Posted by: neo2525

Microsoft Word comes with almost every Dell and Windows computer. It is a very efficient program when it comes to writing, whether it be an essay, novel, or any writing purpose.

            When opened, there will be a blank document with the cursor blinking and you ready to type. If you want to put a title on you paper, you can do so by first putting the cursor in the center of the page. To do this, look at the toolbar located at the top of the window, and look for the icon that shows a series of lines all starting fron the center of the icon. By pressing it, you will then be typing from the center of the page as opposed to the left side. Once you have finished your title, hit the Return button until your cursor is at the line where you would like to begin the actual typing. To return to typing from the left side of the page, click icon to the left of the "centering" icon, showing lines beginning from the left side of the icon. To make an indent for a paragraph, press the tab button once.

            There are many options regarding the size, color, and style of your font. To change the color, press the icon on the toolbar that shows a capital A underlined in the color black. Once you click it, you will see a table appear with a large variety of color options for you text, find the one you like and click it once.

To change the size of you font, look at the toolbar for the icon with the number 12 in it. The number 12 will be there because it is the standard font size for Microsoft word. There are two ways to change the font using the icon, you can either click the 12 and manually type in the font size you want, or you can click the small downwards arrow next to the 12 and choose one of the font sizes they show for you. If you choose to click the arrow, you will only be able to choose even numbered fonts (starting from 12). This is to save space, if you wanted size 13 or 15, you would have to type it in manually.

            To change the style of font, you can click the icon next to the font size icon that shows Times New Roman (the default font style for Microsoft Word). Click the icon and you will see over one-hundred different font styles. Each style is written in what the font will look like.

            If for example you are writing a novel and want the margins to be smaller, you can easily change them. Under the toolbar you will see what looks like a ruler, with the inches 1-7 labeled on it. To change the size of the left margin, click and hold the small square block near the left side of the ruler and drag it to wherever you want your margins and let go to make the change. To change the left margin do the same but instead, look for the small block on the right side of the ruler. If you would like to zoom in or out on your paper, click the icon that has a 100% on it. Upon doing so you will be given the choices of 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%, and 500%. Just like the font size, you can also manually type in the size you want to view your paper in. The larger the %, the closer you will be viewing you paper.

            You are given a standard toolbar at the top of the screen which provides you with the most popular tools that the average Word user would need. However, if what your looking for isn't on the tool bar, you can add additional ones by clicking View, then scroll over the choice of Toolbars and there will be 18 choices of toolbars to add to your window interface. The one with checkmarks next to them are the ones that you already have on your window.

            You also can insert a table using the Table, located at the very top of the window. Once you click Table, scroll over the insert option, then click the word Table. A new window will appear and you can choose how you want your table to be set up, including the number of rows and the number of columns. When you have your table dimensions, click "OK' and your table will be set at the bottom of your text. Click in each individual box to type in them

            When your are finished with your work, click File at the top of the window and hit Save As. This will allow you to choose the location you want to save your text in and the name of your document. Once chosen, hit Save. Your document will then be saved in the folder you chose.