If you want to start typing
on a blank new paper, click on New in the toolbar.
One way to open Microsoft Word in Windows '98 is to click on the Start button, which is located in the bottom left hand corner of your screen on the task bar. Once you click on the Start button a menu pops open. Move your mouse to Programs, which opens a submenu. Move your mouse to the right (keeping your mouse pointer inside the blue box which surrounds the word Programs) until your pointer is inside the submenu. Next, place your mouse on top of Microsoft Word and then click. MS Word will launch automatically.
If you want to start typing
on a blank new paper, click on New in the toolbar.
Notice when you type in MS Word you do not need to hit the ENTER key when you are approaching the right margin. Word automatically sends your text to the next line, so just keep typing. This is called Word Wrap.
You can control where letters are placed into the document by clicking your mouse anywhere in your document. Word will then display a straight line that flashes, which is called the cursor. Once you see the cursor, Word is letting you know that you can start to type and that the letters you type will be placed where the cursor is flashing.
To make capitol letters, press and hold down the SHIFT key while you hit a letter on the keyboard. If you need to make lots of capitol letters press the CAPS LOCK key. Now when you type you will have capitol letters without having to use the Shift key. Press caps lock again to turn it off. You notice that some keys have two symbols on them like the number keys. To type the symbol that is shown near the top of the key you need to use Shift.
There is a number keypad to the right of some keyboards. These keys have two symbols on one key as well. To use the numbers you need to press the Num Lock key. To use the arrows or commands, you need to hit Num Lock again to turn it off. Most keyboards have green lights that turn on that notify you when Caps Lock or Num Lock has been turned on.
To get spaces between words you need to hit the spacebar at the bottom of the keyboard, which looks like a long rectangle. You should use one space between words and after a comma and two spaces after a sentence. To start typing on the next line, further down the page, or a new paragraph hit ENTER or RETURN. Depending on how your computer is set up you may see symbols on your screen which help you see what you have pressed. Black dots shows that the space bar was pressed and ¶ shows that the ENTER key was pressed. These symbols do not show up on your paper when you print.
There are many ways to open
files in MS Word. You can open files by clicking on the open icon
in the toolbar. Placing your mouse on top of any icon (don't click, just
rest your mouse on top of any icon and wait) brings up a tag that shows
the name of each toolbar button. After hitting the open icon, you
should then see a window titled Open come up on your screen. Click
the Look in drop down list to select a drive. (A drop down
list is indicated by a down pointing black triangle. Click on the triangle
to open up the drop down list.) Next double click the folder which contains
the file you are interested in opening. Double clicking on a folder opens
it up and allows you to see the subfolders and files that are inside of
that folder. You always know which drive or folder you are in by looking
at what is written in the Look in box. Continue double clicking
on subfolders until you see the file you are trying to open. Then double
click on the file and it will be opened. See Open Dialog Box sheet
for more information.
Other ways to Open Files:
File Menu:
You can click on File in your menu bar and choose Open (In other words, place your mouse on top of the word File in your menu bar and click. Then move your mouse on top of the word Open and click your mouse). Notice that next to the Open command in the File menu you see CTRL+O on the right side. This symbol indicates that if you press CTRL and the letter O at the same time on your keyboard the Open Window dialog box will pop up on your screen. These symbols are called keyboard shortcuts and can be seen on the menu for other commands as well.Recently Opened Documents List:
You can also open a file using the recently opened documents list, which is located on the bottom of your File menu. MS Word keeps a list of the last few files that have been open. To open a file in this list, click on File on your menu bar and move your mouse on top of the filename that you are interested in opening and click. The file then opens.Through My Computer or Explorer:
Another way to open files, is through My Computer or Windows Explorer. Once inside either of these two windows, double click on the drives, folders, and subfolders until you see the file you are interested in opening. Double click on the file and it will automatically open up MS Word (if it's not already opened) and the file.You may wonder why Word has many different ways to open files. Any of these ways are correct, so do what makes you feel comfortable.
Moving Back and Forth From Other Opened Files
Word allows you to have more than one file open at the same time. To view other files that are open, click on the Window menu bar. At the bottom, you will see a list of files that are currently open. To view another opened file, click on the file in the list and Word switches you to that file. Note that the title bar in Word changes to display the name of the document you are viewing. Think of this as shuffling a stack of papers on your desk.
Closing Files
You can close files by choosing
Close from the File
Menu, pressing CTRL+C on the keyboard, or clicking on the X
in the lower row of the Window buttons, located in the top right corner
of your screen. If you accidentally click on the X in the top row, not
only will all of you files close but MS Word as well. The top row of buttons
applies to the application, whereas the second row applies to just the
file you are viewing. In case you forgot to save your work, Word asks if
you care to save after you close a document.
Office Assistant
If you click on the toolbar button with a question mark an Office Assistant
will appear. The Office Assistance is a friendly way to get help. When
you click on the Assistant you can then type in a topic or a question and
then hit the search button. The Assistant will then list
a variety of topics that it thinks are relevant to your question. Click
on the blue dot next to any topic to see more information on that particular
topic. When you do, the Assistant will open up the appropriate help files.
Help Menu
If you would like to search the help files yourself, choose Contents and Index from the Help Menu. Click on the Contents tab to see a list of topics. To learn more about any topic, double click it to see more specific information within that topic.
You can also click on the Index tab to search the help files. The topics within the help files are all listed in alphabetical order. Type in the subject you want more information on in the white box at the top. Make sure you see a cursor before you start to type. The index will display the help files it contains under the topic you typed in.
The hard part about using the help index is that in most cases you must already be familiar with the terminology that the help files use or else it is harder to find the answers to your questions. One guideline you should follow is to type in a main topic first and see what subtopics are listed. For instance, do not type in Opening files when you want to learn how to open a file. Instead, type in File and scroll through the subtopics in the list and look for information about opening.
No matter if you use the Office Assistant, Index, or Contents, you will end up viewing the same help files. You can choose any method to search for the information. The method you choose will depend upon which is easiest and most helpful to you. No longer do you receive a manual when you buy software. Instead the information that used to come in book format has been put inside of the help files. Yes, it is strange that in order to use the software you must already know how to use the help files.
Right Click/Question
Mark
Sometimes when you open up a dialog box you can see a question mark in the title bar. If you click on the question mark and then click on any word in the dialog box, you will see a message box describing the function of that command. You can also get the same type of message by right clicking