MAILINGS TAB

On the Mailings tab you will find commands which enable you to use the Mail Merge
feature. This feature combines a list of data, typically a file of names and addresses
with a document to create new documents. The names and addresses are entered or
merged into the document in the blank spaces provided resulting in a personalized
letter. You will also learn to create envelopes and labels using a list. Let’s have a look
at the groups on Mailings tab.

 Create: This group contains commands which enable you create Envelopes and
Labels using a list of contacts.
 Start Mail Merge: The commands in this group enable you to get started with
your mail merge.
 Write & Insert Fields: These commands enable you to move to the next step in
the merge.

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  Preview Results: These commands enable you to preview the results of your
merge.
 Finish: This is the last stage of the mail merge.

USING MAIL MERGE

Starting the Mail Merge Wizard

We may want to mail the document we have created to a large number of people. For
this we can use the Mail Merge Wizard. This wizard guides you and in a few steps,
your letters to everyone are ready. A personal touch can be added by addressing each
person by his individual name at the top of the document. First, we want to replace the
word “Friends” with the actual name of the person to whom the document will be sent.
So delete this word as shown.

 On the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, select “Step by Step Mail
Merge Wizard”.
 This displays the Mail Merge Wizard at the right.

Selecting the Starting Document

 Set the document type to "Letters" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to
go to the next wizard step.
 Now, select "Use the current document".
 You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous".
 Now, click "Next"

Creating a List

Let us create a list of people we wish to send our document to.

 Select "Type a new list" and then click "Create".

 The "New Address List" window is displayed.
 Enter the Title, First Name and Last Name of the first person.
 Click "New Entry" to add subsequent entries.

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  After you are done, click "OK". The "Save Address List" window appears.
 Enter your file name; say "List1" and click "Save".
 Click "OK" in the "Mail Merge Recipients" window.
 In the Wizard, you see the selection has moved to "Use an existing list".
 You may choose a different list by clicking "Select a different list".
 But let us use the same list.
 Click "Next".

Inserting Fields

Now, since you are ready with your letter, you may add the items that you wish to be
incorporated in it.

 Click after the word "Dear".

 Enter a space.
 We are now ready to insert the field names.
 Click "More items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window.
 Click on “Title”, then on "Insert".
 Similarly, enter the fields First Name and Last Name.
 Now click "Close".
 You see that the field names are now inserted in your document.
 Make sure to insert a space between each field.
 Click "Next".

Previewing Letters

You now see a preview of the letter to the first person on your list.

 Use the right and left arrows to preview letters to the others.
 You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list.
 Click “OK” to close this window.
 Click "Next" to complete the merge.

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Printing or Editing Letters

 You may now click "Print" to print your letters or click "Edit individual letters"
to make changes to any letter.
 You may make your selections from the windows that are displayed.

CREATING LABELS

Starting the Wizard

Now that your letters are ready, you want to create labels for the envelopes.

 In a new blank Word document, on the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge
group, select “Start Mail Merge - Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard”.
 In the Mail Merge Wizard on the right, set the document type to "Labels" and
click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to go to the next wizard step.

Setting Label Options

 Now click "Label options".

 The "Label Options" window is displayed.
 Here, you may select the type of printer and other label information.
 For now, select “Formtec” in the “Label vendors” box and "Formtec AT-7210"
under Product Number and click "OK".
 Then click "Next".

Selecting Recipients

You have the list of people you wish to send your document to.

 Select "Use an existing list" and then click "Browse".

 In the "Select Data Source" window, navigate to the location of your list.
 Select your list from the appropriate location and then click "Open".

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Adding Address Details

The "Mail Merge Recipients" window is displayed. Let us now include address details.

 Click on the name of the list in the box at the bottom and then click "Edit".
 Enter the Address Line 1, Address Line 2 and City fields for all the people in the
list.
 After you are done, click "OK".
 Click “Yes” to confirm the address details in the window that comes up.
 Now click “OK” and then click "Next".

Inserting and Arranging Fields

Now, you may add the names and address details on the labels.

 Click "More items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window.

 Click on the Title field, then on "Insert".
 Similarly, enter the fields First Name, Last Name, Address Line 1, Address Line 2
and City.
 Now click “Close”.
 You see that the field names are inserted in your document.
 Let us now arrange the fields.
 Press “Enter” after the Last Name field to bring the Address Line 1 to the next
line.
 Similarly, move the Address Line 2 and City fields to the following lines.
 Then insert a space before each field in the first line.

Replicating Labels

You may copy the layout of the first label to the other labels.

 Click "Update all labels" in the right pane.

 Then click "Next".

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Previewing Labels

You now see a preview of the labels.

 Use the right and left arrows to move between labels.

 You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list.
 Click "Next" to complete the merge.

Printing or Editing Labels

You may now click "Print" to print your labels or click "Edit individual labels" to
make changes to any label.

CREATING ENVELOPES

Starting the Wizard

Sometimes, you may want to quickly address a single envelope instead of printing and
pasting a label.

 In a new blank Word document, start the Mail Merge Wizard and set the
document type to "Envelopes" and click "Next" to go to the next wizard step.

Setting Envelope Options

 Now click "Envelope options".

 The "Envelope Options" window is displayed.
 You may specify different settings related to the appearance and printing of the
envelope on the "Envelope options" and "Printing options" tabs.
 On the "Envelope options" tab, select an appropriate Envelope size and click
"OK".
 Now, click "Next".

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Selecting Recipients

Let us make envelopes for some people from an existing list.

 Select "Use an existing list" and then click "Browse".

 In the "Select Data Source" window, browse to your list and then click "Open".
 The "Mail Merge Recipients" window is displayed.
 Un-check the boxes in front of the names for which you do not want envelopes
and then click "OK".
 Now click "Next".

Arranging your Envelope

 Let us use the "Address block" feature.

 Click "Address block".
 This directly inserts all address fields on your envelope.
 In the “Insert Address Block” window, you may make changes as required.
 For now, simply click “OK”.
 You may use "More items" to insert individual items you wish, as you did for
labels.
 Click “Next”.

Previewing Envelopes

You now see a preview of the first envelope.

 Use the right and left arrows to preview other envelopes.

 You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list.
 Click "Next" to complete the merge.

Printing or Editing Envelope

You may now click "Print" to print your envelopes or click "Edit individual envelopes" to
make changes to any envelope.

Overview

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Friends, we have learnt to use the Mail Merge Wizard on the Mailings tab. You may try
to create a merge using the other options on this tab on your own. Next we’ll learn
about the very useful Review tab. This helps you improve your document by providing
features like Spelling and Grammar checking, the Research option, Thesaurus and
Translation functionality. So let’s move to the next Lab and learn to effectively use this
tab.

THE REVIEW TAB

The Review tab contains commands which enable you to review and improve your
document in various ways. You can insert comments, track changes, compare versions
and secure your document against unauthorized access. Let’s have a look at the
groups on the Review tab.

 Proofing: This group contains proofing commands for spelling and grammar
correction, research, word count, etc.
 Language: These commands enable you to select language options and translate
text.
 Comments: These commands enable you to insert, delete and move between
comments.
 Tracking: These commands enable you to track changes made to a document.
 Changes: These commands enable you to accept or reject changes made to a
document.
 Compare: These commands enable you to compare and combine documents.
 Protect: These commands enable you to protect your document against
unauthorized editing.
 OneNote: This command is used to create and open notes about the document.

THE PROOFING GROUP

Spelling and Grammar

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The “Spelling & Grammar” icon is used to check your document for spelling and
grammar errors. By default, Word automatically checks for errors.

 To manually run a check, on the “Review” tab, in the “Proofing” group, click
“Spelling and Grammar”.
 The “Spelling and Grammar” window appears only when a mistake is found.
 You may choose to ignore the displayed errors by clicking one of the “Ignore”
buttons.
 To accept one of the suggestions displayed, click on it and then click “Change”.
 When the checking is completed, you are informed accordingly.

Contextual Errors

A contextual spelling error occurs when a wrong word is used, but the word is spelled
correctly. For example, if you write "Deer Mr. Brown," at the beginning of a letter, deer
is a contextual spelling error because you should have used “D-E-A-R”. Deer is spelled
correctly, but it is used incorrectly in the context.

 Right clicking on an underlined word brings up a menu.

 Choose a suitable option.
 There, your error has been rectified.

Specifying Settings

You may specify the spelling and grammar checks you require.

 Click the File Tab, and then click “Options” in the left pane.
 In the “Word Options” window, click “Proofing” and click the appropriate boxes.
 Then click “OK”.
 These checks are enforced as you enter your text.

Hiding Errors

When you go through a document, you may see red or green wavy lines below text
which are not really errors. They may be proper nouns that are not in the dictionary.

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You may turn off the display of these errors if you do not wish to be distracted as you
work.

 Click the “File” tab and select “Options - Proofing”.

 At the bottom of the window, click the “Hide spelling errors in this document
only” and “Hide grammar errors in this document only” boxes and then click
“OK”.
 The wavy lines are no longer displayed.
 Even when you have hidden the display of spelling and grammar errors, you can
still run spelling and grammar checks manually.

Research

The “Research” icon enables you to easily research from dictionaries, thesauruses, and
various Internet Web sites in several languages.

 On the “Review” tab, from the “Proofing” group, click “Research” to display the
“Research” pane at the right.
 Enter your research criteria in the “Search for:” box.
 In the box below specify where you wish to research from.
 Then click the arrow at the right of the search box to start searching.

Thesaurus

“Thesaurus” in Word is a dictionary from which synonyms and antonyms of a

specified word are displayed. Synonyms are words having a similar meaning while
antonyms are opposite words.

 On the “Review” tab, in the “Proofing” group, click “Thesaurus”.

 This displays the Research Pane at the right.
 In the “Search for:” box, enter a word. Select “Thesaurus: English (U.K.)” from
the dropdown list in the box below.
 Click the arrow to the right of the search box.
 A list of words is displayed.

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  You may point to a word of your choice and specify the action you wish to
perform by viewing the drop-down list.
 You may choose from the options Insert, Copy and Look Up.

Translation

You may also use the Research pane for translating.

 In the box below the “Search for”: box, select “Translation”.

 Select the language to which you wish to translate in the “To” box.
 Then click on the arrow to the right of the search box.
 You may choose to insert or copy the translated text.

REVIEWING A DOCUMENT

New Comment

The “New Comment” icon is used to insert a comment in your document. This proves
useful when you’re sharing or reviewing a Word document. Creating comments in
Word is similar to a college professor with a red pen who circles text in a paper with
red pen and makes comments on the side.

 To insert a comment in a document, select the text which you want to comment
on.
 On the “Review” tab, in the “Comments” group, click “New Comment”.
 A balloon is displayed in the right margin with the initials of the creator of the
document followed by the comment number.
 Enter your comments and then click within the document area to continue
editing the rest of the document.

Deleting Comments

You may change your mind about something and decide to delete a comment you had
inserted earlier. To do this, just highlight the comment you do not want and in the
“Comments” group, click “Delete”.

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Track Changes

The “Track Changes” icon is used to keep a record of the changes made to a
document. Its real usage can be seen when two or more persons need to edit the same
document. In this case, you would like to know what changes have been made or
which content is deleted, inserted, or formatted.

 To make Word start tracking changes, on the “Review” tab, in the “Tracking”
group, click “Track Changes”.
 Select a line of text and press “Delete”.
 Then select some other text and change the font color.
 You can see that all changes are shown in the right margin.

Tracking Options

You may specify how you want the changes in a document to be marked.

 For this, select “Track Changes - Change Tracking Options”.

 In the “Track Changes Options” window, you may enter your requirements.
 For now, let the defaults remain, simply click “OK”.

Show Markup

The “Show Markup” icon is used to specify the type of changes you wish to track.

 On the “Review” tab, in the “Tracking” group, click “Show Markup”.

 You may uncheck the boxes for the changes you do not wish to track.

Reviewing Pane

The “Reviewing Pane” icon is used to display the “Reviewing Pane” which displays all
tracked changes. When a document is edited while the “Track Changes” feature has
been activated, the edits aren’t considered permanent. They are saved with the
document until they are “Accepted” or “Rejected.”

 On the “Review” tab, in the “Tracking” group, click “Reviewing Pane”.

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  This displays a pane at the left of the screen that displays details of each change.
 Click “Reviewing Pane” again to turn off its display. Then save and close the
document.

Accept and Reject

The “Accept” icon is used for accepting changes that have been tracked. When a
reviewer opens the document where changes have been tracked, he may decide
whether to accept or reject the changes.

 On the “Review” tab, in the “Changes” group, click “Accept”.

 The cursor is positioned at the first change that was made.
 Click “Accept” once again to accept this change.
 Then when the cursor moves to the second change, click “Reject”.
 When a document contains no comments and tracked changes, you see a
window like the one displayed.
 Click OK.
 Now you may turn off tracking by clicking the “Track Changes” button.

Compare

The “Compare” icon enables you to compare two versions of a document very easily.
This feature offers you an in-depth analysis of the two documents which are being
compared.

 On the “Review” tab, in the “Compare” group, click “Compare - Compare”.

 The “Compare Documents” window is displayed.
 Specify the names of the documents to be compared in the “Original document”
and “Revised document” boxes.
 Click “More” to display details of the comparison settings.
 You may change the settings as required.
 Choose whether to display the changes in the original or revised document or in
a new document.
 Then click OK.

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Comparison Results

 The results of the comparison are now displayed. The Reviewing Pane lists the
primary document changes, the center pane displays the compared document,
with changes marked in red. I
 n the right pane, both versions of the document are displayed to give a general
idea of what has been changed.
 You may save the compared document if you wish.

Combining Documents

You may combine two versions of a document in a similar way as comparing

documents.

 On the “Review tab”, from the “Compare” group, select “Compare - Combine”.

Overview

Friends, we have learnt to use some of the key commands on the Review tab. You may
try to explore the other options on your own. Next we’ll learn about the View tab. This
allows you to view your document in various ways. So let’s move to the next Lab and
learn to effectively use this tab.

ADVERTISEMENT

LEVEL 1

Objective

Look at the advertisement displayed on your screen. It contains various text boxes.
Some of them have been used to write textual information about the business house.

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The others contain pictures of the products. So let’s start creating a similar
advertisement by opening the Word application.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Setting Page Size

Let us select a suitable page size for the advertisement.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Setup” group, click the “Size” icon.
 Make a selection from the options displayed.

Creating Text Boxes

Let us create the basic structure of our advertisement using text boxes.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw the first text box at a suitable position.
 Draw the other text boxes in the same way.

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Entering Text

Now that our basic structure is ready, we can start entering text.

 Click in the text box at the top.

 Activate the “Home” tab and from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and
“Font Size”.
 Enter the text as shown.
 Deselect the text by clicking anywhere outside it.
 Enter text in the boxes at the centre and bottom in the same way using the fonts
of your choice.

Aligning Text

 Next, we shall move this text to the center of the line.

 For this, on the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon.

Inserting Pictures

Next, we’ll insert pictures.

 Click in the text box to the left of the central one.

 Activate the “Format” tab. In the “Text Box Styles” group, select “Shape Fill →
Picture”.
 In the “Select Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 You may size this picture as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 You can move it by placing the mouse pointer on it and dragging when the
pointer appears as a four-headed arrow.
 Now insert the required pictures in the other text boxes in the same way.
 This completes your first level advertisement.
 Wasn’t this quite simple?

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LEVEL 2

Applying a Background

 Open the document containing the advertisement we created in the previous

assignment.
 We’ll first color the background of the boxes containing text.
 Click in the text box at the top.
 Activate the “Format” tab. In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to
the “Shape Fill” icon and select a color from the displayed palette.
 Apply background colors to the text boxes at the centre and bottom in the same
way.
 Doesn’t this make the text boxes look really nice?

Inserting Shapes

Next, we’ll learn to insert shapes.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Select a shape and drag to draw it at the upper left corner of the box at the top.

Coloring Shapes

We’ll color this shape to make it more attractive. We’ll use a shape style instead of a
plain color.

 On the “Format” tab that appears, click the “More” arrow in the “Shape Styles”
group to see the complete gallery of styles.
 Choose a suitable one by clicking on it.
 Create another similar shape at the lower right corner of the box.

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Changing Page Background

What remains is the application of a background color to the complete advertisement.

 Activate the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Background” group, click the “Page Color” icon.
 Select a suitable color from the ones displayed.
 Wow! This really improves the get-up of the advertisement, doesn’t it?
 Your advertisement is complete and ready to use!
 Save your document by pressing the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now, try designing different kinds of advertisements, flyers and brochures using
the various skills that you have learnt!

THE VIEW TAB

The View tab in Microsoft Word 2010 enables you to change the way you view your
document. Let’s have a look at the groups on this tab.

 Document Views: This group contains commands using which you can change
your document view.
 Show: These commands enable you to display or hide the Ruler, Gridlines and
Navigation Pane.
 Zoom: These commands enable you to zoom in and out to get a better idea of
what your document looks like.
 Window: These commands enable you to work on the same document utilizing
different views and windows.
 Macros: These commands enable you to work with macros. A “macro” is a series
of commands that is recorded so it can be executed later.

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THE DOCUMENT VIEWS

Print Layout

The “Print Layout” icon is used to view what your document will look like when
printed.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Document Views” group, click “Print Layout”.
 This is the default view.
 The options in the Document Views group can also be accessed using the
various icons at the right of the Status Bar.

Full Screen Reading

The “Full Screen Reading” icon is used to view the document in reading mode.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Document Views” group, click “Full Screen Reading”.
 In this view, the Ribbon is hidden to maximize your reading area.

Web Layout

The “Web Layout” icon is used to see the document in a web browser format like the
Internet Explorer.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Document Views” group, click “Web Layout”.
 You can see how your document would look in a browser.

Outline

The “Outline” icon displays the document divided into different heading levels. This
view is especially useful if you are working on a long document.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Document Views” group, click “Outline”.

 You can choose the level of detail that you would like to see by using the Show
Level option.
 Click “Close Outline View” to exit this view.

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Draft

The “Draft” icon is used to view the document in a regular editing format.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Document Views” group, click “Draft”.

 The headers and footers are not available when working with this view.

Show Group

The “Show” Group on the View tab is used for displaying the Ruler, Gridlines and the
Navigation Pane by clicking the related boxes. The Ruler displays on the left and top
sides of the document. This gives you more control on the document appearance from
a formatting point of view. If you are working with pictures and images, the Gridlines
can be beneficial to position your items correctly. The Navigation Pane is used to
navigate to various parts of your document and to find text.

Overview

Friends, we have learnt to use some of the key commands on the View tab. You may
try to explore the other options on your own. In the next lab, we’ll learn about some
other important aspects of Microsoft Word. So let’s move to the next Lab and get
started.

OTHER FEATURES

USING AUTOMATIC FEATURES

Using Click and Type

Word offers various automatic features which help you save precious time. On a new
blank page, switch to the Print Layout view if it is not already the current view. This
can be done by clicking the “Print Layout” icon at the right of the Status Bar. Move the
mouse pointer across the page and observe the change in it. As you move the mouse
pointer over different areas, the I-beam pointer displays an icon indicating the
formatting that will be applied when you double-click at that location.

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Pointer Shapes

The chart displayed in the figure lists the different pointer shapes and formatting that
is applied. You can use this method to quickly insert text, graphics or other items in a
blank area of a document, avoiding the need to enter blank lines. Double-click at the
center of the document. You can now enter text which will be formatted as per the
pointer shape.

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The Autocorrect Feature

You may use this feature to automatically correct your document.

 Click the “File” Tab, and then click “Options”.

 Now click “Proofing” in the left pane and then click the “AutoCorrect Options”
button.
 On the “AutoCorrect” tab, you may click the boxes for the options you require.
 These corrections are effected as you enter your text.
 Let us leave the defaults as they are for now.

Replace Text while Typing

 You can replace some text with alternative text as it is typed using the “Replace
text as you type” option in the AutoCorrect window.
 Ensure that the box against this option is checked.
 Now enter numeric “1st” in the “Replace” box and alphabetic “First” in the “With”
box.
 Click “Add”, then “OK” and “OK” once again in the “Word Options” window.
 When you type the digit “1” followed by the alphabets “s” and “t”, it is replaced
by the text “First”.
 The other options enable you to correct accidental errors such as typing of two
initial capitals, non-capitalization of the first letter of sentences, etc.

Using AutoComplete

Another useful feature is “AutoComplete”. When you begin typing in a common word
such as the name of a month of a day of the week, Word brings up a little box above
the incomplete word. If you then press “Enter”, Word automatically finishes the name.

Inserting Quick Parts Quickly

To insert an existing building block, such as the item we added to the Quick Parts
gallery, begin typing its name. Type enough so that the name is different from that of
any other building block and then press “F3”. The building block is inserted.

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USING PDF FORMAT

PDF FORMAT

You may convert your Word document to the PDF format. Adobe Systems introduced
this format in 1993 and it has become the number one universal document format on
the Internet. A document in this format is compatible across most platforms and you
do not need to worry about anyone not being able to open it. So you can send your
PDF document to a person who doesn’t have Microsoft Word and he will still be able to
view it.

Save as PDF

There are many other advantages of this format. When you convert an existing
document to a PDF file, it will automatically be optimized making it much smaller in
size without losing any quality. If you wish to prevent people from modifying your
document, this format is ideal. There is almost no chance of a PDF file getting infected
with a virus, which makes it a safe and trusted way of sharing your work.

 To convert your document to the PDF format, activate the File tab and select
“Save As”.
 In the “Save as type” box, select “PDF (*.pdf)” and click “Save”.

USING FORMS AND CREATING TEMPLATES

Displaying the Developer Tab

The “Developer” tab is not displayed in the Ribbon by default.

 To display it, activate the “File” tab and click “Options” in the left pane.
 In the “Word Options” window, click “Customize Ribbon”.
 In the “Main Tabs” box at the right, click the box in front of “Developer”.
 Then click OK.
 The Developer tab is now displayed in the Ribbon.
 We shall use this tab to create a form.

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Creating a New Document

Forms in Microsoft Word provide a way for you to gather information from the people
you send them to. As an example, we shall create a form that enables the participants
of a conference to submit their personal details.

 Open a new document.

 Now save it with a suitable name, “Details_Form.docx”.
 We’ll insert “Content Controls” in our form using the commands in the
“Controls” group of the “Developer” tab.

What are content controls

“Content Controls” are regions in a document that serve as containers for specific
types of content. You can specify what each region does. For example, if you want a
region of your document to be a calendar, you can insert a calendar content control.
Similarly, if you want a region to display an image, you can create a picture content
control in that area. Individual content controls can contain content such as dates,
lists, or paragraphs of formatted text. You can restrict the content of each content
control, so that it cannot be deleted or edited.

Inserting a Table

We’ll use a table for creating our form because that will make alignment easier.

 Insert a table by using the “Insert tab - Tables group - Table option", and drag
to create a table with 5 rows and 2 columns.
 Now in the left column, type the text as shown.

Insert a Date Picker Control

In the right column, we need to insert form fields.

 First, we need to change to Design Mode.

 Activate the “Developer” tab.
 From the “Controls” group, click “Design Mode”.

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  The first form field we need to add is a date picker.
 Place the cursor in the first cell of the second column of the table.
 Then from the “Control” group, click the “Date Picker Content Control”.
 With the date picker still selected, click the “Properties” button.
 Enter a suitable title in the displayed window, say “Date”.
 This title will be displayed next to the date picker when it is active, to give a
visual clue about what the field is.
 Then click “OK”.

Inserting a Text Control

Next, let’s insert a form field for Name.

 Place the cursor in the next blank cell and this time click the “Plain Text
Content Control” button.
 Enter the title “Name” for this field using the Properties button.
 Create a similar form field for “Organization”.

Inserting a Drop-down List Control

For the “Level” form field, we’ll use the “Drop-Down List Content Control”. This is
because the person can either be part of the top level management or the operational
management. So click in the next blank cell and insert a drop-down list control. This
time when we add the properties, we need to follow a slightly longer procedure.

Drop-down List Properties

 Enter the title “Level” in the “Content Control Properties” window as usual.
 Now click the “Add” button to add the first option.
 In the “Add Choice” window, in the “Display Name” box, type the first level, say
“Top Management”.
 This is displayed in the “Value” box as well.
 Click “OK”.
 Add the second level “Operational Management” in the same way.

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  Then click “OK” in the Properties window.

Inserting a Picture Control

 Click in the last blank cell, add a Picture Content Control and enter a title for it.
 Click on the control and size it as required.
 Ok, now that we’re done with the designing of the form, lets save the document
once again and close it.

Copying a Form

Now if we wish to send the form we created to a person called Andrew, we can simply
open the form document and save it with a new name, say Andrew_Details.docx and
send it to him. Andrew will fill out the form and return it to us. Similarly, we can
create documents for all other participants.

Using a Form

Let’s see how Andrew fills in this form.

 First he clicks in the Date field. Clicking the arrow at the right displays a date
picker from which he selects a date.
 He clicks in the next field and enters his name.
 After that, he enters the name of his organization.
 Then he clicks the arrow at the right of the level field and selects his level.
 Finally, he clicks in the Picture field, browses to his picture and inserts it.
 Now his form is complete.
 He saves it and sends it across!

Creating Templates

You could also save your form document as a template. You know that a Template is a
pre-designed document created for common purposes.

 Open the form document and on the File tab, select “Save As”.
 In the displayed window, select the “Templates” folder in the left pane.

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  Enter a suitable file name and in the “Save as type” list, select “Word Template
(*.dotx)”.
 Then click “Save”.
 Your template is saved with the extension “.dotx” and will be displayed in your
template list under “My templates”.

SECURITY

Using Passwords

Adding a password to a confidential Word document would ensure that no

unauthorized person peeks at your data.

 To add a password, click the “File” tab. In the central pane, click “Protect
Document”.
 Various security options are displayed.
 To add a password, select “Encrypt with Password”.

Creating a Password

 A window appears prompting you to enter a password.

 Type a password of your choice and click “OK”.
 Remember that the password is case sensitive.
 You are asked to confirm the password once again.
 Re-enter it and click “OK”.
 Then save your document and close it.
 Now your file is password protected and no one can open it without entering the
password.
 If you lose or forget the password, it cannot be recovered.
 So it is advisable to keep a list of passwords and their corresponding document
names in a safe place.

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Removing a Password

Now we’ll learn to remove the password from the document.

 Open the document using your password.

 Click the File tab. Select “Protect Document - Encrypt with Password” once
again.
 In the displayed window, select the password and delete it.
 Then click OK and save the document.
 Your document is not password protected anymore.

Restricting Editing

In addition to password protection, you may prevent your document from being edited
from any unauthenticated sources.

 For this, first activate the Mailings tab.

 In the Start Mail Merge Group, click Start Mail Merge.
 Ensure that Normal Word Document is selected.
 Now on the Review tab, from the Protect group, click Restrict Editing.
 You will see the Restrict Formatting and Editing pane at the right.
 This provides numerous options to restrict editing.
 Specify your settings and then save the document.

WORD PROCESSING IN OTHER LANGUAGES

Language Settings in Windows 7

By default Windows 7 does not support entry in certain languages. Hence, before you
can start using some languages on your computer, you must configure Windows 7 to
be able to use font’s specific to those languages. You can do this by using the “Control
Panel”.

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Adding a Language

 Click on the “Start” button.

 Then click “Control Panel”.
 Now, click “Region and Language”.
 Activate the “Keyboards and Languages” tab of the “Region and Language”
window.
 Now click “Change keyboards”.
 On the “General” tab of the “Text Services and Input Languages” window, the
box at the top displays the default input language.
 In the box at the bottom, you see a list of languages that Windows 7 has been
configured to use.
 Click “Add” to add a new language.

Specifying a Keyboard

 In the “Add Input Language” window, let us add the Arabic language as an
example.
 Click on the plus sign in front of “Arabic (Saudi Arabia)”.
 Now click on the plus sign in front of the word “Keyboard” displayed below it.
 Click the box next to the first keyboard type and click “OK”.
 Now, click “Apply” and then “OK” in the “Text Services and Input Languages”
window.
 Finally, click “OK” in the “Region and Language” window.

Viewing configured Languages

You will see an icon “EN” in the system tray towards the right end of the taskbar at the
bottom of the screen. This icon lets you change the fonts to English or any other
language as required. By default it is set to the “English” option. Click on it to show
the other input languages that have been configured. You can see the Arabic language
in the list. In a similar way, you may configure Windows 7 to use any language of your
choice.

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Using a Configured Language

 Start the Microsoft Word application.

 Click on the “EN” icon on the taskbar.
 Click on “Hindi” language in the window that comes up.
 Now start typing your text.
 You can see that your text appears in the new language.

WORD ON THE GO

Word web Application

Microsoft Word Web Application extends your Microsoft Word experience to the web
browser, where you can work with documents directly on the website where the
document is stored. In Microsoft Word 2010 you can start using Word Web Application
by saving your document to your SkyDrive or your SharePoint library.

SkyDrive and SharePoint

SkyDrive and SharePoint are software products developed by Microsoft for

collaboration file sharing and Web publishing.

 On the File tab, click “Save & Send”, and then click “Save to Web” or “Save to
SharePoint”.
 Now, your document is available to view and print quickly, to edit in the
browser, or re-open in Word.

Microsoft Word Mobile 2010

Word Mobile, originally called Pocket Word, has been included with the Office Mobile
suite. It is a word processor program with similar functions to its desktop counterpart,
Microsoft Word. Word Mobile allows for basic formatting of documents, and has the
ability to save documents in multiple formats. Word Mobile also allows for insertion of
pictures, lists, and tables to documents. However, pictures must be added on the
desktop version of Word, and cannot be moved.

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Word Mobile Features

Word Mobile also includes a spell checker, word count tool, and a "Find and Replace"
command. Footnotes, endnotes, headers, footers, page breaks, certain indentation of
lists, and certain fonts cannot be displayed or inserted while working on a document in
Word Mobile. But such features are retained if the original document has them.

RESUME

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the simple resume displayed. It has all details listed one below the other
and the headings have been highlighted using bold text. Tabs have been used for
certain text to make it appear as if it has been placed in a table. So let us open the
Word application and start creating a resume like this one.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text Changing Font Size

 Start typing the text as shown.

 Now we’ll make some changes to the appearance of this text.

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  Select the required text.
 Change the size by making suitable selections on the “Home” tab using the “Font
Size” dropdown list.
 You may make the required changes to the other lines of text in the same way.

Setting Line Spacing

 To adjust the spacing between the lines, select the required lines.
 Then, in the “Paragraph” group, click the “Line spacing” icon.
 Make a selection from the options displayed.
 Do this wherever required.

Making Text Bold

Now we shall make some text stand out by making the fonts bold.

 Select the first line of text and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Do this for all text that you want prominently displayed.

Using Italics

Next, we shall learn to italicize text.

 Select a line of text and then from the “Font” group, click the “Italics” icon.
 Similarly apply italics to the other lines as required.

Using Tabs

We shall learn to use tabs in the next section of our resume.

 First type the heading of the section using suitable formatting.

 Now press “Enter” and then type the details pressing the “Tab” key as many
times as required on the next line.
 Enter the text on the subsequent lines as shown pressing the “Tab” key after
each item.
 This will make the data appear as if it is placed within a table.

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  Embolden the text as required.

Completing the document

 Now that you know how to enter and format text as well as use tabs, enter the
rest of the data as shown.
 This completes your basic resume.

LEVEL 2

Creating a Table

 Open the document containing the resume – level 1.

 We shall create a table for the academic credentials.
 Let’s first delete the text that has been entered.
 We’ll create a table and then re-enter this text.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Tables” group, select “Table → Insert Table”.
 In the displayed window, we need to specify the number of rows and columns.
 We need a table having one column and three rows presently.
 So enter these values and click “OK”.
 Your table is now ready and you can enter your data.
 Enter the data as shown, using the “Tab” key to move between the cells.

Creating Other Tables

Similarly, let’s create a table for the text under the heading “IT Skill Set”.

 Delete the data first, create a table having a suitable number of rows and
columns as shown and then re-enter the data.
 Create a table for the “Personal Details” in the same way.

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Aligning text in a Table

 Select the table by clicking on the four headed arrow at the top left corner.
 Then click the “Layout” tab.
 In the “Alignment” group, select “Align Center Left”.
 You can see that the data in the table is positioned at the center of the cells and
is left aligned.

Inserting a Header

Now it’s time to insert a header and footer.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header”.
 A list of various header styles is displayed.
 Let us select one of them by clicking on it.
 A new “Design” tab is displayed.
 Use tabs to move the place holder to the right and enter your details as required.
 Then click the “Close Header and Footer” icon at the right end of the “Design”
tab to exit from the header area.

Inserting a Footer

We shall insert the page number in the footer area.

 Click the “Insert” tab once again.

 This time, from the “Header & Footer” group, select “Page Number → Bottom of
Page”.
 Make your selection from the options displayed.
 Then click the “Close Header and Footer” icon.
 This completes our resume – level 2.

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LEVEL 3

Using a Text Style

 Open the document containing the resume – level 2.

 First we’ll learn to apply styles to the headings to make them look more
attractive.
 Select the first heading.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to view the
complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 You can see that your text gets the appearance of the style you selected.

Modifying a Style

Now you may wish to change this text in respect of say, color. Also you want to apply
the same heading style and color to all other headings. So we shall save the style with
the new color so that it can be easily applied subsequently. For this,

 Click the “More” arrow and select “Apply Styles”.

 In the “Apply Styles” window, click “Modify”.
 In the “Modify Styles” window, make the required changes to the saved style and
click “OK”.
 Then press the “x” shaped “close” button at the top right corner.
 You can see that the heading has the new color.
 Also the style gallery displays the style in this color.

Using a Modified Style

 Select the next heading and simply click the modified style in the gallery.
 The heading appears formatted as per the new style.
 Format the other headings using this style in the same way.

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Removing Table Borders

You wish to remove the border from the table containing the academic credentials.
This can be done very simply.

 Place the mouse on the table and a four-headed arrow appears at the top left
corner.
 Click on this to select the table.
 Then click the “Design” tab under the heading “Table Tools”.
 From the “Table Styles” group, select “Borders → No Borders”.

Applying Table Styles

You can enhance the appearance of tables using table styles.

 Select the table containing the IT Skill Set.

 On the “Design” tab, from the “Table Styles” group, click on a style of your
choice.
 Then click outside the table.
 You can also modify the colors as required.
 Let us change the color of the row containing the title.
 Select this row and from the “Table Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shading” icon.
 From the open palette, select a suitable color.
 Doesn’t the table look really attractive now?
 Remove borders and apply styles to the other tables as required.

Creating Page Borders

We shall now create borders for the pages.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Page Background” group, click “Page Borders”.
 Under “Setting”, select “Box” and select a suitable color from the “Color”
dropdown list.

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  Then click “OK”.
 There you are; your pages have borders!

Using Indents

Let us move some text a little towards the right for a better appearance. This can be
done quite simply.

 Click the “Home” tab. Select the text below the first heading.
 From the “Paragraph” group, click “Increase Indent”.
 Do the same for the other text to which you wish to apply indents.

Moving Tables

Let us now move the tables a little to the right.

 Place you mouse over the top left corner of the first table.
 When it changes to a four-headed arrow, drag with your mouse and position it
as required.
 Move the other tables in the same way.

Inserting Page Breaks

Sometimes, you may desire to move text onto the next page to space it more evenly.
For this, you may insert page breaks. This feature is also useful to prevent tabular
data from getting split over two pages. Let us insert a page break after the
certifications so that the personal details get printed on the next page. For this,

 Click at the point you want to insert a break.

 Then click the “Insert” tab.
 In the “Pages” group, click “Page Break”.
 A page break is inserted at that point and the text following it moves to the next
page.
 OK, that’s it.
 Your resume – level 3 is ready.

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LEVEL 4

Changing the Header

 Open the document containing the resume we created in the previous

assignment.
 Double-click in the header area. This displays the “Design” tab under the
heading “Header & Footer Tools”.
 In the “Header & Footer” group, click the “Header” icon to view the gallery of
ready-to-use header styles.
 Select a suitable one and enter details as required.
 Click the “X” shaped “Close” icon at the right end of the “Design” tab when you
are done.

Changing the Footer

The appearance of the footer can be changed in a similar way.

 Double-click in the footer area and choose a suitable footer style and make
modifications as required.
 Then click the “Close” icon.

Creating a Text Box

What remains is the insertion of a picture. We shall first create a text box and then
place the picture within it. To create the text box,

 First click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw
Text Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box of a suitable size at the position
required.

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Removing Text Box Outlines

Let us remove the outline of this text box since we need to use it as a placeholder for
the picture only. We do not intend to actually enter text within it.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Text Box Styles” group, select “Shape Outline →
No Outline”.

Inserting a Picture

Now we shall insert a picture.

 Click the “Insert” tab. From the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 A new “Format” tab appears with the heading “Picture Tools” above it.
 Let us enhance the appearance of this picture by clicking on a suitable picture
style.
 Then click outside the picture.
 Doesn’t this picture look better now?
 Our resume – level 4 is complete.
 A resume looking like this one stands a good chance of leading to an interview
call!
 Now you can exercise your creativity and use the skills learnt to create different
types of Word documents.

NOTICE

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the simple flyer displayed. The name of the institution is written at the
top followed by the title of the notice. Below it, the other details are entered. Different
font styles and sizes have been used for text entry. Also, headings are displayed

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prominently using bold text and underlines. So let us start creating a similar notice by
opening the Word application.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering and Formatting Text

 Enter the first line of text as shown.

 Now let us position this text at the center of the line.
 Select the text and on the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click the
“Center” icon.
 Next, we shall make this line more prominent since it is one of the heading lines.
 From the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Make the text bold by clicking the “Bold” icon.

Changing Case

 Now press “Enter” twice and type the title of the notice.
 You will see that this line is aligned centrally and in bold fonts already since that
is the setting we used for the previous line.
 Select this line and apply a suitable font size.
 Let us convert the text of the notice title into all capitals.

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  For this, from the “Font” group, click the “Change Case” icon and select
“UPPERCASE”.
 Next, click the “Underline” icon to underline this text.

Aligning Text

 Press “Enter” twice and type the date.

 But we do not want this text to be underlined and have bold fonts.
 Also we want it aligned to the left.
 So select the date.
 In the “Font” group, you can see that the “Bold” and “Underline” icons are
highlighted.
 Click each of these icons to de-select them.
 Now the text is no longer bold and underlined.
 Apply a suitable font size.
 To move this text to the left, from the “Paragraph” group, click “Align Text Left”.

Formatting Text

 Now press “Enter” twice and type the subject of the notice using suitable fonts.
 Select the word “Subject” and make it bold.
 Type in the rest of the text as shown, pressing “Enter” to leave blank lines
wherever required.
 Make the text bold where appropriate.

Completing the Document

 Create some blank lines by pressing “Enter” a few times.

 Then enter the last two lines of text which contain contact details and website
information as shown.
 Now to center these lines, select them and from the “Paragraph” group, click the
“Center” icon.
 This completes your notice – level 1.

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LEVEL 2

Using Cut-Paste

 Open the document containing the basic notice we created.

 Let us first change the position of the date.
 We shall use the “Cut-Paste” feature for this.
 Select the date and then on the “Home” tab, from the “Clipboard” group, click
the “Cut” icon.
 Create a blank line above the topmost heading.
 Position the cursor on the blank line and then from the “Clipboard” group, click
the “Paste” icon.
 We want to align this date to the right now.
 For this, select the date and from the “Paragraph” group, click “Align Text Right”.

Preparing for Header and Footer Insertion

Normally organizations have the logo and name printed at the top of all documents
used for official communication. We shall use a header to insert the institution name
and a logo at the top. We’ll create a footer to insert the contact details and website
information at the bottom. So let us first remove these lines.

 Select the institution name and press “Delete”.

 Remove the two lines at the bottom in the same way.

Inserting a Header

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header”.
 A list of various header styles is displayed.
 You may select any one by clicking on it.
 We’ll select the “Blank” style since we want to enter our own specific information
and design.
 A new “Design” tab is displayed and you are taken to the header area.

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Inserting a Picture

We shall now insert a picture of the company logo.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.

 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
Size the picture suitably using the sizing handles.
 To move the picture to the right end, click the “Home” tab and from the
“Paragraph” group, click “Align Text Right”.
 Press “Enter” and type the name of the institution.
 Change the font and font size as required using the “Home Tab → Font Group”.
Then press “Enter”.

Inserting Shapes

We’ll now insert a horizontal line below this text.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click “Line” and drag to draw a line at a suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab appears.

Formatting Shapes

Let us make this line more attractive.

 From the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to “Shape Outline”.
 Click on a suitable color from the palette displayed.
 To increase the width of the line, click “Shape Outline and then click Weight”.
 Select a suitable width from the options displayed.
 Let us convert this line into a dashed line.
 Click the same icon once again and select “Dashes”.
 Select a suitable style from the ones displayed.
 Yes the line looks fine now.
 Our header is complete now.
 So activate the “Design” tab under the heading “Header & Footer Tools”.

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  Click the “Close Header and Footer” icon at the right end to exit from the header
area.

Inserting a Footer

Now it’s time to insert the footer.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 This time, in the “Header & Footer” group, click “Footer”.
 Let us select the “Blank” style once again.
 A new “Design” tab is displayed and you are taken to the footer area.
 Press “Enter” to insert a blank line and then type the text as shown.
 Align it centrally and format as required.
 Create a similar dashed line above this text like the one we created in the
header.
 Exit the footer area by clicking the “X” shaped “close” icon on the “Design” tab.
 Your notice - level 2 is complete!

LEVEL 3

Using a Picture for the Background

 Open the document containing the level 2 notice.

 We have a picture containing an attractive background.
 We want the same background for our document.
 It’s very simple to get this background without taking the trouble of actually
drawing and coloring individual shapes.
 Let’s see how to do this.
 Click the “Page Layout” tab. In the “Page Background” group, click the “Page
Color” icon and select “Fill Effects”.
 In the “Fill Effects” window, click the “Picture” tab.
 Now click “Select Picture”. In the displayed window, browse to your background
picture and click “Insert”.
 Click “OK” in the “Fill Effects” window.

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  That’s it! Your beautiful background is ready and so is your notice – level 3!
 Wasn’t that so simple?
 Save this document by pressing the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

Content Control Concepts

Now, we’ll learn to use content controls. A content control is similar to a place holder.
The advantage of inserting a content control is that it provides flexibility and ease in
recreating a similar output. A content control prohibits users from inserting any other
Word objects other than the specified one within it. So the next time you need to create
a notice, the process will be an easy few-minutes affair! This is because, the entire
structure will be ready and you only need to enter the variable data. This would surely
be simpler than copying an old notice and replacing the existing information with new
information.

Displaying the Developer Tab

 To use content controls, you need to use the “Developer” tab.

 If this tab is not present in the Ribbon, click the “File” tab and then click
“Options” in the left pane.
 In the “Word Options” window, click “Customize Ribbon”.
 In the “Main Tabs” box at the right, click the box in front of “Developer”.
 Then click “OK”.

Inserting a Date Content Control

We will insert a content control for the date first. This is similar to a place holder.

 First delete the date.

 Now activate the “Developer” tab and click the “Date Picker” icon in the
“Controls” group.
 A field is placed on the page for entry of the date.
 The date can be typed in or picked up from the calendar which pops up when
the arrow at the right is clicked.

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Inserting Text Content Control

Next we want a content control for the subject matter.

 First delete the subject text and then from the “Controls” group, click “Rich
Text”.
 This field will allow entry of textual content only.
 Please note that you are free to format the text as you like.
 Delete the text containing the details of the notice and insert another text control
in the same way.
 Now your notice structure is ready and will serve as a template.
 Save this structure by clicking on "File" button and then "Save As".
 Give it a suitable name and close the document.

Using Document Structure

The next time you need to create a notice, simply open the document containing the
structure.

 First click in the date field and select a date.

 Format it as required.
 Next, click in the subject field and enter the subject.
 Finally, click below the greeting line and enter the details.
 Your second professional looking notice is complete already!
 Wasn’t that so convenient?
 You may save this document with a name of your choice and use as required.
 Now you can effortlessly create as many notices as you wish.
 Try using all the skills you have acquired in designing different documents and
templates.

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GIFT LABEL

LEVEL 1

Objective

What you can see is a simple gift label. It has a colored background and text printed
on it. So let us open the Word application and learn to create a gift label like the one
displayed.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Creating a Text Box

We shall create the gift label within a text box.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and from the
displayed options, click on a suitable one.
 A new “Format” tab appears.
 Resize the text box to the size you want by dragging the sizing handles.

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Entering Text

 Click within the text box and enter the first line of text as shown.
 Now click on the “Home” tab.
 From the “Paragraph” group, click the “Align Text Left” icon to position the
cursor at the left side.
 Enter the next three lines of text.

Changing Font Color

 Let us change the color of all the text that we have entered.
 Select the text and from “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Font Color”
icon.
 From the displayed colors, click on the one you like.

Applying a Background Color

Now we shall change the background color.

 Click on the “Format” tab once again.

 From the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon.
 From the displayed colors, select a suitable one.
 That’s it, your gift label – level 1 is ready.

LEVEL 2

Aligning Text

 Open the document containing the gift label which you have created at level01.
 First we will align the text of the first line.
 For that, on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Center”.
 We will delete the remaining text below the first line.

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Applying a Background Style

We shall color the background of this text box now. Instead of applying a plain color,
we shall use a text box style.

 Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, click Shape
Fill.
 Point to Gradient, and then select the gradient that you want.
 You can also apply a built in gradient to your shape.
 Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, click Shape
Fill, point to Gradient, and then select More Gradients.
 In the Format Shape dialog box, on the Fill tab, select the Gradient fill check
box.
 In the Preset colors list, select the gradient that you want.
 Yes, this background definitely looks better than a plain colored one!
 We will also change the border of the text box.
 Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, click Shape
Outline, and under Theme Colors, select the color that you want.

Drawing a Text Box

Now we shall draw another text box within this text box for entry of the other text.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click the “Text Box” icon.
 This time, click “Draw Text Box”.
 Drag with the mouse to draw a smaller text box within the main text box.

Making a Text Box Transparent

Oh no, the beautiful background is covered by this text box! Don’t worry; we’ll make it
visible by making the text box transparent.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to “Shape
Fill” and select “No Fill”.
 Yes, now it’s fine.

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Using Shapes

 Enter the text within the internal text box as shown.

 Now we shall draw lines which will be used to write the names of the sender,
receiver and the date.
 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click “Line” and drag to draw a line in front of the first line of text.
 Similarly, draw lines in front of the other two lines of text.
 We will also change the color of these lines.
 Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click
“Shape Outline”, and under “Theme Colors”, select the color that you want.
 This completes the gift label – level 2.

LEVEL 3

Formatting Text

Here you can see the gift label we created at level 2.

 First let’s enhance the internal text box a little.

 Select the text within this box. On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group”, click
the arrow next to the “Font Color” icon.
 Select a suitable color from the ones displayed.
 Make this text bold by clicking the “Bold” icon.

Enhancing Shapes

Now we shall enhance the lines next to this text.

 Position your cursor at the left edge of the first line.

 Click on it to select the line.
 Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, click the
arrow next to Shape Outline.
 Then point to Dashes, and click the line style that you want.
 Modify the other two lines in the same way.

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  We will also change the color of these lines.
 Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click
“Shape Outline”, and under “Theme Colors”, select the color that you want.

Preparing for Picture Insertion

We plan to insert a picture at the left side of the gift label. So let’s move the internal
text box a little to the right.

 Position your cursor at the top left corner and drag with your mouse towards the
right to a suitable position.
 But what’s this? The lines we had drawn have not moved from their original
position.
 This is because they are independent shapes and are not actually a part of the
text box even though they appear so.
 But don’t worry.
 Simply select the lines by pressing “Shift” key and drag them to suitable
positions towards the right.

Removing Text Box Outline

We shall also remove the outline of the internal text box to make more space for the
picture.

 Click anywhere within this text box to select it.

 Then click the “Format” tab.
 In the “Text Box Styles” group, click the arrow next to “Shape Outline” and from
the options displayed, select “No Outline”.
 Now click outside the text box.

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Specifying Picture Position

Now we are ready to insert a picture on this label. We shall specify an approximate
position for the picture.

 Click at the end of the main heading. Then press “Enter”.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Align Text Left” icon
to position the cursor at the left.
 Press “Enter” once again.
 Yes, this appears to be a suitable position.

Inserting a Clip Art

We shall insert a Clip Art from the Clip Art gallery.

 Click the “Insert” tab. From the “Illustrations” group, select “Clip Art”.
 In the Clip Art panel at the right, enter the criteria related to the Clip Art and
click “Go”.
 Click one of the displayed pictures Clip Art.
 It appears on your label.
 Size it suitably.
 Now close the Clip Art panel by clicking the “X” shaped “Close” icon at the top
right corner.

Saving Document

 The addition of a picture really enhances the look of the label, doesn’t it?
 A nice attractive gift label is ready for use.
 Now save your document.

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FLYER-SUMMER CAMP

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the simple flyer displayed. It has the name of the camp displayed at the
top and below it; there are other details about the camp such as the activities, dates
and rates. Different information is displayed in different colors so that it stands out
clearly. The page has a colored border to make it look attractive. So let us start
creating a similar flyer by opening the Word application.

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

We are now ready to start entry of our content. We first need to write what our flyer is
advertising.

 So click the “Home” tab. Type the text, in this case, “Summer Camp”.
 Of course, you may enter any other suitable title.
 Press “Enter” and then type the other details.

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Formatting Text

The heading needs to attract the attention of the reader, so let’s make it look
outstanding. For this,

 Select the two lines of text we entered and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold”
icon.
 To underline this text, click the “Underline” icon.
 Now select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Now let’s change the color of this text.
 For this, click the arrow next to the “Font Color” icon and select a suitable color.
 To center this text, from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon.
 Click outside the text to deselect it.
 That’s it! Doesn’t the heading of the flyer look great?

Entering and Formatting Text

We shall now proceed to enter other details about the camp.

 Press “Enter” to leave a blank line.

 The other details need not have a font size as large as the heading text.
 So reduce the font size from the “Font” group.
 Click the “Underline” icon to deactivate it.
 From the “Paragraph” group, click “Align Text Left” to position the cursor at the
left side.
 Select suitable font styles, sizes and colors and enter the text as shown.

Using Bullets

Now it’s time to enter the activities that will be included in the camp.

 Enter the text using a font of a suitable size and color as shown.
 To italicize the four activities, select them and then from the “Home” tab, click
the “Italics” icon.
 To make these activities appear as a bulleted list, from the “Paragraph” group,

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  Click the arrow next to the “Bullets” icon and select a suitable bullet style.
 Click outside the bulleted list to deselect it.

Creating Page a Border

We will first create a border for the page.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Page Background” group, click “Page Borders”.
 Under “Setting”, select “Box” and select a color from the “Color” dropdown list.
 Then click “OK”.

Completing the Flyer

What remains is the entry of the dates, rates and other details related to the website
and address where the camp will be conducted.

 Enter these using suitable fonts and colors as shown.

 Here you are! Your flyer is ready.
 Wasn’t it quite simple?

LEVEL 2

Creating a Shape

We shall use the flyer we created in the last lesson as a base and enhance it.

 Select the text “Free Lunch” and press “Delete” to remove it.
 We shall create an interesting shape and then display this text within it.
 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on a shape of your choice and drag with your mouse to draw it at a
suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab is displayed.

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Enhancing a Shape and Adding Text

To make this shape more attractive,

 Click a shape style from the “Shape Styles” group on the “Format” tab.
 Now from the “Insert Shapes” group click on “Text Box”
 Draw a text box on the shape, to remove fill color and border from the “Text Box
Styles” group click on “Shape Fill” from the drop down menu select “No Fill”,
then click on “Shape Outline” and select “No Outline”.
 Enter the text “Free Lunch”.
 You may format this text as you wish by clicking on the “Home” tab and using
the various options in the “Font” group.
 Shapes like this can be used to enter any other type of information as well.

Using shapes

Now delete the simple text related to the rates and dates of the camp. We are going to
display this information in a more attractive way.

 Press Enter few times. In the same way as you created the previous shape,
create a rectangular shape below the bulleted list.
 Apply a suitable shape style.
 Enter the dates when the camp will begin and end within this shape.
 You may format this text as you wish by clicking on the “Home” tab and using
the various options in the “Font” group.
 You may experiment with the different shapes that are available when you
design a flyer on your own.

Creating and Enhancing a Shape

To display the applicable rates, we shall create a text box.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.

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  Drag with the mouse and draw the text box to the right of the rectangular shape
we just created.
 On the “Format” tab which appears, select a suitable style from the “Shape
Styles” group.

Adding Text to a Text Box

Now enter the five lines of text as shown.

 Select the text and make it appear in italics.

 Now on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the “Italics”.
 Click outside the text to deselect it.
 Keep the “Ctrl” key pressed and select the first, second and fourth lines.
 Click the “Bold” icon.
 Deselect this text.
 Then select the first, third and fifth lines by keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed and
from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon.
 Deselect this text and there you are! Your flyer – level 2 is ready.

LEVEL 3

Inserting a Picture

Let us use the flyer we created in the last assignment as a base.

 Delete the first two lines of text which form the heading of the flyer.
 Insert some blank lines at the top in place of the heading.
 In this space we shall insert an attractive picture which tells you what this flyer
is about.
 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Size the picture suitably using the sizing handles.
 Now click the “Home” tab and from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center”
icon to center the picture.

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  Wow! Doesn’t this change the look of the flyer totally?
 We’re not done yet, the flyer will look even better!

Using WordArt

We shall use WordArt to display the name of the camp.

 Type the name of the camp.

 Select this name and click the “Insert” tab.
 In the text group, click “Word Art”.
 Select a style.
 You can also apply a “Shape Effect” to the text.
 For this, on the “Format” tab under “Drawing Tools”, in the “Shape Styles”
group, click “Shape Effects”.
 Click the effect that you want.
 Now enter the remaining text with a suitable font color and size.
 That’s all.
 Now the flyer looks really great!
 Save this document by clicking the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar

AWARD CERTIFICATE

LEVEL 1

Objective

We’ll use Microsoft Word to create an award certificate. At the first level we’ll learn to
create a basic certificate like the one displayed. Then we’ll enhance it to look like this
one which is more colorful and stylish looking. We’ll start with the level 1 certificate
and then enhance it to look like the final one. So get ready to design an attractive
award certificate!

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Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Setting Page Size

Let us select a suitable page size for the certificate.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Setup” group, click the “Size” icon.
 Make a selection from the options displayed.

Changing Page Orientation

We want to design our certificate holding the page horizontally. For this we need to
change the orientation.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, select “Orientation →
Landscape”.

Entering Text

Now we are ready to enter text.

 Activate the “Home” tab.

 To position the cursor at the center of the page, from the “Paragraph” group,
click the “Center” icon.

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  Now from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Type the main heading as shown.
 To embolden this text, select it and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.

Entering More Text

 Press “Enter” and type the sub-heading using a suitable font and font size.
 This time, let us italicize the text.
 For this, select it and from the “Font” group, click the “Italics” icon.
 Click outside the text.

Using a Text Box

Now we shall use text boxes for entering the rest of the text. Let’s create a text box
first.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 In the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw a text box of a suitable size below the two lines of
text.
 A new “Format” tab with the heading “Text Box Tools” appears.
 You can see the cursor flashing within this text box.
 Activate the “Home” tab and position the cursor at the center of the line.
 Select a suitable font and font size and enter the text as shown.

Removing Text Box Outline

We shall remove the outline of this text box now.

 For this, on the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, select “Shape
Outline - No Outline”.

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Completing the Document

 Similarly, create two more text boxes and enter details as shown.
 Remove the outlines.
 That’s it. Your level 1 award certificate is ready!

LEVEL 2

Enhancing Text

 Open the document containing the award certificate we created in the previous
assignment.
 We’ll start with the main heading at the top.
 Select the heading.
 Then on the “Home” tab, click the arrow next to the “Font Color” icon and select
a suitable color from the displayed palette.
 Now we’ll apply a shadow effect to this text.
 Click the small arrow at the bottom right corner of the “Font” group.
 In the displayed window, under “Font”, click “Text Effects”.
 The “Format Text Effects” window appears.
 Select an effect of your choice, click “Close” and then click “OK”.
 Click outside the text to see the effect.

Inserting Lines

Next we’ll draw a horizontal line above the text box at the bottom.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click “Line” and drag to draw a line at a suitable position.

Inserting Pictures

Now we want a picture of the logo of the institution at the top right corner.

 First draw a text box at the required position.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, select “Shape Fill- Picture”.

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  In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 You may size this picture as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 You can move it by placing the mouse pointer on it and dragging when the
pointer appears as a four-headed arrow.
 Remove the outline of this text box.
 Now insert a suitable picture at the bottom left corner in the same way.

Creating a Page Border

What remains is the creation of a colorful border.

 Activate the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Background” group, click “Page Borders”.
 Under “Setting”, select “Box”.
 Make a suitable selection from the “Style” box.
 Then select a color for the border from the “Color” dropdown list and click “OK”.
 There you are, your page has a nice border and your final certificate is ready!

Saving the Document

Now that the certificate is complete, you need to save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now go ahead and apply all that you have learnt to create different kinds of Word
documents!

BUSINESS CARD

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the simple business card displayed. It is rectangular in shape and has
details printed on it. The background is colored suitably. So let us start creating a
similar business card by opening the Word application.

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Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Inserting a Shape

The first step is to create an outline shape.

 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 There are various options available but as we are creating a business card, click
on the “Rectangle” shape and drag with your mouse to draw it at a suitable
position.
 When you draw the shape, you can see that a new “Format” tab is displayed.
 This tab has various options which you can use to format your shape as
required.
 You can set the size of the shape using the “Size” group.
 A standard business card is 5.8cm in height and 8.89cm in width.

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Coloring a Shape

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Fill” icon.
 Click on a color of your choice.
 Now the background of your card is ready.
 Click outside the shape.
 What remains is the entry of text.

Entering Text in a Shape

 Click the Insert tab.

 In the Text group, click "Text Box" and select “Draw Text Box”.
 Drag to draw a text box inside the shape.
 Now we need to make the text box transparent so that the background is visible.
 This can be done by removing the fill color and outline of the text box.
 In the “Shape Style” group, click “Shape Fill” and select "No Fill”.
 Then select “Shape Outline - No Outline".
 Now enter the personal details of the card holder as shown.

Formatting Text in a shape

We shall now format the text we have entered.

 Select the text, Click on the “Home” tab.

 From the “Font” group, choose a suitable “Font Color”.
 In the “Paragraph” group, click “Align Text Right” to move this text to the right
side.
 We need to make this text more compact.
 Click the arrow at the bottom right corner of the “Paragraph” group.
 In the displayed window, under “Spacing”, set the “After” field to 0 and “Line
spacing” to “Single”.
 Click “OK”.

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Entering and Formatting Text in a Shape

Now we wish to enter text related to the company at the bottom left corner.

 Press “Enter”.
 In the “Paragraph” group, click “Align Text Left” to position the cursor at the left.
 Press “Enter” a few times to position the cursor suitably and start typing your
text.
 You may format this text as required.
 That’s it.
 Level one is complete and a simple business card is ready.
 Let’s move on to level two.

LEVEL 2

Drawing and Coloring a Shape

 You have learnt how to draw and color a shape.

 So let’s draw two rectangular shapes and color each of them with a different
color.
 Draw the first main rectangle and color it.
 We shall now make this transparent so that the background colors are visible.
 On the “Format” tab, from the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to
“Shape Fill”.
 From the options displayed, select “No Fill”.
 Yes, now the background can be seen.
 To remove the outline, select “No Outline”.
 Now place the shape in the desired position by dragging it.
 Then create the second shape vertically on the left side with transparent
background and no outline.

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Arrange Text

 Select the text.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Arrange” group, click the arrow next to the
“Bring Forward” icon and select “Bring to Front”.
 This will place the selected text in front of all other objects so that no part of it is
hidden.

Making Text Bold

You can make the name of the card holder stand out by making it bold. For this,

 First select the text.

 Then click on the “Home” tab, in the Font group, click on the “Bold” icon.
 You can also adjust the font size as required.
 Do the same for the company name.
 Click outside the text box when done.

Formatting Text

Now we will format the textual content. We need some space between 2nd and the 3rd
line, for that click at the end of the 2nd line and press enter on the keyboard. We also
want to change the position of the address. Suppose we want to shift the text towards
right. for that click at the beginning and press tab. You can also press spacebar on the
keyboard to do the same. Alternatively you can drag the handle of the text box to the
required position to do this. Also format the text as per your requirement. You can also
adjust the font size as per your need. Your business card – level 2 is ready.

Level 3

Inserting a Picture in a Text Box

We will use the business card we just created at level 2 as a base and enhance it
further.

 Let us insert the picture of the company logo within a text box.

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  Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, select “Text Box → Draw Text
Box”.
 Create a small text box at the bottom left corner.
 Click the “Insert” tab, from the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the picture of your logo and click
“Insert”.

Removing Fill and Outline

We shall make the text box transparent and remove the outline for a better
appearance. So

 First select the text box.

 From the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to “Shape Fill”.
 From the options displayed, select “No Fill”.
 Next, click the arrow next to “Shape Outline” and select “No Outline”.

Applying Shape Styles

Using shape styles changes the appearance of a plain colored rectangle into a better
looking shaded one. Select the main rectangle by clicking on it.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow of the “Shape Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable style.
 Do the same for the other two rectangles.
 Doesn’t your business card look really attractive now?
 Save your changes by clicking the “Save” icon on the Quick Access bar.
 Remember to save your document at regular intervals to prevent data loss due to
power failure or machine crashes.

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INVOICE

LEVEL 1

Objective

At the first level we’ll learn to create a basic invoice like this one which contains the
general details contained in an invoice. Then we’ll enhance it to make it look more
attractive like this one. We’ll add more details and also make the date field update
automatically. So let’s begin!

Starting Word

To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs -
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word 2010”. A blank Word document is displayed on
your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Setting Page Size

Let us select a suitable page size for the invoice.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Setup” group, click the “Size” icon.
 Make a selection from the options displayed.

Using a Theme

A theme is a set of unified design elements and color schemes. A theme helps you
easily create professional and well-designed documents.

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  Click the “Page Layout” tab.
 From the “Themes” group, click the “Themes” icon.
 Select a theme from the gallery displayed.

Inserting a Header

Now we’ll insert a header.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Header & Footer” group, click “Header”.
 You can see various ready-to-use header styles.
 Select “Blank” since we plan to design our own header.

Entering Text

 Enter the text “Invoice” as shown.

 Press “Enter” and type the company name.

Formatting Text

 Select the text “Invoice”.

 Now activate the “Home” tab.
 From the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font”, “Font Size” and “Font Color”.
 Embolden this text by clicking the “Bold” icon in the “Font” group.
 Let us give a shadow effect to this text.
 Click the small arrow at the bottom right of the “Font” group to display the
“Font” window.
 On the “Font” tab, click “Text Effects”.
 In the “Format Text Effects” window, click “Shadow” in the left pane.
 At the right, you may enter your specifications for the shadow such as size,
transparency, etc. by moving the sliders or entering a number.
 After you are done, click “Close” and then click “Ok”.
 We will also apply a shadow effect to the company name.

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Aligning Text

 Let us move the text “Invoice” to the right.

 Click in front of it and from the “Paragraph” group;
 Click the “Align Text Right” icon.

Creating the Footer

Now it’s time to create the footer.

 Click the “Insert” tab once again.

 This time, from the “Header & Footer” group, click “Footer”.
 Select a suitable footer style from the displayed ones.
 Enter your footer information.
 Then on the “Design” tab, from the “Close” group, click the “X” shaped icon to
exit the footer area.

Entering Text

Now that our header and footer are ready, we can start entering text.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Align Text Right” icon
to position the cursor at the right of the page.
 From the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Enter the text “Date:” and type the date of the invoice as shown.
 Press “Enter” and type the text “Invoice” and then the actual invoice number.
Embolden the textual part as shown.

Aligning Text

 Press “Enter” and position the cursor at the left end using the “Align Text Left”
icon.
 Type the name and address of the party to whom the invoice is being issued as
shown.
 Then press “Enter”.

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Inserting a Table

Now we’ll create a table to enter actual billing details.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 From the “Tables” group, select “Table → Insert Table”.
 In the displayed window, we need to specify the number of columns and rows.
 Enter values as required and click “OK”.
 Your table is created and a new “Design” tab is displayed.

Increasing Row Height

Let us increase the height of the rows of this table.

 First we need to select the entire table.

 This can be done by clicking on the four-headed arrow at the top left corner of
the table.
 Now, activate the “Layout” tab. In the “Cell Size” group, enter the required height
in the “Table Row Height” box and press “Enter”.
 Yes, now the cells are of the proper size.
 Click outside the table to deselect it.

Adjusting Column Width

You can see that all the columns have a uniform width. But we need columns of
different sizes. This can be easily done. Simply drag the boundaries between the
columns to get the required column widths.

Entering Text within a Table

Now that our table is ready we can start entry of details.

 Click in the first cell.

 Enter the required text.
 Enter details in the complete table as shown.
 Since the first row contains the headings, let’s make this text bold.

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  Select the cells containing the numeric data and from the “Paragraph” group,
click the “Align Text Right” icon.

Aligning Text

 Now click outside the table.

 Press “Enter” a few times to leave some blank lines.
 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon.
 Enter the two lines of text using suitable fonts as shown.

Using Italics

To italicize the second line,

 Select it and from the “Font” group, click the “Italics” icon.
 This completes your invoice – level 1.

LEVEL 2

Applying a Background Color

 Open the document containing the invoice level 1.

 We’ll first apply a background color.
 Activate the “Page Layout” tab.
 From the “Page Background” group, click the “Page Color” icon.
 Select a suitable color from the ones displayed.
 This makes the invoice look so much better, doesn’t it?

Inserting a Picture

Now we’ll insert a picture of the company logo.

 Double click on the header area.

 On the “Design” tab from the “Insert” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.

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Sizing and Moving a Picture

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Arrange” group, click the “Warp Text” icon and
select “Behind Text” from the options displayed.
 Resize the picture suitably using the sizing handles.
 Now place your mouse pointer on the picture and when it appears as a four-
headed arrow, drag it to a suitable position.

Applying a Picture Style

Let’s apply a picture style to this picture.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of picture styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 This completes the header.
 Press “Escape” to exit the header area.

Inserting Lines

Next, we’ll insert a line below the header.

 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on “Line” and drag with your mouse to draw a straight line below the
header.
 A new “Format” tab is displayed.
 Let us color the line that we have drawn.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline” icon and
select a color.
 Insert a similar line above the footer.

Using a Date Field

Now we’ll create a date field that will be automatically updated each time the document
is opened.

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  Select the date that has been entered.
 Then activate the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click the “Date & Time”
icon. In the “Date and Time” window, select a date format and check the “Update
automatically” box.
 Then click “OK”.
 Now whenever you open this document, you will see the current date displayed
as the invoice date.

Inserting Table Rows

Next, we want two additional rows at the bottom of the table containing billing details.

 Select the last two rows.

 Then activate the “Layout” tab under the heading “Table Tools”.
 In the “Rows & Columns” group, click the “Insert Below” icon.
 Now change the text “Total Amount” to “Subtotal” and enter details in the two
rows at the bottom as shown.

Applying a Table Style

What remains is the application of a table style.

 Click anywhere in the table and activate the “Design” tab under the heading
“Table Tools”.
 Click the “More” arrow in the “Table Styles” group to see all available styles.
 Click on one of your choice.
 Doesn’t the table look really nice?
 Your final invoice is ready!
 Save your document by pressing the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now, try designing different kinds of Word documents using the various skills
that you have learnt!

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 SPREADSHEET
GETTING STARTED

OVERVIEW OF SPREADSHEET

Maintaining Records

Hi Friends! The history of accounting is as old as civilization. In fact accounting has

been called the "oldest profession". Several thousand years ago, early civilizations
started keeping track of changes in their herds and crops using primitive clay tokens
and clay tablet records. Then they began exchanging their surplus goods for essential
commodities. Later, as they began to trade, they established the concept of value and
developed a monetary system. Eventually, with the advent of taxation, record keeping
became a necessity for governments to have a grip on the economy.

Areas of Application

Almost everyone needs to maintain records of some kind. Teachers have to manage schedules,
grades and attendance lists. Businesses have to manage payroll, budgets, projects, and other
financial data. Accountants and financial analysts too need to maintain accounting data. Even
a home maker needs to manage the family budget. So maintaining data and performing
calculations is something we cannot avoid, no matter how much we try!

Benefits of Tabular Data

Data arranged in the form of a table with rows and columns is always easier to
understand and analyze. Some of the advantages are as follows:

 You can handle large volumes of data

 You have a quick and clean view of the data
 Such data can be easily restructured to allow changes and additions
 The data always holds its alignment between different programs
 The data can be easily reorganized and searching becomes easy

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  Patterns in data can be easily identified
 Missing data can be ascertained

Manual Spreadsheets

A physical spreadsheet is a large sheet of paper with columns and rows. It spreads or
shows related data on a sheet of paper to enable you to examine it when making a
decision. Manually managing a small volume of data is fine. But what happens when
the number of records to be maintained increases? The manual workforce increases,
the time taken to maintain and analyze the data increases and of course, the
probability of errors increases! In the old days, if you made one error, you would have
to erase whiteout or rewrite the spreadsheet from the point of the error or in its
entirety. All copies too would need to be similarly corrected. Not to forget, the amount
of space required to store physical paper records! Also, the anxiety that the paper may
rot or get infested with white ants or other pests!

Coping with Demands

The art of recording and keeping track of transactions has grown more and more
sophisticated over the years. In more recent times, modern technology has changed
how accountants function. Larger companies with greater amounts of data to process
have turned to computers to cope with the volumes. The limitations of physical
spreadsheets have been overcome. Businesses today require that accounting
information and measures of performance are available at the push of a button. There
are many readily available software packages in the market for this purpose.

Electronic Spreadsheets

Welcome to the world of Electronic Spreadsheets! An electronic spreadsheet, also

called a Worksheet, is a computer program that allows the user to enter numbers and
text into a table with rows and columns. He can then maintain and manipulate those
numbers using the table structure. Electronic spreadsheets allow users to input large
amounts of textual and numerical data into an easily accessible format. A worksheet
replaces the traditional handwritten ledger and allows for complicated numerical

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analysis and calculations at a fraction of the time it takes to be done manually. Any
number of copies can be created in a few seconds.

Early Spreadsheets

VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 were two of the earliest spreadsheet programs. Today
spreadsheets are beneficial in various environments because reports can be easily
generated and they can be used to tabulate many kinds of information, not just
financial records.

Features of Electronic Spreadsheets

Using electronic spreadsheets, data can be manipulated using dozens of functions

available at a click of a mouse. Rows and columns can be inserted as needed, even in
the middle of an existing spreadsheet. Features like font colors and size, display of grid
lines and automatic rounding allow you to convert a functional worksheet into a
document suitable for presentation. Once the data is input, a spreadsheet program
can translate it into a graph or chart, and as you update the data, the graph or chart
is updated as well. Any modification done to even a single entry automatically updates
the rest of the calculations. Using spreadsheet programs proves to be highly cost
effective compared to expensive manual cashbooks and accounting software packages.

Popular Spreadsheet Applications

The spreadsheet applications today offer easy-to-use graphical interfaces with pull
down menus and point-and-click capabilities using a mouse. Microsoft Excel and
OpenOffice.org Calc are a few of the popular spreadsheet programs. An online
spreadsheet is a spreadsheet document created through a web-based application that
allows multiple persons to edit and share it. Some very useful online spreadsheets are
Google Docs, EditGrid, SocialCalc, Office Web App etc. We’ll learn to use Microsoft
Excel 2010 which is a complete Spreadsheet Application. It is a component of the
Microsoft Office system and also sold as a standalone product. Once you learn Excel,
you’ll find it so easy to organize all types of information. So get ready to change into a
meticulous, organized person who never forgets anything!

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Features of Excel 2010

Microsoft Excel 2010 contains an abundance of helpful tools. You can choose from a
variety of ready-to-use templates to quickly design agendas, planners, inventory lists,
receipts etc. One of the biggest benefits of using Excel is its ability to provide users
with the "what-if" option. Users can determine possible outcomes of different
calculations without committing themselves to actually performing any of them.

