Editing and Formatting Text in Word

Editing a Document:

Microsoft Word is a word-processing software that allows you to create documents that can have both text and pictures. You can use it to type letters, notes, poems, stories and many others documents. After typing the text in a document, you may want to change some portions of the text. Making changes in the already typed text is called editing. You can edit a document to add new text, delete unwanted text, or shift part of text from one location to another in the document. But before learning to edit, you must know how to select text in a document.

Selecting Text:

The text is selected to highlight the portions that have to be edited in a documents. The text can be selected by using a mouse or a keyboard.

Selecting Text Using a Mouse:

The lists some of the ways in which you can select various portions of the text using a mouse.

• A Block of Text: Drag the mouse over the text.
• One Word: Double-click the word.
• One Line of Text: Move the pointer to the left of the line. When the cursor shape changes to a right-pointing arrow, click it.
• A Paragraph: Triple-click anywhere in the paragraph.
• Entire Document: Move the pointer to the top left of the document text. When the cursor shape changes to a right-pointing arrow, triple-click it.

Selecting Text Using a Mouse:

The lists some of the key combinations that you can use to select portions of the text using a keyboard.

• Shift + Right Arrow: One character to the right.
• Shift + Left Arrow: One character to the left.
• Shift + Home: Text from the current position to the beginning of the line.
• Shift + End: Text from the current position to the end of the line.
• Ctrl + A: The entire document.

Copying and moving text:

Word allows you to copy text that is already in your document and paste it to other areas of the document, which can save you time. If there is text you want to move from one area of the document to another, you can cut and paste or drag and drop the text.

Copy and paste text:

The copy command is used to create a duplicate copy of the original text.

Step 1: Select the text you want to copy.

Step 2: Click the Copy command on the Home tab. You can also right-click the selected text and select Copy.

Step 3: Place the insertion point where you want the text to appear.

Step 4: Click the Paste command on the Home tab.

Step 5: The text will appear.

Cut and paste text:

Step 1: Select the text you want to cut.

Step 2: Click the Cut command on the Home tab. You can also right-click the selected text & select Cut.

Step 3: Place your insertion point where you want the text to appear.

Step 4: Click the Paste command on the Home tab. The text will appear.

Shortcuts Key: Cut: Press Ctrl + X   |  Copy: Press Ctrl + C  |  Paste: Press Ctrl + V 

To drag and drop text:

Dragging and dropping text allows you to use the mouse to move text.

Step 1: Select the text you want to move.

Step 2: Click and drag the text to the location where you want it to appear. The cursor will have a rectangle under it to indicate that you are moving text.

Step 3: Release the mouse button, and the text will appear.

Undo design changes

Step 1: To undo the most recent design change, press CTRL+Z.

Step 2: To undo several actions, do one of the following: Press CTRL+Z repeatedly until the action that you want to undo is undone.

Or

Step 1: On the Quick Access Toolbar, click the arrow next to Undo

Step 2: Then select the design change that you want to undo.

N: B: All of the selected design changes are undone. You can only undo actions in the order that they occurred. For example, to undo the second most recent action, you must also undo the most recent action.

 

Redo actions that you undid:

Step 1: To redo the most recent action that you undid, press CTRL+Y.

Step 2: To redo several actions, do one of the following: Press CTRL+Y repeatedly until the actions are redone.

Or

Step 1: On the Quick Access Toolbar, click the arrow next to Redo

Step 2: Then click the actions that you want to redo.

Formatting Text:

One of the most useful features of a word processor like Microsoft Word is that it allows you to change the appearance and arrangement of the text to create attractive documents. The process of changing the appearance and arrangement of the text is called formatting. The text can be formatted in various ways by changing its size, font, style, alignment, colour etc. Most of the options to format the text are present in the Font group under the Home tab.

Change the font:

By default, the font of each new document is set to Calibri. However, Word provides many other fonts you can use to customize text and titles.

Step 1: Select the text you want to modify.

Step 2: On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Font box. A menu of font styles will appear.

Step 3: Move the mouse over the various font styles. A live preview of the font will appear in the document. Select the font style you want to use.

Step 4: The font will change in the document.

Change the font size:

Step 1: Select the text you want to modify.

Step 2: Select the desired font size formatting option:

Font size drop-down arrow: On the Home tab, click the Font size drop-down arrow. A menu of font sizes will appear.

Font size box: you can click the Font size box and type the desired font size, then press Enter.

Grow and shrink font commands: Click the Grow Font or Shrink Font commands to change the font size.

Step 3: The font size will change in the document.

Change the font colour:

Step 1: Select the text you want to modify.

Step 2: On the Home tab, click the Font Color drop-down arrow. The Font Color menu appears.

