WORD PROCESSING

Definition: Word-processing is essentially typing, editing, and manipulation of a document in a desired

form.

Units of the Document:

Since word-processing is concerned with preparation of a document (in a desired form), it is

essential to know the units of the document:

1. Character: It refers to the alphabets, numerical digits, punctuations and other special symbols which
are commonly used in the text.

2. Word: A word is group of characters that are separated from other group of characters by
some delimiters like, comma, full stop and space.

3. Sentence: A sentence is a group of words preceded and followed by appropriate delimiting characters.

4. Paragraph: It is a group of one or more sentences, paragraphs are separated by leaving blank lines
between them.

5. Pages: It is the amount of text that can be printed on one page of a paper.

6. Chapters: It is a collection of pages

7. Documents and files: It is a group of chapters. Usually, a complete document may be very short such
as a memo(or letter) or very long such as a book consisting of several chapters. These documents are
referred as ―Files‖.

Features of Word-processing:
1. Word-wrap
2. cursor control
3. editing
4. formatting
5. spell-check
6. thesaurus
7. macros
8. printing
9. file management
10. mail merge printing

1. Word-wrap: In word-processing packages, the text can be continuously typed and the computer
automatically starts a fresh line when a line is filled up. As soon as the length of a sentence
exceeds the right margin, the corresponding word is automatically adjusted in the following line.
This is called ―word-wrap‖. A paragraph is created only when carriage control is
externally given for a sentence.

2. Cursor Control: The four directional keys of the keyboard ( ) helps in locating the text
for editing in much the similar manner as that of a pointer or pencil.
3. Editing: Words or lines can be entered (inserted) or deleted in any part of the text with proper
alignment . Similarly, there is a facility to ‗recover‘ the text which is deleted by mistake or
accidentally. Another important facility is that any ‗word‘ can be replaced by a new word
through out the file, wherever the old word appears. In addition to these, a block of text(which is
frequently used) can be prepared and moved or copied wherever desired in the file.
 4. Formatting : The text formatting refers to the way the text is desired to appear on a page. This
includes following functions
 setting left and right margins
 paragraph settings
 line spacing
 selecting font specifications such as underline, bold, italics, superscripts and
subscripts
 setting foot-notes
 number of lines per page
 printing page numbers and headings for ‗Header‘ and ‗Footer‘
 table of contents
 indexing the text
5. Spell-check: Word-processing packages provide checking of spellings facility
6. Thesaurus: It provides synonyms (or words with similar meanings)
7. Macros: A macro is a character or word that represents a series of keystrokes. The ability to
define macros allows us to save a lot of time by replacing common combinations of keystrokes.
8. Printing: It gives a ‗hard‘ copy of the text. The printing can be controlled after printing a fixed
number of pages or can be resumed from any specified page number.
9. File management: This facility allows to create, delete, move & search for files.
10. Mail merge printing: This facility helps in printing same ―original‖ letter with different
addresses, so that each letter is ―original‖ and not a carbon copy.
Word-processing Packages: Several word-processing packages are available. Some of these are listed
below:

1. MSWORD (SOFT WORD) 2. WORDSTAR 3. CHIRATOR 4. NORTON EDITOR

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 MS-WORD
MS- Word is a word processor. The extension name of MS- word is .doc. It is an application used to
create, edit, print and save a document. It allows the user to insert pictures, tables, charts, drawings &
features that will make the text richer & more interactive.
( The term document refers to a file created using word processor)

Starting MS-Word:
Start  All Programs  MS-office MS-word
MS-word icon is w.

The default Word document includes the following layout tools:

 Title bar: displays the document name and the application.

 Menu bar: Contains the list of menus available inside word, each menu contains a specific set
of commands.
 Standard toolbar: provides shortcuts in the form of buttons for frequently performed tasks.
 Formatting toolbar: Contains a list of formatting options available inside the format menu.
 Horizontal & Vertical rulers: used for measurement purposes like any normal ruler; the
default unit of measure is in inches.
 White page area: is the space area where you type, edit and format your document.
 Insertion point : is the blinking vertical line that indicates the position on the screen where text
or graphics will be placed.
 Task pane : is a small window within the word window that provides shortcuts to commonly
used tasks.
 Scroll bars : are used to move up and down or left and right in a document.
 Status bar: displays the details such as the page number the user is working on, section no.,
page no. out of the total pages found in the document, line number, column number etc.
Standard Toolbar:
This toolbar contains buttons to allow you to perform the basic operations such as opening and closing a
document, moving and printing data.