Excel Features 2

You can store sensitive information in a secure way by protecting your spreadsheets
with passwords. Features such as Pivot Tables and Sparklines enable you to view
summarized data in different forms using a few keystrokes. Several users can work
together on the same document utilizing a computer network. Users can also share
their work with others via email or by uploading files to a network.

Starting Excel 2010

In Microsoft Excel, a single file or document is called a “Workbook”. It contains a

collection of one or more “Worksheets”. To begin using Excel, you will need to first
open the application.

 Click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office →
Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 When you start Excel, you are presented with a new workbook with a default
name such as Book1 which contains three blank worksheets Sheet1, Sheet2 and
Sheet3.
 The Excel screen at first glance may appear very complex.
 But when you start using Excel, you’ll appreciate its awesome capabilities.

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THE USER INTERFACE

The User Interface is the way in which you interact with your computer. The Microsoft
Office user interface is quite uniform across its components. Before you start using the
rich features of Excel 2010, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the Excel 2010
screen elements. So let’s get started!

Quick Access Toolbar

You know that the purpose of using Excel is to save your time and efforts. The Quick
Access toolbar helps you do just that. This small toolbar contains buttons that perform
common actions, such as saving a workbook, undoing your last action, or repeating
your last action.

Title Bar

We all have names, so do our spreadsheets! The horizontal title bar at the top of the
Excel document window displays the program and document titles.

Ribbon

The Ribbon which is displayed below the title bar is an ocean of all Excel commands.
Please do not fear drowning! This ocean contains gentle waves called Tabs. These tabs
are designed to show you just the commands you would need to complete the task at
hand without overloading you. Within each tab there are Groups that contain logically
related command buttons. These buttons execute a command or display a menu of
commands.

Parts of the Ribbon

So the Ribbon is made up of:

 Task-oriented tabs.
 Groups within each tab that break a task into subtasks.
 Command buttons in each group that execute a command or display a menu of
commands.

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Please note that you may sometimes find the same commands on two tabs. This is
because the ribbon is designed to give you easy access to the commands that you are
likely to need.

Contextual Tabs

When you first launch most of the Microsoft Office applications you’ll find yourself in
the Ribbon’s Home tab, which includes the most commonly-needed commands. Extra
"Contextual" tabs appear and disappear as you work. For example, if you click on a
picture, an extra “Format” tab under the heading “Picture Tools” appears. You’ll see
similar contextual tabs if you click on a text box. The contextual tabs contain the
controls you need to format items like tables, pictures and text boxes.

Dialog Box Launcher

The Ribbon displays the important or key commands required for a task. The Dialog
Box Launcher is a button with a small arrow on it which appears in the lower-right
corner of many groups. Clicking it opens a dialog box that provides many more
options.

Worksheet

This is the area which you will work in. It is divided into rows and columns. Columns
run vertically on a worksheet and are identified by a letter. Rows run horizontally and
are identified by a number. The intersection of a row and a column is called a “Cell”.
The faint lines that appear around cells are called “Gridlines”.

Active Cell

The active cell is recognized by its black outline. Data is always entered into the active
cell.

Rows and Columns

To enable you to store massive amounts of data in worksheets, Excel 2010 supports
up to 1 million rows and 16 thousand columns per worksheet. Specifically, the Excel

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2010 grid is 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns which work out to more than 17
billion cells. The columns are named as A, B, C, AA, AB, AZ, BA, BB, XFD and the
rows are numbered from 1 onwards.

Formula Bar

The Formula Bar is located above the worksheet and displays the contents of the active
cell. It can also be used for entering or editing data and formulas.

Name Box

The Name Box is located to the left of the formula bar and displays the cell address of
the active cell. The cell address is also called the cell reference or the name of the cell.

Sheet Tabs

The sheet tabs at the bottom of the screen display the names of the worksheets.
Clicking them enables you to switch between worksheets in an Excel file.

Scroll Bar

Scroll bars appear at the bottom and right edge of the worksheet. Each scroll bar
contains a small box, called a scroll box, and two scroll arrows. Drag the scroll box or
click the scroll bar arrows to display additional content.

Status Bar

This horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen displays information about the
document you are editing.

View Buttons

These buttons positioned at the right of the status bar enable you to change the
display mode of the document and specify page breaks.

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Zoom Buttons

These appear at the bottom right corner and are used to make your documents appear
larger or smaller. You may click the minus and plus icons or drag the slider to the
required level. This would enable you to view the exact amount of data you wish.

Resizing the Formula Bar and Name Box

To make it easier to view and edit a large amount of text in a cell, you can adjust the
size of the formula bar.

 Move your mouse pointer over the bottom and drag downwards when it changes
to a vertical two-headed arrow.
 To accommodate long names, you can also resize the name box.
 Move your mouse pointer over the boundary between the name box and the
formula bar.
 Drag to the right when the pointer changes to a horizontal two-headed arrow.

Help

Clicking the question mark symbol at the right end of the Ribbon brings up the Help
window related to the Office application that you are using. When you move your
mouse over most command buttons, a “Super-tooltip” is displayed. This provides a
detailed description of what the button does. Equivalent keyboard shortcuts are also
displayed if applicable. These can be used as an alternative to mouse clicks. You may
use them when you are more familiar with the commands.

Galleries and Live Previewing

Built into some tabs are galleries which contain the visual options for changing an
item. The results of a menu or gallery can be viewed before making the actual choice.
You can see the results of selecting an option from a gallery by moving the pointer over
the option. Similarly, moving the pointer over the options in a drop down list displays a
live preview. Now that you’re familiar with the user interface, let’s move to the next
assignment and start creating an Excel workbook!

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CREATING A NEW WORKBOOK

Creating a Workbook

You know that when you first start Excel you see a new blank workbook. When an
existing Excel workbook is open, to create a new blank workbook,

 Click the “File” Tab and select “New” in the left pane.
 In the central pane, you can see various template categories.
 A Template is a pre-designed document created for common purposes such as a
budget, inventory list or planner.

Using Templates

 To create a new workbook using one of the standard templates, click “Sample
Templates” and then the desired template in the central pane.
 Click the “Create” icon in the right pane.
 Here you are! A new ready-to-use workbook is created based on the template you
selected which can be modified as required.
 For now, we want to create a workbook from scratch, so we’ll close this one.
 Click the “X” shaped icon close at the top right corner.
 If a window is displayed asking whether to save the workbook, click “Don’t Save”
because we do not want to save this workbook at present.

Downloading Templates

You may download a variety of templates from the Microsoft website.

 Click the “File” tab and select “New”.

 In the “Search Office.com for templates” box, enter one or more keywords
describing the template you’re looking for and then click the arrow at the right.
 Click a suitable template from the displayed ones and then click “Download” in
the right pane.
 The template is downloaded and a ready-to-use workbook is displayed.
 Close the workbook without saving.

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  This template is now saved on your computer and can be used at any time in the
future.
 To access it, click the “File” tab, select “New” and then click “My templates”.
 The downloaded template is displayed under “Personal Templates”.
 Click it and then click “OK”.
 An Excel workbook based on the template is displayed.

Case Study

Every academic institution needs to keep a record of the marks scored by students.
Maintaining such records manually is surely a voluminous and time-consuming task.
We’ll use Microsoft Excel 2010 to create a workbook which contains the exam record of
a group of students. We’ll learn to use formulas for routine calculations such as totals,
averages etc. Additionally, we’ll use charts to show variations in the marks of different
students.

Creating a Blank Workbook

To create a new blank workbook when the Excel application is running, activate the
“File” tab and select “New - Blank workbook - Create”.

Moving Between Cells

When you create a new workbook, the first blank worksheet is displayed. The first cell
in the top most row is active. In the Name Box, you can see the cell address. This is
denoted by the column number followed by the row number. This cell is at the
intersection of column A and rows 1, so the address is displayed as A1.To enter data in
a cell, you must first move to the cell. The simplest way is to click the cell that you
want to activate with the mouse. You can use the arrow keys to move left, right, up or
down. As you move from one cell to another, you can see that the reference or address
of the active cell appears in the Name Box.

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Entering Headings

Now we’re ready to start entering data. In cell A1, type the name of the school. Then
enter the text in cells A3, A4 and A6 as shown. As you move between cells, you can see
that the Formula Bar displays the contents of the active cell. Now type the headings in
row 8. The “Tab” key can be used to move to the next cell in the same row. The heading
given to a column of data is sometimes called a “Label”. Here “Roll_No”, “Name” etc. are
the labels.

Entering Data

In row 9, type the roll number of the first student and press “Tab” to go to the next
cell. Type the student’s name. You can see that the name overflows into the next cell.
Pressing “Tab” takes you to the next cell but the data of the previous cell is still
displayed. Enter the marks for the first subject. But now, the name is only partially
displayed! We’ll set this right shortly. For now, enter the marks for this student and
data for other students as shown.

Adjusting Column Width

Since the data in the Name column is not displayed fully, you need to increase the
column width. For this, place your pointer on the boundary to the right of the heading
of column B. Double click on the boundary when the pointer appears as a two-headed
arrow. The width of the column will be automatically adjusted to the maximum length
of characters in the column. You can also change the height of a row or the width of a
column by dragging the boundaries between the headings.

NAVIGATING AND EDITING A WORKSHEET

Navigating a Worksheet

You know that the easiest way to move to a cell is to click within it. There are other
ways in which you can move to a cell. This is especially useful when you need to go to
a cell which is not visible on your screen. Type the cell address in the Name Box and
press Enter. You could also use the “Go To” window. This can be displayed using the

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F5 function key or “Ctrl + G”. Type the cell address in the Reference box and click
“OK”.

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are some keyboard shortcuts to navigate within the worksheet.

 Use the “Page Up” and “Page Down” keys to move up or down one screen
 Use the “Home” key to move to column A of the current row
 Use “Ctrl + Home” to go the beginning of the worksheet i.e. to cell A1
 Use “Ctrl + End” to go to the last cell in the worksheet that contains data.

Selecting Multiple Cells

You may want to select multiple cells in a worksheet. A group of cells is sometimes
called a “Range of Cells”.

 To select an entire column, click a column heading.

 To select multiple columns, drag across the headings. Similarly, rows can be
selected by clicking the row numbers.
 To select sequential cells, click the first cell, hold down the “Shift” key, and click
the last cell you want. Optionally, click and drag the mouse over a group of cells
to select a sequential area.
 To select non-sequential cells, click the first cell, hold down the “Ctrl” key, and
click each additional cell (or row or column) you want to select.
 To select the entire worksheet, click the small box located to the left of column A
and above row 1. Optionally, use “Ctrl + A”.

Using the Name Box

You may also use the Name Box to specify multiple cells for selection. To select
adjacent cells, enter the cells addresses of the first and last cells separated by a colon
and press Enter. For non-adjacent cells, enter the cells addresses separated by
commas.

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Editing Data

 After entering data, you may like to make some changes.

 To delete data and make cells blank, select them and press “Delete”.
 To overwrite the contents of a cell, click within it and start typing.
 To edit the contents of a cell, double-click within it and make the required
changes.
 To remove individual characters, you may press "Delete" for characters to the
right of the insertion point and "Backspace" for characters to the left.

Formula Bar

You can also use the Formula Bar to enter and edit data, instead of editing directly in
your worksheet. This is particularly useful when a cell contains a large amount of
information.

 When you click in the formula bar, a checkmark and an "X" icon appear to the
left of the box.
 Enter your data.
 Click the checkmark to confirm your entry, or "X" to roll it back.

Undoing and Redoing Editing

After making some changes, you may decide they are not necessary after all. You can
reverse your last action by using the “Undo” command. Let us first delete the contents
of a cell.

 Click the cell and press “Delete”.

 Now to undo this action, you may select “Undo” from the Quick Access toolbar or
use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Z”.
 The data is displayed once again.
 You can also redo an action that has been undone.
 For this, select “Redo” from the Quick Access Toolbar or use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl + Y”. The data that was displayed is now re-deleted.

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WORKING WITH SHEETS

Inserting worksheet

You know that a workbook contains three worksheets by default.

 To add an additional one, click the “Insert Worksheet” button to the right of the
last sheet tab.
 To insert a new worksheet before the currently active one, on the Home tab, from
the Cells group, select “Insert → Insert Sheet” or use the shortcut “Shift +
F11”.

Deleting Worksheet

 To delete a sheet, right-click the sheet tab and select “Delete”.

 You may also use the “Delete → Delete Sheet” command in the “Cells” group of
the “Home” tab.
 To delete multiple sheets, keep the “Ctrl” key pressed and click the sheet tabs to
select them.
 Then right-click and select “Delete”.

Renaming Worksheet

We plan to insert different data on each of the sheets of the workbook. To know what
each worksheet contains, it would be helpful if the sheets had meaningful names. So
let us rename Sheet1.

 For this, right-click the sheet tab and select “Rename” from the popup menu.
 Simply type in the new name, say “Student Data”.
 You may also rename a sheet by double-clicking the sheet tab and typing the
new name.
 Let us rename Sheet2 as “Table”.

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Moving and Copying Worksheet

You may change the order of the sheets.

 Click a sheet tab and drag to the left or right as required.

 While you drag, a solid black triangle appears along with a blank page icon.
 To copy a sheet, hold down the “Ctrl” key while you drag a sheet.
 A ‘+’ sign appears on the page icon while copying the sheet.
 When you copy, another copy of the sheet is made.
 The number of the copy appears in brackets on the sheet tab

Moving/Copying to another Workbook

You can also move or copy a sheet to another workbook. Let’s copy the first sheet to a
new workbook.

 Right click the sheet tab and select “Move or Copy”.

 In the “Move or Copy” window, select “(new book)” from the “To book” list.
 Click the “Create a copy” check box and then click OK.
 A new workbook with this worksheet is created.
 You may also use the “Move or Copy” window to move or copy sheets within the
same workbook.
 Use the “Before sheet” box to specify the position of the sheet.

Changing Tab Color

You may change the tab color of sheets to distinguish between the data stored on each
sheet.

 For this, right-click on a sheet tab and select “Tab Color”.

 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 Click on another sheet tab to see the colored tab clearly.

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Other Sheet Options

When you right-click on a sheet tab, there are some other options displayed.

 Select “Insert” to display the “Insert” window.

 Here you can select whether you want to insert a worksheet, a chart or
something else.
 To select all sheets, right-click a sheet tab and select the “Select all sheets”
option.
 To deselect the sheets, right-click a sheet tab and select “Ungroup Sheets”.

THE FILE TAB

In the previous version of Excel, the Office Button was situated at the top left corner of
the screen. In Excel 2010, this has been replaced by the “File” Tab on the Ribbon.
Clicking the File Tab displays the “File” menu which is also called the “Backstage
View”. The Office Backstage contains all the “Out” features i.e. the features which don’t
act on a specific point in the workbook, and whose effects don’t appear on the
worksheets. It contains the usual options of opening, closing, printing files and saving
in different formats. Options such as setting permissions and document properties
that don’t help you change the workbook, but let you use it in various ways are
available in the backstage view. To view the document properties, click “Info” in the left
pane. You can see information about your workbook such as its size, the date it was
created and modified, its author etc. in the right pane.

Saving a Workbook

Saving your work at regular intervals is very important. This would prevent data loss
due to power failure or unforeseen circumstances. A regular Excel workbook is saved
with the extension “.xlsx”. There are three ways to save your workbook.

 Click the File Tab and select “Save”.

 Click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + S”.

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Saving a New Workbook

When you save a new workbook for the first time, the “Save As” window is displayed.
Specify the name, folder and location for the file and then click “Save”. The name
appears in the title bar at the top of the document window. You may also save an
existing file with a new name using the “File tab - Save As” option.

Saving to a New Folder

You can create a new folder at the time you save a file.

 Click the File Tab and select “Save As”.

 In the displayed window, navigate to the appropriate location where you wish to
place the new folder.
 Click the “New Folder” button.

Create a New Folder

A new folder is created as a subfolder in the active directory.

 Type the name of the new folder in the “New Folder” box and press “Enter”.
 Click “Open” to open the new folder.
 Press “Save” to save your file with the same name in this folder.
 If you wish to change your file name, make appropriate changes in the “File
name” box and then click “Save”.
 Your workbook is now saved in the newly created folder.

Closing a Workbook

 To close a workbook, click the File tab and select “Close” or use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl + W”.
 Alternatively, you may click on the “X” shaped icon at the top right corner of the
window.
 If you try to close an unsaved file, Excel asks you if you want to save your
workbook before closing it.

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  Click the “Save” button in the displayed dialog box to save your work.
 When you close your workbook, the Excel application continues running if there
are other open workbooks.
 To exit the Excel Application closing all workbooks, use the “Exit” option on the
File tab.

Opening a Workbook

The simplest way to open a workbook is to click on its icon. This starts the Microsoft
Excel application and opens the file. There are numerous ways in which you can open
a workbook when the Excel application has already been started. You may use the
shortcut keys “Ctrl + O” or click the “File” Tab and select “Open”. In the “Open”
window, navigate to the location of your workbook; select the file and click “Open”.

Open a Recently used Workbook

 To open a recently used workbook, you may click on the “File” Tab and then
click “Recent”.
 Now click on a workbook name from the “Recent Workbook” list in the central
pane.
 You can also access a workbook in any of the recently used folders in the
“Recent Places” list.
 For this, click on a folder name and navigate to the required workbook in the
“Open” window and click “Open”.
 Clicking on the Excel taskbar button displays a jump list displaying a list of
recently used workbooks.
 You can open a workbook by clicking on an item from this list.

Printing a Workbook

In a workbook, initially, the active worksheet is the visible worksheet. You may make
multiple sheets active by keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed and clicking on the sheet tabs.
To print your workbook,

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  Click the “File” Tab and select “Print” from the left pane.
 You may also use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + P”.
 The “Print” interface is displayed.
 In the right pane, you can see a preview of the first active sheet.

Specifying Settings

In the central pane, specify the number of copies required at the top. Other default
settings are shown. You might need to change some of them. The displayed visual
would help you with this.

Other Settings

 You may use the “Printer Properties” link to specify settings related to the
selected printer.
 Use the “Page Setup” link to specify other finer settings.
 Finally, click the “Print” button to start printing.

Overview

Friends, we have now familiarized ourselves with the Excel application and learnt to
create a simple worksheet. We also learnt to use some important commands from the
File Tab. Now go ahead and explore the user interface in detail. Presently our
workbook looks like the one displayed on screen. You can give it a more attractive and
professional look by using additional commands from the Home tab. So let’s move to
next Lab and learn to effectively use the “Home” Tab.

THE HOME TAB

The Home tab contains the most commonly-needed commands. It is divided into seven
groups. A brief description of each of them is given below.

 Clipboard: This group contains the main editing commands such as Cut, Copy
and Paste.

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  Font: These commands enable you to modify and enhance the appearance of
your data.
 Alignment: These commands enable you to position data within cells as
required.
 Number: These commands allow you to specify various formats for numerical
data.
 Styles: These commands enable you to apply pre-defined formatting
instructions.
 Cells: These commands enable you to insert, delete and format cells, rows and
columns.
 Editing: These commands help you to find, replace, sort and filter data as well
as clear data and formatting.

THE CLIPBOARD GROUP

Copy

The “Copy” icon is used to copy a selection to the “Clipboard” which is a temporary
storage area. This command when used along with the “Paste” command enables you
to copy data from one location to another on the same worksheet, another worksheet
or even another workbook.

 Let us copy some data from Sheet1 to Sheet2.

 Select the data and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click
“Copy”.
 You may also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + C”.
 A moving border appears around the selection.
 Now activate Sheet2 by clicking the tab at the bottom.
 Click in the cell you want to place the copied data and then on the “Home” tab,
in the “Clipboard” group, click “Paste”.
 The copied data is now pasted in the new location.
 You may adjust the column width of the Name column as required.

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Cut

The “Cut” icon is used to write a selection to the “Clipboard”. This command, when
used along with the “Paste” command, enables you to move a section of your workbook
from one location to another.

 Let us move some data from Sheet1 to Sheet2.

 Select the data and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click
“Cut”.
 You may also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + X”.
 A moving border appears around the selection. Activate Sheet2 and click in the
cell where you want to place the data and then on the “Home” tab, in the
“Clipboard” group, click “Paste”.
 The data is now moved from Sheet1 to Sheet2.
 Click the Sheet1 tab.
 You can see that the data that you had cut and pasted is no longer there.

Paste

The “Paste” icon is used to insert the latest copied or cut item from the Clipboard into
the worksheet. “Copy” plus “Paste” is used to copy a section from one location to
another while “Cut” plus “Paste” is used to move a section from one part to another.
Any selected text or objects are replaced by the pasted contents. You may paste the
clipboard contents as many times as you wish.

 Let us paste the clipboard contents on Sheet3.

 Place your cursor suitably.
 Then, on the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click “Paste” or use the
shortcut “Ctrl + V”.
 The contents of the clipboard are placed at the current cursor position.

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Format Painter

The “Format Painter” icon is used to copy the formatting applied at one place and
apply it to another.

 First, let us select some cells and change the background color.
 Select the “Home tab - Font group - Fill Color” icon and select a color from the
displayed palette.
 Now we shall copy the formatting of these cells.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Clipboard” group, click “Format Painter”.
 You can see that your mouse pointer changes to a paint brush when you place it
on the worksheet.
 Now drag it over the cells to which you wish to apply the same formatting.
 Click outside the cells to see the effect.
 If you wish to apply the selected formatting at multiple places, double-click the
“Format Painter” icon.
 You can then drag over multiple areas. Click “Escape” when done.

THE FONT GROUP

Font

A “Font” is a design for a set of characters. The “Font” box is used to change the font of
selected text. Changing the font can be used to enhance the appearance of text or to
make it appear different from the surrounding text.

 Select the required cells.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the down arrow in the Font
box.
 In the displayed menu, move your mouse over the different fonts.
 The "Live Preview" feature allows you to have a preview of how the selected font
would affect the appearance of the text, without actually applying it.
 Click on the font you like.

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Font Size

The “Font Size” box is used to apply a uniform size to the characters of selected text. It
is measured in points; a point is 1/72 of an inch. Normally, a larger font size is used
for headings and important text.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the down arrow in the “Font Size”
box and select a suitable option.

Increase Font Size

The “Increase Font Size” icon is used to proportionately increase the size of selected
text. This icon enables you to increase the font size without specifying the actual size
in points.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the “Increase Font Size” icon to
increase the font size.
 You may click at it as many times as needed to get the required size.
 Similarly, the “Decrease Font Size” icon is used to proportionately decrease the
size of text.

Font Color

The “Font Color” icon is used to change the color of selected text. Using different
colors makes text more attractive.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the Font Color
icon and select a color from the displayed palette.
 Have a look! Your text is now displayed in the selected color.

Bold

The “Bold” icon is used to make text appear darker and thicker. Bold text is often used
for titles and other text required to be prominently displayed.

 Select the cells in which you want bold text.

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  Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Bold”.
 You can see that the text appears in bold fonts.

Italic

The “Italic” icon is used to make the characters of selected text slant to the right.
Italics are often used to emphasize words or make them appear different from other
text.

 Select the required cells and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click
“Italic”.
 Your text now appears in italics.

Underline

The “Underline” icon is used to draw a line below text. Text is normally underlined
when you wish to call attention to it.

 Select the required cells and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click
“Underline”.
 Your text is now underlined.
 To draw a double line below text, click the arrow to the right of the “Underline”
icon and select “Double Underline”.
 There’s a double underline below your text now!

Borders

The “Borders” icon is used to apply borders to the selected cells. Let us create borders
around the marks that we have entered.

 Select the cells A8 to H28.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select “Borders → all Borders”.
 This displays a border around each cell.
 Now select cells A1 to H1.
 This time, we’ll create a slightly different border.

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  Select “Borders → outside Borders.”
 Then click the “Borders” icon again and select “Bottom Double Border”.
 Click outside the selection.
 You can see that the lower border has a double line in place of the previous
single line.
 Create other borders as shown.

Fill Color

The “Fill Color” icon is used to color the background of selected cells.

 Let us shade the cells in the first row.

 On the “Home tab”, in the “Font” group, click “Fill Color” and select a color from
the displayed palette.
 Your cells are now shaded with the selected color.
 Color the background of the other heading rows using attractive colors as
shown.

The Format Cells Dialog Box

The “Format Cells” dialog box is used to apply a combination of various effects to the
selected cells.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the Dialog Box Launcher at the
bottom right.
 This brings up the “Format Cells” window with the “Font” tab active.
 You may use this window to apply a combination of various formatting effects.
 Click “OK” to close this window.

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THE ALIGNMENT GROUP

Align Text Left, Center, Align Text Right

The “Align Text Left”, “Center” and “Align Text Right” icons are used to specify the
way text is positioned horizontally in a given space. This may be the space within a
cell, text box, or in any other object that can hold text. Let’s see how each of these
icons work. In Excel, by default textual data is aligned to the left and numeric data to
the right.

 The “Align Text Left” icon is used to align text to the left.
 Select some cells containing data and then on the “Home” tab, in the
“Alignment” group, click “Align Text Left” or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl +
L”.
 You can see that the text gets aligned to the left side.
 Similarly, the “Align Text Right” or “Ctrl + R” is used to align text to the right.
 The “Center” icon or “Ctrl + E” is used for central alignment of text such that it
is equidistant from the left and right sides.

Top Align, Middle Align, Bottom Align

The Top Align, Middle Align and Bottom Align icons are used to specify vertical
alignment of cell data.

 Select some cells containing data and then on the “Home” tab, in the
“Alignment” group, click “Top Align”.
 Your data moves to the top of the cells.
 Now click “Middle Align” and then “Bottom Align”.
 You can see that each time the data moves vertically within the cells as specified.

Orientation

The “Orientation” icon is used to rotate the data to a diagonal angle or vertical
orientation. This is often used for labeling narrow columns. In the displayed
worksheet, you can see that some column headings are not displayed fully. Since the

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actual figures of marks contain only two digits, you may not wish to have very wide
columns. In this case, you can change the orientation of the heading text within the
cells.

 Select the heading cells.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click “Orientation”.
 Now select a suitable option from the displayed ones.
 Here you are, the headings are orientated as specified and the row height is
adjusted accordingly.
 You can also specify the exact orientation angle you require.
 Select “Orientation - Format Cell Alignment” to display the “Alignment” tab of
the “Format Cells” window.
 Here you may click a point in the box under “Orientation” or specify a value in
the “Degrees” box.
 Then click “OK”.

Increase Indent, Decrease Indent

Indentation determines the distance between the cell border and the data within the
cell. Indentation ensures proper alignment as well as makes the worksheet look well-
formatted and professional.

 Select the required cells.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click “Increase Indent” to
move the data.
 Click the same icon once again to move it further.
 Now click “Decrease Indent” twice to move the data back to its original position.

Wrap Text

When the amount of data in a cell is very large, the “Wrap Text” icon is used to make
all of it visible by displaying it on multiple lines. In the worksheet displayed, you can
see that the data in the central column is not fully visible.

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  Select the required cells and on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click
“Wrap Text”.
 This displays the data on multiple lines and adjusts the row height
automatically.

Merge Center

The “Merge & Center” icon is used to join selected cells into a larger cell and centers
the contents in the new cell. This is often used to create headings that span across
multiple columns.

 Let us apply this feature to the name of the school at the top of our worksheet.
 Select cells A1 to H1 and on the Home tab, from the Alignment group, click
“Merge & Center”.
 You can see that the school name is positioned exactly at the center.
 Isn’t this feature a convenient one?

THE CELLS GROUP

Insert

The “Insert” icon is used to insert additional columns, rows, cells and sheets. You need
two additional headings next to the subjects.

 Click in the cell next to the last subject and enter the heading “Total”.
 Press Tab and enter the heading “Grade”.
 Create borders for these two columns.
 Later you decide that you need an additional column between these two for
Percentage.
 This can be easily done.
 Click anywhere within the Grade column.
 On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click “Insert → Insert Sheet Columns”.
 Now enter the heading “Percent” for this column.

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  Similarly a row can be inserted by clicking a cell and using the “Insert → Insert
Sheet Rows” option.

Inserting Multiple Rows & Columns

To insert multiple rows, we need to select an equal number of cells from different rows
first.

 Let us select some cells from two rows.

 Now select “Insert → Insert Sheet Rows”.
 You can see that two additional rows have been inserted. Multiple columns can
be inserted in a similar way.

Delete

The “Delete” icon is used to delete columns, rows, cells and sheets.

 Select some rows to delete.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Cells” group, select “Delete → Delete Sheet
Rows”.
 You may delete columns in a similar way.

Inserting Cells

Now we want an additional heading “Marks” above the subject headings. So we need to
insert a cell above these headings.

 Select the subject headings.

 Then on the Home tab, from the Cells group, select “Insert → Insert Cells”.
 The Insert window is displayed.
 Ensure that the “Shift cells down” option is selected and then click “OK”.
 Now merge the newly created cells, enter the heading “Marks” and create a
border.

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Shifting cells

But what’s this? The last operation has created some problems in the alignment of the
student’s names with their marks. We need to shift the roll numbers and student
names down by one row. This involves inserting additional cells again.

 So, select the cells containing the roll number and name of the first student and
insert cells above them.
 Yes, now this is fine.
 We need to create borders for cells I29 to K29.
 Widen the cells containing headings at the top to span across the additional
columns and create appropriate borders.
 Apply suitable cell shading.

Format

The “Format” icon is used to perform various functions such as changing the row
height and column width as well as organizing sheets.

 Let us change the height of a row.

 Select the row or click a cell within the row.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Cells” group, select “Format - Row Height”.
 Enter the exact row height you want and click “OK”.
 Your row now has the specified height.

USING FORMULAS

Sum

The “Sum” or “AutoSum” icon is used to display the sum of selected cells directly after
the cells. We’ll use it to display the total marks of all students.

 Select the cells C10 to H10 containing the marks of the first student.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group, click “Sum”.
 The sum of the selected cells appears in cell I10.

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  Wasn’t this so easy?
 Now click in any blank cell.
 The “AutoSum” icon in the “Function Library” group on the “Formulas” tab offers
the same functionality.

Using Auto fill

Auto Fill is a very useful Excel feature. Now that we have the total marks for one
student, we can use this feature to display the total marks of the others.

 Click in cell I10 again and move the mouse pointer to the bottom right corner of
the cell.
 When you see a black plus sign which is the fill handle, drag downwards till cell
I29.
 You can see that all the cells are filled with the correct total marks of each
student.

Auto Fill Facts

AutoFill copies the same formula to all the cells and the row numbers are changed in
the cell addresses as required.

 Click in cell I11.

 Have a look at the formula bar at the top.
 This shows that the sum of the data in cells C11 to H11 has been calculated.
 In Excel, a formula always begins with an equal to sign (=).
 Now click in cell I12.
 The formula bar now displays cells C12 to H12 in the formula.
 Isn’t this feature convenient?

Other Auto Fill Uses

The Auto Fill feature can be used to complete common series such as days of the week
and months of the year.

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  Type the entry “January” in a cell.
 Drag the fill handle to the right as far as you want the cells to fill.
 The cells will be filled with names of months starting with January.
 You can also fill cells downwards.
 Type “Monday” in a cell. Now drag downwards to display the other days of the
week.
 Other such auto fill entries are - days of the week in short, names of the months
in short, number series like 1000, 2000, 3000, etc.
 Please note that for number series, you need to fill at least two cells.
 Then select both cells and drag the fill handle.

Formulas

A formula is nothing but an expression that performs calculations on data contained

in a worksheet. A formula uses arithmetic operators like +, -, *, /, %, and ^ to perform
addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percent and exponentiation respectively.
A formula is evaluated from left to right and in the following order: percent,
exponentiation, multiplication and division, addition and subtraction. If a formula
contains operators of the same precedence, they are evaluated from left to right.

Using Formulas

We shall use a formula to calculate the percentage marks of each student. The
percentage can be calculated by dividing the total marks by the number of subjects.

 Click in cell J10 and enter the formula “=I10/6” and press “Enter”.
 The percentage for the first student is displayed.
 This time let’s use Copy-Paste instead of Auto Fill to copy the formula for
percentage calculation of all students.
 Click cell J10 and press “Ctrl + C” to copy the formula.
 Then select cells J11 to J29 and press “Ctrl + V” to paste the formula.
 The correct percentage is displayed for all students.
 Excel changes the row numbers in the cell addresses as required.

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Specifying Decimal Places

The percent marks are displayed with many decimal places. We want the percent
marks to be displayed with two decimal places. Select all cells containing the percent
marks.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group, select “Format → Format Cells”.
 In the window displayed, on the “Number” tab, select “Number” from the
“Category” list.
 Set “Decimal places” to 2 and click “OK.
 The numbers in the “Percent” column are now displayed with two decimal
places.

Increase Decimal, Decrease Decimal

The “Increase Decimal” and “Decrease Decimal” icons are used to increase or
decrease decimal places of numeric data.

 Enter a number with many decimal places and click outside the cell.
 Now select the cell and on the “Home” tab, in the “Number” group, click
“Decrease Decimal”.
 The decimals are reduced by one.
 Click as many times as required to get the number of decimals you wish.
 Similarly use the “Increase Decimal” icon to increase the number of decimal
places.

Show Formulas

The “Show Formulas” icon is used to display the actual formula applied to a cell
instead of the resulting value. This proves useful when you need to view or print your
worksheet with the formulas to check if they are correct.

 To display all the formulas instead of the results, activate the “Formulas” tab
and from the “Formula Auditing” group, select “Show Formulas”.
 Scroll to the right to see all formulas.

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  To redisplay the results, click the “Show Formulas” icon once again.
 Optionally, you may use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl” plus the key above the Tab
key to quickly switch between the display of formulas and their results.

Excel Error Message

It is important that all formulas are correctly written. Excel displays error messages
such as the ones displayed when certain events occur due to an improper formula.

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Auto Calculate

A special feature of Excel is “Auto Calculate”. By default, Excel automatically

recalculates formulas when the cells that the formula depends on have changed. Excel
also recalculates all formulas each time a workbook is opened. If you change one or
more numbers in your spreadsheet, all related formulas are recalculated
automatically.

 Let us change the marks in one cell and press Enter.

 You can see that the values in the “Total” and “Percent” columns are changed
automatically.

ABSOLUTE AND MULTIPLE SHEET REFERENCE

Types of Reference

 You know that when a formula is copied, the cell references are automatically
changed as per the address of the cell to which it is copied.
 This is called “Relative Cell Referencing”.
 An “Absolute Reference” is a cell reference used in a formula which does not
change when the formula is copied.
 If you do not wish to have the cell references automatically changed when
copied, type a $ (dollar) sign before the column or row number.
 When such a formula is copied to another row or column, the row or column
number in the cell reference does not change.
 When only the row or only the column is fixed, it is called a “Mixed Reference”.
 The displayed visual describes the different types of references.

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460
Absolute References

The displayed worksheet contains the Unit Test marks of the students.

 Now, for the Final Exam, you need to calculate 20% of the Unit Test marks for
each student.
 We shall use an absolute reference for this calculation.
 If the percentage changes later, you need to change it in just one cell which is
cell G3 in this case.
 Now, to calculate 20% marks, activate cell E8 and type ‘=D8*$G$3’ in it and
press Enter.
 By adding ‘$’ before ‘G’ and ‘3’, you have made the column and the row
references absolute.

Copying Formula

 Copy this formula from cell E8 to the remaining students.

 Now click in a few cells within the column and check the formula in the
“Formula Bar”.
 Although the formula has been copied, the reference of cell G3 has remained
constant.

Referencing Multiple Sheets

While working, you may need to reference data from more than one sheet. This is
called referencing multiple sheets. In the displayed workbook, Sheet1 contains the
marks scored by the students in the exams. Sheet2 contains the marks scored in the
tests. Now in Sheet3, we want to display the totals of both exam and test marks.

Using Multiple Sheet References

 Click cell C2 in Sheet3. Enter the formula “=Sheet1! C2+Sheet2! C2” and press
Enter.
 You can see that the sum of the figures on the other two sheets is displayed
here.

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  Thus “Sheet1! C2” refers to cell C2 on Sheet1 and “Sheet2! C2” refers to cell C2
on Sheet2.
 Copy this formula to the other cells in the column to display the total marks of
all students.
 In this way, you can perform calculations on data from different worksheets in a
workbook.

USING FUNCTIONS

The DATE Function

A “Function” is a prewritten formula that performs calculations automatically. Each

function has a specific “syntax” i.e. a set of rules associated with it. This means that
when you enter a function in a cell, you need to enter certain predefined arguments for
it. For example, the “DATE” function requires three arguments – the year, month and
day. Functions can be entered in two ways. The first one is by directly entering the
function and its arguments in brackets.

 In a cell, type “=DATE”.

 As you start typing a small popup box appears from which you may make your
selection.
 Now in brackets type the arguments.
 As you type the open bracket sign, another popup box comes up showing the
arguments required for this function.
 Enter the arguments separated by commas and close the bracket.
 Now press Enter to display the result.
 Please note that you may enter a function in both capital and small letters.

Function Arguments Window

The second way to enter a function is to use the “Function Arguments” window. This
proves more convenient when there are many arguments and the functions are more
complex.

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  Let’s enter the “DATE” function using this window.
 Click in a cell.
 Then on the “Formulas” tab, in the “Function Library” group, select “Date &
Time - DATE”.
 In the “Function Arguments” window enter the Year, Month and Day in numeric
form and click “OK”.
 The date is displayed in the default format.

Changing Date Format

 To change the format of the date, on the “Home” tab, in the “Cells” group, select
“Format → Format Cells”.
 In the displayed window, ensure that the “Date” category is selected and click on
a suitable format in the “Type” box.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your date is then displayed in the format you selected.
 Now try exploring other date and time functions such as TODAY, NOW, DAY,
MONTH and YEAR on your own.

The IF Function

The “IF” function returns one value if a specified condition evaluates to TRUE, or
another value if it evaluates to FALSE. We’ll use the IF function to assign grades to the
students in the displayed worksheet. First we’ll find out which students have secured
an A+ grade. From the balance we’ll find those with an A grade and so on. The
conditions for assigning grades are as follows:

 Percent marks greater than or equal to 80, A+ grade

 Percent marks greater than or equal to 75, A grade
 Percent marks greater than or equal to 60, B grade
 Percent marks greater than or equal to 50, C grade
 Percent marks greater than or equal to 35, Pass grade
 All others, Fail.

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Nested IF

We require multiple nested “IF” statements to specify the conditions for grading. This is
because the output of one IF statement has to be used as the input of the next one for
arriving at the correct grade.

 Click in cell K10 and enter the formula “=IF(J10>=80, "A+", IF(J10>=75, "A",
IF(J10>=60, "B", IF(J10>=50, "C", IF(J10>=35,"PASS", "FAIL")))))” and press
“Enter”.
 The percentage for the first student is displayed.
 Copy the same formula to display the grades of other students.

Other Functions

 Clicking the small arrow to the right of the “Sum” icon in the “Editing” group of
the “Home” tab displays options such as Average, Min and Max.
 These can also be used to calculate the average, minimum and maximum values
from the selected cells.
 We’ll first create a structure for entering these values.
 Draw borders and format the cells B32 to C34 as shown.
 Then enter the headings.

The MAX Function

 Let us calculate the maximum marks by directly entering the function

arrangements.
 Click in cell C32.
 We want the maximum marks displayed in this cell.
 So type “=MAX” with an open bracket symbol “(” and then select cells I10 to I29
since these cells contain the totals of all students.
 Type the close bracket symbol “)” at the end.
 Press “Enter” after your formula is complete to display the result.
 Instead of selecting the cells, you could also enter the formula giving the actual
cell addresses as “=MAX (I10:I29)”.

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Insert Function

The “Insert Function” icon is used to insert various types of functions in your
worksheet. Now we need the formulas for minimum and average marks calculation in
cells C33 and C34. Let’s use the Formula Bar for the insertion of these.

 We’ll first calculate the minimum marks.

 Click cell C33 and then click the “Insert Function” icon on the formula bar.
 In the “Insert Function” window, if you do not see “MIN” in the “Select a
function” box, type the text “minimum” in the “Search for a function” box and
click “Go”.
 Then click “MIN” in the “Select a function” box and click OK.
 The “Function Arguments” window is displayed.
 If column “I” is not visible, move this window to the left.
 Drag to select the range I10 to I29.
 This is displayed in the Number1 box.
 You may also type the range “I10:I29” in the box without dragging for selection.
 Then click “OK”.
 The minimum marks are now displayed in the cell.
 Calculate the average marks in a similar way.
 The “Insert Function” icon in the “Function Library” group on the “Formulas” tab
offers the same functionality.

The LEN Function

In Excel, the “LEN” function returns the length i.e. the number of characters in a
specified string. In computer terminology, a “string” is a group of characters. It may be
a word or phrase and may include letters, numerals, symbols and punctuation marks.
The blank spaces between characters are also counted as characters. The displayed
worksheet contains a list of words. Let’s find the length of each of them.

 Click in cell B2.

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  Now type the function “=LEN” and in brackets type the cell containing the string
i.e. B1.
 Press “Enter”.
 The length of the string is displayed.
 Now drag the fill handle at the bottom right corner of cell B2 downwards, to copy
the formula to the other cells.
 Now you have the lengths of all the words!

LOWER, UPPER AND PROPER

When textual data is copied into an Excel spreadsheet, sometimes the words may have
incorrect capitalization. You may correct this using different Text functions.

 The “LOWER” function is used to convert the text in a cell to lowercase i.e. small
letters.
 Enter some text in cell B2 in capital letters, say “MICROSOFT EXCEL”.
 Now to display the contents of this cell in lowercase, click B4 and then type
“=LOWER (B2)”.
 Press Enter.
 Your words are displayed in lowercase now.
 Next let’s display these words in “Proper” case i.e. the first letter of each word in
uppercase and the rest in lower case.
 So click cell B6, type “=PROPER (B4)” and press Enter.
 To display the words once again in upper case, click cell B8, type “=UPPER (B6)”
and press Enter.
 In this way you may decide the capitalization of text in your worksheet.
 Please Note: When these functions are applied to cells containing characters in
text that are not alphabets, there is no change.

The SUMIF Function

The “SUMIF” function is used to add up the values in cells in a selected range that
meet certain criteria. The worksheet displayed contains a list of employees with their

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departments and monthly salaries. Now we want to calculate the total salaries received
by the employees of each department.

 Let’s start with the Accounts department.

 Click in cell H9 and then on the “Formulas” tab, in the “Function Library” group,
select “Math & Trig - SUMIF”.
 In the “Function Arguments” window, click in the “Range” box and type “B2:B21”
since this is the range we will match our search criteria with.
 In the “Criteria” box, type “ACC” since this is what we want to search for.
 In the “Sum_range” box, type “C2:C21” since this contains the actual values to
be summed.
 Now click “OK”.
 The total salary of the Accounts department is now displayed.
 Calculate the total salary of the other departments in a similar way.

The COUNTIF Function

The “COUNTIF” function is used to count the number of cells in a selected range that
meet specified criteria. In this worksheet, we want to calculate the number of
employees in each department.

 Let’s start with the Accounts department.

 Simply put, we have to count the number of cells containing the word “ACC”.
 The syntax of the COUNTIF function is “=COUNTIF (Range, Criteria)”.
 So, click in cell H9 and type “=COUNTIF” and in brackets type “B2:B21” since
this is the range of cells we’ll be checking.
 Type a comma followed by the criteria “ACC” in quotes.
 Close the brackets and press “Enter”.
 Here you are, the number of employees in the Accounts department is displayed.
 Now calculate the employees in the other departments in a similar way.

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Lookup Reference

The “Lookup & Reference” icon is used to insert various functions that return values
by looking them up in reference tables. The displayed worksheet shows a list of
employees with their department codes.

 Now we want to display the department names based on the lookup table at the
right.
 We shall use the “VLOOKUP” function for this.
 Please note that the first column of the lookup table must be sorted in ascending
order.
 Click the first cell below the heading “Department Name” i.e. cell C2.
 On the “Formulas” tab, in the “Function Library” group, select “Lookup &
Reference - VLOOKUP”.

VLOOKUP

The VLOOKUP function searches the first column of a range of cells, and then returns
a value from any cell on the same row of the range.

 In the “Function Arguments” window you can see that this function requires four
arguments.
 In the “Lookup_value” box, you need to specify which value you’re going to
search for in the lookup table. So click cell B2 since this contains the
department code.
 Now click the “Table_array” box.
 Here you need to specify the range of cells which contain the reference values i.e.
the lookup table.
 Drag over cells G2 to H4.
 This range appears in the “Table_array” box.
 We need to change the range to an absolute one since we require the same range
when we copy this function later in all cells of the “Department Name” column.
 So type $G$2:$H$4 in the “Table_array” box.

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Using VLOOKUP

 Now click in the “Col_index_num” box.

 Here you need to specify the column number of the lookup table from which you
wish to return data.
 Since the department name is the second column, enter “2”.
 Entry in the “Range_lookup” box is optional.
 The default is “FALSE”.
 This means that you are looking for exact matches for your department codes in
the lookup table.
 So let’s leave it blank and click “OK”.
 The correct department name has appeared for the first employee.
 Now drag the fill handle downwards till the last employee to display the
department names for the rest of the employees.

Approximate Match

In the displayed worksheet, the VLOOKUP function has been used to search for
approximate matches. In this case, the fourth argument i.e. “Range-lookup” must be
set to “TRUE”. As you can see, all entries beginning with “F” in the main table have
been matched with “F” in the lookup table. Also, all “V” entries have been matched
similarly.

HLOOKUP function

The “HLOOKUP” function is similar to “VLOOKUP”. The difference is that it horizontally

searches (i.e. left to right) the topmost row of a Lookup table until it locates a value
that matches or nearly matches the one that you’re looking up.

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THE STYLES GROUP

Conditional Formatting

The “Conditional Formatting” icon is used to format cells based on certain criteria. In
our worksheet, we want to highlight all the cells which have marks less than 35 with a
different color. This would enable us to know, in a glance, which subjects the students
have failed in. We’ll use the conditional formatting feature for this.

 Select all the cells containing the marks i.e. cells C10 to H29.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” group, click “Conditional Formatting”.
 From the options displayed, select “Highlight Cell Rules → Less Than”.
 In the “Less Than” window enter “35” in the left box and in the right box select a
suitable option from the ones displayed.
 Click “OK”.
 Click outside the selected cells.
 You can see that all marks less than 35 are highlighted in the specified colors.

Applying Conditional Formatting

You may apply conditional formatting of different types. For example, you could
highlight the various grades differently using “Conditional Formatting → Highlight
Cell Rules → Equal To”.

Format as Table

The “Format as Table” icon is used to quickly format a range of cells and convert it
into a table by choosing a pre-defined table style. We want to create a table containing
only the names and subject wise marks of the students.

 So let’s select this data first and copy it using “Ctrl + C”.
 We’ll create the table on a separate worksheet in the same workbook.
 Click the sheet tab “Table” to display the second worksheet.
 Use “Ctrl + V” to paste the copied data here.
 Resize column “A”, if required, so as to display the complete names.

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  Enter the heading “Name” in cell A1.
 Now select all cells in this worksheet which contain data.
 To display this data as a table, on the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” group, click
“Format as Table”.
 Select a table style from the displayed gallery.
 Click “OK” in the “Format as Table” window.
 Your data now appears as a table with small arrow buttons next to the column
headings.
 Click outside the table.

Sorting Table Data

When data is organized as a table, you can sort and filter it very easily. For example,
you may wish to sort the students in descending order of the marks scored in the first
subject. This can be very easily done.

 Click the arrow next to the Subject1 heading.

 In the displayed menu, select “Sort Largest to Smallest” and click “OK”.
 Here you are!
 The student scoring the highest marks in the first subject is displayed at the top
of the list while the one with the lowest marks is displayed at the bottom.

Cell Styles

The “Cell Styles” icon is used to quickly format a cell by choosing from pre-defined
styles. A cell style is a defined set of formatting characteristics, such as fonts and font
sizes, number formats, cell borders, and cell shading.

 To apply a style, first select the cells.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Styles” group, select “Cell Styles”.
 Click a style from the displayed gallery.
 Your cells now have the selected style applied.

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THE EDITING AND NUMBER GROUPS

Sort Filter

The “Sort & Filter” icon is used to arrange data in a way that it is easier to analyze.
You may sort data in ascending or descending order. You can also temporarily filter
out certain values.

 Let’s learn to sort data. In the displayed worksheet, click any cell containing
data.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Editing” group, select “Sort & Filter → Filter”.
 You can see that small arrow buttons appear in the first row which contains the
column headings.
 These arrows enable you to sort and filter data within the different columns.
 Click the arrow next to the “Name” heading. In the displayed menu, select “Sort
A to Z”.
 The data in the worksheet is now sorted alphabetically according to student
names.
 Next, click the arrow next to the Subject 3 heading and select “Sort Largest to
Smallest”.
 Your data is sorted and shows the student who has scored the highest marks in
subject 3 at the top.
 In this way you may sort your data as desired.

Filtering Data

The “Sort & Filter” icon also enables you to filter data as required. Filtering is
particularly useful when the data contained within a worksheet is very voluminous.

 If you wish to display records for the students who have scored “B” grade only,
click the arrow in the “Grade” column and in the box at the bottom, uncheck the
box in front of “(Select All)” and click the box in front of “B”.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your data is filtered and you see only the information you need.

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  To display the data as it originally was, you may remove the applied filter.
 For this on the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group, select “Sort & Filter →
Clear”.
 Your complete data is re-displayed now.

Find & Select

The “Find & Select” icon contains options which can be used to find specific data,
select the related cells and also replace data. Let us search for some text in our
worksheet.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group, click “Find & Select → Find” or
press “Ctrl + F” to display the “Find” tab of the “Find and Replace” window.
 In the “Find what:” box, enter some text and click “Find Next”.
 The next occurrence of the specified term after the current cursor position is
selected.
 Click “Find All” to see a list of all occurrences of the entered text.
 You may click in the list to move to a specific cell where the text has been found.

Finding and Replacing

You may search for some text in your worksheet and replace it by some other text.

 Click “Find & Select → Replace” from the “Editing” group on the “Home” tab or
press “Ctrl + H” to display the “Replace” tab of the “Find and Replace” window.
 Enter the text you wish to find in the “Find what” box and the text with which
you wish to replace it in the “Replace with” box.
 Click “Replace” to replace the next occurrence of the search text by the specified
new text.
 Click “Replace All” to replace all occurrences of the search text by the specified
new text.
 A window appears showing the number of replacements made.

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The Number Group

The commands in the “Number” group on the “Home” tab allow you to choose how
values in cells containing numeric data are displayed. For example, you could display
the data as a percentage, as currency, as a date or time etc.

 Click the down arrow in the “Number Format” box and select the number format
you require from the options displayed.
 The “Accounting Number Format” icon allows you to choose an alternate
currency format for a cell.
 The “Percent Style” icon is used to display the value in a cell as a percentage.
 The “Comma Style” icon displays the value of the cell with thousands
separators.

Overview

Friends, we have just completed learning about the key features and commands of the
Home Tab which is probably the tab you will use the most. We have also learnt many
useful Excel features. After applying these features, the main worksheet looks like the
one displayed on screen. You may try to enhance the worksheet on your own by using
different options and variations from the Home Tab. There’s a lot more that you can do
with your workbook. You can make it more attractive and informative by adding
Pictures, Charts and other objects. These can be done using the Insert Tab. So let’s
move to next Lab and learn to effectively use the Insert Tab.

THE INSERT TAB

The Insert Tab is the next tab in Microsoft Excel 2010. This tab has a lot of useful
features that enable you to insert things like pictures, graphics, charts and many other
items. Let us review a few of these features in this exciting new tab. First, let’s see
which groups are contained in this tab.

 Tables: The options in this group enable you to insert tables and pivot tables in
your worksheet.

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  Illustrations: These commands enable you to insert various types of pictures,
shapes and graphics.
 Charts: These commands enable you to insert various types of charts.
 Sparklines: These commands enable you to insert sparklines which are small
cell-sized charts.
 Filter: This group allows you to insert slicers which are visual controls that
allow you to quickly filter your data in an interactive way.
 Links: This group allows you to create hyperlinks.
 Text: These commands enable you to present your text in different ways and
insert headers, footers and embedded objects.
 Symbols: These commands enable you to insert equations and symbols.

THE TABLES GROUP

Pivot Table

The “Pivot Table” icon in the “Tables” group of the “Insert” tab is used to create Excel
pivot tables. These are summary tables which are used to present information in a
report format. Instead of analyzing countless spreadsheet records, a pivot table can
aggregate your information and show a new perspective in a few clicks. It is created by
defining which fields to view and how the information should be displayed. A pivot
table can be manipulated by selecting items from drop down lists.

Creating a Pivot Table

Let’s start creating a pivot table. The first thing you need for a Pivot Table is some data
to go in it. We’ll use the data in the displayed spreadsheet. This spreadsheet contains
three sets of marks for two students only. Now you can imagine how much data there
would be for a complete year of a class of say 40-50 students. We want to analyze the
data to be able to view average marks student wise, month wise and subject wise. This
is where Pivot tables come in. They summarize the data so that you can easily analyze
large volumes of data.

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Selecting Data

 First, let’s select the data for the Pivot Table.

 Select cells A1 to D37.
 Now on the Insert tab, from the Tables group, click “Pivot Table”.
 The “Create Pivot Table” window is displayed with your selection displayed in the
“Table/Range” box.
 We do not want to change this.
 By default, the pivot table is created on a new worksheet in your current
workbook.
 This is fine.
 So simply click “OK”.

Creating a Basic Pivot Table

A new worksheet is inserted before the sheet containing your data. You are presented
with a rather complex layout. But do not worry; it’s quite easy to work with it. We want
to be able to see the marks in a summarized format with an option of selecting the
students, the months and the subjects. So tick all four boxes in the field list at the
right. Excel will create a basic Pivot Table for you. This is not exactly what we want. So
were going to place our 4 fields appropriately into the 4 areas at the right.

Organizing a Pivot Table

We want to be able to filter our data student wise.

 So click on “Student” in the Row Labels box and drag it in to the “Report Filter”
box.
 We want the various subjects to be displayed as the column headings.
 So drag “Subject” to the “Column Labels” box.

Changing Formula

You can see that the Pivot Table on your spreadsheet has been changing with each
action that you performed. It is not complete yet. The marks displayed are not correct.

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This is because Excel is using the wrong formula. Its using the default Sum formula.
The numbers have all been added up. But we want averages, instead.

 To change the formula, click on “Sum of Marks” in the Values area.

 Select “Value Field Settings” from the popup menu.
 In the displayed window, click Average in the lower box and then click “OK”.

Specifying Decimals

Now you do not want any decimal places displayed. So let’s remove them.

 Select cells B5 to H8.

 Then activate the Home tab.
 From the Cells group select “Format → Format Cells”.
 In the displayed window, on the Number tab select the Number category.
 Set Decimal Places to “0” and click “OK”.
 Yes, now this is fine.
 Let us center the data in cells B5 to H8.
 Our Pivot Table is now ready.

Using the Pivot Table

We have considered the data for two students in our worksheet. The pivot table we
created displays a summary of all the data in the worksheet. You can see the average
marks of both students displayed subject wise and month wise. Isn’t this so
convenient? And that’s not all. We can use this pivot table to see summarized data in
many other forms. For example, you may wish to see the data for one student only.

 Click the down arrow in the cell next to “Student”.

 In the popup window, click on a student name and then click OK.
 Now you see summarized data for that student only.

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Filtering Data

Similarly, you may like to see data for three subjects only.

 So click the down arrow in the “Subject” cell.

 In the popup window, click the box in front of “(Select All)” to deselect all
subjects.
 Then click the boxes in front of the three subjects you require and click “OK”.
 You now see summarized data for three subjects only.
 In this way, you can analyze large volumes of data using different criteria with
great ease.

Slicers

The “Slicers” icon is used to insert a Slicer to filter data interactively. Slicers are a new
feature of Excel 2010. They are visual controls that you allow to quickly filter your
Pivot Table data in an interactive way. They make pivot tables more powerful. The real
usage can be appreciated when you are dealing with a huge amount of data.

Inserting Slicers

 Click any cell in your pivot table.

 On the contextual “Options” tab, in the “Sort & Filter” group, click “Insert Slicer”.
 If you see a window saying that the Pivot Table needs to be refreshed, click “OK”
and click “Insert Slicer” again.
 In the “Insert Slicer” window, you may select the fields on which you wish to
interactively filter data.
 Let’s select all of them and click “OK”.
 Slicers are displayed for each pivot table field you select.
 You may size and position the slicers as required.
 You can use these slicers to filter data simply by selecting the items you want.
 Let us click on a month in the Month slicer.
 Similarly, select a Student and a Subject.
 As you click, your data is automatically filtered.

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Using Slicers

You can select multiple items within a slicer as well.

 Hold down the “Ctrl” key and click to select non-consecutive items.
 Use “Shift” to select a series of sequential items.
 So you can see that with Slicers, you can filter down your data in more detail.
 To display your slicers in attractive colors, first click near a slicer name to select
it.
 Then on the contextual “Options” tab, select a suitable Slicer Style.

THE ILLUSTRATIONS GROUP

Picture

The “Picture” icon is used to insert a picture in your worksheet. Let us insert a picture
of the school logo in our main worksheet.

 Click in the cell next to the name of the school.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Size the picture as required by using the sizing handles.
 Place your pointer on the picture and drag to position it suitably.

Enhancing Pictures

When you insert a picture or select an already inserted picture in a worksheet, a new
“Format” tab appears under the heading “Picture Tools”. This tab contains various
tools you can use to modify the appearance of your picture. For example, you could
choose to color the picture differently, apply artistic effects or apply a picture style. Try
exploring the various options yourself!

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THE CHARTS GROUP

What is a Chart

A chart is a visual representation of data and conveys the information in an easy to

understand and attractive manner. There are different types of charts available in
Excel 2010 such as Column charts, Line charts, Bar charts, Area charts, Bubble
charts and many more. You may select a suitable type depending on the data you want
to chart and the emphasis you want the chart to impart. We shall create a column
chart like the one displayed which shows the total marks scored by the students.
Column charts make it easy to see the differences in the data being compared.

Parts of a Chart

The parts of a chart are as follows –

 Chart Title – This is the tile of the chart “Student Vs Marks”.

 Value Axis – Is the Y-axis on which the value is shown.
 Value Axis Title – The title “Marks”.
 Category Axis – Is the X-axis on which the category for which you have charted
the values is shown.
 Category Axis Title – The title “Name”
 Chart Area – The entire area on which the chart is drawn.
 Plot Area – The area on which the data is plotted
 Legend – The legend, as in a map, is a key showing which color is used to
represent what: “Series 1” in this case.

Inserting a Chart

The icons in the “Charts” group on the “Insert” tab are used to insert various types of
charts in your worksheet. Before we begin with chart creation, we need to select the
data that we want to chart. So

 Select the “Name” range i.e. cells B10 to B29.

 Hold down the “Ctrl” key and select the “Total” range i.e. I10 to I29.

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  Now on the “Insert” tab, in the “Charts” group, click “Column”.
 Click on a suitable option from the ones displayed.
 A chart is inserted and three new contextual “Chart Tools” tabs are displayed.

Moving a Chart

Let us move this chart to a separate worksheet.

 On the Design tab under “Chart Tools”, from the Location group, click “Move
Chart”.
 In the “Move Chart” window, click the “New sheet” button and click “OK”.

Chart Styles

You can make changes to your chart and enhance its appearance using various “Chart
Tools”. First,

 Let us apply a chart style.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Chart Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see all
available styles.
 Click on a suitable one.

Chart Title

Now let us add more details in our chart.

 Activate the “Layout” tab under “Chart Tools”.

 Click “Chart Title” and select “Above Chart”.
 A text box with the text “Chart Title” is displayed above the chart.
 Now type the title ‘Student Vs Marks’.
 As you type, your text appears in the Formula Bar at the top.
 Press “Enter”.
 Your title is now displayed in the chart title text box.

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Labeling Axes

Similarly, to enter the description for the X-axis,

 Select “Axis Titles → Primary Horizontal Axis Title → Title below Axis”; type
“Names” and press “Enter”.
 To enter the description for the Y-axis, select “Axis Titles → Primary Vertical
Axis Title → Rotated Title”; type “Marks” and press “Enter”.

Data Labels

Data Labels are used to label the elements of a chart with their actual data values.

 Select “Data Labels → outside End”.

 You can now see the actual total marks of each student in the chart.

Coloring Chart Background

Next, we’ll enhance the appearance of the chart further by coloring the background.

 Click in the Chart Area and activate the Format tab under “Chart Tools”.
 From the “Shape Styles” group; click on a suitable style from the styles gallery.
 Yes, now the chart looks great!

Changing Chart Data

Even after a chart has been created, you can select different data. Suppose you decide
that you want to create a chart for the marks of the first subject only and not the total
marks.

 Activate the contextual “Design” Tab.

 Now from the “Data” group, click “Select Data”.
 The “Select Data Source” window is displayed and the data currently used is
highlighted in the chart.
 You may move this window a little if you cannot view the highlighted data.

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  Since you want different data, select the data in the “Name” column and “Subject
1” column and click “OK” in the “Select Data Source” window.
 You can see that the chart now displays the marks of Subject 1.

Changing Chart Type

You can also change the chart type after it has been created.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Type” group, click “Change Chart Type”.
 In the displayed window, select a chart type and click “OK”.
 Your chart is redesigned as per the new chart type.

Printing Chart

In a worksheet containing a chart, you may have other data as well. You may print the
chart along with the rest of the data on the worksheet in the normal way. To print only
the chart, click on the chart and then execute the Print command.

THE SPARKLINES GROUP

What are Sparklines

New in Microsoft Excel 2010, a sparkline is a tiny chart in a worksheet cell that
provides a visual representation of data. Sparklines help in visualization of data trends
and bring meaning and context to numbers being reported. You can quickly see the
relationship between a sparkline and its underlying data, and when your data changes
you can see the change in the sparkline immediately. Unlike regular charts in an Excel
worksheet, sparklines are not objects; a sparkline is actually a tiny chart in the
background of a cell. You can enter text in a cell and use a sparkline as its
background. On the Insert tab, in the Sparklines group, you can see that there are
three types of sparklines – Line, Column and Win/Loss.

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Column Sparkline

The “Column” icon in the “Sparklines” group of the “Insert” tab is used to insert
Column sparklines. These are miniature column charts. Column charts make it easy
to see the differences in the data being compared.

Win/Loss Sparkline

The “Win/Loss” icon in the “Sparklines” group of the “Insert” tab is used to insert
Win/Loss sparklines. A Win/Loss sparkline is similar to a column chart. In this type of
sparkline, negative values are displayed below the axis. This is usually used in the
sports field to indicate the wins and losses of a team. The data used for creation of
such sparklines is normally -1 for a loss and +1 for a win.

Line Sparkline

The “Line” icon is used to insert Line sparklines. We shall create Line sparklines to
show the variations in the subject wise marks for each of the students. Select the cells
C10 to H29.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Sparklines” group, select “Line”.

 In the “Create Sparklines” window, you can see the selected cells displayed in
the “Data range” box.
 In the “Location Range” box we need to specify where we want to place the
sparklines.
 Drag your mouse over cells L10 to L29. The “Create Sparklines” window becomes
smaller and the range over which you are dragging is displayed in it.
 Once you release the mouse button, the window reverts to its original size.
 Click “OK”.
 Here you are, your sparklines are ready!
 You can easily see the trends regarding whether the marks are increasing or
decreasing.

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Modifying Sparklines

Let’s make some changes to the sparklines. If you want to make the sparklines larger,
simply increase the row heights.

 Click any sparkline cell to display the contextual “Design” tab under the heading
“Sparkline Tools”.
 This tab contains various tools to modify the sparklines.
 In the Show group, you may click the different boxes to highlight the High Point,
Low Point, First Point and Last Point.
 Click “Markers” to highlight all points.

Sparkline Styles

 In the Style group, select a style to make the sparkline more colorful.
 In the Type group, you may click Column to change the sparklines to miniature
column charts.
 So you can see that sparklines offer a completely different approach to
visualizing data.
 To delete sparklines, select them and on the Design tab, in the “Group” group,
click Clear.

THE TEXT GROUP

Text Box

The “Text Box” icon is used to insert Text Boxes in your workbook. Text boxes give you
control over the position of a block of text in your worksheet. You can place text boxes
anywhere in the worksheet and format them as required. Let us create a text box to
display the school slogan.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.

 Drag with the mouse and draw the text box at the top left corner of the
worksheet near the school name and logo.
 Enter the slogan using suitable fonts.

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  To color the background, on the contextual “Format” tab, select a suitable shape
style.

Headers and Footers

You may insert headers and footers on the pages of your worksheet. They give
additional information about the data on the page. The text that appears in the top
margin of the page is called the Header. The header is usually the title you would give
to the page. The text that appears in the bottom margin of the page is called the
Footer. The page number is usually given as the footer. The header and footer will be
displayed on all pages of the current worksheet. They prove very useful when you print
your worksheet.

Header Footer

The “Header & Footer” icon is used to insert headers and footers on the pages of a
worksheet. Let us insert a header and footer on the first sheet of our workbook.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, select “Header & Footer.
 A box is displayed at the center of the header area.
 Here, you may enter the header text, say “First Term Exam Report”.
 Press “Enter” and type “Class VIII B” on the second line.
 Now press the “Tab” key. This displays another box to the right. On the
contextual Design tab, in the “Header & Footer Elements” group, click
“Current Date”.
 This will insert the date.
 Now click “Go to Footer” in the “Navigation” group.
 We shall insert the page number in the box displayed.
 For this, in the “Header & Footer Elements” group, click “Page Number”.
 Press “Tab” and then press the “Esc” key to complete creation of the footer.
 If you want the same header and footer on multiple worksheets in the workbook,
select the sheet tabs and then define the header and footer.

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Overview

Friends, we have learnt the key features and commands of the very useful Insert Tab.
You may explore the various other options on your own. There are some other
important Excel features available on the other tabs that you need to learn. So let’s
move to next Lab and continue our journey of learning Excel.

EVENT EXPENSES

LEVEL 1

Objective

The worksheet displayed shows the estimated and actual expenses incurred for an
event. The expenses are listed under various heads. The totals for each expense head
are shown. The headings as well as the totals are displayed in bold fonts. So let us
start creating a similar worksheet by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

You can see the cell A1 is active.

 Enter the headings in cells A1, B1 and C1 as shown.

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  Use the “Tab” key or the right arrow key to move between cells.
 Next, enter the expense categories below the first expense head.
 Use the down arrow key to move downwards.

Entering Numbers

Now enter the figures related to the estimated and actual expenses of each category in
columns B and C.

Increasing Column Width

You can see that the data within some cells exceeds the cell width. So we shall
increase the width of the column containing such cells. There are two ways in which
you can do this.

 Place the mouse pointer on the boundary to the right of a column heading.
 Double-click when the pointer appears as a two headed arrow.
 This adjusts the width of the column so as to accommodate the contents within
the cells.
 Instead of double-clicking, you may also drag the boundary to the required
width.

Using the Sum Icon

Now we want the totals of the estimated and actual figures for this expense head.

 Enter the text “Total” in cell A6 as shown.

 Then click cell B6.
 We want to get the total estimated expenses in this cell.
 This can be very simply done by clicking the “Home” Tab → “Editing” Group
→ “Sum” icon and pressing “Enter”.
 Click in cell C6 and use the same icon to get the total for this column.
 Wasn’t this so easy?
 Enter the details for the other expense heads and display totals in a similar way.

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Making Data Bold

Now we’ll make the data in the heading and total rows bold. Let’s begin with a single
row first.

 Click on the row number “1” of the first row.

 This selects the entire row.
 To make the text within all the cells of this row bold, on the “Home” tab, in the
“Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 You can select multiple rows at a time as well.
 Click a row number and keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed;
 Click the other row numbers in which you want bold text.
 When all the rows are selected, click the “Bold” icon.
 All the required text now has bold fonts!
 This completes your worksheet – level 1.

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Currency Symbol

 Open your level 1 worksheet.

 We want a currency symbol in the cells containing numeric data.
 So first, we’ll select these columns.
 Position your mouse pointer on column heading B and drag to select column C
as well.
 Now both columns with numeric data are selected.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Cells” group, select “Format → Format Cells”.
 In the window displayed, click “Currency”.
 From the “Symbol” dropdown list, select a currency symbol and click “OK”.
 You can see that the currency symbol is displayed in front of all your numeric
data.

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Inserting Rows

Next, we want to insert three rows at the top for the main heading, sub heading and a
blank line.

 So we’ll select the first three rows and on the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group,
click the arrow next to the “Insert” icon.
 From the options displayed, select “Insert Sheet Rows”.
 Three blank rows are inserted at the top of the worksheet and the rest of the
data shifts downwards.

Using Merge Center

Ok, now we want the heading to span across cells A1 to I1.

 So select these cells by dragging with your mouse.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 This feature is used mainly for inserting headings and centering them across
multiple columns.
 The cells are merged into one single cell. Now enter the heading as shown.

Formatting Text

We shall format this heading text now.

 Select the text and then from the “Home” tab → “Font” group, select a suitable
“Font” and “Font Size”.
 Click the “Bold” icon to make this text bold.

Using Italics

 Click in cell A2 and enter the sub-heading.

 Select this text and on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the “Italics”
icon to italicize it.

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Applying Cell Shading

Now we shall color the background of the first heading line.

 Select the cell and on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow
next to the “Fill Color” icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 Apply a suitable background color to the cells in the second row in the same
way.

Creating Borders

We shall create borders to present details of each expense head in a separate table like
structure.

 First select the cells containing information related to the first expense head i.e.
cells A4 to C9.
 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon.
 Select “Line Color” and click on a color from the displayed palette to specify the
border color.
 The cursor changes to the shape of a pencil.
 Click and drag across the cells for which you want a border.
 Then select “Border → all Borders”.
 This creates a table with borders of the specified color.
 Create borders for all the other expense heads in the same way.

Applying Cell Shading

We shall now enhance the appearance of these tables by coloring the cells in the
heading line and total line. You know how this is done, right?

 Yes, select the cells in row 4 and use the “Home” tab → “Font” group → “Fill
Color” icon!
 Do the same for the total line i.e. row 9?

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  Apply the same shading for the other expenses heads as well.
 Now, our worksheet looks great, doesn’t it?

Erasing Borders

Let’s now learn to remove some of the borders we created. This can be done using the
same icon we used for border creation.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select “Borders → Erase Border”.
 This time, the cursor changes to the shape of an eraser.
 Simply drag it over the borders you wish to erase.
 Remove some of the internal borders from the data related to the first expense
head as shown.
 Do the same for the other heads.
 Press “Escape” or click the “Borders” icon after you are done.

Removing Gridlines

Now that we have finished with our worksheet, we can remove the gridlines from the
worksheet for a better look.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab. In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in
front of “Gridlines → View”.
 This makes your worksheet look neat and clean.
 Your level 2 worksheet is ready!

LEVEL 3

Preparing For Formula Insertion

 Open the worksheet we created at level 2.

 We’ll first see how to use a formula to calculate the grand totals at the bottom of
the data.
 We’ll create a similar structure for the totals as we did for the other expense
heads.

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  Draw borders and format the cells as shown.
 Then enter the headings.

Inserting a Formula

Now we shall enter the appropriate formulas. Click in cell B47. We want the total of all
the estimated expenses displayed in this cell.

 So enter the formula “=SUM (B9, B15, B20, B26, B33, B38, B44)” since these
cells contain the figures we want to add.
 You may also click on these cells to place the cell addresses within the formula
instead of actually typing them.
 In that case you would have to type “=SUM” with an open bracket symbol “(” and
then click the first cell i.e. B9.
 Then keep the “Ctrl” key pressed and click the other cells.
 Type the close bracket symbol “)” at the end.
 Press “Enter” after your formula is complete to display the result.
 You can still see the formula in the formula bar at the top.

Copying a Formula

We need a similar formula in cell C47 for the total of actual expenses. We can simply
copy the formula we wrote in cell B47 to cell C47.

 Ensure that cell B47 is active and press “Ctrl + C” to copy the formula.
 Then click in cell C47 and press “Ctrl + V” to paste it there.
 Excel takes care and changes the column names in the cell addresses.
 Have a look at the formula in the formula bar at the top.
 Isn’t this feature so convenient?

