Computer Studies Form 2 Notes : CHAPTER 1 – WORD PROCESSORS

CHAPTER 1

WORD PROCESSORS

This chapter introduces the student to what Word Processors are, and how they are used.

1. Definition of a Word Processor
2. Purpose of Word Processing

1.3 Using a Word Processor

1.4 Format and edit a document

1. Create and edit a table

1.6 Create and edit a mail merge document

1. Print a document

1.8 Insert and edit objects

1. DEFINITION OF A WORD PROCESSOR
   

A Word Processor (WP) is an application or a program (software) that converts letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into paragraph and paragraph into a document for purposes of communication. This process is known as Word Processing.

There are several word processors available for users in the work place and in schools. Examples include: Ms-Word, Word Perfect, Wonder Word, WordPro and so on.

1. Features of Word Processors
   

    

All word processors possess certain features that are unique to them. The following are some of the features of WP.

1. Cursor – all WP possess a blinking cursor that shows the user where next to type. You can only be able to type exactly at the position of the cursor. Once you type, the cursor then moves to the next available space.
2. Formatting and Editing –Formatting is changing the appearance of text by selecting font(typeface or hand writing style), colour, alignment, indentation (moving text away from the margins), bolding, changing size, underline, italic and making bulleted list. Editing is correcting errors and ensuring clarity and accuracy like removing spelling and grammar mistakes.
3. Spelling and grammar check– WPs have the ability to check the spelling and the grammar of a document. This can be set to indicate such mistakes by showing different colours on them. For example in Ms-Word, spelling mistakes are underlined in red and grammar are underlined in green. The user then has the chance to correct the mistakes either immediately or after completing the task being done. Refer to section 1.5 for details.
   
4. Word Wrap– WPs have the ability to take an incomplete word to the next line automatically without pressing the enter key. This is known as word wrap.

    

5. Thesauras- this is a Greek word for storehouse. It stores synonyms and antonyms of different words. The user of the WP has the option to obtain different words which mean the same or opposite as the word to be changed.
6. Auto-correct- word which is frequently used with WP can be made to automatically be corrected or be completed by WP in the process of typing, hence the name auto-correct. Refer to section 1.4 for details.
   
7. Undo and redo- any action done by the user of the WP, can be undone by these two features. If the user types some words which was not intended, one has the option to click undo button for the action to be omitted or if one had deleted some word or sentence or paragraph by mistake, one simply presses the redo button to have the same deleted items back to the right place.
   
8. Mail Merge- this is the ability of WP to create a common letter, e-mail or labels and add different addresses or particulars to each letter for different people at the same time. It has three main parts: creating main letter, creating addresses and merging the addresses to the letter. Refer to section 1.7 for details.
   
9. Dictionary – WP has a dictionary where certain words can be added, to make them accepted by WP such that it will not show the red colour symbolizing that it is a spelling mistake or a non English word. You can add nouns from a different language and WP will recognize them as part of the English language. Depending on the default language used by the computer, certain words may not be accepted though they are English words. You need to add such words to the dictionary of WP. For example, British English will accept labour, but American will only accept labor and so on.

    

10. Purpose of a Word Processor
    

The purpose of a WP from the definition above is to create documents for purposes of communication. The essence of any word processing is to enable messages to be created for onward transmission to the reader. Such documents in the work place include letters, reports, circulars, emails, newsletters, memos and so on. The documents can then be printed, or conveyed through other means such as e-mails, or through facsimile (fax).

1. Using a Word Processing Package
   

1. Getting started
   

   The first thing is to load the WP application you intend to use. The example that follows will make use Microsoft Word (MS-Word) as a platform since most schools and organisations use the same. The operating system under which the MS-Word is running is known as Windows Xp.

    

• To load the application to the following:
• Click Start button
• Go to All programs
• Click Microsoft office
• Click Microsoft office Word

The Microsoft Word window appears and your screen looks similar to the one shown here.

Note:

Your screen will probably not look exactly like the screen shown. In Word 2007, how a window displays depends on the size of your window, the size of your monitor, and the resolution to which your monitor is set. Resolution determines how much information your computer monitor can display. If you use a low resolution, less information fits on your screen, but the size of your text and images are larger. If you use a high resolution, more information fits on your screen, but the size of the text and images are smaller. Also, Word 2007, Windows Vista, and Windows XP have settings that allow you to change the color and style of your windows.

