Word 6 Introduction
Is this course for you?
This course is intended for anyone wishing to use use Word 6. It covers basic and intermediate skills and is focussed on preparing documents. It covers basic text editing and word processing tools and shows how to control document
appearance. It shows how to ensure consistent appearance using styles and templates, as well as managing pages with column layouts and more complex layouts using sections.
You don't need previous experience with word processing as all the
basics are introduced, but familiarity with Windows is helpful.
The course includes the following elements:
| Learn how to... | Tutor's summary |
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Start Word by double-clicking on its icon.
Recognise the various parts of the Word window.
Type text and let Word wrap to the next line.
Start new paragraphs with the RETURN or ENTER key.
Use menus and how to cancel a menu.
Change the zoom settings to control your on-screen view of the document.
Use BACKSPACE and DELETE for basic text correction.
Select a line by clicking in the Selection bar (to the left of the text).
Print a document with File, Print.
Close a document with File, Close.
Finish a Word session with File, Exit
| If this is the first time you've used a word processing program like Word, then this is the place to start. Here you will learn about the basics of getting Word started, how you control Word in operation, and you will learn about creating and printing some simple text.
Even at this stage, by the end of the lesson you will be able to do something useful; and you'll see that producing a simple letter or memo is no more difficult with Word than it would be on a typewriter. And because you can correct everything on screen before you print, you can produce better quality results.
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| Lesson 2: Opening and saving files |
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Use File, Open to open a file.
Select directories and files from the dialogue box.
Use the .DOC file extension for Word documents.
Save a document with File, Save.
Use the File menu shortcut to open recently-used files.
Save with a new name using File, Save As.
Create a new document with File, New.
| One of the most important features of any programs like Word is being able to save your work on disk and then come back to it later on. During this course for example, you will be working on a range of documents which are already set up on the disk.
So, this lesson concentrates on saving your work on disk, then opening documents to work on.
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| Lesson 3: Working preferences |
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Switch on or off the automatic save feature with Tools, Options.
Use View, Normal to set a normal view of the document.
Control which Toolbars are displayed with View, Toolbars.
Set different zooms with View, Zoom.
Get the maximum area for text with View, Full Screen.
| You don't have to work with Word for long to realise it's a very powerful and flexible program. You can change many aspects of the way Word
operates.
In this lesson we look at some of the basic choices which can affect your daily work with Word, and help put you in control.
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Move the insertion point to where you want to make the edit.
Edit text in Insert and Overtype modes.
Select a word by double clicking.
Use the Toolbar to enhance text.
Remove text enhancements.
Change the alignment of paragraphs.
Control how a document is printed from the Print dialogue box.
| One of the main benefits of word processing is that you can create your document and then correct or edit it as much as you like and you never need to re-type text once it is stored.
Word has many powerful editing features, but in this lesson we'll start with the basics of how to select text and correct it, and how to change text enhancements and layout.
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| Lesson 5: Editing documents 1 |
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Get a 2-page display with View, Zoom, Many pages.
Select Normal and Page Layout views.
Use the buttons on the Scroll bar to switch views.
Recognise Soft (automatic) page breaks.
Insert Hard page breaks with Insert, Break or CONTROL and ENTER.
Move the insertion point with HOME END and CONTROL key combinations.
Move with Edit, Goto.
Select and delete text.
Restore deleted text with Edit, Undo.
| Once you've mastered the basics of editing text, you will want to work on longer documents and start to use some more of Word's editing features.
This lesson concentrates on some of the techniques that you need for viewing, moving the insertion point and editing longer documents.
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Display Toolbars and Tooltips using View, Toolbars.
Identify buttons with Tooltips.
Use the Toolbar to open a file.
Use the Undo and Redo buttons.
Move and resize the Toolbars by dragging.
Use the right mouse button to select Toolbars.
| Word's Toolbars can make the selection of even complex Word commands as simple as clicking a single button.
In this lesson we take a closer look at the Toolbars -- how to identify which button does what, how to take advantage of some of the shortcuts and how to control where the Toolbars appear on the screen.
