INTRODUCTION TO WORD PROCESSING

One of the first things you learned in school together with reading was writing. Perhaps before you
were allowed to use ballpoint pens, you used pencils to practice writing. But before pens and pencils,
people used a whole lot of other writing tools such as inks and dyes to paint walls of caves, chisels to
engrave on stone, quills from bird feathers to write on parchments, and other things. Later on, mechanical
devices such as typewriters were developed to make the activity faster and more efficient.

Now with technology at our disposal, the writing process has been made simpler through computers.
The method of using the computer for writing purposes is called word processing. The software for this
is called a word processor.

Word processing is like writing, only now, you have the computer screen as your paper and the
keyboard as your pen. Word processing, however, has more advantages because you can already see the
written words before printing them on paper. You can make as many revisions and corrections as you
desire. You can easily apply formatting and colors. It is also possible to make as many copies of a
document as you want.

The Microsoft office suite has an application for the specific purpose of word processing and it is
called Microsoft Word. As a word processor, Microsoft Word can compose, edit, manipulate, copy, save,
and print documents such as term papers, letters, flyers, brochures, and even Web pages.

MICROSOFT WORD GUI (GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE)

Just like all the Microsoft Office applications, Word uses a GUI. It allows the user to do things just by
clicking a menu, toolbar, tab, or icon.

Program-Level Control Buttons

1. Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) displays buttons to perform frequently used commands with a single
click. You can customize the QAT to include other commands.
2. Ribbon organizes commands on tabs and groups the commands by topic for performing related
documents tasks.
3. Title Bar displays the name of the document and the name of the program.
4. Document Window displays the active document.
5. Insertion Point is the blinking vertical line that indicates where the text or graphic will be inserted.
6. Ruler serves as a reminder of what the document’s margins are and the location of the different
indentations.
7. Scroll Bar enables you to move the document either up and down or left to right to display text that is
not visible.
8. Zoom Control increases or decreases the viewing area.
9. View Shortcut contains buttons for viewing the document in Print Layout, Full Screen Reading, Web
Layout, Outline, or Draft views.
10. Status Bar indicates the line number and word count and it displays proof button. On its right side, it
displays buttons to control the appearance of the window.
11. Program-Level Control Buttons are the buttons on the right edge of the title bar that allows you to
minimize, restore, or close the program.

FEATURES OF A WORD PROCESSOR

Unlike with a basic plain text editor, a word processor offers dozens of additional features that can
give your document or other text a more professional appearance. Below is a list of some of the most
popular features of a word processor.

1. Text Formatting-changes the font, font size, font color, and font style
2. Multimedia- inserts clip art, charts, images, pictures, and video in a document
3. Spelling and Grammar-detects and corrects the spelling and grammar errors of a document
4. Adjust the layout- modifies the margins and layout of a document
5. Indentation and Lists- sets and formats tabs, bullet lists, and number lists
6. Insert Tables- adds tables to a document
7. Header and Footer- adjusts and changes text within the header and footer of a document
8. Thesaurus- shows the synonyms and antonyms of words
9. Auto Correct- corrects common errors (e.g., typing “teh” and having it autocorrected to “the”)
10. Mailers and labels- creates mailers or print labels
11. Import data- imports and formats data from CSV, database, or another source
12. Macros- sets up macros to perform common tasks

Examples of Word Processor Programs

Although Microsoft Word is the most popular word processor available, there are many other
available options for creating documents. Below is a listing of different word processors in alphabetical
order.

 AbiWord
 Apple iWork Pages
 Apple TextEdit- Apple Mac OS
 Corel WordPerfect
 Google Docs
 LibreOffice Writer
 Microsoft Word
 OpenOffice Writer

Uses of Word Processor

A word processor is one of the most useful application software in a computer. It is used at home, in
school, and at work. The following are just some of its uses.

 Writing a book
 Writing a report
 Keeping journal
 Taking down notes
 Creating memos and letters
 Detecting and correcting grammar errors
 Copying text from other sources and editing them
Common Tasks and User Actions in MS Word

Style

A style is a set of formatting characteristics that you can apply to text in your document to quickly change
its appearance. When you apply a style, you apply a whole group of formats in one simple task.

Changing Font Style

Font Type Font Size

A font is the type of text that you use. Choosing a different font will change the way the letters look on
your screen.