THE MICROSOFT OFFICE BUTTON

In the upper-left corner of the Word 2007 window is the Microsoft Office button. When you click the button, a menu appears. You can use the menu to create a new file, open an existing file, save a file, and perform many other tasks.

THE QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR

Next to the Microsoft Office button is the Quick Access toolbar. The Quick Access toolbar provides you with access to commands you frequently use. By default Save, Undo, and Redo appear on the Quick Access toolbar. You can use Save to save your file, Undo to rollback an action you have taken, and Redo to reapply an action you have rolled back.

THE TITLE BAR

Next to the Quick Access toolbar is the Title bar. The Title bar displays the title of the document on which you are currently working. Word names the first new document you open Document1. As you open additional new documents, Word names them sequentially. When you save your document, you assign the document a new name.

THE RIBBON

You use commands to tell Microsoft Word what to do. In Microsoft Word 2007, you use the Ribbon to issue commands. The Ribbon is located near the top of the screen, below the Quick Access toolbar. At the top of the Ribbon are several tabs; clicking a tab displays several related command groups. Within each group are related command buttons. You click buttons to issue commands or to access menus and dialog boxes. You may also find a dialog box launcher in the bottom-right corner of a group. Clicking the dialog box launcher gives you access to additional commands via a dialog box.

THE RULER

The ruler is found below the Ribbon.

You can use the ruler to change the format of your document quickly. If your ruler is not visible, follow the steps listed here:

1. Click the View tab to choose it.
2. Click the check box next to Ruler in the Show/Hide group. The ruler appears below the Ribbon.

THE TEXT AREA

Just below the ruler is a large area called the text area. You type your document in the text area. The blinking vertical line in the upper-left corner of the text area is the cursor. It marks the insertion point. As you type, your text displays at the cursor location. The horizontal line next to the cursor marks the end of the document.

THE VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL SCROLL BARS

The vertical and horizontal scroll bars enable you to move up, down, and across your window simply by dragging the icon located on the scroll bar. The vertical scroll bar is located along the right side of the screen. The horizontal scroll bar is located just above the status bar. To move up and down your document, click and drag the vertical scroll bar up and down. To move back and forth across your document, click and drag the horizontal scroll bar back and forth. You won’t see a horizontal scroll bar if the width of your document fits on your screen.

THE STATUS BAR

The Status bar appears at the very bottom of your window and provides such information as the current page and the number of words in your document. You can change what displays on the Status bar by right-clicking on the Status bar and selecting the options you want from the Customize Status Bar menu. You click a menu item to select it. You click it again to deselect it. A check mark next to an item means it is selected.

Understanding Document Views

In Word 2007, you can display your document in one of five views: Draft, Web Layout, Print Layout, Full Screen Reading, or Online Layout.

Draft View

Draft view is the most frequently used view. You use Draft view to quickly edit your document.

Web Layout

Web Layout view enables you to see your document as it would appear in a browser such as Internet Explorer.

Print Layout

The Print Layout view shows the document as it will look when it is printed.

Reading Layout

Reading Layout view formats your screen to make reading your document more comfortable.

Outline View

Outline view displays the document in outline form. You can display headings without the text. If you move a heading, the accompanying text moves with it. You should use Draft view for these lessons. Before moving ahead, make sure you are in Draft view:

1. Click the View tab.
2. Click Draft in the Document Views group. When the Draft option is selected it appears in a contrasting color.

CLICK

During the lessons that follow, you will be asked to “click” items and to choose tabs. When asked to click:

1. Point to the item.
2. Press your left mouse button once.

If you are asked to double-click an item:

1. Point to the item.
2. Quickly press your left mouse button twice.

If you are asked to right-click:

1. Point to the item.
2. Press your right mouse button.

If you are asked to choose a tab, click the tab.

