Text Document

TEXT DOCUMENT

In this chapter, we will discuss about the word processing. You can use it to type letters, reports and other documents. This lesson introduces you to the Word window. You use the Word window to interact with Text Document.

Managing Documents

This section of the lesson explains how to open a new/existing document, save a document, renaming a document and closing an opened document. There are several ways to create a new document, open existing documents and save documents in Word.

Create a New Document

To create a new document, do any one of the following methods:

1. Click the New Document button on the menu bar.

2. Choose File→New command from the menu bar.

3. Press CTRL+N keys on the keyboard.

Open an Existing Document

To open an existing document, do any one of the following methods:

1. Click the Open File button on the menu bar.

2. Choose File→Open command from the menu bar. 

3. Press CTRL+O keys on the keyboard. Each of the above method will show the Open dialog box. Choose the file and click the Open button.

Save a New/Existing Document

To save a new/existing document that is opened, follow any one of the following methods:

1. Click the Save button on the menu bar.

2. Select File→Save commands from the menu bar.

3. Press CTRL+S keys on the keyboard.

If the document is already named and saved earlier, it will simply save the document. On the other hand, if the file is a new document then it will prompt you by opening ‘Save As’ dialog box. Select the folder where you want to place your document. Type the name of the document in File Name and then click OK. You can also save a document by choosing File→Save As commands on the menu bar.

Close the Document

Close the current document by selecting File→Close command on the menu bar or click the Close icon if it is visible on the Standard toolbar.

Printing a Document

To print a document or selected pages follow the steps given below:

1. Open the document to be printed.

2. Choose File → Print command on the menu bar.

The Print dialog box will open. Select the Options like print range, Number of copies, Printer name etc. See that printer is switched on and the paper is available in the printer tray.

3. Click OK.

Print Preview

Print preview provides a way to see how your document will look when printed. You can see several pages at once. It is similar to Print Layout View. An advantage of Print preview is that it has its own toolbar. The toolbar allows you to easily view multiple pages and change the magnification of the screen. You can also edit your document in print preview mode. To switch to print preview, use one of these methods:

1. Click on the Print preview in the file menu. Or Press  CTRL+Shift+ O keys.

EXIT TEXT DOCUMENT

When finished you can close all the files, and quite the Word program by selecting File→Exit command on the File menu bar.

Selecting Text

Even though the document is built up by typing one character at a time, while editing and formatting one always work with words, lines, paragraphs and sometimes with the whole document. For this purpose one should learn how to select the text. Once the text is selected, change can be made to that text. The text can be moved, copied and made as bold. The font and colour of the text can also be changed. For selecting text, the mouse or the keyboard can be used.

Selecting Text with Mouse

Following steps are to be followed:

1. Insertion point is moved to the start of the text to be selected.

2. The left mouse button should be clicked, held down and dragged across the text to be selected.

3. When the intended text is selected, the mouse button should be released.

Selecting Text with Keyboard

Following are the steps to be followed:

1. Insertion point is moved to the start of the text to be selected.

2. The Shift key is pressed down and the movement keys are used to highlight the required text.

3. When the Shift key is released, the text is selected.

Cut and Copy

The main difference between Cut and Copy is that cut removes the selected data from its original position while copy creates a duplicate of the original content.

Moving the Text

The selected text can be easily cut and pasted in the required location. Following steps are to be followed.

1. The text to be moved to a new location is selected.

2. Edit → Cut is selected or in the tool bar is selected to cut the selected text.

3. Insertion point is moved to the place where the text is to be pasted.

4. Edit → Paste is selected or in the tool bar is selected to paste the text in the new location. The text can also be pasted in this way to another or another type of document.

The following keyboard shortcuts can be used to move text.

Ctrl + X → to Cut

Ctrl + V → to Paste

Copying the Text

1. The text to be copied is selected.

2. Edit → Copy is selected or is clicked.

3. The insertion point is selected where the copy of the text should appear and is clicked. The following keyboard shortcuts can also be used for copy and paste:

Ctrl + C → to Copy

Ctrl + V → to Paste

Formatting Options

Almost all the formatting options are available under Format menu. LibreOffice Writer also conveniently provides buttons for the most commonly used options. But before these options can be used, the text on which they are to be used has to be selected. Once the desired portion of the text is selected then depending on the need any one of the following buttons are clicked:

Click B to make text Bold.

Click I to make text Italic.

Click U to make text Underlined.

The same can also be achieved by clicking on Format → Character

Alternatively Ctrl + B, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+U keys can be used to make the selected text bold, italic and underlined respectively.

Changing the Fonts

A font is a set of characters and numbers in a certain style. Each font looks different from other fonts.

Click the down arrow in the Fonts Combo box of font tab in Character dialog box.

Use Format →Character to open the Character dialog box.

From the list of available fonts, click the required one.

The text changes to the selected font.

Font Size

The size of the text is also important. The same size of the text cannot be used for a legal document, and an advertisement material.

Click the down arrow in the Size combo box of Fonts tab in Character dialog box.

The text changes to the selected font size.

Changing the Font Colour

A different colour for selected text can be used. Colour printers are becoming more and more popular. With the help of a colour printer, some splash can be added to the documents by changing the colour of text.

To use a different text color, select the text and click the arrow in the

Font Colour  icon. A colour palette is displayed from which the required colour can be selected.

Alternatively, select the text and click on the Font color icon, to apply the current colour of the Font Colour.

Paragraph Alignment

Paragraph alignment refers to the appearance of the left and right sides of the paragraph. By default, Word aligns paragraphs to the left. You can align paragraphs in Word so the right sides are symmetrical. This is called right alignment. You can also align them so you center the lines with even space on both sides. This is called center alignment. Finally, you can justify the alignment, which aligns both the left and right sides.

Four types of alignment can be selected, and the best way to make a change is to use the Formatting toolbar.

Following steps are used:

To change the alignment of one paragraph, first click within that paragraph.

To change the alignment of several paragraphs, select the ones needing change.

Changing Page Orientation

Usually the length of a document will be more than the width. This orientation is called portrait. But in some of the documents the width will be more than the length. This type of orientation is called landscape. The default orientation is portrait.

To change the orientation or paper size, the following steps are used:

* The Format Page option is clicked.

Click the Page tab, if necessary.

* Select the necessary paper format from the Format drop-down list in the Page. Format section. Or enter the values in the Width and Height spin boxes.

* For changing the orientation Portrait or Landscape radio buttons are used.

Changing Margins Using Rulers

If the user is not having the exact value for the margins then the Ruler option on the View menu can be used to change the margins.

Following steps are used in this method:

* If the ruler is not displayed in the screen, View → Ruler option is clicked.

* The gray area of the ruler indicates the margin’s top area.

* The mouse pointer is then moved in between the gray and white area of the ruler.

* When the pointer is in the right spot,  it changes into a line with arrows on both sides

* The margin guide is dragged to a new location.