Dear all, welcome to this complete tutorial on Microsoft Word! In just
13 minutes you will see and learn all the main features to own this
product very easily!
Microsoft Word is the best word processor to realize documents,
illustrations and reports with the maximum control on page layout and text
distribution.
It is part of the Office bundle for both Windows and MacOS and it is
available under either a subscription plan (as Microsoft 365) or a
perpetual license. You may also use Word Online for free, but its features
may be limited in respect to what you are going to see in this video.
When opening Word its start-up page opens with several options. You can
reopen any existing document you have or pick any ready template to start
with a new one.
To see how to use Word let's start from a new Blank document. This opens
the main interface with the Ribbon on top - with all the main tools within
several tabs - and a big preview on the document page at the bottom. Use
your mouse wheel to scroll up and down and also hold down the CTRL (or
Option and CTRL on Mac) to zoom in and out.
To adjust the document properties open the Layout tab to show the Page
Setup section. With Margin you can set the safe distance between text and
page borders; with Orientation you change the document orientation and with
Size you can pick a different standard and change the page size. Whereas
use Columns to spread text across different columns, from the left to the
right side of the page.
As you type in you fill the document page by following the insertion point.
Other pages will be automatically added as you go on. You can also use the
arrow keys to move the insertion point and type elsewhere. Whereas use CTRL
(or CMD) and X, C and V to cut, copy and paste text, especially if you need
to import any large content. This is pasted where the insertion point is.
Use CTRL (or CMD) and Z to undo any action if you make any mistake.
While you type Word performs corrections and shows suggestions. For example
it turns the first letter uppercase when making a new line and shows tips
when grammar, spelling or punctuation may not be correct when you right-
click on text. If you do not see these make sure that the chosen language
at the bottom is correct.
To edit text you have to select it first. Just click and drag on it as you
need or hold down the Shift key and move the insertion point character per
character with the arrow keys. You can also double-click on any word to
select it quickly or click once from the left to select entire lines.
At this point you can edit text with the dialog box showing up or the Home
tab above. Adjust font family, size, style or drop subscript or superscript
text; change the font color, add highlighting or apply amazing effects,
including outline, shadow or reflection. Hover over these to get a quick
preview before applying any.
For all the complete options open the Font panel by clicking on the arrow
in the bottom right corner.
With the paragraphs you can easily manage the text distribution. Everytime
you make a new line with the Enter key you create a text paragraph, such as
a collection of sentences that share the same topic and properties. You can
show all of these by clicking on Show-Hide under the Home tab.
Each paragraph has its own alignment and distribution options. Click within
the paragraph and go to Home, Paragraph to set its alignment, choosing
Justify to spread the words in order to cover the whole page width. With Line
Spacing adjust the distance between the paragraph lines as you need.
Use Shading to apply a custom background color to the whole paragraph and
Borders to add borders around it. Switch to the Layout tab to manage the
paragraph indentation and spacing, in respect to the previous or the
following paragraph.
You can also use the Rulers to adjust spacing and indentation. If you do
not see these go to View and enable Ruler.
The horizontal and the vertical ruler measure your page width and height by
taking the default measurement unit of your OS language. You can also change it
by going to File, Options, Advanced, Show measurement in units.
Moreover each ruler shows where text can spread in white color and the safe
page margins in dark color on both sides. You can click and drag the edges
to adjust these, also in case you have multiple columns.
Hold down the ALT (or the Option) key to check the distances between the
ruler.
The horizontal ruler is very useful to adjust indentation and distribution
for the current paragraph. Drag the right marker to adjust the right
indentation and the left marker at the bottom to correct the left one. Hold
down the Shift key to move all lines except the first one and drag the
upper marker to do viceversa.
You can apply all of these adjustments to multiple paragraphs if you select
all of these at once.
You can create lists with the buttons under the Home tab. Click on Bullets
to make a bulleted lists with symbols; on Numbering to make numbered lists
with ordered numbers or letters and on Multilevel to drop mixed lists.