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Identify Menu options from prompts in the Status bar
Display Tooltips
Get information from the Help system
Search for Help topics.
Use the Query button.
Show the Tip of the Day.
Get Help from a dialogue box.
| Word has a vast range of features, and there is simply too much to remember, especially when you are learning.
You don't need to memorise everything though, because Word gives you a range of help which will normally show you the information that you need.
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| Lesson 8: Editing documents 2 |
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Control which features are displayed with Tools, Options.
Select with the click and drag technique.
Edit text using Edit, Cut, Copy and Paste.
Insert the contents of a document using Insert, File.
Move selected text using the drag and drop technique.
| When you are editing documents, it is often helpful to be able to edit or manipulate whole sections of text.
In this lesson we look at the techniques for selecting, copying and moving text.
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Find text with Edit, Find.
Select options on the Find dialogue box.
Use wildcards and special characters.
| Word's "find" feature takes the hard work out of searching through documents to find every occurrence of a particular word or phrase that you wish to locate.
The Find feature will do much more than that though; you can get it to find text special characters, or even to locate words you have never seen written down, providing you can say what the text sounds like.
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Replace a word using Edit, Replace.
Replace Special characters.
| It's not unusual to spend time preparing a document, only to find that a key word or phrase needs to be changed.
As well as finding text in your document, you can let Word substitute it for other text automatically.
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| Lesson 11: Using pre-set font styles |
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Apply styles with the Style panel in the Formatting Toolbar.
| One of the best ways to improve the appearance of your documents is to use different typefaces or fonts.
To make things as simple as possible, Word is supplied with a range of pre-set font styles, so that you can quickly format headings and sub-headings to stand out from the main body of the text.
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During this lesson you have learned about:
Change Fonts with the toolbar.
Control fonts using Format, Font and making selections from the dialogue box.
Change font size
Select other font effects such as superscript and underline.
Copy the format to other sections of text using the Format Painter.
| As well as using the Style panel, you can take more control of the fonts used in your documents with the Formatting toolbar; you can make your own decisions about the face, the size and other effects.
Once you've prepared one section of text in a style that suits you, you can quickly copy the format to other sections.
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| Learn how to... | Tutor's summary |
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Select paper size and orientation with File, Page Setup.
Change margins with File, Page Setup.
Add a gutter margin.
Align (justify) text.
Set indents with Format, Paragraph.
Use the Ruler to change indents.
| In this lesson we look at the basics of layout out text on a page using margins and indents.
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| Lesson 14: Adding a border |
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Add a boder to text using the Borders button.
Select different border effects using the Borders toolbar.
| One of the main ways to change the appearance of a document is to add graphic devices such as underlining and borders.
In this lesson we also show how adding a graphic border can offer a useful alternative to simple text underlining.
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Change the default tabs with Format, Tabs.
Set tab types and position.
Set tabs using the Ruler.
Use the tab alignment button.
Set tab leaders.
| Using tabs gives you a quick way to orgainse your document into tabular column layouts.
In this lesson we look at using the default tab stops and at defining your own tabs,
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| Lesson 16: Headers and Footers |
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Display headers and footers using View, Header and Footer.
Add text for a footer.
Use Print Preview to see headers and footers.
Number pages with Insert, Page numbers.
Edit headers and footers.
| If you are working on longer documents like reports, it is normal to have text which repeats on every page. You can use Word's Header and Footer features to take care of this for you.
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Create column layouts with Format, Columns.
Edit a column layout.
Set unequal column widths.
Control column breaks with Insert, Breaks.
Adjust columns with the Ruler.
| It is well known that text is easier to read when the the lines are short, and that is why newspapers and other publications so often arrange the page in columns of text.
In this lesson we see how Word makes it easy to set up and control column layouts, so that you can achieve the same effect in your documents.
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Create a template with File, New and selecting the Template option.
Save a document as a template with File, Save As and using the Type box.
Edit a template.
| Once you have set up a complex page layout or written some standard text, you can make your work available to other documents by defining it as a "template", or pattern for other documents to follow.
