Business Computing and Digital Literacy: Word Processing

Loading the Word Processor and Creating a Document

To load Word, click Start, type 'Word' and open it, or click its pinned icon on the taskbar. On the start screen, choose Blank document, or press Ctrl + N in an open document. Type the text, pressing Enter only at the end of a paragraph, because the words wrap to the next line automatically. Save straight away with Ctrl + S, and save often while working.

Formatting Text

Formatting text changes how characters look, using the Home tab, Font group. The font is the style of lettering, such as Calibri or Times New Roman, and the font size is measured in points. Text enhancements include bold (Ctrl + B), italic (Ctrl + I), underline (Ctrl + U), font colour, highlight, superscript and subscript. Select the text first, then apply the format.

Formatting Paragraphs

Paragraph formatting changes the layout of whole paragraphs, using the Paragraph group. Alignment may be left, centre, right or justified (straight edges on both sides). Line spacing sets the space between lines, such as 1.0 or 1.5, and spacing before and after sets the gap between paragraphs. Indents move a paragraph in from the margin, and a first-line indent moves only the first line. Bullets and numbering turn paragraphs into lists.

Working with Pictures

To insert a picture, choose Insert, Pictures, then This Device or Online Pictures. Once inserted, the Picture Format tab is used to resize it by dragging a corner handle, crop unwanted parts, add a border or style, and choose Wrap Text options, such as Square or Tight, so that text flows around it.

SmartArt

SmartArt is a ready-made diagram, such as a list, process, cycle, hierarchy or organisation chart, used to show ideas visually. Choose Insert, SmartArt, select a type and layout, then type the text into the text pane. The SmartArt Design tab changes colours and styles, and Add Shape adds more boxes. For example, a hierarchy SmartArt quickly shows the organisational structure of a business.

Templates and Resumes

A template is a pre-designed document with layout, fonts and placeholders already set, used to create documents quickly and consistently. Choose File, New and select a template, such as a resume, letter, invoice or report, or search for one online. Replace the placeholder text with your own, and save it as a normal document. A business can also design its own letterhead and save it as a template (.dotx), so every letter looks the same.

Headers and Footers

A header appears at the top of every page and a footer at the bottom, holding items such as the company name, document title, date and page numbers. Choose Insert, Header or Footer, select a style and type, or double-click the top or bottom margin. Insert, Page Number adds automatic numbering. Close the header and footer by double-clicking the body of the page.

Editing Techniques

Highlighting (selecting) text is done by dragging the mouse, double-clicking a word, triple-clicking a paragraph, or pressing Ctrl + A for the whole document. Delete removes text, Backspace removes the character before the cursor. Cut (Ctrl + X) removes text to the clipboard, copy (Ctrl + C) places a copy there, and paste (Ctrl + V) inserts it at the cursor. To move text, cut and paste it, or drag and drop the selection to a new place; holding Ctrl while dragging copies it instead. Undo (Ctrl + Z) reverses the last action.

Creating a Mail Merge

A mail merge combines a main document, containing the text that is the same for everyone, with a data source, such as an Excel list, containing the details that differ, to produce a personalised copy for each recipient. The steps are:

Start the merge

Open a new document and choose Mailings, Start Mail Merge, Letters.

Select the recipients

Choose Select Recipients, then Use an Existing List to open an Excel sheet of names and addresses, or Type a New List.

Write the letter and insert merge fields

Type the invitation, and at each place where personal details are needed, choose Insert Merge Field, such as «First_Name» or «Company».

Preview the results

Click Preview Results and use the arrows to check several letters.

Finish and merge

Choose Finish & Merge, then Edit Individual Documents, Print Documents or Send Email Messages.

Selecting Recipients and Troubleshooting

Edit Recipient List allows recipients to be ticked or unticked, sorted and filtered, for example to send only to customers in Bulawayo. Common errors include blank fields, where the data source has empty cells; wrong or missing data, where the field was matched to the wrong column, which is fixed using Match Fields; dates and amounts in the wrong format, which should be formatted in Excel first; and the data source cannot be found, because the Excel file was moved or renamed. Always preview before printing or sending.

Creating and Editing a Table

Choose Insert, Table and drag over the grid, or choose Insert Table and type the exact number of columns and rows. Press Tab to move to the next cell; pressing Tab in the last cell adds a new row. The Layout tab is used to insert or delete rows and columns, merge or split cells, change cell size and align text, and the Table Design tab applies styles and shading.

Placing Text and Objects in a Table

Click inside a cell and type, or paste text into it. Pictures and other objects can be inserted into a cell using Insert, Pictures, and they resize to fit. Tables are often used to lay out invoices, price lists and forms, where text and numbers must line up neatly.

Placing Text into Columns

Choose Layout, Columns and select Two, Three or More Columns, where the width, spacing and a line between can be set. To put only part of a document in columns, select that text first. Insert a column break (Layout, Breaks, Column) to force text to start at the top of the next column. Columns are used in newsletters and brochures.

Inserting Borders

To add borders to a table, select it and use Table Design, Borders, choosing the style, width and colour. To add a border around a paragraph or the whole page, use Home, Borders or Design, Page Borders. Borders make tables easier to read and give documents a finished look.

Business Plan

A business plan is a document that describes a business, its goals and how it will achieve them. It usually has a cover page, an executive summary, a description of the business, the products or services, a market analysis, a marketing plan, the organisational structure and a financial plan. In Word, it is built using headings styles, an automatic table of contents, tables for figures and page numbers in the footer.

Memorandum

A memorandum, or memo, is a short internal message within an organisation. It has a heading MEMORANDUM and the lines To, From, Date and Subject (or Ref), followed by the message in short paragraphs, and is initialled by the sender instead of being signed with a salutation and complimentary close.

Different Types of Letters

Business letters include enquiry letters, quotation letters, order letters, complaint letters, adjustment letters replying to complaints, collection letters asking customers to pay, application letters and letters of appointment. A business letter in fully blocked style has every line starting at the left margin, and includes the letterhead, reference, date, inside address, salutation, subject heading, body, complimentary close and signature block.

Reports

A report presents information and findings on a topic, often with recommendations. A formal report has a title page, terms of reference, procedure, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and the name, signature and date of the writer. Numbered headings, tables and charts make it easy to follow.

Styles

A style is a saved set of formats, such as font, size, colour and spacing, given a name like Heading 1 or Normal. Applying styles from the Home, Styles gallery keeps headings and text consistent throughout a document. To modify a style, right-click it and choose Modify; every paragraph using it changes at once. To update a style to match selected text, right-click it and choose Update to Match Selection. Heading styles are also used to build an automatic table of contents.

Spelling and Grammar Check

Word underlines possible spelling errors in red and grammar issues in blue or double underline. Right-click an underlined word to see suggestions, or run a full check with Review, Spelling & Grammar (F7). Set the language to English (United Kingdom) so that British spellings such as 'organisation' are accepted. The checker does not catch every error, so documents must still be proofread.

Printing Finished Documents

Choose File, Print (Ctrl + P) to see a print preview. Check the printer, the number of copies, the pages to print, such as 'All' or '2-4', one-sided or two-sided printing, orientation (portrait or landscape), paper size (A4) and margins, then click Print. Previewing first avoids wasting paper on documents with layout errors.