UNDERSTANDING NONPRINTING CHARACTERS

Certain characters, called nonprinting characters, do not print and will not appear in your printed document but do affect your document layout. You can elect to see these characters on the screen as you type or you can elect to have them remain invisible. For these lessons, opt to see them onscreen. This table describes most of them:

To view nonprinting characters:

1. Choose the Home tab.
2. Click the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group . The Show/Hide button appears in a contrasting color, when it is selected.

CREATE SAMPLE DATA AND SELECT TEXT

If you type =rand() in your Word document and then press Enter, Word creates three paragraphs. You can use these paragraphs to practice what you learn. Throughout these lessons, you will be asked to select text. The following exercise teaches you how to create data and how to select data. You can select by using the arrow keys or by clicking and dragging. When using the arrow keys, use the up arrow to move up, the down arrow to move down, the left arrow to move left, and the right arrow to move right. When using the mouse, press the left mouse button and then drag in the direction you want to move.

EXERCISE 1

Create Sample Data

1. Type =rand().
2. Press Enter. Three paragraphs appear in your document.

Select with the Shift and Arrow Keys

1. Place your cursor before the word “On” in the first paragraph.
2. Press and hold down the Shift key, which serves as an “anchor” showing where text you wish to select begins or ends.
3. Press the right arrow key until the first line of text is highlighted.
4. Press the down arrow key until the first paragraph is highlighted.
5. Click anywhere outside the highlighted area to remove the highlighting.

Select with the Mouse

1. Place your cursor before the word “You” in the second paragraph.
2. Press and hold down the left mouse button.
3. Drag the mouse until you have highlighted the second paragraph.
4. Click anywhere outside the highlighted area to remove the highlighting.

Place the Cursor

During the lessons, you will often be asked to place the cursor at a specific location (the insertion point) on the screen. You place the cursor by moving the cursor to the specified location and pressing the left mouse button or by using the arrow keys to move to the specified location.

EXERCISE 2

The Arrow Keys

1. Use the down arrow key to move down your document.
2. Use the right arrow key to move to the right.
3. Use the up arrow key to move up.
4. Use the left arrow key to move to the left.

Cursor

1. Move around you document by using you mouse and clicking in a variety of location.
2. Click in a location and type. Note what happens.

EXECUTE COMMANDS WITH KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

There are many methods you can use to accomplish tasks when using Word. Generally, you choose an option by clicking the option on the Ribbon. However, you can also use shortcut keys. A key name followed by a plus and a letter means to hold down the key while pressing the letter. For example, Ctrl+b means you should hold down the Ctrl key while pressing “b.” A shorthand notation of the above would read as follows:

Press Ctrl+b. Typists who are slowed down by using a mouse usually prefer using keys.

Start a New Paragraph

When you type in Microsoft Word, you do not need to press a key to move to a new line. To start a new paragraph, press the Enter key. 

EXIT WORD

Typically, you save your work before exiting. The exit button is located in the extreme right corner of your window.

Close and Save

1. Click the Microsoft Office button. A menu appears.
2. Click Exit Word, which is in the bottom-right corner.
3. You will be prompted: “Do you want to save changes to Document1?” To save your changes, click Yes. Otherwise, click No. If you click Yes, the Save As dialog box appears.
4. Specify the correct folder in the Save In box.
5. Name your file by typing Lesson One.doc in the File Name field.Click Save. Word saves your file as shown below.

Retrieving Document

Once the document has been saved, it exists in the computer. To open it, do the following:

1. Click the office button
2. Click open
3. On the open window, choose where you saved the document
4. Identify the document and click open

    

1. Editing and formatting a document
   

1. Editing a document
   

    

Selecting text

For you to be able to edit and format a document, the text should first be highlighted (selected). This can be done by using the following methods:

1. One word– simply point the mouse and click or click and drag the mouse over it. You can also double click the word.
2. A sentence– point the sentence and click if it is separated from the rest of the text, or click and drag the mouse over the sentence.
3. A paragraph– triple click the paragraph i.e click three times.
4. A whole document– place the cursor at the beginning of the document, hold the shift button down and click the end of the document.

    

Moving, copying and deleting text

Moving text

Moving a text means to relocate the text from its original place to another place. This is done by using cut and paste method. One you select text, simply click on cut option from the tool bar, or right click after selecting document on the pop-up menu as shown below. Position the cursor where you want to move the text and click paste. For example, you can cut and paste (move) one paragraph from one place to another.

