ICT 141

COMPUTING SKILLS FUNDAMENTALS I

FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Lecture 4: Introduction to Word Processing

Computing Skills Fundamentals 1

Outline
 Software
 Word Processing
 Microsoft Word
 Microsoft Word Features

ICT121 – 2017/18 2
Software
 Major categories
◦ System software
 For managing and control of h/w components
and allow for interaction between the h/w and
s/w.
 E.g.
 Operating System
 Utility software: Helps maintain and protect the
computer system. E.g. anti-virus software &
firewalls.
◦ Application software
 Programs designed for performing specific end-
user tasks. E.g. Ms Word

ICT121 – 2017/18 3
Word processing
 Involves using suitable software to create, edit,
format, store, retrieve, and print text documents.
 One of the most common PC activity
 Word processor:
◦ an electronic device or application software, that
performs … composition, editing, formatting, and
sometimes printing of documents.
 E.g.: letters, CV, reports, books, newsletters, etc.
 Many word processors
◦ Examples
 Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, AbiWord, etc

ICT121 – 2017/18 4
Microsoft Office Word
 Word processing software used with text and graphics
to create, edit, and format documents.

 One of the most commonly used word processors

 Part of the Microsoft Office Suite

 It features ribbons
◦ Tabs with commands
◦ Related commands have been grouped together tabs
 E.g. File tab, Home tab, Page Layout tab, etc
 Has a lot of useful word processing features.

ICT121 – 2017/18 5
Quick Microsoft Word Window
Access Title bar
Toolbar

Scroll bars

Rulers

Status bar Zoom slider

Document View buttons
7
The Ribbon

7
The File Tab

7
Saving a Document
• Saving your work to a file ensures that any text,
graphics, or other elements in your document, are
written to a disk.
• A document can be saved in many formats. Some
commonly used formats are:
.DOC: is a document format used by Microsoft
Word, while DOCX is its successor.
.pdf: widely used for distributing documents over
the Internet.
.txt: save a document as an unformatted text file.
.htm or .html: save a Word document as a Web page.
You can save a document by using any of the following
options:
• Save As
• Save
ICT121 – 2017/18 9
a) Writing and editing features
 Text Insertion point
◦ cursor

 Use usual keyboard characters for text entry

 Other useful keys:

◦ Spacebar: space character
◦ Enter: NewLine character
◦ Backspace: Delete previous character
◦ Delete: Delete next character

ICT121 – 2017/18 10
Some useful keyboard shortcut keys

 For time-saving
Key Effect on insertion point
Home Beginning of current line
End End of current line
Pg Dn Moves to next page
Pg Up Moves to previous page
Left arrow Moves 1 character to the left
Right arrow Moves 1 character to the left
Down arrow Moves 1 line down
Up arrow Moves 1 line up

ICT121 – 2017/18 11
Relocating Text
■ Office Clipboard—area of memory reserved to temporarily
hold selections that have been cut or copied
■ Cut—removes a selection from the original location and
places it in the Office Clipboard. Press Ctrl + X
■ Copy—duplicates a selection from the original location and
places a copy in the Office Clipboard.Press Ctrl + C
■ Paste—places a cut or copied selection into another
location in a document. Press Ctrl + V
b) Undo/Redo

 Undo: Enables recovery from mistakes

 Redo: for reversing undo

ICT121 – 2017/18 13
c) Find/Replace
◦ For searching for specific words
and even replacing them by new
words.

