Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, students are expected to be able to:

Insert symbols in text in a Microsoft Word document

Insert headers and footers into a Microsoft Word document

Format text in a Microsoft Word document

Create text boxes in a Microsoft Word document

Work with columns in a Microsoft Word document

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There are many symbols that are seen in publications that are not directly available from your keyboard.

For example, the Copyright symbol ©.

To insert symbols into your document you will do the following

Click Insert on the Menu Bar.

Select Symbols. The ‘Symbols’ dialog box appears.

Click the Symbols tab to select a symbol from a Font type.

OR

Click the Special Characters tab to view other commonly used symbols.

Click on the Symbol or Special Character you would like to select and then Click Insert.

The Symbol or Character will show up in your document.

Click Close

2

The ‘Header and Footer’ usually contain title and author information, dates, and page numbers

The Header appears at the top of the page and the Footer appears at the bottom of the page.

Inserting a Header and Footer into your document you will do the following:

Click View on the Menu Bar.

Select Header and Footer.

The document will appear grayed out with a dotted ‘Header and Footer’ box showing at the top and bottom of the page.

Locate the ‘Header and Footer Toolbar’ on the page. Type inside the dotted boxes to insert your Header and/or Footer.

Click Close on the Header and Footer Toolbar when you are finished

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Other Buttons of Header and Footer Toolbar

The ‘Header and Footer Toolbar’ contains buttons that can help you automatically enter important information in your header and footers.

Some of the useful features located on the Header and Footer Toolbar are:

Insert Auto-Text – drop-down menu showing commonly used header and footer information, including, author and page number and date.

Insert Page Numbers – inserts the page numbers.

Insert Number of Pages – inserts the number of pages in the entire document.

Format Page Number – opens the ‘Page Number Format’ dialog box so that you can format your page number in the header and footer.

Insert Date.

Insert Time.

Page Setup – opens the ‘Page Setup’ dialog box so that you can adjust the location of the header and footer.

Switch between Header and Footer – allows you to jump quickly between the header and footer on a page.

Close – closes the Header and Footer

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Deleting Header and Footer

If you choose to delete your Header or Footer, Word will automatically delete the Header or Footer within the entire document.

To Delete the Header or Footer

Click View on the Menu Bar.

Select Header and Footer.

Highlight the text within the Header or Footer (whichever text you would like to delete).

Press Delete. The text is now removed.

Click Close.

You can delete the Header and Footer on just the first page of the document by choosing File – Page Setup.

On the ‘Page Setup’ dialog box, choose the Layout tab and place a checkmark next to ‘Different First Page’ under Headers and Footers

click OK.

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Characters

Non-printing characters are automatically inserted into your document as you type.

You will not see these characters unless you choose to show the formatting marks.

Showing the document formatting can assist you when editing.

Non-printing characters such as spaces, tabs, and hard returns (created when you press the Enter key), will now be visually displayed on your page.

For example a document that was created with numerous tabs could be quite difficult to edit if you needed to delete all the tabs.

If you display your non-printing characters, you will be able to quickly see where all the tabs exist.

Tab symbol will appear as an arrow pointing to the right

Place the insertion point to the right of the tab symbol and press the Backspace key to quickly delete these tabs.

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To Reveal Formatting Marks

Click the Show/Hide button on the Standard Toolbar.

OR

Select the Reveal Formatting Menu from the Task Pane

Check the ‘Show all formatting marks’ checkbox at the bottom of the Menu under Options.

When you select the Show/Hide button, codes for paragraph marks

and spaces are visible in your document.

If you prefer to display non-printing characters when formatting your document, these symbols will not appear in your printed document

, tabs

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Placing a text inside of Text box helps focus the reader’s eye on the page content

Newsletters, flyers, reports, announcements, school projects, e.t.c, often use Word’s text box feature.

Text boxes can be formatted with shadings, color, borders, and graphics, making for an impressive display of your Word skills.

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To Create a Text Box

Click Insert on the Menu Bar.

Select Text Box from the menu list.

The mouse pointer becomes a crosshair and a drawing canvas appears.

Place your insertion point where you want your text box.

Left click and drag the text box until it is the appropriate size.