The above is the pop-up menu that appears when you right click.

Copying text

Copying text means making its duplicate elsewhere. This is done by selecting text, then clicking copy button from the tool bar or from the pop-up menu and pasting the text where you want it to be.

This is the pop-up menu that appears when you right click after highlighting text.

Type, Backspace, and Delete

In Microsoft Word, you create documents by typing them. For example, if you want to create a report, you open Microsoft Word and then begin typing. You do not have to do anything when your text reaches the end of a line and you want to move to a new line—Microsoft Word automatically moves your text to a new line.  If you want to start a new paragraph, press Enter. Microsoft word creates a blank line to indicate the start of a new paragraph. To capitalize, hold down the Shift key while typing the letter you want to capitalize.  If you make a mistake, you can delete what you typed and then type your correction. You can use the Backspace key to delete. Each time you press the Backspace key, Microsoft Word deletes the character that precedes the insertion point. The  insertion point is the point at which your mouse pointer is located. You can also delete text by using the Delete key. First, you select the text you want to delete; then you press the Delete key.

EXERCISE 1

Type and Backspace

1. Type the following sentence:

Alex has a very large house.

1. Delete the word “house.” Using either the arrow keys or the mouse, place the cursor between the period and the “e” in “house.”
2. Press the Backspace key until the word “house” is deleted.
3. Type boat. The sentence should now read:
   “Alex has a very large boat.”

    

    

Delete

Delete the word “very” from the sentence you just typed.

1. Select the word “very.” You can place the cursor before the “v” in the word “very,” press and hold down the Shift key, and then press the right arrow key until the word “very” is highlighted.
2. Press the Delete key. The sentence should now read:
   “Alex has a large boat.”

Insert and Overtype

While creating your document, you may find you need to insert text—place new text between existing text. Suppose, you type the sentence, “Alex has a large boat.”  After typing it, you decide you want to change the sentence to “Alex has a large blue boat.” With Microsoft Word, inserting a word, phrase, or even several paragraphs is easy.

Alternatively, you may want to overtype text—replace old text with new text. For example, suppose you type the sentence, “Alex has a large blue boat.” After typing it, you decide you want to change the sentence to  “Alex has a large gray boat.” With Microsoft Word, overtyping the word blue with the word gray is also easy.  Before you attempt to insert or overtype, you should check the mode you are in—Insert or Overtype. You right-click the Status bar and then use the Customize Status Bar menu to place the Insert/Overtype button on the Status bar. You can then use the Insert/Overtype button to switch between Insert and Overtype mode. When you are in Insert mode, you can insert text. When you are in Overtype mode, you can overtype text. By default, Microsoft Word is in the Insert mode.

EXERCISE 2

Placing the Insert/Overtype button on the Status bar

1. Right-click the Status bar. The Customize Status Bar menu appears.
2. Click Overtype. The Insert/Overtype button appears on the Status bar.
3. If the word Insert appears on the Status bar, you are in Insert mode.
4. If the word Overtype appears on the Status bar, click the word Overtype and it will change to Insert, thereby changing Word to Insert mode.

Insert

Make sure you are in Insert mode before proceeding. You are going to insert the word “blue” between the words “large” and “boat.”

1. Place the cursor after the space between the words “large” and “boat.”
2. Type the word blue.
3. Press the spacebar to add a space.
4. The sentence should now read:
   “Alex has a large blue boat.”

Overtype

You can type over the current text (replace the current text with new text) in the Overtype mode. Do the following to change to the Overtype mode.

• Click “Insert” on the Status bar. The word Insert changes to Overtype.

Change the word “blue” to “gray.”

1. Place the cursor before the letter “b” in “blue.”
2. Type the word gray.
3. The sentence should now read:
   “Alex has a large gray boat.”

Note: You can overtype text without changing to Overtype mode by selecting the text you want to overtype and then typing.

1. Find and Replace
   

In Microsoft Word 2007, When you click find

The following window appears:

Inside the Find what box, type a word or a sentence you intend to find to be replaced by another word or sentence.