ICT121 – 2017/18 14
 d) Spell /grammar checking

◦ Use Change, Ignore or Add To Dictionary

◦ WARNING: Be careful  Not smart enough!
◦ How does MS Word flag possible errors?
 Grammar: green wavy line

 Automatic spell checking: red wavy line

e) Thesaurus
◦ For displaying synonyms & sometimes antonyms
◦ E.g. after: afterwards, next, later, before (Antonym)

ICT121 – 2017/18 15
b) Formatting Features
 Allows us to change document appearance
 There are many formatting tools in Ms Word
◦ Mostly under Home, Insert & Page Layout
menus

a) Cover page:
◦ Under Insert tab
◦ Introduces the document & gives it a
professional finish
◦ Many templates available in Ms Word

ICT121 – 2017/18 16
Some useful formatting features

b) Font type:
◦ Many font types available
◦ Most commonly used: Times New Roman & Arial

c) Font sizes
◦ Text size in points e.g. 28 pt, 40 pt.
◦ Most commonly used sizes: 10pt and 12pt

d) Typefaces
◦ Bold, Italics, Underlined, regular
◦ Used to highlight certain parts of text
 Do not overuse

ICT121 – 2017/18 17
e) Indentation
Determines how part of a paragraph is distanced from the margin

Decrease level Increase level

f) Lists

Bulleted list Numbered list

• ICT121 i. ICT121
• ICT122 ii. ICT122

ICT121 – 2017/18 18
g) Text alignment

Justified. Starts at the left margin

and ends at the right margin.
Spaces adjusted to enable this.

Right justified

This text is centred.

Left justified (all lines start at the same horizontal

distance from the left margin)
ICT121 – 2017/18 19
 Formatting a Paragraph
■ Alignment—how the text is positioned relative to the
margins.
– Left alignment—text begins evenly at the left
margin and ends in an uneven right edge
– Right alignment—text is aligned at the right margin
with a ragged left edge
– Center alignment—positions text horizontally in the
center of a line, with an equal distance from both
the left and right margins
– Justified alignment—text is spread evenly between
the left and right margins
h) Page Orientation
◦ By default, new documents are displayed in portrait
◦ But you can change between Portrait and Landscape
◦ Can also have both orientations in a document
◦ How: Insert a section break before
and another after the affected
page(s)
 Then apply the preferred orientation

i) Columns
◦ Can have multiple columns

ICT121 – 2017/18 21
j) Headers and Footers
◦ Header: placed at the top of every page
◦ Footer: at the bottom of every page

k) Page numbering
◦ MS Word can automatically insert page numbers
 To ensure pages have correct page numbers

ICT121 – 2017/18 22
l) Tables
◦ Under Insert tab

ID Name Test 1 Test 2

201510349 Segale, K 84 76

201515342 Kgole, J 69 58

◦ Select rows/columns
◦ Set/change height/width or use Autofit

ICT121 – 2017/18 23
m) Wrap-around/word wrap
◦ MS Word automatically moves to the next line
when a line of text is filled
 Text is read just when margins change

n) Paper size
◦ Usually A4 (in US it is US letter)

o) Help is available.

ICT121 – 2017/18 24
p) Drawings
◦ Under Insert tab
◦ Various options available:

i. Shapes INPUT PROCESSING

ii. ClipArt

iii. WordArt (fancy text)

ICT121 – 2017/18 25
q) Equation Editor
◦ For equations
◦ Under Insert tab

r) Template
◦ A document that creates a copy of itself when
opened (.dotx or .dotm).
◦ E.g. Business plan with predefined page layout,
fonts, margins, styles, etc.
◦ Template can be protected e.g. a disclaimer

ICT121 – 2017/18 26
s) Tracking changes
◦ For tracking changes when reviewing document

◦ To activate: Click Track Changes

 Make changes: delete, insert, move, format, etc.

◦ (To deactivate: Click Track Changes again)

ICT121 – 2017/18 24
◦ You can also add comments to changes
◦ Adding a comment:
 Place cursor where you want the comment
 Click New Comment

◦ Deleting a comment
 Right click on the comment
 Then select Delete Comment

ICT121 – 2017/18 28
ICT121 – 2017/18
t) Reviewing changes
 Accept changes:
document is
modified to reflect
new changes
 Reject changes:
document not
updated ◦ For navigating
through suggested
changes

ICT121 – 2017/18 30
Computing Skills Fundamentals 31