INTRODUCTION TO WORD PROCESSING

Word processor/word processing software

A word processor (WP) is a software used in creating, editing, and formatting word documents.
Examples of Word processors
Microsoft word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice Writer, Apple Pages, Google Docs, WPS office, Word Pad, AbiWord
etc.
Word Document
A word document is a document created using a word processor.
NB: A word document can contain different items such as text, images, tables, charts, borders and clipart
Features of word processing software
Editing tools such as find and replace, cut/copy and paste, undo/redo, auto-correct and spell-check,
grammar and style suggestions etc.
Formatting features such as bold, underline, fonts, alignment, colors, bullets, italics, styles and themes
etc.
Document organization tools such as: tables of contents, headers, footers, page numbering etc.
Importance of word processing software
1. They are used to create, save, format, edit, and print documents.
2. They are used to copy, paste, move, and delete text within a document.
3. They are used create and edit tables.
4. They facilitate collaboration and ease of sharing documents.
5. They have features such as auto-correct and auto-formatting which help save time and effort in document
creation.
Editing
Editing is the process of making changes to the content of a document.
Examples of editing tools in MS Word
Spelling and Grammar Check (F7): It is used to check spellings and grammar errors and provide suggestions
for corrections.
Find and Replace (CTRL + H): This tool is used to quickly search and replace specific words and phrases.
Autocorrect: This features corrects commonly misspelt words.
Thesaurus (Shift + F7): It is a built in dictionary that provides definitions, synonyms and antonyms to selected
words.

Copy/cut and paste

Copy (CTRL + C): To copy a selected text simply means to duplicate the selected text without removing it from
its current location.
Cut (CTRL + X): To cut a selected text simply means removing the text from its current location.
Paste (CTRL + V): To paste simply means inserting copied/cut content from the clipboard to a new location.
Undo/redo
Undo is used to reverse the most recent changes made in a document.
Redo is the action of reapplying the most recent changes that was undone.
Inserting text to a word document
Text insertion is the act of adding/inserting text to a document by typing or pasting.
The Insertion Point
The insertion point is the blinking vertical line in a document. It indicates where the typed text would appear.
Deleting text in a word document
Deleting text in a word document is the removing of text from a word document using the backspace or delete
key.
The Backspace key is used to remove text to the left of the insertion point whiles the Delete key is used to
remove text to the right of the insertion point.
NB: The insertion point should be placed at the end of the text to be removed when using backspace but it should
be placed at the beginning of text when using the delete key.

The use of the overtype or insert option (mode)

In the insert mode, new characters will be inserted at the cursor position pushing the existing text to the right but
in overtype mode, new characters will replace (overwrite) the existing text at the cursor position.

NB: The default mode of MS Word is insert.

Selection
It is the process of highlighting or choosing specific content within a document. Selection can be made on
individual characters, words, sentences, paragraphs or an entire document.
Moving text in MS Word
Text can be moved from one location to another in MS Word by:
1. Cutting and Pasting method
2. Click/Drag and Drop Method
The use of cut/copy and paste to move a text
1. Select the text you want to move.
2. Either cut or copy.
3. Place the insertion point at the location where you want to move the text to.
4. Paste the text at the new location.
The use of drag and drop to move text
1. Select the text.
2. Click/Drag and drop the selected text to the new location.

THE EDITING GROUP UNDER THE HOME TAB

The editing group under the insert tabs has tools such as Find, Replace, and Select for editing a word document.
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Tools on the Edit group and their uses
Find: It is used to find specific word(s) or phrases, within a document.
Replace: It is used to find and replace specific word(s) or phrase(s)) within a document.
Select: It is used to select text or objects in a document.
The find and replace dialog box
image
How to find and replace text (content) in a document.
1. Locate the Editing group from the Insert tab.
2. Click on the replace button to display the Find and replace dialog box.
3. Enter the text you want to find in the Find what field.
4. Enter the replacement text in the Replace with field.
5. Click Find next to preview the first occurrence of the searched word.
6. Once found, Click Replace to replace the found text with the replacement text.
OR
Click Replace all to replace all the occurrences of the searched text with the replacement text.
Undoing edited changes
To undo or reverse edited changes made in a document:
Click the undo button once/multiple times until you get your desired content.
The language group
The language group refers to a set of settings related to the language used in a document. It includes features for setting a
language for proofing and language translation. It is located under the Review tab.
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Proofing
Proofing is the process of checking and correcting errors in a document. The errors maybe spelling mistakes or grammatical.
 How to set a language for proofing
 Go to the Review tab.
 Locate and click the language button from the language group.
 Select Set Proofing language.
 Choose your preferred language from the drop-down list.