Example: Type the name Alex inside Find what box

Once you have typed the word, click the Replace tab, the following window appears:

Inside the Replace box, type the word you intend to replace Alex with. Then click replace if it is one word, or Replace All. The word or words will then be simultaneously replaced.

1. Proof Reading
   

Microsoft word 2007, as mentioned earlier has the ability to identify spelling and grammar errors and correct them. It is always a good practice to proof read your documents before sending them for printing for an examination. Under this section we will look at spelling and grammar, the use of thesaurus, auto-correct and the use of undo and re-do buttons.

Spelling and grammar check

The keyboard shortcut F7 takes you straight to spelling and grammar check window shown below. You can also click Review menu and then choose spelling and grammar.

Steps to use:

Once the word with a spelling or a sentence with grammar problem is shown inside the Not in Dictionary box, look at the suggestions given in the suggestions box and click Change if it one word or change All if they are many word with the same spelling mistakes. You can decline to change it or them by clicking Ignore or Ignore All respectively.

Please note that on the spelling and Grammar window, the English language being used is shown. For instance the current one is English (U.S). You can vary this by choosing the arrow on Dictionary language as shown above.

Thesaurus

This is the feature which will enable you to get alternative words which have the same meaning
(synonyms) as a word you intend to change. It also provides words with opposite meanings (antonyms).

Steps to use

Select the word to search a different meaning for under thesaurus.

Click on Review menu, then click Thesaurus as shown below.

Example:

The word review above has been selected and the procedure above followed. The result from thesaurus looks as shown.

Alternatively, select the word then right click on it, then; the following pop-up menu will appear. Choose synonyms, then thesaurus as shown below.

Auto-correct

This feature is used to automatically replace either frequently misspelled words or long words that you do not intend to type completely because they consume time to type. These words must be included in the autocorrect dictionary if this feature is to be activated.

Example

Words such as miscellaneous are often long and tedious to write. You may also decide that everytime you write a misspelled word more as moer, it should automatically be corrected to more. This is how to set up the autocorrect feature.

Steps

Select the word to autocorrect e.g moer above

Right click on it. The following menu appears

When you click the Autocorrect the following window appears:

Note the word moer inside the replace box, the cursor is blinking inside thewith box. Simply type the word more inside the replace box. Once you type the word more, the Add button will be activated. Once you click on it, the both words will be added to the dictionary as shown below.

The following window now shows that both words are added to the dictionary.

This process is the same for long words like miscellaneous. Simply enter a short form under autocorrect e.g. misc. Once entered, it will always correct it to the full word immediately you press space bar from the keyboard.

Undo and Redo

The undo icon is used to clear what has recently been done and which you do not intend to have as part of the text. However, if you do realize later that you have cleared a word, a sentence and so on by mistake, you can use re-do to bring it back to be part of your text.

1. Formatting a document
   

1.5.4.1 Text Formatting

The aim of formatting text is to make it more reader friendly by bolding, italicizing, changing fonts and font types, changing cases and so on.

The first step as has been mentioned elsewhere in this topic is to select the text first. One the selection has been done, one has the option of using either the shortcut commands on the shortcut tool bar or clicking Font and accessing the commands from there.

Here is the window:

The action is performed immediately you click the either B
I
or U after selecting the word or sentence and so on.

If you click the arrow under Font, the window below will open. The menu found in this window contains the shortcut commands above.

The bold(B), Italic (I) commands are found under Font style. The underline (U) is found under underline style. Under font, you find the different fonts i.e the different ‘hand writing’ styles. There is also size box which contains the different sizes of the Fonts and the Font colour box, contains the different colours you could apply to the fonts chosen.

Change case

Capital letters, small letters and so on are known as cases in WP. In this section we are looking at the different cases that are provided for. To access the different cases, click Aa on shortcut tool bar as shown below:

There are five different cases that you can change your sentence to. To apply the different cases, simply select your sentence and click the case you desire to change your text to.

• Sentence case- this is where the first letter in a sentence is capital and the rest are small. Example is: Sentence case. Note that the first letter is capital and the rest are small
• Lower case are small letters. Example: lowercase, Note that there is no capital letters.

