Mouse Clix

By: Hobie Lunin

Word Processing, Part II

Last time I described many of the options in WordPad that are available to someone who is using a Word Processor. WordPad is a basic program and, for those who may now feel comfortable with it, this article will cover options available in Microsoft Word. (Before starting to compare this article with what you see on your screen, click on View and point to Toolbars assure that Standard and Formatting only are checked.)

On the Formatting tool bar there are 3 additional options in Word that WordPad does not have. One is the first Window, which gives you the option of bolder/larger print for a headline. Set it at Heading 1 or 2 to see how it works. Also available on this toolbar is "Justify", just to the right of "Align Right". This aligns both the left and right sides of your text like a column in the newspaper. The computer adds spaces between words to spread out the line to even both edges of the columns.

In addition to the Bullets I mentioned last time, this toolbar also has a numbering system such that if you are making a list and you click the numbering icon, each time you hit Enter a sequential number will be added to your list.

The next two buttons after Bullets increase the size of the paragraph indent and the next button will put a box around your text to make it stand out.

On the next toolbar up we find the checkmark and the letters ABC to the right of Print Preview. This is the spell and grammar check. Try it and you will quickly get the drift. The program tries to guess the correct spelling of a word it does not recognize. You can select the correct spelling or, if the word is a proper name that the program does not recognize, you can click on Add to put it in the dictionary. Grammar corrections speak for themselves and if you click too many spaces between words the program will let you know that as well. If you have the program set to correct spelling as you go along, a red squiggle will appear under any word that the program thinks is a problem. Put the cursor on the word and right click.

The paintbrush that appears after Paste is also not in WordPad and is used to make a format extend beyond where it was originally set.

In addition to Undo, next on that tool bar, there is also Redo, which allows you to add back something you undid. The next two buttons for Insert Hyperlink and Web Toolbar are for those of you that are using Word to make a web page.

In the next grouping of "buttons" the one I think that’s most useful is Insert Table, the second icon. It is well known for those of you who have tried to make columns of data in a word processor, that all goes fine until you want to go back and change something or even correct spelling. The columns start "uncolumning". Nope, folks you can’t really make columns in a word processor. That’s what Insert Table does for you. Give it a try. Note that you can keep typing in a cell and the cell will grow with words that wrap within the cell. Also note that when you get your cells started, the icon on the task bar changes to indicate that you can click to add cells if you need them. They add from the top, by the way.

And an alternate is to use Columns whose icon is two rows of lines although you can make up to four columns. This is not exactly handy for making lists but it allows you to type down in one column and continue in the second column when you have reached the bottom of the first or by clicking on Format, then Paragraph and then Line and page break and selecting Column Break.

The drawing icon is next and has so much going for it I will need to do a separate column on this particular feature.

The Zoom icon is usually set at 100% but can be changed to suit your preference. Click on it and change the size higher and lower than 100% to see what I mean.

Another important feature of word is the use of macros. A macro is like a tape recording of your keyboard actions. In Word, the most popular use is to use it to type long words that are repeated frequently that may be peculiar to your work such as a repeating medical term. Consult the Index for instructions on this.

On the uppermost bar, File and Edit have more options that you can discover on your own and View has many more toolbars that can be explored at your leisure. Format and Tools are likewise and for a writer, the tools bar choice of Word Count helps me keep my editor happy by not getting carried away with my words

Lastly, I repeat my suggestion made in an earlier article: If you plan to use Word regularly, get a book on it so you can read up on any particular feature especially ones that I may not have covered in these two articles.

Next time in Mouse Clix: Chat