An Introduction to Microsoft Word

The ability to efficiently use a word processor is almost a mandatory skill for anyone working in a modern business environment. This course shows you how to use Word, Microsoft's flagship computer application for word processing. We use Word 2003, but the materials are suitable for learning to use other versions of Word.

What's a word processor?

A word processor provides you with the ability to efficiently create documents such as:


  • letters, faxes and memos
  • email notes (with attached files),
  • long (and short) reports with tables of contents, indices etc.,
  • newsletters containing multiple columns of text containing illustrative graphics etc.

This course

We concentrate on presenting the 'big picture' - an overview of Word's ability to produce word processed documents. We show you techniques that enable you to harness the power of Word to make word processing a smooth, efficient and rewarding process.
You will learn to write, edit, save, print and retrieve existing documents; format text, set text styles, set and use tabs, work with headers and footers, create and apply graphic images to a page and much more.
We will show you how to store  documents and retrieve them at a later time for further editing. 'Cannibalizing' this earlier work and assembling new documents from it, is a great time saver.

Try some course materials

We have prepared some sample materials from our Word course for you to try.
Movie
Click here (an overview) or here (table of contents) to play a sample movie from the course. This movie will play on your computer monitor with an accompanying sound commentary.
 
Tip You do not have to do anything while the movie plays; just watch the screen. There is no need to move or operate your mouse while the movie plays. You can pause and re-start the movie by pressing the space bar. To close a movie before it finishes, press the Esc key. After the movie plays, you will automatically be returned to this point in the notes. 

Course duration and cost:

This course is only available as an online option (at http://www.softwaretutor.net) and costs $49.95. Word is a large program - please allow plenty of time to work through our materials. We would estimate that you have 25-30 hours of work in front of you!

Prerequisites:

An understanding of basic computer operation including the ability to create, save and locate files. We would expect that you have used a computer with the Windows operating system for some time and perhaps developed reasonable facility. If you do not have these skills, visit the free software training section on the web site.


 What we will cover:

    Module

   Description
Using Word
Starting Word. Common tasks best suited to Word? Competing word processors Ami Pro, FrameMaker etc. Handling documents created by early versions of Word. Copy some sample files. Word in action -producing your first piece of work. Using Word to generating a document efficiently - a case study involving the production of letters to staff setting out a roster. Using a Word wizard. Creating desk top shortcuts to commonly used documents such as a monthly report.
Preliminaries
Installing Word. Understanding the relationship between Word and the Windows operating system. Setting some options in Word - file locations, backup etc. The importance of fonts. The differences between Time New Roman and the Arial font - serif and sans serif fonts. Determining the fonts loaded in your computer. Installing fonts. Fonts and copyright issues. Creating a series of folders suitable for filing your Word documents.
Working with documents
Examining the arrangement of tools in the Word window - the title bar, drop down menus, understanding adaptive menus. 'Pop up' on-screen menus. Positioning the standard and formatting toolbars, loading and closing toolbars. Using scroll bars and navigating within a document; cursor movement, mouse movements, keyboard shortcuts. Auto correct features. Typing a 'proper' letter. Understanding word wrap. The importance of the paragraph marker. Managing different views of a document. Using the Print Preview feature.
Editing & proofing Documents
Creating a new document; opening and closing existing documents. The difference between Save and SaveAs. Renaming a document. Working on multiple documents. Editing options - entering text, selecting text using the keyboard and/or the mouse, deleting, copying and moving text. Cut, Paste and the Clipboard. Selecting large blocks of text. Undoing and re-doing an action, and some of the items in the text shortcut menu. Formatting text - font, colour, justification, bold italic etc. Pasting Word material across applications. The importance of the right mouse button. Using the Spike tool. Understanding text flow; paragraph tool - keeping text together.
Modifying the appearance of text
Describes and demonstrates how to use various graphical toolbars, buttons and features found on the Word screen, including the Formatting toolbar for document formatting, the buttons on the Standard toolbar, and the Ruler bar. Adjusting the size of toolbar icons. Emphasis is placed on developing your skills in formatting paragraphs, including the use of styles. Operating a Spell Check. The Word Thesaurus. The Show/Hide button. Using the ruler, setting tabs and spacing; align tabs, decimal tabs. Setting up columns of text.
More editing
We covers yet more editing options. Included are instructions for changing fonts, tabs, setting margins and page sizes; adding page numbers. Using Reveal Formats, using Find and Replace, using the Format Painter, and the 'Shrink to Fit' feature.
Placing graphics in Word documents
Types of graphics - clip art (inserting and previewing clip art, sources of clip art), artwork from files - JPEG, GIF, WMF, PSD, file types. Using the picture and drawing toolbars, editing a graphic, the value of placing graphics in tables, inserting AutoShapes.
Printing documents
Techniques for printing. Setting the default printer, a brief look at mailing labels, setting page sizes, margin settings, section breaks, page breaks, dealing with footers and headers, page numbering.
Printing to PDF
Installing PDF writers. Printing Word documents to PDF files.
Presentation Tools
Introduces other features that help you enhance your documents, such as highlighting, headers and footers, lists, and special characters. Using bullets and numbering. Special characters for scientific work. You will also learn how to use the AutoCorrect and AutoText features.
If your company or organization is paying for the course, all we need is a purchase order and an address to send the course materials. We encourage payment via PayPal, an organization which takes all credit cards using a secure Internet facility. PayPal is a partner within the eBay system. We have chosen PayPal because it is independent of us, allows us to hold money in trust until we have delivered the course and is now operational in Australia.