Changing Row Height

Let us reduce the height of the blank rows. Let us start with row 3.

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  Place your mouse pointer at the extreme left on the boundary between row 3 and
4.
 Drag upwards to reduce the row height.
 Do the same for all blank rows.

Renaming a Worksheet

You know that a workbook comprises of multiple worksheets with default names
Sheet1, Sheet2 etc. Let us learn to give a meaningful name to a worksheet so that
when there are multiple worksheets with data, we know exactly what information each
sheet contains.

 Right click the sheet tab at the bottom of the worksheet and from the options
displayed, select “Rename”.
 The default name is highlighted.
 Simply type the new name.

Creating a Pie Chart

Now we’ll create a pie chart to depict the cost head wise breakdown of the total actual
cost. This is very simple using Excel.

 Select the figures you want the chart to include by clicking the first figure and
then clicking the others keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed.
 Now click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Charts” group, click “Pie”.
 Select the type of pie chart you want from the options displayed.
 The chart appears on your worksheet.
 Size it suitably by dragging the handles at the corners or sides.
 You may change the position by clicking on an unused area of the chart and
dragging.
 You can see that three new tabs have appeared under the heading “Chart Tools”
named “Design”, “Layout” and “Format”.
 We’ll learn about the functionality of each of these tabs in brief.

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Inserting Labels

In the chart created, the names of the expenses are not included in the legend at the
right.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Data” group, click “Select Data”.

 The “Select Data Source” window is displayed.
 Click the “Edit” button in the right pane under “Horizontal (Category) Axis
Labels”.
 A small “Axis Labels” window appears.
 Click the title of the first expense head.
 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed; click the other expense head titles.
 Then press “OK”.
 You can see that the names of the expense heads appear in the list at the right
of the “Select Data Source” window.
 Click “OK”.
 Now the legend has labels displayed instead of plain serial numbers.

Applying a Chart Style

Let us change the appearance of this chart a little by using a chart style.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Chart Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on one of your choice.

Applying a Chart Layout

Next we’ll change the layout of the chart.

 In the “Chart Layouts” group, click “More” and select a suitable layout.

Modifying Chart Layout

You can modify this layout if you can wish.

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  Click the “Layout” tab. lets remove the title of chart.
 In the “Labels” group, click “Chart Title”.
 Select the “None”.
 We shall change the position of the legend. In the “Labels” group, click “Legend”.
 Select a suitable position.
 The legend is now displayed at the new position.
 We shall change the position of the Data Labels.
 In the “Labels” group, click “Data Labels”.
 Select a suitable position.
 The Data Labels are now displayed at the new position.

Modifying Chart Background

Finally, let us beautify the background of the chart.

 Click the “Format” tab.

 Click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon and select a suitable color from the
displayed palette.
 Now select the cells above the chart.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 Enter the chart Heading and apply the suitable formatting.
 Now doesn’t this really enhance the appearance of the chart?
 You may try out the various other options on the three tabs under “Chart Tools”
to further customize the appearance of your chart.
 Your worksheet – level 3 is ready.

LEVEL 4

Selecting Data for a Column Chart

 Open the document containing the level 3 worksheet.

 We shall insert a column chart which displays the estimated and actual head-
wise expenses.
 Column charts make it easy to see the differences in the data being compared.

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  Like we did for the pie chart, we need to select the data that we want to chart.
 This means we should select the estimated and actual total figures for each
expense head.
 Click in cell B9.
 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed, click cells C9, B15 and C15, B20 and C20 and so
on till all the cells containing total estimated and actual figures of all expense
heads are selected.

Inserting a Column chart

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Charts” group, click “Column”.
 Select the type of column chart you want from the options displayed.
 The chart appears on your worksheet.
 Size and position it as required.
 As in case of the pie chart, you can see that the same three tabs have appeared
under “Chart Tools”.

Inserting Labels

Now we need to insert labels. This time, two entities have been charted so we have to
specify labels for both the legend and the horizontal axis.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Data” group, click “Select Data”.

 The “Select Data Source” window is displayed.
 You can see that “Series1” is highlighted in the left pane under “Legend Entries
(Series)”.
 We need to specify the categories of data that has been charted.
 Click the “Edit” button under “Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels”.
 A small “Axis Labels” window appears.
 Click the title of the first expense head.
 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed; click the other expense head titles.
 Then press “OK”.
 This displays the names of the expense heads in the list in the left pane.

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  Click the “Edit” button in the left pane under “Legend Entries (Series).
 A small “Edit Series” window is displayed. Click the cell B35 and press “OK”.
 You can see that “Series1” has been replaced by the text in cell B35 i.e.
“Estimated”.
 Now highlight “Series2” and press “Edit”.
 This time, click cell C35 and press “OK”.
 Actual” is displayed in place of “Series2”.
 Click “OK” in the “Select Data Source” window.
 Now you can see the legend and the horizontal axis display the correct
descriptive labels.

Inserting Chart Title

Let insert a title for this chart.

 Select the cells above the chart.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 Enter the chart Heading and apply the suitable formatting.

Modifying Chart Layout

We shall change the position of the legend.

 Click the “Layout” tab. In the “Labels” group, click “Legend”.

 Select a suitable position.

Applying a Background Style

Now that the chart is complete, let’s enhance the background.

 Click the “Format” tab. In the pie chart we colored the background using a plain
color.
 This time let’s apply a shape style.
 Click the “More” arrow in the “Shape Styles” group and select a suitable style.
 Wow! This chart looks really nice.

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  Let’s apply the same background to the pie chart as well to have a uniform
appearance.

Inserting the Date

Finally, let us insert the date in the second heading line.

 Activate cell G2 and type “Date:”

 Then click in cell H2 and activate the “Formulas” tab.
 From the “Function Library” group, select “Date & Time → Date”.
 In the window displayed, enter the year, month and day and click “OK”.
 The date is now displayed on the worksheet.

Previewing and Printing

Now that our worksheet is complete, we shall preview it and then print it.

 To preview the worksheet, click on the File Tab and select “Print”.
 You may make any changes you wish.
 When you are satisfied, print the document by clicking the “Print” button.
 Now you have a hard copy of your worksheet complete with colorful charts!
 Try creating different kinds of worksheets and charts using the skills you have
learnt.

TO DO LIST

LEVEL 1

Objective

The worksheet displayed is a list which includes all the activities that need to done
while planning to move house. The activities are categorized under different time
frames before the move. There is a column for serial numbers of the activities under
each category. Then there is a blank column at the right which can be marked

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appropriately when the activity is completed. The headings are displayed in bold fonts.
So let us start creating a similar worksheet by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

You can see the cell A1 is active.

 Enter the first category or time frame heading in cell A1 and the text “DONE” as
the heading of the next column cell B1 as shown.
 Use the “Tab” key or the right arrow key to move between the cells.
 Next, enter the activities below the first category.
 Use the down arrow key to move downwards.

Increasing Column Width

Now we will adjust the width of the column A.

 Move the mouse to the boundary between column A and column B in the bar
where the details of the activities are given on top.
 The shape of the cursor will change to a double sided arrow pointing to the right
and left.
 Double click on the boundary while the cursor is a double sided arrow.

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  The width of the column will be automatically adjusted to the maximum length
of characters in the column.

Wrapping Text

In case the text in a cell overflows in spite of a widened column, you can use the wrap
text feature.

 Click the cell and on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group, click “Wrap
Text”.
 The text is then wrapped and displayed on different lines to fit into the existing
width.
 To apply this feature to the entire column, first we need to undo text wrapping of
first cell, for that click “Undo” icon on quick access bar.
 Then select the column by clicking on the column name at the top and then click
the “Wrap Text” icon.

Entering More Text

Now enter details for all time frames leaving a blank row after each category.

Inserting a Column

Oh! We have forgotten to create a column for serial numbers. Nothing to worry, an
additional column can be inserted quite simply.

 Click anywhere in the first column and on the “Home” tab, from the “Cells”
group, click the arrow next to the “Insert” icon.
 From the options displayed, select “Insert Sheet Columns”.
 A blank column is inserted before the first column and the rest of the data shifts
to the right.
 There’s another way in which you could insert a new column.
 Right-click in any cell in the first column and select “Insert”.
 Then select “Insert Entire column” in the window displayed and click “OK”.

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  When you have inserted the blank column, enter the heading for the serial
number in the appropriate cells.

Using Auto Fill

Now we’ll enter the serial numbers.

 Enter the serial number 1 in cell A2.

 Move the mouse to the corner of the cell.
 When it changes to a black plus sign, drag downwards till cell A9.
 You can see that all the cells are filled with the number “1”.
 A box appears at the right of the last cell.
 Click on it and select “Fill Series”.
 The correct serial numbers now appear in your list.
 Number the activities in the other categories in a similar way.
 For the last category, since there are sub-activities, you may adjust the serial
numbers manually.

Formatting Cell Data

Now that all the data has been entered, let’s make some modifications. We’ll change
the font and the font size of the activity descriptions.

 Select the cells under the first category and then on the “Home” tab, from the
“Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Apply the same formatting to the other categories as well.

Formatting Headings

Next, we’ll center the text in the heading rows and make it bold.

 Select the first row by clicking the row number “1” at the right.
 To align the text centrally within the cells, on the “Home” tab, from the
“Alignment” group, click the “Center” icon.
 To embolden the text, from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.

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  Yes, this heading looks fine now.
 We’ll format the other headings in the same way.
 Select the next heading row.
 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed, click the remaining heading rows.
 Now that all heading rows are selected, click the “Center” icon and then the
“Bold” icon.
 All the headings now have a uniform appearance.
 Embolden the contents of any other cells as required.

Using Alignment

Let us center the serial numbers within the cells.

 To do so, select the cells containing the serial numbers from the first category.
 Now you know what to do, right?
 Yes, on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group, click the “Center” icon!
 Center the serial numbers for all categories in the same way.

Creating Borders

What remains is the creation of borders for the data we have entered.

 Select the cells by dragging from cell A1 to C70.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select “Borders → All Borders”.
 This displays a border around each cell.
 Your level 1 to-do list is complete!

LEVEL 2

Using Merge Center

 Open the worksheet we created at level 1.

 First, we want two additional columns for notes.
 Let us widen the two columns D and E.
 We want the heading “Notes” centered over both these columns.

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  We shall use the “Merge & Center” feature for this.
 Select the cells D1 and E1.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 The cells are merged into one single cell.
 Enter the text within this cell as shown and embolden it.
 You can see that this heading appears at the center of the two columns.

Using Merge Center Again

Create the “Notes” heading in the same way for all categories.

Creating Borders

 We now need to create borders for the two additional notes columns.
 Select the cells within these columns and create the borders like you did
previously.

Inserting Rows

Next, let us insert a blank row at the top for the main heading.

 Click anywhere in the first row.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group, click the arrow next to the “Insert”
icon.
 From the options displayed, select “Insert Sheet Rows”.
 A blank row is inserted at the top of the worksheet and the rest of the data shifts
downwards.

Using Merger Center

Ok, now we want the heading to span across cells A1 to E1.

 So select these cells and on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the
“Merge & Center” icon.
 Now enter the heading as shown.

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Formatting Text

We shall format this heading text now.

 Select the text and then from the “Home” tab → “Font” group,
 Select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Click the “Bold” icon to make this text bold.

Making Adjustments

We shall increase the height of this row for a better appearance.

 Click the margin below the row number “1” and drag downwards.
 Now to position the heading text in the middle of the row, on the “Home” tab,
from the “Alignment” group, click the “Middle Align” icon.

Applying Cell Shading

Now we shall color the background of this heading line.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Fill Color”
icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 Doesn’t the heading look great?

More Cell Shading

 Select the cells in the next row and apply a suitable background color to the cells
in the same way.
 Apply the same shading to the other category heading rows as well.

Completing Cell Shading

Now apply a suitable background color to the rows containing the activities as well.

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Changing Border Color

Next, we shall change the color of the borders we created.

 First select all the cells around which we created borders.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon.
 Select “Line Color” and click on a color from the displayed palette to specify the
border color.
 The cursor changes to the shape of a pencil.
 Click and drag across the cells for which you want a border.
 Then select “Border → All Borders”.
 This applies the specified color to the borders.

Using Indents

The only that remains is indenting the sub-activities under the first activity under the
last category.

 Select these cells.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group, click “Increase Indent” as
many times as required.
 Your level 2 to-do list is ready now!

Changing Font Color

Let’s change the color of the data within the cells.

 Click the main heading. On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a
suitable “Font Color”.
 Select the other cells and color appropriately in the same way.

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LEVEL 3

Adjusting Row Height

 Open the document containing the level 2 worksheet.

 First we’ll make the height of all the rows uniform.
 Select all the rows below the main heading by clicking on the row number “2”
and dragging to the bottom of the list.
 Now on the “Home” tab, in the “Cells” group, select “Format → Row Height”.
 In the window displayed, enter the height required and click “OK”.
 You can see that all the rows now have a uniform height.

Inserting Multiple Rows

Next we need some blank rows at the bottom of each category. We’ll begin with the first
category. You learnt to insert a single blank row when you created the main heading.
This time let’s learn to insert multiple rows at a time. We’ll insert two more blank rows
below the first category.

 First, select rows 31 and 32.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group, select “Insert → Insert Sheet Rows”.
 Two blank rows are inserted.
 Insert as many blank rows as required below the other categories in the same
way.

Erasing Borders

Let’s now learn to remove some of the borders from areas for the notes. This can be
done using the same icon we used for border creation.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select “Borders → Erase Border”.
 This time, the cursor changes to the shape of an eraser.
 Simply click the borders you wish to erase.
 Press “Escape” or click the “Borders” icon after you are done.

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Inserting a Picture

Ok, now we have some nice blank spaces where we can insert pictures.

 Click in a cell at the top of the “Notes” column.

 Click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 A new “Format” tab appears.
 You may size this picture as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 Move it to a suitable position by placing the mouse pointer on it and dragging
when the pointer appears as a four-headed arrow.

Enhancing a Picture

Now we’ll enhance this picture by applying a picture style.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one. Click outside the picture.
 Yes, this picture looks fine now!
 Insert other pictures at the required positions in the same way.

Renaming a Worksheet

You know that a workbook comprises of multiple worksheets with default names
Sheet1, Sheet2 etc. Let us learn to give a meaningful name to a worksheet so that
when there are multiple worksheets with data, we know exactly what information each
sheet contains.

 Right-click the sheet tab at the bottom of the worksheet and from the options
displayed, select “Rename”.
 The default name is highlighted.
 Simply type the new name.

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Removing Gridlines

Now that we have finished with our worksheet, we can remove the gridlines from the
worksheet for a better look.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in front of “Gridlines → View”.
 This makes your worksheet look neat and clean.

Saving the Document

Your great looking to-do list is ready!

 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Feel free to create various types of lists using the skills you have learnt!

AGENDA

LEVEL 1

Objective

The agenda displayed shows the name of the seminar, the date on which it will be held
and the place. Details of the various topics that will be discussed, the speakers and the
estimated time for each topic are shown. The cells have been shaded using different
colors for an attractive appearance. Let us start creating a similar agenda by opening
the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

509
Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Setting Page Size

Let us select a suitable page size for the agenda.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Setup” group, click the “Size” icon.
 Make a selection from the options displayed.

Entering Text

 Click the “Home” tab.

 From the “Alignment” group, click the “Top Align” icon so that text entered will
be positioned at the top of the cell.
 Now from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size” and enter the
name of the seminar.
 To go to the next line within the same cell, press “Alt + Enter”.
 Now enter the date of the seminar and the place where it will be held below it.

Making Text Bold

Let us embolden the name of the seminar.

 Select the text and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.

Using Merge Center

 Click on row Number 1.

 We want the heading to span across these columns.
 So select cells A1 to D1 by dragging with your mouse.

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  From the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 The cells are merged into a single cell.

Adjusting Row Height

So let’s adjust the row height.

 Place your mouse pointer at the extreme left on the boundary between rows 1
and 2.
 Drag it upwards to adjust the row height as required.

Entering Text

 Now enter the text in cells A3 to D35 using suitable fonts as shown.
 Embolden the headings in cells A3 to D3.

Increasing Column Width

Let us increase the width of the columns according to the data we plan to enter.

 Place the mouse pointer on the boundary to the right of column heading A.
 When the pointer appears as a two headed arrow, drag the boundary to the
required width.
 Similarly, widen the other columns as required.

Aligning Text

Next, we’ll align the headings suitably.

 Select the cell containing the heading “Topic”.

 To align the text centrally within the cell, on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment”
group, click the “Center” icon.
 Similarly, align the headings “Speaker”, “Time” and “Duration” to the right using
the “Align Text Right” icon.

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Applying Cell Shading

Let us color the background of the cell containing the main title and apply a shaded
effect.

 Select the merged cell.

 From the “Cells” group, select “Format → Format Cells”.
 In the “Format Cells” window, activate the “Fill” tab and click “Fill Effects”.
 In the window displayed, click the arrow in the “Color 2” box and select a color.
 Then click on a suitable option under “Variants” and click “OK”.
 Click “OK” in the “Format Cells” window as well.
 Yes, this looks nice!

Using Color Banding-Formula

Next, we shall use Excel’s “Conditional Formatting” feature for shading alternate rows.
This is often referred to as “Color Banding”.

 Select the cells A3 to D35.

 We want all the odd numbered rows to be shaded.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” group, select “Conditional Formatting →
New Rule”.
 In the “Select a Rule Type” box, click on the last option “Use a formula to
determine which cells to format”.
 In the “Format values where this formula is true:” box, enter the formula “=MOD
(ROW (), 2)”.
 This formula uses the “ROW” function which returns the row number and the
“MOD” function which returns the remainder of the row number divided by a
number, 2 in this case.
 So the formula will be true for all odd numbered rows.

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Using Color Banding-Formatting

 Then click the “Format” button.

 In the “Format Cells” window, activate the “Fill” tab.
 Click on a suitable color and then click “OK”.
 To apply a gradient, click on the “Fill Effects” button and select a suitable option.

LEVEL 2

Using Formulas

 Open the document containing the agenda we created at level 1.

 We’ll use formulas to calculate the start time of the topics other than the first
one automatically.
 Delete the data in column C from row 7 onwards by selecting the cells and
pressing “Delete”.
 Now click in cell C7.
 We’ll use a formula in this cell and all other cells in column C below this one.
 If the time for a topic is changed, the start times of the subsequent topics are
changed accordingly.
 Enter the formula “=SUM (C5, D5)” and press “Enter”.
 The start time is calculated for you!

Copying a Formula

We need similar formulas in all the cells below cell C7 in column C.

 Activate cell C7 and press “Ctrl + C” to copy the formula.

 Then click in cell C9 and press “Ctrl + V” to paste it there.
 Excel takes care and changes the column name in the cell address.
 Paste the formula in the other cells below this in the same way.
 You can see that the start time appears automatically in all cells.

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Testing a Formula

 Now click in cell D13 and change the time to “0:20” and press “Enter”.
 You can see that the start time of all subsequent topics changes.
 Isn’t this so convenient?
 Now you can easily make changes to the “Duration” column and the start time of
subsequent topics will be synchronized automatically.
 Change the time in cell D13 back to “0:10” and press “Enter” to revert to the
original status.

Entering Text

 We want to enter additional information at the bottom of the agenda.

 Enter text in cells B37, B39, B40 and B41 as shown.

Using Formulas

 Click in cell C37. ‘

 Enter the formula for calculation of the Out time “=SUM (C35, D35)” and press
“Enter”.
 Copy the formula in cell C39.

Applying Custom Formatting

In cell C40, we want the “Under time” i.e. the time by which the Target time exceeds
the Out time.

 So click in this cell and type the formula “=IF (C39>=C37, C39-C37," ")” and
press “Enter”.
 If the Target time exceeds or equals the Out time, this formula displays the
difference.
 If the condition is not satisfied, the cell is left blank.
 If the result of the formula is not displayed in cell C40 in the hours and minutes
format, first click within the cell.

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  Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group, select “Format → Format
Cells”.
 On the “Number” tab, under “Category”, click “Time”.
 On the right side, under “Type”, select a suitable format and click “OK”.

Changing Font Color

We want the under time to be displayed in green fonts.

 For this, ensure that cell C40 is active and on the “Home” tab, from the “Font”
group, select a green shade using the “Font Color” icon.
 Same Way change the color of Data. And Embolden require data.

Using Similar Procedures

Now, in cell C41, we want the “Over time” i.e. the time by which the Out time exceeds
the Target time.

 So click in the cell and type the formula “=IF (C37>C39, C37-C39," ")” and
press “Enter”.
 If the Out time exceeds the Target time, this formula displays the difference.
 We want the Over time to be displayed in red fonts.
 For this, activate cell C41 and select a red shade using the “Font Color” icon.

Using Conditional Formatting

We want the Out time to be displayed in red fonts if it exceeds the Target time. If not,
we want it to be displayed in green fonts. This can be done using conditional
formatting.

 Click in cell C37.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” group, select “Conditional Formatting →
Manage Rules”.
 In the “Conditional Formatting Rules Manager” window, click “New Rule”.
 The “New Formatting Rule” window is displayed.

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  In the “Select a Rule Type” box, click on the last option “Use a formula to
determine which cells to format”.
 In the “Format values where this formula is true:” box, enter the formula
“=C39>=C37”.
 Then click the “Format” button. In the “Format Cells” window, activate the
“Font” tab.
 Click the dropdown arrow in the “Color” box and select a green shade and then
click “OK”.
 Click “OK” in the “New Formatting Rule” window.
 This formula will make the font color green when the Out time is within the
Target time.

Using Similar Procedures

 Now click “New Rule” again since we want to specify the condition for making
the font color red.
 Click “Use a formula to determine which cells to format” once again.
 This time enter the rule as “=C37>C39” and click “Format”.
 Select the color red in the “Format Cells” window and click “OK”.
 Click “OK” in the “New Formatting Rule” window.
 Click “Apply” and then “OK” in the “Conditional Formatting Rules Manager”
window.
 This formula will make the font color red when the Out time exceeds the Target
time.
 You may test this by changing the value in cell D35 to “0:20”.

Creating Borders

Next we’ll create a box around the information below the agenda.

 Select cells B37 to C41.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon and select “Outside Borders”.

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  Click outside the selected cells to see the border.
 Same way apply border to the details of agenda.

Inserting Comments

What remains is the insertion of comments in the cells displaying the under and Over
times.

 Click in cell C40.

 Activate the “Review” tab and from the “Comments” group, click the “New
Comment” icon.
 A box appears for insertion of a comment.
 This contains the name of the document’s author.
 You may delete this if you wish.
 Enter your comment as shown and then click outside the cell.
 When you move your mouse over the cell, the comment is displayed.
 Enter a suitable comment in cell C41 in the same way.

Removing Gridlines

Now that the agenda is complete, we can remove the gridlines from the worksheet for
a better look.

 Activate the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in front of “Gridlines → View”.
 This makes your worksheet look neat and clean.
 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now go ahead and apply the skills that you have learnt to create various kinds
of Excel documents!

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OTHER EXCEL TABS

PAGE LAYOUT TAB

Themes

Themes in Microsoft Excel provide a unique and professional look to your Workbooks.
They use an assortment of font styles, color schemes and graphical effects.

 On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click “Themes”.

 Move your mouse over the various options in the displayed gallery.
 You can see a preview of how the worksheet would look when each theme is
applied.
 Click on a suitable one.

Page Orientation

The “Orientation” icon is used to specify whether the layout of the worksheet, when
printed, should be “Landscape” i.e. horizontal or “Portrait” i.e. vertical. The addition of
a header and footer shows you that the worksheet is split up into two pages due to a
large number of columns. This is because the default “Portrait” layout has been used.

 To change the orientation, on the “Page Layout” tab and in the “Page Setup”
group, select “Orientation → Portrait”.
 Now all your data appears on a single page and the maximum, minimum and
average marks are displayed on the next page.
 Activate the “File” tab and click “Print” in the left pane to see a preview of the
worksheet with the header and footer.
 Click the right arrow at the bottom to preview the next page.
 You can see that both pages display the header and footer.

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Background

The “Background” icon is used to display a picture as the background of a worksheet.

In a blank worksheet,

 On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Background.
 In the “Sheet Background” window, browse to the required picture and click
“Insert”.
 To remove the background picture, click “Delete Background”.

Print Area

The “Print Area” icon is used to mark a specific area of the worksheet for printing.

 Select the area that you want to print.

 Then on the “Page Layout” Tab, from the “Page Setup” group, select “Print Area
→ Set Print Area”.
 The print area appears with a dotted line border.
 Only this area will be printed when you execute the “Print” command.

Print Titles

The “Print Titles” icon is used to specify the rows and columns to be printed at the top
of each page. This is useful when you need to print a worksheet containing a large
amount of rows. The worksheet displayed has data which will require two pages for
printing. You want the row containing the column headings to appear on both pages.

 On the “Page Layout” tab, from the “Page Setup” group, select “Print Titles”.
 In the displayed window, click in the “Rows to repeat at top” box and then click
the “Collapse” button i.e. the square box with the red arrow at the right end.
 Select the rows you want and then click the “Expand” button in the collapsed
window.
 Now click the “Print Preview” button.
 Click the right arrow at the bottom to preview the next page.
 You can see that both pages display the heading row.

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  Click the “Page Layout” tab to return to Normal view.
 You may set the “Columns to repeat at left” in a similar way for worksheets that
are short and wide with a large number of columns like the one displayed.

Sheet Options

The “Sheet Options” group on the “Page Layout” tab is used to specify whether you
wish to view and print the gridlines and headings of your worksheet.

 To print the gridlines as well as row and column headings, before executing the
print command, on the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Sheet Options” group, click
the Print boxes under Gridlines and Headings.
 If you wish to have a neat and clean look for your worksheet, you can remove
the gridlines.
 On the “Page Layout” tab, in the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in
front of “Gridlines → View”.
 Similarly uncheck the box in front of “Headings - View” to hide the display of
row and column headings.

THE DATA TAB

Data Validation

The “Data Validation” icon is used to control the type of data that users enter into a
cell. For example, you may want to restrict data entry to a certain range of dates, limit
choices by using a list, or make sure that only positive numbers are entered. The
displayed worksheet contains a list of employees with details of their departments and
monthly salaries.

 Let’s set up a validation rule that the department code should be not more than
three characters long.
 Select the column containing the department code by clicking the column
heading “B”.
 Now on the “Data” tab in the “Data Tools” group, click “Data Validation”.

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  The “Settings” tab of the “Data Validation” window is displayed. In the “Allow”
box, select “Text Length” and in the “Data” box select “less than or equal to”.
 In the “Maximum” box enter “3” and click “OK”.
 Now in the worksheet, enter the name of a new employee and enter a
department code with more than three characters.
 Press Enter.
 Excel will not allow this and displays an error message.
 Click “Cancel” and enter a valid value.

Inserting a Drop-down List

To make data entry easier in Excel, or to restrict entries to a range of values, you can
create a drop-down list of valid entries that is compiled from other cells in the
workbook.

 Select the column containing the department codes.

 Now click “Data Validation” and in the “Data Validation” window, on the
“Settings” tab, in the “Allow” box, select “List”.
 Click in the “Source” box and then click the “Collapse” button at the right end.
 Select the cells containing your valid values and then click the “Expand” button
in the collapsed window.
 Now click “OK”.
 Since you created a drop-down list for this column, a down arrow is displayed
whenever a cell within it is active.
 Enter the name of a new employee.
 Now try entering an invalid department.
 An error message is displayed. Click “Cancel”.
 To select a valid department, click the arrow, and then select the entry that you
want.
 Now you are allowed to move to the next cell since a valid value has been
entered.

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Data Validation Messages

You may use the “Input Message” tab in the “Data Validation” window to display an
informative message when a cell in selected. The “Error Alert” tab can be used to
display a customized error message instead of the default one when invalid data is
entered.

Removing Data Validation

 To remove applied data validation, select the column to which data validation
has been applied.
 Then click “Data Validation”.
 On the “Settings” tab, click “Clear All” and then click “OK”.
 No validation rules will be applied now.

What is Goal Seek?

During data analysis, you often come across situations where you need to see the
effects of changing selected factors in a worksheet. If you know the result that you
want from a formula, but not the input value the formula needs for that result, you
can use the “Goal Seek” feature. This method aids you in forecasting values. For
example, the student with Roll Number 4 has failed. You can see that he has scored
very poor marks in the second subject. You now want to find out how many marks he
should have scored in that subject so that he would have an overall pass percentage
i.e. 35 percent. You can do this with Goal seek. The goal seek feature also proves very
useful for financial and production analysis.

What-If Analysis

The “What-If Analysis” icon is used to try out various values for the formulas in a
worksheet.

 Click cell J13, containing the “Percent” marks of the student.

 Activate the “Data” tab. From the “Data Tools” group, select “What-If Analysis
→ Goal Seek”.

522
  In the “Goal Seek” window, type 35 which is the passing percentage in the “To
value” box.
 Click in the “By changing cell” field and then click D13, which contains the
marks below pass level.
 Click “OK”.
 The “Goal Seek Status” window is displayed.
 The value in cell D13 is adjusted as required.
 Click “OK”.
 So you can see that the student would need to secure at least 28 marks in that
subject to secure an overall pass percentage.

Subtotal

The “Subtotal” icon is used to automatically calculate subtotals and grand totals in a
column of a worksheet. The displayed worksheet contains a list of employees with
details of their departments and monthly salaries. You want to know the total salaries
that are being paid monthly with the department wise breakup. This can be easily
done using the “Subtotal” feature. You first need to sort the list on the field for which
you want the subtotals, in this case “Department”.

 Click any cell containing department data.

 Now on the “Data” tab, in the “Sort & Filter” group, click “Sort A to Z”.
 Your list is now sorted department wise. Next, you need to designate the field
that contains the values you want the totals of, in this case “Monthly Salary”.
 On the “Data” tab, in the “Outline” group, click “Subtotal”.
 In the “Subtotal” window, in the “At each change in” box, select “Department”
since this is the field we sorted the data on and for which we want the totals.
 Ensure that the “Monthly Salary” box is checked under “Add subtotal to”.
 Now click “OK”.
 Here you are; the subtotals for all departments are displayed along with the
grand total.

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Highlighting Totals

Let’s shade the cells containing the totals with different colors to highlight them.

 Use the “Fill Color” icon in the “Font” group of the “Home” tab for this.
 You may also use the Subtotal feature to calculate averages, number of entries
etc. by selecting the appropriate option in “Use function” box.

Removing Subtotal

 To remove all subtotals, click any cell containing the data used.
 Then on the “Data” tab, in the “Outline” group, click “Subtotal”.
 In the “Subtotal” window, click “Remove All”.
 All totals are now removed.

THE REVIEW AND VIEW TABS

Spelling

The “Spelling” icon is used to check the spellings in your workbook. While entering
data, if some spelling mistakes have been made, the spelling checker locates the
misspelled words and proposes the correct spelling. Place the cell pointer at the
beginning of your worksheet or from wherever you want to start checking for errors.

 On the “Review” tab, in the “Proofing” group, click “Spelling” or use the keyboard
shortcut “F7”.
 In the “Spelling” window, if a spelling is found to be wrong, options are displayed
in the “Suggestions” box from the spelling checker’s dictionary.
 Select the correct word from the list and click the “Change” button.
 If there is more than one occurrence of the same word spelt wrongly, click
“Change All”.
 If the spelling is correct but shown as incorrect for some reason, click on “Ignore
All” or “Ignore Once” whichever is appropriate.

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Using Spell-check

When you click on any button such as “Change”, “Ignore Once” etc., the spelling
checker moves to the next word. If you change a word which you did not want to, click
“Undo Last”. Some words, such as proper nouns which are not really errors may be
shown as spelling mistakes. You may add these words to the dictionary by clicking the
“Add to Dictionary” button. When the checking is completed for the entire worksheet, a
message saying so is displayed.

Split

The “Split” icon is used to split the worksheet window into separate panes and scroll
the worksheet in each pane so that you can easily compare data from separate
worksheet locations. When you split panes, the panes work simultaneously and a
change made in one immediately appears in the other. To create a horizontal split,
select the row where you wish the split to be placed.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Window” group, click “Split”.

 You will see a line appears across your worksheet. Appropriate scrollbars appear
to enable you to scroll within the upper & lower panes.
 Click the “Split” button once again to remove the split.

Vertical Split

 Similarly, to create a vertical split, select the column where you wish the split to
be placed and click “Split”.
 You will see a vertical line appear in your worksheet.
 Remove this split.
 We’ll now create a Horizontal and Vertical Split.
 Click in a single cell of your worksheet and then click “Split”.
 This will divide your worksheet into four panes with a vertical and horizontal
line.

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Quick Splits

A quick way to create a horizontal split is to click the split box tool at the top of the
vertical scroll bar and drag to your desired location.

 To quickly create a vertical split, use the split box tool at the far right of the
horizontal scroll bar.
 If you wish to move a split, just click on it and drag to where you want it.
 To remove a split, double click it.

Freeze Panes

The “Freeze Pane” icon is used to keep a portion of the sheet visible while the rest of
the sheet scrolls. When you have a large worksheet, it is often required that column or
row labels remain in view. By using Excels Freeze Panes feature you can freeze either
columns or rows so that they remain visible at all times.

 Let us freeze all the heading rows in our worksheet.

 We need to highlight the row below the rows which we wish to freeze or lock.
 Select the row containing the data of the student with roll number 9.
 On the “View” tab, in the “Window” group, select “Freeze Panes - Freeze
Panes”.
 You will see a line appear across your worksheet.
 Everything above the line is frozen and will remain in view when you scroll down
your worksheet. Now scroll up and down within the worksheet.
 You can see that the headings are displayed always.
 To unfreeze, select “Freeze Panes - Unfreeze Panes”.

Freezing Columns

 To freeze a column in your worksheet, highlight the column after the columns
you wish to freeze.
 In the Window group, select “Freeze Panes - Freeze Panes”.
 You will see a vertical line appear in your worksheet.

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  Everything to the left of the line is frozen and will remain in view when you scroll
across the worksheet.

Freezing Columns & Rows

 To freeze both Columns and Rows, click in a single cell and select “Freeze
Panes - Freeze Panes”.
 This will freeze all rows above the selected cell and all columns to the left of it.

Overview

Friends, we have learnt to use some of the key commands on the Page Layout,
Formulas, Data, Review and View tabs. You may try to explore the other options on
your own. In the next lab, we’ll learn about some other important aspects of Microsoft
Excel. So let’s move to the next Lab and get started.

PLANNER

LEVEL 1

Objective

The worksheet displayed is a picnic planner. This lists all aspects of the picnic right
from the venue and itinerary to the cost factor and the items to be carried along.
Different font style and sizes have been used. Related information has been grouped
together into table like structures. So let us create a similar planner using a worksheet
by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

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Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Using Merge Center

First, let’s create the main heading. We want this heading to be at the center of cells
A1 to N1.

 So select these cells and on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group, click
the “Merge & Center” icon.
 From the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size” and type the
heading as shown.
 In the next row, enter the venue in a similar fashion.

Increasing Row Height

Let us increase the height of the heading row.

 Place your mouse pointer at the extreme left on the boundary between rows 1
and 2.
 Drag downwards to increase the row height as required.
 Now to position the heading text in the middle of the row, click within the
merged cell containing the heading.
 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group, click the “Middle Align”
icon.
 Similarly, increase the height of the next row and position the text appropriately.

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Making Text Bold

 To make the text of the heading bold, click in the top row.
 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Embolden the text in the second row as well.

Entering Data

 Now we are ready to enter the other details of the planner.

 Enter the data as shown in the appropriate rows and columns merging cells as
required.

Creating Borders

 Let us create borders around related groups of information.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Borders”
icon.
 Select “Draw Border” from the options displayed.
 The cursor changes to the shape of a pencil.
 Click and drag across the cells for which you want a border.
 Press “Escape” or click the “Borders” icon after you are done.

Making Text Bold

 We want to make the text within some of the cells bold.

 You know how this is done, right?
 Yes, click the cell and then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the
“Bold” icon.

Aligning Text

 Let us align the text centrally in the “Category” column of the “Things to Carry”
group.
 For this, select the cells and on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group,
click the “Center” icon.

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  Align the data within the other rows and columns as required using the various
options in the “Alignment” group.

Inserting a Currency Symbol

We want a currency symbol in the cells containing the expense figures.

 So first, we’ll select the cells in the last two columns of the “Budget” group.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Cells” group, select “Format → Format Cells”.
 In the window displayed, click “Currency” in the left pane.
 From the “Symbol” dropdown list, select a currency symbol and click “OK”.
 You can see that the currency symbol is displayed in front of all the numeric
data in the selected cells.
 Insert this symbol for all required cells in the same way.
 That’s it.
 Your level 1 picnic planner is ready!

LEVEL 2

Using WordArt

 Open the document containing the worksheet we created in the previous

assignment.
 We’ll start with the heading.
 We shall use WordArt this time.
 First delete the original heading text by clicking in the merged heading cell and
pressing “Delete”.
 Then click the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click “Word Art”.
 A new “Format” tab under the heading “WordArt Tools” appears.
 Select a style from the gallery displayed.
 Enter your heading in the text box that appears.
 Position your mouse pointer on a corner of the text box and when it changes to a
black four-headed arrow drag to position it on the top row.
 Now doesn’t this heading look really nice?

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Modifying WordArt

There’s more that we can do make the heading look better. We’ll enhance it further by
changing its shape.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “WordArt Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Text Effects” icon and select “Transform”.
 Click a suitable shape style from the gallery displayed.
 Click outside the heading.
 Yes, now the heading looks just right!

Removing Gridlines

Next we’ll remove the gridlines from the worksheet for a better look.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab. In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in
front of “Gridlines → View”.

Creating Internal Borders

Now we’ll create internal borders of another color within the boxes we created.

 Click the “Home” tab. In the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Borders”
icon.
 Go to line color and select the suitable color.
 You will see that cursor is changed to pencil icon, you can click on cell sides to
give border or select the suitable border type from border drop down menu by
selecting the cells.
 The gridlines appear as dotted lines.
 Click and drag the pencil shaped cursor where you want a border.
 Press “Escape” or click the “Borders” icon when done.

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Applying Cell Shading

Now we shall color the background of the cells in various colors.

 Select a group of cells.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Fill
Color” icon.
 Click on more colors and from custom tab select a color from the displayed
palette.
 Apply appropriate shading to the other cells in the same way.

Changing Font Color

Let’s change the color of the data within some cells.

 Select the row containing the venue.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font Color”.
 Change the color of the data in the other cells as required.
 Doesn’t the worksheet look great!

Using Formulas (Multiplication)

We’ll now learn to use formulas for calculation. Using a formula is very useful because
whenever you change the data within a cell, the result of a calculation involving that
cell is reset automatically. Also formulas can be easily copied and re-used.

 In the “Budget” table, delete the contents of the cells in the “Total Cost” column.
 Also delete the contents of cells F30 and F32 in the “Cost Per Person” table.
 Now in the cell F19, enter the formula “=D19*E19” and press “Enter”.
 The correct “Total Cost” is displayed.
 Alternatively, you could use the formula “=Product (D19, E19)” to get the
product of the two cells.

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Copying Formulas

Let’s copy this formula into the other cells of this column.

 Click cell F19 and copy its contents using “Ctrl + C”.
 Then select cells F20 to F26 and paste the copied formula using “ Ctrl + V”.
 Excel takes care and inserts the correct cell addresses in the formulas within all
the cells.

Using the Sum Icon

We’ll use the “Sum” icon to get the grand total of these figures in cell F27.

 Select the cells F19 to F26 and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group,
click the “Sum” icon.
 Here you are, your grand total is ready!
 Wasn’t this so convenient?

Using Formulas (Equality)

 Next, we want this grand total displayed in cell F30 for calculation of the cost per
person.
 So click this cell and type the formula “=F27”.
 Press “Enter” and you can see that the contents of cell F27 are displayed in cell
F30 as well.

Using Formulas (Division)

 The last formula we need is in cell F32 for calculation of the “Per Person Cost”.
 Click in this cell and type the formula “=F30/F31”.
 Press “Enter” to display the result.

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Usefulness of Formulas

Let us change the contents of one cell within a formula and see the automatic effect on
other cells.

 Click cell D26 and change the quantity.

 Press “Enter”.
 You can see that because we used formulas, the data in all related cells changes
accordingly.
 This saves so much precious time.
 Without the use of formulas, we would have to manually change the contents of
all the cells.
 Let us change the data in cell D26 back to its original value once again.
 Your level 2 planner is ready.

LEVEL 3

Creating a Pie Chart

 Open the document containing the planner level 2.

 Let’s begin with the chart. We shall create a pie chart to show breakup of the
total expenses into various categories.
 First we need to select the data that we want to chart.
 Select the cells F19 to F26 which contain the expense figures.
 Now click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Charts” group, click “Pie”.
 Select the type of pie chart you want from the options displayed.
 The chart appears on your worksheet.
 Size it suitably by dragging the handles at the corners or sides.
 You may change the position by clicking on an unused area of the chart and
dragging.
 You can see that three new tabs have appeared under the heading “Chart Tools”
named “Design”, “Layout” and “Format”.

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Inserting Labels

In the chart created, the names of the expenses are not included in the legend at the
right.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Data” group, click “Select Data”.

 The “Select Data Source” window is displayed.
 Click the “Edit” button in the right pane under “Horizontal (Category) Axis
Labels”.
 A small “Axis Labels” window appears.
 Select the cells containing the various expenses i.e. cells B19 to C26.
 Then press “OK”.
 You can see that the names of the expense heads appear in the list at the right
of the “Select Data Source” window.
 Click “OK”.
 Now the legend has labels displayed instead of plain serial numbers.

Applying a Chart Style

Let us enhance the appearance of this chart by using a chart style.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Chart Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on one of your choice.

Inserting a Chart Title

Let’s give this chart a title now.

 Click the “Layout” tab. In the “Labels” group, click “Chart Title”.
 Select a suitable position for the title.
 A text box is displayed.
 Click within it and select the existing text.
 Replace it with your title.
 Then click outside the text box.

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Inserting Data Labels

Now we’ll display data labels on our chart which show the estimated expense figures.

 On the “Layout” tab, from the “Labels” group, click “Data Labels” and select a
suitable position for your labels from the options displayed.
 Now your chart displays the estimated values for each expense.

Modifying Chart Background

Finally to complete the chart, let us color the background.

 Click the “Format” tab.

 Click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon and select a suitable color from the
displayed palette.
 Now doesn’t your chart look really nice?
 Click outside the chart to deselect it.

Inserting a Header

Now that we’re done with the chart let’s insert a header and footer. When you print the
worksheet, the header and footer will be printed at the top and bottom respectively.
These may not be visible when the worksheet is open for normal editing.

 To insert a header, click the “Insert” tab.

 From the “Text” group, select “Header & Footer”.
 You are taken to the header area and a new “Design” tab is displayed.
 This is divided into three large cells.
 Click in the cell you wish and enter your header information.

Inserting a Footer

 Now on the “Design” tab under “Header & Footer Tools”, in the “Navigation”
group, click “Go to Footer”.
 You are taken to the footer area.

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  Click in a suitable cell and enter your footer information and press the “Tab”
key.
 Press “Esc” after you are done.

Previewing a Worksheet

To preview the worksheet with the header and footer,

 Click on the File Tab and select “Print”.

 To exit Print Preview and return to your workbook, click any other tab above the
preview window.

Scaling a Document

Now since our data is not fitting in one page we will scaled down its size.

 To scale the data go to Page layout tab and from Scale to fit group click on
small arrow next to scale option up to suitable percentage.
 Now let us check the scaled data in Print Preview.

Inserting a Background Picture

Next, we’ll use a picture for the background of the planner.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 From the “Page Setup” group, select “Background”.
 In the “Sheet Background” window, browse to the required picture and click
“Insert”.
 Yes, this background looks pretty!

Renaming a Worksheet

What remains is giving a meaningful name to this worksheet.

 Right-click the sheet tab at the bottom of the worksheet and from the options
displayed, select “Rename”.
 The default name is highlighted.

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  Simply type the new name. And Press Enter.

Saving the Document

Your planner is complete now and ready to be used!

 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now go ahead and apply all that you have learnt to create different kinds of
useful worksheets!

EXAM RECORD

LEVEL 1

Objective

The worksheet displayed is an exam record which displays the roll numbers and
names of students along with the marks scored by them in six subjects. Different fonts
have been used. The headings are displayed in bold fonts. The date is written below
the headings. Borders have been created around the cells containing data. So let us
start creating a similar worksheet by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

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Using Merge Center

You can see the cell A1 is active.

 Enter the three heading lines as shown leaving blank lines wherever required.
 Use the down arrow key to move downwards.
 We want these heading lines to span across columns “A” to “H”.
 First, select the cells A1 to H1.
 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge &
Center” icon.
 You can see that all the selected cells are merged and the heading is centered.
 Do the same to center the other two heading lines.

Formatting Text

Let us change the font and font size of the text of the first heading line.

 For this, select the heading cell and on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group,
select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Apply suitable fonts to the other two heading lines in the same way.
 Select all three heading rows and on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click
the “Bold” icon to make the headings bold.

Increasing Row Height

Let us increase the height of the top most row which contains the name of the school.

 Click the margin below the row number “1” and drag downwards.
 Now to position the heading text in the middle of the row, on the “Home” tab,
from the “Alignment” group, click the “Middle Align” icon.

Entering the Date

Now we shall insert the date.

 Create three large cells below the headings using the “Merge & Center” feature.

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  In the central one, enter the text “Date: ” and type a date.

Entering Headings

Now enter the other headings as shown.

 Merge the cells for the heading “Marks” to span across all the subjects.
 Make these headings bold.

Increasing Column Width

We plan to enter the names of the students in the second column. This would require a
wider column. So let us increase the width of this column.

 Place the mouse pointer on the boundary to the right of the second column
heading.
 When it appears as a two headed arrow, drag to the right to get the required
width.

Entering Data

 Now enter details regarding the roll numbers, student name and the marks
scored on the various rows as shown.
 Use the “Tab” key or the right arrow key to move to the right.

Creating Borders

What remains is the creation of borders for the data we have entered.

 Select the cells by dragging from cell A3 to H29.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select “Borders → All Borders”.
 This displays a border around each cell.
 We’ll create a slightly different border for the main heading.
 Click in this heading and first create a regular border like the one you just
created.
 Then click the “Borders” icon again and select “Bottom Double Border”.

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  Click outside the heading.
 You can see that the lower border has a double line in place of the previous
single line.
 Your level 1 exam record is complete!

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Picture

 Open the document containing the exam record we created at level 1.

 First, we’ll insert a picture of the school logo.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 You may size this picture as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 Move it to a suitable position by placing the mouse pointer on it and dragging
when the pointer appears as a four-headed arrow.

Using the Sum Icon

Now, we want the total marks of each student.

 Enter the heading “Total” in the cell I8 as shown and make it bold.
 Select the cells C10 to H10 containing the marks of the first student.
 Then on the “Home” Tab, from the “Editing” Group click the “Sum” icon.
 The sum of the selected cells appears in cell I10.
 Wasn’t this so easy?
 Now click in any blank cell.

Using Auto Fill

Now that we have the total marks for one student, we can use the Auto Fill feature to
calculate the total marks of the others.

 Click in cell I10 again and move the mouse to the bottom right corner of the cell.

541
  When it changes to a black plus sign, drag downwards till cell I29.
 You can see that all the cells are filled with the correct total marks of each
student.
 The same formula is copied to all the cells and Excel changes the row numbers
in the cell addresses as required.
 Click in cell I11.
 Have a look at the formula in the formula bar at the top.
 This shows that the sum of the data in cells C11 to H11 has been calculated.
 Now click in cell I12.
 The formula bar now displays cells C12 to H12 in the formula.
 Isn’t this feature so convenient?

Creating Borders

We now have to create borders for the additional total column. You know how to do
this.

 Yes, select the cells and then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select
“Borders - All Borders”.

Using Merge Center

We also need to widen the headings to span across this additional cell.

 Let us begin with the first heading line.

 First we need to un-merge the merged cells.
 Click in the large cell and on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group; click the
arrow next to the “Merge & Center” icon.
 Select “Unmerge Cells” from the options displayed.
 The cells are now unmerged.
 Then select all the cells from A1 to I1 and click “Merge & Center”.
 This time, you can see that the heading spans over the “Total” column as well.
 Re-position the logo if required.
 Do the same un-merging and re-merging for the other heading lines as well.

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  Create a regular border like the one you just created.

Applying Cell Shading

Now we shall color the background of the heading lines.

 Click the first heading.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Fill Color”
icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 Doesn’t the heading look great?
 Apply suitable colors to the other two heading lines in the same way.

Changing Font Color

Next, let’s change the color of the text of these three lines.

 Select the first line and on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the
arrow next to the “Font Color” icon.
 Select a suitable color from the displayed palette.
 Color the text in the other two lines also as required.

Using Cell Styles

For the line containing the date, we’ll use a cell style instead of applying shading and
then changing the font color.

 Click in the merged cell.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Styles” group, click the “Cell Styles” icon.
 A gallery of styles is displayed.
 Click one to select it.

Coloring Cell Background

Now apply suitable background colors and styles to the rest of the data as required.

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Preparing for Formula Insertion

What remains is the calculation of the maximum, minimum and average marks.

 We’ll first create a structure for entering these values.

 Draw borders and format the cells B32 to C34 as shown.
 Then enter the headings.

Inserting a Formula

Now we shall enter the appropriate formulas.

 Click in cell C32.

 We want the maximum marks displayed in this cell.
 So type “=MAX” with an open bracket symbol “(” and then select cells I10 to I29
since these cells contain the totals of all students.
 Type the close bracket symbol “)” at the end.
 Press “Enter” after your formula is complete to display the result.
 You can still see the formula in the formula bar at the top.
 Instead of selecting the cells, you could also enter the formula giving the actual
cell addresses as “=MAX (I10:I29)”.

Using Other Formulas

 Now enter the formulas for minimum and average marks calculation in cells C33
and C34.
 This time instead of “MAX” use the words “MIN” and “AVERAGE” respectively.
 Your exam record – level 2 is ready!

LEVEL 3

Inserting a Formula

 Open the exam record worksheet we created at level 2.

 We want the percentage marks of each student.
 Enter the heading “Percent” in the cell J8 and format as required.

544
  Widen the headings to span across this additional cell and create appropriate
borders.
 Apply suitable cell shading.
 The percentage can be calculated by dividing the total marks by the number of
subjects.
 Click in cell J10 and enter the formula “=SUM (I10/6)” and press “Enter”.
 The percentage for the first student is displayed.

Using Auto Fill

As in the case of total marks, this time we’ll use the Auto Fill feature to get the
percentages for the other students.

 Click in cell J10 again and move the mouse to the bottom right corner of the cell.
 When it changes to a black plus sign, drag downwards till cell J29.
 You can see that all the cells are filled with the correct percent marks of each
student.
 How useful the Auto Fill feature is!

Specifying Decimal Places

The percent marks are displayed with many decimal places. We want the percent
marks to be displayed with only two decimal places.

 Select the cells containing the percent marks.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group, select “Format → Format Cells”.
 In the window displayed, on the “Number” tab, select “Number” from the
“Category” list.
 Set “Decimal places” to 2 and click “OK.
 The numbers in the “Percent” column are now displayed with two decimal
places.

545
Aligning Data Centrally

Let us align the data centrally within all the cells for a better appearance.

 Select the required cells and on the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group,
click the “Center” icon.
 You can see that all the data moves to the center of the cells.

Selecting Data for a Column Chart

We shall create a column chart which displays the marks scored by the first ten
students in the various subjects. Column charts make it easy to see the differences in
the data being compared. First we need to select the data that we want to chart. We
need to select the roll numbers; names and marks scored in the six subjects of the first
ten students i.e. cells A8 to H22.

Inserting a Column Chart

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Charts” group, click “Column”.
 Select the type of column chart you want from the options displayed.
 The chart appears on your worksheet.
 You can see that three new tabs have appeared under the heading “Chart Tools”
named “Design”, “Layout” and “Format”.
 You may change the position of the chart by clicking on an unused area and
dragging.

Using the Cut – Paste Feature

This chart appears quite large.

 Let us move it to Sheet2 of the workbook.

 We shall use the “Cut-Paste” feature to do so.
 Click the “Home” tab and from the “Clipboard” group, click “Cut”. T
 hen click the sheet tab at the bottom to go to Sheet2.
 Now from the “Clipboard” group, click “Paste”.

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  Your chart is displayed on this worksheet.
 Size it suitably by dragging the handles at the corners or sides.
 Then position it as required.

Renaming the Worksheet

Let us give meaningful names to the main worksheet and the one containing the chart.
This will help us know exactly what information each sheet contains.

 Right-click the first sheet tab at the bottom of the worksheet and from the
options displayed, select “Rename”.
 The default name is highlighted.
 Simply type the new name.
 Do the same for the worksheet containing the chart.
 That’s it, your level 3 exam record is complete!

LEVEL 4

Assigning Grades

Open the exam record worksheet we created in the previous assignment. We want to
assign grades to the students as follows

 Percent marks greater than or equal to 80, A+ grade

 Percent marks greater than or equal to 75, A grade
 Percent marks greater than or equal to 60, B grade
 Percent marks greater than or equal to 50, C grade
 Percent marks greater than or equal to 35,Pass grade
 All others fail.

547
Using a Function

 Enter the heading “Grade” in the cell K8 and format as required.

 Widen the headings to span across this additional cell and create appropriate
borders.
 Apply suitable cell formatting.
 Click in cell K10 and enter the formula” and press “Enter”.
 The percentage for the first student is displayed.

Using Auto Fill

As in the case of total marks and percentages, we’ll use the Auto Fill feature to get the
grades for the other students.

 Click in cell K10 again and move the mouse to the bottom right corner of the
cell.
 When it changes to a black plus sign, drag downwards till cell K29.
 You can see that all the cells are filled with the correct grades of each student.

Using Conditional Formatting

Ok, now we want to highlight all the cells which have marks less than 35 with a
different color. This would enable us to know at a glance in which subjects the
students have failed. We’ll use the conditional formatting feature for this.

 Select all the cells containing the marks i.e. cells C10 to H29.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” group, click “Conditional Formatting”.
 From the options displayed, select “Color Scales”.
 Select suitable color scales.
 Click outside the selected cells.
 You can see that all marks less than 35 are highlighted in the specified colors.
 You may apply conditional formatting of different types.

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Freezing Panes

Now we’ll learn how to freeze panes. This feature is very useful for worksheets with
voluminous data. The headings can be frozen so that they are displayed at the top at
all times.

 Click in the cell which is just below the headings.

 Click the “View” tab and from the “Window” group, select “Freeze Panes →
Freeze Panes”.
 As you scroll through your worksheet, you can see that the heading lines always
remain visible.

Removing Gridlines

Now that we have finished with our worksheet, we can remove the gridlines from the
worksheet for a better look.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in front of “Gridlines → View”.
 This makes your worksheet look neat and clean.

Saving the Document

Your level 4 exam record is now complete.

 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now go ahead and use the skills that you have learnt to create different types of
excel worksheets!

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DATABASE

LEVEL 1

Objective

The worksheet displayed is a list containing the names of blood donors along with
other details such as the blood group, age, the locality to which they belong and the
address. The font style and size is user defined. There is a column for serial numbers.
The headings are displayed in bold fonts. So let us start creating a similar worksheet
by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Adjusting Column Width

Let us adjust the width of the columns according to the data we plan to enter.

 Place the mouse pointer on the boundary between columns B and C and when it
appears as a two headed arrow, drag to the right.
 This widens column B. Widen columns C, E and F in the same way as required.
 We plan to insert the age in column D and require a narrower column.
 Yes, now all our columns have the required widths.

550
Entering Text

You can see the cell A1 is active.

 Enter the headings in the first row.

 Use the “Tab” key or the right arrow key to move between the cells.
 Next, enter the details related to the donors.
 Then again select cell A1.
 Use the down arrow key to move downwards.

Using Auto Fill

Now we’ll enter the serial numbers.

 Enter the serial number 1 in cell A2.

 Move the mouse to the bottom right corner of the cell.
 When it changes to a black plus sign, drag downwards till cell A62.
 You can see that all the cells are filled with the number “1”.
 A box appears at the right of the last cell. Click on it and select “Fill Series”.
 The correct serial numbers now appear in your list.
 Isn’t the “Auto Fill” feature so very convenient?

Formatting Data

Now that all the data has been entered, let’s make some modifications. We’ll change
the font and the font size of the heading row first.

 Select the heading cells then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a
suitable “Font” and “Font Size”.
 Apply suitable formatting to the other data as well.
 Now you can see that some of the text is not fitting inside the cell and hence we
need to increase the column width.
 To increase the width, move your curser to the column side at the top.
 Cursor will get changed to two headed arrow.

551
  Double click on the edge of column and the column width will get adjusted to the
text length.

Making Text Bold

Next, we’ll make the text in the heading row bold.

 To do this, on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.

Using Alignment

Now let us center the text within the cells in the heading row.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Alignment” group, click the “Center” icon.
 Yes, this heading looks fine now.
 Center the data in the columns A to F by selecting the data except the headings
and then clicking the “Center” icon.

Creating Borders

What remains is the creation of borders for the data we have entered.

 Select the cells by dragging from cell A1 to F62.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select “Borders → all Borders”.
 This displays a border around each cell.
 Your level 1 Donors List is complete!

LEVEL 2

Inserting Rows

 Open the document containing the worksheet we created in the previous

assignment.
 We want a main heading at the top of the worksheet.
 So let us insert a blank row above the first row.
 Click anywhere in the first row.

552
  On the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group, click the arrow next to the “Insert”
icon.
 From the options displayed, select “Insert Sheet Rows”.
 A blank row is inserted at the top of the worksheet and the rest of the data shifts
downwards.

Using Merge Center

Ok, now we want the heading to span across cells A1 to F1.

 So select these cells and on the “Home” tab,

 In the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.

Increasing Row Height

Let us increase the height of the heading row.

 Place your mouse pointer at the extreme left on the boundary between row 1 and
2.
 Drag downwards to increase the row height as required.

Using Word Art

We shall use WordArt to write the heading text.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click “Word Art”.
 Select a style from the gallery displayed and click “OK”.
 Enter your heading in the text box that appears.
 Position your mouse pointer on a corner of the text box and when it changes to a
black four-headed arrow drag to position it on the top row.
 Click outside the text box.

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Applying Cell Shading

Now we shall color the background of this heading line.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Fill Color”
icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 Doesn’t this heading look great?

More Cell Shading

 Select the cells in the next row and apply a suitable background color to the cells
in the same way.
 Apply appropriate shading to the columns containing the data as well.

Changing Font Color

Let’s change the color of the data within the cells.

 Select the cells in row 2.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font Color”.
 Select the other cells and color the data in the same way.
 That’s it; your level 2 worksheet is complete!

LEVEL 3

Inserting a Shape

 Open the document containing the level 2 worksheet.

 We’ll first insert the pictures in the heading rows.
 These pictures are actually creating using teardrop shapes.
 Let’s learn to create such shapes.
 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Under “Basic Shapes”, click “Teardrop” and drag with your mouse to draw the
shape at a suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab is displayed under the heading “Drawing Tools”.

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Rotating a Shape

You can see a green circular rotation handle at the top of the shape.

 Place your mouse on this handle and drag it to the left to rotate the teardrop till
it becomes vertical.

Enhancing a Shape

Now we’ll enhance the appearance of this shape a little.

 On the “Format” tab, from the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to
“Shape Effects”.
 You can see various options.
 Click “Shadow” and make a selection.
 Similarly make appropriate selections from the “Reflection” and “Bevel” options.

Using Gradients

Now we shall use a gradient to color this shape.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Fill” icon.
 Then select “Gradient → More Gradients”.
 In the window displayed, select “Gradient fill”.
 Then make suitable selections from the “Preset colors” and “Type” dropdown
lists.
 Click “Close”.

Making Adjustments

Drag the yellow square shaped node at the top of the shape a little upwards to make it
appear more like a teardrop.

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Removing Outline

We shall remove the outline of this shape now. For this, on the “Format” tab, in the
“Shape Styles” group, select “Shape Outline → No Outline”.

Copying a Shape

Now that we have our shape formatted as we want, we’ll copy it.

 Use the shortcuts “Ctrl + C” to copy and “Ctrl + V” to paste.

 Then reduce the size of the copied shape by dragging a sizing handle as shown.
 Place your mouse pointer on the shape and when it changes to a four-headed
arrow, drag and position the smaller shape as required.

Grouping Shapes

Now both our teardrop shapes are formatted and positioned as required. So we’ll group
them so that they are treated as one unit. One teardrop is already selected.

 Keeping the “Shift” key pressed; select the other one as well.
 On the “Format” tab, from the “Arrange” group, click the “Group” icon and select
“Group”.
 Our picture consisting of two teardrops is ready now.
 Simply copy the grouped shapes and position them at the other end of the
heading text.

Creating Filters

We’ll now learn how to sort and filter the data within our database.

 Click any cell containing data.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Editing” group, select “Sort & Filter → Filter”.
 You can see that small arrow buttons appear in row 2 which contains the column
headings.

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Sorting Data

Let us assume that you wish to see the data sorted blood group wise.

 Click the arrow in the “Blood Group” column.

 From the displayed options, select “Sort A to Z”.
 This sorts your list in ascending order of blood group.

Filtering Data

 If you wish to display records for the blood group “O” only, click the arrow again
and in the box at the bottom, uncheck the box in front of “(Select All)” and check
the boxes in front of “O-” and “O+”.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your data is filtered and you see only the information you need.

Removing Filters

 To display the data as it originally was, remove the filter by selecting “Sort &
Filter - Clear”.
 To sort by serial number once again, click the arrow in the “Sr. No.” column and
select “Sort Smallest to Largest”.
 In this way you can get whatever data you require very easily.

Renaming a Worksheet

Let us give a meaningful name to this worksheet now.

 Right-click the sheet tab at the bottom of the worksheet and from the options
displayed, select “Rename”.
 The default name is highlighted.
 Simply type the new name.
 Pres Enter.

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Deleting a Worksheet

We need only a single worksheet for our database.

 So let us delete the other sheets.

 Right-click the sheet tab of Sheet2 and select “Delete”.
 Remove Sheet3 in the same way.

Saving the Document

Your Donors database is complete now!

 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now you can apply the skills you have learnt for the creation of various types of
databases!

MONTHLY BUDGET

LEVEL 1

Objective

The worksheet displayed shows a monthly household budget. The projected and actual
incomes and expenses have been entered under various heads. The differences between
projected and actual values are shown for each head. Totals of incomes and expenses
are also displayed. Finally, a summary of the budget has been created. The main
heading has been positioned at the center above the data. The other headings and
totals have been highlighted using different fonts and cell shading. So let us start
creating a similar worksheet by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

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Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Using Merge Center

You can see the cell A1 is active.

 Click in cell B1 and enter the main heading as shown.

 Then click outside the cell.
 Ok, now we want the heading to span across cells B1 to J1.
 So select these cells by dragging with your mouse.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 The cells are merged into one single cell.

Formatting Text

Since this is the heading, let us use a different font and increase the font size. For this,

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font
Size”.
 Now to embolden this heading, from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.

Increasing Column Width

 Enter the Income related headings in cells B3 to E3.

 Use the “Tab” key or the right arrow key to move between cells.
 Select the cells and embolden the headings.
 Let us increase the width of the columns according to the data we plan to enter.
Widen all columns as required.

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Entering Data

 Next, enter the income heads and related projected and actual figures.
 Use the down arrow key to move downwards.
 Similarly, widen all columns as required.

Inserting a Formula

Now we want to calculate the difference between the actual and projected income under
each head. So we shall enter the appropriate formulas.

 Click in cell E4. Enter the formula “=D4-C4”.

 Press “Enter” after your formula is complete to display the result.

Copying a Formula

We need a similar formula in cell E5 for the next income head. We can simply copy the
formula we wrote in cell E4 to cell E5.

 Ensure that cell E4 is active and press “Ctrl + C” to copy the formula.
 Then click in cell E5 and press “Ctrl + V” to paste it there.
 Excel takes care and changes the column names in the cell addresses.
 Paste the copied formula in the appropriate cells of the other income heads in the
same way.
 A negative sign is displayed when actual income is less than the projected one.

Using the “SUM” Icon

Now we want the totals of the projected, actual and difference figures for all income
heads.

 Enter the text “TOTAL INCOME” in cell B8 as shown.

 Then click in cell C8.
 Getting the total of the figures in cells C4 to C7 can be very simply done by
clicking the “Home” Tab → “Editing” Group → “Sum” icon and pressing
“Enter”.

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  Click in cells D8 and E8 and get the totals in the same way.
 Wasn’t this so easy?

Applying Cell Shading

Now we shall color the background of the cells B3 to E3 to highlight the headings.

 Select the cells and on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow
next to the “Fill Color” icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 Apply a suitable background color to the cells B8 to E8 in the same way.

Changing Font Color

Now let’s change the color of the text within the cells to which we have applied shading.

 Select cells B3 to E3.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Font
Color” icon and select a color.
 Similarly, change the font color in cells B8 to E8.

Using Similar Procedures

Now it’s time to enter data related to expenses.

 Enter the headings in cells B10 to E10 and format as required.

 Enter the expense data in cells B11 to D20.
 Then, click in cell E11.
 The formula for calculating the difference will be “=C11-D11” this time, since we
want a negative sign to be displayed when actual expenses exceed projected
expenses.
 Copy this formula to the other appropriate cells.
 Calculate the expense totals in the same way as you did for the income data.

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Completing the Document

What remains is the creation of the budget summary. Let’s reduce the width of column
F since it’s a blank column. For this, drag the right boundary of the column heading to
the left.

 Enter the headings in cells G6 to J6 and format as required.

 Enter the text “Total Income” and “Total Expenses” in cells G7 and G8
respectively.
 Now we want to enter the total projected income in cell H7.
 This is available in cell C8.
 So we need to enter the formula “=C8” in cell H7.
 Enter appropriate formulas for the total actual income, the total projected
expenses and the total actual expenses in the same way.
 Similarly, enter formulas for calculating the differences in cells J7 and J8.
 Finally, enter the text “NET” in cell G9 and derive the net figures in cells H9 to J9
using suitable formulas.
 Your monthly budget level 1 is ready!

LEVEL 2

Formatting Numeric Data

 Open the document containing the worksheet we created at level 1.

 We want all the numeric data to display decimal places and a comma as a
thousand separators.
 This can be done quite easily.
 Let’s begin with cells C4 to E8.
 First, select the cells and then on the “Home” tab, from the “Number” group, click
the “Comma Style” icon.
 This displays the data as required.
 Cells containing zero display a dash.
 Format all the other cells with numeric data in the same way.

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Creating Borders

Next, we shall create borders around each group of data.

 Select the cells containing all income related information i.e. cells B3 to E8.
 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon and select “More Borders”.
 In the window displayed, click on a suitable line style in the “Style” box.
 We want external as well as internal borders.
 So under “Presets”, click the “Outline” icon and then the “Inside” one.
 Click “OK”.
 Click outside the cells to see the borders clearly.
 Create borders around the expenses data and the summary data in the same
way.

Sorting Alphabetic Data

When there is a large amount of data, sorting helps you to locate a specific item easily.
Sorting of numeric data is also useful for analysis.

 Let’s sort the income related data income head wise.

 Select cells B4 to E7.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group, click “Sort & Filter”.
 From the displayed options, select “Sort A to Z” to sort in ascending order.
 You can see that your data is sorted as specified.

Sorting Numeric Data

Now, let us sort the expenses data according to the difference in projected and actual
figures.

 Select the cells B11 to E20.

 The procedure for sorting this time varies slightly since the “Difference” column is
not the first one in the selected cells.
 Activate the “Data” tab.

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  From the “Sort & Filter” group, click the “Sort” icon. In the displayed window, in
the “Sort by” box, click the arrow and select “Difference”.
 In the “Order” box, click the arrow and specify your sort order.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your data is displayed sorted according to your specifications.
 Your monthly budget level 2 is complete!
 Now you can try creating different kinds of worksheets using the skills you have
acquired.

EXAM TIME TABLE

LEVEL 1

Objective

The worksheet displayed shows an exam time table. The name of the institute is
displayed centrally at the top. The other headings have been highlighted using bold
fonts. The exam schedules for the various courses are displayed in boxes one below the
other. So let us start creating a similar worksheet by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

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Using Merge Center

You can see the cell A1 is active.

 Click in cell D4 and enter the name of the institute as shown.

 Then click outside the cell.
 Now we want to pace this heading centrally within cells D4 to G4.
 So select these cells by dragging with your mouse.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 The cells are merged into one single cell and the text is placed at the center.

Formatting Text

Since this is the heading, let us use a different font and increase the font size.

 For this, on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and
“Font Size”.
 Now to embolden this heading, from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Similarly enter the next two lines of text by merging the required cells and using
suitable fonts.

Increasing Row Height

Let us space out the three lines of text that we have entered. For this, we’ll increase the
height of the rows containing the two lines below the institute name.

 Place your mouse pointer at the extreme left on the boundary between rows 5
and 6.
 Drag downwards to increase the height of row 5 as required.
 Similarly increase the height of row 6.

Aligning Text

To align the text centrally within the two merged cells we just created,

 First select these cells.

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  Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Middle Align” icon.

Using Italics

 Now merge cells C8 to H8.

 We want the text within the merged cell to appear in italics.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the “Italic” icon and enter the text
as shown.
 Click outside the cell.
 To align the text to the left of the cell, click within the cell and on the “Home” tab,
from the “Alignment” group, click the “Align Text Left” icon.

Increasing Column Width

 Enter the headings for the exam schedules in cells C9 to H9 as shown.

 Use the “Tab” key or the right arrow key to move between cells.
 Select the cells and embolden the headings.
 Let us increase the width of the columns according to the data we plan to enter.
 Place the mouse pointer on the boundary to the right of a column heading.
 When the pointer appears as a two headed arrow, drag the boundary to the
required width.
 Similarly, widen all columns as required.

Aligning Text

 To align the headings centrally within the cells, ensure the cells are selected.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Center” icon.
 Next, enter the name of the first course in bold fonts in row 11 by merging the
appropriate cells.
 Align this text to the left of the cell by using the “Align Text Left” icon.

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Entering Data

 Now enter the exam schedule of the subjects for this course in cells C12 to H19.
 Enter data related to the other courses in a similar way leaving two blank rows
after each course.

Creating Borders

What remains is the creation of borders around each group of data.

 First, select the cells containing the three merged cells at the top.
 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon and select “Outside Borders”.
 Click outside the cells to see the borders clearly.
 Now select cells C9 to H9.
 Here, we want external as well as internal borders.
 So select “Borders → All Borders”.
 Create borders around the data related to each course in a similar way.
 Finally, select cells B2 to I45 i.e. the complete data and select “Borders → Thick
Box Border”.
 Click outside the cells to see a thick border around the time table.

Decreasing Column Width

Since columns B and I do not contain any data, let’s reduce their width for a better
appearance.

 Drag the boundary between columns B and C towards the left to reduce the
width of column B.
 Adjust the width of column I in the same way.
 That’s it, your exam time table level 1 is ready!

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LEVEL 2

Applying Cell Shading

 Open the document containing the exam time table we created at level 1.
 Let’s apply different background colors to the cells for an attractive appearance.
 First select the three merged cells at the top.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Fill Color”
icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 Then click outside the cells.
 Doesn’t this look nice!
 Apply attractive background colors to the other cells in a similar way.

Changing Font Color

Now let’s change the font color of some text to match the cell background.

 Select the three merged cells at the top.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Font
Color” icon.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 Change the color of the other data as required in a similar way.

Inserting Rows

We want to insert a picture of the logo of the institution and write the institution’s
slogan at the top of the time table. So let’s make space for them by inserting some
blank rows. We want three blank rows above the main title. So we need to select an
equal number of existing rows first.

 Place your mouse pointer on the extreme left and drag to select rows 4 to 6.
 Now on the “Home” tab, from the “Cells” group, click “Insert”.
 You can see that three new rows have been inserted.
 Click outside the selection.

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Inserting a Picture

Ok, now that we’ve made space, we are ready to insert our logo picture.

 Click in cell C3. Activate the “Insert” tab.

