Hi, My Name is Tanya Nadas and this is my first Blog!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Introduction
Welcome!
Microsoft Word is one of the most
popular word processing programs on the market. Since Microsoft first offered Word,
in 1983, the program has gone through several reincarnations. The most recent, Word
2010, is discussed here.
Here I will highlight some of the
most important features of the “Ribbon” giving you the most basic tips that
will get you started with Word 2010.
Each tip is accompanied by a
screen shot to help you see what is being addressed.
Learning the basics will help you
create professional work while saving you time and frustration.
This
is the Ribbon!
Check out how to add or remove custom tabs to the Ribbon!
The Ribbon, a set of tools at the top of each Word document,
was first introduced by Microsoft in 2007. The Ribbon holds the commands needed
to execute various jobs. It is comprised of multiple tabs and within each main
tab are related subgroups and additional commands. In the bottom right hand
corner of some subgroups you will see a tiny arrow pointing down and to the
right. If you click on that arrow you will see even more options.
The main Ribbon is split into eight main groups. They include:
File, Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review and View
I’ve color coded this things here to help you understand the tabs and subgroups.
Red represents the main tabs that run along the top of the Ribbon.
Blue represents the subgroups at the bottom of the Ribbon.
Green represents the individual commands within each subgroup.
Get to know the Ribbon here!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
File is the first tab on the Ribbon. Here I'll highlight one feature of File you should not miss. Nothing is worse than that feeling when you realize you may have lost your work. But Word 2010 has added a feature that saves your wrok after your latest entry every time you close your computer. To rescue your work simply click on File, Recent, Recover Unsaved Documents.Learn more about the File Tab here!
Home tab includes five
subsections named at the bottom of each section.
These include: Clipboard, Font, Paragraph,
Styles and Editing.
Clipboard allows you to
keep text separately on the clipboard. It also allows you to cut, copy and
paste and format paint (this allows you to copy a format from one section of a
document to another section).
Font allows you to choose
the typeface, to highlight in a color, to change the color of the text, to
clear the formatting, to B - Bold the text, I - Italicize the text, to Underline the text and to change the size of
the font, change the case of the font, and create subscripts (tiny letters
either above or below a letter).
Paragraph allows you to
create bullets, number lines, center the text, flush the text left or right,
space the text evenly across the page and change the spacing between the lines.
If you click on the paint can icon you can shade the area behind the text or
paragraph. You can also increase or decrease the indent level of the paragraph,
put your information in alphabetical order or sort numerical data. The icon that looks like a four pane window
lets you create a bottom border. The paragraph icon in the upper right hand
corner of the paragraph section allows you to either show or hide formatting
symbols.
Styles section allows you
to decide if you want normal paragraph spacing or no spaces between paragraphs.
It also has default settings for two styles of headings, a style for the title
of a document, a style for the subtitle and one style to show subtle emphasis.
If you click on the tiny arrow pointing down and to the right there will be
several more options to choose from. If you run your mouse over these Styles the text in your document will
automatically change.
Editing has a Find binocular icon that
allows you to search for specific text within the document. Simply click
on Find and the Navigation box will appear
where you can type your search item. Replace
allows you to find specific words and replace them with alternative words. This
is handy of you have spelled a name wrong and want to find all of those incorrect
spellings and replace them with the correct spelling of the name. Select allows you to select text in different
ways. For example, you can select all of the text or you can select all the
text that is formatted in the same way and change that formatting.
Check out this free online tutorial!
After Home comes the Insert tab.
Insert is self-explanatory in
that it allows you to insert all sorts of things into your document.
Pages includes a Cover Page option which provides a selection of
different style cover pages for you to choose from. Blank
Page just adds a blank page to your document. Page
Break starts the next page when you click on it at any location in your
document.
Table allows you to draw
tables, but if you click on the down arrow it also provides a way to insert Excel documents. Quick
Tables provides several stock tables such as calendars for you to choose
from.
Illustrations includes a
way to insert Pictures, Clip Art, Shapes, SmartArt,
Charts and Screenshots. Click on Pictures
and you will find yourself in the Picture Library of your computer where you
can browse and find a picture of your choice. Clip
Art includes stock photography, movies, sounds and drawings. Click on Shapes and you will find block arrows, standard
shapes, stars and banners, equation shapes and more. SmartArt
includes picture frames, pyramids, graphic lists, Venn diagrams, etc. Charts include column, pie, bar charts and more. Screenshot allows you to insert an image of the
screen into your document.
Links includes Hyperlink, Bookmark and Cross-Reference. Hyperlink
allows you to connect your document to a URL on the internet so when you click
on that link you are brought to that website.
Header & Footer gives
you the ability to create and edit header and footers in a document and to
create and format Page Numbers.
Text allows you to insert
Text Boxes, Word
Art (three dimensional letters, hollow letters, rainbow letters and more
adding extra emphasis to your text). Signature Line creates a line with an “x” next to
it for a person to sign their name. This is handy if you need to create a legal
document where you might need a signature. Drop Cap
adds a huge first letter to a sentence and Object
allows you to add an Adobe Acrobat Document into your document.
Symbols include
mathematical equations and other symbols.
You may want to buy Word 2010 For Dummies!
Page Layout Tab
The most important section in Page
Layout is the Paragraph controls. Paragraph includes Indent
and Spacing. Indent
lets you set up your paragraphs so that the first line indents and Spacing controls the spaces between the lines. It
is pretty common that professors have a preference as to single or double
spacing in term papers this is where you can set that up to happen.
References
References
When you write a research paper you will be asked to include references. This is where you go to make this happen. First year students will need to use the Citation & Bibliography section.Insert Citation makes this easy because it automatically formats the citation in the form you choose here. You have the option to choose a style (such as APA or Chicago Style) and the type of source (such as journal or book). Word automatically takes this information and creates the correct format from the information you provide. This is an amazing time saver!
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