Introduction to Microsoft Word 2013

Microsoft word is one of the most popular word-processing software. It comes as a part of the Microsoft Office Package. Microsoft word is used creating text documents but it has a lot of others useful features for changing the appearance of the text that lets you create attractive documents.

There are many word-processing software that are available in market. Some of them including Microsoft Word and WordPad, Open Office Writer, Corel WordPerfect, LibreOffice and Apple Pages.

Microsoft Word has a variety of uses in offices, homes and schools:

Offices:

At office, word is a very useful tools for writing mails and preparing business reports.

Homes:

At homes, word is widely used for writing letters, stories, poems, essays, assignments, worksheets and projects. You can also use it for creating greeting cards and posters.

Schools:

At schools, word is used to type test papers, time tables, report cards, circulars and giving assignments.

Starting Microsoft Word:

To starts Microsoft word, follow the steps given here-

Step 1: Click on the Start button on the Taskbar.

Step 2: Click on the All Programs option.

Step 3: Click on the Microsoft Office option.

Step 4: Click on Microsoft Word 2013.

From the Word Start Screen, locate and select Blank document to access the Word interface.

Components of the Microsoft Word Window:

The Microsoft word window contains a number of elements:

1. Quick Access Toolbar:

The Quick Access Toolbar is present on the top-left corner of the word window. It has buttons for commands that are used frequently. By default, it shows the Save, Undo, and Redo commands. You can add other commands depending on your preference.
1. Save button to save your file.
2. Undo button to undo / rollback the previous action.
3. Redo button to redo the action that was undone.

How to add commands to the Quick Access toolbar:

Step 1: Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar.

Step 2: Select the command you want to add from the drop-down menu.

Step 3: To choose from more commands, select More Commands.

Step 4: The command will be added to the Quick Access toolbar.

2. The Ruler:

The Ruler is located at the top and to the left of your document. It makes it easier to adjust your document with precision. If you want, you can hide the Ruler to create more screen space.

How to show or hide the Ruler:

Step 1: Click the View tab.   

       

Step 2: Click the check box next to Ruler to show  or hide the ruler.

3. The Ribbon:

The Ribbon is located just below the Quick Access Toolbar. Word 2013 uses a tabbed Ribbon system instead of traditional menus. The Ribbon contains multiple tabs, each with several groups of commands such as File, Insert, Design, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review and view.

Every tab has commands that are divided into groups. Every groups has a set of related commands. For example, commands related to changing the size, style, font color, highlight color etc. of the text are present in the Font group on the Home tab.

How to minimize and maximize the Ribbon:

The Ribbon is designed to respond to your current task, but you can choose to minimize the Ribbon if you find that it takes up too much screen space.

Step 1: Click the Ribbon Display Options arrow in the upper-right corner of the Ribbon.

Step 2: Select the desired minimizing option from the drop-down menu:

4. Working Area:

You can type text and insert pictures, tables, charts etc. in the Working Area. The blinking vertical line in the Work Area is called cursor.  It shows the position at which text appears when you type.  

5. Title Bar:

This bar displays the name of the documents on which you are currently working. It displays the document name followed by the name of the program (Microsoft Word). The first new document you open in word is named as Document 1. You can give a name to the document at the time of saving it.

6. Horizontal and Vertical Scroll Bars:

There are two scroll bars in the Word window. The Horizontal scroll bar is located at the bottom of the documents window. It lets you move to the right or left of a document. The horizontal scroll bar appears only when the width of the document does not fit on the screen. The vertical scroll bar is located to the right of the document window. It lets you move up and down a document.

7. Status Bar:

Status bar appears at the bottom of the window. On the left side, it provides details such as the current page number and number of pages in the document. The view buttons and zoom slider are present on the right side of the Status Bar.

8. Document views:

Word 2013 has a variety of viewing options that change how your document is displayed. You can choose to view your document in 

      1. Read Mode

      2. Print Layout

      3. Web Layout

These views can be useful for various tasks, especially if you're planning to print the document. To change document views, locate and select the desired document view command in the bottom-right corner of the Word window. Click the arrows in the slideshow below to review the different document view options.

9. Backstage view:

Backstage view gives you various options for saving, opening a file, printing, and sharing your document.