 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 A new “Format” tab appears.
 You may size this picture as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 Move it to a suitable position by placing the mouse pointer on it and dragging
when the pointer appears as a four-headed arrow.

Using Picture Styles

Now we’ll enhance this picture by applying a picture style.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Click outside the picture.
 Yes, this picture looks fine now!

Using Merge Center

 Now merge cells D4 to G4 and enter the slogan using suitable fonts.
 Apply appropriate background shading.
 Our final exam time table is ready to use!
 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now you can apply the skills you have learnt to create various types of Excel
worksheets!

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ADDITIONAL EXCEL FEATURES

SECURITY

Using Passwords

Adding a password to a confidential Excel workbook would ensure that no

unauthorized person peeks at your data.

 To add a password, click the “File” tab.

 In the central pane, click “Protect Workbook”.
 Various security options are displayed.
 To add a password, select “Encrypt with Password”.

Creating a Password

 A window appears prompting you to enter a password.

 Type a password of your choice and click “OK”.
 Remember that the password is case sensitive.
 You are asked to confirm the password once again.
 Re-enter it and click “OK”.
 Then save your workbook and close it.
 Now your file is password protected and no one can open it without entering the
password.
 If you lose or forget the password, it cannot be recovered.
 So it is advisable to keep a list of passwords and their corresponding document
names in a safe place.

Removing a Password

Now we’ll learn to remove the password from the workbook.

 Open the workbook using your password.

 Click the “File” tab. Select “Protect Workbook - Encrypt with Password” once
again.

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  In the displayed window, select the password and delete it.
 Then click “OK” and save the workbook.
 Your workbook is not password protected any more.

EXCEL EXTENTIONS

Excel Web Application

Microsoft Excel Web App extends your Microsoft Excel experience to the web browser,
where you can work with workbooks directly on the website where they are stored. In
Microsoft Excel 2010 you can start using Excel Web App by saving your workbook to
your SkyDrive or your SharePoint library.

SkyDrive and Share point

SkyDrive and SharePoint are software products developed by Microsoft for collaboration
file sharing and Web publishing.

 On the File tab, click “Save & Send”, and then click “Save to Web” or “Save to
SharePoint”.
 Now, your workbook is available to view and print quickly, to edit in the browser,
or re-open in Excel.

Microsoft Excel Mobile 2010

Excel Mobile has been included in the Office Mobile suite. It is a spreadsheet program
that is compatible with Microsoft Excel. It can be used to create, open, edit, and save in
Microsoft’s .xls spreadsheet format. Excel Mobile allows for formatting of cells, basic
calculations of formulas, and the creation of charts or graphs. In order to overcome the
problems associated with limited screen resolution, Excel Mobile also has the ability to
use a full-screen mode.

Excel Mobile Features

Additionally Excel Mobile supports filtering of data and split panes to view different
parts of a worksheet simultaneously. Some features available on the desktop version of

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Excel such as protection settings, zoom settings, auto filter settings, certain chart
formatting and hidden sheets are not supported on Excel Mobile.

RECEIPT

LEVEL 1

Objective

The receipt displayed shows the name and address of the institution at the top. Spaces
have been provided for entry of the receipt number, date and student details. A table
has been created for the various payment heads. At the bottom, spaces have been
provided for cheque details, if any, and the receiver’s signature. So let us start creating
a similar receipt by opening the Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

You can see cell A1 is active.

 Click in cell B1 and enter the name of the institution as shown.

 Then click outside the cell.

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Formatting Text

Since this is the heading click Cell B1, let us use a different font and increase the font
size.

 For this, on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and
“Font Size”.
 Now to embolden this heading, from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Underline it by clicking the “Underline” icon.
 Enter the address of the institution in the next row in the same way.

Navigate between Cells

Now we are ready to enter our text.

 Click in cell B4 and enter the text “Receipt No:” as shown.

 Use the “Tab” key or the right arrow key to move to the next cell.
 Enter the other text as shown and make it bold.

Entering and Aligning Text

We plan to enter the payment heads in a four columns. Select cell B9.

 Enter the table heading. Now enter other headings, embolden them.
 To align the headings centrally within the cells, first select the cells.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Center” icon.

Using Auto fill

Now we shall enter the serial numbers in the first column.

 Click in cell B10 and enter the serial number 1.

 Move the mouse to the bottom right corner of the cell.
 When it changes to a black plus sign, drag downwards till cell B20.
 You can see that all the cells are filled with the number “1”.
 A box appears to the right of the last cell.

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  Click on it and select “Fill Series”.
 The correct serial numbers appear in your list.
 Isn’t the “Auto Fill” feature so very convenient?
 Now make the serial numbers bold. And align numbers centrally.

Increasing Column Width

 Enter the different payment heads in cells C10 to C20.

 Next, let us increase the width of the columns according to the data we plan to
enter.
 Place the mouse pointer on the boundary to the right of a column heading.
 When the pointer appears as a two headed arrow, drag the boundary to the
required width.
 Similarly, widen all columns as required. Enter the other required text.

Using Merge Center

 Click in cell B1.

 We want the heading to span across these columns.
 So select cells B1 to E1 by dragging with your mouse.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 The cells are merged into one single cell.

Creating Borders

 Select the cells B9 to E20.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon and select “All Borders”.
 Similarly add borders to all cells as required.
 This completes your level 1 receipt.

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LEVEL 2

Applying Cell Shading

 Let us color the background of the cells B1 to E2 to highlight the name and
address of the institution.
 Select the cells and activate the “Home” tab.
 From the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Fill Color” icon.
 Click on a color from the displayed palette.
 Apply a suitable background color to the cells B3 to E30 in the same way.
 Color the cells in the top row and the bottom two rows of the table with the same
color as the name of the institution.

Removing Gridlines

Now that the receipt is ready, we can remove the gridlines from the worksheet to see
how the receipt will actually look.

 Click the “Page Layout” tab. In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in
front of “Gridlines - View”.
 This makes your worksheet look neat and clean.

Page Layout View

 Activate the “View” tab and from the “Workbook Views” group, click “Page
Layout”.
 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now go ahead and apply the skills that you have learnt to create various kinds of
Excel documents!

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INVENTORY

LEVEL 1

Objective

The inventory sheet displayed shows the name of the organization, the item code, name
and unit of measure at the top. Other information is maintained under three heads –
orders placed, quantities received and quantities sold. A column has been created for
entry of comments, if any. Let us start creating a similar inventory sheet by opening the
Excel application.

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

 First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As”
window, browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

 Now enter the name of the organization.

 Similarly, enter the sub-title as shown in the next row.

Making Text Bold

 Let us embolden the two lines of text that we have entered.

 Select the two cells and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.

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Using Merge Center

We plan to enter details in columns B to column N. We want the main title to span
across these columns.

 So select cells B2 to N2 by dragging with your mouse.

 On the “Home tab, from the “Alignment” group, click the “Merge & Center” icon.
 The cells are merged into a single cell. Do the same for cell B3.

Creating Borders

Next we’ll create a box around the two merged cells.

 Since the cells are already selected, on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click
the arrow next to the “Borders” icon and select “Outside Borders”.
 Click outside the selected cells to see the border.

Using Similar Procedures

Before we actually enter the inventory data, we need to create the main structure of the
sheet.

 First, enter the headings “ORDERED”, “RECEIVED” and “SOLD” in row 8 by

merging appropriate cells and using suitable fonts.
 Enter the next level of headings in row 9 as shown.
 Merge cells I10 to K10 and enter the text “BALANCE BROUGHT FORWARD”.

Aligning Text

 Let us align the headings in row 9 centrally within the cells.

 Select the cells and on the “Home” tab, in the “Alignment” group, click the
“Center” icon.

Increasing Column Width

Now we need a wider column for entering the name of the vendor.

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  So let us increase the width of this column.
 Place the mouse pointer on the boundary between column headings D and E.
 When the pointer appears as a two headed arrow, drag the boundary to the
required width.
 Similarly, widen the other columns as required.

Creating Borders

Now we’ll create internal and external borders so that we get a table-like structure in
which we can enter our inventory data.

 To select cells B8 to M34, type “B8:M34” in the Name Box at the top left corner
and press “Enter”.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon and select “All Borders”.
 Click outside the selected cells to see the borders.

Using Similar Procedures

 Similarly, enter item details in cells B5 to J6 within a table like structure as

shown.
 We want to use column N for comments.
 Widen it as required.
 Then merge cells N8 and N9 and enter the heading “COMMENTS” using suitable
fonts.
 To place this text at the center, select the cell and from the “Alignment” group,
click the “Middle Align” icon.
 Select cells N8 to N34 and create borders.
 Finally to complete the structure, merge cells B35 to L35 and enter the text
“CARRIED TO NEXT SHEET” using suitable font.
 Align this text to the right of the cell using the “Align Text Right” icon.
 Then select cells B35 to N35 and create borders.

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Changing Border Style

Since the data will be entered under three categories, let us highlight the borders
between them using a different line style.

 Click the arrow next to the “Borders” icon and select “Line Style”.
 Click on a suitable option from the ones displayed.
 The mouse pointer appears in the shape of a pencil.
 Drag along the borders to which you wish to apply this style.
 Press “Esc” when done.

Entering Text

 Now that our structure is ready, enter the text in cells B11 to N20 using suitable
fonts as shown.
 Your level 1 inventory sheet is ready!

LEVEL 2

Applying Cell Shading

 Open the document containing the inventory sheet we created at level 1.

 Let us color the background of the cells containing the main title.
 Select the two merged cells at the top.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Fill Color”
icon.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 Similarly, apply a suitable background color to the other headings and the cells
in the bottom row.
 Yes, this looks nice!

Using Formulas

We’ll use formulas to calculate the balance quantity after each transaction.

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  Delete the data in column M from row 11 onwards by selecting the cells and
pressing “Delete”.
 Now click in cell M11.
 We’ll use a formula in this cell and all other cells in column M below this one.
 Whenever there is a receipt or an issue, the balance quantity will be updated
accordingly.
 Enter the formula “=IF (OR (G11>0, L11>0), M10+G11-L11,"")” and press
“Enter”.
 The balance quantity is calculated for you!
 This formula checks whether the received or issued quantity has been entered
and accordingly displays the balance.

Copying a Formula

We need similar formulas in all the cells below cell M11 in column M.

 Activate cell M11 and press “Ctrl + C” to copy the formula.

 Then select cells M12 to M34 and press “Ctrl + V” to paste the formula in all
these cells.
 Excel takes care and changes the column name in the cell addresses.
 You can see the correct balances displayed at each level.

Testing a Formula

 Now enter an issue transaction.

 Then enter a receipt transaction.
 You can see that the balance is calculated automatically when you move to the
next field after entering the transaction quantity.

Using Formulas

 Finally, click in cell M35 and enter the formula “=M34”.

 This will display the balance after the last transaction in this sheet as the balance
carried forward to the next sheet.

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  Enter a number; say 200, in cell M34 and press “Enter”.
 You can see that it is displayed in cell M35.
 Press “Undo” on the Quick Access toolbar to revert to the previous status because
this is not a valid transaction.

Removing Gridlines

Now that the inventory sheet is complete, we can remove the gridlines from the
worksheet for a better look.

 Activate the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in front of “Gridlines → View”.
 This makes your worksheet look neat and clean.
 To save the document, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now you can apply the skills that you have learnt to create various kinds of Excel
documents!

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 PRESENTATION GRAPHICS
GETTING STARTED

OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION

History

Hello Friends! Every era has shown leaps in presentation tools and technologies. The
concept of putting forward ideas and thoughts in different forms is not a new one. The
earliest graphics used for showcasing ideas in the prehistoric periods were cave
paintings. Later stone tablets were used to represent different thoughts. With the
changing times, visual graphics could be seen on walls and canvas. Previously,
teachers used only chalkboards as a means of communication with the students. Later,
printed materials were used which ranged from simple silk-screened posters to
pictures, leaflets, pamphlets, and wall newspapers. So you can see that as man evolved,
his methods of communication and presentation evolved too!

Comparison

Earlier, teachers distributed materials to students which were in textual and handout
form. But these media had several drawbacks. Time and delivery constraints became
major issues. These media could not be used to communicate directly with the
audience. Compared with the counterparts of a few years ago, today we have a vast
range of presentation techniques.

Presentations

Welcome to the world of Presentation Graphics! A Presentation is a form of

communication with an audience. It is the practice of showing and explaining the
content of a topic using visual aids to communicate ideas, messages, and other
information to a group. This is done by accumulating graphs, charts, text and other
data together into a program and arranging them in a presentable manner.

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Presentation programs are easy to use and can save a lot of time. Because of this,
people who have never given a presentation before are also encouraged to do so. Isn’t
that really amazing?

Popular Presentation Programs

Microsoft PowerPoint and OpenOffice.org Impress are a few of the popular

presentation programs. There are also some other very useful presentation programs
such as Calligra Stage, Apple Keynote, Smart Draw etc. We’ll learn to use Microsoft
PowerPoint 2010. Its rich features and user-friendliness will leave you spellbound!

PowerPoint 2010

Presentation programs visualize data, ideas and information. They are designed to
convey the gist of statistical and textual information quickly. PowerPoint 2010 has
emerged as one of the most dynamic presentation tools in todays Information Age. It is
a well-known, versatile and easy to use tool. Today, PowerPoint presentations are
available in many forms, styles and custom layouts. They are used by working
professionals, academicians, students, medical practitioners and many others to
showcase material, information and data. A PowerPoint presentation comprises of text,
images, 3-D graphics, audio clips, sound effects and flashy animations.

Usage

You will be amazed to know the diversified usage of PowerPoint. PowerPoint

Presentations are widely used both in the business and education world. They are used
creatively to enliven discussions, add value to lectures, make compelling speeches and
enrich studies and reports. Students use PowerPoint presentations to enrich their
assignments, projects and other coursework submissions. At the workplace, PowerPoint
helps you to create an effective and impeccable presentation for the Board of Directors
of a company as well as your fellow colleagues. You can create attractive resumes,
business cards, invitation cards, plans, proposals, and certificates. The benefits seem to
be endless. PowerPoint presentations can be modified and used over and over again.

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Features

An effective presentation is one which is clean, well laid out and such that it puts
across your points clearly and in an interesting manner. PowerPoint gives you
innumerable ways to create and share dynamic presentations with your audience. The
powerful features help you to develop presentations that are both easy to create and
wonderful to watch. Doesn’t that sound really interesting? One of the important
features of PowerPoint is that it enables you to work simultaneously with other people.
You can post your presentation online and access it from virtually anywhere using the
Web or a Smartphone.

Starting PowerPoint 2010

A PowerPoint presentation is created using “Slides”.

 To begin using PowerPoint, you will need to first open the application.
 Click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office →
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010”.
 When you start PowerPoint, you are presented with a new blank presentation in
“Normal” view.
 The PowerPoint screen at first glance may appear quite daunting.
 But when you start using the application, you’ll quickly find out what everything
is.

THE USER INTERFACE

The User Interface is the way in which you interact with your computer. The Microsoft
Office user interface is quite uniform across its components. Before you start on your
journey of learning PowerPoint 2010, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the
various screen elements. Come, let’s explore the PowerPoint screen!

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar is the small area at the top left corner. It contains the
commands that you regularly use such as Save, Undo, and Repeat. You can also add

584
your favorite commands to it so that they are easily available regardless of which tab
you are on.

Title Bar

The Title bar is located at the top of the PowerPoint window. This displays the name of
the presentation on which you are currently working. By default, PowerPoint names
presentations sequentially, starting with Presentation1. This name can be changed
when you save your presentation.

Ribbon

No matter where you travel in an Office program, you will see the Ribbon across the top
of the screen. The Ribbon is a large toolbar filled with graphical control elements
grouped by different functionalities.

Parts of the Ribbon

The three parts of the Ribbon are tabs, groups, and commands.

 Each tab represents an activity area.

 There are some tabs which are contextual and appear only when a certain type of
object such as a table or image is selected.
 These provide tools specific to that object.
 Each tab has several groups that show related commands together.
 A command is a button, a box to enter information, or a menu.

Dialog Box Launcher

The Ribbon displays the important or key commands required for a task. The Dialog
Box Launcher is a button with a small arrow on it which appears in the lower right
corner of many groups. Clicking it opens a dialog box that provides many more options.

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Help

Clicking the question mark symbol at the right end of the Ribbon brings up the Help
window related to the Office application that you are using. When you move your
mouse over most command buttons, a “Super-tooltip” is displayed. This provides a
detailed description of what the button does. Equivalent keyboard shortcuts are also
displayed if applicable. These can be used as an alternative to mouse clicks. You may
use them when you are more familiar with the commands.

Slide Pane Placeholders

When you start PowerPoint, you see a blank slide in the “Slide Pane” on the right. In
this pane, you can work directly on individual slides. Dotted borders identify
“Placeholders", where you can type text or insert pictures, charts, and other objects.

Slides Tab Outline Tab

On the left, you see two tabs.

 The “Slides” tab shows a thumbnail version of all slides in the presentation.
 The “Outline” tab shows your slide text in outline form.

Notes Pane

The “Notes” pane at the bottom can be used to enter notes related to the slide. These
may be notes that you need to refer to at the time of presentation in front of an
audience. You can also hand out the notes to your audience.

Resizing Panes

You can resize the different panes that you see on your screen. First, you need to point
to the border of a pane. When the pointer becomes a two-headed arrow, drag the border
to the required size. You can see that the slide in the Slide pane resizes automatically to
fit the available space.

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Status Bars View Buttons Zoom Buttons

 The horizontal “Status Bar” at the bottom of the screen displays information
about the presentation such as the number of the slide currently displayed and
the total number of slides.
 The View buttons at the right of the status bar enable you to view your
presentation in different ways.
 The Zoom buttons at the bottom right corner are used to make your slides
appear larger or smaller. You may click the minus and plus icons or drag the
slider to the required level.

CREATING A SIMPLE PRESENTATION

Creating a New Presentation

You know that when you first start PowerPoint you see a new blank presentation. When
an existing PowerPoint presentation is open, to create a new blank presentation, click
the File Tab and select “New” in the left pane. In the central pane, you can see various
template categories. A Template is a pre-designed presentation created for common
purposes such as a project status report, classic photo album, etc.

Using Templates

 To create a new presentation using one of the standard templates, click “Sample
Templates” and then the desired template in the central pane.
 Then click the “Create” icon in the right pane.
 Here you are!
 A new ready-to-use presentation is created based on the template you selected
which can be modified as required.
 For now, we want to create a presentation from scratch, so we’ll close this
presentation.
 Click the “X” shaped icon close at the top right corner.

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Entering Text

 You can see a new presentation on your screen with one blank slide.
 This slide is the Title Slide.
 It has two placeholders by default.
 Click in the first placeholder and type the title of your presentation.
 In the second placeholder type a subtitle.

Editing in the Slide Pane

You may need to make changes to the text on your slide.

 Let’s change the title.

 Click within the title.
 The title is now a selected object and is surrounded by a selection rectangle.
 An insertion point is displayed to show your location in the text.
 Enter the required text.
 To change existing text, first select it by clicking and then dragging with your
mouse.
 Then make your changes.

Editing in the Outline Tab

You can also make editing changes to your text in the “Outline” tab.

 Click this tab.

 Now make the required changes.
 These are simultaneously reflected in the Slide Pane.

Themes

The “Themes” gallery is used to apply a “Theme” to a presentation. A “Theme” is a pre-

defined combination of colors; fonts and formatting effects which lets you change the
entire design of a presentation.

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  On the “Design” tab, in the “Themes” group, move your mouse over the various
themes to see a Live Preview of how your presentation would look if a specific
theme is applied.
 Click the “More” arrow to display the complete “Themes” gallery and then click on
a suitable one.
 You can see that colors, fonts and effects are changed as per the selected theme.

Changing Theme Colors, Fonts and Effects

The “Colors” icon is used to change the color scheme of an applied theme.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Themes” group, click “Colors”.

 Make your selection from the displayed options.
 Doesn’t your theme look more attractive now?
 You may also change the “Fonts” and “Effects” using the respective icons.

New Slide

The “New Slide” icon is used to insert a new slide after the currently active one. Let’s
insert a slide after the title slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.

 You can see that a new slide has been inserted with the same theme that you had
applied to the first slide.
 This slide has a different layout from the first slide since this is not the title slide.
The lower placeholder has various icons.
 These are used to enter objects like tables, charts, etc.
 For now, simply enter the text within the two placeholders as shown.

From Beginning

The “New Slide” icon is used to insert a new slide after the currently active one.

 Let’s insert a slide after the title slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.

589
  You can see that a new slide has been inserted with the same theme that you had
applied to the first slide.
 This slide has a different layout from the first slide since this is not the title slide.
 The lower placeholder has various icons.
 These are used to enter objects like tables, charts, etc.
 For now, simply enter the text within the two placeholders as shown.

WORKING WITH A PRESENTATION

Working with Placeholders

 The placeholders on a slide can be sized and positioned as required.

 Click the title on the first slide.
 The six “Sizing Handles” on the placeholder can be used to adjust its size.
 Place your pointer over a corner handle and when it appears as a two headed
arrow, drag to adjust both the height and width simultaneously.
 The sizing handles at the sides are used to adjust only the height or width.
 To move a placeholder, click in an area between the sizing handles on any border.
 When the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, drag to the location you wish.
 To rotate a placeholder, place your pointer on the “Rotation Handle” at the top
and drag in the required direction.

Selecting Slides

Let’s learn to select slides in the displayed presentation.

 To select a single slide, simply click the slide on the Slides tab.
 To select several slides, hold down the “Ctrl” key and click the required slides.
 To select consecutive slides, click the first slide, hold down the “Shift” key and
then click the last one.

Moving Slides

While your presentation takes shape there will be times when you need to move slides
forward and backward.

590
  To do so, first select the slides on the Slides tab.
 Now drag them to the required position.
 While dragging, you can see the drag pointer.
 A horizontal line shows you where the slides will be placed.
 Release the mouse button to relocate your slides.

Using the Slides Tab

The Slides tab at the left of your screen allows you to perform various functions.

 To view a slide in the Slide Pane at the right, click the related thumbnail on the
Slides tab.
 Right-clicking a thumbnail displays various options.
 Let’s have a look at some of them.
 To insert a new slide select “New Slide”.
 A new slide is inserted after the current slide.
 When you need to create a slide similar to an existing one, you may copy it.
 Right-click the slide on the Slides tab and select “Duplicate Slide”.
 You can see a copy of the slide has been inserted.
 You may make the required changes to this slide.
 To delete a slide, right-click and select “Delete Slide”.
 The slide is now removed from the presentation.
 A slide can also be deleted by selecting it and pressing the “Delete” key.

THE FILE TAB

The “File” tab in the PowerPoint 2010 Ribbon replaces the Office Button found in the
previous version of PowerPoint. Clicking the File Tab displays the “File” menu which is
also called the “Backstage View”. The Office Backstage contains all the “Out” features
i.e. the features which don’t act on a specific point in the presentation, and whose
effects don’t appear on the slides. It contains the usual options of opening, closing,
printing presentations and saving in different formats.

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Saving a Presentation

It is a good idea to name and save your presentation right away and then save your
changes frequently while you work. A regular PowerPoint presentation is saved with the
extension “.pptx”.

 To save your presentation, click on the “File” tab and click “Save”.
 Alternatively, you can click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar or use the
keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + S”.

Saving a New presentation

 When you save a new presentation for the first time, the “Save As” window is
displayed.
 Specify the name, folder and location for the file and then click “Save”.
 You may also save an existing file with a new name using the “File tab - Save
As” option.

Creating a New Folder

You can create a new folder at the time you save a file. The steps to do so are:

1. Click the File Tab and select “Save As”.

2. In the displayed window, navigate to the appropriate location where you wish to
place the new folder.
3. Click the “New Folder” button.

Saving in a New Folder

A new folder is created as a subfolder in the active directory.

 Type the name of the new folder in the “New Folder” window and press “Enter”.
 Click “Open” to open this folder.
 Press “Save” to save your file with the same name.
 If you wish to change your file name, make appropriate changes in the “File
name” box and then click “Save”.

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  Your presentation is now saved in the newly created folder.

Closing a Presentation

 To close a presentation, click the File tab and select “Close” or use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl + W”.
 If you try to close an unsaved file, PowerPoint asks you if you want to save your
presentation before closing it.
 Click the “Save” button in the displayed dialog box to save your work.
 When you close your presentation, the PowerPoint application continues running
if there are other open presentations.
 To exit the PowerPoint Application, use the “Exit” option on the File tab.

Opening a Presentation

The simplest way to open a presentation is to double-click its icon. This starts the
Microsoft PowerPoint application and opens the file. There are numerous ways in which
you can open a presentation when the PowerPoint application has already been started.

 You may use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + O” or click the File Tab and select “Open”.
 In the “Open” window, navigate to the location of your presentation;
 Select the file and click “Open”.

Opening a Recent Presentation

 You may open a recently used presentation by clicking on the “File” Tab and then
clicking on the “Recent” button.
 Now click on a presentation name from the “Recent Presentations” list which is
displayed in the central panel.
 You can also access a presentation from any of the recently used folders in the
“Recent Places” list.
 For this, click on a folder name and navigate to the required presentation in the
“Open” window.
 Select the required file and then click “Open”.

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Printing a presentation

You can print the slides in your presentation in the regular size or in the form of
handouts with one, two, three, four, six, or nine miniature slides on a page. Handouts
can be used by your audience to follow along as you give your presentation or for future
reference.

 To print your presentation, click the File Tab and select “Print” from the left pane.
 You may also use the shortcut keys “Ctrl + P”.
 The “Print” interface is displayed. In the right pane, you can see a preview of the
current slide.

Specifying Print Settings

 In the central pane, specify the number of copies required at the top.
 Other default settings are shown.
 You might need to change some of them.
 The displayed visual would help you with this.

Other Settings

 You may use the “Printer Properties” link to specify settings related to the
selected printer.
 Use the “Edit Header & Footer” link to specify header and footer details.
 Finally, click the “Print” button to start printing.

THE HOME TAB

The Home tab contains the most commonly-needed commands. These allow you to
insert new slides, group objects, and format text on your slides. This tab is divided into
six groups. A brief description of each of them is given below.

 Clipboard: This group contains the main editing commands such as Cut, Copy
and Paste.

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  Slides: The commands in this group enable you to insert new slides and organize
& arrange slides.
 Font: The commands in this group enable you to modify and enhance the
appearance of text.
 Paragraph: The commands in this group enable you to format paragraphs of
text.
 Drawing: The commands in this group enable you to insert shapes and arrange
& enhance objects.
 Editing: The commands in this group enable you to find and replace text as well
as make selections.

CLIPBOARD GROUP

Cut

The “Cut” icon is used to cut or delete a selection from a slide and save it so that it can
be pasted elsewhere. The matter that is cut is stored on the Clipboard. Let’s learn now
how to use this icon.

 Select some text.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, select “Cut” or use the shortcut
“Ctrl + X”.
 You can see that the text has been cut.
 Similarly, you can cut the desired slide or slides.

Copy

The “Copy” icon is used to copy a selection from one area of a slide and save it so that it
can be pasted elsewhere. The matter that is copied is stored on the Clipboard.

 Let’s learn to use this icon.

 Select some text.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, select “Copy” or use the shortcut
“Ctrl + C”.

595
  The selected text is copied to the Clipboard.
 Similarly, you can copy the desired slide or slides.

Paste

The “Paste” icon is used to insert the contents of the clipboard into a slide. The
contents are inserted at the current cursor position. Any selected text or objects are
replaced by the pasted contents.

 First, place your cursor suitably.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click “Paste” or use the shortcut
“Ctrl + V”.
 The clipboard contents are now inserted on the slide.
 If a complete slide has been cut or copied, it is inserted into the presentation after
the current slide.

Paste Options

When you paste an object or text, a small “Paste Options” icon is displayed. Click this
to view the various Paste Options:

 “Use Destination Theme” adopts the formatting of the applied theme for the
copied content.
 “Keep Source Formatting” pastes the copied content as it is without any
formatting changes.
 “Picture” inserts the copied content as a picture.
 “Keep Text Only” pastes the copied content as plain unformatted text.

Format Painter

 The “Format Painter” icon is used to copy formatting from one place and apply it
to another.
 Select a section of formatted text.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click “Format Painter”.
 You can see that the mouse pointer changes to a paint brush.

596
  Now, drag the pointer across the text to which you want to copy the formats.
 You can now see the same formatting in both the sections of text.
 If you wish to apply the selected formatting at multiple places, double-click the
“Format Painter” icon.
 You can then drag over multiple areas.
 Click “Escape” when done.
 This icon can also be used to copy formatting from one object to another.

THE SLIDES GROUP

New Slide

The “New Slide” icon is used to insert a new slide after the currently active one.

 Let’s insert a slide after the title slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.
 You can see that a new slide has been inserted with the same theme that you had
applied to the first slide.
 For now, simply enter the text within the two placeholders as shown.

Layout

The “Layout” icon is used to change the slide layout.

 Click the slide that you want to change the layout of.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “Layout”.
 You can see various layout styles displayed with the currently applied one
highlighted.
 Choose a different layout. Have a look at the Slide Pane.
 The layout of the slide has changed.
 You may also specify the slide layout when you insert a new slide.
 For this click the lower part of the “New Slide” icon and select a suitable option.

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Reset

The “Reset” icon is used to reset the position, size and formatting of the placeholders
on a slide to their default settings. This enables you to restore a slide to its original
layout after you have fiddled with it.

 Let’s first insert a new slide.

 Now move the placeholders a bit and change their sizes.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “Reset”.
 Have a look!
 The placeholders have reverted to their original size and position.

Section

The “Section” icon is used to organize your slides. This is similar to using folders to
organize your files. Creating sections enables you to group slides. Let’s create one in the
displayed presentation. Click the slide above which you wish to add a section.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “Section” and then click “Add
Section”.
 To give a meaningful name to the section, right-click the “Untitled Section”
marker and select “Rename Section”.
 Enter a meaningful name in the displayed window and click “Rename”.
 Have a look!
 The section now displays the assigned name.

Working with Section

 Right-clicking a section marker displays a pop-up menu which enables you to

perform various tasks.
 You may choose to remove a section, remove all the slides in a section or move a
section up or down.
 Click “Collapse All” to hide the display of slides on the “Slides” tab.
 Click “Expand All” to redisplay the slides.

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THE FONT GROUP

Font

A “Font” is a design for a set of characters. The “Font” box is used to change the font of
selected text. Changing the font can be used to enhance the appearance of the text or to
make it appear different from the surrounding text.

 Select the text.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the down arrow in the Font
box.
 In the displayed menu, move your mouse over the different fonts.
 The "Live Preview" feature allows you to have a preview of how the selected font
would affect the appearance of the text, without actually applying it.
 Click on the font you would like.

Font Size

The “Font Size” box is used to apply a uniform size to the characters of selected text. It
is measured in points; a point is 1/72 of an inch. Normally, a larger font size is used for
headings and important text.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the down arrow in the “Font Size”
box and select a suitable option.

Increase Font Size

The “Increase Font Size” icon is used to proportionally increase the size of selected
text. This icon enables you to increase the font size without specifying the actual size in
points.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the “Increase Font Size” icon to
increase the font size.
 You may click it as many times as needed to get the required size.

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  Similarly, the “Decrease Font Size” icon is used to proportionately decrease the
size of text.

Font Color

The “Font Color” icon is used to change the color of selected text. Using different colors
makes text more attractive.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the Font Color
icon and select a color from the displayed palette.
 Have a look!
 Your text is now displayed in the selected color.

Bold

The “Bold” icon is used to make text appear darker and thicker. Bold text is often used
for titles and other text required to be prominently displayed.

 Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Bold”.
 You can see that the text appears in bold fonts.

Italic

The “Italic” icon is used to make the characters of selected text slant to the right. Italics
are often used to emphasize words or make them appear different from other text.

 Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Italic”.
 Your text now appears in italics.

Underline

The “Underline” icon is used to draw a line below text. Text is normally underlined
when you wish to call attention to it.

 Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click
“Underline”.
 Your text is now underlined.

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Shadow

The “Shadow” icon is used to add a shadow behind selected text to make it stand out
on the slide.

 Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Text
Shadow”.
 You can see that a shadow has been added behind the text.

Strikethrough

The “Strikethrough” icon is used to draw a line through the middle of selected text.
This proves useful when you wish to display what text has been removed.

 Select the text and on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Strikethrough”.
 The text is not actually deleted, but a line is drawn across it.

Character Spacing

The “Character Spacing” icon is used to change the space between the characters of
selected text. It is used to fine-tune the text for better readability. Select the text whose
spacing is to be changed.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Character Spacing”.

 Make a selection from the displayed options.
 Have a look!
 The spacing between the characters has changed.

Chang Case

The “Change Case” icon is used to change the capitalization of text. This means you
may specify which parts you want in capital letters and small letters.

 Select some text.

 Now on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Change Case”.
 Select an option from the ones displayed.

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  Let us select “UPPERCASE”.
 You can see that your text is displayed with all capital letters.

Clear All Formatting

Sometimes you may decide that the formatting you have applied doesn’t look too good.
The “Clear All Formatting” icon is used to clear all applied formatting. This is also
useful in removing the formatting of copied text or when you want the text to appear
plain.

 Select some text to which formatting effects have been applied.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click “Clear Formatting”.
 The formatting is removed and the text is restored to its original status.

The Font Dialog Box

The “Font” dialog box is used to apply a combination of various formatting effects.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the Dialog Box Launcher to display
the “Font” window.
 Enter your requirements and click “OK”.

THE PARAGRAPH GROUP

Bullets

The “Bullets” icon is used to create a bulleted list on a slide. A bulleted list is normally
used for logically related information. Let’s convert the text on the displayed slide into a
bulleted list.

 Select the required text.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click “Bullets”.
 Your text now appears as a bulleted list.
 To choose a bullet style, click the arrow next to the Bullets icon and make your
selection.

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Using Picture Bullets

To make the bulleted list on your slide more attractive, you may use pictures as bullets.
Let’s learn to do this.

 Select the list.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group, click the arrow next to the
“Bullets” icon.
 Select “Bullets and Numbering” at the bottom of the displayed window.
 Now click the “Picture” button.
 In the “Picture Bullet” window, click a suitable picture or click “Import” to use
your own one.
 In the “Add Clips to Organizer” window, browse to your picture and click “Add”.
 Your picture now appears in the “Picture Bullet” window.
 Select it and click “OK”.
 Here you are; you now have small pictures as your bullets!

Numbering

The “Numbering” icon is used to create a numbered list on a slide. Such a list is
normally used to convey a sequence of events. Let’s see how such a list is created.

 Select the required text and on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click
“Numbering”.
 Your text now appears as a numbered list.
 To choose a numbering style, click the arrow next to the Numbering icon and
make your selection.

Indentation

Indentation determines the distance between a margin and text. It ensures proper
alignment and makes a slide look well-formatted and professional. The “Increase List
Level” and “Decrease List Level” icons are used to specify the indent levels.

 Select some text.

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  Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Increase List Level” to
move the text to the right.
 Click the same icon once again to move it further.
 Now click “Decrease List Level” twice to move it back to its original position.
 In this way you may increase or decrease the space of text from the edge of a
placeholder while maintaining proper alignment.

Line Spacing

The “Line Spacing” icon is used to change the spacing between lines of text. Let’s learn
how to use it.

 Select the text you would like to change the line spacing for.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click the “Line Spacing” icon and
make your selection from the options displayed.
 Look, the space between the lines has been adjusted!

Align Text Left, Center, Align Text Right, Justify

The Align Text Left, Center, Align Text Right and Justify icons are used to specify the
way text is positioned horizontally in a given space. This may be the space within a
placeholder, a table’s cells, text box, or in any other object that can hold text. Let’s see
how each of these icons works.

 The “Align Text Left” icon is used to align text to the left margin.
 Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click
“Align Text Left” or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + L”.
 You can see that the text gets aligned to the left side.
 Similarly, the “Align Text Right” or “Ctrl + R” is used to align text to the right.
 The “Center” icon or “Ctrl + E” is used for central alignment of text such that it is
equidistant from the left and right side.
 The “Justify” icon or “Ctrl + J” is used for alignment of text to both the left and
right side, adding extra space between words as required.

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Align Text

The “Align Text” icon is used to specify the way text is positioned vertically in a given
space.

 Select some text and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click
“Align Text”.
 Now make your selection from the options displayed.
 Look, the text is positioned as specified!

Columns

The “Columns” icon is used to split text into two or more columns. Columnar text is
normally seen in documents such as newsletters and brochures. Let’s split the text in
the displayed slide into columns.

 First, select the text.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Columns” and choose a
suitable option from the displayed ones.
 Here you are; the text on your slide is displayed in columnar format.

Text Direction

The “Text Direction” icon is used to change the orientation of text to vertical, stacked
or rotate it to the desired direction.

 Select the text.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Text Direction”.
 Choose a suitable option from the displayed ones.
 Have a look! The direction of the text has been changed.

Convert to SmartArt Graphic

The “Convert to SmartArt Graphic” icon is used to convert text to a smart art graphic
which visually communicates information.

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  Select the text.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click “Convert to SmartArt”.
 Choose a suitable option from the ones displayed.
 Have a look!
 The text has been converted to a smart art graphic.

THE DRAWING GROUP

Shapes

The “Shapes” icon is used to insert predefined shapes on your slides.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shapes” to display the Shapes
gallery.
 Click on a shape and drag to create a shape of the size you wish.
 You may drag to place the shape at another location when the pointer appears as
a four headed arrow.
 To add text within the shape, simply start typing as shown.
 The entered text appears at the center of your shape.
 You may format it as required using the various options in the “Font” group of
the “Home” tab.
 When you insert a shape, a new Format tab appears.
 You may use the various options available to enhance the appearance of the
shape.

Editing a Shape

When you click a shape, you see the contextual “Format” tab. Let’s use some of the
options on this tab. We’ll make a few modifications to the shape we just inserted.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Insert Shapes” group, select “Edit Shape - Edit
Points”.
 A number of black dots appear on the shape outline.
 Drag any of them to adjust the shape. Here you are, you have a new shape!

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Size

The “Shape Height” and “Shape Width” boxes on the Format tab are used to specify
the exact dimensions of a shape.

 Enter your specifications in these boxes and press “Enter”.

 You can see that the size of the shape is adjusted accordingly.

Quick Styles

The “Quick Styles” icon is used to apply styles to objects such as shapes, text boxes
and placeholders. Let us apply a style to the shape in the displayed slide.

 First, select the shape by clicking on it.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Quick Styles”.
 Now select a style from the displayed gallery.
 Doesn’t the shape look great?

Copying & Deleting Objects

Objects such as shapes, pictures and text boxes can be copied in the same way as
regular text. In the displayed slide, select the shape.

 Copy it using “Ctrl + C”.

 Then paste it using “Ctrl + V”.
 Drag the copied shape to a suitable position on the slide and make the required
changes.
 To delete the copied shape, select it and press the “Delete” key.
 We need the copied shape, so press “Undo” on the Quick Access toolbar to
redisplay it.
 Create two more shapes between these shapes.

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Grouping Objects

Objects can be grouped so that they are treated as one unit. You can then work on all
the objects simultaneously. Let’s group the four objects on the displayed slide.

 Select the first shape and keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed, select the other three.
 Activate the “Format” tab under “Drawing Tools”.
 From the “Arrange” group, select “Group → Group”.
 A rectangle appears around all the objects and they can be moved, sized and even
formatted simultaneously.

Arrange

The “Arrange” icon is used to arrange objects on a slide by changing their order,
position and rotation. In the displayed slide, there are various objects which overlap
each other.

 Select the “Smiley Face” by clicking on it.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, select “Arrange - Bring
Forward”.
 The shape moves one level forward.
 Clicking “Bring to Front” places it in front of all other objects.
 Similarly “Send Backward” moves it one level behind and “Send to Back” places
it behind all other objects.
 To change the position of an object, select it, click “Arrange - Align” and select a
suitable option.
 To rotate an object to the desired angle, select it, click “Arrange - Rotate” and
make your selection.
 In this way, you may arrange all the objects on your slides as you wish!

Shape Fill

The “Shape Fill” icon is used to fill an object with a solid color, gradient, texture or a
picture. We’ll use this icon to enhance the shape on the displayed slide.

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  Select the shape and on the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shape
Fill”.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 Now we’ll apply a variation of this color.
 Click “Shape Fill” once again and select “Gradient”.
 Select a variation of your choice from the displayed ones.
 You can see that the shape is now filled with the specified gradient.

Shape Outline

The “Shape Outline” icon is used to specify the color, width etc. of the outlines of
objects such as shapes, text boxes and pictures.

 Select the required shape.

 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shape Outline”.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 To change the thickness of the outline, select “Shape Outline - Weight” and
make a selection from the displayed options.
 Your shape now has a colorful outline!

Shape Effects

The “Shape Effects” icon is used to enhance the appearance of objects such as shapes
and text boxes on your slide.

 Select the shape and on the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shape
Effects”.
 Select an effect from the menu and then choose an option from the gallery
displayed.
 You may apply multiple effects to a shape.
 Now doesn’t this shape look really attractive!

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THE EDITING GROUP

Find

The “Find” icon is used to search for a word or phrase in a presentation. Let’s learn to
use it.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group, select “Find” or use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl + F”.
 This displays the “Find” window.
 Enter the text you wish to search for in the “Find what” box and click “Find
Next”.
 The next instance of the searched text is highlighted in your presentation.
 You may click the “Match case” box for a case sensitive search and the “Find
whole words only” box to search for whole words matching the search criteria.

Replace

The “Replace” icon is used to replace a searched word or phrase in a presentation by

some other text.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Editing” group, select “Replace” or use the shortcut
“Ctrl + H”.
 This displays the “Replace” window.
 Enter the text you wish to find in the “Find what” box.
 Enter the text with which you wish to replace it, in the “Replace with” box.
 Then click “Find Next”.
 The first occurrence of the searched text is highlighted.
 Click “Replace” to replace it with the new text.
 The next occurrence of the searched text is then highlighted.
 You may click the “Replace All” button to replace all occurrences of the searched
text by the new text.
 A window appears showing the number of replacements made.

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Select

 To select a section of text on a slide, you need to simply click and drag your
mouse over it.
 To select an object such as a shape, click on it.
 To make multiple objects, keep the “Ctrl” key pressed and select.
 The “Select” icon can be used to make various other types of selections.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Editing” group click “Select”.
 You may use the displayed options to make selections.
 Click “Selection Pane” to display the “Selection and Visibility” pane at the
right.
 The purpose of the pane is to list all the objects on the current page.
 When you select an object such as a picture or shape in the “Selection and
Visibility” pane, PowerPoint also selects it on the slide.

Overview

Friends, we have just completed learning about the key features and commands of the
Home Tab which is probably the most useful tab. You may try to exploring the different
options and variations from this tab on your own. There’s a lot more that you can do
with your presentation. You can make it more attractive and informative by adding
Pictures, Illustrations, Tables and other objects. These can be done using the Insert
Tab. So let’s move to next Lab and learn to effectively use the Insert Tab.

THE INSERT TAB

The Insert Tab in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 has a lot of useful features that enable you
to insert things like pictures, clip art images, tables, SmartArt graphics, charts and a
lot of other items. Let us review some of these features in this exciting new tab. First,
let’s see which groups are contained in this tab.

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  Tables: The options in this group enable you to insert various kinds of tables and
spreadsheets.
 Images: The commands in this group enable you to insert various types of
images & screenshots and create photo albums.
 Illustrations: The commands in this group enable you to insert various types of
illustrations such as shapes, SmartArt graphics and charts.
 Links: The commands in this group enable you to create links and add action
commands to objects.
 Text: The commands in this group enable you to create text boxes, add headers
& footers and insert embedded objects.
 Symbols: The commands in this group enable you to insert equations and
symbols.
 Media: The commands in this group enable you to insert audios and videos in
the presentation.

THE TABLES GROUP

Table

The “Table” icon is used to insert a table on a slide. A table is used to organize
information into an easy-to-read format of horizontal rows and vertical columns.

 To insert a table, on the “Insert” tab, in the “Tables” group, select “Table - Insert
Table”.
 In the “Insert Table” window, enter the Table size in respect of number of
columns and rows.
 Click “OK”.
 Your table is displayed on the screen and two contextual tabs named “Design”
and “Layout” appear under the heading “Table Tools”.
 The Design tab contains tools for formatting the table while the Layout tab
enables you to change the layout of the table by inserting and deleting columns,
rows, or cells.

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Entering Table Data

A table can be created in various other ways.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Tables” group, select “Table” and drag with your
mouse to specify the dimensions of the table.
 The table is displayed on the slide. Now start entering your data.
 Press “Tab” to move to the next cell.
 Use the arrow keys to move between cells.

Sizing & Moving a Table

You may change the size and position of a table as required. There are eight sizing
handles along the edges of a table.

 Place your pointer over any of them and when it appears as a two headed arrow,
drag to the required size.
 To move your table, place the pointer on an edge between the sizing handles.
 When it appears as a four headed arrow, drag to a new location.
 To change the width of a column or the height of a row, place the pointer on a
boundary and drag when it appears as a two headed arrow.

Merging Cells

You may combine two or more table cells located in the same row or column into a
single cell.

 For this, select them and on the contextual “Layout” tab, in the “Merge” group,
click “Merge Cells”.
 Look, your cells have been merged and the text has been centered.

Using Table Styles

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  Activate the contextual “Design” tab.
 You can enhance the appearance of your table using the various options on this
tab.
 A quick way of formatting a table automatically is to use the Table Styles offered
by PowerPoint.
 The available auto formats consist of a combination of fonts, colors, patterns,
borders and alignment settings.
 In the “Table Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to display the complete gallery
of styles.
 Move your mouse over the styles to see a preview of what the table will look like if
you select that option.
 Then click on a suitable one.
 Now, doesn’t this table look good!

THE IMAGES GROUP

Picture

The “Picture” icon is used to insert a picture into a presentation. It is said that a picture
speaks a thousand words. Pictures are added to a presentation to capture the attention
of the audience and engage them. Let’s learn to insert pictures.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Images” group, click “Picture”.

 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture appears on your slide.
 Size the picture as required by using the sizing handles.
 Move it to a suitable position by placing the pointer on it and dragging when it
appears as a four headed arrow.
 When you insert a picture or select an already inserted picture, a new “Format”
tab appears under the heading “Picture Tools”.
 This tab contains various tools you can use to modify the appearance of your
picture.

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Enhancing a Picture

Let’s use the contextual Format tab to enhance the appearance of this picture.

 On the “Format” tab, select a suitable style from the “Picture Styles” gallery.
 To create a colorful border, click “Picture Border” and select a color from the
displayed palette.
 Next, click “Picture Effects” and select an effect.
 Then make a selection from the variations of that effect.
 Wow! The picture looks really nice!
 Now explore the various other options on the “Format” tab on your own to further
enhance the picture.

Compressing Picture

You may compress the pictures in your presentation using the “Compress Pictures”
feature to reduce the size of your presentation. This is especially useful if you need to
email a presentation that contains many pictures.

 Select a picture and on the contextual “Format” tab, in the “Adjust” group, click
“Compress Pictures”.
 In the displayed window, uncheck the box in front of “Apply only to this
picture” if you want to compress all pictures in the presentation.
 If you have cropped any parts of your pictures, those parts are hidden from view
but not deleted.
 Uncheck the “Delete cropped areas of pictures” box if you do not want to delete
the cropped portions.
 In most cases, choosing the option, “E-mail (96 dpi)” in the “Target output”
section is advisable since this will reduce the file size by the greatest margin.
 Click OK to apply the settings.

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  Your file size will be reduced accordingly.

Clip Art

The “Clip Art” icon is used to insert various readymade illustrations, audios and videos
offered by Microsoft into your presentation. Let us insert an animated clip from the Clip
Art gallery on the displayed slide.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Clip Art”.

 The Clip Art pane is displayed on the right. In the “Search for” box, enter a word
or phrase that describes what you’re looking for.
 In the “Results should be:” box, click the down arrow, in the displayed list
uncheck the boxes in front of “Illustration”, “Photograph” & “Audio”, keep “Video”
box checked.
 Click the box in front of “Include Office.com content” to include items from the
Microsoft Office website.
 Then click “Go”.
 From the displayed clips, drag a suitable one onto your slide.
 Size it as required and close the Clip Art pane.

Screenshot

The “Screenshot” icon allows you to insert a picture of any program window that is not
minimized to the taskbar into your presentation. This is also useful in copying from
Web pages whose formatting might not be maintained when copied.

 Position your cursor appropriately.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Illustrations” group, click “Screenshot”.
 Open program windows that are not minimized are displayed in the “Available
Windows” gallery.
 Click on the required one.
 The screenshot is then inserted on your slide.

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  As in the case of a regular picture, the Picture Tools contextual tab is displayed to
enable you to perform picture related tasks.

Screen Clipping

 If you only need to insert a portion of your screenshot, select “Screenshot -

Screen Clipping”.
 The last screen you displayed is redisplayed.
 It appears faded with some crosshairs.
 Drag to select an area.
 This is then pasted on your slide.

Photo Album

The “Photo Album” icon is used to create a presentation based on a set of pictures.
Using the photo album feature you can select, rearrange, adjust and add text to your
pictures. Let’s learn to create a photo album.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Images” group, click “Photo Album”.

 In the “Photo Album” window, under “Insert picture from”, click “File/Disk”.
 In the “Insert New Pictures” window, browse to the location of your pictures.
 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed, select the pictures you want.
 Then click “Insert”. In the “Photo Album” window, click “Create”.
 PowerPoint creates a new presentation for you. By default, one picture appears
on each slide, but you may adjust the layout to include multiple pictures if
required.

Editing a Photo Album

Let’s make some changes to the photo album we created.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Images” group, click the lower part of the “Photo
Album” icon and select “Edit Photo Album”.

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  To change the layout of your pictures, under “Album Layout”, in the “Picture
layout” box, select the layout you wish.
 To select a theme for your album, click the “Browse” button.
 Choose a suitable theme in the displayed window and click “Select”.
 To display the picture file names, under “Picture Options”, select the “Captions
below ALL pictures” check box.
 To display the pictures in black and white, select the “ALL pictures black and
white” check box.
 To rotate a picture or make adjustments to brightness and contrast, select it in
the “Pictures in album” list and use the icons below the preview.
 Then click “Update”.
 You can see now that the look of your photo album has changed.

THE ILLUSTRATIONS GROUP

Shapes

The “Shapes” icon is used to insert predefined shapes on your slides.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustration” group, click “Shapes” to display the
Shapes gallery.
 Click on a shape and drag to create a shape of the size you wish.
 You may drag to place the shape at another location when the pointer appears as
a four headed arrow.
 To add text within the shape, simply start typing as shown.
 The entered text appears at the center of your shape.
 You may format it as required using the various options in the “Font” group of
the “Home” tab.
 When you insert a shape, a new Format tab appears.
 You may use the various options available to enhance the appearance of the
shape.

SmartArt

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The “SmartArt” icon enables you to add several types of useful diagrams in your
presentation. You may choose from various categories such as Process, Hierarchy,
Cycle, Relationship and others. Each category contains different layouts. Let us create a
SmartArt graphic on the displayed slide.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “SmartArt”.

 In the “Choose a SmartArt Graphic” window, select a category.
 Now select a suitable graphic and click “OK”.
 Two new “SmartArt tools” tabs named “Design” and “Format” are displayed.
 These can be used to change the color scheme & style of the graphic, and make
changes to the individual shapes.

Modifying SmartArt

Let us make some changes to the Smart Art graphic we inserted. We’ll enter an
additional level by using the Design tab.

 In the “Create Graphic” group, click “Add Shape” to add an additional shape.
 To change the colors, in the SmartArt Styles group, click “Change Colors” and
select a color scheme.
 Then apply a SmartArt style by selecting one from the gallery.
 You may resize the graphic as required by dragging the sizing handles on the
corners and sides.

Using the Text Pane

Now that your SmartArt graphic is complete, you are ready to enter text.

 Click in the first box and type your text.

 Similarly, enter text in the second box.
 You can also use the Text Pane for entry of text.
 On the Design tab, in the “Create Graphic” group, click “Text Pane” and enter the
text for the balance levels in the displayed pane.
 Close the text pane by clicking the “X” icon at the top right corner.

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Chart

The Chart icon is used to insert a chart in a presentation. A chart is a visual

representation of data and conveys information in an easy to understand and attractive
manner. Let’s insert a chart in the displayed slide.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Chart”.

 In the displayed window, select the chart category and type and then click “OK”.
 A sample chart is displayed on your slide and an Excel worksheet appears in
another window.
 Delete the data in the worksheet and enter your data as shown.
 As you enter the data, corresponding changes are made to the chart.
 Now close the Excel window.
 Resize the chart as required.

Modifying Charts

When a Chart is created, three new contextual tabs named “Design”, “Layout” and
“Format” are displayed under the heading “Chart Tools”. These can be used to modify
the chart in different ways.

 On the “Design” tab, to enhance the appearance of the chart, select a “Chart
Style” from the displayed gallery.
 Next activate the “Layout” tab.
 To display the actual data on the chart, in the “Labels” group, click “Data Labels”
and select an option.
 Now try exploring the other options on the contextual tabs on your own!

THE LINKS GROUP

Hyperlink

The “Hyperlink” icon is used to create a connection from one slide to another in the
same presentation or to a slide in another presentation, an e-mail address, a Web page,

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or a file. Let’s create a hyperlink in the displayed slide to another slide in the
presentation. We need to specify the text or object to be used as a hyperlink.

 Create a small rectangular shape at the bottom right corner and enter the text as
shown.
 Now select the text.
 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Links” group, click “Hyperlink”.
 In the “Insert Hyperlink” window, under “Link to:” click “Place in This Document”.
 Now in the box at the center, click the desired slide and then click “OK”.
 The text is underlined indicating that it is hyperlinked.
 Now when you run the slide show, clicking this link takes you to the specified
slide.

Modifying a Shape

 Select the rectangular shape we used to create the hyperlink.

 We want to use this shape simply as a placeholder and do not wish to cover the
background.
 So we shall make it transparent and remove the outline.
 On the contextual “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next
to “Shape Fill” and select “No Fill”.
 Now to remove the outline, click the arrow next to “Shape Outline” and select “No
Outline”.
 Yes, this looks fine now!

Action

The “Action” icon is used to add an action to an object to specify what should happen
when you click on it or hover over with your mouse. The action could be playing a
sound, creating a hyperlink or running a program. Actions can be assigned to clip art,
pictures and other objects.

 Let’s say we want to play a sound at the end of our presentation.

 So we’ll assign an action to the shape on the last slide.

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  Select the shape and then on the “Insert” tab, in the “Links” group, click “Action”.
 In the “Action Settings” window, on the “Mouse Click” tab, click the box in front
of “Play sound”.
 Select the desired sound in the box below and click OK.
 Now when you click the shape in the slide show, you can hear the music.
 Did you hear it? Click once again, if not!

THE TEXT AND SYMBOLS GROUP

Text Box

The “Text Box” icon is used to insert Text Boxes in your presentation. Text boxes give
you control over the position of a block of text. Let us create a text box on the displayed
slide.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.

 Drag with the mouse to draw the text box at a suitable position.
 You can see the cursor flashing within the box.
 Enter your text.
 As you type, the text box is automatically resized to display the complete entry.
 To move the text box, place your pointer on it and drag when it appears as a
black four-headed arrow.

Modifying Text Boxes

You may format the text within the text box using the various options in the “Font”
group of the “Home” tab.

 To convert some text to a bulleted list, select it and on the “Home” tab, in the
“Paragraph” group, click “Bullets”.
 Let us enhance the appearance of the text box using the contextual “Format” tab.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see the complete gallery of
styles.
 Click on a suitable one.

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  Wow, the text box looks nice!

Header Footer

The “Header & Footer” icon is used to add information such as slide numbers, time
and date at the top and bottom of your slides, handouts and notes pages.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, select “Header & Footer”.
 On the “Slide” tab, in the “Header and Footer” window, check the appropriate
boxes to insert the date, time and slide number.
 Check the box against “Footer”, and then type the text you want displayed at the
bottom of the slide.
 To hide the footer on the title slide, check the box against “Don’t show on title
slide”.
 Select any other options you want and then click “Apply”.
 To display the same information on all slides, click “Apply to All”.
 In your presentation you can see the information displayed at the bottom of the
specified slides.

The Notes and Handouts Tab

In the “Header and Footer” window, on the “Notes and Handouts” tab, you may specify
header and footer information for your notes pages and handouts.

 Click the appropriate check boxes, and then type the header and footer text.
 Click “Apply to All”.
 To view how your notes pages will look, activate the “View” tab and in the
“Presentation Views” group, click “Notes Page”.
 Here you can see the specified header and footer.
 In the “Presentation Views” group, click “Normal” to return to normal view.

WordArt

The “WordArt” icon is used to create stylized text with various special effects. Let us
create some attractive text using WordArt in the displayed slide.

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  On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “WordArt”.
 Now make a choice from the gallery displayed.
 Start typing your text in the WordArt placeholder that you see on the slide.
 When you’re done, position your mouse on a side of the placeholder and drag it to
the desired location.
 A contextual “Format” tab is displayed.
 You may use this to modify your WordArt if you wish.

Date Time

The “Date & Time” icon is used to insert the date and time on a slide.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Text” group, select “Date & Time” icon, the “Header
and Footer” window is displayed.
 Click the check box in front of “Date & Time”.
 Select the format you require.
 To automatically display the correct date & time when they change, click the
“Update automatically” box.
 This updating is seen when you next open your presentation.
 Click “Apply” or “Apply to All” as required.
 The date and time are then displayed at the bottom of the specified slides.

Slide Number

The “Slide Number” icon is used to insert the slide number on a slide.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Text” group, select “Slide Number” icon, the
“Header and Footer” window is displayed.
 Click the check box in front of “Slide Number”. Click “Apply” or “Apply to All” as
required.
 The slide numbers are then displayed at the bottom of the specified slides.

Object

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The “Object” icon is used to insert an embedded object in your presentation. This object
could be an Excel worksheet, a Word document, an external chart, another
presentation, etc. The advantage of inserting an embedded object is that you can work
with it in the original program it was created. Let us insert another existing
presentation on the displayed slide. This will enable you to work on the other
presentation from within your current one.

 On the “Insert” tab, from the “Text” group, click “Object”.

 In the “Insert Object” window, select “Create from file”.
 Click “Browse” and navigate to the location of your presentation.
 Then click “Open”.
 Click the “Link” box in the “Insert Object” window to insert a picture of the
embedded file contents.
 This picture will serve as a link to the object.
 Click “OK”.
 You can now see the picture on your slide.
 You may size and move the outer placeholder as required.

Using an Embedded Object

You can work with the embedded presentation as you would with a regular one.
Double-click the picture link to open the presentation. You may work with this and
then close it. You are now back to your main presentation. Instead of a link, you may
insert only the icon of an embedded object on your slide.

 For this in the “Insert Object” window, click the “Display as icon” box after
browsing for the file to be embedded and click “OK”.
 On the slide you see an icon of the application used to open the object, in this
case PowerPoint.

Symbol

The “Symbol” icon is used to insert Symbols or Special Characters on your slide.

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  Position your cursor suitably.
 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Symbol” group, click “Symbol” icon.
 The “Symbol” window is displayed.
 Click on a symbol of your choice and click “Insert”.
 Then click “Close”.
 The symbol is now inserted at the current cursor position.

THE MEDIA GROUP

Video

The “Video” icon is used to insert a video clip into a slide. A video clip is a file that can
contain sounds and animations.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Media” group, click “Video”.

 In the “Insert Video” window, browse to your video file and click “Insert”.
 A black box representing the video is inserted on your slide.
 Size and move it as required.
 A bar is displayed at the bottom which can be used to perform functions such as
play, pause, mute and move back & forward.

Using Video Clip

When you insert a video, two contextual tabs are displayed.

 Let’s insert a picture as the preview image for the video clip.
 On the “Format” tab, in the “Adjust” group, select “Poster Frame - Image from
File”.
 Browse to your picture and click “Insert”.
 This picture replaces the black box on your slide.
 Click the “Play” button to play your video.
 To insert a video from the Clip Art gallery, on the “Insert” tab, in the “Media”
group, select “Video - Clip Art Video”.
 This displays the Clip Art pane from which you can select the required video.

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Trimming a Video

The contextual “Playback” tab displayed when you insert a video is used to specify
playback options such as playing full screen, looping, etc. You have the option to play
only a part of a video clip using the “Trim Video” option.

 On the “Playback” tab, in the “Editing” group, click “Trim Video”.

 In the displayed window, you can see red and green sliders on the edges of the
timeline.
 Place your pointer on the green slider and drag to the point you want your video
to begin.
 Similarly drag the red one to where you want the video to end.
 As the sliders are moved, the video image in the box above changes, making it
easy to fix the start and end points.
 Click “OK”.
 Now, when you “Play” the video, only the part between the sliders will be shown
and the rest of the video clip will not be displayed.
 You may also use the “Start Time” and “End Time” boxes to specify the part of the
video you want to play.

Audio

The “Audio” icon is used to insert an audio clip into a slide. An audio clip is a file that
contains sounds.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Media” group, click “Audio”.

 In the “Insert Audio” window, browse to your audio file and click “Insert”.
 A speaker icon representing the audio is inserted on your slide.
 A bar appears at the bottom which can be used to perform functions such as
play, pause, mute and move back and forward.
 Size and move it as required.

Using Audio Clips

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Two contextual tabs are displayed when an audio clip is inserted. The “Format” tab is
used to make various adjustments to the appearance and position of the audio icon.
The “Playback” tab is used to specify the playback options for the audio.

 Click the “Play” button to play the audio.

 To insert an audio from the Clip Art gallery, on the “Insert” tab, in the “Media”
group, select “Audio - Clip Art Audio”.

Icons in the Slide Pane

 You can insert various objects on your slides using the icons in the “Images” and
“Illustrations” groups on the “Insert” tab.
 There’s another way in which you can do so.
 When you insert slides with certain layouts, you see various dimmed icons in the
Slide Pane.
 These facilitate the easy insertion of objects such as charts, tables, pictures, etc.
 The displayed slide has the “Title and Content” layout.
 Roll your mouse over each of the icons to see what they indicate.
 Let’s insert a picture on the slide.
 Click the “Picture” icon to display the “Insert Picture” window.
 Now browse to your picture and click “Insert”.
 Your picture is displayed on the slide.
 You may insert tables, charts, Smart Art graphics, Clip Art and media clips in a
similar way using the respective icons.

Overview

Friends, we have just completed learning about the key features and commands of the
Insert Tab. You may try to insert various items into the presentation on your own by
using different options and variations from the Insert Tab. Also try exploring the
various contextual tabs. There’s still more that you can do with your presentation. You
can make it more attractive by using themes and applying a background color. You can
also specify the size and orientation of your slides. All this can be done using the

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Design Tab. So let’s move to next Lab and learn to effectively use the next tab which is
the Design Tab.

POSTER DESIGN

LEVEL 1

Objective

On your screen you can see a poster design. This poster has text written in different
styles, sizes and colors. There are different shapes inserted to make the poster look
visually appealing. Let’s learn now how to create such a poster ourselves. Let us open
the PowerPoint application and get started.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Presentation

 Before we do anything else, let us save this document and give it a name.
 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Changing the Slide Orientation

At first we will change the slide orientation for the presentation.

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  On the “Design” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, select “Slide Orientation”.
 From the displayed options select “Portrait”.

Inserting Heading Text

 Place the mouse pointer on the side of the heading text box and when it appears
as a four headed arrow, drag it to position suitably at the top of the slide.
 Now enter the heading text in the heading text box as shown.

Formatting the Heading Text

Now we’ll make some changes to the appearance of the heading text.

 Select the required text.

 On the “Home” tab from the “Font” group, click the down arrow in the “Font” field
to display the font list.

Aligning the Text Box

 Next, we shall move the text box.

 To move it we can simply select it and drag it to the desired position.

Formatting the Text

 Insert the text in the text box as shown.

 Select the required text.
 From the “home “tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow in the “Font” field to
display the font list.
 Select a suitable one from the displayed options.
 Similarly, select a suitable font size and font color from the “Font Size” and “Font
Color” dropdown lists respectively.

Sizing Text Box

 Place the mouse pointer on the rectangular sizing handle, when mouse pointer
changes to the two headed arrow, drag the pointer to size the text.

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Inserting the Shape

 Under the “Insert” tab from the “Illustrations “group, click ‘Shapes”.
 From the displayed options select the shape “Diagonal Stripe” to insert it in the
slide.

Formatting the Shape

Now we surely need to format the shape to look like the one as shown.

 Go to “Format” tab, from the “Insert Shapes” group. Click “Edit Shape”.
 From the displayed options select “Edit Points”.
 Redraw and adjust the shape to look like the one as shown.
 Now we will change the color of shape.
 Click on” Format” tab.
 In the “Shape Styles” group click on “Shape Fill”.
 Choose appropriate color for the shape.
 Same way change the color of the border of the shape.

Inserting & Formatting other Shapes

You can insert and format the shape Rectangle Stripe in the similar way as you inserted
the previous shape.

 Position the shape at the desire location.

 You may draw as many shapes as required in a similar way.
 Wow! Doesn’t the poster look great!
 Your level 1 poster design is complete!

LEVEL 2

Inserting Pictures

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  Open the presentation containing the poster we created in the previous level.
 Now we will learn how to insert picture.
 Click on the “Insert” tab.
 Select “Picture” from the “Illustrations” group.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.

Aligning Pictures

Place the mouse pointer on the picture inserted and drag it to position suitably below
the slide as shown.

Applying Shadow Effect

 Select the heading text.

 Position it at the desire location.
 Click on the “Format” tab.
 Click on “Text Effects” in the “Word Art Styles” group.
 Select suitable shadow style from the displayed options.
 Wow! The heading text has changed completely.

Inserting Logo

We can see that there is a logo at the top right corner of the poster. We will learn to
insert similar logo.

 Click on the “Insert” tab.

 Select “Picture” from the “Illustrations” group.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Resize the logo and drag it to position suitably at the top right corner as shown.

Inserting Text Box

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We want to enter some text below the logo we just inserted. We shall use a text box for
this.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click the “Text Box” icon.
 Draw a text box at the position shown.
 You can see the cursor flashing within the text box.
 Type the required text.
 You may format this text if required.
 Insert other text boxes in the similar way and format them.

Viewing Slide Show

 To view the slide show of the poster we created, we first need to click on the “Slide
show” tab.
 In the “Start Slide Show” group, select “From Beginning”.
 You can also preview the slide by activating the “File” Tab and selecting “Print”.
 The default print settings are displayed in the central pane and the preview is
displayed at the right.
 Close the Print Preview by clicking on any other tab.
 Click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now feel free to exercise your creativity!
 Apply the skills that you have acquired to create different kinds of posters using
PowerPoint presentations!

GREETING

LEVEL 1

Objective

Have a look at the greeting card displayed. There is a heading in the middle of the card
which gives the main information regarding the event for which card is prepared. You
can also see a picture inserted in the card. Different font styles and sizes have been

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used for the textual content. The greeting card is enhanced by adding different shapes.
So let us start creating a similar greeting card by opening the PowerPoint application.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Presentation

 Before we do anything else, let us save this document and give it a name.
 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Changing the Slide Orientation

 At first we will change the slide orientation for the presentation.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, select “Slide Orientation”.
 From the displayed options select “Portrait”.

Inserting Heading Text

 Delete the sub title text box by selecting it and pressing the “Delete” key on the
keyboard before preparing ourselves to enter the heading text.
 Place the mouse pointer on the side of the heading text box and when it appears
as a four headed arrow, drag it to position suitably at the middle of the slide.
 Now enter the heading text “HAPPY NEW YEAR” in the heading text box as shown.

Formatting the Heading Text

 Now we’ll make some changes to the appearance of the heading text.

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  Select the required text.
 Click on the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow in the “Font” field
to display the font list.
 Select a suitable one from the displayed options.
 Similarly, select a suitable font size from the “Font Size” drop down list.
 The heading shows the occasion for which greeting card is designed.

Inserting Picture

Now we will learn how to insert picture.

 Click on the “Insert” tab.

 Select “Picture” from the “Illustrations” group.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 Resize the picture to look similar to the one shown.

Inserting Text

We want to enter some text above the picture we just inserted. We shall use a text box
for this.

 Click the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click the “Text Box” icon.
 Draw a text box at the position shown.
 You can see the cursor flashing within the text box.
 Type the required text “2”.
 Resize the text box to look similar like the one shown.
 Insert other text boxes for the text “0”,” 1”, “2” in the similar way.

Formatting the Text

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  Select the required text.
 From the “Font” group, click the arrow in the “Font” field to display the font list.
 Select a suitable one from the displayed options.
 Similarly, select a suitable font size and font color from the “Font Size” and “Font
Color” dropdown lists respectively.

Inserting the Shape

 To insert the shape, click ‘Shapes” under the “Insert” tab from the “Illustrations
“group.
 From the displayed options select the shape “Rectangle” to insert it in the slide.
 Draw a slide size rectangle.

Applying Gradient to the Shape

Now we will add gradient in the rectangle shape just inserted which will be the
background for the greeting card.

 Click on the shape.

 From the” Format” tab in the “Shape Styles” group, click on “Shape Fill”.
 Choose gradient options for the shape.
 From the “Format” tab in the “Arrange” group, click send backward and from the
displayed option select “Send to Back”.
 Send the gradient back of the picture and heading text.

Inserting the Other Shapes

As you can see in the card there are other shapes too like circle, curve line, star, moon,
banner, line, dashed line. You can insert the shapes in a similar way as you inserted the
previous shape.

 Redraw and format the shape to look like the one as shown.
 Insert as many shapes as required so that the greeting card looks similar to the
one displayed.
 Isn’t the greeting card looking fabulous!

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  Your level 1 greeting card design is complete.

LEVEL 2

Applying Word Art style & Text Effects

 Open the greeting card that you created at level 1.

 We will enhance the heading text by applying word art style.
 Click on the “Format” tab.
 Select a suitable word art style from the drop down list of “Word Art Styles” group.
 To apply glow to the selected text, choose a suitable glow pattern from the “Text
effects→ Glow” option.
 Your heading text is ready now.

Rotating the Text Box

We can see that the text is little rotated.

 To do that, click the text box and drag the Rotation handle in the direction
that you want to rotate, and move it to proper location by dragging the text
box with four headed arrow.
 Rotate and arrange the rest of the text in the same way.

Applying 3D Effects to the Text

Now we will apply 3-D effects to the text which will enhance the way the text appears in
the greeting card.

 Select the text “2” and click on the “Format” tab.

 Select “Text Effects” in the “Word Art Styles” group.
 Click on a suitable choice from “Bevel” list.
 Now, click on “3-D Options” in the “Bevel” list.
 In 3D format window → Top → make Width and Height 4 pt and for Bottom→
make Width and Height.
 Click “Close” to apply the 3-D effects.

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  Similarly, apply the effects for the rest of the text.

Applying a Picture Style

 Let’s apply a picture style to this picture, select the picture.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of picture styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Then click outside the picture.

Changing the Outline Color of the Shapes

 To change the outline color of the shape, select the shape.

 From the “Format” tab, select “Shape Outline” in the “Shape Styles” group.
 Choose a suitable color for the outline of the shape.
 Repeat the same steps wherever needed.

Applying Shadow Effects to the Shapes

Here we will learn to apply shadow effects to the shape.

 Select the shape and click on the “Format’ tab.

 Click on “Shape Effects” in the “Shape Styles” group.
 Select a suitable one from the “Shadow” list.
 Apply shadow to the shapes wherever required.

Applying Sound to the Slide

Adding sound to our greeting card will create a soothing effect to our ears. Let’s learn
now how to add sound.

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  Click the slide to which you want to add a sound.
 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Media” group, click the arrow under “Audio”.
 Click “Clip Art Audio”.
 Locate the clip you want in the “Clip Art” pane, and then click it to add it to the
slide.
 To play an audio clip continuously until you stop it, on the “Playback” tab under
“Audio Tools”, in the “Audio Options” group, select the “Loop until Stopped” check
box.
 You may hide the icon representing the sound in the presentation by selecting the
“Hide During Show” check box.
 Adding sound really creates an impact.
 Isn’t that so!

Applying animation to the Slide

We can enhance our greeting card by applying animation to the text or objects. Here we
will learn to animate the text “2”.

