WORD PROCESSING • Overtype Mode– Also called overwrite mode, causes any

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO WORD PROCESSING (THEORY) characters you type to replace ("overtype") the characters at the
• Word processing is the art of creating, saving, editing, formatting cursor. You can switch between overtype mode and insert mode
and printing text and graphic documents using electronic word by pressing the insert key.
processors. • Paragraph – The text between one paragraph break and the
• Examples of word processors include: Microsoft Word, Corel next. A paragraph break is inserted by pressing Enter key.
WordPerfect, Lotus WordPro, Apple Pages, OpenOffice.org Writer, • Save – To write the document's current state from RAM to a
etc. storage device.
• NB: Text editors are simple word processors that are generally • Proofreading is the process of reviewing a document to ensure
used to type without any special formatting. the accuracy of its content. Proof reading tools include spelling and
• Text editors are mainly used to create small notes, memos and grammar check (F7), thesaurus, etc.
programs.Examples of common text editors are: Notepad, COMMON FEATURES OF WORD PROCESSING APPLICATIONS
Notepad++, Gedit etc. 1. Word Wrap: this feature automatically sends a word that does
PURPOSE OF WORD PROCESSING not fit within the margin settings onto the next line, without the
• Word processors are mostly used for writing letters, reports, user pressing Enter key.
projects, books, essays, memos, resumes (CVs) etc. 2. Find: allows the user to locate all occurrences of a particular
BASIC TERMINOLOGY character, word or phrase.
• TypefaceA typefaceis the shape of the characters. Some 3. Replace: allows the user to substitute existing characters, words
common typefaces are Times New Roman, Arial,and Tahoma. or phrases with the new ones.
• Line Spacing refers to the amount of vertical white space between 4. Spell checker: allows the user to check spellings of the whole
two lines of text, from baseline to baseline. Line spacing is document at one time or to check and even correct the spelling
measured in points. of individual words as they are typed (Autocorrect)
• Text Alignment refers to the way lines of text are arranged relative 5. Grammar checker: this reports grammatical errors, usually by a
to the edges of a block of text. There are four types of alignment: wavy green line, and suggests ways to correct them.
left, centre, right, and justify.Justification is the process of aligning 6. Thesaurus: suggests alternative words with the same meaning
text in a document to both the left and right margins at the same (synonyms) for use in the document.
time. Justified text may have extra spaces between letters within 7. Mail Merge: This is feature used to create similar letters to be
words, so that paragraphs appear as a block with an even right- sent to several people. The names and addresses of each
margin ending. person can be merged with one single main document.
• Indent:Anindent is the amount of white space set in between the 8. Automatic page numbering: numbers the pages automatically
margin and the beginning of text. Examples of indents include the in a document
first line indent, hanging indent and right indent. 9. Tables: allow users to organise information into rows and
• Formatting TextFormatting text is the process of changing the columns.
appearance of text in a document.Formatting text involves using 10. Multi-columns: arranges text into two or more columns that
commands like bold, italics, underlining, changing font colour, etc. look similar to newspaper or magazine
• Editing text:This refers to the process of making changes to the 11. Drop cap – Formats the first letter in paragraph to be dropped
content of an existing document. Editing text involves commands across two or more lines.
like cut and paste, overtype, undo, insert, and delete. 12. Clipart:, refers to pre-made images about various subjects used
• Copy – To place selected text on the clipboard, without removing it to illustrate concepts in documents.
from its current location. 13. Templates:establish the initial document layouts and formats for
• Cut – To remove selected text from its current position and place it various document types.
on the clipboard. 14. Printing: allows a user to obtain a hard copy of a document
• Copy and paste duplicated text, while Cut and paste moves text to from the printer.
a new location. 15. Word Count: Establishes the number of words, characters,
paragraphs, etc. in a document.
• The clipboard The Clipboard is an area of memory in which you
16. Headers and Footers: Used to insert text in the top and bottom
can store copied or cut text, graphics or any other items
margin through the document.
temporarily before being pasted into other locations.
