Microsoft Word is a word processing program that you can use to create various types of documents. You can create standard letters, memos, faxes, envelopes, labels, and many other types of documents. You can also create your own custom documents, as you have complete control over the appearance of your documents.

If you are an experienced Word user, you will notice that the interface in Word 2016 is similar to the interface used in Word 2013. For new users of the program, as with any program, you should begin by familiarizing yourself with your working environment.

The Title Bar is the bar that runs across the top of the application window. The name of the document that you are working on will be displayed in the center of this bar. At the right end of the Title Bar is a button group. There are four buttons in this group. They are, from left to right, “Ribbon Display Options,” “Minimize,” “Maximize/Restore Down,” and “Close.”

The primary tool that you will use in Word is the Ribbon. This object allows you to perform all of the commands available in the program. The Ribbon is divided into tabs. Within these tabs are different groups of commands. The commands in each group can be accessed either through the use of the buttons, boxes, or menus that are available within the group.

You can click the “File” tab in the Ribbon to open a view of the file called the “Backstage View.” In this view, you can perform all of your file management. This includes performing functions such as saving your file, opening an existing file, or creating a new file.

The Quick Access Toolbar is located above the Ribbon, by default. However, you can also place it below the Ribbon, if desired, by clicking the “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” button at the right end of the toolbar and then selecting the “Show Below the Ribbon” command. You can reset it to its default location by clicking the same “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” button and then choosing the “Show Above the Ribbon” command.

Because of the increased use of touchscreen computers, Word has been redesigned with a new mode to allow for easier access to the buttons and other commands found within the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar. This mode is called touch mode.

Microsoft Word provides you with a ruler that you can use to set tabs within a document and assist in the placement and positioning of document text and document objects. Depending upon which document view you are using, the ruler may appear differently.

The scroll bars can appear both vertically and horizontally along the right and bottom sides of your document window. They have arrows at the each end that point in the direction in which they will scroll the document when you click them.

The document view buttons are a group of buttons located in the lower right corner of the application. They are also located in the Ribbon under the “View” tab. You can click these buttons to change the working view of your document. By default, Word will open in “Print Layout” view, which is the view most commonly used for standard document creation.

In the lower right corner of the application window, you will see the Zoom slider. You can use this tool to change the magnification level of the document. This does not modify the document in any way, but rather changes your perception of how close or far away the document appears onscreen.

At the bottom of the application window is a long, thin, horizontal bar in which you find objects such as the “Zoom Slider” and the “Document View” buttons. The bar within which these tools appear is called the Status Bar. Here you can see various statuses that are capable of being monitored in Word.

Another feature in Microsoft Word is the Mini toolbar. When you select text within a document and hold your mouse pointer over it, you will see a small toolbar appear just above the selection.

If you are new to Word, then you may be wondering what a “keyboard shortcut” is. A keyboard shortcut simply allows you to press a combination of keyboard characters in order to execute a command function instead of clicking a button in the Ribbon or the Quick Access Toolbar. While you may never really use them, many users who type significant amounts of text find it tiresome to always have to reach for their mouse.

To open a document, you must first know where the document you want to open is located. When you initially open Word, you can see a listing of recently opened documents shown in the panel at the left side of the startup screen under the “Recent” section. You can open one of these listed documents by clicking on its name within the panel to reopen it.

If you have multiple documents open and want to close only the one you are working on, just click the “x” in the upper right corner of the application window. Clicking the “x” is equivalent to executing the “Close” command found in the “File” tab.

When you first open Word, you will see a startup screen that allows you to create a new document. Simply click the type of document that you want to create within the listing of available templates that appears at the right side of the startup screen.

When you save a document for the first time, you will use the “Save As” command so that you can choose where to save the file and what to name it. To do this, click the “File” tab within the Ribbon. Then click the “Save As” command in the command panel shown at the left side of the Backstage View. To the right of the command panel, under the “Places” section, you will see the places that are available for you to save the file.

A new feature introduced in Word 2013, allows you to attempt to recover unsaved document files. If you want to see if Word has automatically saved a copy of an unsaved document that you were working on, select the “File” tab within the Ribbon and click the “Open” command at the left side of the Backstage View.

When you open a new document, the insertion point cursor appears in the upper left corner of the document. This insertion point cursor identifies where any text that you type with your keyboard will appear. When you want to insert a new line or end a paragraph, press “Enter” on your keyboard. The “Backspace” key on your keyboard will delete the previous characters behind the cursor.

To move the insertion point cursor, you must have characters on the page, even if they are non-printing (invisible) characters like the ones that the “Spacebar,” “Tab,” and “Enter” keys create when you press them.

After you have learned how to enter text, you will next need to learn how to select it. When you select text, changes that you make will only affect the selected text. This includes formatting, replacing, or deleting the selected text.

In Word, the “Spacebar,” “Tab,” and “Enter” keys all create characters within your document- just like any other key on your keyboard does. Normally you cannot see these characters, but they can sometimes be problematic when they are accidentally selected.

The document view buttons are located in the lower right corner of the application, to the left of the “Zoom” slider on the Status Bar. They are also located in the Ribbon under the “View” tab in the “Views” button group. Clicking any of these buttons will change the working view of your document. You can then switch to a different view by clicking another view button.