Function of commonly used buttons

 New: Creates a new blank document based on the default template

 Open: Opens or finds an existing file
 Save: Saves the active file with its current file name, location and file format
 Print: Prints the active file - for more print options go to the File menu and select Print
 Print preview : Shows how the document will look when you print it.
 Spelling & Grammer: Spelling, grammar and writing style checker
 Cut : Removes the selection from the document and places it on the clipboard
 Copy : Copies the selected item(s) to the clipboard
 Paste : Places the content of the clipboard at the insertion point
 Format painter : Copies the format from a selected object or text and applies to other objects
 Undo : Reverses the last command, use pull-down menu to undo several steps
 Redo : Reverses the action of the Undo button, use the pull-down menu to redo several steps
 Insert table: Insert a table into the document, or make a table of selected text
 Insert Excel worksheet: Inserts an Excel spreadsheet into the Word document
 Columns : Changes the number of columns in a document
 Drawing: Displays or hides the Drawing toolbar
 Zoom (100%): Enlarge or reduce the display of the active document

Formatting Toolbar:
The formatting Tool bar is the easiest way to change many attributes of a text.

 Style menu: Allows you to make your text Bold, Italic, underlined… depending on the style you
choose.
 Font : Allows you to change the font by clicking on the drop-down arrow on the right of the
font name box. You can view a list of fonts available, you can scroll down to view more fonts
and select the font name you wish to use by clicking on its name.
 Font size : Allows you to change the font size by clicking inside the Font size box and entering a
value or by clicking on the drop-down arrow on the right of the box to view a list of sizes
available. Select then a size by clicking on it.
Note : A Font size of 11 or 12 is best for paragraphs of text.
 Bold, Italic, Underline : Each button respectively allows you to make your text appear as bold,
italic or underlined.
 Alignment : Each button respectively allows you to make your text aligned to the left, center
or right side of the page. You can also justify the text across the page using the justify button.
 Line spacing : Allows you to set the amount of space that word puts when go to a new line.
 Text orientation : Allows you to change the typing direction of your text, from left to right
or right to left manner.
  Numbering, Bullets : Allows you to make your text appear as a bullets list or as a numbering
list.
 Increase / Decrease indent : Allows you to increase or decrease the indentation of your
paragraph in relation to the side of the page.
 Outside Border : Allows you to add a border around a text selection.
 Highlight color : Allows you to change the color behind a text selection.
 Font colour : Allows you to change the colour of the text.

Features of FILE MENU ( ALT F):

1. New - Opens new Word file (Blank Document file)

2. Open - Opens the existing files
3. Save - Saves the file with one name
4. Save as -Saves the file with more than one name( with different formats)
5. Save as Web page – This is used to save a document in a Web style. (with HTML extension)
6. Versions - This is used to do the parts of work in small parts. i.e a bulk ( big/ more) work can be
done in small parts.
7. Web Page Preview – This shows the web page in printable form.
8. Page set up - To set the margin, paper size, Orientation
9. Print - To get the printout.( Specified pages and no. of copies).
10. Properties - This gives the details about the document ( the type of file, the size of file, the date of
creation, date of modification and file location)
11. Send - This is used to send the file document to internet mail to some other person.
12. Exit - To close the Ms-word.
To insert a new page, press Ctrl + Enter
Features of EDIT MENU (ALT E):

Undo - Will take the previous command (ctrl +Z)

Redo - Will take the opposite action of undo ( Ctrl + Y)
Cut - Can cut a selected text ( Ctrl + X)
Copy - Can copy a selected text ( Ctrl + C)
Paste - Can paste the selected text ( Ctrl + V)
Del - Removes the selected text
Find - Used to find the part of text word \ character in the file (Ctrl + F)
Find Next – (F3) Finding \ finding next : Used to repeat the finding process.
Replace - Used to replace any part of Text / word / Character with another word/ character.(Ctrl + H)
Paste special – This will paste the copied (or) cut text in a form of an object. It will paste in box which
Cannot be altered.
Go To - Curser goes to the specified page, specified line, specified paragraph.(Ctrl + G)