Step 3: Move the mouse over the various font colors. A live preview of the color will appear in the document.

Step 4: Select the font color you want to use. The font color will change in the document.

N: B: Your color choices aren't limited to the drop-down menu that appears. Select More Colors at the bottom of the menu to access the Colors dialog box. Choose the color you want, then click OK.

 

Highlight text:

Highlighting can be a useful tool for marking important text in your document.

Step 1: Select the text you want to highlight.

Step 2: From the Home tab, click the Text Highlight Color drop-down arrow. The Highlight Color menu appears.

Step 3: Select the desired highlight color. The selected text will then be highlighted in the document.

N: B: Color drop-down arrow. Select No Color from the drop-down menu. To remove highlighting, select the highlighted text, then click the Text Highlight

N: B: If you need to highlight several lines of text, changing the mouse into a highlighter may be a helpful alternative to selecting and highlighting individual lines. Click the Text Highlight Color command, and the cursor changes into a highlighter. You can then click, hold, and drag the highlighter over the lines you want to highlight.

The Bold, Italic, and Underline commands:

The Bold, Italic, and Underline commands can be used to help draw attention to important words or phrases.

Step 1: Select the text you want to modify.

Step 2: On the Home tab, click the Bold (B), Italic (I), or Underline (U) command in the Font group. 

Step 3: The selected text will be modified in the document.

Shortcuts Key: Bold: Press Ctrl + B   |  Italic: Press Ctrl + I  |  Underline: Press Ctrl + U 

Change the text case:

When you need to quickly change text case, you can use the Change Case command instead of deleting and retyping text.

Step 1: Select the text you want to modify.

Step 2: On the Home tab, click the Change Case command in the Font group.

Step 3: A drop-down menu will appear.

• Sentence Case: Only the first letter of a sentence is displayed in uppercase (Capital). The rest of the letters are displayed in lowercase.
• Lowercase: All the letters are displayed in lowercase.
• UPPERCASE: All the letters are displayed in uppercase.
• Capitalize Each Word: The first letter of each word is displayed in uppercase (capital). The rest of the letters are displayed in lowercase.
• tOGGLE cASE: This is used to change the case of every letter. The uppercase letters are changed to lowercase and the lowercase letters are changed to uppercase.

Step 4: Select the desired case option from the menu. The text case will be changed in the document.

Change text alignment:

By default, Word aligns text to the left margin in new documents. However, there may be times when you want to adjust text alignment to the centre or right.

Step 1: Select the text you want to modify.

Step 2: On the Home tab, select one of the four alignment options from the Paragraph group.

Click the arrows in the slideshow below to learn more about the four text alignment options.

• Align Text Left: (Ctrl + L): This aligns all selected text to the left margin.
• Center: (Ctrl + E): This aligns text an equal distance from the left and right margins.
• Align Text Right: (Ctrl + R): This aligns all selected text to the right margin.
• Justify: (Ctrl + J): Justified text is equal on both sides. It lines up equally to the right and left margins. Many newspapers and magazines use full justification.

Displaying Text as Superscript or Subscript:

• Superscript: Superscript refers to the text that is positioned slightly higher than the text on the base line. For example: 1^st, 2^nd
• Subscript: Subscript refers to the text that is positioned slightly lower than the text on the base line. For example: H₂O, HNO₃

Step 1: Select the text.

Step 2: Choose one of the given options from the Font group under the Home tab.

Superscript x²: Makes the text appears as superscript.

Subscript x₂: Makes the text appears as subscript.

Shortcuts Key: Superscript: Press Ctrl + Shift + +   |  Subscript: Press Ctrl + = 

Adding Text Effects:

Text effects let you modify the appearance of the text by changing the fill / outline colour and adding shadow / reflection / glow effects. Follow the given steps to apply text effects.

Step 1: Select the text to be formatted.

Step 2: Click on the Home tab.

Step 3: Click on the Text Effects option on the Font group. A list appears.

Step 4: Click the desired effect. The appearance of the text changes accordingly. You can also point to and click on the Outline, Shadow, Reflection or Glow options in the drop-down list.

Symbols:

Sometimes you may find that you need to add a symbol to your text, such as the Copyright symbol ©. Word offers a collection of symbols for currency, languages, mathematics, and more.

Insert a symbol:

Step 1: Place the insertion point in the location where you want to insert a symbol.

Step 2: On the Insert tab, click the Symbol drop-down arrow. A menu of symbols will appear.

Step 3: Select the desired symbol.

Step 4: The symbol will appear in your document.

N: B: If you don't see the symbol you're looking for, click More Symbols... to open the Symbol dialog box. Locate and select the desired symbol, then click Insert.

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