 Select the text.

 Click the “Animations” tab.
 In the Animation group, click the “More” button to see all available effects.
 Let us select the animation effect “Fly In” from the “Entrance” list.
 In the “Start” box, you may specify when you want the animation to begin.
 “On Click” starts the animation when you click the slide.
 “With Previous” starts the animation at the same time as the previous effect.
 “After Previous” starts it after the previous effect.
 Let us select “With Previous” for our text.
 You can preview the animation by selecting Preview in the Preview group.
 The Animation Pane can also be used for previewing.
 If you do not see this pane, click “Animation Pane” in the “Advanced Animation”
group.

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  Now click the “Play” button.
 Add animation effects in a similar way for other texts.
 Our greeting card looks fantastic!

Saving and Mailing the Greeting Card

We can save our greeting card such that it always gets opened in Slide Show view. This
can be mailed easily to anyone.

 For that, click on the “File” Tab and select “Save As”.
 In the displayed window; select “PowerPoint Show (*.ppsx)” in the “Save as type”
box.
 Browse to the folder where you want to save the file.
 Click “Save” to save the presentation.
 This saved file can now easily be sent through email to your loved ones in the form
of a greeting card.
 Our greeting card is complete now.
 It is looking unique and beautiful.
 Try designing different kinds of greeting cards using the various skills that you
have learnt.

THE DESIGN TAB

The Design Tab lets you control the look and feel of your presentation. You can apply a
global design to all slides by using one of the available themes and color schemes. You
can also change the orientation and size of the slides. Let’s learn some of these
interesting features. To start with, we’ll have a look at the groups contained in this tab.

 Page Setup: The commands in this group enable you to specify the size of the
slides in your presentation and the orientation of slides, notes pages and
handouts.
 Themes: This group contains commands which enable you to apply themes to
your presentation.

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  Background: This group contains commands to change the background of the
slides and adjust it according to individual preferences.

DESIGN TAB COMMANDS

Page Setup

The “Page Setup” icon is used to specify the size of the slides in the presentation. You
may also specify the orientation of your slides, notes pages and handouts using this
icon.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, click “Page Setup”.
 In the “Page Setup” dialog box, in the “Slides sized for” box, select an option based
on where you plan to have your slide show.
 You may specify the exact dimensions of your slides using the “Height” and
“Width” boxes.
 Choose a number in the “Number slides from” box if you wish to start numbering
your slides from a number other than 1.
 On the right side of the window, enter your orientation preferences.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your slides are now altered as specified.

Slide Orientation

The “Slide Orientation” icon is used to specify the orientation of the slides in your
presentation. “Portrait” or vertical orientation makes the slides appear tall and slim.
“Landscape” or horizontal orientation is the default and makes the slides appear wide.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Page Setup” group, click “Slide Orientation” and select
a suitable option.
 Your slides are now oriented as specified.

Themes

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The “Themes” gallery is used to apply a “Theme” to a presentation. A “Theme” is a pre-
defined combination of colors; fonts and formatting effects which lets you change the
entire design of a presentation.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Themes” group, move your mouse over the various
themes to see a Live Preview of how your presentation would look if a specific
theme is applied.
 Click the “More” arrow to display the complete “Themes” gallery and then click on
a suitable one.
 You can see that colors, fonts and effects are changed as per the selected theme.

Changing Theme Colors, Fonts and Effects

The “Colors” icon is used to change the color scheme of an applied theme.

 On the “Design” tab, in the “Themes” group, click “Colors”.

 Make your selection from the displayed options. Doesn’t your theme look more
attractive now?
 You may also change the “Fonts” and “Effects” using the respective icons.

Background Styles

The “Background Styles” icon is used to change the background style of the slides.
Using a background style makes your slides look more attractive.

 On the “Design” tab, from the “Background” group, click “Background Style”.
 A gallery of styles is displayed based on the applied theme.
 Select one to apply it to your presentation.
 Don’t the slides look great?
 Click the box in front of “Hide Background Graphics” to hide the display of the
background graphics in the current theme.

Enhancing Slide Background

You can enhance the background of your slides in different ways.

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  On the “Design” tab in the “Background” group, select “Background Styles -
Format Background”.
 Let us use a picture as the slide background.
 In the “Format Background” window, ensure that “Fill” is selected in the left pane.
 Select “Picture or texture fill” in the right pane.
 Now under “Insert from:”, click “File” and browse to your picture file.
 Then click “Insert” in the “Insert Picture” window.
 You can see that the picture appears as your slide background.
 To apply artistic effects to this picture, click “Artistic Effects” in the left pane.
 Click the down arrow in the “Artistic Effect” box and make a selection from the
displayed gallery.
 You may click “Apply to All” if you want the same background for all slides.
 Then click “Close”.
 Your slides now have a beautiful picture with artistic effects applied as the
background!

Overview

Friends, we have just finished exploring the key features of the Design Tab. You may try
to further enhance your presentation using different options and variations from the
Design Tab. There’s still more that you can do with your presentation. You can make
your slide show appear as engaging as a movie using various transition effects. These
can be added using the Transitions Tab. So let’s move to next Lab and learn to use this
interesting tab!

DIGITAL PHOTO ALBUM

LEVEL 1

Objective

The photo album displayed is a presentation consisting of multiple slides. The first slide
is the title slide and includes the subject of the album and the creator’s name. The other

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slides display the pictures. A background theme has been applied to all the slides. So let
us create a similar album by opening the PowerPoint application.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Creating a Photo album

 Now activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Images” group, select “Photo Album → New
Photo Album”.
 In the “Photo Album” window, under “Insert picture from:” click the “File/Disk”
button.
 Now browse to the location of your pictures.
 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed, select the pictures you wish to include in your
album.
 Then click “Insert”.
 Click “Create” in the “Photo Album” window to create the album.
 The first slide is the title slide and the selected pictures are inserted on the other
slides.

Saving the Document

Before we do anything else, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Editing a Photo Album

Ok, now let’s make some changes to the way our album appears.

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  On the “Insert” tab, in the “Images” group, select “Photo Album → Edit Photo
Album”.
 The “Edit Photo Album” window is displayed.
 Click the dropdown arrow in the “Picture layout” box and make a selection from
the options displayed.
 We’ll select “1 picture with title” because we plan to add titles for the pictures
later.
 Similarly, select a suitable “Frame shape”.

Modifying Pictures

We can modify individual pictures as required.

 In the “Pictures in album” box, select a picture.

 A preview of the picture is displayed in the box at the right.
 You may use the buttons under this box to rotate the picture or adjust the
contrast and brightness as required.

Applying a Theme

Now let us apply a background theme to all slides.

 Under “Album Layout”, click the “Browse” button next to the “Theme” box.
 In the “Choose Theme” window, click on a suitable theme and then click “Select”.
 Click “Update” in the “Edit Photo Album” window.
 You can see that the album is updated as per your selections.
 Wow! Doesn’t the album look great!
 Your level 1 photo album is complete!

LEVEL 2

Using WordArt

 Open the document containing the photo album we created in the previous
assignment.

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  We’ll begin with the first slide.
 Delete the text box with the text “Photo Album”.
 We’ll use WordArt to enter the subject of the album.
 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “WordArt”.
 Select a suitable style from the gallery displayed.
 A “Format” tab appears under the heading “Drawing Tools”.
 Now enter your subject text as shown.

Modifying WordArt

Let’s modify this text a little.

 Select the text and click the “Home” tab.

 From the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font Size”.
 Now activate the “Format” tab.
 From the “WordArt Styles” group, select “Text Effects → Reflection”.
 Select a reflection style from the options displayed.
 Now place the mouse pointer on a side of the text box.
 When it appears as a four headed arrow, drag to position the text box suitably.

Entering Text

 Select author name text box.

 On the “Home” tab. From the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font Size”.
 In the “Font” group, click on “Bold” icon.
 Drag the text box to suitable position.
 You can edit author name as per you want.
 This completes the title slide.

Resizing and Repositioning a Picture

Now we’ll take up the slides containing the pictures. Let’s begin with slide number 2.

 Click the thumbnail of the slide in the left pane to see the actual slide in the right
pane.

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  Let us resize and re-position the picture to make room for text.
 Click the picture to select it.
 A new “Format” tab appears under the heading “Picture Tools”.
 Resize the picture suitably using the sizing handles.
 Now place your mouse pointer on the picture and drag to re-position the picture at
the right of the slide.

Specifying Exact Dimensions

If you want a very specific size and position for your picture, activate the “Format” tab.

 Click the small arrow at the bottom right corner of the “Size” group.
 The “Size and Position” window is displayed.
 You may enter the exact figures on the “Size” and “Position” tabs.
 Then click “Close”.
 This would be useful for uniform positioning of the pictures on all the slides.

Enhancing a Picture

Now we’ll enhance this picture by applying a picture style.

 On the “Format” tab, click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Yes, this picture looks nice!

Applying Border

Now our picture is looking nice, doesn’t it? Let us add some border to it so that it will
look more attractive.

 On the format tab in the picture style group select Picture Border and from the
displayed dropdown list roll over to the “Weight”.
 Select the suitable border thickness.
 A border will be applied to your picture with default color.

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  To change the color of border again click on Picture Border and select suitable
border color from the palette displayed.

Entering the Slide Title

Now that the picture is ready, we’ll enter a title for the slide.

 Click in the text box above and enter the title as shown.
 You may format this title as required by using suitable options from the “Home
tab → Font group”.

Aligning Text Box to Slide

Our Slide title is ready now with perfect font. We will move it to a suitable position to
make slide more attractive. To move it we can simply select it and drag it to desired
position but it will not aligned to slide properly.

 So to align it to slide, select the text box if it is already not selected and activate
the format tab.
 From Arrange group click on align and select a suitable option from the dropdown
list.
 Resize the textbox suitably using the sizing handles.

Creating a Text Box

Now we want a small text box below the title for addition of descriptive text.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Position the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box of a suitable size
below the title.
 Now enter the text within this new text box as shown using a suitable font style,
size and color.

Completing the Document

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  Now that your first picture slide is ready, you may make changes to the other
slides in the same way.
 Your level 2 photo album is complete!

LEVEL 3

Inserting a Table

Open the document containing the level 2 photo album. Activate slide 2. We shall insert
a table in this slide and then enter information related to the picture within it.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Tables” group, click “Table” and drag to specify the
number of rows and columns required.
 A table is created on the slide.
 A new “Design” tab under the heading “Table Tools” appears.
 Size the table appropriately using the sizing handles at the sides and corners.
 Then move it to a suitable position by placing the mouse pointer on a corner and
dragging when the pointer appears as a four-headed arrow.

Redesigning a Table

Now we want a plain table without these colorful rows and columns.

 For this, on the “Design” tab, in the “Table Styles” group, click the “More” arrow.
 From the displayed options, click “No Style, No Grid”.
 A plain tabular structure is displayed.
 We need to create gridlines within this table.
 On the “Design” tab, in the “Draw Borders” group, select a suitable “Pen Style”.
 The cursor changes to a pen shape.
 Click the internal borders of the table one-by-one.
 And then click outside the table.
 Yes, this is what we wanted!

Entering Text

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Now that our structure is ready, we can start entering data within the table.

 Enter the information as shown.

 Format as required using the various options available on the “Home” tab.

Creating a Footer

Next, we’ll create a footer which will be displayed at the bottom of the slide.

 Activate the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, select “Header & Footer”.
 In the window displayed, check the “Footer” box and enter the text to be displayed
in the footer.
 Check the other boxes as required.
 Then click “Apply to All”.
 Your footer is then displayed at the bottom of all slides.

Modifying a Footer

If you wish to change the appearance of the footer, you can do so.

 On the slide, click the footer text.

 You can see the footer has been created within its own text box.
 You may apply a different font style and color to this text.
 Let us align the text to the left of the text box.
 For this, activate the “Home” tab.
 Then from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Align Text Left” icon.
 Then move it to a suitable position.
 Click outside the text box.

Applying Similar Effects

Now that your first picture slide is ready, you can make similar additions to the other
slides as well.

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Copying a Slide

If you wish to create a slide with similar formatting as an existing one, you can make a
copy of it. Let’s see how this is done.

 Select a slide in the left pane.

 Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Clipboard” group, select “Copy”.
 Now from the “Clipboard” group, select “Paste”.
 A copy of the slide is created right below it as you can see in the left pane.

Deleting a Slide

Of course, all our slides are already made, so we do not need this additional slide.

 So let’s delete it.

 Press the delete key on the keyboard.
 The copied slide is removed now.

Applying Background

Let’s apply some background to all the slides.

 Activate the Design tab.

 In the “Background” group, click on the “More” arrow to see all the available
option in the "Format background" dialogue box.
 Select a suitable option of your choice.
 If you want to apply this effect to all the slide, click on the "Apply to All".
 Click the close button to close the "Format Background dialogue Box".

Applying Transition Effects

Now that all the slides within our photo album are ready we’ll apply some transition
effects. A transition specifies how the display changes when you move from one slide to
another during a slide show.

 Activate the “Animations” tab.

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  In the “Transition to This Slide” group, click on the “More” arrow to see all the
available transition styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 To associate a sound with your transition, select one from the “Transition Sound”
list box.
 Change the default “Transition Speed” if required.
 You may specify how you wish to move to the next slide, whether on mouse click
or after a stipulated time by entering related details under “Advance Slide”.
 Click the “Apply to all” button to apply the effects to all slides.

Viewing a Slide Show

Now let’s run the slide show to see how the final presentation will appear.

 For this, click the “Slide Show” button at the bottom right of the status bar.
 Here we go! If you have not selected the automatic advancement option, click or
press the spacebar to move to the next slide.

Saving the Document

Now that the photo album is complete in all respects, you need to save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now feel free to exercise your creativity!
 Apply the skills that you have acquired to create different kinds of PowerPoint
presentations!

PROJECT PRESENTATION

LEVEL 1

Objective

The displayed presentation consists of multiple slides. The first slide is the title slide and
includes the subject of the presentation and some pictures. The other slides display a

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common background picture. Textual information has been inserted on these slides. So
let us create a similar presentation by opening the PowerPoint application.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Presentation

 Before we do anything else, let us save this document and give it a name.
 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Applying a Background Picture

 Now activate the “Home” tab.

 In the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.
 You can see that a new slide is created with the same background.

Inserting a Picture

Ok, now we want a picture on this slide.

 Activate the “Insert” tab.

 In the “Images” group, click “Picture”.
 Browse to the picture you require and click “Insert”.
 Place your mouse pointer on the picture and drag to position the picture at a
suitable location.

Applying a Background Picture

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We want a standard picture as the background for all the slides in our presentation.
Let’s see how to do this.

 Activate the “Design” tab.

 In the “Background” group, click “Background Styles”.
 Select “Format Background”. In the window displayed, select “Picture or texture
fill”.
 Then click the “File” button under “Insert from: ”
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the picture you wish to use as the
background.
 Then click “Insert”.
 You can see that this picture is displayed as the background of your slide.
 In the “Format Background” window, click “Apply to all” so that this background
is applied to all slides that will be created further.
 Then click “Close”.

Applying a Background Color

Now let’s redesign the first slide i.e. the title slide. We want it to look a little different
from the other slides.

 Click Slide 1 in the left pane to activate it.

 Click the “Design” tab.
 In the “Background” group, select “Background Styles→ Format Background”.
 In the window displayed, select “Solid fill”.
 Click the arrow next to “Color” and select a background color from the displayed
palette.
 Then click “Close” in the “Format Background” window.
 You can see that the title slide has the specified color.

Inserting another Picture

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You want yet another picture on this slide.

 Activate the “Insert” tab and insert the second picture in the same way as the first
one. Position it as required.

Using WordArt

What remains on Slide 1 is the insertion of a suitable title. We’ll use WordArt for this.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 In the “Text” group, click “WordArt”.
 Select a suitable style from the gallery displayed.
 Now enter your title text as shown.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to “Font Size”,
select a suitable font size.
 Then place the mouse pointer on a side of the text box.
 When it appears as a four headed arrow, drag to position the title suitably.
 Click outside the text box.
 Your title slide is complete!

Entering Text

Now we’ll design the other slides.

 Activate Slide 2 by clicking in the left pane.

 Click in the text box at the top.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable size, color and
alignment.
 Then enter the text as shown.
 Resize this text box as required and position it suitably.

Entering More Text

Now we’ll enter the other information in the text box below.

 Click within the text box.

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  Since we do not need the bullet, press “Backspace” to remove it.
 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable font size and color.
 Then enter your text.
 Resize the text box as per the text.
 Slide 2 is complete!

Creating & Designing Slides

Now that you know how to insert new slides as well as design them, you can proceed
with the creation of the other slides of your presentation.

Changing Slide Layout

Let’s design the last slide a little differently.

 Activate Slide 9.
 First we’ll change the layout.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “Layout”. Different layouts are
displayed.
 We’ll select the “Blank” layout.

Creating a Text Box

Now we want a small text box to write the text “Thank You”.

 So let’s create the text box first.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Position the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box at the required
position.
 Now enter the text within this new text box as shown using a suitable font style,
size and color.
 Click outside the text box.
 Level 1 of your project presentation is ready!

LEVEL 2

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Inserting Shapes

 Open the document containing the presentation we created in the Level01.

 Let’s begin with slide 2.
 We want it to look like displayed one.
 We’ll use the “Shapes” gallery for creation of the different shapes.
 Let’s create one shape first.
 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Shapes”.
 Under “Callouts”, select the “Rounded Rectangular Callout” and drag with your
mouse to draw it at a suitable position.
 A new “Format” tab is displayed.

Modifying Shapes

We can change the node pointer so that it will point upwards. For this simply drag the
node, a yellow colored square at its point and position it as required.

Enhancing Shapes

Next, we shall apply a style to this shape.

 Activate the “Format” tab.

 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see the complete gallery of
styles.
 Select a suitable one.
 Doesn’t this shape look more attractive now?

Inserting Text

Let us insert some text within this shape.

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  In “Format” tab, from insert shapes group click on Text Box icon and then click
inside the shape.
 Insert the text using a font of a suitable style, size and color.
 Align the text as per you require.
 Then create the other shapes in a similar way.

Grouping Shapes

We have drawn all the shapes now let us make a group of them so it will be easy to move
them.

 To group them, select one of them and keeping the “Shift” key pressed select the
other shapes as well by clicking on them.
 Then click the “Format” tab under “Drawing Tools” if it is not active.
 In the “Arrange” group, click the “Group” icon and select “Group”.
 A box appears around the shapes.
 Now all the shapes are treated as a group and can be moved.
 Align text box to the suitable position.
 Similarly align all text boxes on other slides.

Inserting and Enhancing Pictures

 Let’s move to Slide 5.

 We want to insert three pictures on the left side.
 Insert the first picture and size it suitably.
 We’ll apply a picture style now.
 On the “Format” tab.
 Click the “More” arrow in the “Picture Styles” group to see the complete gallery.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Now reduce Border weight.
 For that on the “Format” Tab- in the “Picture Style” group select “Picture Border -
Weight”, select suitable option.

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  Now insert and format the other two pictures in the same way.
 Position all pictures as required.

Arranging Pictures

 On the “Format” tab, use the various options in the “Arrange” group to move the
pictures forward or backward as required.
 Similarly you can insert and arrange pictures on other slides.

Using SmartArt

We want an additional slide below slide 8 for a SmartArt graphic.

 So activate Slide 8. On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.
 Enter the title of the slide as shown.
 Delete content text box.
 Let us insert a SmartArt. Select “Insert” tab → “Illustrations” group →
“SmartArt”.
 Then select “Process” → “Upward Arrow” and click “OK”.
 Your graphic is inserted with the “Text” placeholders.
 You may enter the text directly within the placeholders.
 But we need some additional levels, so we’ll use the text pane on the left side of
the SmartArt.
 If it is not open you can click on the arrows on left side of SmartArt box or you can
activate it from the design tab by clicking on the Text Pane from Create graphic
Group.
 Press “Enter” in text pane to insert additional levels.
 Close the text pane when all text has been entered.

Enhancing SmartArt

We’ll enhance the appearance of this SmartArt by using a SmartArt style.

 On the “Design” tab, from the “SmartArt Styles” group, click “Change Colors”.
 Select a color theme from the drop down list.

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  Now on the “Design” tab, from the “SmartArt Styles” group The SmartArt Styles
gallery will displays styles based on the theme you selected.
 Click on “more” and select a suitable style from the gallery.
 Similarly you can insert SmartArt on other slides.

Inserting Text on Picture

 Now let us insert a picture on last slide with suitable picture style applied to it.
 After inserting picture you will find that the text box containing the text “Thank
You” which we created previously is behind the picture.
 We’ll move this picture backwards by using the “Format” tab → “Arrange”
group → Send to Back” icon.
 Modify the font size and color of the text “Thank You” if required.
 Then create another text box and enter the text using suitable font, font size, color
and style.
 Your level 2 presentation is ready!

LEVEL 3

Inserting Charts

 Open the document containing the presentation we created at level 2.

 We’ll insert a chart in Slide 8.
 A chart is a visual representation of data and conveys the information in an easy
to understand and attractive manner.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 Now in the “Illustrations” group, select “Chart”.
 In the displayed window, select the chart type and then click “OK”.
 A sample chart is displayed in your document and an Excel worksheet appears in
another window.

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  Delete the data in the worksheet and enter your data as shown.
 As you enter the data, corresponding changes are made to the chart.
 Now close the Excel window.

Enhancing Charts

You can see that three new tabs have appeared under the heading “Chart Tools”. We
want to enter a title for our chart.

 Click the “Layout” tab. In the “Labels” group, select “Chart Title”.
 From the options displayed, select a suitable position for the title.
 Replace the text in the title text box with your title.
 You may further modify your chart as required.
 Then resize and re-position it appropriately.
 Click outside the chart.

Applying Animation Effects

Let us add some animation effects to the shapes in Slide 2. First, select the shape. You
can see that it is surrounded by box.

 Now click the “Animations” tab.

 On the Animations tab, in the Animation group, select the animation effect that
you want.
 You can view the animation effect right away on your slide.
 To set the effect options for an animation, on the Animations tab, in the
Animation group, click the arrow to the right of Effect Options and click the option
that you want. In the panel at the right, click the arrow in the “Start” list and
select “With Previous”.
 This results in the animation starting as soon as the previous slide is completed.
 Now click “Preview” to view your animation.
 You may animate the objects on the other slides as required in the same way.

Applying Transition Effects

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Now that all the slides in our presentation are ready we’ll apply some transition effects.
A transition specifies how the display changes when you move from one slide to another
during a slide show.

 Activate the “Animations” tab.

 In the “Transition to This Slide” group, click on the “More” arrow to see all the
available transition styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 To associate a sound with your transition, select one from the “Transition Sound”
list box.
 Change the default “Transition Speed” if required.
 You may specify how you wish to move to the next slide, whether on mouse click
or after a stipulated time by entering related details under “Advance Slide”.
 Click the “Apply to all” button to apply the effects to all slides.

Viewing a Slide Show

Now let’s run the slide show to see how the final presentation will appear.

 For this, on the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Start slide Show” group, select “From
Current Slide” if you want to start the slide show from current slide.
 Alternatively, click the “Slide Show” button at the bottom right of the status bar.
 If you want run the slide show from beginning then click "From Beginning" on the
"Start Slide Show" group.
 Here we go!
 Click or press the spacebar to move to the next slide.

Saving the Document

Now that the presentation is complete in all respects, you need to save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Please feel free to apply what you have learnt to create different kinds of
PowerPoint presentations!

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THE TRANSITIONS TAB

A transition is a little bit of excitement that occurs as one slide leaves the screen and the
next slide climbs aboard. It basically specifies how the display changes when you move
from one slide to another during a slide show. The Transitions tab helps you create
transition effects in your presentation. Let’s have a look at the groups contained in this
tab.

 Preview: The “Preview” command is used to preview transition effects.

 Transition to This Slide: This group is used to specify transition effects to a
slide.
 Timing: This group contains commands to specify parameters related to the
timing of transition effects.

TRANSITION TAB COMMANDS

Preview

The “Preview” icon is used to preview the transition applied to the current slide.

 On the “Transitions” tab, in the “Preview” group, click “Preview”.

 You can now see how the applied transition effect will appear.

Transition to this Slide

The “Transition to This Slide” group on the “Transitions” tab contains a gallery of icons
representing different transition effects.

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  Click the “More” arrow to view the complete gallery and click on an icon of your
choice.
 You can see the transition applied to your slide.
 To apply a variation of the transition, click “Effect Options” and make a selection.
 You may click “None” to remove an applied effect.

Sound

The “Sound” box is used to select a sound to play during the transition between slides.

 On the “Transitions” tab, in the “Timing” group, click the dropdown arrow in the
“Sound” box and make your selection.
 This sound will be played during the transition between the previous slide and the
current one.

Duration

The “Duration” box is used to specify the length of a transition.

 On the “Transitions” tab, in the “Timing” group, use the up and down arrows in
the “Duration” box to specify the transition length.
 The speed of the transition will be based on this.

Apply to All

The “Apply to All” icon is used to apply the same transition effects as the current slide to
all slides in the presentation.

 On the “Transitions” tab, in the “Timing” group, click “Apply to all”.

 Now the transition effects will be uniform throughout the presentation.

Advance Slide

During a slide show, you may choose to move to the next slide by clicking the mouse or
after specific time duration.

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  Under “Advance Slide” click the box in front of “Mouse Click” for advancement on
mouse click.
 Click the box in front of “After” and use the up and down arrows to specify the
time interval between slides.

Overview

Friends, we have just learnt to use the Transitions Tab. Now go ahead and add life to
your presentation by trying out various transition effects. Do you know; you can make
your presentation even livelier? You can add animation effects to the objects on your
slides. This can be done using the Animations Tab. So let’s move to next Lab and learn
to make objects dance to our tunes!

THE ANIMATIONS TAB

“Animation” refers to the addition of special visual or sound effects to the objects on
your slides. The Animations tab is used to apply such effects. Animation is a great way
to focus on important points to control the flow of information. This tab contains four
groups. Let’s have a look at them.

 Preview: The “Preview” command is used to preview animation effects.

 Animation: This group is used to specify animation effects to objects.
 Advanced Animation: This group is used to customize the properties of
animation effects.
 Timing: This group contains commands to specify parameters related to the
timing of animation effects.

ANIMATIONS TAB COMMANDS

Preview

The “Preview” icon is used to preview the animations on the current slide.

 On the “Animations” tab, in the “Preview” group, click “Preview”.

 You can now see how the applied animation effects will appear.

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Animation

The “Animation” group on the “Animations” tab contains a gallery of icons representing
different animation effects. Select an object and click on an icon of your choice. You can
see the animation effect applied to the object.

 To apply a variation of the animation, click “Effect Options” and make a selection.
 You may click “None” to remove an applied effect.

Add Animation

The “Add Animation” icon is used to add an additional animation effect to an object.
This will be applied after any existing effect.

 On the displayed slide, the selected object has an animation effect already applied.
 Now on the “Animations” tab, in the “Advanced Animation” group, click “Add
Animation”.
 A gallery of effects is displayed.
 Double-click on an effect to apply it.
 Numbers are displayed to denote the sequence in which the effects will be applied.
 Click “Preview” to see how all animations on the slide will be displayed.

Animation Pane

The “Animation Pane” icon is used to display the Animation Pane which can be used to
create custom animations.

 On the “Animations” tab, in the “Advanced Animation” group, click “Animation

Pane”.
 This pane appears at the right and lists all the animation effects on the current
slide.
 Click an effect and then click the drop-down arrow at the right.
 This displays a menu that you can use to customize your effects.

Trigger

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The “Trigger” icon is used to specify a special condition for the start of an animation.

 Select an object on which an animation effect has been applied.

 On the “Animations” tab, in the “Advanced Animation” group, click “Trigger”.
 Select an action from the displayed options.
 The animation effect will be displayed when this action is performed.

Animation Painter

The “Animation Painter” icon is used to copy an animation effect from one object and
apply it to another.

 First, select the object which has an effect applied.

 Then on the “Animations” tab, in the “Advanced Animation” group, click
“Animation Painter”.
 Your mouse pointer changes to a paint brush.
 Click the object to which you wish to apply the effect.
 Now both objects have the same animation effects.
 If you wish to apply the effect to multiple objects, double-click the “Animation
Painter” icon.
 Then click the objects one-by-one.
 Click “Esc” when done.

Start

The “Start” box is used to specify when you want the animation to begin. You may
choose to start the animation when the mouse is clicked, along with the previous effect
or after the previous effect.

 On the “Animations” tab, in the “Timing” group, click the down arrow in the
“Start” box and make your selection.
 The animation will start accordingly.

Duration

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The “Duration” box is used to specify the length of an animation.

 On the “Animations” tab, in the “Timing” group, use the up and down arrows in
the “Duration” box to specify the animation length.
 The speed of the animation will be based on this.

Delay

The “Delay” box is used to specify the time in seconds after which the animation should
be played.

 On the “Animations” tab, in the “Timing” group, use the up and down arrows in
the “Delay” box to specify the time.
 The animation will be played after the specified delay.

Reorder Animation

You may choose to change the sequence in which the animation effects are played.

 Under “Reorder Animation” click the “Move Earlier” or “Move Later” boxes to
rearrange the order.
 In this way you can specify the order in which you want your animation effects to
be displayed.

Overview

Friends, we have just learnt to use the Animations Tab. Now try using all types of effects
and customize them as you wish! The next stage in our journey of learning PowerPoint is
a crucial one. Setting up a slide show is a very important aspect because this is the very
purpose that a presentation is created for. So let’s move to the next tab, the “Slide Show”
tab and learn about all aspects related to the final display of your presentation in front
of an audience.

THE SLIDE SHOW TAB

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The Slide Show tab contains tools that help you control the way your presentation is
displayed to an audience. These allow you to run a slide show, customize other related
settings and hide individual slides. The Slide Show tab contains three groups. Let’s see
what they are.

 Start Slide Show: This group contains commands to run the slide show.
 Set Up: This group contains commands to customize the settings for the slide
show.
 Monitors: This group contains commands to change the monitor resolution and
use Presenter view.

START SLIDESHOW GROUP

From Beginning

The “From Beginning” icon is used to run your presentation starting from the first slide.
This displays the slide show as it will be presented to the audience.

 On the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Start Slide Show” group, select “From
Beginning” or use the keyboard shortcut “F5”.
 Here we go!

From Current Slide

The “From Current Slide” icon is used to run the slide show starting from the current
slide.

 On the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Start Slide Show” group, select “From Current
Slide”.
 Your slide show begins onscreen starting from the current slide.

Navigating a Slide Show

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Running the slide show and practicing how to control it helps you to have a smooth
presentation in front of your audience. For example, if someone has a question about a
previous slide, you can go backwards and redisplay it. You may move to any slide in
your presentation.

 Right-click on a slide during the slide show.

 A pop-up menu is displayed.
 Use the “Next”, “Previous”, “Last Viewed” and “Go to Slide” options to move
between slides.

Annotating the Slide Show

Annotating generally refers to the adding of an explanatory note, comment or marker.

During your slide show, you may want to point to an important word, underline it or
draw checkmarks next to items that you have covered.

 For this, right-click on the slide and select “Pointer Options” from the menu
displayed.
 Let us select “Pen”.
 You may decide the color of this pen by using the “Ink Color” option.
 Now, move your mouse pointer and use it as a pen on your slide.
 At the end of the slide show, a window is displayed asking whether to keep the
changes made.
 If you choose to keep them, the annotations are retained in the presentation for
future use.

Broadcast Slide Show

The “Broadcast Slide Show” icon is used to broadcast the slide show to remote viewers.
The show can be seen using a Web browser. To use this feature, you need to be
connected to the Internet and have a Windows Live ID.

 On the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Start Slide Show” group, select “Broadcast
Slide Show”.

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  Click “Start Broadcast” in the window displayed.
 Sign in with your Windows Live ID and password and click “OK”.
 You are connected to the PowerPoint Broadcast Service and the broadcast is
prepared.
 A link is displayed which you can share with your viewers.
 Now click “Start Slide Show”.
 Viewers can use the link to view the slide show now.
 At the end of the show, click the “End Broadcast” button on the yellow bar below
the Ribbon.
 Click “End Broadcast” again in the displayed window.

Custom Slide Show

The “Custom Slide Show” icon is used to create and run a customized slide show. You
can select only a few of the slides in your presentation for a custom show and also
rearrange them.

 On the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Start Slide Show” group, select “Custom Slide
Show”.
 Now click “Custom Shows”.
 To create a new custom show, click “New” in the displayed window.
 Click the slides you want in the left box keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed and click
“Add” to display them in the right box.
 Then click “OK”.
 A new custom show is displayed in the “Custom shows” list.
 Now click “Close”.
 To run this slide show, click “Custom Shows” and select the show name.
 Your customized slide show is then displayed onscreen.

THE SET UP AND MONITORS GROUP

Set up Slide Show

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The “Set up Slide Show” icon is used to set up advanced options for running the slide
show.

 On the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Set Up” group, click “Set Up Slide Show”.
 The “Set Up Show” window is displayed.
 You may enter your specifications such as which slides are to be shown, which
pen and pointer colors are to be used etc.
 Then click “OK”.
 Your slide show is run accordingly.

Hide Slide

The “Hide Slide” icon is used to hide a slide during the slide show.

 Select a slide.
 Then on the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Set Up” group, click “Hide Slide”.
 On the Slides tab at the left, you can see that the slide number has been crossed
out.
 This slide will not be displayed when you run your slide show.
 Click the same icon again to unhide the slide.

Rehearse Timings

The “Rehearse Timings” icon is used to run a trial slide show in which the time spent on
each slide is recorded. You may use the recorded times to advance the slides
automatically when you actually run your slide show before an audience.

 Click the “Slide Show” tab. In the “Set Up” group, select “Rehearse Timings”.
 The “Rehearsal” toolbar appears, and you can see the timing in the “Slide Time
box” at the right.
 Click “Next” to move to the next slide.
 After you set the time for the last slide, a message box displays the total time for
the presentation and asks you to confirm that you wish to keep the recorded slide
timings.

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  Click “Yes”.
 The “Slide Sorter” view appears and displays the time of each slide in your
presentation.
 Click the “Use Timings” box in the “Set Up” group.
 Now when you run your slide show, the slides advance automatically as per these
settings.

Resolution

The “Resolution” box is used to specify the screen resolution to be used while running
the slide show.

 On the “Slide Show” tab, in the “Monitors” group, click the drop-down arrow in the
“Resolution” box and select a suitable option.
 This resolution will be used during the slide show.

Use Presenter View

The “Presenter View” is a slide-show based view on a computer having multiple monitor
capabilities. In this, you can run programs that the audience cannot see.

 On the “Slide Show” tab, in the “Monitors” group, click the “Use Presenter View”
box to use this view.

Overview

Ok, now you’ve learnt to create a presentation from start to finish! There are still some
finer points that you need to know regarding checking spellings and making universal
changes to your presentation. These will go a long way in saving your time and creating
a good impression. So let’s get started. Get ready to impress your audience! You’ll also
learn about some additional File tab options and using PowerPoint in other forms such
as on the Web or via your Smartphone.

COMPANY PROFILE

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LEVEL 1

Objective

The displayed profile has a background theme applied. The first slide is the title slide
which displays the name and address of the company. The other slides contain details of
the company such as the nature of business, services provided etc. The last slide
contains the text “Thank You” and the website details of the company. We’ll learn to
create a similar profile by opening the PowerPoint application.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

The title slide contains two boxes.

 Click in the box at the top.

 Enter the name of the company as shown.
 Click in the box below and enter the address.
 Then click outside the box.

Inserting Text Boxes

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Next we’ll create an additional text box at the top of the slide.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Place the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box at the required position.
 Now on the “Home” tab from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font
Size” and enter the text “Company Profile”.

Making Text Bold

 Select the text you just entered and from the “Font” group, click the “Bold” icon to
embolden it.
 Click outside the text box.

Applying a Background

The first slide displayed is the Title Slide.

 Let’s apply a background theme which will be used for all the slides in our profile.
 Activate the “Design” tab.
 In the “Themes” group, click the “More” arrow to see all available themes.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Now let’s color the background to make it look more attractive.
 In the “Background” group, click the “Background Styles” icon and select a style
from the options displayed.
 Yes, this looks nice!

Inserting a Slide

Now that we are done with the title slide, we’ll insert the next slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.

 You can see that a new slide is created with a background based on the theme we
selected.
 Since this is the second slide and not the title slide, it has a different layout.

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Entering Text

 Click within the text box at the top and enter the slide title.
 Click in the box below.
 Press “Backspace” to remove the displayed bullet and start typing your text as
shown.

Using Bullets

 Now insert another slide and enter the title.

 Click in the second box.
 This time we want a bulleted list.
 Type the first point and press “Enter”.
 Type the other lines of text as shown.
 Each line appears with a bullet at the beginning.
 In the next slide, enter the first paragraph of text.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click the “Bullets” icon.
 Enter the bulleted list as shown.

Changing Slide Layout

Now that all the slides containing the profile information are ready, we’ll design the
concluding slide.

 Insert a new slide.

 We’ll change the layout of this slide.
 For this, from the “Slides” group, click the “Layout” icon.
 You can see various layout styles displayed with the currently applied one
highlighted.
 Click the “Blank” layout.
 Create two text boxes and enter text “Thank You!” in one and the website details
in the other using suitable fonts.
 Our level 1 company profile is ready!

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LEVEL 2

Inserting a Picture

 Open the document containing the profile we created in the last assignment.
 We want to insert a picture of the company logo on the title slide.
 Activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Images” group, click “Picture”.
 The “Insert Picture” window appears.
 Browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture is displayed on your slide.
 Size it as required using the sizing handles.
 To move the picture, place your mouse pointer on it and drag to an appropriate
location.
 Then click outside the picture.
 Insert the logo at a suitable position on the concluding slide as well.

Inserting a Shape

Now let’s insert an attractive shape on the concluding slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shapes”.

 From the displayed gallery, select a shape and drag with your mouse to draw it at
the required location.
 Then, from the “Drawing” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon and
select a color from the displayed palette.
 To remove the outline, from the “Drawing” group, select “Shape Outline → No
Outline”.
 Yes, this looks great!

Changing Font Color

Let’s change the color of the text “Thank You” to match that of the shape we just
inserted.

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  Select the text and from the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Font Color”
icon.
 Click on a color of your choice.
 Now color the website details text in the same way.

Inserting a SmartArt Graphic

Finally, it’s time to insert a slide containing the organizational chart. We want this slide
before the concluding slide.

 So activate slide 4 and on the “Home” tab, from the “Slides” group, click the “New
Slide” icon.
 Enter the title “Organizational Chart” in the box at the top.
 Then in the box below, click the “Insert Smart Art Graphic” icon.
 In the “Choose a Smart Art Graphic” window, select “Hierarchy” in the left pane.
 In the central pane, select a suitable layout and click “OK”.

Modifying a SmartArt Graphic

An organizational chart is displayed on your slide. A new “Design” tab appears under
the heading “SmartArt Tools”.

 In the text box at the top, enter the name and designation of the person with the
highest authority.
 Similarly, click in the other text boxes and enter details of the people at other
levels.

Changing SmartArt Layout

Let us change the layout of this organizational chart.

 On the “Design” tab, from the “Layouts” group, click the “More” arrow to see all
available layouts.
 Click on a suitable one.

Applying a SmartArt Style

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Next, we’ll enhance the appearance of the chart using a SmartArt Style.

 On the “Design” tab, from the “SmartArt Styles” group, select a suitable style.
 Now click outside the organizational chart.

Applying Transition Effects

Now that all the slides in our presentation are ready we’ll apply some transition effects.
A transition specifies how the display changes when you move from one slide to another
during a slide show.

 Activate the “Transition” tab.

 In the “Transition to This Slide” group, click on the “More” arrow to see all the
available transition styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Click the “Apply to all” button to apply the effects to all slides.
 That’s it; your final company profile is ready!

Viewing a Slide Show

Now let’s run the slide show to see how the final profile will appear.

 For this, on the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Start Slide Show” group, select “From
Beginning”.
 Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “F5”.
 Here we go!
 Press the spacebar to advance to the next slide.

Saving the Document

Now that the profile is complete in all respects, you need to save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now use your creativity and skills to put together different kinds of PowerPoint
presentations!

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OTHER FEATURES

SPEELINGS, VIEWS AND MASTERS

Spelling

The “Spelling” icon is used to check the spellings of text in your presentation.

 On the “Review” tab, in the “Proofing” group, click “Spelling” or use the keyboard
shortcut “F7”.
 If there are spelling mistakes, the “Spelling” window is displayed with the first
misspelled word along with suggestions for correction.
 If you do not wish to change what you have typed, click “Ignore”.
 You may choose “Ignore All” if the word appears many times in the presentation.
 To correct a word, you may highlight one of the suggestions displayed or manually
correct it by typing the correct word in the “Change to” box.
 Click “Change” to make the correction or “Change All” if there are multiple
instances of the word.
 The misspelled words are displayed one after another.
 When your entire presentation has been scanned, you will be informed
accordingly.

Presentation Views

A view is a way of looking at a presentation.

 On the “View” tab, the “Presentation Views” group contains icons which allow you
to view your presentation in different ways.
 The “Normal” view is the main editing view which you use to create your
presentations.

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  It has four working areas. The “Slides” tab, “Outline” tab, “Slide Pane” and “Notes
Pane”.
 The “Slide Sorter” view presents your slides in thumbnail form to show you an
overall picture of your presentation.
 This makes it easy to reorder, add, or delete slides.
 The “Notes Page” view shows your notes in full page format.
 The “Reading” view is similar to the “Slide Show” view.
 The difference is that the title bar, status bar and the Windows task bar are
displayed.
 This enables you to switch to other open programs.
 Presentation views can also be changed by clicking the buttons on the “Status
Bar” at the bottom of the screen.

Master Views

 On the “View” tab, the “Master Views” group contains icons which allow you to
change your master slides.
 Each slide layout is based on a specific slide in the Slide Master.
 The “Slide Master” icon is used to make changes to the Slide Master.
 The layout of your Handouts and Notes pages are also based on their respective
masters.
 The “Handout Master” icon is used to make changes to the Handout Master.
 The “Notes Master” icon is used to make changes to the Notes Master.
 Changing a master slide results in a corresponding change to all slides based on
it.

The Slide Master

Slides can be created using different layouts. Each layout is based on a slide in the
“Slide Master”. In effect, the Slide Master contains multiple “Layout Masters”. The
changes made to a Layout Master are reflected on all slides throughout your
presentation which are based on that layout. This ensures consistency and saves time.
To see the Slide Master,

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  Activate the “View” tab.
 In the "Presentation Views" group, click “Slide Master”.
 You can see a number of slide icons in the left pane.
 These are the different Layout Masters.
 When you move your mouse over each of them, you can see screen tips which
display the name of the layout and the number of slides based on it.

Changing the Slide Master

The displayed presentation has the “Blank Layout” applied to slides 5 to 9.

 Click on the slide icon related to the “Blank Layout”.

 You see the master slide in the right pane.
 Any change made to this slide will be reflected on all slides created using this
layout.
 Let us change the background style.
 On the “Slide Master” tab, in the “Background” group, click “Background Styles”
and select a suitable style from the displayed ones.
 Now close the Master View by clicking “Close Master View” in the “Close” group.
 On the “Slides” tab, you can see that all the slides with the “Blank” layout have
the new background style applied.
 The Handout Master and Notes Master can be changed in a similar way.
 You can even change the size and position of placeholders in the masters.

ADDITIONAL FILE TAB OPTIONS

Creating a Video

You can convert your PowerPoint presentation to a video file that you can share with
others.

 Click the “File” tab and select “Save & Send” in the left pane.
 Then in the centre pane, under “File Types”, click “Create a Video”.

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  Now in the right pane, specify the time you want each slide to be displayed in the
“Seconds to spend on each slide” box and then click “Create Video”.
 In the “Save As” window, specify the location to save the video and enter the name
in the “File name” box.
 Then click “Save”.
 The time taken to prepare the video depends on the size of your presentation.
 The video file is created in “.wmv” format which is a video format developed by
Microsoft.
 You can now share your video or upload it wherever you wish!

Saving in “PowerPoint Show” Format

A PowerPoint presentation is saved by default with the extension “.pptx”. There are
various other formats in which you can save your presentation. Saving in the
“PowerPoint Show” format saves the presentation file in a show file format.

 Click the “File” tab and select “Save & Send” in the left pane.
 Then in the centre pane, under “File Types”, click “Change File Type”.
 Now in the right pane, click “PowerPoint Show (*.ppsx)” and then click “Save As”.
 In the displayed window, specify the location to save and enter the “File name”.
 Then click “Save”.
 Once saved in this format, double clicking on the file icon will open the file
automatically as a PowerPoint show.

Saving in JPEG Format

You may also save your presentation in the JPEG File Interchange Format. Saving in
this format saves images of the slides in a quality suitable for Web viewing.

 Click the “File” tab and select “Save & Send”.

 Then select “Change File Type - JPEG File Interchange Format (*.jpg)” and
click “Save As”.

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  In the displayed window, select the location to save and “File name”.
 Then click “Save”.
 Specify whether you want to create images of all slides or only the current slide.
 A message is displayed informing you where the image files have been created.
 Click “OK”.
 Now you can see that a folder has been created which contains images of your
slides.

POWERPOINT EXTENSIONS

PowerPoint Web Applications

Microsoft PowerPoint Web App extends your Microsoft PowerPoint experience to the web
browser, where you can work with presentations directly on the website where they are
stored. In Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 you can start using PowerPoint Web Application by
saving your presentation to your SkyDrive or your SharePoint library.

SkyDrive and SharePoint

SkyDrive and SharePoint are software products developed by Microsoft for collaboration,
file sharing and Web publishing.

 On the File tab, click “Save & Send”, and then click “Save to Web” or “Save to
SharePoint”.
 Now, your presentation is available to view or present quickly, to edit in the
browser, or re-open in PowerPoint.

MS PowerPoint Mobile 2010

PowerPoint Mobile is a part of the Office Mobile suite. It is a presentation program that
is compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint. Using PowerPoint Mobile 2010 you can view
and edit slide presentations, change the order and orientation of slides, add and edit
presentation notes, and change playback settings. You can also deliver presentations on
your computer from your phone. You can even watch a presentation that broadcast
online. But you cannot create new presentations using PowerPoint Mobile.

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PERSONAL PORTFOLIO

LEVEL 1

Objective

At the first level we’ll create a portfolio like the one displayed. This one contains a title
slide and other slides containing pictures and information. At the next level, we’ll
enhance the portfolio by adding colorful titles and text. We’ll also apply various effects to
the pictures for a better appearance. At the final level, we’ll create links between the
different slides and apply sound effects. We’ll also apply transition effects and give the
portfolio a truly professional look. We’ll create the level 1 portfolio and then enhance it to
reach the final level. There’s a lot to be learnt so let’s get started!

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Applying a Background Theme

Let’s apply a background theme which will be used for all the slides in our portfolio.

 Activate the “Design” tab.

 In the “Themes” group, click the “More” arrow to see all available themes.
 Click on a suitable one.
 You can see that your slide has an attractive background.

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  You may choose another color scheme for the theme if you wish.
 For this, in the “Themes” group, click the “Colors” icon and make a selection from
the options displayed.
 Yes, this looks pretty!

Entering Text

The first slide is the title slide. It contains two boxes.

 Click in the box at the top. Enter the title as shown.

 Then enter the subtitle in the same way.

Inserting a Picture

Next, we want to insert a picture.

 Activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.

 The “Insert Picture” window appears.
 Browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture is displayed on your slide now and a new “Format” tab appears.
 Size it as required using the sizing handles.
 To move the picture, place your mouse pointer on it and drag to an appropriate
location.
 Our title slide is complete!

Inserting a Slide

Now that we are done with the title slide, we’ll insert the next slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.

 You can see that a new slide is created with a background based on the theme we
selected.
 Since this is the second slide and not the title slide, it has a different layout.

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Entering Text

In this layout, the title text box is at the top of the slide.

 Let us enter the title.

 Now let us enter some information in the text box below.
 As you type the text, you will see that the text appears with a bullet applied.
 You can remove the bullet if you wish by activating the Home tab and clicking
“Bullets” from the Paragraph Group.
 Alternatively, simply click at the start of the text and press the “Backspace” key.
 We will keep the bullet for now.
 Write the remaining text or points as shown.

Changing Font Style

We have inserted all the required text in the slide.

 Now we will make some changes to the font style and size so that it will look
attractive and readable.
 We need to select the text we want to enhance the appearance of.
 We’ll select the entire text box since we want to apply changes to all text within it.
 Now, on the “Home” tab from the “Font” group select a suitable font.
 Then select a suitable font size by clicking on the small arrow in the “Font Size”
box.
 You can also change the color of the text by clicking on the “Font Color” icon and
selecting a suitable color from the palette displayed.
 Yes, our slide looks nice now!

Inserting Pictures

We have inserted some new slides in our portfolio in the same way we did earlier. Now
insert a title in the first new slide.

 Let us insert a picture below the title.

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  Activate the “Insert” tab and then click the “Picture” icon from the “Illustrations”
group.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the location of the required picture and
click “Insert”.
 The picture gets inserted on the current slide.

Sizing and Moving a picture

You can change the size of the picture by selecting it and dragging the sizing handles
and move it by dragging to a suitable position. Similarly, you can add pictures on the
other slides and size them appropriately. You can also specify an exact size and position
for a picture if you want.

 For this, select the picture and activate the “Format” tab.
 Click the small arrow at the bottom right corner of the “Size” group.
 The “Size and Position” window is displayed.
 You may enter the exact figures on the “Size” and “Position” tabs.
 Then click “Close”.
 This would be useful for uniform positioning of the pictures on all the slides.

Changing Slide Layout

We have finished inserting all our pictures in the slides. Now let us move to the next
slide and add some textual details. If you find that you have used up all the slides
inserted previously you need to insert a new slide.. This time we want a different layout.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click the lower part of the “New Slide”
icon and select the “Title Only” layout.
 A slide with a different layout is inserted.
 You can now insert the title in the title text box.

Using Text Boxes

We’ll enter the details of the various clients in small text boxes. Let’s create one text box
first.

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  Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Position the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box at the required
position.
 Now enter the text within this box as shown using a suitable font style and size.
 To make the name of the client “Bold”, select it and then on the “Home” tab, in the
“Font” group, click the “Bold” icon.
 Similarly add other text.

Navigating

Your Portfolio is almost complete. Let us check each slide.

 To go to the next slide you can use the “Page Down” key or the down arrow key of
your keyboard.
 For the previous slide, use the “Page Up” key or the up arrow.
 If you press the “End” key you will go to last slide and the Home key takes you to
the first slide.
 While navigating if you need to make some changes to a slide, you can do so and
then save the presentation.
 This completes your personal portfolio level01!

LEVEL 2

Using WordArt

 Open the document containing the portfolio we created in the last Level.
 Let’s begin with the title slide.
 Select the title text.
 Now we’ll use WordArt to make it look more attractive.
 Activate the “Format” tab. In the “WordArt Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to
see the gallery of styles.

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  Select a suitable style.
 Wow! The heading looks great.
 You can now change the font , font size and the color of text.
 Similarly, you can enhance the appearance of all headings and sub-headings.

Using Shapes

Now we want to draw horizontal lines below each client’s details.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shapes”.

 From the displayed gallery, select the “Line” shape and drag with your mouse to
draw the line at a suitable position.
 Activate the “Format” tab. In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Outline” icon and select a suitable color from the displayed palette.
 Create similar lines below the details of each client.

Applying Picture Effect

We’ll enhance the title slide now.

 Select the picture at the bottom right corner and make it larger by dragging the
sizing handles.
 Next, we’ll give it a softer look.
 Activate the “Format” tab. In the “Picture Styles” group, select “Picture Effects →
Soft Edges”.
 Select a suitable option from the displayed ones.

Re-coloring Pictures

Now we’ll adjust the color.

 In the “Adjust” group, select “Recolor”.

 Various re-coloring options are displayed.
 Click on the required one.
 Then click outside the picture.

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  Yes, this is fine.

Arranging Pictures behind Text

We have finished inserting the pictures in all slides but the About Me slide has some
text behind the pictures. Let us move the pictures behind the text. Select the picture
which should be behind all other pictures and text.

 Activate the “Format” tab and from the “Arrange” group, click the arrow next to
the “Send to Back” icon and select the option “Send to Back”.
 Similarly, arrange the other elements on the slide using the “Send to back” or
“Send Backward” option.
 You can also bring them to the front using the “Bring to Front” option.
 You will see the text clearly now.

Rotating Pictures

Let’s make the slide more interesting by rotating some pictures.

 Select the picture you want to rotate.

 You will notice a green rotation handle at the top.
 When you position your cursor over it, the cursor changes to a circular arrow.
 Drag with the mouse to get the required inclination.
 If you want to rotate to a specific angle activate the “Format” tab and from the
“Arrange” group click the “Rotate” icon.
 From the options displayed, select “More Rotation Options” and in the “Size and
Position” window, insert the exact value in the “Rotation” box.

Re-Arranging a Text Box

We have the pictures arranged behind the text perfectly now. But the text above the
picture is not readable. Let us adjust the text box first and then the text within it.

 Select the text box.

 You will notice small squares on the sides and circles at the corners.

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  You can click and drag any of them to resize the text box.
 If you select a square and move it you can increase or decrease the height or
width of the text box.
 If you select and drag the circles at the corners, you can increase or decrease the
height and width simultaneously.
 Let’s make appropriate adjustments.

Insert Line Spacing

We will now add some line spacing to the text so that it will be more readable. Select the
text box or text to which you want to apply spacing.

 Activate the Home tab and click on the small arrow at the bottom right of in the
Paragraph group.
 The Paragraph window will appear.
 In the “Spacing” group you can select the appropriate space before the text, after
the text and the spacing between the lines.

Creating a Drop Cap

Let us give a “Drop Cap” effect to the first alphabet of the text within the box.

 First, delete the starting alphabet.

 Make space for a large alphabet.
 Click outside this text box.
 Then create a separate text box and use a large font size for the first alphabet.
 Position the new text box suitably.
 Yes, this gives a good effect.

Grouping Shapes

Let us enhance the slides by adding some circular shapes behind the title of each slide.
We can simply draw them once and then make copies. To avoid missing out a shape
while copying, we can group the required shapes.

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  Select all shapes to be copied and then activate the “Format” tab.
 From the “Arrange” group, click “Group” and then select “Group” from the
dropdown list.
 Your shapes are grouped now and you can select them in a single click.
 Copy the shapes to all slides.

Arranging Shapes behind Text

We have finished copying the shapes to all slides but the shapes are covering the
headings. Let us move the shapes behind the heading text.

LEVEL 3

Inserting Hyperlink

We will now create links between the slides. For that we will add small pictures i.e.
thumbnails of all pictures within the related category.

 Let us insert the thumbnails on the first picture slide and apply the required
effects and settings.
 We do not need to add a hyperlink to the thumbnail which displays the picture at
the centre.
 So, select the second thumbnail.
 Then activate the “Insert” tab.
 In the “Links” group, select “Hyperlink”.
 The “Insert Hyperlink” window is displayed.
 In the left panel, click “Place in This Document”.
 In the box at the centre, a list of all the slides is displayed.
 Click on the slide to which you wish to create a link.
 You can see a preview of the slide on the right.
 Click “OK”.
 Similarly, add links to the other slides.

Copying Pictures

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  Select all the pictures i.e. thumbnails on this slide and activate the Home tab.
 Click on the copy option from the Clipboard group.
 Go to the next slide and click on the paste option from the clipboard group.
 Add the hyperlink to the first thumbnail and then copy and paste the pictures to
all the relevant slides.

Using Audio

Now we’ll attach an audio file to our portfolio so that when the slide show is running,
music is played in the background.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Media” group, select “Audio → Audio from File”.
 In the “Insert Audio” window, browse to the location of your sound file and click
“Insert”.
 A small sound icon is displayed on your slide.
 Activate the new “Playback” tab displayed under “Audio Tools”.
 In the “Preview” group, click the “Play” button to hear the actual sound.
 In the “Audio Options” group, from the “Start” drop down menu list, select “Play
across slides” to play the audio across all slides.
 Also, check the box against “Hide During Show”.
 This will hide the sound icon during the slide show.

Applying Transition Effect

Now that all the slides in our portfolio are ready we’ll apply some transition effects. A
transition specifies how the display changes when you move from one slide to another
during a slide show.

 Activate the “Animations” tab. In the “Transition to This Slide” group, click on the
“More” arrow to see all the available transition styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Click the “Apply to all” button to apply the effects to all slides.

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Reviewing the Document

Let’s check our portfolio for spelling mistakes.

 Click the “Review” tab. In the “Proofing” group, click “Spelling”.

 If there are any errors, the “Spelling” window is displayed.
 Corrections are suggested and you may choose to accept or ignore them by
clicking on the various buttons.
 After you have gone through all the displayed errors, you see a window informing
you that the checking is complete.
 This completes your level 2 portfolio!

Viewing a Slide Show

Now let’s run the slide show to see how the final portfolio will appear.

 For this, on the “View” tab, from the “Presentation Views” group, select “Slide
Show”.
 Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “F5”.
 Here we go!
 Can you hear the music?
 Use a link to move to one of the slides.

Saving the Document

After all modifications, you need to save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now use your creativity and skills to put together different kinds of PowerPoint
presentations!

Modifying Portfolio

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We have completed the portfolio. Let us view it again in a slide show slide by slide. While
reviewing if you feel you want to add or change something you can do it and make the
presentation more effective than the portfolio we have done just now.

CERTIFICATE

LEVEL 1

Objective

The slide displayed is an award certificate. Different font style and sizes have been used
to enter the certificate text. Suitable spaces have been marked out for the entry of the
student name, date, grade and the director’s signature. So let us create a similar
certificate by opening the PowerPoint application.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Changing Slide Layout

The displayed slide has two text boxes, one for the title and the other for the subtitle. We
need a slightly different layout for our certificate. So let’s change the layout.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “Layout”.

 Different layouts are displayed.

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  We’ll select the “Title Only” layout since at present; it’s the closest one to what we
need.

Entering and Formatting Text

 Click within the text box on the slide and enter the title as shown.
 Let’s enhance the appearance of this text a little.
 First select the text.
 Then in the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font Size” from the
respective dropdown lists.
 Next, press the “Bold” icon to embolden this text.
 Now size this text box suitably to make space for the other text using the sizing
handles.

Inserting a Text Box

We need to move this text box slightly down.

 Place the mouse pointer on an edge of the text box.

 When it changes to a four headed arrow, drag to a suitable position.
 Now we want a small text box above the title.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Position the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box of a suitable size
above the title.

Entering and Formatting Text

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select a suitable font and font size.
 Now enter the text within the new text box as shown.
 To center this text within the text box, select it and on the “Home” tab, from the
“Paragraph” group, click “Center”.
 To italicize this text, from the “Font” group, click the “Italics” icon.
 Ok, now we need to enter the main certificate text.

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  Activate the “Insert” tab.
 Then create a text box below the title and enter the text using suitable fonts as
shown.
 Embolden and italicize as required.

Aligning Text

Next, we shall move this text to the center.

 For this, select the text. Then on the “Home” tab, from the “Paragraph” group,
click the “Center” icon.

Completing the Document

 Now create two more text boxes below this one and enter the text as shown.
 Your level 1 award certificate is complete!

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Shape

 Open the document containing the award certificate we created in the previous
assignment.
 We’ll start with creation of the shape at the top.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shapes”.
 Click on a shape of your choice and drag with your mouse to draw it at a suitable
position.

Enhancing a Shape

Now let’s beautify this shape by applying a shape style.

 In the “Drawing” group, click “Quick Styles”.

 Click on a suitable style from the displayed gallery.
 Yes, this shape looks better now!

Arranging Objects

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But the text box we created earlier is hidden! Nothing to worry. The issue can be
resolved simply by positioning the shape behind the text box.

 For this, from the “Drawing” group, select “Arrange → Send to back”.
 Here you are!
 Your text box is visible now.
 You may size and move the shape and the text box as required to position the text
centrally on the shape.

Using WordArt

Next we’ll enhance the main title text. We’ll use WordArt this time.

 Select the title text.

 Then activate the “Format” tab under “Drawing Tools”.
 In the “WordArt Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see the complete gallery of
WordArt styles.
 Click on a suitable style and then click outside the title text box.
 Doesn’t the title look great!

Creating Borders using Shapes

What remains is the creation of a border for the certificate. Now we want a border like
one of the shapes from the “Shapes” gallery. We can achieve such an effect but we’ll
need to make some adjustments. Come; let’s see how this can be done. You know how to
select a shape from the Shapes gallery, right? Yes, on the “Home” tab, from the
“Drawing” group, select “Shapes”. Now click on the shape you want and drag with your
mouse to draw a large shape which covers the complete slide.

Making Shapes Transparent

Now we need to make this shape transparent, so that the certificate text is displayed
within it.

 Click the “Format” tab.

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  In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to “Shape Fill” and select “No
Fill”.
 Now we have a border of the required shape.

Enhancing Shape Outline

Next, we’ll change the color of this border and make it thicker.

 On the “Format” tab, in the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Shape Outline” icon.
 Select a color from the palette displayed.
 To increase the thickness of the border, click the arrow next to the same icon once
again and select “Weight”.
 Then select a suitable thickness from the options displayed.
 This completes your level 2 award certificate.

LEVEL 3

Inserting Pictures

 Open the document containing the level 2 certificate.

 We shall insert a logo of the institution at the top right corner.
 Click the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 You may size this picture as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 Move it to a suitable position by placing the mouse pointer on it and dragging
when the pointer appears as a four-headed arrow.
 Then click outside the picture.
 Now insert a suitable picture at the bottom left corner in the same way.
 Your final certificate is ready.

Document Properties

We’ll now learn to view and edit the document properties.

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  Click the Office Button and select “Prepare → Properties”.
 In the “Document Information Panel”, enter the required details.
 Click the arrow next to “Document Properties” and select “Advanced Properties”.
 Click the different tabs in the displayed window to view the various properties.
 Then click “OK”.
 Now close the Document Information Panel by clicking the “X” shaped icon at the
right corner.

Security

If you wish to keep your documents private and secure, you can do so.

 For this, click the Office Button and select “Prepare → Encrypt Document”.
 A window appears prompting you to enter a password.
 Type a password of your choice and click “OK”.
 Remember that the password is case sensitive.
 You are asked to confirm the password once again.
 Re-enter it and click “OK”.
 The document is now encrypted.
 Let us close the document we have just now encrypted and then again open the
document, a password window will be opened.
 Enter the password and click on OK.
 Document will open.

Saving the Document

Now that the certificate is complete and the security aspect is taken care of, you need to
save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now go ahead and apply all that you have learnt to create different kinds of
PowerPoint documents!

BUSINESS PRESENTATION
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LEVEL 1

Objective

At the first level, we’ll create a business presentation like the one displayed. This
contains a title slide and other slides with information related to the company and the
services provided by the company. A background theme will be applied for all the slides.
We will learn to insert logo and pictures in our presentation. Formatting of text would be
done to change the appearance of the text. In the level 2, we will add different style
formats to our text along with applying bullets to the text. Background of the slides
would be changed by applying gradient and picture to make it look more creative and
attractive. In the level 3, we will learn to add footer in our slides. We’ll also enhance the
presentation by adding animation and sound effects along with applying 3-D effects and
many more attractive features to the picture. So let’s get started in designing our own
business presentation!

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Inserting a Slide

First, we’ll learn how to insert new slides.

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  On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click the arrow next to “New Slide”.
 From the displayed options, select “Blank”.
 You can see that a new slide is inserted.
 Insert the required number of slides in a similar way for the presentation.

Applying a Background

First we will apply a background theme which will be used for all the slides in our
presentation.

 Activate the “Design” tab. In the “Themes” group, click the “More” arrow to see all
available themes.
 Click on “Browse For themes”.
 Choose an appropriate theme for your presentation.
 Click “Open” to apply the theme.
 You can see that all your slides have an attractive theme.

Inserting Heading Text

Now we will insert the title in the first slide.

 Delete the sub title text box by selecting it and pressing the “Delete” key on the
keyboard before preparing ourselves to enter the heading text.
 Place the mouse pointer on the side of the heading text box and we can see a
cursor flashing on the heading text box.
 Now enter the heading text in the heading text box.
 Redraw and resize the heading text box.
 Also when it appears as a four headed arrow, drag it to position suitably to look
like the one as shown.

Formatting the Heading Text

Now we’ll make some changes to the appearance of the heading text.

 Select the required text.

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  Activate the “Home” tab.
 From the “Font” group, click the arrow in the “Font” field to display the font list.
 Select a suitable one from the displayed options.
 Similarly, select a suitable font style, font size and font color from the “Font Style”,
“Font Size “and “Font color” dropdown lists respectively.

Inserting Text Box

Now we’ll learn how to insert text boxes.

 Activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Place the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box at the required position.
 Now enter the text within this box.
 Insert the text for rest of the slides in a similar way.

Formatting Text

Now we will change the appearance of our text to make it look beautiful.

 Select the text.

 From the “Font” group, click the arrow in the “Font” field to display the font list.
 Select a suitable one from the displayed options.
 Similarly, select a suitable font style, font size and font color from the “Font Style”,
“Font Size”; “Font Color” dropdown lists respectively.
 Also, make the text bold by clicking “Bold” in the “Font” group.
 Do the formatting for rest of the text inserted in the slides.

Inserting Logo

We can see that there is a logo at the bottom left corner of the slide 1. We will learn to
insert similar logo.

 Click on the “Insert” tab.

 Select “Picture” from the “Illustrations” group.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.

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  Resize the logo and drag it to position suitably at the bottom left corner as shown.
 Do the same for rest of the slides.
 Adding logo of the company really makes an impact.

Inserting Picture

Now we will learn how to insert picture.

 Click on the “Insert” tab.

 Select “Picture” from the “Illustrations” group.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
And drag it to a suitable position.
 Enter rest of the pictures in the similar way for the slides in the presentation.
 Your level 1 business presentation is complete!

LEVEL 2

Applying Shadow Effects to the Text

 Open the presentation that we created in the previous level.

 We can see that in the first slide, heading text has been enhanced by adding
shadow effects.
 We will learn how to do that.
 Select the heading text.
 To apply shadow pattern activate the “Format” tab.
 On the “Word art Styles “group, click the drop down list of “Text Effects”.
 Choose an appropriate pattern from the “Shadow” list.
 Do the same for the texts in the rest of the slides.

Applying Shape Style

We can see that the background color of the text box is changed. We will learn to do that
here.

 Select the text box.

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  On the “Format” tab. in the “Shape Styles” group, choose a suitable option from
the options available.
 Change the shape style for rest of the text boxes in the all the slides using the
same steps.

Applying Gradient to the Background

As we can see that to make the presentation look more creative, the background color of
the slides have been changed.

 Activate the “Design” tab.

 In the “Background” group, click the “Background Styles”.
 From the displayed options, select “Format background”.
 Choose the “Gradient Fill” option.
 Select a suitable choice from the “Preset Colors” for the background.
 The background looks so attractive.
 Change the background where ever necessary.

Inserting Picture in Background

We can see that for few slides, picture has been added to the background.

 Click on the slide whose background needs to be changed by inserting picture.

 From the “Design” tab. In the “Background” group, click the “Background Styles”.
 From the displayed options, select “Format background”.
 To insert picture, select “Picture or texture fill”.
 Click on “File” and browse to the desired folder to insert the picture required.
 Insert the picture for the background where ever required.

Set Transparent Color for Logo

In the first slide, logo has been made transparent to give it an attractive appearance.

 Select the logo in the first slide.

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  On the “Format” tab, in the “Adjust” group, click on “Recolor” and choose “Set
transparent Color” option to make the logo look attractive.
 Click on the logo to apply the transparent color.

Arranging Objects

You can see that after applying a shape style to the text box, the logo has been hidden.
We will position the text box behind the logo to resolve this.

 Select the text box.

 Click on the “Format” tab and from the “Arrange” group, select “Send Backward -
Send to Back”.
 Now the logo is visible.
 Do the same for the other slides as well.

Applying WordArt Style

We will enhance the text by applying word art style.

 Select the text and click on the “Format” tab.

 Select a suitable word art style from the drop down list of “Word Art Styles” group.
 Select a suitable color from the “Text Fill” drop down list in the “Word art Styles”
group.
 To apply 3-D pattern to the selected text choose a suitable 3-D pattern from the
“Text Effects→ 3-D Rotation” option.
 Your text is ready now.
 Isn’t it looking amazing!
 Do the needful for rest of the text where required.

Applying Bullets

 Select the text where we need to add bullets.

 From the “Paragraph “group, in the “Home” tab click on the” Bullets”.
 Select a suitable choice from the options displayed.
 Apply bullets to other texts in a similar way.

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  Your level 2 business presentation is complete!

LEVEL 3

Applying Picture Style

 Open the presentation that we created in the last level.

 We can see that how a picture is enhanced by applying different picture style
pattern.
 To apply picture style, click on the picture.
 On the “Format” tab in the “Picture Styles” group, choose an appropriate option
from the drop down list.
 Apply picture style for rest of the pictures in the slides using suitable choices.

Applying 3D Effects to the Picture

Here, we will apply 3-D effects to the picture which will enhance the way the picture
appears in the slide.

 Select the picture and click on the “Format” tab.

 Select “Picture Effects” in the “Picture Styles” group.
 Select “3-D Rotation Options” from the “3-D Rotation” list.
 In the “3-D Rotation” tab, make a suitable choice for X, Y, Z, Perspective until the
picture appears the similar way in the slide.
 Click “Close” to apply the changes done.
 Similarly, do the needful for rest of the pictures inserted.
 Wow! The picture looks amazing now.

Applying Glow Effect to the Picture

Here, we will learn to apply shadow effects to the picture.

 Select the picture and click on the “Format’ tab.

 Click on “Picture Effects” in the “Picture Styles” group.
 Select a suitable one from the “Glow” list.

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  Apply glow effect to the pictures wherever required.

Inserting Footer

We can see a footer note in all the slides which gives the website information for the
company. We will learn now how to do that.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Header & Footer”.
 In the “Header and Footer” dialog box, on the “Slide” tab, select the “Footer” check
box, and then type the text that you want to appear at the center bottom of the
slide.
 Click “Apply All” to apply footer to all the slides.
 Drag the footer to the desired location as shown on all the slides.

Applying Sound to the Slide

Adding sound to our business presentation will create a soothing effect for the listeners.
Let’s learn now how to add sound.

 Click the slide to which you want to add a sound.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Media” group, click the arrow under “Audio”.
 Click “Clip Art Audio”.
 Locate the clip that you want in the “Clip Art” pane, and then click it to add it to
the slide.
 To repeat the sound continuously until you stop it by clicking your mouse, under
“Audio tools”, activate the “Playback” tab.
 Then in the “Audio Options” group, select the “Loop until Stopped” check box.
 You can hide the icon representing the sound in the presentation by selecting the
“Hide during Show” check box.
 To play sound across slides, in the “Start” box, click the down arrow and select
“Play across slides”.
 Playing background sound really creates an impact.
 Isn’t that so!

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Applying Animation Effect

We can enhance our business presentation by applying animation to the text or objects.
Here we will learn to animate a picture.

 Select the picture.

 At first we will change the timing between moving of slides from one to another.
 Activate the Transitions Tab.
 In the “Timing” group, under “Advance Slide”, click the box in front of “After”.
 In the box at the right, increase the number of seconds to a suitable value.
 Now to apply animation, click on “Animations” tab.,
 In the “Animation” group, click the “More” button, and select a suitable animation
effect for the picture from the “Entrance” list.
 In the “Start” box, you may specify when you want the animation to begin.
 “On Click” starts the animation when you click the slide.
 “With Previous” starts the animation at the same time as the previous effect.
 “After Previous” starts it after the previous effect.
 You can preview the animation by clicking the “Preview” button in the Preview
group.
 Add animation effects in a similar way for other pictures, texts and objects.
 Your business presentation looks fantastic and eye-catching.

Viewing a Slide Show

Now let’s run the slide show to see how the final business presentation will appear.

 For this, on the “Slide Show” tab, from the “Start Slide Show” group, select “From
Beginning” to start the show from the beginning or “From Current Slide” to start
from the current slide.
 Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “F5”.
 Here we go!
 Your business presentation is complete.

