Topic 1: Microsoft Office Word

A word processor provides the ability to enter, edit, store and print text. Word processing packages allow users to alter the layout of documents and often provide a variety of formatting tools

Features

a) Editing text:- all word processing programs allow users to enter, edit, copy, move, and delete text. This process of entering or correcting text is known as editing

b) Word wrap:- as users type text and move towards the end of a line, the program automatically moves to the beginning of a new line. The spacing between words and characters is also adjusted so that the appearance of the text is improved.

c) Justification: - a word processor allows the user to control text alignment, that is, the layout of the margins on the page.

d) Block operations: - all word processors (packages) allow users to manipulate blocks of text in a number of ways. Once a block of text has been marked, it can be moved, deleted, copied or formatted. Word processors also allow these blocks to be cut and pasted

e) Search and replace: -programs such as word for windows allow the user to search an entire document for a specific word or phrase. Once the text has been located, it can be deleted or replaced with something else. Searches can be conditional, where the word or phrase must appear exactly as specified or unconditional, where any occurrence of the text will be found.

f) Type/font styles: - Most word processing packages allow users to specify the style, font and point size of text. Style refers to text effects such as bold, italics and underlined. The type face used in a document is referred to as the font

g) Page layout: - word processing packages allow users to specify the layout of the pages in the document. This is done by setting the sizes of the top, bottom and left and right margins of the page and by selecting the size of the paper that will be used

h) Headers and footers: - a header is a piece of text that appears at the top of every pages of the document. Headers are typically used to print a chapter heading or title at the top of each page. Footer appears at the bottom of each page. Footers are typically used to print page numbers at the bottom of every page. Headers and footers can be seen in many publications, including newspapers, books and magazines.

i) Mail merge: - packages such as word for windows allow sets of personalized letters to be produced by merging information taken from a separate data file with a standardized ‘form’ document. Example a database could be used to hold the names and addresses a number of business clients. A standard letter could be produced with blanks where the name and address of the client are meant to appear. When the mail merge process begins, each name and address would be inserted in the document and printed. Mail merge is not restricted to names and addresses; any kind of data can be merged into a standard document. This allows mail merge to be used for applications ranging from the production of invoices to personalized newsletters.