Project 1: Word Basics
Standard Bar

Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101
Did you want: Working with Words: Word 2007,2010,2013,2016 or españolIcon: Change web


The Standard toolbar contains, obviously enough, the buttons for the standard (most often used) commands. Microsoft uses many of these same buttons in other applications. Other software programs use very similar buttons for the same types of commands. Most of these commands are easy to understand and use.

New for 97  Toolbars look flat until the pointer is over a button. Then that button gets a 3D look.

Flat buttons  Raised button


Where you are:
JegsWorks > Lessons > Word97-2003

Before you start...

Project 1: Word Basics
   Interface To subtopics
       Views
       Navigating
       Toolbars
       Standard Bar
       Formatting Bar
       Status Bar
       Ruler
       Task Pane Icon: Word 2002Icon: Word 2003
       Smart Tags Icon: Word 2002Icon: Word 2003
    Getting StartedTo subtopics
    FormatTo subtopics
    ImagesTo subtopics
    Pre-PrintTo subtopics
    Manage Printing
    Summary
    Quiz
    ExercisesTo subtopics

Project 2: Auto ToolsTo subtopics

Project 3: BrochureTo subtopics

Project 4: ReportTo subtopics


    Search
    Glossary


Word Standard Toolbar

Standard Toolbar

(Illustration is from Word 2000)


New button  New  

Creates a new blank document using the default template. The  File |  New  command on the menu gives you a choice of templates. (Templates will be explained a little later!)


Open  Open Brings up the Open dialog box for you to choose a document to open. Recently opened files are listed at the bottom of the  File  menu. Using the menu may be faster for documents that you have opened recently.
Save button  Save 

Saves the current document back where it came from. If the document has never been saved before, you will get a dialog box to choose a folder or filename.

WarningThis can get you into trouble if you are editing an old document for a new purpose and don't want to lose the old one. You must use the menu command  File  |  Save As  to get the dialog box you need to save with a different filename. Otherwise you will overwrite the old document.


Button: Permission Permission Icon: Word 2003 Word 2003 adds a button for managing permissions for this document.
Button: E-mail  E-mail Allows you to email the document you are working on without having to open your email software separately. The addressing text boxes appear right in the Word window. The button toggles to show or hide these text boxes.
Button: Search Search Icon: Word 2002 New for Word 2002 Shows and hides the Search task pane at the right of the document. In this pane you can search your document or your computer or your web sites.
Print button  Print 

Will automatically print the whole document without giving you a chance to preview or make changes to page settings.

New for 97 The tool tip for this button shows which printer will be used.  

WarningDon't use this button unless you are very sure you are ready to print the whole document.


Print preview button  Print Preview 

Shows what your document will look like when it is printed.

TipYou should always preview before you print. By checking carefully before you actually print, you can avoid mistakes and save a lot of time and paper.


Spelling and Grammar Check  Spelling and Grammar

Checks the spelling and the grammar of the selected text or of the whole document. Possible spelling errors are marked with a wavy red underscore. Wavy green underscores mark possible grammar errors. Word's dictionary doesn't know every word in the world. You can add words you want Word to know to the custom dictionary, in the file CUSTOM.DIC. This list of the words that you've added can be edited with a text editor like Notepad to remove words you added by mistake.


Button: Research Research Icon: Word 2003 Word 2003 adds a button that opens the Research task pane, where you can search reference books, like an encyclopedia and a thesaurus.
Buttons Copy, Cut, & Paste
Cut, Copy, Paste

Work the same as they did in the Windows lessons.

Cut (scissors button) removes the selected text to the Clipboard.
Copy (two pages button) places a copy of selected text on the Clipboard.
Paste (clipboard and paper button) places a copy of what was on the Clipboard at the cursor location.

Icon: Word 2002Word 2002 can use the Microsoft Office Clipboard, which holds up to 24 items. Very nice! The Microsoft Office Clipboard only works with Microsoft Office programs. The Windows Clipboard is part of the operating system and is available to all programs, but only holds 1 item at a time.

Your copied or cut material may not be stored on the Office Clipboard unless the Task Pane is open to the Clipboard. There is a setting in the Options at the bottom of Clipboard pane that will let the Office Clipboard collect your cuts and copies automatically without the Clipboard Task Pane being open.