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  With a business presentation like this, you stand a high chance of attracting more
customers and doing well in your business.
 Now go ahead and try to create other business presentations using Microsoft
PowerPoint and its different features.

SCHEDULE

LEVEL 1

Objective

Greetings! A Schedule is a plan for an activity or event. Scheduling is a fundamental

part of time management. Making a schedule ensures that an activity is executed in a
systematic way. We’ll use Microsoft PowerPoint to create a schedule for a business
seminar. A PowerPoint document is called a presentation and consists of one or more
“Slides”.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

The first slide is the title slide. It contains two boxes.

 Click in the box at the top.

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  Enter the title as shown.
 Enter the subtitle in the same way.

Inserting Text Boxes

Next we’ll create an additional text box at the top of the slide.

 Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Place the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box at the required position.
 Now enter the text within this box as shown using a suitable font style, color and
alignment.
 Create another text box at the bottom of the slide and enter the date of the event.

Applying a Background Theme

Let’s apply a background theme which will be used for all the slides in our schedule.

 Activate the “Design” tab.

 In the “Themes” group, click the “More” arrow to see all available themes.
 Click on a suitable one.
 You can see that your slide has an attractive background.
 You may choose another color scheme for the theme if you wish.
 For this, in the “Themes” group, click the “Colors” icon and make a selection from
the options displayed.
 Yes, this looks pretty!

Aligning Text

 Activate the “Home” tab.

 To move the text to the center of the line, from the “Paragraph” group, click the
“Center” icon.
 To position the text in the middle of the text box, from the “Paragraph” group,
click the “Align Text” icon and select “Middle” from the options displayed.

Sizing and Moving Text Boxes

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  Select the first box and size it suitably by dragging the sizing handles.
 Do the same for the second one.
 Now move the second text box a little lower down by placing the mouse pointer on
it and dragging to a suitable position when the pointer appears as a four-headed
arrow.
 Similarly, move the upper text box lower down.

Using Shape Styles

Ok, now let’s beautify these boxes a bit.

 Ensure that the upper box is selected and activate the “Format” tab.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the “More” arrow and select a style from the
gallery.
 This box looks good doesn’t it?

Formatting Text

 Now click in the lower box and activate the “Home” tab.
 Select the text and in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the “Font Color”
icon.
 Select a color from the displayed palette.
 Then to get a shadow effect, click the “Text Shadow” icon.

Aligning and Formatting Other Text

Similarly align and format the other text in the slide.

Inserting a Slide

Now that we are done with the title slide, we’ll insert the next slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.

 You can see that a new slide is created with a background based on the theme we
selected.
 Since this is the second slide and not the title slide, it has a different layout.

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Using WordArt

 Click within the title text box and enter the slide title as shown.
 Let us enhance the title using WordArt.
 Activate the “Format” tab.
 Now select the title text.
 From the “WordArt Styles” group, click the “More” arrow and select a style from
the gallery.
 To change the color, from the “WordArt Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Text Fill” icon and select a color.
 Now size and position the title text box suitably.

Inserting a Table

We’ll enter details of the schedule using a table.

 Click the “Insert Table” icon in the lower text box.

 In the “Insert Table” window, enter the number of columns and rows and click
“OK”.
 A table appears on your slide.
 Size it as required by dragging the sizing handles.
 Move it to a suitable position by placing the mouse pointer on one of the edges
and dragging when it appears as a four-headed arrow.

Entering Text in a Table

The table is ready, so let’s start entering information within it.

 Click in the first cell and enter the data using suitable fonts as shown.
 Use the “Tab” key to move between cells.
 Now to position the data centrally within all the cells we need to select the entire
table.
 For this, place your mouse pointer on an edge of the table and click when it
appears as a four headed arrow.

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  From the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center” icon and select “Align Text →
Middle”.
 This completes your slide.
 Create other slides for entry of the remaining schedule information in the same
way.

Applying Cell Shading

Let us apply different shading to the cells in the slides which show the break timings.

 To select the lower row of the table, position the mouse pointer to the left of the
row and click when it appears as a dark black arrow.
 Now activate the “Design” tab under the heading “Table Tools”.
 In the “Table Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shading” icon and select a
background color for the cells.

Changing Slide Layout

Now that all the slides containing the schedule information are ready, we’ll design the
concluding slide.

 Insert a new slide.

 We’ll change the layout of this slide.
 For this, from the “Slides” group, click the “Layout” icon.
 You can see various layout styles displayed with the currently applied one
highlighted.
 Click the “Title Only” layout.
 Now delete the title text box.
 Create two text boxes and enter text using suitable fonts as shown.
 Our level 1 schedule is ready!

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Shape

715
  Open the document containing the schedule we created in the last assignment.
 Let’s begin with the title slide.
 We’ll design the company logo using a shape, a picture, a text box and a line.
 Let’s insert the shape first.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shapes”.
 From the displayed gallery, select a shape and drag with your mouse to draw it at
the top of the slide.

Enhancing a Shape

Let’s enhance the appearance of this shape.

 In the “Drawing” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Fill” icon and select a
color from the displayed palette.
 Now select “Shape Effects → Glow”.
 Select an option from the displayed gallery.
 Yes, this shape looks nice!

Inserting a Picture

Next, we want to insert a picture.

 Activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.

 The “Insert Picture” window appears.
 Browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture is displayed on your slide.
 Size it as required using the sizing handles.
 To move the picture, place your mouse pointer on it and drag to an appropriate
location.

Creating a Text Box

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For the next part of the logo, create a text box as shown and write the company name
using suitable fonts.

Inserting Lines

To complete the logo, we’ll insert a line below the company name.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Drawing” group, click “Shapes”.

 Click on “Line” and drag with your mouse to draw a line at the required position.
 Let us color this line differently.
 In the “Shape Styles” group, click the arrow next to the “Shape Outline” icon and
select a color.

Grouping Objects

Now we’ll group the four objects that comprise the logo.

 Select the shape and keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed, select the picture, the text
box and the line.
 From the Drawing” group, click “Arrange” - “Group”.
 A rectangle appears around all the objects and they can be moved and sized
simultaneously.

Copying Objects

 Now that the logo is ready, let’s copy it and place it on the last slide.
 Ensure that the object group is selected and then on the “Home” tab, from the
“Clipboard” group, click the “Copy” icon.
 Activate the last slide and then from the “Clipboard” group, click “Paste”.
 Move the logo to a suitable position and size as required.

Arranging Objects

 Now create an attractive shape on the last slide and color suitably as shown.
 To move this shape behind the text box, Click “Arrange”, then select “Send to
Back”.

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Inserting Charts

What remains is the creation of the slide containing a chart.

 Activate the slide below which you want this slide and on the “Home” tab, from the
“Slides” group, click “New Slide”.
 Enter the slide title as shown.
 In the lower box, click the “Insert Chart” icon.
 In the displayed window, select the chart type and then click “OK”.
 A sample chart is displayed in your document and an Excel worksheet appears in
another window.
 Delete the data in the worksheet and enter your data as shown.
 As you enter the data, corresponding changes are made to the chart.
 Now close the Excel window.
 Resize and re-position the chart as required.

Completing the Slide

Now to enhance the appearance of the chart, create an attractive shape behind the
chart. Insert a picture and two text boxes below the chart as shown.

Applying Transition Effects

Now that all the slides in our presentation are ready we’ll apply some transition effects.
A transition specifies how the display changes when you move from one slide to another
during a slide show.

 Activate the “Transitions” tab. In the “Transition to This Slide” group, click on the
“More” arrow to see all the available transition styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Click the “Apply to All” button to apply the effects to all slides.

Applying Animation Effects

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You can also animate the text, pictures, shapes, tables, SmartArt graphics and other
objects in your Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 presentation to give them visual effects.

 To add a special visual or sound effect to text or an object, Select the text or object
to which you want to give an animation effect.
 Activate the “Animations” tab.
 In the “Animation” group, click on the “More” arrow to see all the available
Animation styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 You can also set the effect options for an animation, on the Animations tab, in the
Animation group, click the arrow to the right of Effect Options and click the option
that you want.
 That’s it; your final schedule is ready!

Viewing a Slide Show

Now let’s run the slide show to see how the final schedule will appear.

 For this, on the “View” tab, from the “Presentation Views” group, select “Slide
Show”.
 Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “F5”.
 Here we go!

Saving the Document

Now that the schedule is complete in all respects, you need to save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Now use your creativity and skills to put together different kinds of PowerPoint
presentations!

TRAINING PRESENTATION

LEVEL 1

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Objective

The displayed training presentation has a background theme applied. The first slide is
the title slide which displays the name of the school, the class, subject and lesson name.
The other slides contain the actual lesson content. The last slide contains the text
“Thank You”. At the bottom of each slide, the slide number and footer is displayed. We’ll
learn to create a similar presentation by opening the PowerPoint application.

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs - Microsoft Office - Microsoft PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new PowerPoint document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.

Saving the Document

First, let us save this document and give it a name.

 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Text

The title slide contains two boxes.

 Click in the box at the top.

 Enter the name of the school.
 Click in the box at the bottom and enter details related to the class and lesson as
shown.

Inserting Footer

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Next, we’ll insert footer.

 Activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Header & Footer”.
 In the displayed window, check the boxes in front of “Slide Number” and “Footer”.
 Enter the text you want to be displayed at the bottom in the “Footer” box.
 Then click the “Apply to All” button at the top right.
 You can see your footer text and slide number displayed at the bottom of the title
slide.

Applying a Background Theme

The first slide displayed is the Title Slide.

 Let’s apply a background theme which will be used for all the slides in our
presentation.
 Activate the “Design” tab.
 In the “Themes” group, click the “More” arrow to see all available themes.
 Click on a suitable one.

Enhancing Text

Let us enhance the appearance of the text in the lower box.

 Activate the “Home” tab and then select the first line of text.
 From the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font”, “Font Size” and “Font Color”.
 Similarly, enhance the appearance of the other two lines.

Inserting a Slide

Now that we are done with the title slide, we’ll insert the next slide.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “New Slide”.

 You can see that a new slide is created with a background based on the theme we
selected.
 The footer and slide number are displayed at the bottom.
 Since this is the second slide and not the title slide, it has a different layout.

721
Aligning Text

 Click within the text box at the top and enter the slide title “Objectives” using
suitable fonts.
 To position the title at the center, from the “Paragraph” group, click the “Center”
icon.

Using Bullets

 Click in the box below. Press “Backspace” to remove the displayed bullet and enter
your text using suitable fonts.
 Now we need to use bullets.
 So in the “Paragraph” group, click the “Bullets” icon.
 Type the first point and press “Enter”.
 Type the next line of text as shown.
 Each line appears with a bullet at the beginning.
 Create the other slides containing the lesson content in a similar way.

Changing Slide Layout

Now that all the lesson slides are ready, we’ll design the concluding slide.

 Insert a new slide. We’ll change the layout of this slide.

 For this, from the “Slides” group, click the “Layout” icon.
 You can see various layout styles displayed with the currently applied one
highlighted.
 Click the “Title Only” layout.
 This layout has a single text box.
 Enter the text “Thank You!” in it using suitable fonts and align it centrally.
 Re-position this text box at the center of the slide.

Using WordArt

Now let us enhance the text “Thank You!” using WordArt.

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  Activate the “Format” tab under the heading “Drawing Tools”.
 Select the text and from the “WordArt Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to see
the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Click outside the text box.
 Yes, this looks nice!
 Our level 1 training presentation is complete!

Moving Text Boxes

 Now we want the text box containing the name of the school at the top.
 So click within this text box.
 Place your mouse pointer on any edge and when it appears as a four-head arrow,
drag to position this box above the other one.
 Similarly re-position the other box suitably.

LEVEL 2

Inserting a Picture

 Open the document containing the training presentation we created in the last
assignment.
 We want to insert a picture of the company logo on the title slide.
 Activate the “Insert” tab. In the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 The “Insert Picture” window appears.
 Browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture is displayed on your slide.
 Size it as required using the sizing handles.
 To move the picture, place your mouse pointer on it and drag to an appropriate
location.
 Then click outside the picture.
 Insert the logo on all the other slides in the same way.

Using Picture Styles

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  Activate slide 4.
 Insert a suitable picture at the required position.
 We’ll enhance the appearance of this picture by applying a picture style.
 Ensure that the picture is selected.
 Then on the “Format” tab under “Picture Tools”, from the “Picture Styles” gallery,
select a suitable style.
 Click outside the picture.
 Doesn’t the picture look nice?
 In the same way, insert pictures on the other slides and apply suitable styles.

Inserting a Slide

Now we want to create a diagram on a new slide between slides 4 and 5.

 So activate slide 4 and insert a new slide with the “Title Only” layout.
 Enter the title of the slide using suitable fonts in the box at the top.

Inserting a Shape

In our diagram, we need a circular shape representing the sun on the right side.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Drawing” group, click “Shapes”.

 From the displayed gallery, select the “Oval” shape.
 In order to create a perfect circle, keep the “Shift” key pressed and drag with your
mouse to draw the shape at the required location.

Drawing Lines

 Now from the Shapes gallery, select “Line” and drag to draw a slanting line from
the top of this circle towards the left as shown.
 Then draw another line from the end point of this line and drag towards the right
to the bottom of the circle.

Inserting More Shapes

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  Next, draw a small circular shape representing the moon at the left between the
two lines.
 Next we want two semi-circular shapes in the centre to represent the earth which
is in partial darkness.
 For this we’ll have to use the “Pie” shape under “Basic Shapes” from the Shapes
gallery.
 Drag to draw the pie at a suitable position.
 You can see two yellow nodes.
 Drag the lower node towards the left till you get a semi-circular shape.
 Then create another semi-circle of the same size outside the main diagram.
 Activate the “Format” tab under “Drawing Tools” and from the “Arrange” group,
select “Rotate → Flip Horizontal”.
 Now drag this semi-circle and position it next to the semi-circle we created earlier
to create a circular shape.

Applying a Shape Style

Next, we’ll color the shapes we created using Shape Styles.

 Select the large circle on the right.

 On the “Format” tab and from the “Shape Styles” group, click the “More” arrow to
see the complete gallery of styles.
 Click on a suitable one.
 Color the other circle and the two-semicircles in the same way using suitable
styles.

Using Text Boxes

Now to complete the diagram, we need to label the various shapes. We shall use text
boxes for this.

 Click the “Insert” tab.

 In the “Text” group, click “Text Box”.
 Place the cursor on the slide and drag to draw a text box at the required position.

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  Now on the “Home” tab from the “Font” group, select a suitable “Font” and “Font
Size” and enter the text as shown.
 Label the other shapes in the same way.
 Your diagram is complete now.
 Create the other diagram in a similar way.

Using Similar Procedures

Use shapes to enhance the appearance of the other slides and the concluding slide as
well.

Applying Animation Effects

Let us add some animation effects to the shapes in slide 3.

 First, select one shape.

 Now click on the “Animations” tab.
 In the Animation group, select the animation effect that you want.
 You can view the animation effect right away on your slide by clicking “Preview” in
the “Preview” group or by clicking “Animation Pane” in the “Advanced Animation”
group.
 In the panel at the right, click the arrow in the “Start” list box and select “After
Previous”.
 This result in the animation starting immediately after the previous item is
displayed.
 To set the direction of the animation, click “Effect Options” in the “Animation”
group.
 Let us select “From Right” in the “Direction” list box.
 Now click “Play” to view your animation.
 Similarly apply animation effects to the other shapes on the same slide.

Applying Other Effects

Let us apply another type of animation effect to the picture in slide 4.

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  Select the picture.
 On the Animations tab, in the Animation group, click the “More” button to view all
available effects.
 Let us select “Grow/Shrink” under “Emphasis”.
 In the “Start” box, select “After Previous”.
 Apply effects to other slides as required in a similar way.

Applying Transition Effects

Now that all the slides in our presentation are ready we’ll apply some transition effects.

 Activate the “Transition” tab.

 In the “Transition to This Slide” group, click the “More” arrow to see all available
transition styles.
 Select a suitable one.
 Click the “Apply to All” button to apply the same effect to all slides.
 That’s it; your final training presentation is ready!

Viewing a Slide Show

Now let’s run the slide show to see how the final presentation will appear.

 For this, on the ”Slide Show” tab, in the “Start Slide Show” group, select “From
Beginning” to start the show from the first slide or “From Current Slide” to start
from the current slide that is slide 4 .
 Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “F5”.
 Here we go!
 Press the spacebar to advance to the next slide.

Saving the Document

Now that the presentation is complete in all respects, you need to save the document.

 For this, click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

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  Now use your creativity and skills to put together different kinds of PowerPoint
presentations!

PERSONAL INFORMATION MANAGER

(PIM)
GETTING STARTED

OUTLOOK 2010 OVERVIEW

Introduction

Hello Friends! Most of us lead very busy lives and have to juggle many activities
simultaneously. It’s sometimes impossible to physically keep track of when and what we
have to do. Having a little help and organization can go a long way. Using a Personal

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Information Manager (often referred to as a PIM) may be just the answer to all problems.
A PIM is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The
purpose of a PIM is to facilitate the recording, tracking, and management of various
types of personal information. Using a PIM ensures that you always have the right
information in the right place, in the right form, so that you spend less time looking for
it. You can then have more time to make creative, intelligent use of the information at
hand in order to get things done in an efficient manner.

Popular PIM Applications

Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo Calendar, Windows Live Calendar and Mozilla Lightning are a
few of the popular PIM applications. There are also some very useful online PIMs such
as PIM Online which allow you to access your information when you’re not at your desk,
in fact from anywhere in the world. Many PIM applications can be downloaded for free.
We’ll learn to use Microsoft Outlook 2010 which is a complete PIM application.

Features of Outlook 2010

Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a

separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. It provides multiple
ways to log and organize personal and business information. It integrates e-mail,
address books, calendars, note pads, task lists, and more into one place, and more
importantly, makes this information immediately available to you when you need it.
Outlook 2010 offers an ideal solution for people who are dependent on electronic
messages as a means of communicating with colleagues, clients, friends, and family
members. From a single window, you can work with e-mail messages, find contact
information, view upcoming appointments, and track tasks.

Benefits

A “Mail Client” is an application that enables you to send, receive and organize e-mail.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 serves as a very efficient mail client and more. Here’s what you
can do with Outlook:

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  Send, receive and organize e-mail messages.
 Schedule events, appointments and meetings as well as invite attendees.
 Track tasks for yourself and schedule time to complete your tasks.
 Share schedule information with other people.
 Organize and easily locate information in messages, attachments, calendars,
contacts, and tasks.

Starting Outlook 2010

To begin using Outlook, you will need to first open the application.

 Click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office →
Microsoft Outlook 2010”.

USER INTERFACE

The “User Interface” is the way in which you interact with your computer. When you
open Outlook 2010, you’ll find that the Outlook interface is similar to the other
Microsoft Office components consisting of

 The “Ribbon” which contains task-oriented tabs divided into groups. Each group
contains icons which are used to execute commands. Extra "Contextual" tabs
appear and disappear as you work.
 The “Quick Access Toolbar” which contains buttons that allow you to perform
common actions easily.

Navigation Pane

The parts of the Outlook interface that we’ll now get familiar with are common across all
its modules such as “Mail”, “Calendar”, and “Contacts” etc. At the left of the Outlook
screen, you see a Navigation Pane. At the bottom of this pane, there are buttons for
various categories such as Mail, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks. The upper portion of the
navigation pane displays tools for working with different types of information based on
the category you select.

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To-Do Bar

The To-Do Bar at the extreme right of the Outlook screen gives you a consolidated view
of calendar appointments, tasks and important e-mail messages so that you can see
what you need to do at a glance.

Changing Screen Layout

The Navigation Pane can be minimized into a vertical button bar, to provide you with a
larger work area.

 To do so, click the arrow in the upper right corner.

 You can expand the minimized Pane by clicking the arrow at the top.
 To adjust the width of the Navigation Pane, place your pointer on its right edge
and drag when it appears as a two headed arrow.
 Similarly, you may adjust the width of the To-Do bar or minimize it as required.
 Activate the “View” tab.
 You may also use the options in the “Layout” group to specify the layout of your
Outlook screen.

Overview

Friends, we have now understood the benefits of using a Personal Information Manager
and familiarized ourselves with the Outlook 2010 application screen. We will be
exploring all the features of Outlook in detail in the coming labs. Let’s move to the next
lab where we learn to create, send, and receive e-mails. In fact, lots more than that! So
let’s get started!

MAIL

Configuring an E-mail Account

Outlook for E-mail

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“E-mail” or Electronic Mail involves the transmission of messages over communication
networks. In fact, e-mail is one of the most useful features of the Internet. It has become
one of today’s most preferred means of communication because it is fast, reliable and
low-cost. Outlook serves as a very efficient mail client. Click “Mail” in the lower part of
the Navigation Pane.

The Mail Interface

The default mail folders such as “Inbox”, “Sent Items”, “Deleted Items” etc. are displayed
at the top of the Navigation Pane. The center pane displays the contents of the currently
active folder. The Reading Pane at the right displays details of the active item in the
center pane. To send and receive e-mail, you need to have an e-mail address yourself.
Messages are created using a text editor and are sent by specifying the recipients
address. You can also send the same message to several users at once. Using Outlook,
you can create your mails offline and connect to the Internet only when you are ready to
send them. Additionally, all incoming mail can be stored on your hard disk. You can
then read your mails at leisure even when you’re not connected to the Internet. Isn’t that
interesting!

Setting up an E-mail Account

Before you can send and receive e-mail messages using Outlook 2010, you must add
and configure an e-mail account. Let’s learn to do this.

 Click the “File” tab. Under “Account Information”, click “Add Account”.
 Enter your name, e-mail address, password and retype password then click
“Next”.
 A progress indicator appears while your account is being configured.
 After the account has been successfully added, you may add more accounts by
clicking “Add another account”.
 Click “Finish” to exit.
 You can also add an e-mail account when you first start Outlook 2010.

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  The Auto Account Setup feature automatically starts and helps you configure
settings for your e-mail accounts.
 When your account is configured, any mails which you have received in the past
are downloaded to your computer’s hard disk.

Removing an E-mail Account

You may configure multiple e-mail accounts in Outlook. You may remove any of them as
required.

 To delete a configured account, on the “File” tab, under “Account Information”,

select “Account Settings - Account Settings”.
 In the displayed window, select the e-mail account that you want to remove, and
then click “Remove”.
 To confirm removal of the account, click “Yes” and then click “Close”.
 The account is no longer displayed in your list of configured accounts.

Composing and Sending Mail

Creating an E-Mail Message

Creating an e-mail message is also known as “Composing” a mail.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, click “New E-Mail” or use the keyboard
shortcut “CTRL + N”.
 A new window is displayed in which you can enter details such as the e-mail
address of the recipient, the subject and the content of the mail.
 Click on the "To…" button.
 This brings up the “Select Names: Contacts” window.
 We’ll learn to set up a list of contacts with their e-mail addresses a little later.

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  For now, let’s assume that there is an existing list of contacts.
 In the displayed window, click a name from the list to which you wish to send the
mail.
 Then click the “To ->” button.
 To add multiple names, keep the “Ctrl” key pressed and click the names one-by-
one.
 Then click the “To ->” button.

Cc and Bcc

“Cc” stands for carbon copy and “Bcc” stands for blind carbon copy.

 Use the “Cc ->” and “Bcc ->” buttons in the same way as the “To ->” button for
entering the addresses to which you wish to send copies to.
 If you add a recipient’s name using “Bcc”, the name is not visible to other
recipients of the message.
 Click “OK”.
 You can also directly type in e-mail addresses not included in your address book
into the “To” and “Cc” boxes.

Entering Subject and Messages

Now, in the “Subject:” text box, enter a descriptive title for the message. You may leave
the Subject box blank, though this is not advisable. When your message is delivered to
the recipient, he sees the subject first. An e-mail with no subject might never be opened.
In the large white box below the subject field, type your message. You can format your
message text as required using various options from the “Basic Text” group on the
“Home” tab. You may use the “Illustrations” group of the “Insert” tab to insert objects
like pictures, clip-art, shapes, smart art, and charts. These objects can also be
formatted as desired.

Attachments

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“Attachments” are files or items that can be included with an e-mail message. They can
be compared to a covering letter sent with a parcel or a birthday card sent along with a
present. Attachments can be opened, viewed or edited by the e-mail recipient. You can
attach all sorts of files to an e-mail, including spreadsheets, word processor documents,
database files, even sound recordings and graphic images.

Inserting Attachments

Let us include an attachment to the e-mail message we created.

 In the message window, on the “Message” tab, in the “Include” group, click “Attach
File”.
 In the “Insert File” window, browse to the file that you want to attach, and then
click “Insert”.
 You may attach any number of files.
 You may select multiple files to be attached at one time by keeping the “Ctrl” key
pressed while selecting.
 The list of files attached is displayed just below the “Subject” field.
 You can remove incorrect file attachments by clicking them and pressing the
“Delete” key.

Creating Signature

You can also create a personalized signature for your e-mail messages. It may include
text, images, your business card, a logo, or even an image of your handwritten
signature. This can automatically be added to all outgoing messages. You can also
manually add the signature to only messages you choose.

 To create a signature, on the “Message” tab, in the “Include” group, click

“Signature”, and then click “Signatures…”
 In the “Signatures and Stationery” window, on the “E-mail Signature” tab, click
“New”.
 Type a name for the signature, and click “OK”.

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Using a Signature

 In the “Edit signature” box, type the text that you want to include in the
signature.
 You may format this text as required using the options displayed.
 Let us insert a picture, for example, a company logo as part of the signature.
 Click the ‘Picture” icon, browse to the picture and click “Insert”.
 Now click “OK” in the “Signatures and Stationery” window.
 To insert the signature, position your cursor suitably.
 Then on the “Message” tab, in the “Include” group, click “Signature”, and select
the signature you want.
 You can see that the signature has been inserted in the message.
 Isn’t that great!

Sending E-Mail

 When you have completed entering all the information in your e-mail message,
click the “Send” button.
 If you are not connected to the Internet, your mail is stored in the “Outbox”.
 When you connect to the internet, mails from the Outbox are sent to the intended
recipients.
 A copy of all sent messages will be kept in your “Sent Items” folder.
 By default, e-mail messages are sent and received automatically after certain time
intervals.
 You can also manually send and receive messages at any time by clicking
“Send/Receive All Folders” on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Optionally, on the “Home” tab, in the “Send/Receive” group, click “Send/Receive
All Folders” or press “F9”.
 All mails in the Outbox are sent out and copies are stored in the Sent Items folder.
New mails, if any, are downloaded to your Inbox.

Creating Drafts

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You can also create a draft (i.e. a non-finalized or rough copy) of a mail to be sent at a
later stage.

 For this, create a mail.

 Then, instead of clicking the “Send” button, click the “Save” icon on the Quick
Access toolbar or use the shortcut “Ctrl + S”.
 Your mail is now stored in the “Drafts” folder.
 You can edit your message at any time by clicking on the “Drafts” folder in the left
panel and then double-clicking on the related message in the center panel.

Using Background Stationery

You may beautify the look of your e-mails using background stationery.

 Click the “File” tab and select “Options”. In the displayed window, click “Mail” in
the left pane.
 Various settings related to the “Mail” component of Outlook are displayed.
 Click the “Stationery and Fonts” button at the right. In the displayed window, on
the “Personal Stationery” tab, click “Theme”.
 In the “Theme or Stationery” window, click the various themes one-by-one on the
left side to see a preview on the right.
 When you find a suitable one, click “OK”.
 Click “OK” in the other two windows as well.
 Now when you create a new e-mail message, you have an attractive background!

Receiving, Replying to and Forwarding Mail

Receiving Mail

If you are connected to the Internet when you start Outlook, all new mails received are
deposited in your “Inbox”.

 To manually check for mails, click “Send/Receive All Folders” on the Quick Access
toolbar.
 Click the Inbox folder in the left panel.

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  You can see a list of all mails received with details such as senders name and
subject in the center panel.
 Unread mails are displayed in bold text with a closed envelope icon at the left.
 Click on the mail whose content you wish to see.
 You can now read the message displayed in the Reading Pane at the right.
 To open the mail in a separate window, double-click it in the message list.
 After a mail has been read, it is displayed in normal text with an open envelope
icon.

Viewing Attachments

Messages that include attachments are identified by a paper clip icon in the message
list. The names of the attached files are displayed in the right pane below the subject.

 To view an attachment in the Reading Pane, simply click it.

 Click “Message” to view the message again.
 Double-click the attachment to open it in a separate window.
 Similarly, when a mail is displayed in a separate window instead of the reading
pane, clicking an attachment displays it in the same window and double-clicking
displays it in a new window.

Saving Attachments

Even though attachments are saved in Outlook, you may wish to save a copy on your
disk.

 Right-click on the attachment name and select “Save As”.

 In the “Save Attachment” window, specify the location in which to save it.
 You may save it with a different name by entering it in the “File name” box.
 Then click “Save”.
 Your attachment is now saved.
 Clicking an attachment name displays the contextual “Attachments” tab.

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  This can be used to perform various functions like opening, saving, and printing
the attachment.

Junk E-mail

“Junk E-mail” also known as “e-mail spam” is unsolicited commercial e-mail. It

normally includes unwanted advertisement material. Often, junk e-mail is sent in bulk
to a large number of addresses using an automated mailing program. The Outlook 2010
Junk E-mail Filter helps reduce unwanted e-mail messages in your Inbox. These are
moved by the filter to the “Junk E-mail” folder.

Replying to a Mail

Let’s learn now how to reply to a mail.

 To reply to a mail, click on the “Inbox” folder and then click the mail to which you
want to reply in the center panel.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Respond” group, click “Reply”.
 A new mail message window is displayed.
 You can see that the recipients e-mail address and subject with the words “RE:”
before it are already filled in.
 Also, the original mail that you had received is appended at the end.
 You may make any changes you require.
 Enter your mail content and send it like any other mail.
 The “Reply All” icon can be used to reply to the sender of the mail as well as all
other recipients (i.e. all persons in the CC list).

Forwarding a Mail

You can also send forward a mail that you have received to other people.

 On the “Message” tab, in the “Respond” group, click “Forward”.

 A new mail message window is displayed with the original mail content and the
subject.

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  You can also see the original sender’s name and e-mail address as well as the date
and time it was originally received.
 Now, enter the e-mail address of the person you wish to send it to in the “To:”
field.
 The “Subject” field displays the words “FW:” followed by the original subject.
 This can be changed if required.
 You may make any other changes you wish and even remove details of the person
who originally sent it to you.
 Now send it like any other mail.

Deleting a Mail

Once you have read some mails, you may wish to delete them.

 To delete a mail, click on it and then on the “Home” tab, in the “Delete” group,
click “Delete”.
 The message will be deleted and moved to your “Deleted Items” folder.
 You can empty the Deleted Items folder to free space for additional storage.
 For this, right-click on the folder name and select “Empty Folder” and then click
“Yes” in the window that comes up.

Organizing Mail

Using Categories

A cluttered and unorganized mailbox can make it difficult to find the e-mail you need.
Microsoft Outlook offers some useful tools such as categories and flags that allow you to
sort and organize your messages in meaningful, easy-to-control ways. A category is a
descriptive word to which you can assign related items. Outlook 2010 offers Color
categories that help you to keep track of items so that you can easily find, sort, filter, or

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group them. There are some predefined categories. You may make changes as per your
requirements.

 Let us assign categories to the e-mail messages in our Inbox.

 Click an e-mail message in the center pane.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Tags” group, click “Categorize”, and then click a color
category.
 Optionally, right-click the message, point to “Categorize”, and click a category.
 A colored box appears near the message.
 You can see that a colored rectangle appears in the Reading Pane as well.

Multiple Categories

You may apply multiple categories to a single item.

 Simply follow the same procedure.

 Now you see two colored boxes instead of one.
 To remove an applied category, select “Categorize - Clear All Categories”.

Setting Quick Clicks

You may wish to assign a specific category as the default one.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Tags” group, click “Categorize - Set Quick Click”.
 In the displayed window, select a color category and click “OK”.
 Now, to assign this default category, simply click the category indicator in the
message list.
 The category is now assigned.

Modifying Categories

You may create new categories, rename existing ones or delete categories.

 On the “All Categories”. On the “Home” tab, in the “Tags” group, select “Categorize
“Color Categories” window, click “New” to create a new category.
 Enter a name and select a color indicator for it.

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  You may assign a shortcut key if you wish.
 Then click “OK”.
 To rename a category, select it and click “Rename”.
 Type a new name and press Enter.
 To delete a category, select it and click “Delete”.
 Click “Yes” in the displayed window.
 Then click “OK” in the “Color Categories” window.
 The category is now removed from the list.

Assigning Flags

You can assign “Flags” to your messages to remind you to follow up on an issue.

 Let us flag a mail in the Inbox.

 Select a mail and on the “Home” tab, in the “Tags” group, click “Follow Up”, and
then choose the desired option.
 You may also simply click the flag symbol next to an important mail to apply the
default flag.
 You can see that the flagged item gets added in the To-Do Bar.
 Click the flag on the To-Do bar to display details.
 When you have taken the necessary action, you can click the flag in the center
pane once again.
 It is now replaced by a tick.

Filing Mails

You may create different folders to file related mails.

 Right-click in the upper part of the Navigation Pane and select “New Folder”.
 In the “Create New Folder” window, enter a name for the folder at the top.
 In the box below, select where you want it created and click “OK”.
 Your folder is created at the specified location.
 Now, if you wish to move a mail into this folder, say from the Inbox, simply drag it
and drop it on the folder name.

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  Then click the folder name. In the center pane, you can see the mail that you had
moved.
 You can also use the “Move” icon in the “Move” group on the “Home” tab to move
or copy selected items to another folder.

Quick Steps

“Quick Steps” are easy-to-use one-click buttons which perform multiple actions at
once. These can be seen in the “Quick Steps” group on the “Home” tab. The first quick
step can be used to move an e-mail to a selected folder after marking it as read.

 Click the “Move to” in the “Quick Steps” tab.

 If it is the first time you’re using this quick step, the “First Time Setup” window is
displayed.
 Enter a name for the step in the first box and in the other box, select a folder
name in which to move the mail.
 Then click “Save”.
 Now the next time you need to save a mail to this folder, instead of dragging the
mail, simply click it and then click the quick step.
 Your e-mail is moved as required.
 Isn’t this feature such a time-saver?

Creating Quick Steps

The “To Manager” and “Team E-mail” quick steps allow you to quickly create an e-mail
to specified people.

 You may create other quick steps as required by clicking the “More” arrow in the
“Quick Steps” group and selecting “New Quick Step”.
 To create a customized quick step, click “More” and select “Create New”.
 In the “Edit Quick Step” window, you can specify multiple actions to be performed
and even assign a shortcut key.

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Searching Mails

The “Instant Search” feature helps you to quickly find items in Outlook. The Instant
Search pane is always available in all of your Outlook views, such as Mail, Calendar and
Contacts.

 Let us use it to find a message in your Inbox.

 Simply type a word or part of it in the search box.
 The moment a match is found, the related mail is displayed.
 You can narrow your search by specifying search criteria.
 When you click in the Instant Search box, the contextual “Search” tab is
displayed.
 In the “Refine” group, a number of criteria options help to make the search more
specific.
 Click “Close Search” in the “Close” group to redisplay the entire list.
 You can use the same search techniques to find any Outlook item.

Arranging Mails

You can sort the mails in your Inbox based on different criteria such as date received,
subject, sender’s name etc.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Arrangement” group, click the “More” arrow and click a
suitable option from the displayed ones.
 Your mails are now sorted as specified.
 You can also specify the sort order by clicking the “Arrange By” box at the top of
the message list.
 Click the box to the right to reverse the sort order.

Conversation View

If you’re looking to keep your relevant e-mail conversations together in an easy to use
format, using the Conversation View in Outlook 2010 would be a good idea. This is

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especially helpful if you have a lot of e-mails scattered through your Inbox which are
related to the same subject.

 On the “View” tab, in the “Conversations” group, click the “Show as

Conversations” box.
 In the displayed window, select whether you want this arrangement in all folders
or the current folder only.
 Mails having the same subject are grouped together in the center pane with a
triangle at the left.
 Clicking the triangle displays a list of all related mails.

Overview

Friends, we have familiarized ourselves with the E-mail module of Outlook 2010. There’s
so much more that you can do with Outlook. We’ll be learning about the Outlook
Calendar in the next lab. Using this you can manage your time to the minutest detail.
You’ll learn to schedule appointments, events, meeting and more! So get ready to be a
time management expert!

CALENDAR

APPOINTMENTS

Calendar

The Microsoft Outlook Calendar is the scheduling component of Outlook. It helps you to
manage your time in the most efficient way. Using Outlook Calendar you’ll always be

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organized, punctual and will never miss out any important activity. You can schedule
activities in your Outlook calendar as appointments, meetings, events, or tasks.

 An “Appointment” is an activity which you have to perform individually at a

scheduled time.
 A “Meeting” occurs at a scheduled time, and it includes other people and a
meeting location.
 An “Event” is an all-day activity and you do not schedule a specific time for it.
 A “Task” is an activity that doesn’t need to be scheduled for a specific time or
involve the whole day.

Calendar Views

 To open the Calendar, click “Calendar” in the lower part of the Navigation Pane.
 The calendar for the current month is displayed at the top left with the current
day highlighted.
 There are various ways in which you can view your Calendar.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Arrange” group, click the various icons to see the
different views.

Appointments

 Let us create an Appointment. In the calendar displayed at the top left, select the
month using the arrows.
 Then select the day.
 Now click in the appropriate time slot in the center pane and enter details of your
appointment.
 Then press “Enter”.
 Your appointment has now been recorded.
 By default, an appointment is allotted half an hour.
 You may extend it by dragging the small white square on the lower edge of the
rectangle downwards.

Appointment Details

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When you enter an appointment, a contextual “Appointment” tab is displayed. This
enables you to specify other details about your appointment. By default, the duration of
the appointment is marked as “Busy”.

 In the “Options” tab, you may use the “Show As” box to mark it differently, for e.g.
“Tentative” or “Out of Office”.
 Click the down arrow and choose a suitable option.
 A small colored indicator appears at the left side as per your selection.
 You may wish to be reminded about the appointment by a bell.
 To specify the period before the appointment when you want the reminder to
appear, click the down arrow in the “Reminder” box and make your selection.

Reminders

Outlook will display a window like the displayed one as a reminder. If you do not wish to
be reminded again, you may click “Dismiss”.

 To be reminded again after a specific time interval, select it in the box at the
bottom and click “Snooze”.

Recurring Appointments

There may be some appointments which take place on a regular basis such as review
meetings. You can create a recurring appoint in such a case.

 On the “Appointment” tab, in the “Options” group, click “Recurrence”.

 You may specify when the appointment will regularly occur using the various
options under "Recurrence pattern”.
 Let us select the “Weekly” option.
 Under “Range of recurrence” you can specify the duration you want the
appointment to recur for by specifying the start date, the end date or the number
of occurrences.
 Let us select the “End after” option and enter “4” as the number of occurrences.
 Now click “OK”.

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View Recurrence

The same appointment will be recorded in your Calendar for the next three weeks on the
same day at the same time i.e. totally, four similar appointments are created.

 Click the same day of the next week in the small calendar at the top left to view
the next week’s appointment.

Appointment Categories

You may categorize an appointment.

 Click an appointment in the Calendar.

 On the “Appointment” tab, in the “Tags” group, click “Categorize”.
 Select a suitable category from the displayed ones.
 Your appointment is now shown in the related color.
 You may apply multiple categories to a single appointment.
 Select another category.
 The color of the second category is applied while the category indicator of the first
one is displayed at the right end.

The “New Appointment” Icon

You may also use the “New Appointment” icon in the “New” group of the “Home” tab to
create a new appointment.

 In the “Appointment” window, enter details of the appointment such as subject,

location and the date and time.
 In the large white box, you may enter other notes related to the appointment.

The Scheduling page

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  You may click the “Scheduling” icon in the “Show” group to view the “Scheduling
Page”.
 This displays the busy and free times in your Calendar to enable you to decide the
best time for your appointment.
 Click “Appointment” to return to the “Appointment” window.
 After you have entered all details related to your appointment, on the
“Appointment” tab, in the “Actions” group, click “Save & Close”.
 Your appointment is now recorded in the Calendar.

EVENTS AND MEETINGS

Events

An “Event” in the Outlook Calendar is treated as an all-day activity. Examples of events

could be a product promotion exhibition or a picnic. Usually, an event occurs once and
can last for one day or several days, but an annual event, such as a birthday or
anniversary, occurs yearly on a specific date. In the Calendar, events do not occupy
blocks of time in your calendar; instead, they appear as banners at the top of a Calendar
page.

Creating an Event

 To create a new event, on the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, select “New Items
All Day Event”.
 In the “Event” window, enter the subject and location of the event.
 Then, enter the dates when the event will start and end.
 Enter the required notes and then on the “Event” tab, in the “Actions” group, click
“Save & Close”.
 You can see that the event has been recorded in the Calendar on the specified
dates in the form of a banner at the top of the calendar page.

Appointment vs. Event

You can also create an event which spans across only a part of a single day.

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  In the “Event” window, enter details such as subject, location and notes.
 Then uncheck the “All day event” box and specify the start time and end time.
 Now click “Save & Close”.
 Your event is now displayed as an appointment in the related calendar page.
 Likewise, in the “Appointment” window, if you click the “All day event” box, it is
recorded as an event in the Calendar.

Meetings

The Outlook Calendar enables you to create meeting requests i.e. set up meetings. A
meeting is an appointment that includes other people and can include a meeting
location. You can send out meeting requests.

 To set up a new meeting, on the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, click “New
Meeting”.
 Creating a meeting request is similar to an appointment and event.
 The difference is that you can e-mail the request to others.
 Enter details of the meeting like any other appointment, then enter the e-mail
addresses of the people you wish to invite for the meeting in the “To” box and click
“Send”.
 The requests are sent out like regular e-mails. Responses to these requests appear
in your Inbox.

Overview

Friends, we have now finished learning about the Outlook Calendar. There’s still more
that you can do with Outlook. You can use the Contacts module to get information
related to your friends, family and business associates with a single mouse click. The
Tasks module will help you manage your personal day-to-day tasks and activities in the
most efficient manner without forgetting a thing! Using Outlook Notes, you can note
down every little point to ensure that you do not miss out even a tiny detail. So let’s
move on to the next lab and learn things that will go a long, long way in increasing your
efficiency!

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CONTACTS, TASKS AND NOTES

Contacts

Address Book

An “Address Book” is an electronic book or a database used for storing entries called
“Contacts”. Each contact entry consists of details such as first name, last name,
company name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, fax number and mobile
number. By referring to your address book you can communicate quickly with any
individual from the contact list.

 Click “Contacts” in the lower part of the Navigation Pane.

Creating a Contact

 To create a contact, on the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, click “New Contact”.
 In the “Contact” window, enter a name and any other information that you want
to include for the contact.
 Several of the fields include drop-down lists that allow you to further customize
the information for each contact.
 Enter the required information in the appropriate fields.
 After completing entry, on the “Contact” tab, in the “Actions” group, click “Save &
New” to save the contact and enter details of another.
 When you have completed entering details of all your contacts, click “Save &
Close” to close the “Contact” window.
 The names of your contacts are automatically listed in ascending alphabetical
order.
 By double-clicking on the contact you can edit the information.

Deleting a Contact

 To delete a particular contact from the Contacts List, select the contact and on the
“Home” tab, in the “Delete” group, click “Delete”.

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  You can also delete a contact by right-clicking on the contact and selecting
“Delete”.
 The contact is now removed from the Contact List.

Changing Contacts View

Having a list of contacts is worthless without the ability to view the information easily.
Outlook allows for the customization of the contacts view, so that the contact
information can be presented in different ways.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Current View” group, click the “More” arrow to view the
available options and select a suitable one.
 You can see the list of contacts displayed in the specified view.

Searching Contacts

 You can search for a contact and the information associated with it.
 In the “Search Contacts” box, type the name of the contact you want to find.
 The related details are now displayed.
 When you click the Search box, the contextual “Search Tools” tab appears.
 The search commands enable you to refine your search.
 To end the search, on the “Search” tab, in the “Close” group, click “Close Search”.
 You may also search for a contact using the “Find a Contact” box in the “Find”
group on the “Home” tab.

Contact Groups

You may combine a group of e-mail addresses under one name. Such a group is called a
“Contact Group”. A message sent to a Contact Group is received by all members in the
group. This is very useful when you regularly need to communicate with the same group
of people.

 To create a new contact group, on the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, click “New
Contact Group”.
 In the “Contact Group” window, type a name for the group in “Name” box.

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  On the “Contact Group” tab, in the “Members” group, click “Add Members”.
 Select “From Outlook Contacts” or “From Address Book” to display the “Select
Members: Contacts” window.
 This shows your list of contacts.

Creating a Contact Group

 Select the first contact you want to include in the group and keeping the “Ctrl” key
pressed, select the others.
 Then click the “Members” button.
 You may click a single contact and click “Members” again to include an additional
member.
 When you have added all the required contacts, click “OK”.
 All your contacts are listed under the specified contact group in the “Contact
Group” window.
 To save the group, on the “Contact Group” tab, in the “Actions” group, click “Save
& Close”.
 The group is now displayed along with the other contacts in the Contacts list.

Adding New E-Mail Contacts

Let us add a new member who does not exist in the Contacts list to this group.

 Double-click the group name in the Contacts list.

 This displays the “Contact Group” window.
 On the “Contact Group” tab, in the “Members” group, select “Add Members - New
E-mail Contact”.
 In the displayed window, enter the name and e-mail address of the member and
click “OK”.
 Now click “Save & Close”.

E-Mailing a Contact Group

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  To create a mail to send to all members of this group, click “Mail” in the
navigation pane.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, click “New E-mail”.
 In the “Message” window, click on “To” to display the “Select Names: Contacts”
window.
 Click the name of the contact group and then click “To” at the bottom.
 Now click “OK”.
 You can see the name of the group in the message window.
 This mail can then be sent to all members of the group after entering other details.

Tasks

A “Task” is a personal work related action item. Many people keep a list of things to do
on paper, in a spread sheet, or with a combination of paper and electronic methods. In
Outlook you can combine various lists into one and track task progress. Tasks help you
to meet your deadlines and alert you when an important activity needs attention, a task
deadline is arriving, or an e-mail message needs your attention.

 Click “Tasks” in the lower part of the Navigation Pane.

Creating a Task

 To create a task, on the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, click “New Task”.
 In the “Task” window, type a name for the task in the “Subject” box.
 Enter the “Start date” of the task.
 In the “Status” box, choose the desired option from the drop-down menu.
 Enter the date the task is due for completion in the “Due date” box.
 Set the “Priority” of the task.
 Specify how much of the task has been completed in the “% Complete” box.
 The “Status” and “% Complete” fields depend on one another.
 For example, if you enter “% Complete” as 25, even though the “Status” has been
set as “Not Started”, it is automatically displayed as “In Progress”.

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Task Reminders

 Click the “Reminder” box if you wish to be reminded when the task is due for
completion.
 You may specify the reminder date and time if you wish.
 Now enter details of the task in the large white box.
 Then on the “Task” tab, in the “Actions” group, click “Save & Close”.
 Your task is now displayed in the Task List.

Task Categories

You may categorize your tasks in the same way as your e-mails.

 Select a task in the Task List. Then, on the “Home” tab, in the “Tags” group, click
“Categorize” and select a suitable category.
 The category indicator is now displayed next to the task in the list.

Completed Tasks

All tasks are flagged by default in the Task List and are shown in the To-Do Bar at the
right.

 To mark a task as complete in the Task List, click its flag.

 The flag is replaced by a tick and is shown with a line across it.
 It is also removed from the To-Do Bar.
 Double-click the task to display the task window.
 You can see that “Status” has been set as “Completed” and “% Complete” has
been set to 100.
 When a task is overdue but not yet marked as complete, it is displayed in red in
the Task List.

Deleting a Task

You may want to remove completed tasks from the Task List.

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  To delete a task, select it and on the “Home” tab, in the “Delete” group, click
“Delete”.
 You can also delete a task by right clicking on it and selecting “Delete”.

Sorting Tasks

You may sort the Task List in any way you wish.

 Clicking in a column heading sorts the list according to that column.

 Let’s click on the column heading “Categories”.
 You see that the tasks are sorted in ascending order by Categories.
 The next time you click, they are sorted in descending order.
 Now click the heading “Due Date”.
 Your tasks are sorted as per due date now.

Changing Task View

 To view the Task List in different ways, on the “Home” tab, in the “Current View”
group, click “Change View” and select a suitable option.
 You can see that the view has changed as specified.

Notes

“Notes” are the electronic equivalent of paper sticky notes. You can use notes to jot down
questions, ideas, reminders, and anything you would write on paper. There is a small
“Notes” icon at the bottom of the Navigation Pane. You may display this icon as a large
button like “Mail”, Calendar” etc. if you wish.

 Click the down arrow at the bottom right corner of the Navigation Pane and select
“Show More Buttons”.
 Now the “Notes” button is displayed like the others in the navigation pane.

Creating Notes

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  To create a note, on the “Home” tab, in the “New” group, click “New Note”.
 A blank yellow note window is displayed.
 Type the required text.
 To close the note, click the “Close” button at the top-right corner.
 The note is saved automatically and is displayed in the Notes List with some of the
contained text below it.
 You can re-open the note and make changes to it by double-clicking on it.

Categorizing and Searching Notes

Like other Outlook items, notes can be categorized. The note is then displayed in the
related category color. To search for specific notes, enter part of the note text in the
“Search Notes Box”. The related notes are displayed in the Notes List.

 Click “Close Search” on the contextual “Search” tab to redisplay the entire list.

Overview

Friends, we have now finished learning the main modules of Outlook 2010 which are
Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes. In the next lab we’ll learn other activities
such as printing and transfer of items that you would need to complete the Outlook
experience. So let’s get started!

PRINTING, IMPORTING AND EXPORTING

Printing Outlook Items

Printing

You can print individual items, such as e-mail messages, contacts, or calendar items, or
larger views, such as calendars, address books, or content lists of Mail folders. Let’s
print a mail from the Inbox.

 Click “Mail” in the Navigation Pane.

 Then select the mail to be printed in the center pane.

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  Now activate the “File” tab and click “Print” in the left pane.
 In the center pane, under “Settings” you can see two options with one selected.
 The preview is displayed at the right.
 Click the other option in the center pane to see its preview.

Print Options

 You may use the “Printer” dropdown list to select your printer.
 Click the “Print Options” button to specify other options such as number of pages,
copies etc.
 Finally, click the “Print” button.
 The other Outlook items can be printed in a similar way.

Importing and exporting items

Importing exporting

You may need to save some Outlook items for example, your contacts, to a file so that
they are available for use in the future. This is called “Exporting”. This file can then be
used to copy details of the items to another location, another program or another
computer. The process of inserting exported items from a file is called “Importing”. First,
we’ll learn to export our contact list into a file. Then we’ll learn to import some contacts
from a file into our Contacts list. When you want to import Outlook items from one
computer to another or restore a backup of your Outlook data, the Import and Export
Wizard is the easiest way to complete the task.

Exporting Files

 Activate the “File” tab and click “Open” in the left pane.
 Then click “Import” in the right pane.
 In the “Import and Export Wizard” window, click “Export to a file”, and then click
“Next”.
 Let us select the type of file as “Outlook Data File (.pst)”.
 Click “Next”.

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  Under “Select the folder to export from”, click “Contacts” and click “Next”.
 Click “Browse” and specify the location and file in which to export and click “OK”.
 Under “Options” you may specify your preferences regarding duplicates.
 Let’s simply use the default.
 Now click “Finish”.
 A window is displayed asking whether you wish to password protect your file.
 Let’s leave it blank for now.
 Simply click “OK”.
 Your contacts are now exported into the specified file.

Importing Files

Now let us import some contacts from a file into our Contacts List.

 Click on the “Import”.

 In the Import and Export Wizard, click “File” tab and select “Open “Import from
another program or file”, and click “Next”.
 Select a suitable file type for example, “Outlook Data File (.pst)”, and then click
“Next”.
 Browse to the file to be imported and click “Open”.
 Since there is a possibility the file contains contacts you already have, you can
specify the required action.
 The default one seems to be the best, so let it remain.
 Click “Next”.

Importing Options

 If a password was assigned to the file, you are prompted to enter the password.
 Then click “OK”.
 You may be prompted to re-enter the password.
 Now you may set the options for importing items.
 The top folder usually Personal Folders, Outlook Data File, or the folder having the
name of your e-mail address is selected automatically.

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  “Include subfolders” is selected by default.
 All folders under the folder selected will be imported.
 The default selection of “Import items into the same folder in” matches the folders
from the imported file to the folders in Outlook.
 If a folder doesn’t exist in Outlook, it will be created.
 Click “Finish”.
 The contacts from the imported list are added in your Contact List now.

COMBINE OUTPUTS
BLOOD STOCK

LEVEL 1

Starting Excel

 To open the Excel application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Excel 2010”.
 A blank worksheet is displayed on your screen.

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  Let us save it and give it a name.
 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.
 Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Entering Data

 Now enter the data in columns A and B as shown.

 Let us increase the width of these columns.
 Place the pointer on the boundary between the column headings and drag to the
right.
 Similarly, increase the width of column B.
 Increase the height of the rows by dragging the boundaries between the row
headings.
 To center the data within the cells, select them and on the “Home” tab, in the
“Alignment” group, click “Center”.

Formatting Cells

 Next, let’s color the background of the selected cells.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow to the right of the “Fill
Color” icon and select a suitable color from the displayed palette.
 To change the color of the text, click the arrow near the “Font Color” icon and
make a selection.

Creating Borders

Now we want a line between the two columns.

 For this, on the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the arrow next to the
“Border” icon, click “Line Color” and select a suitable color.
 The mouse pointer changes to a pencil shape.
 Now drag to draw borders between the columns and around the cells.
 Click “Esc” when done.

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Removing Gridlines

Now that the worksheet is complete, we can remove the gridlines for a better look.

 Activate the “Page Layout” tab.

 In the “Sheet Options” group, uncheck the box in front of the “View” box under
“Gridlines”.
 This makes your worksheet look neat and clean.
 Click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar to save the document.

Starting Word

Now that the Excel worksheet is ready, let’s create a Word document.

 To open the Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Word 2010”.
 A blank document is displayed on your screen.
 Save it with a suitable name.

Page Settings

 Activate the “Page Layout” tab and from the “Page Setup” group, click the
“Orientation” icon and change the orientation to “Landscape”.

Inserting Shapes

We’ll use a rectangular shape for the background of the page.

 So activate the “Insert” tab and from the “Illustrations” group, click “Shape”.
 Select the Rectangle shape from the displayed gallery and drag to draw a large
rectangle covering the entire page.
 On the contextual “Format” tab, select a suitable Shape Style.
 Since we want this shape in the background, from the “Arrange” group, click
“Wrap Text” and select “Behind Text”.
 Now deselect the rectangular shape.

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Entering Text

You can see the insertion point in the form of a flashing cursor.

 On the “Home” tab, from the “Font” group, select the required font.
 Then select a suitable size and color.
 Type the text as shown.
 To embolden the text, click the “Bold” icon.
 Let’s change the appearance of some words. Select a word and then select another
font color.
 To add emphasis, let’s convert the text to upper case.
 In the “Font” group, click “Change Case” and select “UPPERCASE”.
 Change the appearance of other words as required.
 To align this text centrally, click anywhere the text and from the “Paragraph”
group, select “Center”.
 Similarly, enter left aligned text at the bottom of the page.

Inserting Pictures

 Now let’s insert some pictures.

 Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Illustrations” group, click “Picture”.
 In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the required picture and click “Insert”.
 The picture appears in your document.
 Size it suitably.
 To be able to move it freely, we need to change the text wrapping style.
 On the contextual “Format” tab, in the “Arrange” group, click “Wrap Text” and
select a wrapping style other than “In Line with Text”, for e.g. “Through”.
 Now drag the picture to the required position.
 Insert the other picture in a similar way.

Inserting Tables

 Now let’s get ready to insert the linked Excel worksheet in our document.
 We’ll use a table with a single cell for correct positioning.

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  Position the cursor as required.
 Then activate the “Insert” tab.
 From the “Tables” group, select the “Table” icon and click the cell at the top left
corner.
 On the contextual “Design” tab under “Table Tools”, click the “Shading” icon in the
“Table Styles” group and select a suitable background color for the table cell.
 Position the mouse on the lower edge of the table.
 When it appears as a two headed arrow; drag downwards to increase the size of
the table cell.

Creating Link

 Position the cursor suitably with the table.

 Then on the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Object”.
 In the displayed window, click the “Create from File” tab.
 Click the “Browse” button.
 Now browse to the location of your Excel worksheet and click “Insert”.
 Now you can see the name of the Excel file in the “File name” box of the “Object”
window.
 Since we want to link the inserted worksheet to the original one, click the box in
front of “Link to file”.
 Then click “OK”.
 The worksheet now appears in your document.
 On the contextual “Layout” Tab, in the “Alignment” group, click “Align Center
Right” to reposition the worksheet.

Creating Text Box

 Finally, let’s create a text box.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text
Box”.
 Drag with the mouse and draw the text box to the left of the worksheet we just
inserted.

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  Let’s make this text box transparent and remove its outline.
 On the contextual “Format” tab, in the “Text Box Styles” group, select “Shape Fill -
No Fill”.
 Then select “Shape Outline - No Outline”.
 Now enter the text within the box as shown using suitable fonts.
 Then save the Word Document.

Conclusion

 Now, let’s see how linking between the Word document and the Excel worksheet
actually works.
 To switch to the worksheet, click its taskbar button.
 Make changes to one of the cells and press “Enter”.
 Now switch back to the Word document.
 Look at this, you have the updated data!
 Another advantage of inserting an embedded object is that you can work with it in
the original program it was created.
 The Excel sheet can be edited from within the Word document itself.
 Simply double-click on it to open the Excel application.
 Change the contents of a cell and press “Enter”.
 This is promptly reflected in the Word document.
 So using embedding and linking, you can have the latest updates to the Excel
document right here in your Word document.
 Isn’t this great?
 Now try linking various other types of documents in a similar way.

MAIL MERGE NOTICE

LEVEL 1

Starting Mail Merge

 Open the Word document.

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  We want to replace the word “All” with the actual name of the person to whom the
document will be sent.
 So delete this word.
 On the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, select “Start Mail Merge -
Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard”.
 This displays the Mail Merge Wizard at the right.

Document Type

 Set the document type to "Letters" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to
go to the next wizard step.
 Now, select "Use the current document" and click "Next".

Recipient List

Now it’s time to specify the list of recipients. We shall use the names from the Excel
worksheet containing the exam record.

 Click “Browse” and in the “Select Data Source” window, navigate to the Excel
sheet and click “Open”.
 In the displayed window, all sheets from the Excel document are displayed.
 Click the sheet which contains the student names.
 Ensure that the “First row of data contains column headers” check box is selected,
and click “OK”.

Selecting Records

 In the "Mail Merge Recipients" window, you can see the data from the Excel sheet.
 You may uncheck the box in front of any record you do not wish to include in the
merge.
 We want personalized letters for all students, so simply click "OK".
 Click “Next”.

Selecting Field

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Now we need to specify the field from the Excel sheet to be included in the letter.

 So click "More Items".

 In the “Insert Merge Field” window, click the "Name" field, now click “Insert” and
then click "Close".
 Your personalized letters are ready.
 Click "Next" to preview the letters.

Conclusion

You can see the first letter on your screen displaying the student name at the top.

 Use the arrow buttons to preview the other letters.

 Now click "Next" to complete the merge.
 In this way, you have used the data from an Excel worksheet directly in a Word
document.
 So you can see that the functionality of multiple Office applications can be used
simultaneously.

GREETING CARD

LEVEL 1

Starting PowerPoint

 To open the PowerPoint application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010”.
 A new document containing a slide is displayed on your screen.
 Let us save it and give it a name.
 Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar and in the “Save As” window,
browse to the folder in which you wish to save this document.

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  Enter the file name and press “Save”.

Slide Orientation

The default orientation of slides is “Landscape”. Since the greeting card has been created
using the “Portrait” orientation, we’ll change the slide orientation accordingly.

 Activate the “Design” tab and from the “Page Setup” group, click “Slide
Orientation” and select “Portrait”.

Changing Slide Layout

The displayed slide has two text boxes, one for the title and the other for the subtitle. We
need a blank slide for our greeting card.

 So let’s change the layout.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Slides” group, click “Layout” and select the “Blank”
layout.

Inserting Word File

Now it’s time to insert the greeting card on the slide.

 Activate the “Insert” tab and from the “Text” group, click the “Object” icon.
 In the “Insert Object” window, select “Create from file” since we already have a
ready Word file.
 Then click the “Browse” button, browse to the greeting card file and click “OK”.
 The file name is displayed in the “File” box.
 Click the box in front of “Link” and then click “OK”.
 Creating a link allows you to edit an inserted object using the application it was
originally created in.
 The greeting card is displayed on your slide.
 Size it to fit the entire slide by dragging the handles at the sides of the box
surrounding the card.

Editing Word File

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Now the Word file data is displayed properly on your screen inside the PowerPoint slide.
We want to make a few changes in the Word document.

 Let us open the original Word file we have used.

 For this double click the word data on the slide.
 We are now within the Microsoft Word application and can make the required
changes.
 Let us remove some unwanted data from this file.
 After removing data. Save the changes and minimize the Microsoft Word
document.
 You can see that the changes you have just made are reflected on your PowerPoint
slide.

Inserting Picture

Now let’s add some pictures on the slide which will be used for animation effects.

 Activate the “Insert” tab and in the “Images” group, click “Picture”.
 Browse to the picture you require and click “Insert”.
 Change the size of the picture if required.
 Then drag to position it at a suitable location outside the slide.
 We’ll make a copy of this picture and flip it horizontally.
 So while the picture is still selected press “Ctrl+C” to copy and then “Ctrl+V” to
paste.
 Position the copied picture as required.
 To flip the picture horizontally, we’ll use the contextual “Format” tab under
“Picture Tools”.
 From the “Arrange” group, click “Rotate” and then select “Flip Horizontal”.
 Similarly, insert other pictures and position them as required.

Animation Effects

Now we’re ready to add animation effects. Select the first picture.

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  Activate the “Animations” tab.
 In the Animation group, click the more arrows to see the complete gallery of
effects.
 Click on a suitable one, say “Fly In”.
 To add an additional effect, from the “Advanced Animation” group, click “Add
Animation” and select an effect, say “Teeter”.
 To display the Animation Pane, click the related button.
 You can specify various settings for the different effects.
 Click the first effect.
 Then click the down arrow at the right and select “Effect Options”.
 In the displayed window, have a look at the applied settings.
 On the “Effect” tab, you can specify settings such as the direction you want the
animation to move in.
 On the “Timing” tab, you can specify settings such as when to begin the animation
and for how long to play it.

Effect Timings

 Apply animation effects to the other pictures in a similar way.

 You may delay an effect so that it appears a little after the previous one by
specifying the time in the “Delay” box of the “Timing” tab.
 You can also use the options in the “Timing” group of the “Animations” tab to
specify timing settings.
 Close the Animation Pane after all your animation effects have been added.

Adding Sound

 Finally, let’s add some music to our presentation.

 We’ll use a sound file from the Clip Art gallery.
 Activate the “Insert” tab and from the “Images” group, select “Clip Art”.
 In the “Search for” box of the ClipArt Pane, enter the type of audio you’re looking
for, say “Birthday”.
 Then click the down arrow in the “Result should be” box.

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  Uncheck the “All media types” checkbox and click the “Audio” checkbox.
 Then click “Go”.
 Double-click on a suitable option from the displayed ones.
 An icon is displayed on the slide representing the sound file.
 We do not really require it to be seen, since the sound will play in the background.
 So let’s drag it and place it outside the display area.
 Now save your presentation and press F5 to view the slide show.
 Doesn’t it look great?

Saving as PowerPoint Show

You can also save your presentation in the PowerPoint Show format. The file is saved
with the extension “.ppsx”. The advantage of using this format is that it can be viewed
by users who do not own the commercial version of PowerPoint. The PPSX file can be
viewed with the free PowerPoint Viewer program.

 To save in this format, click the “File” tab and select “Save As”.
 In the “Save as type” box of the displayed window, select “PowerPoint Show
(*.ppsx)” and click “Save”.

Conclusion

Peter sent the PPSX file to his brother by email. Daniel simply clicked on the file icon
and his animated greeting card was displayed. He was pleasantly surprised. Now you
too can make your friends happy by creating various types of animations. So you see;
there’s a lot you can do by integrating more than one Microsoft Office application.

ATHELETICS EVENTS

LEVEL 1

Inserting Slide

 Open the PowerPoint presentation by double-clicking its icon.

 Now let’s insert a new slide.

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  Activate slide number 5 and on the “Home” tab, from the “Slides” group, click the
arrow below the “New Slide” icon.
 From the displayed gallery, select the “Title Only” layout.
 A new slide is inserted now. Enter the title using suitable fonts as shown.

Inserting Chart

 Now, from the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click “Chart”.
 In the displayed window, select the chart category and type and then click “OK”.
 A sample chart is displayed on your slide and an Excel worksheet appears in
another window.
 Resize the chart data range to extend over 3 columns and 8 rows since this is the
volume of our data.
 Now delete the sample data and enter the total estimated and actual figures for
each category as per the existing worksheet.
 As you enter the data, corresponding changes are made to the chart.
 Now close the Excel window.
 Reposition and resize the chart as required.

Changing Font

Let us make some font changes to our chart.

 Select the chart if it is not already selected.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Font” group, click the down arrow in the “Font Size”
box and select a suitable option.
 Your chart will now look so pretty isn’t it?

Inserting Chart Title

Let’s enter a title for the chart.

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  On the contextual “Layout” tab, under “Chart Tools”, from the “Labels” group,
select “Chart Title - above Chart”.
 Type the title as shown and change fonts as required.

Running a Slide Show

 Let’s check how our presentation looks like.

 Press F5 to view the slide show.
 Press Next button or click on slide to view other slides.

Conclusion

Mrs. Drew’s presentation was well appreciated by the committee members. They were
happy to see the expenses data presented in the form of a chart, which was easy to
understand. So you see; it’s quite simple to integrate multiple Microsoft Office
applications. Now try out various combinations on your own, for example a Word
document within a PowerPoint presentation or an Excel worksheet within a Word
document.

PROJECT REPORT

LEVEL 1

Send to Microsoft PowerPoint Icon

 Open the Word document.

 The “Send to Microsoft PowerPoint” is not visible on the Ribbon by default.
 Let’s add it to the Quick Access toolbar.
 Click the arrow at the right of the toolbar and select “More Commands”.

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  In the displayed “Word Options” window, in the “Choose commands from” box,
select “All Commands”.
 Scroll down the list of displayed commands and select “Send to Microsoft
PowerPoint”.
 Click “Add”.
 The command appears in the list at the right.
 Now click “OK”.
 You can see that a new icon has appeared on the Quick Access toolbar.

Outline View

 Activate the “View” tab in the Word document.

 Then from the “Document Views” group, select “Outline”.
 The document is now displayed in Outline View.
 This view displays the different heading levels in a document.
 You can see that all the text is placed at one level and the applied style “Body
Text” is displayed in the box at the top left.

Specifying levels

 Click in front of the first heading which is “Title:”.

 Then click the green arrow pointing left.
 You can see the style changes to “Level 1”.
 This indicates that this heading will be placed at the first level.
 Now select the text below the heading.
 You can also select the level from the dropdown list in the box.
 So, click the down arrow and select “Level 2”.
 Now click before the second heading, “Aim:”
 Click the double-arrow pointing left.
 This places the heading at the highest level i.e. Level 1.
 In this way, place all headings at level 1 and the other text at level
2.
 Then return to normal view by clicking the “Close Outline View” icon.

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Heading Styles

You can see that the document now appears differently formatted. This is because
heading styles have been applied. Click within any title.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” gallery, you can see that the “Heading 1” style
is highlighted.
 This indicates that this style has been applied.
 Click within any text below a title.
 Notice that the “Heading 2” style has been applied.
 Please note that instead of using the Outline View, you can also set outline levels
by directly applying appropriate styles to different sections of text.

Creating Presentation

Now we’re ready to create the presentation.

 Click the “Send to Microsoft PowerPoint” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.
 A new PowerPoint presentation appears with all your content placed appropriately
on different slides.
 Isn’t this a very convenient feature?

Enhancing presentation

Now the presentation can be enhanced as desired. Mike applied a theme, changed fonts,
added pictures, repositioned titles and created an attractive title slide.

Conclusion

Mike scored high marks for his presentation. Now you too can easily convert your Word
documents into attractive presentations and impress everyone! So you can see that

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different Microsoft Office applications can be integrated with one another to get
enhanced functionality.

SEMINAR

LEVEL 1

Inserting Slide

 Open the PowerPoint presentation by double-clicking its icon.

 Now let’s insert a new slide.
 Activate slide number 4 and on the “Home” tab, from the “Slides” group, click the
“New Slide” icon.
 A new slide is inserted.
 Click in the box at the top and enter the title as shown.
 Then click outside the text box.

Embedding Worksheet

We’re ready to insert the Excel worksheet now.

 On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Object”.

 In the displayed window, select “Create from File”.
 Then click the “Browse” button.
 Browse to the location of your Excel worksheet and click “OK”.
 You can see the name of the Excel file in the “File” box of “Insert Object” window.
 Click on the box in front of "Link" and then click “OK”.
 Worksheet now appears in your document.
 If we had simply copied the cells from the worksheet and pasted them on the slide,
they would have been inserted as table.
 The advantage of embedding a worksheet as an object is that it can be edited
using the application it was originally created in.

Editing in Excel

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  Double-click the worksheet.
 It is now displayed within the Excel application.
 We do not want the top two rows of the worksheet on our slide.
 So select them and on the “Home” tab, in the “Cells” group, click the arrow below
the “Delete” icon and select “Delete Sheet Rows”.
 The rows are removed.
 Finally, click anywhere in the presentation document to exit Excel.
 Size and position the box containing the agenda as required.
 Since we have linked the Excel worksheet to the PowerPoint presentation, changes
can be made to the agenda in original worksheet as well as from within the
presentation.
 The changes are reflected simultaneously at both places.

Copying Picture

All slides have a picture of the company logo at the bottom right corner.

 So select the picture from any of the slides and copy it using the shortcut “Ctrl +
C”.
 Activate the newly created slide and paste the picture using “Ctrl + V”.

Conclusion

Now save the presentation and press F5 to view the slide show. So you see; it’s quite
simple to integrate multiple Microsoft Office applications to get enhanced functionality
and save time.

DATABASE MANAGEMENT
OVERVIEW OF DATABASES

DATABASE CONCEPTS

Manual Systems

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We are all familiar with the term “Data”. In fact, we come across different kinds of data
in our everyday life. The age of a person, the price of an item, number of members of a
club, pin code of a city, a telephone number etc. are all examples of data. It’s easy to
remember a small amount of data or information, say the addresses and telephone
numbers of our family members and a few friends. But what about other information we
need to keep a track of? It’s simply impossible to remember all of it! So what do we do?
We write down the information, compile paper files and refer to them when required.
Paper files too have limited functionality. Once the volume of data increases, hunting
through them for the required information itself becomes a huge task!

Computerized Systems

With the invention of computers, data could be stored in an electronic format.

Maintaining computer files, sorting the data within them and searching for information
was definitely easier than handling paper files. With the introduction of modern
technologies, the demands on the way data needed to be handled increased. The same
data needed to be accessed by different people from different locations. A change made
by one user needed to be available to other users at that very moment. Redundant data
needed to be removed, there had to be consistency in the data and security was an
important concern. Simply using computerized data did not serve all these purposes. A
single solution which addresses all these issues and more is the use of a computerized
“Database”.

Database

We’ll first understand the term “Database”. A Database is a collection of information in a

structured way. In other words, it is an organized collection of a group of facts. Your
personal address book is an example of a database. It contains information related to
people you need to keep track of, such as friends, family and business associates. Have
a look at the displayed table. It contains information related to 5 students appearing for
an examination.