At this point write the first line and go ahead with the second one with
the Enter key. Whereas use the Tab key to type on a lower level. With the
Backspace key you can return to an upper level or remove the current line.
Click once on the list symbol or number to change it in color or style. In
case of numbered lists you can right-click and go to Set Numbering Value...
to either start from the beginning or continuing with the current list.
You can also adjust the spacing of any list with the horizontal ruler on
top, as we have seen for the standard paragraph.
From the Insert tab you can include several objects within your document.
Click on Table to add any table with defined rows and columns and click on
any cell to type in. You can also open Table Design to adjust the table
appearance, add background colors or custom borders to the cells you
have selected by clicking and dragging on these. Whereas switch to Layout
to add or remove rows and columns, split or merge selected cells and adjust
text distribution on these.
With Pictures you can browse and import images and adjust these with
Picture Format on top by correcting colors, adding borders or applying any
crop.
Use Shapes to drop polygons and the arrows by clicking and dragging on the
document. In particular you can drop Text Boxes to import pieces of text
completely independent from the rest of the document and contained within a
rectangular shape.
With the shape selected you can open Shape Format to adjust the fill color,
the outline color and style or apply any effect. Choose No Fill or No
Outline to make these completely transparent.
If shapes overlap you can use the options inside Layout, Arrange to adjust
their order of visibility.
You can click on any object to select it and drag it to move it or use its
nodes to resize or rotate it. This may change the text distribution on Text
Boxes.
When dealing with Tables use the left icon to move it and the right one at
the bottom to resize it.
When you select any object you can click on Layout Options to set how this
must be placed in respect to the document paragraphs. Choose In Line to put
the object in line with the insertion point or Text Wrapping to keep the
object independent, with or without any distance from text. In this case
choose Move with text to move the object as you add or remove text or Fix
position to keep the object position fixed and independent from text.
From Insert you can also add equations and symbols where the insertion
point is. Compose the equation with the options on top and drop any math
symbol, Greek character or uncommon accents with the Symbol panel. You can
select equations and symbols to customize these in format, distribution
and style.
You can drop headers and footers on top and at the bottom of each page. For
example you can add footers by double-clicking at the bottom. At this point
you can either type in or add pre-formatted footers from the tab on top,
including document information or page numbers that increase automatically.
Double-click outside to apply. The color may be different only to separate
the footer or header from the rest of the document.
You can also add Headings to separate large documents into useful chapters.
Start with a new line or select any text on an independent line and go to
Home, Styles. Select Heading 1 to drop the main title, Heading 2 for the
first subtitle and so on, adjusting format and style just like standard
text.
As you go on with a new line you can type text, drop shapes or include
other Headings. Then you can click on the arrow next to the main Heading
above to hide or show its content - making a very useful and independent
chapter.
If you open the Navigation panel from the bottom left corner you can check
all the chapters made and click on any to get directed where you need.
You can also make numbered headings. Just type any number followed by a dot
and add others as many as the heading level is lower. Word corrects these
numbers automatically in case you change level or number on upper headings.
With these same chapters you can go to References, Table of Contents to add
a quick list of contents complete with titles and links. If anything
changes you can click on it and go to Update Table to get it updated.
From the same tab you can use Insert Footnote to add extra notes at the
bottom of the page, right before the footer. Whereas with Insert Caption
you can include labels and a description to equations, figures and tables.
These come with numbers that increase automatically as you add more
captions. You can adjust these as you like by going to Numbering...
With Cross-reference you can add links to headings and footnotes, showing
either their whole text description or just their number.
To include hyperlinks select any text and go to Insert, Link. Add any
website address at the bottom, direct to any file you have or select any
heading within your document. Always test the link by holding down the CTRL
(or CMD) key and clicking on it. Whereas right-click and go to Remove
Hyperlink to delete it.
To save your document go to File and then to Save As, defining name and
where to save it. Choose .DOCX to save all as a Word document in order to
reopen and modify it later. Whereas select .PDF to export it to share it
or print it.
Thank you very much for watching this tutorial! Make sure to catch our
complete Office guide to learn more with quick and easy steps!!