• Uppercase are capital letters. Example is: UPPERCASE, note that they are all CAPITAL letters.

• Capitalize Each Word- when you apply this case, each word in the sentence is made to start with a capital letter. Example is Capitalize Each Word.

• tOGGLE cASE – this is where the first letter in a word is small and the rest are capital. The example is as shown in the toggle case above.
  

Drop caps

A

drop cap is the first letter in a sentence which is capital and spans two or more sentences downwards.

To apply a drop cap, do the following:

• Highlight the first letter you intend to put drop cap on.
• Click insert menu, choose drop cap, by clicking on the arrow that appears under it.

   

  This is shown below:

There are two types of drop caps as shown above: Dropped and In margin. The former is dropped by a some lines, whereas the latter stands on a separate margin from the main text.

Hint: To remove the drop cap, simply select the drop cap and click none above to remove it.

Superscript and Subscript

Superscript is a character which appears superimposed above a text, whereas subscript appears beneath a text. Example:

55¹⁰  55₁₀

Applying Superscript and Subscript

Select the letter or number to apply as superscript or subscript.

On the shortcut tool bar, click

You can also access the X₂ and X² by clicking the arrow on the font menu above.

Under effects, check (tick) the box for superscript or subscript as appropriate.

1. Paragraph formatting
   

Formatting alignment on paragraph includes alignment, indentation, spacing, applying section breaks, inserting bullets and numbering, page and section breaks among others. All these are found under paragraph menu in Microsoft Word 2007.

Alignment

To align text means to position it to the left, centre, right or justified.

Highlight the text to align, then click the following icons respectively.

Hint: When you click the arrow on paragraph above, you obtain the same menu under alignment box.

Exercise: Click the paragraph arrow and identify the alignments within the paragraph window.

Indentation

To indent means to move away from the margins. You can indent text to the left by placing your cursor at the beginning of text, then click decrease indent shown below,

Or you could indent to the right by clicking on increase indent as shown below.

Hint: On paragraph window above, under indentation, you perform the alignment by specifying under left or right box, in terms of centimeters(cm) or any other unit of measurement defaulted on your computer.

Exercise

Change the left alignment to 3cm and check the position of your cursor on screen. You can be guided by the ruler on your screen.

Spacing

This is the space between one sentence and another, vertically.

To apply spacing, select the text, click on line spacing below and choose the line spacing you wish to apply.

Exercise: Identify the line spacing box under paragraph window.

You can also add spacing before and after paragraph by clicking on Add space before paragraph or Add Space after Paragraph above.

What this does is, from the word where you want to add space before, there will be a space on top of that word, and space after paragraph will create space after the word selected.

Example

Observe keenly the changes that this original text will have after applying Add space before and after paragraph commands.

Explanation

The text highlighted in green is selected and Add space before paragraph option
used. Note the space on top of the word spacing that is highlighted with red colour.

Sample task

Change the left alignment to 3cm and check the position of your cursor on screen. You can be guided by the ruler on your screen.

Spacing

This is the space between one sentence and another, vertically.

1. Add space before paragraph
   

Exercise

Change the left alignment to 3cm and check the position of your cursor on screen. You can be guided by the ruler on your screen.

Spacing

This is the space between one sentence and another, vertically.

1. Add space after paragraph – this will create space after the word spacing as shown above.

Exercise: By going to the paragraph menu, specify the space through up and down arrows shown below.

Bullets and numbering

Bullets and numbering are classified as list. They typically used to list items in some order. The bullets are basically symbols and the numbering can be alphabets, decimal numbers (1-10) or roman numerals ( i-x). Under this listing, you also find multi level list, basically used where you have a main point broken down into sub-points.

Bullets

Highlight the list to apply bullets to and then click bullets of your choice. The bullets will be applied to your list.

To remove the bullets, simply highlight the text and click none above.

Numbering

Highlight the list to apply numbering to and then click numbering of your choice. The numbers will be applied to your list.

Exercise

Explore the multilevel list by applying to a list.

Page and Section breaks

Page break divides a page by inserting a new one from the point of the cursor. Section breaks inserts a new section form the point of the cursor. There different types of page and section breaks as shown below.

