Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is the single most popular word processing software package. With about a 93% share of the global market, it is, like it or not, the de facto standard. It is impossible to cover all of the features of MSWord in a single session since MSWord contains around 10⁵ distinct editing, formatting and other commands - just reading the complete list aloud would take several days. This session is intended to ensure that you can manipulate documents using MSWord, are familiar with the main features of the program and can print out hard copies of documents from CFS using the University print servers.

(Hint: Save the above link as one of your "Favorites" for future reference)

If you are new to MSWord, you might also want to try The GeekGirl Guide to Word Processing.

If you would like to go more deeply into all the features of MSword, read the online information (Help Menu).

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A few features of MSWord are worthy of special note:

Spellchecker: No spellchecker is perfect. The MSWord built-in spellchecker is about as far from perfect as it is possible to imagine, BUT it is a valuable part of the program - there is no excuse to EVER submit written work containing elementary spelling and typig errors. USE IT! Tools: Spelling and Grammar
MSWord's built-in grammar checker is less useful. If you want to turn the grammar check off: Tools: Options: Spelling & Grammar

Graphics: There are two basic types of graphics that you can include in MSWord documents: drawing objects and pictures. Drawing objects include AutoShapes, curves, lines and "WordArt". These objects are part of your Word document. Use the Drawing toolbar to change and enhance these objects with colors, patterns, borders, and other effects. Pictures are graphics that were created as another file. They include bitmaps, scanned pictures and photographs, and clip art. You can change and enhance pictures by using the options on the Picture toolbar and a limited number of options on the Drawing toolbar.

Views: View menu
MSWord can display documents in a confusing array of different views:

Normal view: Work in normal view for typing, editing, and formatting text. Normal view shows text formatting but simplifies the layout of the page so that you can type and edit quickly. In normal view, page boundaries, headers and footers, backgrounds, drawing objects, and pictures that do not have the In line with text wrapping style do not appear.

Outline view: Work in outline view to look at the structure of a document and to move, copy, and reorganize text by dragging headings. In outline view, you can collapse a document to see only the main headings, or you can expand it to see all headings and even body text. Outline view also makes it easy to work with master documents. A master document makes it easier to organize and maintain a long document, such as a multipart report or a book with chapters. In outline view, page boundaries, headers and footers, graphics, and backgrounds do not appear.

Print layout view: Work in print layout view to see how text, graphics, and other elements will be positioned on the printed page. This view is useful for editing headers and footers, for adjusting margins, and for working with columns and drawing objects.

Print preview: In print preview, you can display multiple pages of a document in a reduced size. In this view, you can see page breaks, hidden text, and watermarks, and you can make editing or formatting changes before you print the document.
By default, MSWord is setup so that you may not be able to see all of the toolbar on small monitors:

toolbar

To change this, select: Tools -> Customize -> Options and uncheck the "Standard and Formatting toolbars share one row" option. You can then see both toolbars in all their glory:

toolbar

Equation Editor: The MSWord Equation Editor is not a part of the MSWord program but an extra add-in. The first time you use the Equation Editor, MSWord may ask you to install the software, but you only have to do this once. To use the Equation Editor, position the cursor in the document where you want the equation, then select: Insert: Equation Editor or Insert: Object: Microsoft Equation. This brings up a new screen where you can select mathematical symbols from menus and format your equation.
At first, the Equation Editor may not seem very easy to use, but with practice it will allow you to format mathematical symbols and expressions which you cannot achieve in any other way in MSWord, except for pasting an equation into a document as a graphic.

Important: Macro Viruses

Always check documents for macros that might contain viruses!

A macro virus is a type of computer virus stored in the macros (sequences of MSWord actions which can be recorded and played back to repeat the actions) within a document or template. When you open the document, the virus is activated, transmitted to your computer and stored in your document template. From that point on, every document you save is infected with the virus - and if other users open these infected documents, the virus is transmitted to their computers as well.

Security

In MSWord, macro protection is set using the Tools: Macro: Security menu (opposite).

I strongly recommend that you ensure the Security Level is set at "High" and leave it there!