17. Footnotes and Endnotes are used as references that provide
• The paste special feature helps to avoid pasting text with all its
additional information about a word or phrase within a document.
formatting. The paste special feature provides more control over
18. Insert and Delete allows a user to add and remove portions of
what to paste.
text while editing document
• Header- The header refers to text that appears in the top margin COMMON PARTS OF A WORD PROCESSOR
of all pages in a document. a) Titlebar—indicates the task currently running. On the right hand
• Footer - The footer refers to text that appears in the bottom margin side of the title are the minimize, restore/minimize and close
of all pages in a document. buttons
• Ruler - You can use the ruler to set the indent, margin and tab b) Menu bar—provides the user with a group of commands that
markers. Avoid using the space bar to align text! are used to manipulate the document
• Tabs Stops– tab stops are places where text can be made to line c) Tool bars—consist of sets of command buttons for quick
up. You can set a tab stop by clicking on the ruler bar at the execution of frequently used groups of commands.
desired position. d) Document window—this is the working area where the
• Hard Copy– A copy of a document printed out on physical paper. document is created
• Soft Copy– A copy of a document that is stored on a disk or other e) Status bar—Displays information that the user may need to
computer storage device. know such as the current position of the insertion point,
progress, edit mode, etc.
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ADVANTAGES OF USING ELECTRONIC WORD PROCESSORS 13. A type writer requires a lot of strength to strike a key so as
AS COMPARED TO MANUAL TYPE WRITERS to have a strong impact on the stencil in order to get a
Advantages: reasonably visible printout whereas a computer keyboard
1. Word processors can save softcopies for future use while has easy-to-press buttons which don’t require too much
with a type writer; a document has to be fully retyped if strength during typing.
needed again. 14. A type writer makes a lot of noise during its operation as
2. During typing with a word processor, it is possible to undo a compared to a word processor which is relatively quiet.
mistake, while any error made with a type writer is 15. A word processor has a lot of symbols such as Greek,
immediately impacted on the printout. Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew alphabet character setswhereas
3. A type writer prints one character at a time while a word a type writer can only add the English alphabet and
processor prints many pages at a time. commonly used symbols that are currently calibrated on the
4. There is a variety of quick text formatting features such as typewriter.
bold, italic, underline, colour, etc. in a word processor 16. A Word processor can add preformatted elements
whereas there are limited formatting options with a (templates) by selecting from a gallery of professional
typewriter. templates e.g. cover pages, resumes, etc. whereas with a
5. A word processor provides grammar and spell check type writer it is up to the typist to know the layout and
options whereas a typewriter cannot help in spell checking. professional look of document types.
6. It is easier to insert graphics and drawings in a word
processor yet it is not easy to draw with a type writer. NB: MORE POINTS CAN STILL BE GENERATED BASING
7. A word processor allows the user to type continuously ON THE FEATURES AND OPERATION OF A WORD
without pressing the enter key at the end of each line (word PROCESSOR IN COMPARISON TO A TYPE WRITER
wrap) whereas the user needs to advance the lever of a
typewriter manually, at the end of every line. DISADVANTAGES OF USING ELECTRONIC WORD
8. It is very simple to align text in a document to Left, Centre, PROCESSORS
Right or Justified whereas with a type writer, one has to 1. Word processors cannot be used without Electricity.
manually align the text, which is very difficult. 2. Word processors Use is Expensive due to the cost of computers.
9. A word processor has edit features such as Copy and 3. They have led to Unemployment of typists because one person
Paste in which repeatedly occurring text in a document can using a word processor can do a lot of work in a short time,
be copied to and pasted from the clipboard whereas a type which would be done by many using type writers.
writer has no clipboard. 4. Many people are Computer illiterate, and cannot use the program.