To apply a break, simply place your cursor at the start point and click breaks above on page layout, then choose page or section break.

1.5.6 Page formatting

Page Setup menu incorporates page layout menu which has the commands necessary to format a page. These include margins, orientation, page size, columns, text direction, tabs and so on. This is shown below:

Page layout

A page layout in Ms-word 2007 involves the margins, orientation, paper size and columns.

Setting the margins

To set your own margins, click the arrow on margins. Once the setup window opens, insert left, right, top and bottom margins.

Hint: to change measurement units from inches to cm, click office button and click word options. The following window will open. On measurement units, change to cm.

Changing orientation

On page setup window above, change the orientation of your page by choosing either portrait (vertical orientation) or landscape (horizontal orientation).

Paper size

On page setup window above, change the paper size by first clicking the paper tab
as shown below.

The window below opens. Choose your paper size as desired, by clicking the arrow on A5 below.

Setting Columns

To set columns, do the following:

Click Page Layout menu

Click columns

Choose the desired columns from the list shown.

Hint:
You can also choose more columns if you want to put a specific gap between your columns.

Exercise:

Click on more columns and choose 3 columns, then apply 1.25cm gap between your columns.

Headers and Footers

Header is a running head or text that appears on top of every page. Footer on the other hand is text which appears below every page on your document.

Setting headers and Footers

Microsoft word 2007 has placed this command under Insert menu.

• Click insert menu. Click header or footer.
• Choose the appropriate layout and type the text to appear on them.
• Once you complete writing on your header, double click anywhere on the text to return to normal page. You can also click on

Hint:
If you double click on the header band once you have written your header, note the way the shortcut tool bar changes with new commands written header and footer Design

Exercise: Use the window below to answer the questions given.

1. Set your header and then click the Different first page box and write down your finding.
2. Do the same for different Odd and Even Pages
3. Try the use of Header from top and Footer from bottom by changing the numbers shown in the box. Write down your findings.

Inserting Page numbers

Click insert menu, choose page number and choose where you want your page numbers to appear.

Exercise

1. Click on Format Page Numbers option and choose the number format of your choice.

    

2. Remove the page numbers you have placed on your document. Write the steps you have followed to do this.

    

1.5.8 Creating and Editing a Table

Creating tables in Ms-word 2007 is easy. Simply place the cursor where you want the table to go.

On insert menu, click table. By highlighting over the rows and columns, you are choosing the number of rows and columns you wish to have on your table.

Observe the following and record you think the author is doing by clicking on the table menu and the insertion taking place.

Hint:
the author have chosen a 4×4 table from the table menu above and the same has been placed below as a table.

Exercise

Create a table by clicking on insert table option shown above. Write the difference between the two methods.

Editing tables

Tables can be resized, new columns/rows inserted, rows/columns can be merged and they can also be split.

Resizing rows/columns

The easier way of expanding your rows is to place the cursor within a row and press enter.

Hint:
Alternatively, select the row to expand and right click. A pop-up window will appear, choose table properties then click the row tab. The window below will appear. On size, specify height.

Resizing columns

Place the cursor on the boundaries of the column you intend to expand. A double headed pointer as shown below will appear. Columns are resized by moving the double headed pointer in the direction you want to expand the table.

This is illustrated below.

Inserting rows and columns

To insert a row or a column, simply select the row or column. Right click on it and click insert, then choose row/column and the position of insertion desired

Deleting rows/columns

• Highlight the row/column to delete.

• Right click on it
• On the pop-up menu, click either delete rows or delete columns depending on what you selected to delete.

Merging rows/columns

• Highlight the row/column to merge
• Right click on the same
• On the pop-up window click merge cells.
• The cells will be merged.

Entering data in a table

Simply place your cursor in the cell you wish to enter data and type the usual way.

Exercise

Type inside a cell and then change the text direction vertically.

Hint:
Simply highlight the cell containing text and right click. Choose text direction from pop-up window.

Formatting Tables

Formatting a table is to make it appealing to the reader. You can put borders and shading on it to enhance the contents.

Steps:

Highlight the entire table or row/column as desired.

Right click and choose borders and shading from the pop-up menu.

When you click on borders and shading, the following window pops-up.