Microsoft Word provides you with a ruler that you can use to set tabs within a document and assist in the placement and positioning of document text and document objects. Depending upon which document view you are using, the ruler may appear differently.

When working with multiple types of objects or specialized placement of text in your document, you may find gridlines to be useful. These lines can help you to accurately place objects into your document.

In Word, the Navigation pane is used to quickly search or navigate through your document. You can easily enable the display of the Navigation pane by first clicking the “View” tab in the Ribbon. Then, in the “Show” button group, you can click the “Navigation Pane” checkbox.

You can easily change the magnification level of your document using the Zoom slider. It is located in the lower-right corner of the application window. You can click and drag the slider left, towards the minus symbol (-), to shrink the magnification level, which appears as a percentage to the right of the zoom slider. You can click and drag the slider to the right, or towards the plus sign (+), to increase the magnification level.

Word allows you to open an exact copy of the document you are currently working on. To do this, first click the “View” tab in the Ribbon. Within the “Window” button group you can then click the “New Window” button. A new window will open containing an exact copy of the document you were working on.

When you have multiple document windows open, you may want to organize them so you can view the contents of each at the same time. There are different options available to you in Word to do this. The option we will discuss in this lesson is “Arrange All.” This command will arrange all open document windows vertically on the screen.

If you find yourself needing to edit an extremely long document, you may find the “Split” function to be helpful. Enabling this function will split the current document window into two separate panes. Each pane will scroll independently allowing you to view and work with two sections of the same document, simultaneously.

With Microsoft Word, you can compare documents side by side. The “View Side by Side” function will open both document windows at the same time, giving equal space to each. To enable this view, first click the “View” tab in the Ribbon and then click the “View Side by Side” button. Since this is a toggle button, to turn off side by side view, click the “View Side by Side” button again.

To quickly switch between open document windows, you can click the “View” tab in the Ribbon. Within the “Window” button group you will see a “Switch Windows” drop-down button. Click this button to display a drop-down menu list of the open document windows.

In Word, full screen mode maximizes the amount of document area by removing everything else from the Word window. To switch to full screen mode, first click the “Ribbon Display Options” button in the button group at the right end of the Title Bar and then select the “Auto-hide Ribbon” command.

Since Word 2007, there have been four different basic file format types available. The first and default file format type is the “Word Document.” This is a Word document that does not contain macros or code, and is the type of file most users create by default. When you use the “Save As” dialog box to save a document, if the “Save as type” drop-down shows “Word Document,” this is the file type you will create when you save the document. These files have a “.docx” file extension in Windows.

In Word, you can delete characters, words, paragraphs, or all of the text in your document quickly and easily. You can use the “Backspace” and “Delete” keys on your keyboard to remove text while typing. You can also select any text that you want to delete, and then press the “Delete” key to remove it.

When working with documents, you will often want to move or copy text, or other selected document elements, from one place to another. Word makes this frequent occurrence easy to manage through the use of the Clipboard feature.

The “Undo” command, located in the Quick Access Toolbar by default, is one of the most useful functions ever created. It allows you to reverse the last command, or last few commands, that you performed. The drop-down arrow next to the “Undo” button contains a list of your last few previous actions.

You can use the commands in the “Editing” group on the “Home” tab in the Ribbon to execute several commands that can assist you in editing Word documents. You can use the functions in this section to quickly find and replace document content. This can be extremely useful for quickly revising standard documents that need minor, repetitive changes to the text.

While working with Word, you are given several different ways you can select the text and objects contained in your document. To select document text, click and drag your mouse over the text to select it. This technique can also select objects that have a text-wrapping setting of “In Line with Text.”

You can customize many features of the “Spelling & Grammar” tool. To view the “Proofing” options for Word, you can click the “File” tab in the Ribbon and then click the “Options” command in the list on the left side of the Backstage View. You can then click the “Proofing” category along the left-side of the "Word Options" dialog box.

Word comes with a built-in thesaurus that will allow you to look for synonyms for words. To perform this function, you have a couple of different options. The first, and easiest way, is to right-click the word you would like to lookup. From the popup menu that appears, you can hover over the “Synonyms” command to see a short list of available choices.

You may need to occasionally know how many words are contained in your document. By default, Word displays the total word count for your document in the Status bar at the bottom of the application window. It should display near the left hand side of the Status bar.

Microsoft Word comes equipped with a built-in translation engine as well as access to machine translation on the internet. If you need to translate a document into another language, Word gives you a couple different options.

Formatting the font (or “text”) within your document can give your document a finished and polished appearance. You can add bolding or italics to emphasize selected text, change the color of the text, or add many other stylistic options. It is very easy to apply font formatting.

Advanced font formatting options are available through use of the “Font” dialog box. To access this dialog box, you can click the “Font” dialog box button in the lower right corner of the “Font” group in the “Home” tab of the Ribbon. In this dialog box there are two tabs- the “Font” tab and the “Advanced” tab.

When you are formatting text, you may want to simply copy the formatting from one text selection and then paste only the formatting onto other text selections. This can save you a lot of time when formatting documents that have a standard appearance for many sections.