How to Access Backstage view:

Step 1: Click the File tab on the Ribbon. Backstage view will appear.

Step 2: Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about using backstage view.

Create a new blank document:

When beginning a new project in Word, you'll often want to start with a new blank document. The steps to be followed to create a new documents are:

Step 1:  Select the File tab. backstage view will appear.

Step 2:  Select New, then click Blank document.

Step 3:  A new blank document will appear.

Shortcut Key : By pressing Ctrl + N on your Keyboard.

Entering Text in word:

Step 1: In order to enter text, left-click in the Work Area.

Step 2: Start typing the text. The text appears at the position where your cursor is placed.

Step 3: When the text reaches the end of a line, it automatically gets shifted to the next line. This feature of word is called Word Wrap.

Step 4: To start a new paragraph, simply press the Enter key.

Selecting Text in Word:

You can select text and then work on it. You can select the text by using the mouse. The steps to follow are:

Step 1: Place the cursor before or after the text you wish to select.

Step 2: Keeping the left mouse button pressed, drag the mouse over the text to be selected.

Step 3: Release the mouse button. The selected text gets highlighted. 

Deleting Text in Word:

To delete a character, press either the Delete key or the Backspace key.

Delete Key: The delete key removes the character to the right of the cursor position.

Backspace Key: The backspace key removes the character to the left of the cursor position.

To delete a block of text, select the text and then press the Delete key or the Backspace key.

To save a document:

Step 1:  Select the Save command on the Quick Access toolbar or Backstage view.

Step 2:  Choose where to save the file.

Step 3: Give it a file name.

Step 3:  Then click Save.

Shortcut Key : By pressing Ctrl+S on your keyboard.

Difference between save and Save As:

Word offers two ways to save a file, Save and Save As. These options work in similar ways, with a few important differences:

Save:

When you create or edit a document, you'll use the Save command to save your changes. You'll use this command most of the time. When you save a file

Save As:

You'll use this command to create a copy of a document while keeping the original. When you use Save As, you'll need to choose a different name and/or location for the copied version.

Closing a Document in word:

After saving the work in a word document, you can close it by following these steps:

Step 1: Click on the File tab.

Step 2: Then select the Close option.

Step 3: If there are changes in the document that have been not saved, Word will ask to save the changes. It displays three buttons- Yes, No and Cancel.

• Click on the Yes button to save the changes.
• Click on the No button if you do not want to save the changes.
• Click on the Cancel button if you do not want to close the file.

Shortcut Key : By pressing Ctrl+W on your keyboard.

Open an existing document:

Step 1:  Navigate to Backstage view, then click Open.

Step 2:  Select Computer, then click Browse.

Step 3:  The Open dialog box appears. Locate and select your document, then click Open.

Note: If you've opened the desired document recently, you can browse your Recent Documents rather than search for the file.

Shortcut Key : By pressing Ctrl+O on your keyboard.

How to pin a document:

If you frequently work with the same document, you can pin it to backstage view for quick access.

Step 1: Navigate to Backstage view, then click Open. Your recently edited documents will appear.

Step 2: Hover the mouse over the document you want to pin. A pushpin icon will appear next to the document. Click the pushpin icon.

Step 3: The document will stay in Recent Documents. To unpin a document, click the pushpin icon again.

Compatibility mode:

Sometimes you may need to work with documents that were created in earlier versions of Microsoft Word, such as Word 2007 or Word 2010. When you open these types of documents, they will appear in Compatibility mode. To exit Compatibility mode, you'll need to convert the document to the current version type.

How to convert a document:

Step 1:  Click the File tab to access backstage view.

Step 2:  Locate and select the Convert command.

Step 3:  A dialog box will appear. Click OK to confirm the file upgrade.

Step 4:  The document will be converted to the newest file type.

To export a document as a PDF file:

Step 1:  Click the File tab to access backstage view.

Step 2:  Click Export, then select Create PDF / XPS.

Step 3:  The Save As dialog box will appear. Select the location where you want to export the document,

Step 4:  Enter a file name, and then click Publish.

Exiting Microsoft Word:

When you have finish your work, you can close the word window. To close the word window, follow the given steps:

Step 1: Click the File tab.

Step 2: Select the Exit option. The word window gets closed.

Shortcut Key : By pressing Alt + F4 on your keyboard.

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