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Fields

There are 6 pieces of information for every student, namely, Roll Number, Name, Date of
Birth, Sex, Postal Address and Subjects offered by the student. Each piece of
information in a database is called a “Field”. A Field can be defined as the smallest unit
in a database. Each field represents one characteristic of an event or item, in this case a
student. Thus there are six fields in this database. Fields may be of different types, for
example text, numeric etc.

Records

The group of all related fields for a particular item is called a “Record”. In our example,
all six fields taken together for a particular student is called a record of that student.
Hence, since there are five students, there are five records. Thus, we can define a Record
as “a collection of logically related fields”. Now that we have understood what is meant
by a field and a record, we can say that a Database is “a collection of logically related
records”.

DBMS

A very important activity is the management of the data within a database. Data
management involves creating, modifying, deleting and adding data, and using this data
to generate reports or answer queries. The software that allows us to perform these
functions easily is called a Data Base Management System (or DBMS). A DBMS
typically supports “Query Languages”. These are Database languages which simplify
the database organization as well as retrieving and presenting information from it.

Benefits of DBMS

Some of the facilities provided by a DBMS are:

 Controlling data access and maintaining database security.

 Enforcing data integrity.
 Recovering the database after failures and restoring it from backup files.
 Granting access to different programs to a common database at the same time.

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RDBMS

An RDBMS i.e. a Relational Data Base Management System is a DBMS which adds the
additional condition that the system supports a tabular structure for the data, with
enforced relationships between the tables. The most popular definition of an RDBMS is
“a product that presents a view of data as a collection of rows and columns”. MySQL,
Oracle, Firebird, Informix and Ingres are a few of the available Relational Database
Management Systems. We’ll learn to use Microsoft Access 2010 which is a complete
RDBMS. It is a component of the Microsoft Office system. Its rich features and ease of
operation definitely give it an edge over most other Database Management Systems!

Designing a Database

A well-designed database is the key to efficient management of information. The “Table”

is the basic building block of a database. Every database must have at least one table.
All information contained in the database is stored in tables. The other objects such as
“Queries”, “Forms” and “Reports” are views and processes that are applied to this
information. While designing a table, you need to decide the Fields and the Data Types
of those fields. It is important to decide what information is needed and how that
information is to be used.

Deciding Fields

Creating the fields in a table is an important process because this decides what exactly
you will store. Suppose you create a table to store sales records that does not have a
field to record the region where the sale was made. Now if you wish to analyze region-
wide sales at a later date, it would not be possible. Good design of the tables ensures
that your database captures all required data accurately without any duplication.

Normalization

Once you have decided all the data you need to capture, you need to find out how much
of that data is repeated? For example, whenever you purchase an item, are you

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recording the same details of the supplier each time? When you find repeated data, you
need to move it into a table of its own. The aim should be to make sure each table
contains unique data. For example, a table of asset data won’t contain sales
information, and a table of payroll data can’t contain medical records. The process of
breaking your data into smaller tables is called “Normalization”. After you normalize
your data, you can “remarry” it by linking your tables with relationships. You’ll learn
details about how this is done slightly later.

Primary Keys

A “Primary Key” is a critical field for all tables. It is a field, or a combination of fields,
with a value that makes each record in a table unique. For example, a phone company
keeps track of all “Tom Browns” by identifying them with a unique primary key value. In
addition to identifying each record in your database, primary keys are used to define the
relationships among your tables.

Foreign Keys

A “Foreign key” is simply a primary key that you use in another table. In the displayed
picture, you can see how the primary key in the “Region” table has become a field in the
“Sales” table. The “Region Code” field in the Sales table is a foreign key. At this point,
you may be thinking, “Using foreign keys results in some duplication of data!” Don’t
worry, this kind of duplication is okay since primary key values are small, and this is
required to build relationships between tables. The relationship in the picture allows you
to answer questions such as, "Which region had the maximum sales?"

GETTING STARTED WITH ACCESS 2010

Features of Access 2010

The original concept of Access was for end users to be able to "access" data from any
source. Whether you’re a large corporation, small-business owner, non-profit
organization, or if you’re just looking for more efficient ways to manage your personal
information, Access 2010 makes it easier to get what you need done more quickly, with

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more flexibility, and with better results. Access offers various ready-to-use templates to
get you going. Its powerful tools help you stay in control and analyze your data no
matter how much it grows. You can build your databases by adding prebuilt Access
components for common tasks in a few simple clicks. Access 2010 brings you innovative
tools to help you easily create professional, informative forms and reports. The four main
objects in an Access database are Tables, Queries, Forms and Reports. We’ll study each
of them in detail as we go along.

Starting Access 2010

 To begin using Access, you will need to first open the application.
 Click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office →
Microsoft Access 2010”.
 When you start Access 2010, you see the Microsoft Office Backstage View or the
“File” tab.
 This is where you can create a new database or open an existing one.
 In Access, every database is stored in a single file which has the extension
“.accdb”.
 This file contains the database objects, which are simply the components of a
database.

DATABASES AND TABLES

CREATING A DATABASE

Templates

When you start Access, on the “File” tab, in the central pane you can see icons related to
a wide variety of templates. These are links for the creation of ready-to-use databases
provided by Access for recording data related to specific items. For example, there are
templates that can be used to track issues, manage contacts, or keep a record of
expenses. Template databases can be used as they are, or can be customized to suit

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your needs. We want to get familiar with the finer details of building a database, so let’s
create a database from scratch.

Creating a Blank Database

We’ll create a database to maintain data related to the employees of an organization.

 On the “File” tab, in the central pane, click “Blank Database”.

 In the pane at the right, the default database name is displayed in the “File Name”
box.
 Change it to “Employee Database”.
 You may specify the location where you wish to store your database.
 Click on the “Browse” icon to the right of the file name.
 In the “File New Database” window, let us select “Desktop” as our location.
 Then click “OK”.
 Now click “Create”.

User Interface

The “User Interface” is the way in which you interact with your computer. When you
create a new database or open an existing one, you’ll find that the Access interface is
similar to the other Microsoft Office components consisting of:

 The “Ribbon” which contains task-oriented tabs divided into groups. Each group
contains icons which are used to execute commands. Extra "Contextual" tabs
appear and disappear as you work.
 The “Quick Access Toolbar” which contains buttons which allow you to perform
common actions easily.

Navigation Pane

 At the left, you see the “Navigation Pane”.

 The names of your database objects such as tables, forms and reports appear
within this.

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  The Navigation Pane can be minimized into a vertical bar, to provide you with a
larger work area.
 For this, click the arrow in the upper right corner.
 To expand the minimized pane, click the arrow at the top.

Views

Access provides different window formats called “Views” to display and work with the
objects in a database. The two most commonly used views are “Datasheet View” and
“Design View”. Datasheet View shows the data contained in the database. It also allows
you to enter and edit the data. You may also create a table and search for data using
this view. Design View allows you to create or change tables, forms, or other database
objects, and configure the fields. You can also set keys and restrict the values entered
here. But you cannot change the data in Design View. The “View” icon in the “Views”
group is used to switch back and forth between the Datasheet View and the Design
View.

CREATING A TABLE

Changing View

 When you create a blank database, Access creates your first database object for
you.
 This is a table named Table1 which is completely blank, with no defined fields.
 This is opened in a tab in the central pane.
 At the right, if you see the “Field List” pane, click the “X” shaped icon at the top
right corner to close it.
 We do not need to use it at present.
 At the bottom of the screen you see the words “Datasheet View” on the “Status
Bar”.
 This indicates that you are now in Datasheet View.
 We shall use the “Design View” to design a table since this enables us to specify
the fields in detail.

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  To switch to Design View, on the “Fields” tab, in the “Views” group, select “View →
Design View”.

Saving a Table

 Before defining the fields in a table, you need to save it.

 The “Save As” window is displayed with the default name “Table1”.
 You may specify another name if you wish.
 Let us enter the name as “Emp Info”.
 Then click “OK”.
 You can now see the name of your table in the Navigation Pane on the left.
 The name “Emp Info” is displayed on the tab in the document window on the
right.
 Before you can enter data into a table, you must create the structure of the table,
i.e. the fields that will hold the data.

Access Primary Key

You know that a primary key is a field or set of fields in your table that serves as a
unique identifier for every record. You must specify a primary key for all tables. Access
ensures that every record has a non-blank primary key field, and that it is always
unique. An index is automatically created for the primary key, which makes queries and
other operations fast. When you create a new table, Access automatically creates a
primary key and assigns a field name "ID" and the data type “AutoNumber” to it. You
will learn about the different data types in Access shortly. Now let us begin creating the
table structure.

Field Name

A Field Name is used to identify the data stored in a field. The name can consist of
letters, numbers, spaces, and special characters, except a period (.), an exclamation (!),
and brackets ([]). You cannot start the name of a field with a space. Following are some
examples of valid field names: First Name, Phone No, Subject1, etc.

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  Type “Employee ID” as the first field name and press “Enter”.
 You can see a small key to the left of the field name indicating that this field is the
primary key of the table.

Data Type

The Data Type defines the type of data the field will contain. It is important to choose
the right data type before you start entering data in the table. Click on the drop down
menu button to select the “Data Type”. Access provides a number of data types to
choose from. Following are the data types you can use.

 “Text” is the default data type and is used to store text entries, like words,
combinations of words and numbers, and numbers that are not used in
calculations. Examples are names and phone numbers. You can enter up to 255
characters in a text field.
 The “Memo” data type is used to store text that is too long to be stored in a Text
field. Summary of a book is an example.
 The “Number” data type is used to store numbers only. Calculations can be
performed on the numbers stored in a Number field. The Marks scored in an exam
is an example.
 “Date/Time” is used for storage of date and time information. For example, Birth
date, Date of joining, etc.
 “Currency” is similar to the Number data type, but is formatted to display decimal
places and the currency symbol. For example, Price, Fees, etc.
 “AutoNumber” is a unique, sequential number that is automatically incremented
by one whenever a new record is added to the table. It can be used to generate
sequential numbers for roll numbers, invoices, documents etc.
 The “Yes/No” data type accepts only two values – Yes or No, True or False, and on
or Off. It can be used for fields like Fees Paid, Pass, etc.
 “OLE Object” is used to store images, documents, graphs etc.
 “Hyperlink” is used to store web addresses.

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  “Attachment” is used to store images, spreadsheet files, documents, charts and
other types of supported files in the records of your database.
 The “Calculated” data type is normally used when there are no constraints on the
size of the database. It may be used to join two or more fields in the same table
into a new separate field that can be seen in the Datasheet View. It can also be
used to store a formula that is updated automatically when the components of the
formula change.

Selecting Data Type

 Select the “Text” data type.

 When you select a data type, its default properties are displayed under “Field
Properties” in the lower part of the screen.
 Information about the data type is displayed at the left.
 On the right side, you can see a large square help box which displays information
about the current task.

Field Properties

Each data type has its own set of field properties. Some of the more common properties
are as follows:

 Field Size - It decides the maximum number of characters that can be entered in
the field.
 Format - Specifies how the data is displayed in the table and printed.
 Input Mask - Simplifies data entry and controls what data is required and how it
is to be displayed.
 Caption - Specifies a field caption or a prompt for the user to enter data.
 Default Value - It specifies a default value for a field to be automatically filled in at
the time of data entry. This value can be changed.
 Validation Rule - Restricts the data entry to meet certain conditions or
requirements.
 Validation Text - It is displayed when the validation rule is violated.

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  Required - Specifies whether or not a value must be entered in a field before the
record is stored.
 Allow Zero Length - Specifies whether or not an entry containing no value is valid.
If you set it to “Yes”, it can be used to indicate that you know that no value exists
for a field.
 Indexed - An index is used to speed up queries, sort and group operations run on
large amounts of data. This field property specifies whether an index is to be
created on that field.

Changing Field Properties

Now, let us change some of the defaults.

 Click the “Field Size” property text box.

 Double-click on 255 to select it and type ‘4’ to change the field size.

Description

The “Description” text box at the top is used to describe a field. Giving this description is
optional.

 Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar and switch to Datasheet View by clicking
“View → Datasheet View” in the “Views” group.
 The description that you had entered is displayed in the “Status Bar” at the
bottom of the screen.
 Switch back to Design View to continue adding fields to the table.

Entering Fields

 Click in the “Field Name” column in the second row to enter the next field name.
 Type ‘First Name’ and select the data type “Text” if not already set.
 Click in the “Field Size” property box and change the field size to ‘15’.
 Do not make any other changes.

Date/Time Data Type

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  Enter details of the other fields as shown in the table until you come to the “Birth
Date” field.
 Select the “Data Type” of this field as “Date/Time” from the drop down menu.
 Click in the “Format” property box and open the drop down list.
 Select a suitable format.
 Follow the same procedure for the next field – Date Of Joining.

Attachment Data Type

You want to store the photo of the employee in the “Photo” field. This is of a different
type. So we’ll select the “Data Type” as “Attachment”.

Changing Primary key

The structure of your table is now ready. You may change the primary key simply by
clicking on another field name and then clicking on the “Primary Key” icon in the “Tools”
group.

 Let us change the primary key back to “Employee ID” as before.

 You must save your table structure before you can start entering data into the
table.
 Click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

ENTERING AND EDITING DATA

Changing View

You can now start entering data in the table. But you cannot do so until you change the
view. We used the Design View to define the structure.

 Now switch to Datasheet View.

 Scroll a little to the right if you cannot see the last field.
 You can see that the name given to the field with the data type “Attachment” has
been replaced by a paperclip icon.

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  Scroll back to the left if required.

Entering Data

The insertion point can be seen in the first column of the first row, that is, in the
“Employee ID” column.

 Type the ID number of the first employee.

 Use the right arrow key or press “Enter” to move to the next field and type the first
name.
 If you make a mistake while typing, use the “Backspace” key to delete characters
to the left of the insertion point or the “Delete” key to delete characters to the right
of the insertion point.
 Type the data as shown.
 Remember not to use any spaces before or after the data.

Entering a Date

For the date fields, you may enter the date directly or use the Date Picker displayed at
the right of the field.

Inserting a Picture

The photo of the employee can be inserted as an attachment.

 Double-click in the attachment field to open the “Attachments” window.

 Now click “Add”.
 In the “Choose File” window, navigate to the location of the picture file.
 Click on the picture and then click “Open”.
 You can see the name of the picture in the “Attachments” window.
 Click “OK”.
 To see that the picture has really been inserted, double-click in the attachment
field.
 Now double-click on the name of the picture in the “Attachments” window.
 Then close the picture window and the “Attachments” window.

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Entering Records

 Click in the next row and enter the second record.

 A record is automatically saved when you move to another record.
 You may enter the other records in a similar way.

Changing Column Width

The data you have entered may not be completely visible in a column of the table.

 To adjust the column width, position the mouse on the right border of a column
header.
 Then drag in the desired direction, left or right until you get the desired width.
 Alternatively, you may adjust the column width to a specific number of
characters.
 For this, right-click a column name and select “Field Width”.
 In the displayed window, type the desired value and click “OK”.
 Save your changes.

Changing Row Height

An alternative way to display lengthy data fully is to increase the row height. A “Record
Selector” is the small box to the left of a record.

 Position the mouse on the boundary between any two record selectors and drag
downwards.
 All the records are adjusted accordingly.

Deleting a Record

Let us assume that an employee has resigned and you need to delete that employee’s
record from your database.

 Select the record to be deleted by clicking the record selector.

 On the “Home tab”, in the “Records” group, click “Delete”.
 You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

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  Click “Yes” to delete the record.
 You can select multiple records for deletion by dragging with the mouse.

Creating a Table

Now let’s create another table to record the salary structure of the employees.

 Activate the “Create” tab.

 In the “Tables” group, click “Table Design”.
 A new tab is opened in Design view. Enter the field names and data types as
shown.
 To set the “Employee ID” field as the primary key, click the field name and then on
the “Design” tab, in the “Tools” group, click “Primary Key”.
 To save the table, click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Enter the table name as “EMP Salary” and click “OK”.
 Switch to Datasheet View and enter the records as shown.
 So you can see that multiple objects in a database can be opened simultaneously.
 Each is displayed in a separate tab.
 By clicking the object tabs, you can easily switch between the objects.

CLOSING AND OPENING A TABLE AND DATABASE

Closing a Table

When you have finished working with a database or the objects within it, you may close
them.

 To close a table, first click on the related tab to make it active.

 Then click the “X” shaped icon at the right end in line with the table name.
 If you have made any design changes that have not been saved, Access will
prompt you to save them before closing.

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  If you click “No” to discard changes, the table will close without saving the
changes.
 Clicking on “Cancel” will not close the window and you will be able to continue
working.
 Click “Yes” to save changes.
 The table tab will close.

Closing a Database

 To close a database, activate the “File” tab and select “Close Database” in the left
pane.
 You may now create a new database or open an existing one.
 To exit Access, you may click the “X” shaped icon at the top-right corner or “Exit”
in the left pane.

Opening a Database

When you need to work once again with your database, you can open it.

 The simplest way to open a database is to click on its icon.

 This starts the Microsoft Access application and opens the database file.
 When the Access application has already been started, if you see your database
name in the list at the left of the “File” tab, you may click it to open the database.
 Optionally, you may click “Open” in the left pane.
 In the “Open” window, navigate to the location of your database and click “Open”.
 Your Database window is displayed.

Opening a Table

 To open a table, double-click the table name in the Navigation Pane.

 The table will open in Datasheet View with the data sorted by the primary key.
 Right-clicking an object in the Navigation Pane displays a menu which you can
use to perform various tasks.

CUSTOMIZING AND INSERTING FIELDS

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Reviewing Table Design

You may modify the design of a table after it has been created. When you look through
the records of the “Emp Info” table, you realize that there is no uniformity in the data
entered in the “State” field. Some have been entered in uppercase and others in
lowercase. Also, you have forgotten to add two fields! The PIN Code needs to be added to
make the address complete and the gender of the employee also needs to go on record.
You can easily make all these changes and put restrictions on the way data is entered or
displayed. You can even add and delete fields.

Changing Display Format

You want all the records to display the name of the state in uppercase.

 To set the display format, you need to first change to Design View.
 Make the “State” field the current one by clicking on it.
 The field’s “Format” property can be defined to tell Access the way you want the
data to be displayed.
 To define the format, you can use the four symbols used in the table shown.
 So, to change the “State” field’s format to display it in uppercase, you have to
enter the appropriate symbol in the “Field Properties” window.
 Move to the “Format” field property box and type the “greater than” (>) symbol.
 Change to Datasheet View. Click on “Yes” to save changes.
 You can see that all data in the “State” column is displayed in uppercase.

Inserting Fields

Now, you must insert those fields which you have missed while designing the database
the first time.

 One is the “Pin Code” and the other is the “Gender” of the employee.
 The “Pin Code” field should be after the “State” field and the “Gender” field should
be after the “Phone” field.
 To do so, switch to Design View.

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  Make “Phone” the current field.
 On the “Design” tab, in the “Tools” group, select “Insert Rows”.
 A row is inserted between the “State” and “Phone” fields.
 Type ‘Pin Code’ and make its data type as “Text”.

Field Properties

 Now let’s specify some Field Properties for the Pin Code.
 In the “Field Size” box, type ‘7’.
 Then in the “Format” box, type ‘@@@ @@@’ i.e. the “at the rate” symbol six times.
 Type a space after the first three characters.
 This will display the PIN codes of all records in the same format.
 For example, BS83DT will be displayed with a space between BS8 and 3DT.

Inserting another Field

 Repeat the procedure for inserting a row and adding the “Gender” field after the
“Phone” field.
 Enter its “Data Type” as “Text”, “Field Size” as ‘1’ and “Format” as ‘greater than’ (>)
to display the data in uppercase.
 Save the new table structure.
 Now switch to Datasheet View.
 The table is displayed with two new columns which have no data in them.
 Fill in these empty fields in all the records.

What is Default Value?

While looking through the records, you observe that most of the employees are from
“Bristol” state and that there are more males than females as employees. So, by setting
the default value of the “State” field to “Bristol” and that of “Gender” to “M”, you can
make data entry a bit quicker. A default value is used to specify a value that is
automatically entered in a field when a new record is added. This value may either be
accepted or another value can be entered.

795
Specifying Default Values

 Switch to Design View and make the “State” field the current one by clicking on it.
 Click on the “Default Value” property text box and type “Bristol” in it.
 Similarly, make the “Gender” field the current one and set the “Default Value” as
‘M’.
 Switch to “Datasheet” view.
 Save the design changes related to default values.
 Observe that the new blank record at the bottom has the “State” and “Gender”
fields already filled with values.
 This is because of the “Default Value” property that you have set for these two
fields.

What is a Validation Rule?

You want the “Gender” field to accept only two values – “M” for male and “F” for female.
Setting a “Validation Rule” makes sure that the values entered by the user are valid for
the field type. You can also add “Validation Text”, which is an explanatory message. This
appears if the user enters invalid information when a validation rule has been set. If you
do not give a message, Access displays a default message but it does not clearly explain
the reason for the error. So it’s advisable to add a validation text message. The displayed
table shows some examples of validation rule settings and corresponding messages.

Specifying a Validation Rule

 Switch to Design View and click on the “Gender” field.

 In the “Validation Rule” property box, type ‘ “M” Or “F” ’ and in the “Validation
Text” property box, type ‘Please enter either “M” or “F” only’.
 Now, switch to Datasheet View.
 Click “Yes” to save changes.
 A warning message box is displayed saying that the data integrity rules have been
changed.

796
  When you make changes to the structure of a table, you often make changes that
could result in the loss of data or existing data may become invalid.
 Access asks you if you want to check the existing data with the new validity rule.
 For now, click “No”.

Entering a New Record

 Now enter a new record.

 The “State” and “Gender” fields are already filled with default values.
 You may change them if required.
 Try entering an invalid value in the “Gender” field.
 Type ‘K’ or any other letter; except ‘F’ or ‘M’, in either upper or lower case.
 The warning message is immediately displayed.
 Click “OK” to continue.
 Press “Backspace” and enter valid text.
 Now enter the rest of the fields.

FINDING AND REPLACING DATA

Finding Data

Searching for specific information in a table is very easy using the “Find” command. Let
us assume that one of the employees, “John Smith” is relocated and you need to change
his “Address” in the “Emp Info” table.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Find” group, click “Find”.

 This displays the “Find” tab of the “Find and Replace” window.
 The “Find what” box displays the data of the currently active cell.
 Enter the text “John”.
 In the “Look In” box, select “Current document” from the drop down list.
 If you had used the default option “Current field”, the search would be executed
only in the “Employee ID” column.
 This is not what we want.

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Find Options

 The “Match” box has various options.

 “Whole Field” finds only data that is exactly the same.
 “Any Part of Field” finds data anywhere in the field.
 “Start of Field” finds data only at the beginning of the field.
 The default one “Whole Field” is fine for our purpose.
 The “Search” box allows you to specify the direction to follow while searching.
 The options are Up, Down, and All.
 Let the default one “All” remains as it is.

More Find Options

If you check the box in front of “Match Case”, the search returns only those instances of
the text that have the same case (i.e. uppercase or lowercase) as the specified text. For
example, a search for “John” with the initial alphabet “J” in uppercase and “o-h-n” in
lowercase will not display “JOHN” with all uppercase letters or “john” with all lowercase
letters. Clicking the “Search Fields As Formatted” check box finds data based on a
display format. This is not required presently.

Updating Data

 Now click “Find Next”.

 You are taken to the first record satisfying your search criteria.
 Since this is the record you’re looking for, click “Cancel”.
 Now you may make the necessary changes in the Address field.

Finding and Replacing Data

If you want to search for some information in the table and also replace it, you may use
the “Replace” command. Finding and replacing data is fast and accurate but you have to
be careful not to replace unintended values. Now you want the “State” names to be
shortened to two lettered names.

 Let us replace “Bristol” with “BS”.

798
  Click in the “State” field in the first record.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Find” group, click “Replace”.
 On the “Replace” tab of the “Find and Replace” window, type ‘Bristol’ in the “Find
what” box.
 In the “Replace With” box, type ‘BS’.
 Uncheck the “Match Case” box.
 Let all other defaults remain.
 Click “Find Next”.

Using Undo

 Clicking on the “Cancel” button, cancels the command.

 If the text is found and it is the one you want to replace, then click on the
“Replace” button.
 If you make changes to a single record, using the “Undo” command will cancel the
last action as long as you have not made any further changes to the table.
 Once you move to another record or move to another window, the “Undo”
command has no effect.
 Use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Z” or click on the “Undo” icon on the Quick
Access toolbar.
 Your original data appears and the first field of the record becomes active.

Using Replace All

 Since you want to replace all the fields containing “BRISTOL” with “BS”, click on
“Replace All”.
 Instantly, the data in all the fields containing “BRISTOL” is replaced with “BS”.
 A warning message is displayed by Access, warning you that the replace operation
cannot be undone.
 You are asked whether you want to continue.
 Click on “Yes” because that’s what you want.

799
  Then close the “Find and Replace” window.

Changing Default Values

If you remember, you had set the default value for the “State” field as “Bristol”. This is
shown in the blank record at the bottom. So you need to make a change in the default
value too since you now need “BS”.

 Switch to Design View and click in the “State” field.

 In the “Default Value” property box, type “BS”.
 Save the changes made to the table.
 Save the changes made to the table. And switch to Datasheet View.
 You will see that the new record at the end has the default value changed to “BS”.

SORTING RECORDS

Sorting

Sorting the data in a table helps in finding specific information quickly. In the “Emp
Info” table, in “Datasheet” view, observe the order of the records. They are sorted by
default on the “Employee ID” field which is the primary key. You may sort by other fields
if required. Data can be sorted in ascending or descending order. The new sort order is
saved with the table data and automatically applied every time you open the table.

Sorting on a single Field

Let us sort the data on the “Last Name” field in ascending order.

 Click in the “Last Name” field of any record.

 On the “Home” tab, in the “Sort & Filter” group, select “Ascending”.
 You can see that the records are displayed sorted by Last Name.
 To return to the primary key sort order, in the “Sort & Filter” group, click “Remove
Sort”.

800
How Sorting Works

You can also sort on multiple adjacent fields. When you select multiple columns to sort,
Access sorts records starting from the leftmost column and moves to the right across the
columns. Now because there may be multiple employees with the same last name, you
wish to sort your data by “Last Name” and then by “First Name”. Since sorting is done
from the leftmost field, the “Last Name” field must be to the left of the “First Name” field.
To change the order of fields, switch to Design View.

Changing Field Order

 Click in the “Field Selector” of the “First Name” field.

 This is the small box to the left of the field name.
 When the row is selected, click once again and drag downwards until you see a
black line under the “Last Name” field.
 Then release the mouse. The “Last Name” field moves up one row so that it is the
second field in the “Field Name” list.
 Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Switch to Datasheet View.
 The records are now displayed according to the changed order of fields.

Sorting on Multiple Fields

 To sort on multiple fields, you need to select them.

 To select the two name columns, in Datasheet View, position the mouse pointer in
the column heading of “Last Name”.
 The cursor will change to a solid black arrow pointing downwards.
 Drag to the right to select the next column “First Name”.
 Both the columns will be highlighted.

801
  Now on the “Home” tab, in the “Sort & Filter” group, select “Ascending” once
again.
 Now the records are arranged alphabetically first by “Last Name” and then by
“First Name”.
 To return to the primary key sort order, in the “Sort & Filter” group, click “Remove
Sort”.
 Then save the table.

PREVIEWING AND PRINTING A TABLE

Printing a Table

You may print the data from a table. Before printing it is advisable to preview it.

 Activate the “File” tab and select “Print → Print Preview”.

 The “Print Preview” tab appears.
 You can see a preview of the table in a reduced size.
 It may consist of one, two or multiple pages if there is more data that can fit on
one or two pages.
 The table name and date are displayed at the top and the page number at the
bottom.
 Click “Next Page” at the bottom to preview the second page and “Previous Page” to
return to the first one.

Page Orientation

 To change the page orientation, on the “Print Preview” tab, in the “Page Layout”
group, click “Landscape”.
 The page is now displayed horizontally.
 When everything is as you want it, click the “Print” icon at the left of the “Print
Preview” tab.
 To close the preview, click the “Close Print Preview” icon at the right corner.

802
  You may also print the table by activating the “File” tab and selecting “Print →
Print” or using the shortcut keys “Ctrl + P”.
 The “Print” window is displayed.

Print Specification

In the “Print” window, you may enter your print specifications such as the name of the
printer, the number of copies etc. The “Print Range” section of the window lets you
specify how much of the table you want to print.

 Select “All” to print all records.

 Select “Pages From” to specify the number of the pages you want to print.
 To print pages that are continuous, enter the page range.
 For example, to print pages 1 to 5, in the “Pages From:” field, type ‘1’ and in the
“To” field enter ‘5’.
 To print selected records, select “Selected Record(s)”.
 After entering all your specifications, click “OK”.
 Your data is now printed.

CREATING COPIES, BACKUPS AND SECURITY

COPYING A DATABASE AND DATABASE OBJECTS

Copying a Database objects

You can make a copy of any database object, for example a table. This proves to be a big
time saver when you need to create similar objects. With a few changes such as addition
and deletion of certain fields, you can create a new table really fast!

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  Let us assume you want to create a table similar to the “EMP Info” table for the
employees of another division of the organization.
 Select the table name in the Navigation Pane.
 Then on the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, click “Copy”.
 Then click “Paste”.

Paste Options

In the “Paste Table As” window, you can see three Paste Options. You can copy only the
structure, both structure and data or append the data to an existing table. Both
structure and data can be copied when you need to create a backup of a table.

 Presently, you want a new blank table.

 So enter a name for the new table, say “Emp Info – South Division”.
 Select “Structure Only” under “Paste Options”.
 Now click “OK”.
 You can see the new table name displayed in the Navigation Pane.
 Double click on it.
 Your new blank table is ready for data entry!
 Enter records as shown.
 Now close all open tables.

Appending Data

Later, it may happen that you need to merge the data of the new division with the
original table.

 In that case, select the new table in the Navigation Pane and click “Copy” in the
“Clipboard” group.
 Then click “Paste”.

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  In the “Paste Table As” window, enter the name of the original table i.e. “Emp Info”
in the box at the top and select the “Append Data to Existing Table” option.
 Then click “OK”.
 Now open the “Emp Info” table.
 You can see that the records from the new table have been added to the existing
data.

Copying a Database

You can also make a copy of the complete database. This may be used for backup
purposes. This copy would be identical to the existing one complete with its objects and
data.

 For this, activate the “File” tab and select “Save Database As” in the left pane.
 If any database objects are open, you see a window asking whether the objects
may be closed.
 Click “Yes”.

Saving Copied Database

 In the “Save as” window, specify the location and the name for the new database,
say “Backup_Employee.accdb” and click “Save”.
 The new database is opened.
 It is identical to the original database.
 You may see a security warning as displayed.
 Click “Enable Content” to view the contents of the database.

PROTECTING THE DATABASE

Exclusive Mode

Microsoft Office Access 2010 provides a number of features that can help make your
data more secure. One of the first things you can do in this direction is to use a
password for accessing your database. The steps to create and apply a password to your
database are as follows. First, you need to open the database in “Exclusive” mode. This

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ensures that the database is being used by a single user at the time a password is being
set.

 For this, on the “File” tab select “Open”.

 In the “Open” window, navigate to the location of your database and click the
database file.
 Then click the arrow next to the “Open” button and select “Open Exclusive”.
 Your database is now open.

Assigning a Password

 Activate the “File” tab and select “Info Encrypt with Password”.
 In the “Set Database Window” Activate the “File” tab and select “Info Database
Password” window, type your password in the “Password” box, and then re-type it
in the “Verify” box.
 Now click “OK”.
 If you see a window like the displayed one, click “OK”.
 Your database is now password protected.
 It is very important that you remember your password.
 If you forget it, it cannot be retrieved.
 Store the password in a secure place from where you can recover it, but away
from unauthorized persons.
 Click the “File” tab and close the database by selecting “Close Database”.

Using a Password

 Now try opening the password protected database.

 The “Password required” window appears.
 Enter your password and click “OK”.
 The database is then opened.
 Close the database once again.

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Removing a Password

 To remove a database password, you need to open the database in Exclusive mode
once again.
 Enter the password in the “Password Required” window and click “OK”.
 Activate the “File” tab and select “Info → Decrypt Database”.
 In the “Unset Database Password” window, type your password and click “OK”.
 Now close the database.
 The next time the database is opened, it can be accessed without a password.

RELATIONSHIPS

TABLE RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships

You may define a relationship between the tables in your database. This makes it
possible to combine data from two different tables that have a common field. The name
of the field need not be the same, though the data type must be similar. Using
relationships you can avoid duplication of data. For example, if you have entered the
name of an employee along with the employee ID in a table “Emp Info” which holds
personal data such as name, address etc., you need not enter the employee name again
in the table “Emp Salary” which holds salary data.

One-to-One Relationship

The employee ID in the salary table can be linked to the employee ID in the personal
information table and the name can be retrieved whenever required. This is a “One-To-
One” relationship which means that for a single record in the first table, there will be a
single corresponding record in the second.

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One-to-Many Relationship

There may be a “One-To-Many” relationship between two tables. This means that one
record in a table is related to many records in another table. In the displayed picture,
you can see that the primary key in the “Region” table has become a field in the “Sales”
table. There may be multiple sales documents for a single region. The “Region Code”
field in the Sales table is a “Foreign Key”.

Applying Relationships

A “One-To-One” relationship may be used to split a very large table into parts or to keep
part of the data hidden from general view for security reasons. Optional data is also
often kept in separate tables.

 Let us apply a one-to-one relationship between the “Emp Info” and the “Emp
Salary” tables.
 Both tables have “Employee ID” as the Primary Key.
 Activate the “Database Tools” tab and in the “Relationships” group, select
“Relationships”.
 A new “Relationships” tab appears and the “Show Table” window is displayed.
 If you do not see this window, on the “Design” tab, in the “Relationships” group,
click “Show Table”.

Selecting Tables

 On the “Tables” tab of the “Show Table” window, select “Emp Info” and click “Add”
to place the table in the “Relationships” window.
 Then select “Emp Salary” and click “Add” once again.
 Click “Close” to close the “Show Table” window.
 The fields of both tables are displayed in boxes in the “Relationships” window.
 The “Emp Info” table is the “Main” or “Primary” table since a record consisting of
personal details needs to be created before entering salary information.
 The “Emp Salary” table is the “Subsidiary” or “Dependent” table.

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Creating Field Relationships

You can see that the primary keys of both tables are indicated by key icons.

 Highlight the “Employee ID” field in the “Emp Info” table.

 Now drag this field from the “Emp Info” table i.e. the main table over the
“Employee ID” field in the “Emp Salary” table.
 Release the mouse when in position.

Saving Relationships

 In the “Edit Relationships” window, at the bottom you can see the “Relation Type”
is displayed as “One-To-One”.
 This is because “Employee ID” is the primary key in both tables and so there will
be only one record in both tables with a specific ID.
 Click “Create” to create the relationship.
 The relationship between the tables is now symbolized by a line linking the
“Employee ID” in both tables.
 Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar and then close the Relationship window.

Deleting Relationships

 To reopen the window, activate the “Database Tools” tab and in the
“Relationships” group, select “Relationships”.
 To delete this relationship, click the joining line.
 When selected, the line appears thicker.
 Now press “Delete”.
 Select “Yes” in the displayed window.
 The joining line disappears and the relationship is deleted.

Expand Sub datasheet

 Create the relationship once again as we did before and close the “Relationships”
window.

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  Now open the “Emp Info” table by double clicking the table name in the Navigation
Pane.
 You can see a plus sign in front of the records.
 This is the “Expand Sub datasheet Button”.
 Click it to see the related record in the “Emp Salary” table.

Subsidiary Records

We shall try to add a new record in the “Emp Salary” table.

 Enter a record in the second row and press the down arrow.
 An error message is displayed because this goes against the one-to-one
relationship defined for records in these tables.
 Press “OK” and click “Undo” on the Quick Access toolbar.

Deleting Subsidiary

Let us delete the existing record in the “Emp Salary” table.

 Select it and on the “Home” tab, in the “Records” group, click “Delete”.
 Click “Yes” to confirm deletion.
 Now you are allowed to add one new record.
 Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar.
 Click the minus sign in front of the record in the “Emp Info” table to remove the
display of data from the “Emp Salary” table.
 Now close the “Emp Info” table.

REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY

“Referential Integrity” is a set of rules which can be applied to relationships. They ensure
that the relationships are valid and that data is not accidentally deleted or changed. A
record from a primary table cannot be deleted if a related record exists elsewhere.

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Similarly, a record cannot be added to a subsidiary table if a record does not exist in the
primary table. For example, a record cannot be added in the “Emp Salary” table if there
is no corresponding record in the “Emp Info” table.

Editing Relationships

 Click the “Database Tools” tab and in the “Relationships” group, select
“Relationships”.
 You can see the relationship between the “Emp Info” table and the “Emp Salary”
table.
 Click the joining line.
 It appears thicker when selected.
 Then on the “Design” tab, in the “Tools” group, click “Edit Relationships”.
 In the window displayed, check the box in front of “Enforce Referential Integrity”
and click “OK”.
 You can see the number 1 displayed at each end of the line indicating the one-to-
one relationship.
 Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar and close the “Relationships” window.

How Referential Integrity Works

Now let us understand how referential integrity actually operates.

 Open the “Emp Info” table by double clicking the table name in the Navigation
Pane.
 Let us select the first record and try to delete it.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “Records” group, click “Delete”.
 A message is displayed saying that you cannot delete the record because there are
related records in the “Emp Salary” table.
 Click “OK” and close the table.

Enforcing Referential Integrity

 Now open the “Emp Salary” table.

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  Let us try to add a record with an Employee ID that does not exist in the “Emp
Info” table.
 Enter all fields and press the down arrow.
 You see a message informing you that since there is no corresponding record in
the “Emp Info” table, you cannot add the record.
 Click “OK”, press “Undo” on the Quick Access toolbar and close the table.

Cascading Referential Integrity

In order to allow editing or deletion of related records, the relationship between the
tables needs to be changed.

 Click the “Database Tools” tab and in the “Relationships” group, select
“Relationships”.
 Right click on the relationship line between the tables and select “Edit
Relationship”.
 In the window displayed, check the boxes in front of “Cascade Update Related
Fields” and “Cascade Delete Related Records”.
 This means that updates and deletions in one table will be reflected in the other.
 Now click “OK”.
 Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar and close the “Relationships” tab.

Cascading Effects

 Open the “Emp Info” table once again and try to delete a record.
 This time, you are informed that deletion will result in related records being
deleted.
 Clicking “Yes” results in deletion of the record in the “Emp Info” table as well as
deletion of the related record in the “Emp Salary” table.
 So you can see that using relationships and referential integrity ensures that your
data will always be co-ordinate.
 Also, there will be no orphan records i.e. salary records which do not have
corresponding employee personal detail records.

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USING FORMS

CREATING A FORM

Forms

You have learnt to insert records in a table using the Datasheet View which is similar to
a spreadsheet. Seeing the records at all times in the form of rows and columns can be
tiring to the eyes. Also, if the persons entering the information into your database are
not too familiar with Access, they might find data entry quite cumbersome. You may
choose to use Access “Forms” to create a more user-friendly experience. A form is a
database object that is used to enter and display records and make changes to existing
records onscreen. Forms are based on a table and may contain design control elements
like descriptive text, titles, labels, lines, boxes and pictures.

Onscreen Forms

When a new employee is hired, he is normally required to fill his personal details in a
paper form. Now you want to enter all this information into an Access database using a
form. It is desirable for the onscreen form to be similar to the paper form. The
information on this form will be used as an input source for the new record that will be
added for the employee. The “Form Wizard” feature of Access makes it very easy to
design forms. It guides you through the steps required to create a form.

Using the Form Wizard

 Highlight the “Emp Info” table in the Navigation Pane.

 Then activate the “Create” tab.
 In the “Forms” group, click “Form Wizard”.
 The “Form Wizard” window is displayed.
 Information regarding what you are supposed to do in each step is mentioned on
the top in the “Form Wizard” window.
 Read it so that you know what you are supposed to do in that step.

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Specifying Fields

 In the “Tables/Queries” list, the name of the current table “Emp Info” is displayed.
 The fields from the table are displayed in the “Available Fields” list.
 You can select the fields that you require on your form from the list.
 Click on “Employee ID” and click on the button with the “greater than” (>) symbol.
 The field name is displayed in the “Selected Fields” list now.
 Click the button below this to move all fields into the “Selected Fields” list.
 The other two buttons, as you may have realized can be used to move fields back
into the “Available Fields” list.

Form Layout

 Click on “Next” to move to the next Wizard step.

 In the next step, the layout of the form can be selected.
 “Columnar” is selected by default.
 Leave it as it is and click on “Next”.

Specifying Form Name

 The next step is the last step, where you are asked to give the form a name and
save it.
 “Emp Info” will be displayed by default.
 Change it to “Employee Information Form” and click “Finish”.
 Your form is ready!

Parts of a Form

The form is displayed in “Form” View with the first record’s contents in it. The field
names i.e. labels are on the left with the corresponding data in boxes in front of them. At
the bottom of the form window you can see the record number indicator. You can move

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one record up or down by clicking on the “Next record” or “Previous record” buttons
respectively. The “First record” button takes you to the first record and the “Last record”
button takes you to the last one. The “New (blank) record” button is used to create a new
blank record. To close the form, click the close button on the form. You can see your
form name displayed in the Navigation Pane on the left.

Entering Form Data

 Now let’s add a new record in the form we created.

 For this, we first need to open the form.
 So double-click the form name in the Navigation Pane.
 Click the “New (blank) record” button at the bottom of the window.
 Observe that the “State” and the “Gender” fields have their default values like in
the Datasheet View.
 Enter the data in the first field.
 Click in the next field or move to it using the “Tab” key.
 Enter the other data as shown.
 To enter the photo, double-click in the attachment field to open the “Attachments”
window.
 Follow the same procedure as you did in Datasheet view.

Updating Data

 Click “Next record” to display a blank form again for entry of another record.
 As in Datasheet View, moving to another record saves the record which was
entered.
 Click “Previous record” to go back to the earlier record.
 Make some changes to the data.
 Now close the form.
 Surely, you’ll agree that the experience of entering data using a form is better than
the Datasheet View!

Verifying Data

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Let’s verify that the record we entered using the form has been saved correctly.

 Click the “Emp Info” table in the Navigation Pane to open the table in Datasheet
View.
 Check the record.
 Re-open the form.
 Now both the form and the table are open on two separate tabs.
 You may click on the tab names to switch between them.

MODIFYING FORM DESIGN

Changing View

Access does not restrict you to using the plain looking form that has been created. Like
all Microsoft Office components, there are many tools that allow you to make changes
and enhance the appearance of your form.

 Let us make some changes to the form we created.

 First we’ll interchange the position of two fields using the Design View.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “View” group, select Design View”.
 Three contextual tabs are displayed under the heading “View “Form Design Tools”.

Changing Form Layout

We want the “Pin Code” field to be displayed just below the “City” field, above the
“State”.

 Click on the label of the “Pin Code” field.

 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed, click the related data box.
 Both are now surrounded by colored borders.
 When you place your pointer on them, it is displayed as a four-headed arrow.
 Click and drag to position the boxes to the right as shown.
 Move the “State” field label and data box and position them lower down in a
similar way.
 Now position the “Pin Code” label and data box above the “State”.

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Changing Form Labels

Next, let us change the label “Photo”.

 Click on it.
 It will be surrounded by a colored border.
 Click once again and enter the text “Photograph”.
 Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar to save your changes.
 Then close the form.
 Re-open the form and see the changes you made in Form View.

Moving Between Fields

We have interchanged the position of the “Pin Code” and “State” fields.

 When you press the “Tab” key to move between fields, you can see that after the
“City” field, the “State” field becomes active.
 Pressing “Tab” in the “State” field takes you to the “Pin Code” field.
 This happens because this is the order the fields are arranged in the “Emp Info”
table.
 You can change the tab order if you wish.
 For this, you need to switch to Design View.
 On the “Home” tab, in the “View” group, select “View - Design View”.

Changing Tab Order

 Now on the “Design” tab, in the “Tools” group, click “Tab” order.
 All the form fields are displayed in the “Tab Order” window.
 Click the selector to the left of the “State” field to select it.
 Click once again and drag downwards to position it below the “Pin Code” field.
 Then click “OK”.
 Save the changes and switch to Form View.
 Now press the “Tab” key moving from the first field to the last.
 Yes, now this is the correct sequence!

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Inserting a picture

You can enhance the appearance of your form and make it look more attractive.

 Let us insert a picture of the company logo on the form.

 Switch to Design View once again.
 On the contextual “Design” tab, in the “Controls” group, click “Insert Image”.
 You may select an image from the displayed gallery or click “Browse”.
 Navigate to your picture and click “OK”.
 Your pointer appears as a plus sign with a small picture icon.
 Drag to draw a box of the required size at a suitable position.
 Your picture is now displayed on your form.

Background Image

We’ll further enhance the form by applying a background image.

 Activate the contextual “Format” tab.

 In the “Background” group, click “Background Image”.
 Browse for the image and click “OK”.
 Here you are; your form has a pretty background now!
 Save the design changes.
 Activate the “Home” tab and switch to Form View to see how the final form
appears.
 So, you can see that you may modify your forms as desired.
 Try exploring the various other options in the Layout and Design Views on your
own.

QUERIES AND REPORTS

USING QUERIES

What is a Query?

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To get any information, it is necessary to frame a question. Framing it correctly will give
you the most accurate information. For example, if you ask at the railway enquiry
counter – “Is there a train to Central Park?” you will most probably not get the expected
answer. But if you ask, “When is the train to Central Park?”, You may get the most
appropriate answer - “It leaves on Tuesday morning at 6:30 am”. So, framing a question
correctly is important. In Access, to get information stored in the tables, you have to put
questions in the form of queries. In other words, a query is simply an instruction or
request for information.

Types of Queries

A query may be a request for data results, for action on data, or for both. You can use a
query to answer a simple question, to perform calculations, to combine data from
different tables, or even to add, change, or delete table data. Queries that you use to
retrieve data from a table or to make calculations are called “Select” queries. Queries
that add, change, or delete data are called “Action” queries. The language used to create
a query is known as SQL (Structured Query Language). Don’t worry; you are not
required to learn this language. Access provides a very user-friendly system using which
you can create queries quite easily.

Creating a Query

Queries can be used as a source for forms and reports because they are based on tables.
Access saves each query in your database, like any other database object. Once you
have saved a query, you can run it any time to take a look at the actual data that meets
your specifications at that time. Creating a query in Access is very similar to creating a
table or form.

“Select” Query

We shall learn to create a “Select” query using the “Query Wizard”. A “Select” query
retrieves the requested data from one or more tables and displays it in a query datasheet
in the specified order. We shall select some of the fields from the “Emp Info” table in our
query.

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  Activate the “Create” tab.
 In the “Queries” group, click “Query Wizard”.
 You will find this wizard similar to the one you used to create a form.

Query Wizard

The “New Query” window is displayed with “Simple Query Wizard” selected. Click “OK”
to display the “Simple Query Wizard” window. In the “Tables/Queries” list, select the
“Emp Info” table if it is not already selected. In the “Available Fields” list, you see all the
fields in the “Emp Info” table. Now, we need data related to only the following fields –
“Employee ID”, “Last Name”, “First Name”, “Address”, “City”, and “Phone”. So select
them one by one and click on the “greater than” (>) button. When all the required fields
are displayed in the “Selected Fields” box, click “Next”.

Specifying Query Name

In the displayed window, you may accept the default name for the query or type a new
one and click “Finish”. The query is displayed with all the records in the table, but with
selected fields.

Changing View

The query you created was a very simple one. Now, we’ll go a step further. You want this
information for all employees, who have been in service for the last five years, for a “5
Year Service Award”. This is very interesting. How are you going to specify this
condition? You need to make some modifications in your query.

 While the query is open, click the “Home” tab.

 To switch to Design View, in the “Views” group, select “View - Design View”.

Modifying a Query

In the document window, at the top, you can see all the fields of the table used in the
query in a small window. In the lower part, the fields selected in the query are displayed.

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Now, to know about the employees who have been in service for 5 years or more, you
need to check their dates of joining the organization.

 For this, you need to modify the query by adding the “Date of Joining” field and
specifying criteria.
 If you do not see the “Date of Joining” field in the window at the top, scroll down a
bit.
 Then, double-click on this field.
 It is displayed in the first blank box after the “Phone” field.
 You must now specify a criterion for this field.

Specifying Criteria

You need the list of employees who have been in service for five years. If you are
presently in the year 2011, you would need to know which employees had joined in
2006.

 So in the criteria row of the “Date of Joining” column, type the condition as ‘>=
1/1/2006 AND < 1/1/2007’ and press “Enter”.
 As soon as you press “Enter”, Access adds “hash” (#) signs before and after the
dates to identify the values entered as dates.

Running a Query

 To see the result of this query, on the “Design” tab, in the “Results” group, click
“Run”.
 The records matching your criteria are displayed.
 How simple this was! Imagine how much effort would be required to manually
extract this information from a table containing a very large number of records.

Saving a Query

You now need to save this modified query.

 For this, click the “File” tab and select “Save Object As”.

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  Type the name ‘5 Year Service Query’ in the “Save As” window.
 Confirm that the “As” box has “Query” displayed in it.
 Click “OK”.
 Your query is now saved.

SQL View

Each query that you create has an underlying SQL statement.

 To view or edit this, activate the “Home” tab.

 Then in the “Views” group, select “View → SQL View”.
 The SQL statement is displayed.
 Now you may close the query tab.

CREATING REPORTS

What is a Report

A report is a printed output generated from tables and queries. It might be a simple
listing of all fields or of selected fields based on a query. Using a report is the best way to
format and print your data. It is also a good way to summarize data. Now you want to
create a report containing the address details of all employees from the “Emp Info” table
sorted by name. We shall do this with the help of the “Report Wizard”.

Creating a Report

 Activate the “Create” tab.

 In the “Reports” group, click “Report Wizard”.
 The “Report Wizard” window is displayed.
 In the Tables/Queries list, select “Table: Emp Info”.
 Select fields “Last Name”, “First Name”, “Address”, “City”, “State”, “Pin code”, and
“Phone” one by one by clicking on the “>” button, as you did while selecting fields
for the query.
 Click “Next”.

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  In the next “Report Wizard” window, there is an option for grouping fields, which
you are not going to need, so click “Next”.

Specifying Sort Order

 The next “Report Wizard” window asks for the sort order of the records to be
printed in the report.
 You can sort the records by up to four fields in either ascending or descending
order.
 You need the address list of employees in ascending order of “Last Name” and
within that, in ascending order of “First Name”.
 So, select “Last Name” as the first field and “First Name” as the second field and
click “Next”.

Other Specifications

 In the next window, you are asked about the layout of the fields and the page.
 You can have the fields laid out as either columnar, tabular or justified and the
page can be oriented either as a portrait or a landscape.
 Let the defaults remain. Ensure that “Adjust the field width so all fields fit on a
page” is checked and click “Next”.
 The next window is the last step of the Wizard.
 Here enter the report title as “Employee Address Report”, click on “Preview the
report” and click “Finish”.

Previewing Report

The “Print Preview” tab appears and a preview of the report is displayed with the title
and footer and all the records arranged in the specified sort order. If you see the report
carefully, some headings and field contents are not displayed completely. We’ll learn to
make changes to the report layout in the next assignment.

 For now, close the preview by clicking “Close Print Preview” at the right end of the
“Print Preview” tab.

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MODIFYING REPORT LAYOUT

Report Sections

When you close the “Print Preview” of your report, the “Design View” of the report is
displayed. If not, switch to Design View. This can be used to modify the layout of the
report. You can see that the report is made up of five sections. The “Report Header” and
“Report Footer” sections appear at the beginning and end of the report respectively. The
“Page Header” and “Page Footer” appear at the top and bottom of each page. The “Detail”
section shows you the positioning of the actual data.

Modifying a Report

Now, the first thing you want to do is have a common heading for the “Last Name” and
“First Name” fields.

 So in the “Page Header” section, click the “First Name” box and press Delete.
 Now click the “Last Name” box.
 It is surrounded by a colored box.
 Drag the handle at the middle of the right edge to increase the width of the box.
 It should extend over both the name fields.
 Click within the box and replace the text “Last Name” with “Employee Name”.

Other Changes

Next, you want to decrease the width of the “Last Name” field and increase the width of
the “First Name” field. This change needs to be done in the “Detail” section.

 Click the “Last Name” box.

 Click the handle on the right edge and drag to the left to reduce width.
 Similarly, increase the width of the “First Name” box.
 To see whether the changes you made are OK, in the “Views” group, select “View -
Report View”.

More Changes

824
You may still find that some headings and data are not displayed completely and you
want to do some re-positioning. You feel that the “State” field is too big for its two
character contents. You can reduce its size and make space for the other fields.

 Switch to Design View again.

 Select the “State” heading.
 Keeping the “Ctrl” key pressed; select the “State” data box in the “Detail” section.
 Now drag the right handle on any box to reduce the size of both boxes.
 Increase the width of “Pin Code” boxes in a similar way.
 Make other changes as required.

Saving a Report

 To preview the report, in the “Views” group, select “View - Print Preview”.
 If you are satisfied, save the report either by using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl +
S” or by clicking “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar.
 So you see that you may make changes to your reports as desired.

Printing a Report

 To print the report, on the “Print Preview” tab, in the “Print” group, click “Print”.
 In the “Print” window, enter your print specifications such as printer name, pages
to print and number of copies.
 Then click “OK”. Click “Close Print Preview” at the right end of the Ribbon.
 For printing a report you may also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + P” or click
the “File” tab and select “Print”.
 Now close the report.

CREATING REPORTS FROM QUERIES

Report from Query

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You can also print a report based on a query. You are required to print a report of all
employees who were listed for the “5 Year Service Award”.

 To create this report, you can make use of the query you created earlier.
 To create a report from a query, you need to follow the same steps you performed
to create a report from a table.
 The difference is that, in the “Report Wizard”, instead of the table, you will select
the query.

Selecting Query

 Activate the “Create” tab.

 In the “Reports” group, click “Report Wizard”.
 The “Report Wizard” window is displayed.
 In the Tables/Queries box, select the query “5 Year Service Query”.
 Add all fields in the “Available Fields” list to the “Selected Fields” list by clicking on
the second button (>>) and clicking “Next”.
 Click “Next” once again.

Other Specifications

 Enter the sort order as “Last Name” and then “First Name”.
 Then click “Next”.
 Let the defaults remain in this window, simply click “Next”.
 In the last Wizard step, enter the report title as “5 Year Service Awards Report”,
click on “Preview the report” and click “Finish”.

Closing Database

In the preview you can see the records of all employees who have worked for five years.
You may modify the report layout as required and then print it.

 So using reports based on queries, you can get properly formatted, printed
information of all types from your database.

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 Finally, close the database by clicking the “File” tab and selecting “Close
Database”.

ALL ABOUT COMPUTERS

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INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS

OVERVIEW OF ALL ABOUT COMPUTERS

Welcome to the world of computers. Today, computers affect our lives is some way or the
other. Airline and railway reservations, telephone and electricity bills, banking and
financial systems, mechanical and medical industries, agriculture & weather forecasts.
The list of services using computers is almost endless.

But, if you go back a few years, computers were not used for daily tasks. They were used
for some special or specific tasks. So what made them so popular and part of our daily
routine? The three basic reasons were speed, accuracy and diligence. A computer works
diligently at all times without limitations like getting bored or tired like human beings

During the 1920s, computers, who were also known as computers, were women who
had a degree in calculus and performed computations. Most of the computers were
employed in commerce, government and research establishments while some performed
astronomical calculations for calendars. They used to compute multiplications hour
after hour, day after day for several months. Due to this, dullness would quickly lead to
carelessness which caused mistakes. Therefore, inventors began searching for a new
way to mechanize these tasks.

After the 1920s, the computing machine was invented that performed the work of a
human computer. Machines that computed with continuous values became known as
the analog kind. The term computing machine gradually gave way to computer after
1940 as the onset of electronic digital machinery became common. These computers
were able to perform the calculations that were performed by the previous human
clerks. Since then the development of computers was characterized by phases of growth,
which are also known as Computer Generations.

However, computers cannot take over all human activities simply because they are less
flexible than humans. They do not have the potential to work out alternate solutions. In
unanticipated situations, computers produce erroneous results or abandon the task

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altogether. So friends, I am sure that you will be eager to know more about computers
and learn about them to make your professional and personal life simpler and well
organized.

WHAT IS A COMPUTER

To begin with, you must understand the impact of computers in the world today.
Computers are affecting our lives in some way or the other. Airline and railway
reservations, telephone and electricity bills, banking, medical diagnoses, weather
forecasts… the list of services using computers is almost endless.

A computer is a device that allows you to input data, process data quickly and
efficiently, receive outputs and store data. Thus a computer consists of one or more
input devices, output devices, storage devices and a processing unit.

The three basic benefits of a computer system are speed, accuracy and diligence. A
computer works diligently at all times without getting bored or tired like human beings.
However, computers cannot take over all human activities simply because they are less
flexible than humans. They do not have the potential to work out alternate solutions. In
unanticipated situations, computers produce erroneous results or abandon the task
altogether.

GEBERATIONS OF COMPUTER

The development of computers was characterized by phases of growth, which have come
to be called as Computer Generations. Major technological developments in each
generation led to smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient computers.

First Generation (1940-1956) - Vacuum Tubes: The First Generation Computers used
Vacuum Tubes for circuitry and Magnetic Drums for memory and were big in size
covering entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate and consumed lots of
electricity. The system used to get heated very quickly which was often the cause of
errors. First generation computers performed operations on machine language which is
the lowest-level programming language understood by computers. They could perform

829
only one single task at a time. Input was based on punched cards and paper tape and
output was displayed on printouts. The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of
first-generation computing devices.

Second Generation (1956-1963) – Transistors: The Second Generation Computers

used Transistors which replaced Vacuum Tubes. The transistor was far superior to the
vacuum tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-
efficient and more reliable than their first-generation predecessors. Transistor also
generated a great amount of heat that exposed the computer to damage but it was a vast
improvement over the vacuum tube. Second-generation computers still relied on
punched cards for input and printouts for output. Second-generation computers used
symbolic or assembly languages, which allowed programmers to specify instructions in
words. These were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their
memory on core magnetic technology.

Third Generation (1964-1971) - Integrated Circuits: The Third Generation

Computers were based on the Integrated Circuit (IC). This Integrated Chip became the
basis of the third generation. Transistors were shrunk and placed on silicon chips,
called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of
computers. Users interacted with these computers through keyboards and monitors.
They were interfaced with an operating system, which allowed the device to run many
different applications at one time. For the first time computers became accessible to a
mass audience as they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.

Fourth Generation (1971-Present) – Microprocessors: The Fourth Generation

Computers used microprocessor where thousands of integrated circuits were built onto
a single silicon chip with the introduction of VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration). What in
the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel
4004 chip which was developed in 1971 contained all the components of the computer
from the central processing unit and memory to input/output controls. In 1981 IBM
introduced its first computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple introduced the
Macintosh. As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked

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together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet.
Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and
handheld devices.

Fifth Generation (Present and beyond) - Artificial Intelligence: Fifth Generation

Computer devices are based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and are still in development.
There are some applications, such as voice recognition systems and robots that are
being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to
make artificial intelligence a reality. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop
devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-
organization. These devices will radically change the face of computers in years to come.

TYPES OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS

A system is a group of integrated parts that have a common purpose of achieving an

objective. There are four types of computer systems: Microcomputers, Minicomputers,
Mainframe Computers and Supercomputers. Let us look at each one of them.

Personal Computers or Microcomputers: The Personal Computer (PC) is the most

popular computer system. It is small in size but capable of handling large tasks. It can
perform a diverse range of functions from keeping track of household accounts for
keeping records of the stores of a large manufacturing company. There are four types of
microcomputers: desktop, notebook, tablet PC and handheld computers.

This is a general purpose computer. Minicomputers are also known as Midrange

Computers, are refrigerator sized machines. A typical mini system is more expensive
than a PC and it has greater speed and storage capacity. This computer system is
usually designed to simultaneously handle the needs of multiple users. For example,
production departments use minicomputers to monitor certain manufacturing processes
and assembly-line operations.

A mainframe is another form of a computer system that is generally more powerful

than a typical mini system. Different mainframe computers may vary widely in terms of
cost and capability. They are used in large organizations for large-scale jobs. For

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example, insurance companies use mainframes to process information about millions of
policyholders.

Super Computers are the largest, fastest and the most expensive computers in the
world. They are used for activities such as weather forecasting, complex scientific and
defense applications, bio-medical research and large-scale chemical analysis in
laboratories.

COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER

When we think of a Personal Computer or Microcomputer, we tend to think of the

equipment itself, that is the monitor or keyboard. We need to understand that there’s
more to a Microcomputer than that. It is part of a bigger unit called an “Information
System”. A complete information system is made up of five parts: Hardware, Software,
Data, Users and Procedures. Let us understand each part.

The hardware consists of all devices of the computer that you can see and touch. These
include input, processing and output devices.

The software of a computer system refers to the organized sets of instructions that
control the working of the computer’s operations. These instructions are stored as
programs. Some programs are used by the computer to control its own tasks and
devices.

Data consists of raw facts and figures which the computer manipulates and processes
into meaningful information. Data is stored in digital form on the computer. This means
that the computer reads and stores all data as numbers. However, it outputs
information in a form that can be understood by human beings. In a payroll system, the
data would be the number of hours worked and the pay rate. This is processed
(multiplied) to yield information which would be the weekly pay .

Four common types of data files are:

 Document files created by word processors such as memos and letters.

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  Worksheet files created by electronic spreadsheets to analyze things like budgets
and predict sales.
 Database files created by database management programs which contain
organized data. For example, an employee database file might contain all the
workers’ names, job titles, social security numbers and other related information.
 Presentation files created by presentation graphics programs to save presentation
materials. For example, a file might contain audience handouts, speaker notes
and electronic slides.

A user is a person who uses the computer with a specific objective. The computer makes
him more productive. User is not involved with the internal functioning of the computer
system. User inputs data and gets the information User requires. Because user uses the
computer externally, we often overlook a user as a part of an information system.

A procedure is an ordered set of tasks for performing some action. The rules or
guidelines that are followed in the use of hardware, software and data are procedures.
Software and hardware manufacturers provide manuals containing guidelines for use of
their products in printed or electronic form.

HARDWARE

The equipment that processes data to create information is called hardware. Hardware
for a microcomputer system consists of a variety of devices. These may be divided into
four basic categories: Input/output, Processing, Storage and Communication.

While input devices convert what we can understand into what the system unit can
process, output devices convert what the system unit has processed into a form that we
can understand. Output devices translate machine language into letters, numbers,
sounds and images that people can understand.

What is input? Input is any data or instructions that are used by a computer. It can
come from a variety of sources. For example, when you use a word processor, you enter
data in the form of letters and numbers and issue various commands for activities like

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saving and printing documents. You can also enter data by pointing to items or using
your voice. Other sources of input include scanned or photographed images.

Input devices translate data and programs that humans can understand into a form
that the computer can process. The most common input devices are the keyboard and
mouse. Let us have a look at some input devices.

Keyboard: This resembles a common typewriter. It has different keys that perform
various operations. The user can type in data and instructions using the keyboard.

Mouse: This is a small device that is connected to the system unit. Movement of the
mouse causes a corresponding movement of a pointer on the screen. It usually has three
buttons with which the user can select options from the screen.

Joystick: This is a pointing device with a vertical lever mounted on a base. It is mainly
used for computer games and ultrasound scanners in hospitals.

Scanner: This device is used to capture information such as photographs and

documents on paper and translate it into a computer image. There are three types of
scanning devices: optical scanners, bar code readers and character and mark
recognition devices.

Optical Scanner: These scanners accept documents consisting of text and images and
convert them to machine-readable form. They do not recognize individual letters and
images. There are two basic types of optical scanners.

 “Flatbed scanners” are like copy machines. The image to be scanned is placed on
glass surface and is recorded from below.
 “Portable scanners” are handheld devices that slide across an image, making
direct contact.

Card Readers: Today the use of credit cards, debit cards and other types of
identification cards is commonplace. These cards have the user’s name and other
information embossed on the card. Often some encoded information is stored on the

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card as well. “Card Readers” are used to interpret this encoded information. There are
two basic types of card readers.

Magnetic and Radio Frequency Card Readers: “Magnetic card readers” are the most
common type. When a card is swiped through a magnetic card reader, the encoded
information stored on a thin magnetic strip on the back of the card is read.

“Radio frequency card readers” do not require the card to make actual contact. The card
has a small RFID (radio frequency identification) microchip that contains encoded
information which is read when the card is passed within a few inches of the card
reader.

Bar Code Readers: Bar codes are vertical zebra-striped marks printed on product
containers. A “Bar Code Reader” is an input device that reads a bar code and transmits
the information to the computer. Almost all supermarkets use electronic cash registers
and a bar code system called the “Universal Product Code (UPC)”. The bar code reader
scans the UPC code of a product and sends it to the supermarket’s computer which has
the description, price and inventory level of that product. Accordingly, billing is done
and stocks are updated.

Character and Mark Recognition Devices: These devices are scanners that are able to
recognize special characters and marks and convert them to electronic data. The three
types of character and mark recognition are as follows:

 Magnetic-ink character recognition (MICR) - This is used by banks to read the

numbers at the bottom of cheques and deposit slips.
 Optical-mark recognition (OMR) – This senses the presence or absence of a
mark, such as a pencil mark. OMR is often used to evaluate multiple-choice tests.
 Image Capturing Devices: Unlike optical scanners which make a digital copy of
an original image, image capturing devices create or capture original images.
These devices include digital cameras and digital video cameras.

835
Digital Cameras: “Digital Cameras” are similar to traditional cameras except that
images are recorded digitally on a disk or in the camera’s memory rather than on film.
The digital images can be downloaded or transferred to your computer. You can take a
picture and view it immediately.

Digital Video Cameras: “Digital Video Cameras” record motion digitally on a disk or in
the camera’s memory. Most have the capability to take still images as well. “WebCams”
are specialized digital video cameras that capture images and send them to a computer
for broadcast over the Internet.

Audio-input Devices: These devices convert sounds into a form that can be processed
by the system unit. Audio input can be in many forms, for example the human voice and
music. The most widely used audio-input device is the “microphone”.

Microphone: This device allows a user to record sound or enters data and instructions
into the computer by speaking into it.

Voice Recognition System: These use a microphone, a sound card and special
software. Users can operate computers and create documents using voice recognition
systems. Portable voice recognition systems are widely used by doctors, lawyers and
others to record dictation. Some systems are even able to translate dictation from one
language to another.

Output Devices: Output devices translate the processed information generated by the
computer into a form that humans can understand. Let us see some output devices.

Monitor: This is also called a Visual Display Unit (VDU). It is used to display both data
that is entered and data after it is processed to the user. It is similar to a TV screen and
can display text and graphic images. There are generally four types of monitors available
in the market. They are CRT monitors, LCD monitors, Plasma monitors & LED monitors.

1. CRT Monitor: The cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing an
electron gun which is a source of electrons and a fluorescent screen. It works
by moving an electron beam back and forth across the back of the screen. Each

836
 time the beam makes a pass across the screen, it lights up phosphor dots on
the inside of the glass tube, thereby illuminating the active portions of the
screen. By drawing many such lines from the top to the bottom of the screen, it
creates an entire screen of images.
2. LCD Monitor: Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is a thin and flat electronic visual
display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals. They are
usually more compact, lightweight, portable, more reliable, and easier on the
eyes. LCDs are more energy efficient and offer safer disposal than CRTs. Its low
electrical power consumption enables it to be used in battery-powered
electronic equipment. The main advantage of LCD displays is that they take up
less space and are lighter in weight. LCD monitors are of the following two
basic types. “Passive-matrix” or “dual-scan monitors” require very little power
but image-clarity is not very good. “Active-matrix” or “thin film transistor (TFT)
monitors” have better clarity, but are more expensive and require more power.
3. Plasma Monitor: Plasma Monitor is an innovative new type of technology used
by combining the CRT and LCD that makes the screen thin as LCD and wide
viewing angle as CRT technology. Plasma displays produce deeper black
allowing for superior contrast ratio and have wider viewing angles those of
LCD. They are slim and less bulky and can be easily mounted on the wall. On
the other hand, they generally do not come in smaller size less than 37 inches
and use more electricity than a LCD display.
4. LED Monitor: LED monitors are basically new kind of LCD’s as they still use
liquid crystals to produce desired image onscreen by using light-emitting
diodes (LED’s) as backlight replacing the standard cold cathode fluorescent
lamps. It needs less electricity than LCD and thin than LCD and Plasma
monitor. LED monitors are eco-friendly too. The LED monitor has no motion
blur so it do not distract from watching. On the other hand, LED monitor has
weak color reproduction that makes screen look dull. Currently, LED monitors
are expensive but popularity of LED monitor is increasing day by day. People
are shifting to LED monitors from LCD monitors.

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The quality of a monitor can be judged by its clarity. Clarity is based on several monitor
features which are as follows:

Resolution: Images on a monitor are formed by a number of dots or “pixels” (i.e. picture
elements). Resolution is expressed in pixels. A monitor which has a high solution has a
large number of pixels and better clarity.

Dot (pixel) pitch: This is the distance between each pixel. A lower dot pitch results in
better clarity.

Refresh rate: This indicates how often a displayed image is redrawn on the monitor. A
faster refresh rate results in better quality images.

Size of the monitor: This is the diagonal length of the monitor’s viewing area. A smaller
monitor size results in better quality images.

Some other specialized monitors are as follows:

 “E-books” are handheld, book-sized devices that display text and graphics.
“Data projectors” are similar to slide projectors which connect to microcomputers
and project computer output.
 “Hi-definition television (HDTV)” delivers digital output and is useful to graphic
artists, designers and publishers.

Printer:

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Since the output on the monitor cannot be stored for later reference, a printer is used to
obtain a permanent copy of the output. There are different types of printers based on
their features which are as follows:

 Resolution: This is a measure of the clarity of images produced. Printer resolution

is measured in “dpi (i.e. dots per inch)”. Higher dpi results in better quality
images.
 Color capability: Printers provide the option to print in gray scale using black
ink only or with color.
 Speed: This is measured in number of pages printed per minute.
 Memory: This is used to store printing instructions and documents waiting to be
printed.

Following are Some Examples of Types of Printers available

 Ink-Jet printers: These printers are relatively inexpensive. They spray ink at high
speed onto the surface of paper.
 Laser Printers: These printers use a technology similar to that used in a
photocopying machine. They use a laser light beam to produce images of excellent
quality and are more expensive than ink-jet printers.
 Thermal Printers: These printers use heat elements to produce images on heat-
sensitive paper. They were originally used in scientific labs to record data but are
now also used to produce very high-quality color artwork and text.
 “Dot-matrix printers” form characters and images using a series of small pins on
a print head. They are inexpensive but quite noisy. They are used for tasks where
a high-quality output is not required.
 “Plotters” are special-purpose printers which use the output from graphical input
devices and are used to print designs, sketches and drawings.
 “Photo printers” are special-purpose printers that print photo-quality images
from digital cameras.
 “Portable printers” are small, lightweight printers that are designed to work with a
notebook computer.

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Audio-Output Devices: These devices translate audio information from the computer
into sounds that people can understand. “Speakers” and “Headphones” are widely used
audio-output devices which are connected to a sound card in the system unit and can
be used to play music and communicate information from the computer system to
users.

Digital Music Players: “Digital music players” are specialized devices for storing,
transferring and playing audio files. Today, most players are capable of displaying video
files as well. Some of the well-known audio and video players are Apple’s iPod, Creative
Zen, Microsoft Zune and iRiver.

Combination of input output Devices: Many devices combine input and output
capabilities. Common combination devices include fax machines, multifunctional
devices, Internet telephones, and terminals.