Word contains many preset “Styles” that you can add to your text. To apply a preset style, you can first select the text to apply the style to or set the style before entering your text. Either way, you will click the “Home” tab in the Ribbon and select a preset style from the “Styles” button group.

To remove a preset style from text, first select the text from which you want to remove the applied style. You can then click the “Normal” style in the “Styles” button group of the “Home” tab.

In Word, you have several choices on how you would like to align your paragraphs. Alignment refers to the appearance of the left and right sides of the paragraph. By default, Word aligns paragraphs to the left. You can change this alignment so that the right sides are symmetrical (right alignment), or so the lines are centered with even space on both sides (center alignment), or justified (both left and right sides are aligned).

With Word, you have many choices as to how you would like to add indentation to your documents. Hitting the “Tab” key on your keyboard will add a tab of a half-inch. You can also increase or decrease the indentation of the entire left side of your paragraphs by using the “Increase Indent” or “Decrease Indent” buttons located in the “Paragraph” group on the “Home” tab in the Ribbon.

Like most word processing programs, you can modify the line and paragraph spacing in your document. Line spacing is the amount of space allotted to go between each line in your paragraph. Paragraph spacing is the amount of space to be inserted before and after the paragraphs in your document.

With Microsoft Word, you have complete control over how your document appears. You are able to change the layout of your document to suit any need you may have. You can apply layout changes to your document as a whole, or you can select specific sections and change just the layout for those sections.

When you create a document, you set a paper size such as 8.5” by 11.” When you reach the end of the specified page size in Word, an automatic page break is inserted. Sometimes these automatic page breaks occur in places where you would rather not have them occur.

You may need to create a document that contains columns, similar to a newsletter. This is helpful when you want information to be separated vertically and have the text flow from one column to the next, on the same page.

When using columns in Word, text flows automatically from one column to the next. You may find you need to stop the text in one column and start it again in the next column. You can do this by inserting a “Column Break.”

All documents based on the “Normal” template contain space for header and footer information. In order to view and edit the content of the headers and footers while working in the document, however, you will need to be using the “Print Layout” view of the document.

To adjust the settings of your document for printing purposes, you can open the “Page Setup” dialog box. To access this dialog box, first click “Layout” tab in the Ribbon and then click the “Page Setup” dialog box launcher button in the lower right corner of the “Page Setup” button group.

When creating documents, you may need to adjust the margins when you go to print your document. To set the margins for your document, you can first click the “Layout” tab in the Ribbon. Then in the “Page Setup” button group, you can click the “Margins” drop-down button. In this drop-down you will find a “Last Custom Setting” option, six preset margins and a “Custom Margins” command. Simply choose from the margin options or click the “Custom Margins” command to open the “Page Setup” dialog box with the “Margins” tab selected.

There are many different paper sizes available for you to use. You will want to set the paper size for your document to match the paper size you need to use when you want to print it out.

To adjust the layout settings for your document, you will want to access the “Layout” tab of the “Page Setup” dialog box. To do this, click the “Layout” tab in the Ribbon and then click the “Page Setup” dialog box launcher in the lower right corner of the “Page Setup” button group.

You may need to add line numbers to your document, and Word makes this an easy task. To add line numbers, you can first click the “Layout” tab in the Ribbon. Then in the “Page Setup” button group, simply click the “Line Numbers” drop-down button to display a list of options.

Word allows you to control how it will hyphenate words at the end of a line, if at all. To choose the hyphenation settings for your document, first click the “Layout” tab in the Ribbon. Then, you can click the “Hyphenation” drop-down in the “Page Setup” button group.

A template is a “master” document, from which you create the copies of the documents that you actually work on. For example, when you create a new blank document in Word, it is actually a copy of the “Normal” template. There are templates for various styles of agendas, calendars, faxes, memos, blog postings, resumes, reports, and many other types of specialized documents.

You can create a “personal” document template that is stored on your computer for documents that you may frequently create and only need to change slightly between copies.

Before you print your documents, make sure that you have the document properly setup using the “Page Setup” dialog box. Once this is accomplished, you will want to check the way that your document will print without having to waste paper by actually printing several copies until it is correct. Word provides another view of your document called “Print Preview” to assist you in this.

 In Word 2013, you can access the help feature by clicking the “Microsoft Word Help” button in the Title Bar to open the “Word Help” window. In Word 2016, the “Help” button has been removed from the Title Bar.

New for Word 2016 is the “Tell me” bar, located to the right of the last tab in the Ribbon. You can enter a search term or phrase for what you want to do into the “Tell me” bar to see relevant commands, command locations, and associated help commands. The “Tell me” bar can help you find the things you need to do quickly without having to dig through menus to find the command you want.

Another set of interconnected new features for 2016 are “Smart Lookup” and the “Insights” pane. The “Smart Lookup” feature is an internal search tool that connects to the power of Microsoft’s Bing online search engine. This will allow you access to the world wide web, without having to leave Word.

In this lesson, we will examine how to create tab stops in Word documents. This can be useful when creating an organized list in a Word document.

In this lesson we will examine the use of the “Tabs” dialog box. To access this dialog box, click the “Home” tab in the Ribbon, and then click the “Paragraph” dialog box launcher button in the lower right corner of the “Paragraph” group. This will open the “Paragraph” dialog box.

One of the most useful and fundamental functions of Word is the ability to add pictures into your documents to enhance their appearance. Starting with Word 2013, you can insert pictures from various online resources including Microsoft’s Bing, SharePoint, OneDrive or other online resources.

You can also insert your own pictures that you have saved to your computer into your Word documents.

Now we need to look at the tools that you can use to modify the pictures that you have inserted. Once you insert a picture and select it, the “Picture Tools” contextual tab appears in the Ribbon with the “Format” tab displayed. This tab contains the main functions that you will use to format selected pictures.

To make advanced changes to a selected image, you can use the “Format Picture” task pane within Word to control every aspect of your picture in detail. You can display the “Format Picture” task pane by clicking the “Format Shape” launcher button in the lower right corner of the “Picture Styles” button group on the “Format” tab of the “Picture Tools” contextual tab. You can close the “Format Picture” task pane by clicking the small “X” button in the upper-right corner of the task pane.

To change the fill color and line or border settings for a selected image, click the “Fill & Line” category icon within the “Format Picture” task pane to display the “Fill” and “Line” category groupings. You can click the “Fill” category grouping to expand it, if needed, and display the options that you have for setting a fill color for the selected image.

To apply or change the various visual effects settings for a selected image, click the “Effects” category icon within the “Format Picture” task pane to display the “Shadow,” “Reflection,” “Glow,” “Soft Edges,” “3-D Format,” “3-D Rotation,” and “Artistic Effects” category groupings.

To apply or change the various layout and properties settings for a selected image, click the “Layout & Properties” category icon within the “Format Picture” task pane to display the “Text Box” and “Alt Text” category groupings.

To control the clarity, brightness, and contrast of a selected picture, click the “Picture” category icon within the “Format Picture” task pane to display the “Picture Corrections,” “Picture Color,” and “Crop” category groupings.

In this lesson you will learn how to insert a screenshot of an open window directly into your Word document. You can only insert a single screenshot at a time into Word. To add multiple screenshots, simply repeat the process.

A screen clipping is different from a screenshot. A screen clipping is a selected portion of the first window that appears in the “Available Windows” section of the “Screenshot” drop-down button.

One of the most dynamic features of Word is the ability to add online videos directly into your document. Word makes this an easy task.

Word allows you to insert various shapes into your document. For example, you could place a circle around important information in a document. If you use Word to create marketing fliers, newsletters, or other types of publications, you may want to insert various types of shapes to add visual interest to your documents.

WordArt is text that is created and formatted as a shape. Therefore, when formatting WordArt, you can use the formatting techniques applied to standard text as well as techniques applied to shapes.

A text box is simply a shape into which text can be inserted. Therefore, you can format a text box in the same way that you can format a shape. However, a text box also contains text that you can format in the same way that you can format any other text within your document.

Before you can apply formatting to a shape, you need to click it to select it. If selecting a text box or WordArt as a shape, ensure that you click on its border so that the border appears as a solid, not dashed, line. That indicates that the whole shape has been selected.

To make advanced changes to a selected shape, you can use the “Format Shape” task pane. You can access the “Format Shape” task pane by clicking the “Format Shape” launcher button in the lower right corner of the “Shape Styles” group on the “Format” tab of the “Drawing Tools” contextual tab.

documents without having to individually create all of the shapes and connectors between boxes in a flowchart or diagram.

Once you have selected a SmartArt graphic, you can use the commands found on the “Design” and “Format” tabs of the “SmartArt Tools” contextual tab within the Ribbon to make changes to your selected graphic. You will now learn about the functions found in these two tabs and how they can help you to change the layout and formatting of your SmartArt.

Microsoft Word gives you the ability to insert charts into your documents. These charts can add interest and convey information to the reader in a dynamic way, making for a vibrant document.

Building blocks allow you to create reusable document content that you can save and insert into your future documents when needed. For example, you could save your company’s logo and name as a custom building block that you could easily insert into future documents without having to recreate all of the content and related formatting. The content that can be saved as a building block can range in complexity from simple text entries to more complex logos and watermarks.

Once you have saved a building block, you can easily reuse it in the future when creating documents that are based on the template into which you saved the building block content. We will now examine how to insert the building block content, and also how to edit or delete existing building blocks.

In Word you have available a large range of preset “Styles” that you can apply to your text. These styles are simply formats that have been saved as a collection that can be applied to text all at once. This can save a lot of time if you want to do a lot of formatting at once.

In this lesson we will discuss applying a style to your document through the “Styles” button group in the “Home” tab of the Ribbon, as well as using the “Apply Styles” pane.

When manipulating your document in Word, you may find that you need to navigate through your document. Word makes this easy using the “Navigation” pane. This pane allows you to search your document and also select and move text that has had a “Heading” style applied to it.

Ribbon, Word has a “Styles” task pane that offers more control over the styles you choose to use. You can launch the “Styles” task pane by clicking the “Home” tab in the Ribbon and then clicking the “Styles” launcher button in the lower-right corner of the “Styles” button group. Alternatively, you could use the keyboard shortcut “Alt” + “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “S.”

There may come a time when you need to remove a style after you have applied it. There are a couple of options available to you in Word to perform this action. The first way to remove style formatting is to select the text from which you want to remove the formatting.

As well as well as being able to use the preset styles available in Word, you can create new styles as needed. You can create a new style based off formatting you have applied to text by first selecting the text. Then, click the “Home” tab in the Ribbon and click the “More” button to display the full “Styles” list. Choose the “Create a Style” command to launch the “Create New Style from Formatting” dialog box. Enter a name for the style in the “Name:” text field.

Word makes it easy to change a preset style that may be close to what you want. You can modify an existing style by clicking the “Home” tab in the Ribbon. In the “Styles” button group, you can right-click the style you wish to modify and choose the “Modify…” command from the menu that appears. This will open the “Modify Style” dialog box.

If you have a document with many different styles applied, you may want to select all the instances of a specific style within your document. This is a helpful tool to use if you need to change all instances of the style “Heading 1,” for example. You can do this using the “Styles” button group on the “Home” tab in the Ribbon, or using the "Styles" task pane. Using the following method, in either list, will perform the same action.

If you have modified a style and would like to differentiate it by renaming it, you can easily do this using either the “Styles” button group in the “Home” tab or the “Styles” task pane.

You may find you want to permanently delete a style you have added to the style gallery. You can do this in Word by first opening the “Styles” task pane. You can open the "Styles" pane by clicking the “Styles” task pane launcher button in the “Styles” button group on the “Home” tab in the Ribbon.

It can occasionally be difficult to decipher what style formatting is applied to a specific character or paragraph. Word provides tools to you to make it easy to see what formatting is applied to selected text.

When working with styles in Word, you may need to quickly review the style and formatting applied to certain text. You will use the “Reveal Formatting” pane to perform this action. You can open the “Reveal Formatting” pane by first selecting the text for which you want to see the formatting. Then you can open the "Styles" pane and then open the "Style Inspector" pane.

In Word, a “Theme” is collection of style sets that can be applied to your document. Each style set in a theme will have its own font, color, spacing and any other formatting applied.

Style Sets are collections of style formatting that can be directly applied to your document. Style sets make up the themes Word uses, as discussed in the previous lesson.

After you have applied a theme to your document, you may want to change the colors for the shapes, charts, text and SmartArt it contains. You can use the “Colors” drop-down button in the “Document Formatting” button group on the “Design” tab in the Ribbon to do this.

When working with themes in Word, you can select a different font set to change the default “Heading” and “Body” font applied to document text. You can customize the fonts in any theme by clicking the “Design” tab in the Ribbon. At the right side of the “Document Formatting”  button group, click the “Fonts” drop-down button. You can scroll through and hover over any of the listed font sets to see a preview in your document. Simply click on a font set to apply it to your theme.

You are able to change “Effects” in a theme that will affect the objects in your document. Word will use various borders and visual effects, like shadows and shading, to give your objects a dynamic look and feel.

A watermark is simply an image or text that appears underneath the primary text within a document. Watermarks often display additional information or instructions regarding the primary content.

You can create your own text or picture watermarks to use within your documents in Word. To do this, click the “Watermark” button within the “Page Background” button group on the “Design” tab in the Ribbon. Within the drop-down menu that appears, select the “Custom Watermark…” command to open the “Printed Watermark” dialog box. The choices that you have for creating a watermark are all listed in this dialog box.

After you have applied a watermark to a document, you may find that you no longer need it. Removing a watermark is as easy as adding a watermark.

When creating documents in Word you are able to set a background color or use a fill effect to bring interest to your document.

You may want to apply a page border to your document. To do this, you can click the “Design” tab in the Ribbon. In the “Page Background” button group, on the far right of the tab, click the “Page Borders” button to open the “Borders and Shading” dialog box with the “Page Border” tab selected.

Word can automatically apply simple bullets and numbering to lists in your documents as you type. You can also type a list, select it, and then apply bullets or numbering, or change the appearance of the bullets and numbers that you use.

You can change the appearance of bullets and numbers that you apply. Word allows you to create your own custom library of bullets and numbering. Custom bullets and numbering you create will then appear within the drop-down menus of their respective buttons. That way, you can create them once and then reuse them as often as needed.

Word can also apply a multilevel list format to a list in order to outline topics. This is the list style that you can use to easily create an agenda or other formal outlined paper. To apply a multilevel list, type the first item within the list and press the “Enter” key on your keyboard when finished to move to the next item.

Word contains many of the standard multilevel list formats that you will need to create commonly used outlines and agendas. However, you can also modify the multilevel list styles within Word to create custom styles that you can use within your documents.

A table is a structured layout of information containers arranged in vertical columns and horizontal rows. The individual containers are called “cells.” Cells are organized in vertical columns and horizontal rows. In this way, they create a storage grid.

Tables can have many purposes in Word. You can use tables to manipulate data like a spreadsheet program, you can use them to simply store data, or you can use them to assist you in structuring the layout of content within a document.

After creating a table, you need to learn how to select the table elements. You can select the entire table or the separate table elements, such as the “cells,” “columns,” and “rows.” Just as with text, once you have selected an element, you can then make changes that are applied only to the selected element.

Word will automatically create new rows at the bottom of a table when you press the “Tab” key, if your insertion mark is in the lower right corner cell of the table. You may also need to alter the table’s structure to add columns or rows in other places within the table or remove columns and rows previously created.

Unless you are working with a table that is simply being used for document layout, you should probably not delete individual cells in a table. If a table is used for data storage and organization, the layout of information in the structure of whole columns and rows is critical to the functionality of the table. If you literally remove a cell from a table, Word will need to shift the adjacent cells in order to fill-in the gap in the table. This often causes data to shift from one column to another, or from one row to another, where it does not belong.

You can merge multiple selected cells into one larger cell or split a single selected cell into multiple, smaller cells. This is often performed on layout tables in a document to create different cells of various sizes into which you can place your desired document content.

You can make adjustments to the height of columns and the width of rows using the mouse. To do this, place your mouse pointer over the border of the column or row to adjust until the mouse pointer turns into a double-line with an intersecting arrow and then click and drag to adjust the column width or row height.

You can use the buttons in the “Alignment” button group on the “Layout” tab of the “Table Tools” contextual tab in the Ribbon to change the alignment of selected cell content. To do this, select the cells whose text alignment you wish to change and then click the desired alignment button in the “Alignment” button group.

Word gives you the ability to convert a table into a delimited text file and the ability to convert a delimited text file into a table. First, however, you need to learn what a “delimited text file” is.

A table that is intended for storing and organizing data is usually sorted by one or more columns of information within the table. You can sort both alphabetically and numerically, in either ascending (A-Z, 1-9) or descending (Z-A, 9-1) order.

You can format Word tables to clarify the data and enhance the appearance of the information. Word has many pre-created table formats you can apply to your tables. In addition to these table styles, you can also select individual elements of the table and then apply your own custom formatting, if desired.

A Quick Table is simply a pre-created table that has been saved into one of the building block galleries. The Quick Tables that are provided with Word simply give you easy access to many of the most commonly used table layouts.

Word tables can perform simple mathematical functions on data, much like a spreadsheet can. In addition, Word can use data from a linked Excel spreadsheet, if your calculations require more processing capability than Word can supply. In order to create a Word table that contains cells that will add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers you must insert formulas into the cells where you want to display the answers to the mathematical operations performed by the formula.

Once a formula has been inserted into a Word table, you must recalculate the formula in order to reflect any changes made to the data that is being calculated by the formula. Unfortunately, this is not an Excel spreadsheet, which has that feature by default.

If you create a large table that contains many formulas, you may have difficulty remembering which cells contain formulas and which cells contain ordinary numeric entries. To switch the view of the table between the actual formulas versus the formula results, you can toggle the field codes.

For users who enjoy creating worksheets in Excel and performing calculations using the tools in Microsoft Excel, it may be helpful to note that you can insert an Excel worksheet into your Word document if you have both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel installed on your computer as part of the same Microsoft Office installation. You can then edit the information within the worksheet using the Excel interface but display the data within the document as if it were a table.

If you want to add decorative interest to your document, you could think about adding a “Drop Cap” to the beginning of a chapter or section. A drop cap is a large capital letter that, typically, has the depth of two or more lines of normal text.

There may come a time when you need to insert a mathematical equation into a document. This lesson will cover inserting a preset equation and entering an equation manually.

Starting in Word 2013, you can insert handwritten equations into Word using the “Ink Equations” tool. To create an Ink Equation, place your cursor at the place in your document where you want the equation to appear and then click the “Insert” tab in the Ribbon. In the “Symbols” button group, click the drop-down portion of the “Equation” button and choose the “Ink Equation” command to launch the “Ink Equation” dialog box.

When creating documents using Microsoft Word, you may find you need to insert a symbol. Two of the most often used symbols are the copyright symbol “©,” and the trademark symbol “™.” However, you have many more symbols available in Word that you can insert into your documents.

In Word, a “bookmark” allows you to mark certain text and create a link to it. This will allow you to use the “Bookmark” dialog box to find the text again, instead of scrolling through your whole document.

You can easily add a hyperlink to a document you are creating. This could be a hyperlink to a webpage, to a different location in a document, or to an email address in a new email message. Word will automatically create a hyperlink when you type a web address into a document and press the “Spacebar” or “Enter” key on your keyboard after typing the URL.

One of the views available in Word is called the “Outline” view. In this view you are able to easily see your document’s headings, subheadings and body text. You can then work with the structure of your document in a more efficient way, rearranging the content until you have it setup just the way you want it.

To promote or demote items when in Outline view, select the text in the document that you want to promote or demote. You can select the desired outline level to apply to the selected text by making a choice from the “Outline Level” drop-down shown in the “Outline Tools” button group in the “Outlining” tab in the Ribbon.

You may decide that you want to reorganize the text contained in your outline. Word makes this any easy task to complete. First, select the text or click into the line you want to move within your outline. Then, in the “Outline Tools” button group of the “Outlining” tab, use the “Move Up” and “Move Down” upwards and downwards facing arrow buttons to move the selected text up and down your outline list.

When working within the Outline view in Word, you are able to expand and collapse certain sections of your document. This makes it easier to navigate a large document as you can collapse several sections and see what you need quickly.

You can use the features in Word’s “Mailings” tab in the Ribbon to perform automated mailings, often referred to as performing a “mail merge.” When you use the mail merge feature in Word, you merge information from a table, called a “data source,” into designated fields in your document. For each record, or row, within the table, you will typically produce one copy of the document.

While advanced users may want to simply create a new mail merge document, new users may find that it is easier to create a mail merge document by using the mail merge wizard provided in Word. This leads you through the process of creating a mail merge document step by step.

documents in Word. This saves the addresses that you create as a Microsoft database file. In the third pane of the step-by-step mail merge wizard, you are asked from where you want to select the mail merge recipients. If you select the option “Type a new list” from the options shown in the task pane and then click the “Create…” hyperlink in the center of the pane, Word will open the “New Address List” dialog box. You can use this dialog box to add, edit, delete, find, and customize the records in your data source.

In the step by step mail merge wizard, you saw the “Mail Merge Recipients” window appear after you had selected a data source for your merge document. This lesson will focus on using that dialog box to select the records that you want to use for your mail merge.

You can insert and delete merge fields in your mail merge documents as the need arises. This can occur if you have fields in your document that no longer contain relevant data, or if you collect new data that needs to be included in the document.

Note that you can preview the results of a merge without actually sending the mail merge to a printer, or even having to create another “output” document for review. You can use the buttons in the “Preview Results” button group on the “Mailings” tab in the Ribbon to preview the results in the merge document. This can help you spot errors prior to performing the mail merge.

Once you create and save a document as a mail merge document, Word will identify it as a mail merge document every time that it is opened in the future. If you want to change your merge document back into a normal Word document, you must detach it from the associated data source.

When you want to actually perform a mail merge, you can click the “Finish & Merge” button in the “Finish” button group on the “Mailings” tab in the Ribbon. From the drop-down menu, you will see the options that you have for finishing the merge: “Edit Individual Documents…,” “Print Documents…,” or “Send Email Messages….”

With the increased use of cloud-based storage, Word has been updated to allow for real-time sharing of documents. This new sharing option lets a group of people work on the same document at the same time, no matter where they may be. As long as they have a Microsoft Office account and access to the internet, they can work on the document in real-time with other members of the group.

You can insert comments into your document. While you can add comments to documents that only you can access, comments are often used to make notes on shared documents in Word. This allows you to add a quick note on possible changes or insert a reminder to add missing content to a document.

If you choose to share a document via email, Word gives you several different options. You are able to send the word document as an attachment, send it as a PDF or XPS attachment or, if it is saved to the cloud, send a link that will allow for editing. Any option you choose can be performed using the “Share” command in the Backstage View, accessed via the “File” tab in the Ribbon.

You may need to present a document online for a virtual business meeting or group project. Word’s integrated features make this an easy task to perform.

Microsoft Word makes it easy to post to an online Blog. A few of the supported sites are “SharePoint Blog,” “WordPress” and “Blogger.” The first time you post to a blog from Word, you will be asked to register your blogging account. Word will display a popup box asking you to “Register Now” or “Register Later.” Either way, you will have to register before posting. You can create your blog post first though.

You may want to export or save your document as a file format that retains your formatting but makes it difficult for anyone else to change the content. You can do this using the PDF or XPS file formats. Both offer more security and anyone can easily download a free viewer for these file types from the internet.

After creating a new document, you may find you need to change the file type it was saved in. You can easily do this in Word.

Word makes it easy to create a table of contents for formal papers or longer documents. First, mark each title that you want appear in your table of contents with one of the designated “Styles” in Word- “Heading 1,” “Heading 2,” or “Heading 3.” Word can then automatically collect and display a table of contents based on the text that you marked with each style.

You can customize the appearance of your table of contents in Word. When a table of contents is created by Word, it simply applies the default table of content styles- “TOC 1,” “TOC 2,” and so on. You can alter the appearance of these styles in your document in order to change the appearance of the text used to create your table of contents.

When you alter the content in your document after creating a table of contents, you can typically update the table of contents to refresh its display versus having to recreate the whole thing. Because the table of contents is simply a field code, it can be updated in the same manner that a Word table formula can. This can save you a lot of work in making changes to your table of contents, especially if working on documents that are often revised.

To delete a table of contents, click into the table of contents within your document.

Using the power of Microsoft Word, you are able to create an index of entries or topics for formal papers or long documents. This process is similar to creating a table of contents. First, mark the subjects or topics to reference in the index. Then compile the index in much the same way that you created the table of contents.

You can customize the appearance of your index in Word. When an index is created by Word, it simply applies the default index styles- “Index 1,” “Index 2,” and so on. You can alter the appearance of these styles in your document in order to change the appearance of the text used to create your index.

When you alter the content in your document after creating an index, you can usually just update the index to refresh its display versus having to recreate the whole thing. Because the index is simply a field code, it can be updated in the same manner that a Word table formula can. This can save you a lot of work in making changes to your index, especially if working on documents that are often revised.

When creating documents in Word, you have control over a wide range of tools. This lesson will cover choosing a citation style when you need to add source citations to a document. Word gives you access to the twelve most commonly used citation styles.

After you have a chosen a citation style, you will need to insert your cited source into your document. You will first place your cursor at the end of the text you are quoting and then click the “References” tab in the Ribbon. In the “Citations & Bibliography” button group, click the “Insert Citation” drop-down button. You will see two options here, “Add New Source…” and Add New Placeholder…” For this lesson, choose the “Add New Source…” command to open the “Create Source” dialog box.

You may find that you need to add a citation, but you don’t have one yet. In this case, you can insert a “Citation Placeholder.” This will mark the location in the document for a future citation. You can then come back and edit the placeholder to insert your citation information at a later time.

You can easily manage the sources you create in Word using the “Source Manager” dialog box. When accessed, this dialog box will display all the sources you have created in Word in a “Master List.” Any sources you created in your current document will be displayed in the “Current List.” This is helpful as your source list can sometimes become long and cumbersome.

After adding your citations and/or placeholders to your document, you may need to go back and edit or add new information. You can use the “Edit Source” dialog box to make changes to your sources.

After you have completed your document and inserted all of your citations, you will usually need a work cited or bibliography page. This will list all of your sources in one area. With Word, you can use predesigned bibliography formats or simply insert a citation without a title.

A caption is a numbered label that you can apply to objects, equations and tables within your documents. This makes it easy to reference within your text, as there is an easily recognizable label on your object.

A table of figures is similar to a table of contents. In this case, any objects with captions are listed in a table of figures. They will be sorted by number and displayed in a list.

You may need to create cross-references in your documents. If you need to do this, Word makes it a relatively simple operation.

It is a simple task to update any changes made to your table of figures. Simply select the table of figures and press the “F9” key on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can click the “References” tab in the Ribbon and click the “Update Table” button in the “Captions” button group.

The first step in creating forms that you can send to other users is displaying the “Developer” tab in the Ribbon. Normally, this tab is hidden as most users do not need access to the features of this particular tab.

You can use Word to create custom forms based on existing documents or templates. You simply take a regular document or template as the basis for your form and then enter information that you want to remain unchanging, or “static.” Then insert controls and fields into the form where you would like the users of the form to enter information.

To insert a control, click into the place in the form where you want to insert the control. Then click the button in the “Controls” button group on the “Developer” tab in the Ribbon that corresponds to the type of control you want to insert. After inserting the control, select it and edit its properties.

Starting with Word 2013, you can insert a “Repeating Section Content Control” into forms. This control, into which you can insert the other types of controls and which can also be inserted around rows in a table, allows the user to add repeating sections of information to a form. This can be useful when you want to collect a variable number of responses from each user.

When you insert a control into a document, it will often appear with some default instructional text. When you are in design mode, you can click into the text displayed in the control and edit it as you would like.

In an earlier lesson, you saw how to edit the properties of a control to prevent users from editing the content or deleting the control. Now you will examine how to apply protection to the form itself.

Macros are small programs that record your keystrokes as you perform a task, and then save the actions you performed as a Visual Basic Module- a type of program file. When you run the macro later, it will repeat your keystrokes, thus repeating your actions. This is why they are great for automating repetitive tasks.

To run a recorded macro, you can click the “Macros” button in the “Macros” button group on the “View” tab in the Ribbon. If there are macros that are available to run, then you can choose the “View Macros” command from the button’s drop-down. If you do not see this command, then you may not have any recorded macros available for use.

Word allows you to assign a macro to a button that appears in the Ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, or to an unused keyboard shortcut of your choosing. This can make running macros much easier than the process involved with running them through the “Macros” dialog box.

You can access the options in Word to change operational aspects of the application. Note that changing the default options in Word can change the default behavior of the program and, therefore, should only be performed by advanced users who thoroughly understand the options. In this lesson, we will review some of the most commonly used options in Word.

This lesson will cover adding and editing the “metadata” that is attached to each document you create. The metadata for your document is simply information about your document and who created it.

When creating documents in Word that may be disseminated to persons with disabilities you can run the “Accessibility Checker.” This tool will scan your document and open the “Accessibility Checker” task pane. This task pane will display “Errors,” “Warnings” and “Tips” on what may be difficult for someone to read who may have a disability.

You can apply password protection to a Word document to prevent the document from being edited or opened unless the user provides the corresponding password to perform the required task. To add password protection to a document, click the “File” tab in the Ribbon and then click the “Protect Document” drop-down button in the “Info” section of the Backstage View. Then click the “Encrypt with Password” command to open the “Encrypt Document” dialog box.

If you no longer need to password-protect a document, you can easily remove a password you have applied. To do this, open your password-protected document and then click the “File” tab in the Ribbon. You can then click the “Protect Document” drop-down button in the “Info” section of the Backstage View.

Along with password protecting an entire document, you can also protect a document from being edited. You can even choose sections in a protected document and let them be edited by selected users. This lets you create “read-only” sections in a document and allow editing changes to other parts of the document. Word lets you make editing the unrestricted parts of a protected document available to anyone or to only specific users you select.

To remove editing restrictions you have applied to a document, open the document and then click the “Review” tab in the Ribbon. In the “Protect” button group, click the “Restrict Editing” button to open the “Restrict Editing” task pane.