Formatting Documents in MS WORD


Introduction:

This exercise will teach you how to include non-text items in your document, such as frames, pictures, and tables. It will also teach you how to use some of the options under the Edit and View menus.

New Concepts:

Objectives:

Modify the document you are provided with to gain experience in the items listed under New Concepts.

Hand In:

The modified document.

Reminders:

Instructions:

  1. Load the initial document. This document is included at the end of this webpage in a link. The easiest way to do this is to start MS WORD and go to the Open option in the File menu. The file should be on the A: drive wherever you have saved it. If you have difficulty doing this, it may be a problem with the computer; have your TA help you. You will also want to download the snowman graphic to your disk also.
  2. The document contains instructions (in parentheses) about how to alter it. The rest of these instructions will detail how to follow the instructions in the document.
  3. Header/Footer: The header and footer are pieces of text that are displayed at the top and bottom of every page in the document. Go to the Header/Footer option under the View menu. A window will come up; select Header (or Footer) and click on OK. That will move you to the place to edit the header or footer. Note that it is possible to insert page numbers and dates in the header and footer, and the computer will keep them up to date automatically.
  4. Normal and Page Layout Views: To change the view go to the View menu and select either Normal or Page Layout. Normal View is used mostly for typing. Page Layout View allows you to see the document exactly as it will be printed out.
  5. Frames: To insert a frame, go to the Insert menu and select the option Frame. WORD may prompt you to go into Page Layout View ; if so, click on Yes . The mouse will change into a crosshairs. Click the mouse where you want one corner of the frame to be, and drag the mouse to the opposite corner. A rectangle showing the size of the frame will move as you move the mouse. To type in the frame, click on the mouse button inside the frame. Note that if you type more than the fram can hold, the frame will grow.
  6. Editing Frames: Once you have inserted the frame, you can edit it. First select the frame. Then move the mouse to an edge of the frame until the mouse looks like a compass (arrows going in all four directions). Click on the mouse, and the little black squares will appear on the edge of the frame. Go to the option Frame under the Format menu, and a window will appear giving you the ability to change many things about the frame. Alternatively, you can move the mouse to one of the black squares. You can then stretch the frame in the direction the arrow is pointing by holding down the mouse button and dragging the frame.
  7. Tables: To insert a table, go to the Insert option in the Table menu. A window will prompt you for the number of rows and columns that you want in the table. If you want, you can change the number of columns and rows later, using the Delete option in from the menu Table . To put text in a cell, simply click the mouse button in that cell. Note that you can select cells (or groups of cells) and put borders around them. You can also justify the text within them.
  8. Footnotes: To insert a footnote, go to the option Footnote under the Insert menu. A window will ask you if you want automatically numbered footnotes, or a special symbol. Click on your choice, and then click on OK. The cursor will appear next to a footnote mark. You can then enter the text you want the footnote to say. If you are in Normal View mode, you will be in a window at the bottom of the screen. You can click on the Close button when you are done typing. If you are in Page Layout mode, you will have to use the Scroll Bar to scroll back up to the text.
  9. Pictures: To insert a picture, go to the option Picture under the Insert menu. A window will appear prompting you to designate the file for the picture you want to insert. For this assignment, the picture will be where you got the original file, with the filename snowman.gif. To edit a picture, choose the Picture option under the Format menu. That will give you the ability to move the picture around, change its size, and crop out (remove) unwanted material at the edges.
  10. Cut/Copy/Paste: Cut, Copy, and Paste are all options under the Edit menu. Cut and Copy are available whenever you have a block of text selected (by dragging the mouse cursor over it). Cut will remove the entire section of text you have selected, and save it in memory. Copy will also save the text in memory, but will not remove it. Paste will take whatever text was stored most recently by Cut or Copy and put it on the screen at the cursor location.
  11. Special Symbols: There are many special symbols, such as Greek characters, available in Microsoft WORD. To add one of them to your document, go to the Symbol option located under the Insert menu. A window will appear with a selection of symbols on it. Click on the symbol you want, and then click on OK. The symbol will then be inserted at the cursor location.

Getting Started:

Once you have read the above instructions and are ready to begin, you may begin working on the in-class exercise. Once you have finished, make sure you are done with the hand-in document (found below) before the next lab.

Congratulations on completing basic WORD Exercise 2 and Lab 4!

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