Microsoft Word 2010 Basics

To open a new document, double click Word from the programs – or from an existing document, go to the file menu at the top left, and click new.

Also from the file menu, save your document. The first time you save, Word will ask you where you want to save the document. I recommend creating a folder for each class. After you have saved the document the first time, you will just click the blue floppy disc icon at the top left to save your new work.

Opening A New Document

To print, go to the file drop down menu in the top left. You will need to select a printer. “Send To One Note 2010” printer will not print. You will want to choose “Rice Lab” or “Library Copier,” depending on where you are.

You will also be able to choose the number of copies, specific pages you would like printed, and other options from this page.

Printing

Before you begin, go to the view tab and make sure the settings are like this:

Choose Print Layout View

Enable the Ruler by clicking this box.

Make sure the zoom is set to 100%, then click ok.

View Settings

It won’t do everything, but it will help. To set the style of paper you are writing, go to the References tab, and in the middle pane, select MLA, or APA, or one of many other styles.

Choose a Reference Style

No matter the style in which you are writing, some of the basics are the same and can be set up from the home tab:

Font: New Times Roman

Font Size: 12 point

Text Alignment: Justified

Font and Format

In order to modify a section of text, select it by clicking and dragging your curser through the desired text. Once the text is highlighted, choose the feature you desire and then deselect the text by clicking away from the text. Then, you are ready to continue writing. You can choose to make your text Bold, Italicized, Underlined, or Strike it Through.

Modifying Text

This is why we enabled the ruler at the beginning. The default margin is one inch, so the darkened area is the one inch margin. The 1 on the ruler indicates a 1 inch indent. A tab is 1.5” and a block quote should be set at 2” inches. To set these, highlight the text you want at that margin and drag the hour glass to the point on the ruler you want the text placed.

Margins & the Ruler

To insert a picture, first save it on your computer, either from the internet or from a camera. Then go to the insert tab, click picture and word will prompt you to retrieve the saved picture.

To insert clip art from Microsoft Word, go to the insert tab, click Clip Art, and Word will prompt you to select from categories and give you hundreds of options of clip art. You may have to insert separate discs to retrieve the actual pictures.

To insert a header or footer, go to the insert tab, and select either header or footer. We will go over the specifics of these in another slide!

Inserting Pictures, Clip Art and Headers

Header and Footer ToolsHere you can add a running header and page numbers. Type the text you want in your running header in the header window. Tab the text to where you want it placed. When choosing a page number, option #3 will place the page number in the top right hand corner of each page.

For APA, you will need a different running header for just the first page, so check this box.

Before you can return to writing your paper, you must close the header and footer window by clicking here.

Line SpacingTo double or single space your paper, go back to the home tab. Make sure you have selected the text you want to double space. To select everything at once, hold Control and A at the same time. Find the small box to the right of where it says paragraph in the middle pane and select it to bring up the paragraph options window.

Make sure in the special box it says “none,” in the line spacing box you choose double or single, and then click ok.

Word Count, Spell Check, and More

To see your page count, your word count, to check spelling, grammar, or use the thesaurus, to the Review Tab.

Spelling and Grammar check

Thesaurus

Page Count

Word Count

Short Cuts

Word has some pretty nifty short cuts that, once you know them, will make performing repeated functions, much quicker and easier.

Copy: Select the text you want to copy and hit Ctrl and C at the same time.

Paste: Select the text you want to paste and hit Ctrl and V at the same time.

Cut: Select the text you want to cut and hit Ctrl and X at the same time.

Undo: This feature will undo anything you have just done, and will continue undoing previous steps in the order you performed them. To undo, hit Ctrl and Z at the same time.

Select All: To select all of the text in the document you are working on, hit Ctrl and A at the same time.