Format Painter  Format Painter

Copies the formatting of the selected text and then applies it to other text that you drag across. Double-click the button and you can apply the formatting many different places.


Undo and Redo buttons
Undo & Redo

Word keeps a list of your editing actions and a list of the ones you have reversed. The Undo button reverses the last action in the list. The Redo button reverses your last reversal.

Undo button- list droppedThe arrows drop lists of actions. If you select an action on the list, all the actions to that point are undone (or redone). This can save a lot of clicking, if you can tell how far back you need to go. You can undo the actions one at a time by clicking on the button directly.

New for 97 The arrow on the button is gray when there are no actions in the list. The number of actions remembered depends on how much memory is available, with a maximum of 100. [In Word 95, when no actions are in the list, clicking on the button only plays the ding.wav sound, Win95's default sound.]


Tables and Borders button  Tables and Borders

Tables and Borders toolbar


New for 97 Opens a toolbar for drawing and modifying tables. You can actually draw a table, if you need one with complex rows and columns. Using the Table button, described below, is easier for simple tables. The toolbar also lets you set borders and shadings (background color) for the whole page, a paragraph, a picture, a frame, a text box, a table, a table cell, or selected text. You can change shadings from this toolbar, but changing borders of things other than tables may be easier with the Borders and Shadings dialog on the Format menu.
 
[In Word 95 you can't apply Borders or Shading to just a few words, only to whole paragraphs. For color behind words or phrases, use Highlight in Word 95.]


Table button  Table Table button with grid showingInserts a table at the cursor location. You set the number of rows and columns by dragging on the grid that drops down. Once you have a table, the button changes to Insert row button Insert Row, which will add a new row above the current row to the table.
 
[In Word 95 the button does not change, but it does function this way.]
 
Excel button Excel Inserts an Excel spreadsheet. You select the number of rows and columns the same as for a table. You must have Excel installed for this to work, of course.
Columns button Columns Columns button- with selectorsLets you divide the page into several vertical columns, like a newspaper. Drag across the number of columns you want.

Drawing button Drawing Drawing toolbar - floatingOpens a bar of drawing tools with which you can create graphics from within Word. These tools create vector drawings, which use shapes instead of individual dots. These lessons don't use the Drawing bar much. Frowning smiley There is only so much one can do in one course! (Ask the Office Assistant or use Help to learn more, if you are interested.) You will work with WordArt button WordArt however.
 
[Word 95 has a similar Drawing bar with fewer features and no drop lists.]
Document Map button Document Map New for 97  Opens a pane to the left of the document window with a hypertext outline of the document. When you click on an outline topic, the document scrolls to that point. You must apply heading paragraph styles to your text for this to work. The Document Map is shown by default for the Online Layout view, but it can be used with other views, too.
Show Marks button Show Marks Toggles the display to show or not show marks for things like paragraph and page breaks, tabs, and spaces. Seeing these marks can be very helpful, especially when your document is not behaving as you intended. But marks also are distracting and make it hard to tell what the whole page really looks like.
Zoom button Zoom Zoom list droppedOffers you choices for the display of your document. You can enlarge it to see details or to read small type. You can shrink it to see the whole page, or even two pages at a time. Most of your work will probably be done at 100%. Two other factors are important - monitor size (14", 15", 17", bigger?) and screen resolution (640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, larger?)
Help button Help Office Assitant with questionsBy default, this button opens a small window with the default Office Assistant character, an animated paper clip named Clippit. A character, called an "actor", can assist you by offering tips about what you are doing, by guessing what question you might want to ask, and by providing a Search text box for your question. You can use natural language to search, but using just keywords may be faster and more accurate. Right click on the Office Assistant window and choose  Chose Assistant  to see what other characters are installed.

You may hear peculiar noises from the Office Assistant from time to time as you work. It will also wiggle around. Some people find it highly annoying and some are amused. You can always turn it off after you become familiar with how Word works.

Office Assistant Tip

The Office Assistant shows a light bulb when there is a tip about what you are doing. Click on the light bulb to see the tip. You'll only see a tip once unless you reset the tips in Office Assistant's Options (on the search window above). There are also some choices about what tips you want to see.

[The Office Assistant replaces the Tip Wizard button Tip Wizard and Word 95 Help button Help button used in Word 95.]


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Last updated: 30 Apr 2012