10. A word processor can work on many pages at a go by 5. Computers have Viruses, which lead to loss of data in soft copies.
inserting pages numbers, footers, headers, watermarks, 6. Using word processors on light emitting computer monitors for
etc. whereas a type writer works on one page at a time. long leads to eye disorders, which isn’t the case with type writers
11. A word processor can insert drawings word arts and 7. Word processors require purchase of hard ware like printers in
pictures whereas with a type writer, drawings and pictures order to obtain hard copies yet with typewriters, whatever is
can only be drawn by a hand on the stencil. typed is permanent and instantly available as a hard copy: there
12. With A word processor, you can use mail merge feature to is no delay for printing or risk of unintended file deletion.
create a set of documents, such as a letter that is sent to NB: It is this tangible writing experience free from computer
many customers, by only creating one main document and meltdowns or deletions that is saving the typewriter from
inserting different fields for the customers’ details whereas extinction.
with a type writer, you have to type the each document
separately.
COMMONLY USED WORD PROCESSING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Ctrl- ] or [ Increase/ Reduce Ctrl-F8 Document Ctrl-Shift-DDouble Underline
Font rl-Alt-R ® window—size Ctrl-Shift-Enter Breakcolumn
Ctrl - Soft hyphen - Ctrl-Alt-S Split a window Ctrl-G GoTo Ctrl-Shift-FFont Face
Ctrl = Subscript Ctrl-Alt-T ™ Ctrl-H Replace Ctrl-Shift-KSmall Caps
Ctrl-0 Paragraph Space Ctrl-Alt-U Table—remove Ctrl-I Italics Ctrl-Shift-LList Bullet Style
Above (add/delete border lines Ctrl-J Justify—Full Ctrl-Shift-M Indent decrease
12 pt.) Ctrl-Alt-Y Repeat Find Ctrl-K Hyperlink Ctrl-Shift-NNormal Style
Ctrl-1 Line-spacing 1 Ctrl-Alt-Z Go Back (3 max) Ctrl-L Align—Left Ctrl-Shift-THanging
Ctrl-2 Line-spacing 2 Ctrl-B Bold Ctrl-M Indent—increase indentdecrease
Ctrl-5 Line-spacing 1.5 Ctrl-C Copy Ctrl-N New document Ctrl-Shift-TabDialog box
Ctrl-A Select All Ctrl-click Select Sentence Ctrl-O Open a document previous tabbed section
Ctrl-Alt-1 Heading Level 1 Ctrl-D Font Dialog Ctrl-P Print Ctrl-Shift-VPaste formatting
Ctrl-Alt-2 Heading Level 2 Ctrl-drag Drawing—draw from Ctrl-Q Remove Paragraph Ctrl-Shift-W Underline words
Ctrl-Alt-3 Heading Level 3 center formats only
Ctrl-Alt-C © Ctrl-E Align—Center Ctrl-R Align—Right Ctrl-spacebar
Ctrl-Alt-E Endnote Ctrl-Enter Break—page Ctrl-S Save Remove Character
Ctrl-Alt-F Footnote Ctrl-F Find Ctrl-Shift- >or <Font formats
Ctrl-Alt-I Print Preview Ctrl-F10 Maximize window next/previous size Ctrl-T Hanging Indent—
Ctrl-Alt-K AutoFormat Ctrl-F4 Close Ctrl-Shift -Hard hyphen increase
Ctrl-Alt-M Insert Comment Ctrl-F5 Document Ctrl-Shift =Superscript Ctrl-Tab Dialog box next
Ctrl-Alt-N View—Normal window—restore Ctrl-Shift-8Nonprinting tabbed section
Ctrl-Alt-O View—Outline Ctrl-F7 Document characters on/off Ctrl-U Underline
Ctrl-Alt-P View—Page window—move Ctrl-Shift-A All Caps
Ct Ctrl-Shift-C Copy formatting
2
Ctrl-Up/Down GoTo
Next/Previous
Paragraph
Ctrl-V Paste
Ctrl-W Close
Ctrl-X Cut
Ctrl-Y Repeat/Redo
Ctrl-Z Undo
F1 Help
F10 Menu Bar
F12 Save As
F7 Spelling and Grammar
check
F8 Selection extended
F9 Update selected field
Shift-drag Drawing—
constrain shape to
symmetrical
Shift-drag Graphic—crop
Shift-EnterLine break
Alt Drag Vertical Selection
Shift-F10 Shortcut Menu
Shift-F3 Case change
(capitalization)
Shift-F7 Thesaurus
Shift-F8 Selection reduced