The proofing group

The proofing group provides options such as Spelling and Grammar, Thesaurus, and Word Count for reviewing and
proofing a document. It is located under the Review tab.

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Uses of Word Count.

Word count provides statistics about the number of page, words, characters with no spaces, characters with spaces,
paragraphs and lines. To use Word count, locate and click on it.

How to use Spelling and Grammar

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 Go to the Review tab.
 Select Spelling and Grammar.
Spelling mistakes
Select ignore to ignore the changes or Add to add the word to dictionary.
OR
Select the appropriate spelling from the list of suggestions.
Choose Change or Change All to accept the suggestion.
Grammatical errors
Select ignore to ignore the changes.
OR
Select the appropriate suggestion.
Select Change to accept the suggestion.

The Font group

The font group provides a set of tools for text decoration. It is located under the Home tab. Examples of the tools
in the Font group are: Change case, Font Color, Font size Bold, Underline, Italics, and Decrease and
Increase Font Size

Decrease font size

Change Case

Increase font size Clear All

Font Font size Formatting

Bold
Font Color

Text Highlight Color

Italic Subscript Superscript Text Effects and Topography

Underline
Text decoration refers to the visual elements applied to text to make it stand out.

Strikethrough
The Change case tool
It is used to change the case of the selected text to either lower case, sentence case,or other common
capitalization.
The Change case options
How to use the sentence case

 Select the text you want to change the case to sentence case.
 Locate and click on Change case from the Font group under the home tab.
 Select Sentence case from the drop down menu.
Font
It is the specific style of typeface used to display text. It determines the appearance and design of characters,
numbers, and symbols. Examples of Font are Times New Roman, Calibri body, Arial, Arial Black ect.
Font size
It refers to the measurement of the height of characters of font. It is measured in points (pt).
How to change the font size

 Select the desired text you want to change the font size.
 Locate and click on Font Size from the Font group under the Home tab.
 Select your desired font size from the drop-down list to apply.
How to change font color
Select the desired text you want to change its color.

 Locate the Font group under the Home tab

 Locate and click on Font Color arrow to display a them of colors .
 Select your desired color to apply.
The Paragraph group
It offers a range of options for formatting, aligning, and adjusting the structure of a paragraph. It located under
the Home tab. It has tools such as Bullets, Numbering, Borders, Shading, Decrease Indent, Increase Indent, and
Line & Paragraph Spacing.
Align Left, Center, align right, and Justify. The
default MS Word is left aligned.
How to Change the alignment of text/paragraph

 Select the paragraph you want to change its

alignment.
 Go to the home tab.
 Locate the alignment buttons in Paragraph
group.
 Select either Align Left, Center, Align right,
or Justify to change the alignment of the of
the selected text/paragraph.
BULLETING
Bulleting is the creation of a list of items marked
with symbols. Examples of such symbols are dots,
Alignment dashes, asterisk etc. The bullet button allows you to
create a list of items marked with symbols.
It refers to where and how texts lines up in a
document. Examples of alignments in Word are To apply bullets:
  Select the text you want to bullet.
 Locate the Paragraph group from the Home
tab.
 Locate and click on the Bullets button to
apply the default bullet style to the selected
text or click on the drop-down arrow next to
the ‘Bullets’ button and select from the
various bullet styles available to apply.
DECREASE AND INCREASE INDENTATION
Indentation is the adjusting of a text from the left or
right margin of a document. The decrease/increase
indent feature allows you to adjust the distance of
the text from the left or right margin.
To decrease Indent a text/paragraph:

 Select the paragraph or text.

 From the ‘Paragraph’ group under the
Home tab, locate the Decrease Indent
button.
 Click on this button to move the text
closer to the left margin to reduce the
indent.

To increase Indentation of a text/paragraph:

 Select the paragraph or text.
 From the ‘Paragraph’ group under the
‘Home’ tab, locate the Increase Indent
button (right-pointing arrow).
 Click on this button to move the text away
from the left margin to increase the indent.
Border
Border is a line with varying style, color and width
that can be added to either/all margins of a
paragraph(s) in a document.
The Border button
The Border button allows you to apply different
styles, colors, widths, and effects to the borders of
your text, paragraphs, tables, or pictures.
To apply the border button:

i. Select the text, paragraph, or area where

you want to add borders.
ii. Navigate to the Home tab on the ribbon.
iii. Locate the Paragraph group.
iv. Click the borders button to display a list of
border styles and options.
v. Select your desired border style to apply