Release the left mouse button when ready.

The text box will by default contain a white background color and a thin black border.

The canvas helps you arrange and resize the objects you are working with

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To Insert Text into the Text Box

Click once inside the text box

The box is selected and a blinking insertion point appears inside the box.

Begin typing.

Format text (e.g. you can change font, font size, style) in the usual manner. (Select text first, makes changes later.)

Moving and Resizing Text Boxes

To resize a text box

Click once on one of the box’s borders.

The box is now highlighted.

10

Sizing handles (small circles) appear.

The mouse pointer over any of the sizing handles (small circles) until it turns into a diagonally pointing arrow.

Click and drag the sizing handle until the box is the desired size.

To Move a Text Box

Click once on the text box’s border.

Hold your mouse pointer over the border until it becomes a crosshair with arrows.

Using this crosshair, click and drag the box until it is in the desired location.

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The Format Text Dialog Box

Using the ‘Format Text Box’ dialog box, you can choose different fill colors and lines, size, layout, and textbox.

Source

5

Format

G

oodwill Co

T

ext Box

m

munity Foun

dation 2002

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To Use the Format Text Box Dialog Box

Double click on a text box border. The ‘Format Text Box’ dialog appears.

OR

Right-click on the text box border and select Format Text Box. The ‘Format Text Box’ dialog box appears.

You can access the text box feature from the ‘Drawing’ toolbar o Click View on the Menu Bar.

Select Toolbar and then Drawing from the cascading menu. The ‘Drawing’ toolbar appears at the bottom of your document

Click the Text box button. Don’t confuse this button with the Rectangle button.

Drawing Toolbar

Figure

6

Drawing

Toolba

r

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The Text Box Dialog Box

Offers you several tabs to choose from

Color and Lines: Fill text box with color, define the border colors, styles and weight

Size: Define a specific size

Layout: Text wrap and alignment

Textbox: Internal margins

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Displaying information in columns gives the writer more options for displaying different types of information on a page while remaining easy for the viewer to read.

Certain kinds of information are best displayed using columns.

Newspaper, newsletters, flyers, reports, announcements, school projects, etc, often use Word’s column feature.

Creating Columns

Use the columns button

Switch to print Layout View

To make equal columns, move the insertion point to the end of the text and insert a continuous section break by choosing Insert Break Continuous.

15

Select the text you want to change to columns.

Click the Columns button on the Standard Toolbar.

The Columns button will expand to give you four column options

Choose one of the options to format your text into columns

You can adjust the spacing and alignment of the columns by using the ruler.

Drag the Right Margin, Left Margin and Right Indent using your mouse until the columns appear the way you want.

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To Enter a Title that Spans a Column

Enter the title at the beginning of the first column.

Select the title.

Click the Columns button on the Standard toolbar, and drag to select number of columns.

Creating Columns Using the Columns Dialog Box

Using the ‘Column Dialog Box’ versus the ‘Columns Button’ will give you much more control and precision over your column structure.

The ‘Columns Dialog Box’ will also give you a few more column options, including Left and Right columns as well as the ability to create up to eight columns per page.

17

Using the Column Dialog Box

Switch to Print Layout View

To make equal columns, move the insertion point to the end of the text and insert a continuous section break by choosing Insert Break Continuous.

Select the text you want to change to columns.

Click Format on the Menu Bar.

Select Columns from the menu list. The ‘Columns’ dialog box appears.

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The ‘Columns’ dialog box gives you the following options

Presets – Click a box to choose a preset number of columns

Number of Columns – Use the up and down arrow keys to select between one and eight columns

Line Between -Places lines between your columns

Width and Spacing – Offers features that allow you to specify an exact number for the height and width of your columns, as well as the spacing between your columns.

Equal Column Width – Check this checkbox if you want columns to be the same width

Apply to – Allows you to create columns out of the selected text, the selected section, this point forward, or the entire document

Select your options and click OK.

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To Move Text into the Next Column

Move the insertion point in front of the text you want to move

Choose Format Columns. The ‘Columns’ dialog box opens.

Choose From this point forward in the ‘Apply to:’ box.

Click the ‘Start New Column’ check box to move the text to the next column.

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