 Fax machines: Fax machines are devices used for sending and receiving images
over telephone lines. Today computers have the capability of a fax machine by the
simple addition of a fax/modem board.
 Multifunctional Devices: MFDs are devices that typically combine the
capabilities of a scanner, printer, fax and copy machine. They offer a cost and
space advantage. Their disadvantage is that the quality and functionality are not
as good as those of the separate single-purpose devices.
 Internet Telephones: These are specialized input and output devices for receiving
and sending voice communications. They connect to the system unit through a
USB port and use the internet rather than traditional communication lines to
support voice communication. Voice over IP (VoIP) is the transmission of telephone
calls over computer network which is also known as Telephony, Internet
Telephony and IP Telephony. Calls using Telephony requires a high-speed internet
connection and special software and hardware.
 Terminal: A “terminal” is an input and output device that connects you to a
mainframe or another computer. There are three kinds of terminals:

840
 1) A “dumb terminal” can be used to input and receive data but cannot
process data independently. Such a terminal is often used by airline
reservation clerks to access a mainframe computer for flight information.
2) An “intelligent terminal” is a microcomputer with communication software
and devices and is connected to a larger computer or the Internet.
3) A “network terminal” is a low-cost alternative to an intelligent terminal.
Most network terminals do not have a hard-disk drive and rely on the host
computer for application and system software.

Various Types of Internet Telephone Approaches are:

 “Computer-to-computer” communications allow individuals to place free long-

distance calls. Both parties must have their computers connected to the Internet
when a call is placed. There are varieties of software available for free like Google
Talk from Google and Yahoo Messenger from Yahoo.
 “Computer-to-traditional telephone” communications allow a user to call any
telephone by connecting his computer to the Internet. The calling party subscribes
to a special Internet phone service provider that supplies the required software
and charges a fee. The well known service provider for these type of calls is Skype
Messenger from Skype limited who charges very low for calling from your
computer to traditional telephone.
 “Traditional telephone-to-traditional telephone” communications do not
require a computer. The calling party subscribes to a special Internet phone
service provider. The caller pays a fee and is supplied with a special hardware
adapter that connects a traditional phone to the Internet.

System Unit

The “System Unit” is a container that houses most of the electronic components of the
computer system. Processing of input data takes place in the system unit. Two of its
important components are the “Microprocessor” and “Memory”.

For microcomputers, there are four basic types of system units:

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  “Desktop system units” contain the system’s electronic components and some
secondary storage devices. Input and output devices such as mouse, keyboard
and monitor are located outside the system unit.
 “Notebook system units” are also called “Laptops”. They are portable and smaller
in size. They contain the electronic components, some secondary storage devices
and input devices such as a keyboard and pointing device. The monitor is
separate and attached by hinges to the system unit.
 “Tablet PC system units” are similar to notebook system units. They support the
use of pen-like devices such as a stylus for input. There are two basic types of
tablet PCs. One is like a laptop which has a monitor that swivels and folds onto its
keyboard. The other type has a monitor attached to the system unit and does not
have a keyboard integrated into it.
 “Handheld computer system units” are the smallest in size and can fit onto the
palm of a hand. They contain an entire computer system including the system
board, microprocessor and memory. They may also have a display screen with
touch input and a miniature keyboard. “Smartphones” and “Personal digital
assistants (PDAs)” are the most widely-used handheld computers. They are useful
in environments where carrying laptop or computer would not be practical.

Motherboard

The Motherboard which is also known as system board controls communications for the
entire computer system. It has the standard circuitry that is needed for the computer
and has slots that enable you to plug in other input and output devices. Every
component of the system unit connects to the system board. It acts as a data path
allowing the various components to communicate with one another. External devices
like the keyboard, mouse and monitor also communicate with the system unit using the
system board.

On a desktop computer, the motherboard is located at the bottom or at one side of the
system unit. It is a large flat circuit board covered with different electronic components
including sockets, slots and bus lines.

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Sockets

“Sockets” provide a connection point for small specialized electronic parts called “Chips”.
A chip consists of a tiny circuit board, even smaller than your finger tip, etched onto a
square of sand-like material called silicon. There are different types of chips such as
microprocessor and memory chips. Chips are mounted on “Carrier Packages” and then
connected to the system board. Silicon chips are also called “Semiconductors” or
“Integrated Circuits”.

Slots

“Slots” provide a connection point for specialized cards or circuit boards which can
expand the capability of a computer system. For example, a modem card can be plugged
into a slot on the system board for connecting to the Internet.

Bus Lines

“Bus lines” are connecting lines which provide pathways for communication between the
various electronic components. They are either located on the system board or attached
to it.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The Central Processing Unit or the Microprocessor is the brain of the computer and is
placed inside the system unit. It is responsible for processing data, storing data and
retrieving information. Almost all signals, information and functions travel through the
computers microprocessor.

There are two types of storage devices - Primary and Secondary storage devices. Before
the data can be processed or a program can be run, it must be in the RAM. For this
reason, RAM is referred to as “primary storage”. It is a volatile storage device meaning
that when the computer is switched off, data stored in the RAM is lost.

Unlike the RAM, secondary storage devices store data even after the computer is
switched off. Some of the secondary storage devices are hard disks, optical disks, floppy

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disks and pen drives. The hard disk is placed permanently inside the computer. Optical
disks and pen drives are portable storage devices which you can use to transfer data
from one computer to another. Some Important Characteristics of Secondary Devices
Includes:

 “Media” are the actual physical material that holds the data and programs.
 “Capacity” measures how much a particular storage medium can hold.
 ”Storage devices” are hardware that reads and writes data and programs from
storage media.
 “Access Speed” measures the amount of time required by the storage device to
retrieve data and programs.

Hard Disks

Hard disks are typically used to store programs and very large data files. They are very
sensitive instruments. Their read/write heads ride on a very thin cushion of air. A “head
crash” is a specific type of hard disk failure which occurs when the read/write head
touches its surface or particles on its surface. A smoke particle, fingerprint, dust or
human hair could cause a “head crash”. A head crash causes scratching of the disk
surface and some or all of the data is destroyed.

The three types of hard disks are as follows:

 An “internal hard disk” is located inside the system unit. It is used to store
programs and large data files. The operating system and major applications are
stored on the internal hard disk of a microcomputer. They provide very fast access
to the data stored.
 “Hard-disk cartridges” are used to complement the storage capacity of an
internal hard disk. They can be easily removed and are particularly useful to
protect sensitive information.
 “Hard-disk packs” are removable storage devices used to store massive amounts
of information. Microcomputers that have access to the Internet, minicomputers

844
 or mainframes often have access to external hard-disk packs through
communication lines.

Floppy Disks

Floppy Disks are portable or removable storage media that are used to store and
transport small files. The traditional floppy disk is the 1.44 MB 2HD three-and-a-half-
inch disk. 2HD means two-sided, high density. Two-sided indicates that data can be
stored on both sides of the disk. “Density” refers to how tightly the bits can be packed
next to one another. These disks have a capacity of 1.44 megabytes.

High-Capacity Disks

“High-capacity disks” are also called “floppy disk cartridges”. Like the traditional floppy,
they are three-and-a-half inches in diameter, but they are able to store more
information, are thicker and require special disk drives. The most widely used high-
capacity disk is the Zip disk produced by Iomega. These disks have a 100 MB, 250 MB
or 750 MB capacity which is over 500 times as much as a standard floppy disk.

Optical Disks

Optical discs are compact, lightweight and durable and have a large storage capacity. In
optical-disc technology, a laser beam alters the surface of a plastic or metallic disc to
represent data. The three types of optical discs are as follows.

 “Compact Disc (CD)” is one of the most widely used optical formats. There are
three basic types of CDs: read only, write once and rewritable.
 “Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs)” are very similar to CDs except that more data
can be packed into the same amount of space. There are three basic types of
DVDs, similar to CDs: read only, write once and rewritable.
 “High-Definition (hi-def) Discs” have a far greater capacity than DVDs. They can
be used for recording high-definition video which requires about four times as
much storage as standard-definition movies and music. Like CDs and DVDs, hi-
def has three basic types: read only, write once and rewritable.

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Type of HD Formats

There are two different hi-def formats which are as follows:

 “HD DVD” stands for “high-definition DVD”. This format is similar to DVD except
that its storage capacity is much greater.
 “Blu-Ray” is a different format from the DVD and HD DVD format. These discs,
also known as BDs have a greater capacity than HD DVD discs.

Other Types of Secondary Storage Devices

Along with floppy disks, hard disks and optical discs, there is other more specialized
storage such as solid-stage storage, Internet hard drives and magnetic tape.

 “Solid-state storage” devices have no moving parts. Data and information are
stored and retrieved electronically directly from these devices much as they would
be from conventional computer memory. This type of storage is more expensive
than others, but it is more reliable and requires less power.
 “Flash memory cards” are credit card-sized solid-state storage devices used in
notebook computers and a variety of specialized input devices.
 “USB drives” are very compact devices that connect directly to a computer’s USB
port. They can be used for transporting data between computers and a variety of
specialty devices.
 Internet Hard Drives: Special service sites on the Web provide users with
storage. This storage is called an “Internet hard drive” and its advantages are low
cost and the flexibility to access information from anywhere using the Internet.
Some Internet hard drive sites are shown in the displayed figure.
 Magnetic Tapes: “Magnetic Tape” is a commonly used tool for backing up data
because it provides massive storage capacity. Unlike disks that provide fast direct
access, magnetic tape provides slower sequential access. Previously, mainframes
used “magnetic tape reels” exclusively. Today, the use of “tape cartridges” and
“magnetic tape streamers” is more common in mainframes as well as
microcomputers.

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Mass Storage Devices

These devices are specialized high-capacity secondary storage devices designed to meet
organizational demands for data. Most large organizations have established a strategy
called an “enterprise storage system” to promote efficient and safe use of data across the
organizational networks.

Organizational Network Strategies

Some mass storage devices that support this strategy are as follows:

 “File Servers” are dedicated computers with large storage that provide fast
storage and retrieval of data.
 “Raid systems” are specialized devices that enhance security by making backup
copies of files moving across the networks.
 “Tape library” is a device that promotes access to data stored on tapes.
 “DVD-ROM and CD-ROM jukeboxes” provide automatic access to data stored on
optical discs.
 “Organizational Internet storage” is high-speed Internet connection to a
dedicated remote organizational Internet drive site.

Disk Drives

The microprocessor does not read or write directly from storage media such as the hard
disk or the floppy disk. A disk drive is a device that is specially designed to perform
these functions. When data from a disk has to be processed, it is read by the disk drive.
After processing, the disk drive writes data onto the disk. So it performs both the tasks
of reading and writing, in other words, the input and output functions. This is the
reason that a disk drive is referred to as an input-output device.

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Communication Devices

Through communication devices, a computer can communicate with other computer

systems located around the world using the Internet. The most important
communication devices are Nic-Adapters, Routers, Hubs, Switches, Gateways, Modems
and Networking Cables. The most widely used communication device is a modem which
is short for modulator-demodulator. It modifies telephone communications into a form
that can be processed by a computer. A modem also modifies computer output into a
form that can be transmitted across standard telephone lines.

Types of Modems

There are four commonly used types of modems:

 Telephone modem: It is used to connect a computer directly to a telephone line

 DSL (Digital Subscriber) modem: It uses standard phone line to create a high-
speed connection directly to your phone company’s office.
 Cable modem: It uses the same coaxial cable as your television.
 Wireless modem: It is a small plug-in USB or Express card device that provides
high-speed wireless connectivity.

ELECTRONIC DATA AND INSTRUCTION

Analog and Digital Signals

You know that computers cannot recognize information in the same way as humans
can. If we wanted someone to add two numbers, we would say “Please add 2 and 7”. We
cannot instruct a computer in this way. The system unit is electronic circuitry and
cannot process human requests. Our voices create “analog” or continuous signals that
vary to represent different pitches and tones. However, computers can recognize only

848
“digital” electronic signals. So before the computer can follow any instruction, it needs to
convert it into a form that it can understand.

Decimal Systems

You are familiar with the “decimal system” which has ten digits (0 to 9). Computers use
a two-state or “binary system” to represent data and instructions. It consists of only two
digits 0 and 1. Each 0 or 1 is called a “bit” – short for “binary digit”. In order to represent
letters, numbers and special characters, bits are combined into groups of eight called
“bytes”. Each byte represents one character.

Binary Coding System

Characters are represented in the computer by using “Binary Coding Schemes”. A

binary coding scheme assigns a unique binary number to each character. Two of the
most popular binary coding schemes ASCII and EBCDIC, use eight bits or one byte. A
recently developed code, Unicode, uses 16 bits.

ASCII

ASCII stands for “American Standard Code for Information Interchange”. ASCII is a
code for representing English characters as numbers, with each letter assigned a
number from 0 to 127. For example, the ASCII code for uppercase A is 65. It is the most
widely used binary code for computers, which makes it possible to transfer data from
one computer to another.

EBCDIC

EBCDIC stands for “Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code”. It is an 8-

bit character encoding developed by IBM and is used primarily for mainframe
computers. It was developed separately from the 7-bit ASCII encoding scheme. Although
it is widely used on large IBM computers, most other computers, including PCs and
Macintoshes, use ASCII codes.

Unicode

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Unicode is a 16-bit code originally designed to support international languages like
Chinese and Japanese. The number of characters in these languages is greater than the
number that can be represented by the 8-bit codes. It is industry standard for the
consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the worlds
writing systems. The latest version of Unicode consists of a list of more than 109,000
characters covering 93 scripts.

Importance Of Coding Schemes

Characters are represented in the computer by using “Binary Coding Schemes”. A

binary coding scheme assigns a unique binary number to each character. Two of the
most popular binary coding schemes ASCII and EBCDIC, use eight bits or one byte. A
recently developed code, Unicode, uses 16 bits.

SOFTWARE

The software of a computer system refers to the organized sets of instructions that
control the working of the computer’s operations. The purpose of software is to covert
data (unprocessed facts) into information (processed facts). Some programs are used by
the computer to control its own tasks and devices.

A computer is incapable of performing any task with the hardware alone. It requires
instructions to function as desired. A set of instructions is called a program. A set of
programs written to achieve a common objective is called a software package. Software
may be categorized into two types – Application Software and System Software.

Software that is designed for a specific application is called application software. You
can think of application software as “end user” software i.e. the kind of software you
use. These programs can be categorized as either “basic” or “specialized” applications.

Basic applications are those programs which most computer competent person are
familiar with such as browsers, word processors, spreadsheets and database
management systems. These are used to create software for billing systems, accounting
software or software that enables the creation and storage of documents.

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Specialized applications include programs that are more narrowly focused on specific
areas such as graphics, audio, video, multimedia, Web authoring and artificial
intelligence programs.

You can think of system software as the kind of software the computer uses. It is
“background software” that comprises of programs that the computer uses to manage its
tasks and devices. System software enables the application software to interact with the
computer hardware.

System software is not a single program, but a collection of programs that work with
little or no user intervention. It consists of four types of programs:

 “Operating systems” coordinate computer resources, provide an interface

between users and the computer and run applications
 “Utilities” perform specific tasks related to managing computer resources. For
example, the Windows utility “Disk Defragmenter” removes unnecessary file
fragments and rearranges files and unused disk space optimally.
 “Device drivers” are specialized programs designed to allow particular input or
output devices to communicate with the rest of the computer system
 “Language translators” convert the programming instructions written by
programmers into a language that computers understand.

MEMORY

Memory is a holding area for data, instructions and information. The internal memory of
a computer is present on the Motherboard in the form of chips. There are three well-
known types of memory chips: Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory
(ROM) and Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS).

This is the memory that a computer uses for storing programs and their data while
working on them. For example, you may use a word processor application to draft a

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letter. While you are entering the contents, they are stored in the RAM. When you save
your letter, it is moved from the RAM and stored onto your hard disk. Later, you may
retrieve your letter and make some changes. It is then again copied into the RAM. Thus
the RAM functions as a scratch pad and is sometimes called the “scratchpad” memory.

RAM is called temporary or volatile storage because everything in most types of RAM is
lost when the computer is switched off. This happens even if there is a power failure or
disruption of electric current to the computer for any other reason.

“Cache memory” is extremely fast memory that is built into the CPU, or located next to
it on a separate chip. All computers do not have a cache. Cache memory improves
processing by acting as a temporary high-speed holding area between the memory and
the CPU. The information in the RAM which is most frequently used is copied into the
cache. When it is needed, the CPU can quickly access this information from the cache,
thus improving overall system speed.

“Flash Memory” chips can retain data even if power is disrupted. This type of RAM is
most expensive and is used for special applications such as digital cell telephones,
digital video cameras and portable computers.

When you speak about the amount of memory a computer has, you refer to the RAM.
The size and complexity of tasks that a computer can handle is directly related to the
size of the RAM. For example, Microsoft Office 2007 requires a minimum of 256 MB of
RAM. Additional RAM can be added to a computer system. The amount of RAM is
expressed in bytes. The three units of measurement of memory capacity that are
commonly used are shown in the displayed figure.

ROM chips have programs built into them at the factory where they are manufactured.
The CPU can only retrieve data from the ROM chips but cannot change it any way.
Unlike RAM chips, ROM chips are non-volatile. They contain special instructions for
computer operations such as starting up, giving keyboard keys their functionality and
putting characters on the screen. The programs in the ROM perform the most basic

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control and supervisory operations. They check whether all the input and output devices
are connected properly to the system unit. The two main characteristics of the ROM are:

 Instructions in the ROM can be executed but cannot be changed, hence the name
Read Only Memory.
 These instructions are not erased when the computer is switched off. Therefore,
the ROM is said to be non-volatile.

A “Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)” chip provides flexibility and

expandability for a computer system. It contains all the information necessary to start
the PC properly. This chip provides information such as the current date and time,
amount of RAM, type of keyboard, mouse, monitor and disk drives. Unlike RAM, it has a
small on-board battery that provides power and does not lose its contents when the
power is turned off. Unlike ROM, its contents can be changed to reflect changes in the
computer system such as increased RAM and new hardware devices.

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854
The “System Clock” is the computer’s internal clock which is used to time processing
operations. It is located on a small specialized chip that produces precisely timed
electrical beats or impulses. The system clock performs a function similar to the bass
drum in a marching band. Just as the drum determines the speed at which the band
marches, the system clock emits a pulse that sets the operating pace for the
components in the system unit.

The “Clock Speed” for powerful microcomputers is measured in gigahertz (GHz) or

billions of beats per second. A computer with a higher clock speed can process
instructions faster.

MICROPROCESSORS

In a microcomputer system, the central processing unit (CPU) is contained on a single

chip called the “Microprocessor”. The microprocessor is either mounted onto a carrier
package that plugs into the system board or contained within a cartridge that plugs into
a special slot on the system board. The microprocessor is the “brain” of the computer
and has two basic components: the “Control Unit” and the “Arithmetic-Logic Unit”.

The Control Unit tells the rest of the computer system how to carry out specified
instructions. It directs the movement of signals between the memory and the Arithmetic-
Logic Unit and between the CPU and input/output devices.

The Arithmetic-Logic Unit (ALU) performs arithmetic and logical operations. Arithmetic
operations are the basic math operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division. Logical operations consist of comparisons such as greater than (>), less than (<)
and equal to (=).

Microprocessor Chips have different capacities. The capacity of a chip is often expressed
in the size of “words”. A word is the number of bits that can be accessed at one time by
the CPU. The more bits there are in a word, the more powerful the computer is. You
know that eight bits group together to form a byte. A 32-bit-word computer can access 4
bytes at a time. A 64-bit-word computer can access 8 bytes at a time. So, a computer
designed to process 64-bit words is faster.

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Until recently, 64-bit processors were used only in large mainframes and
supercomputers. Today’s microcomputers are more powerful and the use of 64-bit
processors is becoming commonplace. A traditional microcomputer’s CPU is typically
contained on a single chip. A recent development is that of the “Dual-Core Chip” which
provides two independent CPUs. These chips allow the computer to run two programs
simultaneously.

Today, microcomputers have the potential to run very large complex programs that were
previously run only on mainframes and supercomputers. This requires specially
designed programs that are divided into parts that the two CPUs can process
independently. This approach is called “Parallel Processing”.

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In addition to microprocessor chips, a variety of more specialized processing chips have
been developed.

 “Coprocessors” are specialty chips designed to improve scientific computing

operations. The “Graphics Coprocessor” is a widely used chip which is designed to
handle the processing requirements related to 3-D images.
 “Smart Cards” are plastic cards which are the size of a regular credit card. They
have embedded specialty chips. Smartcards are used as identity cards, driving
licenses, in the health care industry for storage of patient history, in mobile
communications as an identification device and in many other areas.

Specialty processors serve a variety of purposes. Some cars have as many as 70

specialty processors to control nearly everything right from fuel efficiency to satellite
entertainment and tracking systems.

“Radio-frequency identification (RFID)” is an automatic identification method which

uses devices called “RFID tags”. RFID tags are specialty chips which are embedded into
different goods to enable easy identification and tracking. Retailers add RFID tags to
packaging to keep track of inventory and prevent shoplifting. Some kindergarten schools
issue RFID bracelets to the kids or fit their clothes and bags with RFID tags to prevent
them from going astray.

EXPANSION SLOTS AND CARDS

Most microcomputers allow users to enhance the capability of the system by providing
“expansion slots” on the system board. “Expansion cards” may be inserted into these
slots. An expansion card is a circuit board that lets you add a new feature to a
computer. These cards have ports which allow cables to be connected to devices outside
the system unit. There are various types of expansion cards. Let us have a look at some
of the commonly used ones.

“Graphic cards” connect the system board to the monitor. They covert the internal
electronic signals to video signals so that images can be displayed on the monitor.

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“Sound cards” enable a computer to play and record high-quality sound. They accept
audio input from a microphone and convert it into a form that can be processed by the
computer. They convert internal electronic signals to audio signals so that they can be
heard from external speakers.

“Network Interface Cards (NIC)”, also known as “Network Adapter Cards”, can be used
to form a communication network where many computers are connected. The network
adapter card connects the system unit to a cable that connects to a network. This
enables users to share data, programs and hardware.

Plug and Play: Plug and Play is a set of hardware and software standards developed by
Intel, Microsoft and others to simplify the process of adding hardware to PCs. It allows
the addition of a new device, without requiring reconfiguration or manual installation of
device drivers. As the computer starts up, it searches for Plug and Play devices and
automatically configures the devices and the computer system. Unfortunately, not all
computer systems and expansion cards have this capability.

“PC Cards” are credit-card sized expansion cards which are used in notebook and
handheld computers. They have been specially developed to meet the size constraints of
these computers. They can be easily inserted and removed.

Bus Lines: A “Bus Line” is a pathway for the transfer of data between the different parts
of the CPU and the other components on the system board. It is also known simply as a
“Bus”. A bus is like a multilane highway that moves bits representing data and
instructions from one location to another. The number of bits that can travel
simultaneously down a bus is known as the “bus width”. A bus line with more bus width
can move data and instructions faster. Thus the power of a computer depends greatly on
bus design.

Many devices such as expansion boards work with only a specific type of bus. Every
computer system has two basic categories of buses. “System buses” connect the CPU to
the memory on the system board. “Expansion buses” connect the CPU to other
components on the system board, including expansion slots.

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The principal types of expansion buses are ISA, PCI, AGP, USB and FireWire buses.
Each one will be described shortly. Computer systems have a combination of different
types of expansion buses.

The “Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)” bus was developed for the first IBM Personal
Computer. Originally it had an 8-bit bus width which was later expanded to 16 bits.

The “Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)” bus is a high-speed 32-bit or 64-bit bus
that was originally developed to meet the video demands of graphical user interfaces.

The “Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)” bus is over twice as fast as the PCI bus. It is
widely used for graphics and 3-D animations and is replacing the PCI bus for the
transfer of video data.

The “Universal Serial Bus (USB)” combines with a PCI bus on the system board to
support external devices without using expansion cards or slots. USB was designed to
allow many peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface socket.
USB also improves the plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be connected
and disconnected without rebooting the computer or turning off the device.

“FireWire Buses” are very high-speed buses similar to USB buses. Both USB and
FireWire buses are used for special applications that provide support for digital
camcorders and video editing software.

A “Port” is a socket for external devices to connect to the system unit. Some ports
connect directly to the system board while others connect to cards inserted into slots on
the system board.

 Standard Ports: Some ports are standard features of most computer systems.
Ports like the mouse, keyboard and video ports are used to connect specific
devices. Other standard ports like the following ones may be used for different
devices.

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  “Serial Ports” may be used for different purposes such as to connect a Monitors,
GPS receiver, etc. Serial ports send data one bit at a time and are good for sending
information over a long distance.
 “Parallel Ports” were used to connect external devices that needed to transfer a lot
of data over a short distance. These ports can typically send eight bits of data
simultaneously across eight parallel wires. Parallel ports were mainly used to
connect printers to the system unit. Nowadays printers use USB / Ethernet / Wi-
Fi to connect to the CPU.
 “Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports” are faster than serial and parallel ports and a
single port can be used to connect several devices to the system unit.
 “FireWire ports” are fast ports and are used to connect specialized FireWire
devices such as camcorders.

Recent developments in buses and ports include “PCI Express (PCIe)” and “Serial ATA
(SATA)”. PCI Express buses and slots are 30 times faster than PCI and are expected to
replace both PCI and AGP. Serial ATA buses and ports are used to connect magnetic and
optical disk drives to the system board for greater speed.

Specialized Ports: In addition to standard ports there are various specialty ports such as
the following ones:

 “Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)” ports are a special type of serial port
used to connect musical instruments like an electronic keyboard to a sound card.
The sound card converts the music to digital instructions which can be saved to a
file or processed to reproduce the music.
 “Infrared Data Association (IrDA)” ports provide a wireless means of data transfer
between devices. Instead of cables, the IrDA ports of the devices are directly
aligned and data is transmitted through infrared light rays. One of the areas of
use is to transfer data from handheld or notebook computers to a desktop
computer.

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Computers require a steady low-voltage direct current (DC) to run their electronic
components and to represent data and instructions. DC power can be provided by
converting alternating current (AC) from standard wall outlets or from batteries.

Desktop computers have a “Power Supply Unit” located within the system unit. This unit
plugs into a standard wall outlet and converts AC to DC, and provides the power to drive
all the system unit components.

Notebook computers use “AC adapters” that are located outside the system unit. These
adapters plug into a standard wall outlet and covert AC to DC. They also recharge
batteries. Notebook computers can be operated either using an AC adapter plugged into
a wall outlet or using battery power. Handheld computers also use AC adapters.
However, they operate only using battery power. The AC adapter is used to recharge the
batteries.

GETTING STARTED WITH COMPUTERS

Starting Up

When you press your computer’s power button to startup, the PC needs to get oriented.
The computer reads several files and performs a series of tests to make sure all its
hardware components are working properly. We shall see the startup procedure using
the operating system Windows 7.

 The microprocessor sends a command to the computer’s read-only memory (ROM)

chips to run the computer’s basic input/output system (BIOS) boot program.
 The boot program connects the hard drive, loads the operating system’s core
system files through the microprocessor and loads the device driver software
needed to allow communication between the operating system and the computer’s
hardware.
 The operating system then contacts the hard drive and loads the graphics, files
and font files needed to properly display the system’s desktop
 After the desktop environment has been created, Windows 7 opens the Startup
folder. Any programs that may have been placed in the folder are immediately

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 accessed from the hard drive and loaded through the microprocessor into the
RAM. Windows 7 is then ready for use.

Logging In

After the booting process is completed, a user is required to login to the computer
system. Logging in is the process to gain access to a computer, network, bulletin board
or other service that requires authorization. Every user has his own Login ID and
Password. The Login ID identifies the user with the help of the given password and
accordingly gives privileges to the user.

Password is a set of characters used to get access to a computer, network resource or

data. Passwords help to make sure that computers or data are accessible only to those
who have been granted the right to view or access them. It is your responsibility to keep
your password secret.

Points you should consider when creating your password: Create one that you can easily
remember. Passwords are case-sensitive, so use a mixture of numbers, special
characters and upper and lowercase letters to make your password more difficult to
guess. Do not use anything that people might associate with you, such as your name,
your name backwards, your initials, your friend’s name, your pet’s name, birthdays,
anniversaries.

Precautions to be taken: Never write your password down where it can be accessible to
others. Never let anyone watch you type it on a computer. Never allow anyone else to
use your account by telling them what your password is.

Graphical User Interface

A Graphical User Interface or GUI is a program interface that takes advantage of the
computers graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. Well-designed
graphical user interfaces can free the user from learning complex command languages.
It is a convenient alternative to text-based interfaces between the operator and the
computer.

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A GUI uses pictorial representations (icons) and menus, with a pointing device concept
to execute commands and other tasks, rather than requiring the user to type
commands. The Macintosh operating system and Microsoft Windows are examples of
operating systems that use a GUI.

In GUIs such as Windows, “Desktop” is the term used to describe the main screen where
icons, folders and documents appear. The desktop is an area on your computer screen
on which icons for your hard drive, files, disks and applications appear. An “icon” is a
symbol, picture or graphic on your computer screen that represents a particular
operation or software application. Double-clicking on the icon activates it.

The first graphical user interface was designed by Xerox Corporations Palo Alto
Research Center in the 1970s, but it was not until the 1980s and the emergence of the
Apple Macintosh that graphical user interfaces became popular. One reason for their
slow acceptance was the fact that they require considerable CPU power and a high-
quality monitor, which until recently were very expensive.

In addition to their visual components, graphical user interfaces also make it easier to
move data from one application to another. A true GUI includes standard formats for
representing text and graphics. Because the formats are well-defined, different programs
that run under a common GUI can share data. This makes it possible, for example, to
copy a graph created by a spreadsheet program into a document created by a word
processor.

THE MOUSE

A pointing device is one with which you can control the movement of the pointer to
select items on a screen. Pointing devices provide a comfortable interface with the
system unit by accepting pointing gestures and converting them into machine-readable
input. Examples of pointing devices include the mouse, joystick, touch screen, light pen
and stylus.

Almost every personal computer has a tool attached to it that is called a “Mouse”. It is
about the same size as a real mouse and it has a wire or cable attached to the back of it.

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On the screen there is a special icon called a “mouse pointer” or “cursor”. A mouse can
have one, two or more buttons which are used to select options and to control the
mouse pointer. Some mice have a “wheel button” that can be rotated to scroll through
information displayed on the screen. The movement of the mouse is translated into
signals that tell the computer how to move the onscreen pointer. The direction in which
it moves controls the direction the pointer moves on the screen.

The arrow mouse pointer is the one you will see most often but it can appear as other
icons depending on the area of the screen the pointer is in and the task being done.
Here, you can see the different forms of the mouse pointer.

You need to know five techniques to use a mouse.

 Pointing: This means moving the mouse pointer from its current position on the
screen to the object of interest on the screen. For example, pointing to a hyperlink
on a web page.
 Clicking: This means to pressing and releasing the left mouse button. Clicking
indicates selection of an object. For example, when the mouse pointer is pointing a
hyperlink on a web page and you click on it, you are taken to the new page
indicated.
 Double-clicking: This means clicking the left button of the mouse fast twice in
succession. For example, if you want to open a word document that is available on
the desktop, you point the mouse pointer on it and double-click to open it.
 Dragging: This is normally referred to as “Drag and Drop”. “Dragging” means
moving the mouse pointer on an object, pressing or holding the left mouse button
down and then moving the mouse pointer. The release of the mouse button after
moving the object to a specific location is called “Dropping”. For example, you may
use this method to copy or move documents from one location to another
 Right-clicking: This means clicking the right button of the mouse. Usually, it is
used to display a shortcut drop-down menu or “context menu”. For example,
when you are on the desktop, right-clicking displays a menu for performing
various operations such as setting desktop properties.

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There are several different mouse types. Some of the basic designs are as follows:

 Mechanical: This has a rubber or metal ball on its underside that can roll in all
directions. Mechanical sensors within the mouse detect the direction the ball is
rolling and move the screen pointer accordingly. It is attached with a cord to the
system unit.
 Opto-mechanical: This is the same as a mechanical mouse, but uses optical
sensors to detect the motion of the ball.
 Optical: This uses a laser to detect the mouses movement. It responds more
quickly and precisely than mechanical and optomechanical mice, but is also more
expensive.
 Cordless or Wireless: This mouse is a battery-powered cordless device that uses
radio waves or infrared light waves to communicate with the system unit.

The mousepad is the most popular mouse accessory available, and is used with most
mice. It provides a smooth surface for the mouse to move across. Most optical mice do
not require a mouse pad, as they are designed to be used on any flat surface. A mouse
pad is sometimes required when using optomechanical mice, because the ball requires
the extra friction of the mouse pad to roll smoothly.

You may connect your mouse to your computer in one of the following ways:

 Serial mice connect directly to a PS/2 port or a USB port. This is the simplest type
of connection.
 PS/2 mice connect to a PS/2 port.
 USB mice connect to a USB port.
 Cordless mice are not physically connected. They use infrared or radio waves to
communicate with the computer.

There are many pointing devices, other than the mouse. We shall see some of the forms
in which they are available.

 Foot mouse: A foot mouse is a completely foot-operated pointing device usually

consisting of two pads.

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  A mouse keypad is a small keypad module with keys to control cursor movement.
 A light pen is an input device that utilizes a light-sensitive detector to select
objects on a display screen. A light pen is similar to a mouse, except that with a
light pen, the pointer can be moved and objects can be selected on the display
screen by directly pointing to them with the pen. For example, light pens are used
to edit digital images and drawings.
 A stylus is a pen-like device commonly used with tablet PCs and PDAs. It uses
pressure to draw images on the screen. A stylus interacts with the computer
through handwriting recognition software.
 A joystick is the most popular input device for computer games. Game actions are
controlled by varying the pressure, speed and direction of the joystick. Additional
controls such as buttons and triggers are also used for specific actions.
 Touchpad’s allow for mouse movement simply by dragging a fingertip across a
surface. Tapping on the pad or buttons provides the same function as a mouse
click for icon selection.
 Essentially, a trackball is a mouse lying on its back. To move the pointer, the ball
is rotated with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand. There are usually one
to three buttons next to the ball, which are used just like mouse buttons.
 A touch screen is an electronic visual display that is also an input device. It can
detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. You can
interact with devices by touching the pictures or words on screen with a finger or
hand. Touch screens play prominent role in the design of digital appliances such
as tablet computers, smartphones, personal digital assistant (PDA), satellite
navigation devices, automated teller machines (ATMs) and video games.

THE KEYBOARDS

The keyboard is the main input device used by all computers. Much like typewriters, the
keyboard has all the letters of the alphabet, numbers 0 - 9 and additional special
operational keys. Keyboards convert letters, numbers and special characters that people
understand into electrical signals. These signals are sent to and processed by the
system unit.

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There are a wide variety of keyboard designs. The most common types are as follows:

 Traditional keyboards: These are full-sized, rigid, rectangular keyboards which

have the regular keys.
 Flexible keyboards: These keyboards can be folded or rolled up for easy packing
and storage.
 Ergonomic Keyboards: These keyboards are specially designed to minimize muscle
strain and related problems. The shape is slightly different from a traditional
keyboard and a palm rest is provided.
 Wireless keyboards: These keyboards transmit input to the system unit through
the air. They provide greater flexibility and convenience because they do not have
connecting wires.
 PDA Keyboards: These are miniature keyboards for PDAs (a type of handheld
computer) and can be used for functions such as sending e-mail and creating
documents.

The keyboard layout is the physical arrangement of the keys on a computer keyboard.
The two most commonly used keyboard layouts used today are the QWERTY and
Dvorak.

You may enter input in an Indian language using the Inscript (Indian Script) keyboard
overlay. This was standardized by the Department of Electronics (DOE) in 1986. The
Inscript overlay can be used on any QWERTY keyboard. The Indian script legends
should be shown on the right-hand side of a key, as the left hand side has the English
legends.

The Inscript overlay gets selected when the Caps Lock is on, otherwise the normal lower
case English overlay gets selected. You may use the “Alt+Space” keys to toggle the Caps
Lock functionality between the normal one for typing capital letters and the new one for
selecting the required overlay.

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Originally Devanagari script alphabet descended from the Brahmi script sometime
around the 11th century AD. It was originally developed to write Sanskrit but was later
adapted to write many other languages.

Devanagari script is used to write in the following languages.

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The different keys on the keyboard are used to enter data into your computer system.
Let us take a look at the different keys on your QWERTY keyboard with reference to the
Windows 7 operating system.

The key to the extreme left of the top row is the “Esc” key. This key has numerous uses,
all of which relate to “escaping” from a program or “situation”. The use of the key
depends on the program being used and varies in individual programs.

On the top right hand side of the keyboard are three keys marked “Print Screen”, “Scroll
Lock” and “Pause Break” that are rarely used by beginners. Some programs like
Windows, use the “Alt + Print Screen” keys to obtain screen captures.

In some operating systems, the “Scroll Lock” key is used to pause screen output.
The “Pause Break” key is usually used to change the interaction with the computer,
such as switching between multiple login sessions, terminating a program, or
interrupting a modem connection.

Along the top of the keyboard is a row of “F” keys. Like the “Esc” key each of these keys
have certain functions that vary with different programs. For example, in “Word For
Windows” the “F7” key opens up the “Spell Checker”. In the same program the “F12” key
“saves” an open document. It is almost universal in computer programs for the “F1” key
to be used to open a help menu.

In addition to individual functions, the “F” keys are used frequently in conjunction with
other keys. For example, the “Shift” key, the “Ctrl” (Control) key and the “Alt” key are
frequently used in conjunction with the “F” keys or other lettered keys. In “Word for
Windows” the “F7” key (used normally for the spell checker), when used with the “Shift”
key, opens up a “Thesaurus” function.

The keys along the top of the main keyboard have two uses. For example, the key with
number “4” on it also has a dollar “$” sign on it. To type the dollar sign, you hold down
the “Shift” key and hit the number “4” key. The “Shift” key is used to type all of the
symbols on the upper part of each key.

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The “Caps Lock” key, when pressed down, makes every letter print as Upper Case.
Pressing down the “Caps Lock” a second time returns the key to its normal function.
Such keys that alternate between two modes of operation are called as “toggle keys”.

The “Space Bar”, the long key in the lower center of the keyboard, is used to put spaces
between words and sentences.

The “Tab” key is used to “push” the typing along the line in specified distances. For
example, if you wish to indent the first line of every paragraph then it is wise to use the
“Tab” key. It is unwise to use the space bar for this purpose because you may miscount
the spaces and secondly, the space bar does not give an even or regular distance from
the margin thus making your document look untidy and uneven.

The “Enter” key is one of the most important keys on the board. In a word processor it
makes another line when you hit it but it has other functions. It has the function of
“executing” or “doing” a command in the same way a mouse click does.

Slightly to the right of the keyboard, and below the “Print Screen” group, is a cluster of
six “special” keys. The “Insert” key in this group serves to insert keystrokes. The existing
words are pushed along in front of the new text entered. Pressing the key once again
results in the “Replace” mode. Now, new letters are printed over the old letters.

The “Delete” key located below the “Insert” key deletes any selected text or, if none is
selected, the next letter to the right of the cursor. The “Back Space” key, to the left of the
“Insert” key, deletes characters to the left of the cursor.

The “Home” key takes you to the beginning of a line in a word processor and when used
in with the “Ctrl” key, results in the cursor going to the beginning of a document.

The “End” key which is directly below the “Home” key sends the cursor to the end of a
line, or, if used with the “Ctrl” key, to the end of a document.

The “Page Up” and “Page Down” keys move the screen up or down one screen page.

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The “Arrow” keys, just below the special keys, move the cursor in the direction of the
arrow. When used in conjunction with the “Ctrl” or “Shift” key they perform different
functions again. For example, if you hold down the “Ctrl” key and press the arrow
pointing to the right then the cursor jumps one whole word. Without the “Ctrl” key the
cursor moves one character at a time.

To the extreme right of the keyboard is a cluster of keys known as the “Numeric Pad”.
The keys are designed to function as a small calculator. The key on the top left hand,
the “Num Lock”, when pressed, turns off the “Numeric Pad” and allows it to perform in
much the same way as the “special” keys. The small light that lights up just to the top of
the Numeric Pad indicates whether the pad is on or off.

On either side of the spacebar, outside the “Alt” key, is a key with the “Windows” logo.
Pressing this key displays the “Start Menu”. Holding the “Windows” key down and
pressing another key initiates other actions.

A keyboard shortcut is a key or combination of keys that executes a specific function or

command within an application or operating system. You have seen how keys such as
the function keys and the “Shift”, “Alt” and “Ctrl” keys in conjunction with other keys
are used to execute various operations. As you study various windows applications, you
will appreciate the utility of using shortcut keys.

Similarly, the “Windows” key in conjunction with other keys can be used to perform
various functions. When you study the Windows 7 operating system in details, you will
learn to use the shortcuts associated with the “Windows” key.

The keyboard controller is the circuit that controls the keyboard. When you press a key
on the keyboard, the keyboard controller detects the keystroke. The controller places a
scan code in the keyboard buffer, indicating which key is pressed. The keyboard sends
the computer an interrupt request, telling the CPU to accept the keystroke.

The CPU processes the keystroke and if the keystroke is a character or numeric key, it
reflects the key pressed on an output device, for example, a monitor. If the keystroke is a
command key like the function keys F1 to F12, the CPU processes it accordingly.

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 MAKING IT WORKS FOR YOU
Hello friends! In the past, all tasks at the workplace were done manually. This often
resulted in high job stress levels. There was repetition of tasks, losses incurred due to
human errors and greater risks involved because timely updates were not available.
Extensive use of paper documentation resulted in accumulation of bulky files which
needed lots of storage space. Our world today has changed a great deal thanks to the aid
of “Information Technology” or IT. IT can be defined as “The development, design, study,
implementation and management of computer related information”. In simple terms, IT
may be defined as “The use of computer hardware and software to manage information”.

IT enables many difficult time-consuming tasks to be automatically executed with little

or no human intervention. Computer based applications are used for communications
and problem solving tasks as well. Additionally, you can get information in real time
which is accurate and updated. That is not all! Information Technology has penetrated
almost every aspect of our daily lives from business to leisure and even social
interaction. Today personal computers, cell phones, email and Internet have all become
an integral part of our daily lives.

Some of the advantages of information technology include:

 Globalization - IT enables us to share information quickly and efficiently and

brings down barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries. Businesses can
identify markets that would otherwise never have been possible. Online
classrooms make it possible to acquire unlimited skills no matter where you’re
located.
 Cost Effectiveness - Using IT, communication has become cheaper, quicker, and
more efficient. Business processes have been streamlined resulting in more
productivity and greater profits. These in turn lead to better pay packets and less
strenuous working conditions.

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  No Time Constraints - IT has made it possible for businesses to be open 24 x7 all
over the globe. This means that a business can be open anytime, anywhere,
making purchases from different countries easier and more convenient.
 Employment Opportunities – A significant advantage of IT is the creation of new
and interesting jobs. Computer programmers, Systems analysts, Hardware and
Software developers and Web designers are just a few of the employment
opportunities created with the help of IT.

Like all other valuable technologies, you need to exercise some precautions while using
IT related services. There is a possibility of attacks on your computer systems from
different sources. Don’t worry; every attack has a counter-attack available. The
important thing is to be aware of all possibilities so that you can take preventive and
corrective measures. In the following assignments, you’re going to learn about how you
can use IT to enrich your life. You’ll also learn how to tackle potential associated risks.
Come; let’s explore some interesting aspects of the world of Information Technology!

CD WRITING

CD Writing is also known as “Burning of a CD”. A burned CD is a CD that has been

written by using a process that involves using a device called a “CD Writer” or “CD
Burner” to burn indentations into the CD. The reasons for burning a CD might be to
create a backup of your files or simply to backup frequently used CDs. To burn a CD
you need both a CD burner and CD burning software. Windows 7 comes with software
that will burn your CDs for you.

There are two types of CDs:

 Recordable CDs - also known as CD-R

 Rewriteable CDs - also known as CD-RW

On CD-R disks, the space can only be used once, although you may add files over
multiple sessions until the total space has been used. On CD-RW disks, the space can
be erased and re-used many times. However, CD-RW disks can only be used on CD-RW

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drives and not on ordinary CD-ROM read-only drives. CD-RW disks are also more
expensive.

Before you can copy files to a CD, the disc must first be prepared using a process called
formatting. You may format a CD using either the “Live File System” or “Mastered”
format. By default, Windows burns discs in the Live File System format.

Live File System discs enable you to copy individual files immediately to a disc. This is a
convenient format if you need to copy a few files at a time. You may delete individual
files or reformat the disc to create additional disc space when you use a rewriteable disc.

Mastered discs enable you to burn multiple files to a disc at one time. This format is
advisable if you need to burn a large collection of files, such as songs for a music CD.
Creating such a disk requires as much free space on your hard disk as the capacity of
the disc you are burning.

To write a CD using the Live File System format, perform the following steps:

 Insert a writeable CD into your computers CD Writer.

 This is the “Destination Drive”.
 In the window that appears, click “Burn files to disc”.
 In the “Burn a disc” window, enter a name for this disc, and click “Next”.
 It takes several minutes for the disc to be formatted in the Live File System
format.
 When the formatting is complete, an empty disc folder opens.
 Open the folder that contains the files you want to write to the CD in another
window.
 This is the “Source Drive”.
 Re-size and arrange the windows in such a way that both the “Source Drive” and
the “Destination Drive” are visible on the screen
 Now drag the files to be copied into the empty disc folder.
 As you drag files into the disc folder, the files are copied automatically to the disc.

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To write a CD using the Mastered format, perform the following steps:

 Insert a writeable CD into your computers CD Writer.

 In the window that appears, click “Burn files to disc”.
 In the “Burn a disc” window, enter a name for this disc and then click “With a
CD/DVD Player” and then click “Next”.

An empty disc folder opens. Open the folder that contains the files you want to burn,
and then drag the files into the empty disc folder. The files are copied to a temporary
folder on your hard drive. You may change the files in this folder if you wish. Let us
delete one of the files.

After you are sure about the files to be written to the CD, on the toolbar, click “Burn to
disc”. The selected files are copied to the disc. When the disc burning is complete, the
disc burner tray will open and you can remove the disc.

You may write the same files to another CD by checking the box against “Yes, burn
these files to another disc”. Now, click “Finish”

A rewriteable CD may be erased and written many times. If you use the Live File System
format, you can delete one or more files to make more room on the disc. To delete a
specific file on a disk, click on the file name. To select more than one file, hold down the
“Ctrl” key while you click the files you want. Now, press the “Delete” key.

To erase all files on a disc, on the toolbar, click “Erase this disc”. In the window that is
displayed, click “Next”. Click “Finish” when the process is complete.

VIRUS PROTECTION

A computer virus is a self-replicating computer program that spreads by inserting copies

of itself into other executable code or documents. An example of an executable file is a
program, COM or EXE file. A computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological
virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. While viruses can be
intentionally destructive, for example, by destroying data, many other viruses are fairly
benign or merely annoying.

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The insertion of a virus into the program is termed as an "infection", and the infected
file, or executable code that is not part of a file, is called a "host". A virus can infect
different parts of the computer’s operating and file system. Viruses are one of the several
types of malicious software. The term “virus” is often extended to refer to worms, Trojan
horses and other such software.

A virus attaches itself to, and becomes part of, another executable program. However, a
worm is self-contained and does not need to be part of another program to spread itself.
Worms harm the network and add to network traffic, whereas viruses infect or corrupt
files on a targeted computer. Viruses generally do not affect network performance, as
their malicious activities are mostly confined within the target computer itself.

A “Trojan Horse” is a malicious program that is disguised as or embedded within

legitimate software. “Spyware” is software designed to take control of another computer
system without the consent of the owner. An “Identity Theft” is a harmful act by
deliberately impersonating a person, for example, using someone else’s credit card.
“Adware” is a software package that automatically plays, displays, or downloads
advertising material to a computer.

Are you worried that the precious data on your computer could be destroyed due to a
virus attack? Did you know that your private e-mail could also be intercepted by
unauthorized persons? It is even possible for others to gain control over your computer
system. Fortunately, Internet security suites are available to protect you against all
these hazards.

Today, due to the popularity of the Internet, network-borne worms are more common
than viruses. Anti-virus software, originally designed to protect computers from viruses,
has in turn expanded to cover worms and other threats such as spyware, identity theft
and adware.

Some of the popular antivirus packages are Norton Antivirus, McAfee, AVG Antivirus
and Quick Heal. Antivirus software consists of computer programs that attempt to

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identify and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software. This software
typically uses two different techniques to accomplish this.

The first is scanning all files to look for known viruses matching definitions in a virus
dictionary. The second is identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program
which might indicate infection. Such analysis may include data captures, port
monitoring and other methods. Most commercial antivirus software use both of these
approaches, with an emphasis on the virus dictionary approach.

It is important to regularly scan your computer using a good anti-virus program. You
must keep your antivirus program updated by downloading the latest releases by your
antivirus program vendor. Always scan CDs, zip drives, pen drives for viruses, before
copying data to your hard disk. Even if CDs are read only, the files on them may already
be infected.

The first step towards making your computer safe while you are on the Internet is to
install an Internet security suite. This can be installed either by downloading from the
Internet or from a disc provided by the vendor. On-screen instructions guide you
through the installation process. Once installed, the software is automatically activated
each time you start your computer. It continually works to ensure your security and
privacy. You are alerted when any possible threat is detected.

“Virus Scan” is one of the programs included in an Internet security suite. It controls
how frequently your computer is scanned for viruses. When a file is checked, it is
compared to the profile of known viruses. An infected file is either deleted or
quarantined (i.e. moved into a protected area where it wont cause any more harm).

A “Personal Firewall” is a program that controls network traffic to and from a computer
system. It allows access only to authorized users and applications.

“Privacy Service” is another program included in an Internet security suite that helps
protect your privacy online. You can use it to block certain Web sites, prevent sensitive
information from being sent over the Internet and block unwanted advertisements.

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“Windows Update” is software designed to keep your computer current and more secure
by automatically downloading and installing the latest security and feature updates
from Microsoft. You may run Windows Update by connecting to the Internet and
selecting “All Programs → Windows Update” from the Start menu.

GETTING MORE FROM YOUR COMPUTER

Listening to Music

You can use your computer for lots more than just computational activities. To listen to
music, you may use your Windows Media Player or download other players such as
Winamp and Real Player from the Internet. A sound card and speakers (or earphones)
are also required to hear audio.

Audio files in mp3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) format are optimized for storing
music in compressed format. Because these music files are compressed, a large hard
drive is not required to store them. This means you can store thousands of songs
without running out of hard drive space. However, you can always copy music to a CD
to free up space.

You may also listen to music online. Playing video or sound in real time as it is
transferred to your computer over the World Wide Web is called “Streaming”. Streaming
requires a powerful computer and a fast connection since the file is not stored on your
computer.

Streaming has two advantages over downloading. First, there is no download-waiting

time when streaming. You can hear the music as soon as your player starts receiving
the stream. Second, after the music has finished playing, no files are left on your
computer to take up space.

Downloading Music

Rather than traveling to a store to buy a music CD, buying online is fast and
convenient. There’s nothing worse than buying a CD after you have heard a good song,
only to find it’s the only good song in the album. By downloading from the Internet, you

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can choose to purchase individual songs, if so desired. If you hear a great song on the
radio, you can log onto one of the music sites and download it within seconds.

The best way to find the music you want on the internet is to use a search engine. There
are many popular sites for music lovers such as Music-Sites.net and music.lycos.com.
Once a song is found, listen to a sample to make sure its the one you want before
downloading it. If it is not a free download, you will be prompted to type in a valid credit
card number to pay for the music.

You must specify the location on your computer to store the downloaded file. A
Download Manager window shows the progress of the download. Once downloaded,
double-click the file to play it. By downloading music, you may create a large music
collection on your computer. It can be copied on CDs or a digital MP3 player so that you
can take it wherever you wish.

While downloading music, you must respect copyright laws. Although many sites offer
pirated music, there are others from which you can download music legally. If you are
downloading pirated digital files, you could be subject to steep fines or other penalties,
and they could be exposing your computer to viruses, spyware and other unwanted
software.

TV Tuner Card

A “TV tuner card” is a computer component that allows television signals to be received
by a computer. This means that your computer can serve both as a computing device as
well as a television. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, enabling the
recording of television programs onto a hard disk. You may include video clips from
television as part of a presentation. Many TV tuners can function as FM radios

The card contains a receiver, tuner, demodulator, and an analog-to-digital converter for
analog TV. Like TV sets, each version is designed for the radio frequencies and video
formats used in each country. Broadcasts can also be digitally recorded by the computer
for later replay, or distribution to other computer users.

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Most internal tuners do all the low level demodulation needed to convert a radio signal
into an on-screen image using a hardware chip and do not need to use the CPU. Some
cheaper tuners cannot do much of the signal processing and rely on the systems CPU
for that task.

Once a TV tuner card has been installed, you may view your favorite TV shows, even
while running other applications. For this, click the “TV” icon on the desktop. Size and
move the television window and control box window. Then select the channel.

You may capture a video playing in the TV window into a digital file. For this, specify the
location on your computer in which you wish to save the video clip by clicking the
“Properties” button. Then click the “Record” button to start recording. To stop recording,
click the “Stop” button.

Once you have saved the video clip, you may use it in any way you like. You may add it
to a Web page, mail it as an attachment or include it in a presentation. Let us insert the
clip in a presentation. For this open the presentation file and click on the “Insert” tab.
Now in the “Media Clip” group, click the “Video” icon. Navigate to your clip and press
“OK”. Choose “When Clicked” in the window displayed. Then size and move the image of
the clip as required.

To play the video clip, you may click on its image anytime during the presentation.

PC To Mobile: Sending SMS

SMS is an abbreviation for “Short Message Service”. It is a globally accepted wireless

service for sending messages of up to 160 alphanumeric characters between mobile
subscribers and external systems such as email, paging, and voice mail systems. SMS is
a very popular service, particularly among young people.

This service is available on digital Global System for Mobile (GSM) networks allowing
text messages to be sent and received via the network operators message center to your
mobile phone, or from the Internet, using an "SMS gateway" website. If the phone is

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powered off or out of range, messages are stored in the network and are delivered at the
next available opportunity.

You require Internet connectivity and an SMS service provider to be able to send an SMS
from your PC to a mobile phone. There are numerous sites providing paid SMS services.
There are others that provide this service free of cost as well. You have to register with a
site in order to send SMS using the interface provided.

Today, SMS is used by organizations for marketing, as well as for providing value-added
services such as reminders for payments, information about flight delays, current
events, sports news and much more.

Spam and Spam Blocking Software

E-mail, like many other valuable technologies does have some drawbacks. We often
receive many unwanted e-mails. These are mostly related to commercial advertising,
often for products of questionable quality, get-rich-quick schemes, or something similar.
This unwelcome junk mail is called “spam”.

In an attempt to control spam, some countries have anti-spam laws as part of their legal
system. This has limited impact because a lot of spam originates from other countries as
well. A more effective approach has been the development and use of “Spam Blockers”.
These programs use a variety of approaches to identify and eliminate spam. The Mozilla
Thunderbird e-mail program which is available for free download at “www.mozilla.com”
comes with built-in spam blocking software.

After you install Mozilla Thunderbird, you need to train it to recognize unwanted
messages. When you have received a message in your Inbox which you consider to be
spam, select it and then click the “Junk” icon on the toolbar. An icon appears between
the Sender and Date fields indicating that the message is spam. Similar messages will
be marked as spam in future. If at any time you decide that the message is not spam,
simply select it and click the “Not Junk” icon. The spam indicator is then removed. After
reviewing your actions for several weeks, Mozilla Thunderbird will become more efficient
in recognizing spam and taking appropriate action.

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You may choose to move new junk messages to a separate folder. For this select “Tools
→ Account Settings” from the menu. In the left panel, under “Local Folders”, click “Junk
Settings”. Check the box against “Move new junk messages to:”. Then make a selection
for the location of the Junk folder and click “OK”.

You may create a “White List” i.e. a list of e-mail addresses that should never be
blocked, such as those of family and friends. To specify a white list, select “Tools →
Account Settings” from the menu. In the left panel, under “Local Folders”, click “Junk
Settings”. Check the box against “Do not mark mail as junk if the sender is in:”. Then
make a selection from “Personal Address Book” or “Collected Addresses” which contains
the addresses of all viewed mail messages. Now click “OK”

Some e-mail messages contain images that let spammers know that you have received
them. Once spammers know that your e-mail address is valid, they will continue to send
mails. By default, Thunderbird blocks remote images in messages. When you receive a
message with remote images, Thunderbird displays an alert stating that remote images
have been blocked, and the images in the message body are replaced with simple place-
holders. If you do want to view the remote images, all you need to do is click the "Show
Images" or "Load Images" button that appears to the right of the alert message.

Speech Recognition Tools

Are you tired of typing lengthy documents using your keyboard? Now, you have an
alternative. You can use your voice to control your computer. You can verbally say
commands that the computer will respond to, and you can dictate text to the computer.
This ability to accept voice input is called “Speech Recognition”. For this, you need to
have a microphone connected to your computer.

To set up your computer for Windows Speech Recognition, you need to do three things:
set up your microphone, learn how to talk to your computer, and train your computer to
understand your speech. Speech Recognition is available only in English and a few other
languages.

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Click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel”, “Ease of Access” now select “Speech
Recognition” options “Set up microphone” and follow the instructions in the wizard.

Windows comes with a speech training tutorial to teach you the commands used with
Speech Recognition. To run the tutorial, click the “Start” button and select “Control
Panel”, “Ease of Access” now select “Speech Recognition” options “Take Speech Tutorial”
and follow the instructions in the tutorial.

Click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel”, “Ease of Access” now select “Speech
Recognition” options “Train your computer to better understand you” and follow the
instructions in the wizard.

Speech Recognition listens and responds to your spoken commands. You can use
Speech Recognition to run programs and interact with Windows. There are various
commands you can use with Speech Recognition such as selecting a menu option,
clicking or double-clicking an item, switching to an open program, scrolling up and
down and many more.

You can use your voice to dictate text to your computer. For example, you can dictate
text to fill out online forms or dictate text to a word processing program to type a letter.
Click the “Start” button and select “All Programs - Accessories”. Now select “Ease of
Access - Windows Speech Recognition”. A window appears at the top of the screen which
shows you the working of the speech recognition software. To start dictating, open the
program you want to use or select the text box you want to dictate text into and then
begin speaking.

UNDERSTANDING TERMS AND TECHNOLOGIES

Blog

The term "blog" is a contraction of "Web log." A weblog is a journal or newsletter that is
frequently updated and intended for general public use. Blogs have reshaped the web
and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others. A typical blog
combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other related media.

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Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos
(vlog), or audio (podcasting) and are part of a wider network of social media.

A blog gives you your own voice on the web. It’s a place to collect and share things that
you find interesting — whether its your political views, a personal diary, or links to web
sites you want to remember. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular
subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as personal online diaries.
Journalists often use blogs to publish breaking news, while others reveal inner thoughts
through blogs.

There are three main features of a blog. The first is reverse chronological order. This
means that latest entries are displayed at the top. The second feature is unfiltered
content. Opinions are given freely without any restrictions, legal or otherwise. The third
feature is comments. Comments can be made on any issue discussed on the blog or
from outside.

Edutainment

“Edutainment” refers to educational entertainment or entertainment-education. It is a

form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse. Edutainment is normally
used to provide education related to one or more specific subjects. Edutainment makes
learning enjoyable.

Edutainment seeks to instruct by using some familiar form of entertainment such as

television programs, computer and video games, films, music, websites, multimedia
software, etc. There are also blogs on edutainment that give the latest news and updates
on available software. They have videos and lessons that use edutainment as a basis for
teaching in a more efficient and faster way. Edutainment is also used to refer to the use
of e-learning modules to put across concepts in an entertaining manner.

The term “Edutainment” is used to distinguish regular computer games from more
educational software. Fast moving shooting games are not edutainment. On the other
hand, games which involve problem solving experiences with gentle intelligent creatures
may be referred to as edutainment. Examples include educational software for children

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that teach them to spell or count while playing games and CD-ROMs about machines
that contain animations showing how the machines work.

Infotainment

“Infotainment” is a term applied to software that seeks to inform and entertain

simultaneously. Infotainment or “soft news” refers to a part of the news trade that
provides information in a way that is considered entertaining to its viewers. It attempts
to minimize the dryness of regular news coverage by adding a certain amount of light-
hearted or sensational style.

Infotainment is a combination of information and entertainment. It refers to a general

type of broadcast program which consists of both "hard news" segments and interviews,
along with celebrity interviews and human drama stories. Many non-fiction CD-ROM
titles are classified as infotainment, such as multimedia encyclopedias or reference
disks.

Infotainment may include information related to topics such as health tips or gardening
tips, travel or shopping that are not actually "news" at all. Other stories may deal with
current trends such as a shift in political views or a change in the attitudes of teenagers.

Netiquette

“Netiquette” or Network etiquette is etiquette on the Internet. It consists of an informal

group of rules and ways of behaving on the Internet. Cyberspace has its own culture.
Not knowing the rules for behaving properly online might result in unintentionally
offending or misunderstanding someone.

Let us have a look at some of the core rules of Netiquette.

 Think before writing: The most important rule relevant to e-mail marketing is not
to send promotional messages to anyone who has not agreed to receive them. You
must remember that your communication via email or on discussion groups
involves written words. There are chances that theyre stored at the other end and

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 may be used for purposes that you did not intend. So, always be cautious with
your words.
 Always Try to Be Polite: You may stand up for yourself when you have been
wronged, but try not to hurt people’s feelings. Follow the same standards of
behavior online that you follow in real life.
 Respect the Time and Bandwidth of Others: “Bandwidth” is the information-
carrying capacity of the channels that connect everyone in cyberspace. There’s a
limit to the amount of data that can be carried at a given moment. For example,
when you accidentally post a note to a newsgroup five times, you would wasting
both bandwidth and the time of the people who have to check all copies of the
posting.
 Respect the Privacy of Other: In the same way as you wouldn’t wish to snoop
through your colleagues desk drawers, naturally you wouldn’t read anyone’s
email. Some people in cyberspace such as system administrators have more power
than others. They should not misuse this to read private email.
 Be Tolerant: Everyone makes mistakes -- whether it involves a spelling error or
asking a stupid question or giving an unnecessarily long answer. Give people the
benefit of the doubt. Be tolerant and if you do decide to inform someone of a
mistake, point it out politely and preferably by private email rather than in public.

Technology Today

Today, there are loads of gadgets and new technologies that can equip you to deal with
nearly every personal or business contingency. For example, under-the-hood diagnostics
can be performed while a car is speeding along a track. As a result, mechanics can know
what parts needed to be replaced even before the car has come in for servicing. Even if
you are not a great singer, you may make use of a gadget to make your off-key singing
sound really melodious! These are just a few of the huge advancements in technology.

Reading is not what it used to be in the past. It now has an additional dimension. Digital
versions of books are available complete with pictures, video clips, and sound.

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It is possible to easily contact and communicate with people you do not even know using
technologies such as Instant Messaging (IM), Chatting and Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP). VoIP allows users to not only talk but also broadcast video conferences via the
Web.

Instant Messaging enables you to have a conversation with another person or a group of
people concurrently. It is similar to e-mail. The difference is that you can send and
receive messages as soon as they are typed. If both parties are online at the same time,
you can have a complete conversation. There are different instant messengers available
such as Yahoo messenger, Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, Google talk, etc.

In the “Internet” topic, we learnt to send instant messages using Windows Live
Messenger. You may also exchange files with your contacts in the course of your
conversation. In the Conversation window, click the “Show Menu” icon at the right end
of the toolbar and select “File → Send a single file”. Browse for the file you would like to
share and click “Open”. Your contact is given an option to accept the file. When he does
so, the file is transferred to him.

You can share files with your contacts by using the “Sharing Folders” feature. You and
your contact can access all the files in the shared folder at any time, even if one of you is
offline. Before you can share files with a contact, both you and your contact must agree
to share files with each other by creating sharing folders. To create a sharing folder,
click the “Show Menu” icon at the right end of the toolbar in the Conversation window
and select “Actions → Create a sharing folder”.

In the “Sharing Folders” window, click the “Add Files” button. In the displayed window,
browse to the file you wish to share and press “Open”. When your contact agrees to
share the file, both you and your contact can access it.

You may also drag the files you wish to share with your contact into the “Sharing
Folders” window.

In addition to text communication, Messenger allows you to have a voice or video

conversation with an online contact. This enables you to see and hear your contact. For

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this, both you and your contact need to have a microphone and speakers, as well as
Web cameras for video conferencing. To hold a video conference, click the “Show Menu”
icon at the right end of the toolbar in the Conversation window and select “Actions →
Video → Start a Video Call”. Your contact is given an option to accept the video
conference. When he does so, the video conference begins.

Home Networking

Today, computers are commonly found in homes. If you have more than one computer,
you can use a home network to share files and printers and play multiplayer computer
games. Home networks allow multiple users to access the Internet at the same time.

The steps to install the network are as follows.

 Install the Hardware: Install network adapters in the computers that need them
by following the installation instruction manuals that come with the adapters.
 If you want to use your network to share an Internet connection, you need to set
up the connection first. For this, you need a cable or DSL modem and an account
with an Internet service provider (ISP). Open the “Connect to the Internet” wizard
and follow the
 There are several ways to connect computers depending on the type of network
adapters, modem, and Internet connection that you have. It also depends on
whether or not you want to share an Internet connection among all the computers
on the network.
 If your network is wireless, run the “Set up a Wireless Router or Access Point”
wizard on the computer attached to the router.
 Once your network has been installed, you may use it to share different resources.
A home network is commonly used to share files, printers and Internet access as
well as to run multiplayer computer games.

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NEW TECHNOLOGIES

3g/4g Technologies

Today, people are looking forward to more information, faster data access and
multimedia services through their mobile phones. 3G makes this possible. 3G is the
third generation of wireless technologies. It is mostly used with mobile phones as a
means to connect to the Internet in order to make voice and video calls, to download and
upload data and to surf the net. 3G is not very cheap, but it is worthwhile for users who
need connectivity on the move. The first countries to implement this technology were
Japan and South Korea. India has recently started using it.

3G helps to simultaneously transfer both voice data i.e. a telephone call and non-voice
data such as downloading information, exchanging e-mail, and instant messaging. As
compared to previous networks, 3G has several times higher data speed, enhanced
audio and video streaming, Video-conferencing support and IPTV support i.e. TV
through the Internet.

3G services enable video broadcast and data-intensive services such as stock

transactions, e-learning and telemedicine through wireless communications. The key
component to 3G service is mobile-to-mobile voice transfer. During this process, three
layers of information are sent. The first layer is the actual voice information. The second
layer is a control transmission to keep the quality high. The last layer is basic
connection information that prevents dropped calls.

The first thing you require to use 3G is a device, e.g. a mobile phone that is 3G
compatible. An example is the iPhone 4. 3G phones commonly have two cameras since
the technology allows the user to have video calls, for which a user-facing camera is
required for capturing the caller.

Unlike with Wi-Fi which you can get for free in certain areas, you need to be subscribed
to a service provider to get 3G network connectivity. A mobile phone is connected to the
3G network through its SIM card, while other devices use a 3G data card. These are

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generally obtained from the service provider. Through the cards, you get connected to
the Internet whenever you are within a 3G network.

WiFi was created to allow high-bandwidth data transfer over a short range transmission.
It is ideal for local connectivity to larger networks. 3G networks use large satellite-driven
connections that connect to a system of telecommunication towers. This means that the
range is far greater than other technologies. 3G networks have the advantage of being
available on the move, unlike Wi-Fi, which is limited to a few meters around a router.

4G is a new upcoming technology which stands for fourth-generation wireless

standards. 4G offers the technology to achieve unmatched speed and security for
devices such as laptop’s, wireless modems, smartphones, and other mobile devices.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has set standards of 4G for which 4G
devices should be able to exchange data at 100 Mbit/sec. A 3G network, on the other
hand, can offer data speeds as slow as 3.84 Mbit/sec. 4G facilitates services such as
ultra-broadband Internet access, IP telephony, gaming services, and streamed
multimedia to users. Smartphones such as Apple iPhone 4, HTC Evo 4G, Google Nexus
S 4G and Samsung Galaxy S 4G supports 4G technology.

Smart Phones and Other Devices

The “iPhone” is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones designed and

marketed by Apple since January 2007. Here is a smartphone that combines an iPod, a
tablet PC, a digital camera and a cellular phone. An iPhone functions as a camera
phone, and includes text messaging and visual voicemail. It also serves as a portable
media player, and an Internet client, with e-mail, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

The user interface is built around the devices multi-touch screen, including a virtual
keyboard rather than a physical one. Third-party applications having diverse
functionalities can be used on these phones. Unlike most other smartphones, iPhone
does not use a hardware keyboard or a stylus. To navigate, a user uses multiple taps
and drags to navigate through a mobile version of Apples OS X operating system. iPhone
is compatible with Microsofts Windows operating systems.

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The” iPad 2” is a tablet computer and the second generation of the iPad designed and
developed by Apple. It is particularly marketed as a platform for audio and visual media
such as books, periodicals, movies, music, and games, as well as web content. Its
dimensions are larger than a smartphone and smaller than a laptop computer. Apple
released the iPad 2 in March 2011. The iPad runs the same operating system as the
iPhone. It can run its own applications as well as ones developed for the iPhone.

Like the iPhone, the iPad 2 is controlled by a multi-touch LED-backlit display which
uses a pressure-triggered stylus. It has Dual-core A5 chip and 9x Superfast graphics
performance. The iPad uses Wi-Fi or a 3G mobile data connection to browse the
Internet, load and stream media, and install software. The iPad is a much bigger
investment than the iPhone but offers additional features such as a larger display and
better multimedia features. Hardcore gamers in particular will enjoy it’s capabilities.

“BlackBerry” is a line of mobile e-mail and smartphone devices developed and designed
by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM) since 1996. The operating system
used by BlackBerry devices is a multitasking environment developed by RIM which uses
optical pad as input device.

BlackBerry functions as a personal digital assistant with address book, calendar and to-
do list capabilities. It also functions as a portable media player with support for music
and video playback and camera picture and video capabilities. BlackBerry is primarily
known for its ability to send and receive Internet e-mail wherever mobile network service
coverage is present, or through Wi-Fi connectivity. BlackBerry is mainly a messaging
phone with the largest array of messaging features available in a smartphone today.

“Android” is a mobile operating system developed by Google. The Android operating

system has been steadily increasing in popularity as many of the advanced smartphones
use it. The Android platform is usable across several handset makers smartphones.
Popular smartphones which uses Android includes Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus,
HTC Evo, Motorola Droid, LG Optimus, etc.

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Latest Processor Technologies

You know that the Processor is the brain of the computer. It tells your computer what to
do and when to do it, it decides which tasks are more important and prioritizes them as
per your computer’s needs. There are many processors available which run at different
speeds. The speed is measured in Megahertz. Processors now come as “Dual Core”,
“Triple Core” and “Quad Core”. Using a Dual Core processor is equivalent to running two
CPUs, while Triple Core and Quad Core are equivalent to three and four CPUs
respectively.

When buying a new computer you tend to look for the fastest you can afford. Remember
though, that you need to purchase a processor which balances your needs. Faster
processors are more expensive and if the jobs you need to execute are not too complex,
you will barely be able to notice the difference in performance of a high-end processor
and a slightly slower one. What you save in buying a suitable processor could be used to
invest in a useful printer or scanner.

Intel Corporation is the world’s largest manufacturer of computer processors. Although

it has been challenged in recent years by newcomers AMD and Cyrix, Intel still
dominates the market for PC microprocessors. Intel processors are found in most
personal computers today. Intel has recently introduced a new range of processors – the
“Intel Core Processor Family” to cater to the needs of multitaskers. These are available in
three performance levels. Let’s have a look at each of them and their features.

This is the first level of Intels new processor family and offers a fast, responsive PC
experience. Each core of this processor works on two tasks at the same time, and
delivers the performance you need for smart multitasking. It provides superb visual
performance for sharper images, richer color, and life-like audio and video.

This processor delivers solid performance for everyday applications, plus the ability to
increase speed as needed for demanding tasks. Its technology automatically speeds up
your processor when your PC needs extra performance. Thats smart performance with a

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speed boost. Like the i3 processor, each core works on two tasks at the same time, and
it provides superb visual performance.

This top-of-the-line processor delivers the ultimate in smart performance. Serious

multitaskers and multimedia enthusiasts would be impressed by its performance. A
combination of greater cache size and higher frequencies gives you ultimate performance
for the toughest tasks. Of course, it includes all features of the i5 processor such the
ability to increase speed for demanding tasks and superb visual performance.

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