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| Lesson 19: AutoFormat and style types |
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Use Format, Autoformat to apply one of the pre-defined formats.
Choose styles from the Style Gallery.
Understand the difference between Paragraph and Character styles.
Modify a style.
| Word's AutoFormat feature allows you to quickly create professional-looking results using a range of pre-defined formats.
These are suitable for many documents, but you can take more control over the results by defining or modifying your own styles.
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| Lesson 20: Creating styles |
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Apply a style from the Formatting Toolbar.
Create a style from selected text with Format, Style, New.
Create a character style.
| Styles give you a quick way to apply a range of formatting instructions. Once you have used the pre-set styles for a while, you'll want to take more control and define your own styles to suit the type of documents you are working on.
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Check spelling with Tools, Spelling.
Understand some of the limitations of spelling checks.
| One mark of a professional document is to have correct spelling -- certainly the easiest way to spoil an otherwise perfect document is to mis-spell a key word, and it is all too easy not to notice mistakes on the screen and let them slip through.
Word's spelling check means you can be sure of correct spelling, though as you'll see in this lesson, there are limitations on how accurate automatic spell-checking can be.
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Check grammar with Tools, Grammar.
Display readability statistics.
| As well as checking the spelling, Word can help you check the grammar in your documents.
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| Lesson 23: AutoCorrect and AutoText |
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Set on AutoCorrect with Tools, AutoCorrect.
Define Autotext entries with Edit, Autotext.
Use the Insert Autotext button.
| Spelling and grammar checks are fine when you want to check completed documents, but Word has two other features which can help you to perfect the accuracy of your documents:
"AutoCorrect", which corrects common typing mistakes as you go;
"AutoText", which allows you to type a short code and have Word replace it by a word or phrase.
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| Lesson 24: Multiple documents |
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Open more than one document.
Switch from one document to another with the Window menu.
Display both documents at once with Window, Arrange All.
Use Cut, Copy and Paste to move text from one document to another.
| Like all good Windows programs, Word allows you to work with more than one document at once, which has many uses.
For example you can use this to copy text from one document to another or build a letter from a bank of standard paragraphs.
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| Lesson 25: Organising and finding files |
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Use file extensions when naming files.
Find files.
Use Document Summary information.
Change the default directory using Tools, Options.
| When you start building up a range of documents, it is essential to keep them well organised on disk.
Although you do most of this from Windows itself, Word has some useful features of its own for identifying and finding files.
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| Lesson 26: WP Tips and tricks |
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Add today's date to a document with Insert, Date and Time.
Change case with Format, Change Case.
Insert bullet points and paragraph numbers with Format, Bullets and Numbering.
Number headings with Format, Heading Numbering.
Modify heading numbering styles.
| Word is full of useful features and shortcuts to help save you time and effort.
In this lesson we look at a selection of tricks which you are likely to find useful in your day-to-day work.
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Pre-defined curricula
Like all courses at the Reeltime College this course comes supplied with a number of predefined curricula designed
to help you go straight to the subjects you're most interested in. Curricula supplied with this course include:
- Standard curriculum (all lessons)
- Level 1
- Level 2
- Level 3
- Text editing
- Document presentation
- WP tools
- Styles and templates
- Personal curriculum (designed by you)
What will I need to enrol?
This is what you need to get the most from the course:
- A Pentium-class PC with Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP.
- Sound card and loudspeakers or headphones
- A CD-ROM drive (or DVD drive) either on the PC or accessible over a
local network.
- Approximately 10 Mb spare disk capacity. If you have another 30 Mb
spare, you can choose to copy introduction movies onto the hard disk.
- If you download the course handbook, you'll need approximately 2 Mb
spare for the download.
- The course assumes you have a copy of the target software (Word 6)
correctly installed on your computer. If not, you'll be able to watch
the movie segments, but not complete the hands-on segments.
You can enrol on the course by using the Reeltime software, which also
allows you to preview the course content off-line. For more information,
go to the How to join Reeltime College
page.
© Reeltime College
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