This is a Bookman Old Style Font.

This is a Lucinda Handwriting Font.

This is an Arial Font.

A paragraph style controls all aspects of paragraph’s appearance such as text alignment, tab stops, line
spacing, and borders, and can include character formatting. A character style affects selected text within
a paragraph, such as the font and size of text, and bold and italic formats.

Changing Font Type

1. Select the words you want to change by highlighting them.

2. Click the down arrow or drop-down menu beside the font name in your Tools.
3. Use up and down arrows.
4. Look through the different fonts.
5. As you move your pointer over the font names, your highlighted selection will change to show you
what that font will look like.
6. Click on the font that you want.

Changing Font Size

You can change the font size using this arrow. The standard size is 12 but you can make it bigger or
smaller.
This is size 8

This is size 12

This is size 20
1. To change font size, select the words you want to change. Highlight them.
2. Click on the down arrow beside the font size.
3. Click on the font size you want.
4. As you move your pointer over the font names, your highlighted selection changes to show you what
the font size will look like.
5. Click on the font size that you want.

Changing Font Color

1. You can change the color of the font.

2. Select the words you want to change by highlighting them.
3. Click on the down arrow beside the “A.”
4. You will see your color options.
5. As you move your mouse over the colors, your selection will change to show you what each color will
look like.
6. Click the color you want. Font Color

Changing Font Styles

This is where your font styles are located.

This is bold. Bold

Italic
This is Italic.
Underlined
This is underlined.

Alignment

The computer can align text on the left, right, or center of the page.

1. Select the text that you want to align by highlighting it.

2. Then click on the direction you want it aligned.
3. The activated alignment will appear with an orange background.

Page Layout

The Page Layout tab is the fourth tab from the left. This is where you can customize your document’s
layout or physical appearance. Under the Page Setup section, you can change and/or add margins,
orientation, size, columns, breaks, line numbers, and hyphenation.

Printing

You need to connect to your printer to print.

1. Click on the File Menu.

2. Click on Print in the drop-down menu.
3. Click print.

Spelling and Grammar Check

If you spell a word incorrectly, you will see a red crooked line under the word. To check the spelling,
click the Review tab, then click Spelling & Grammar. This will open a dialog box that detects possibly
misspelled words. In the first box, you will see a paragraph with flagged word in red. In the box below it
is labeled as Suggestions, you will see alternative spellings of the words it detected. If you want to follow
the suggestions, choose the word that you want under Suggestions and click Change. When you are done,
Click OK.

Grammar Check

When you make a possible grammar mistake, you will see a green line under the affected words.

1. To check possible mistakes, go to Review tab on the Ribbon. Click Spelling & Grammar.
2. The grammar check will give you suggestions.
3. The computer will run a spell check and a grammar check at the same time.
4. Under Suggestions, you will see words flagged.
5. Click Change.
6. When the check is done, click OK.

Thesaurus

You can find word that has the same meaning as the one you are using with the Thesaurus.

1. Type the word nice.

2. Select the word nice by highlighting it.
3. Click on the Review Tab.
4. Click on Thesaurus.
5. A box with words that mean the same will show up on the right side of the screen.
6. Scroll to see all options.
7. Right-click on the word that you want.
8. Click insert.
9. You can use this feature in any word that is found in your word document.

Word Count

Your computer can count how many words you have typed.

1. The total words on your page are shown near the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.
2. To find out how many words you have in one area, select the words by highlighting them.

3. The first number will show you how many words there are in the selection. Numbering
4. The second number will tell you the total words on the page(s).
5. You can also go to the Review tab and select the Word Count. Alphabetical Order

Bullets Bullets

You use bullets when making lists.

1. Go to the Home tab.

2. Your bullet options are listed in the Paragraph section.
3. Click on the bullets icon to make a bullet.
4. To see different bullets, click on the downward arrow beside the picture of the bullet.
5. Click on the bullet you want. If you want to remove bullets, simply highlight the bulleted words and
then click on the bullet icon on the Paragraph section to undo the bullet styles.
Numbering

Similar with bullets, you can also apply numbering or sequencing to words on your document. This is
particularly useful for long list so that you will not have to type numbers anymore. To do this, highlight
the text or words that you want to be numbered.