Features of FORMAT MENU ( ALT + O)

1. Font - used to change the font face, style, size etc.

2. Paragraph - Used to set the space between paragraphs and also between the lines
3. Bullets - Used to highlight points in number wise / bullet wise.
4. Borders & Shades - Used to apply different borders to the table / to the page.
5. Columns – Used to write the text in column wise.
To have a break in columns, a column break is used ( insert menu  break  Columns)
Ctrl + Shift + Enter
6. Drop Cap - Used to drop the letter to different lines.
 7. Text direction - Used to change the direction of drop cap (Note : To use text direction, drop
cap must be used first)
8. Change case - Used to change the case of the text.
9. Toggle – This converts lower case letters to upper case & vice –versa in a word.
10. Back Ground - This is used to change the back ground colour of the document but the color
can be seen only in the web layout.
11. Theme - This is used to change the document, backgrounds with some existing design
background. This shows the background only in the web layout.
12. Style - This is used to change the writing fashion of the document which are already existing.
13. Frames - Frames are used to write different documents in one single document.

Some important features of Tools menu:

Spelling &Grammar : Used to check the spelling and correct the words with related word. ( F7)
Thesaurus : Used to know the synonym (meaning) of the word. (Shift +F7)
Mail merge : used to type the letters with the same matter but different addresses.

MS WORD – working with files:

Creating a New document:

 Click the New Blank document button on the standard tool bar. (or)
 From the Menu bar, choose File  New, the New document task pane will open, and select
Blank document.
Opening Existing documents:
 Click the open button found on the Standard tool bar. (or)
 From the task pane, select getting started and the select more (or)
 From the Menu bar, select File  Open
Saving a document:
 Click the Save button on the Tool bar. (or)
 From the Menu bar, select File  Save (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + S
Save dialog box appears. Type the name and click Save.
Printing a document :
 Select File  Print (or)
 Click on the Print button on the Standard Tool bar (or)
 Click Ctrl + P
Print dialog box appears. Select All pages (or) Current page (or) type the page numbers and
also select number of copies according to the requirement and click O.K
Closing a document:
 Select File  close
 Click on the small X found on the right top next to the Menu bar and the Title bar.

MS WORD - Editing Text :

Typing and Inserting Text:

To enter text in your document, position the insertion point i.e a vertical blinking line, where you want
the text to appear and type it in.
Word will automatically wrap text as it reaches the end of a line. Press enter to start a
new paragraph. When you reach the end of a page, word will automatically break text onto the next
page. If you want, you can start a new page at any point by inserting a page break. To do so, press ctrl +
Enter.
 Word offers two modes for adding text to your documents: Insert mode and
overwrite mode. In Insert mode, characters typed are inserted into the text to the left of the
insertion point, pushing any characters to the right of the insertion point further to the
right. In overtype mode, the text you type will replace the existing text.
Note: The Insert key is a toggle key. This means that the same key can be used to switch
back and forth between two different modes.
Selecting Text:
In order to change the format of the text you just typed, it must be first highlighted, i.e
selected with the mouse cursor.
To highlight the whole text or part of it, locate the mouse at the start of the text you wish to
highlight and click the left button, then drag the mouse over the desired text while keeping
the left mouse button pressed.
Shortcuts used for selecting a portion of the text:
 Whole word : Double click within the word.
 Whole paragraph: Triple click within the paragraph.
 Sentence : ctrl + click in a sentence
 Entire document : Edit  select all ( ctrl + A)

Deleting text:
 Use the BACKSPACE or the DELETE key to delete text.
 BACKSPACE key will delete text to the left of the cursor and DELETE key will
erase text to the right.
 To delete a large section of text, highlight the text using any of the methods
outlined above and press the DELETE key.

Moving, copying and pasting text:

Cut text:
Highlight the text you need to move and follow one of the methods listed below:
 From the Menu bar, select Edit  cut (or)
 From the standard tool bar, click on the cut button. (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + X
Copy text:
  From the Menu bar, select Edit  copy (or)
 From the standard toolbar, click the Copy button (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + C
Paste Text:
To paste previously cut or copied text, move the cursor to the location you want to move
the text to and follow one of the methods listed below:
 From the menu bar, select Edit  Paste (or)
 From the standard Tool bar, click the Paste button (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + V