ICT TOPIC 4: INTRODUCTION TO WORD PROCESSING PURPOSE OF WORD PROCESSING

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO WORD PROCESSING (THEORY) • Word processors are mostly used for writing letters, reports,
projects, books, essays, memos, resumes (CVs) etc.
MICROSOFT WORD WINDOW COMPONENTS
BASIC TERMINOLOGY
• Typeface A typeface is the shape of the characters. Some
common typefaces are Times New Roman, Arial, and Tahoma.
• Line Spacing refers to the amount of vertical white space between
two lines of text, from baseline to baseline. Line spacing is
measured in points.
• Text Alignment refers to the way lines of text are arranged relative
to the edges of a block of text. There are four types of alignment:
left, centre, right, and justify. Justification is the process of
aligning text in a document to both the left and right margins at the
same time. Justified text may have extra spaces between letters
within words, so that paragraphs appear as a block with an even
right-margin ending.
• Indent: An indent is the amount of white space set in between
the margin and the beginning of text. Examples of indents include
the first line indent, hanging indent and right indent.
• Formatting Text Formatting text is the process of changing the
appearance of text in a document. Formatting text involves using
commands like bold, italics, underlining, changing font colour, etc.
• Editing text: This refers to the process of making changes to the
content of an existing document. Editing text involves commands
like cut and paste, overtype, undo, insert, and delete.
• Copy – To place selected text on the clipboard, without removing it
from its current location.
• Cut – To remove selected text from its current position and place it
on the clipboard.
• Copy and paste duplicated text, while Cut and paste moves text to
a new location.
• The clipboard The Clipboard is an area of memory in which you
can store copied or cut text, graphics or any other items
temporarily before being pasted into other locations.
• The paste special feature helps to avoid pasting text with all its
formatting. The paste special feature provides more control over
what to paste.
• Header - The header refers to text that appears in the top margin
of all pages in a document.
• Footer - The footer refers to text that appears in the bottom margin
of all pages in a document.
• Ruler - You can use the ruler to set the indent, margin and tab
markers. Avoid using the space bar to align text!
• Tabs Stops – tab stops are places where text can be made to
line up. You can set a tab stop by clicking on the ruler bar at the
desired position.
• Word processing is the art of creating, saving, editing, formatting • Hard Copy – A copy of a document printed out on physical paper.
and printing text and graphic documents using electronic word • Soft Copy – A copy of a document that is stored on a disk or other
processors. computer storage device.
• Word Processors (Word processing Software) is a program • Overtype Mode – Also called overwrite mode, causes any
used for creating, editing, saving, and printing documents. They characters you type to replace ("overtype") the characters at the
are used to create documents, letters, labels, reports, Curriculum cursor. You can switch between overtype mode and insert mode
Vitae, proposals among others. by pressing the insert key.
• Examples of word processors include: Microsoft Word, Corel • Paragraph – The text between one paragraph break and the
WordPerfect, Lotus WordPro, Apple Pages, OpenOffice.org Writer, next. A paragraph break is inserted by pressing Enter key.
WordStar, Apple iWork, Zoho Writer etc. • Save – To write the document's current state from RAM to a
• NB: Text editors are simple word processors that are generally storage device.
used to type without any special formatting. • Proofreading is the process of reviewing a document to ensure
• Text editors are mainly used to create small notes, memos and the accuracy of its content. Proof reading tools include spelling and
programs. Examples of common text editors are: Notepad, grammar check (F7), thesaurus, etc.
Notepad++, Gedit, WordPad, Jcreator etc.

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COMMON FEATURES OF WORD PROCESSING APPLICATIONS 3. A type writer prints one character at a time while a word
1. Word Wrap: this feature automatically sends a word that does processor prints many pages at a time.
not fit within the margin settings onto the next line, without the 4. There is a variety of quick text formatting features such as
user pressing Enter key. bold, italic, underline, colour, etc. in a word processor
2. Find: allows the user to locate all occurrences of a particular whereas there are limited formatting options with a
character, word or phrase. typewriter.
3. Replace: allows the user to substitute existing characters, words 5. A word processor provides grammar and spell check
or phrases with the new ones. options whereas a typewriter cannot help in spell checking.
4. Spell checker: allows the user to check spellings of the whole 6. It is easier to insert graphics and drawings in a word
document at one time or to check and even correct the spelling processor yet it is not easy to draw with a type writer.
of individual words as they are typed (Autocorrect) 7. A word processor allows the user to type continuously
5. Grammar checker: this reports grammatical errors, usually by a without pressing the enter key at the end of each line (word
wavy green line, and suggests ways to correct them. wrap) whereas the user needs to advance the lever of a
6. Thesaurus: suggests alternative words with the same meaning typewriter manually, at the end of every line.
(synonyms) for use in the document. 8. It is very simple to align text in a document to Left, Centre,
7. Mail Merge: This is feature used to create similar letters to be Right or Justified whereas with a type writer, one has to
sent to several people. The names and addresses of each manually align the text, which is very difficult.
person can be merged with one single main document. 9. A word processor has edit features such as Copy and
8. Automatic page numbering: numbers the pages automatically Paste in which repeatedly occurring text in a document can
in a document be copied to and pasted from the clipboard whereas a type
9. Tables: allow users to organise information into rows and writer has no clipboard.
columns. 10. A word processor can work on many pages at a go by
10. Multi-columns: arranges text into two or more columns that inserting pages numbers, footers, headers, watermarks,
look similar to newspaper or magazine etc. whereas a type writer works on one page at a time.
11. Drop cap – Formats the first letter in paragraph to be dropped 11. A word processor can insert drawings word arts and
across two or more lines. pictures whereas with a type writer, drawings and pictures
12. Clip art: , refers to pre-made images about various subjects can only be drawn by a hand on the stencil.
used to illustrate concepts in documents. 12. With A word processor, you can use mail merge feature to
13. Templates: establish the initial document layouts and formats create a set of documents, such as a letter that is sent to
for various document types. many customers, by only creating one main document and
14. Printing: allows a user to obtain a hard copy of a document inserting different fields for the customers’ details whereas
from the printer. with a type writer, you have to type the each document
15. Word Count: Establishes the number of words, characters, separately.
paragraphs, etc. in a document. 13. A type writer requires a lot of strength to strike a key so as
16. Headers and Footers: Used to insert text in the top and bottom to have a strong impact on the stencil in order to get a
margin through the document. reasonably visible printout whereas a computer keyboard
17. Footnotes and Endnotes are used as references that provide has easy-to-press buttons which don’t require too much
additional information about a word or phrase within a document. strength during typing.
18. Insert and Delete allows a user to add and remove portions of 14. A type writer makes a lot of noise during its operation as
text while editing document compared to a word processor which is relatively quiet.
15. A word processor has a lot of symbols such as Greek,
COMMON PARTS OF A WORD PROCESSOR Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew alphabet character sets whereas
a) Title bar—indicates the task currently running. On the right hand a type writer can only add the English alphabet and
side of the title are the minimize, restore/minimize and close commonly used symbols that are currently calibrated on the
buttons typewriter.
b) Menu bar—provides the user with a group of commands that 16. A Word processor can add preformatted elements
are used to manipulate the document (templates) by selecting from a gallery of professional
c) Tool bars—consist of sets of command buttons for quick templates e.g. cover pages, resumes, etc. whereas with a
execution of frequently used groups of commands. type writer it is up to the typist to know the layout and
d) Document window—this is the working area where the professional look of document types.
document is created
e) Status bar—Displays information that the user may need to NB: MORE POINTS CAN STILL BE GENERATED BASING
know such as the current position of the insertion point, ON THE FEATURES AND OPERATION OF A WORD
progress, edit mode, etc. PROCESSOR IN COMPARISON TO A TYPE WRITER

ADVANTAGES OF USING ELECTRONIC WORD PROCESSORS DISADVANTAGES OF USING ELECTRONIC WORD

AS COMPARED TO MANUAL TYPE WRITERS PROCESSORS
Advantages: 1. Word processors cannot be used without Electricity.
1. Word processors can save softcopies for future use while 2. Word processors Use is Expensive due to the cost of computers.
with a type writer; a document has to be fully retyped if 3. They have led to Unemployment of typists because one person
needed again. using a word processor can do a lot of work in a short time,
2. During typing with a word processor, it is possible to undo a which would be done by many using type writers.
mistake, while any error made with a type writer is 4. Many people are Computer illiterate, and cannot use the program.
immediately impacted on the printout. 5. Computers have Viruses, which lead to loss of data in soft copies.

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6. Using word processors on light emitting computer monitors for is no delay for printing or risk of unintended file deletion.
long leads to eye disorders, which isn’t the case with type writers NB: It is this tangible writing experience free from computer
7. Word processors require purchase of hard ware like printers in meltdowns or deletions that is saving the typewriter from
order to obtain hard copies yet with typewriters, whatever is extinction.
typed is permanent and instantly available as a hard copy: there

COMMONLY USED WORD PROCESSING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Ctrl- ] or [ Increase/ Reduce Ctrl-Shift = Superscript
Font Ctrl-Shift-8 Nonprinting
Ctrl - Soft hyphen - characters on/off
Ctrl = Subscript Ctrl-Shift-A All Caps
Ctrl-0 Paragraph Space Ctrl-Shift-C Copy formatting
Above (add/delete Ctrl-Shift-D Double Underline
12 pt.) Ctrl-Shift-Enter Break
Ctrl-1 Line-spacing 1 column
Ctrl-2 Line-spacing 2 Ctrl-Shift-F Font Face
Ctrl-5 Line-spacing 1.5 Ctrl-Shift-K Small Caps
Ctrl-A Select All Ctrl-Shift-L List Bullet Style
Ctrl-Alt-1 Heading Level 1 Ctrl-Shift-M Indent decrease
Ctrl-Alt-2 Heading Level 2 Ctrl-Shift-N Normal Style
Ctrl-Alt-3 Heading Level 3 Ctrl-Shift-T Hanging indent
Ctrl-Alt-C © decrease
Ctrl-Alt-E Endnote Ctrl-Shift-Tab Dialog box
Ctrl-Alt-F Footnote previous tabbed section
Ctrl-Alt-I Print Preview Ctrl-Shift-V Paste formatting
Ctrl-Alt-K AutoFormat Ctrl-Shift-W Underline words
Ctrl-Alt-M Insert Comment only
Ctrl-Alt-N View—Normal Ctrl-spacebar
Ctrl-Alt-O View—Outline Remove Character
Ctrl-Alt-P View—Page formats
Ctrl-Alt-R ® Ctrl-T Hanging Indent—
Ctrl-Alt-S Split a window increase
Ctrl-Alt-T ™ Ctrl-Tab Dialog box next
Ctrl-Alt-U Table—remove tabbed section
border lines Ctrl-U Underline
Ctrl-Alt-Y Repeat Find Ctrl-Up/Down GoTo
Ctrl-Alt-Z Go Back (3 max) Next/Previous
Ctrl-B Bold Paragraph
Ctrl-C Copy Ctrl-V Paste
Ctrl-click Select Sentence Ctrl-W Close
Ctrl-D Font Dialog Ctrl-X Cut
Ctrl-drag Drawing—draw from Ctrl-Y Repeat/Redo
center Ctrl-Z Undo
Ctrl-E Align—Center F1 Help
Ctrl-Enter Break—page F10 Menu Bar
Ctrl-F Find F12 Save As
Ctrl-F10 Maximize window F7 Spelling and Grammar
Ctrl-F4 Close check
Ctrl-F5 Document F8 Selection extended
window—restore F9 Update selected field
Ctrl-F7 Document Shift-drag Drawing—
window—move constrain shape to
Ctrl-F8 Document symmetrical
window—size Shift-drag Graphic—crop
Ctrl-G GoTo Shift-Enter Line break
Ctrl-H Replace Alt Drag Vertical Selection
Ctrl-I Italics Shift-F10 Shortcut Menu
Ctrl-J Justify—Full Shift-F3 Case change
Ctrl-K Hyperlink (capitalization)
Ctrl-L Align—Left Shift-F7 Thesaurus
Ctrl-M Indent—increase Shift-F8 Selection reduced
Ctrl-N New document
Ctrl-O Open a document
Ctrl-P Print
Ctrl-Q Remove Paragraph
formats
Ctrl-R Align—Right
Ctrl-S Save
Ctrl-Shift- >or <Font next/
previous size
Ctrl-Shift -Hard hyphen
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