When the borders tab is clicked, the following is seen.

To apply the borders

• Highlight where to apply border,
• Click a setting e.g. Box, grid
• Choose the style you want,
• Choose colour
• Choose width to apply to the borders
• On Apply to box, click where to apply the border

Exercise

Create a table of 4 rows and 5 columns

Apply the grid borders to the table

Apply colour of your desire

Apply appropriate width.

Exercise

Using shading tab, apply shading on the first row of the table in on the exercise above. Make sure to choose, the style, the colour and where to apply the shading.

Split cells

Click in a cell, or select multiple cells that you want to split.

Under Table Tools, on the Layout tab, in the Merge group, click Split Cells.

Hint: Once you highlight, the table tools will appear on top of the menus.

Table conversions

Ms-Word 2007 allows you to convert contents of a table into text and likewise convert text into a table.

This feature is used to convert the selected text into a table, splitting the text into columns at each comma

period, or other characters you specify.

For example the sentence above beginning with the word this feature… is separated by three commas, hence making them four sentences. To convert the sentence into columns, select the text, then click insert menu and choose table. On the drop down box, choose convert text to table. The following will be the result:

The result is this:

Converting table to text

Highlight the table to convert to text. On table tools, click convert to txt as shown below.

Sort the contents of a table

In Print Layout view (Print Layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.), move the pointer over the table until the table move handle appears.

Click the table move handle to select the table that you want to sort.

Under Table Tools, on the Layout tab, in the Data group, click Sort.

In the Sort dialog box, select the options that you want.

Sort a single column in a table

Select the column that you want to sort.

Under Table Tools, on the Layout tab, in the Data group, click Sort.

Under My list has, click Header row or No header row.

Click Options.

Under Sort options, select the Sort column only check box.

Click OK.

Sort by more than one word or field inside a table column

To sort the data in a table that is based on the contents of a column that includes more than one word, you must first use characters to separate the data — including data in the header row. For example, if the cells in a column contain both last and first names, you can use commas to separate the names.

Select the column that you want to sort.

Under Table Tools, on the Layout tab, in the Data group, click Sort.

Under My list has, click Header row or No header row.

Click Options.

Under Separate fields at, click the type of character that separates the words or fields that you want to sort, and then click OK.

Under Sort by, in the Using list, select which word or field you want to sort by.

In the first Then by list, enter the column that contains the data that you want to sort by, and then in the Using list, select which word or field you want to sort by.

If you want to sort by an additional column, repeat this step in the second Then by list.

Click OK.

Arithmetic Calculations

Once you have a set of data in a table as shown below, Ms-word provides you with an option to enter a formula and perform calculation on the data present.

To insert a formula in the cell under profit, simply place your cursor where the answer should be, and go to Table tools menu. On layout, click formula (fx) as shown below. The formula appears for you [=sum(above)] and the word above indicates the items to be added. If the formula is not the one you intended to have, simply go paste function, and choose the right function. Click ok to perform calculation.

On Number format, choose the format you want e.g. 0.00 to mean two decimal places for the answer.

Updating your answer

Hint: if you change any number within the cells, the answer will not be updated automatically. Simply go to the cell containing the answer, right click and choose update. The answer will then be updated for you.

Exercise

From the table above, show how the author obtained the answer 133 for the profit under the item beans.

1.6 Creating and Updating a Mail Merge document

Mail merge is a key feature of Ms-word. It is a process which allows the user to create a main letter (envelope, email or labels) and merge it with data source (list of addresses) to produce personalized letters. This is normally applicable in situations where you need to produce many letters for different people, yet having some aspects of that letter being standard.

Example

You can use mail merge to produce letters for students in a school who obviously have different addresses and different school fees balances.

Steps of mail merge

Mail merge is a three step process which involves the following:

1. Creating a main letter or envelope or labels
2. Creating or importing a data source (also known as recipient’s list)
3. Merging the main document with the data source.

    

    

    

    

   1. Creating Main document
      

The main document being a letter usually has certain features which are common for everyone and others which are unique to the individual. Such a letter will often take the following format:

EFFORTS ACADEMY

P.O. BOX 1550-00200, NAIROBI, KENYA

P.O. Box