1. Numbering is right beside Bullets in the Home tab of the ribbon.

2. Select the words that you want to add numbers to by highlighting them.
3. Click on Numbering.
4. Your selection will be numbered.
5. To select different Numbering, click on the drop-down menu arrow beside it.
6. Click on the Numbering that you want.
7. Click on the style you want. If you want to remove numbering, simply highlight the affected words and
then click on the numbering icon on the Paragraph section to undo the numbering styles.

Alphabetical Order

The computer can take a list and put it in alphabetical order.

1. Select the words you want to put in alphabetical order by highlighting them.
2. Click on the Home tab.
3. Click on Sort.
4. Click OK.

Columns

We usually see columns in the newspaper. You need many words to make columns.

1. Select the words you would like to put in a column by highlighting them.
2. Click on the Page Layout tab.
3. Click on Column.
4. Click on the number of columns that you want.

Inserting Tables

A table is a grid of rows and columns that organizes information so that they are easy to find and
understand. You can organize information in a table.

This is a table

This has two columns and four rows.

1. Click on your Insert tab.
2. Click on Table.
3. Click on insert Table.
4. Click to choose the number of columns that you want.
5. Click to choose number of rows that you want.
6. Click OK.

Inserting Text Boxes

You put words or pictures in text boxes to move them around easily.
This is a text box
1. Go to Insert tab.
2. Click on the Text box Icon.
3. You will see this drop-down screen with different choices for text boxes.
4. Select Simple Text Box.
5. Click in Box and delete text by using your backspace key.
6. Type in the box.

Inserting Shapes

1. Go to your Insert tab.

2. Click on Shapes.
3. Choose the shape you want from the menu.
4. Click on your document to position your shape.
5. To move your shape, hover your cursor over the text box until it looks like four arrows.
6. Hold your left mouse button down over the four arrows and drag the shape where you want it to go.

Inserting Word Art

Word Art is a feature that allows you to create colorful eye-catching text by changing letters or words
into a picture or graphic.

1. Go to Insert Tab.
2. Click on WordArt.
3. Click on the WordArt you would like to use.

Inserting Page Numbers

You can number your pages in a word processing program.

1. Click the Insert Tab.

2. Click on Page Number.
3. Choose if you want your page numbers at the top or bottom of the page.
4. Scroll down to see different page numbers.
5. Click on the type of page number you would like.

Inserting a Header

A header is an area of information at the top of each page in a document.

1. Click on the Insert tab.

2. Click on Header.
3. Scroll to see choices.
4. Choose a header.
5. Click on Type to type your header.
6. Click on Close Header and Footer to add it to your page.

Inserting a Footer
A footer is an area of information at the bottom of each page in a document.

1. Click on the Insert tab.

2. Click on Footer.
3. Scroll to see Footer options.
4. Click on Footer.
5. Click on Type Text.
6. Type your footer.
7. Click on Close Header and Footer to add it to your page.

Hands-on Activities (60 pts.)

Directions: Perform each of the given steps using a word processing program. Print your documents
following the given format.

I. Formatting Characters

A. Type a 10-sentence essay about being Take Note!

able to understand his or her self as
a young Filipino in the New Normal
 Each hands-on activity must be
B. Use Arial for the font.
C. Use size 13 for the font size of printed in separate pages.
the title and size 12 for the body.  This essay activity will also be
D. Design your document using shapes, graded by your English Teacher.
clip-arts or pictures.

II. Applying Bullets and Numbering

A. Type the listing below.

B. Apply the proper bullets and Page Format
numbering on the listings
Orientation: Portrait

Paper Size: Letter

Computer Generations
Margin: 1 inch
First Generation Computers ( 1951-1959)

Electromagnetic Relays Borders: Box -1 pt

Vacuum Tubes

Hard UNIVAC

Atanasoff-Bery Conputer

Second Generation Computers( 1959-1964)

Transistors

Third Generation Computers(1965-1970)

Integrated Circuit

DEC PDP8/E Minicomputer

Early Transistor Calculators

Fourth Generation Computers(1970-Present)

Microprocessor

Intel 4004 microprocessor

Apple 1

Apple II Personal Computer

Fifth Generation- Present and beyond

Artificial Intelligence

Wearable Computers

Sample Activities:

That in all things God may be glorified