Creating, Editing and Formatting Documents

When you first open a word processing program, you’ll likely see a new, blank document in “portrait” orientation by default. You can begin to enter text right away. Once text has been added to your document, you can format it as needed. At the top of the document you will see a ribbon or toolbar with options like File, Edit, View, etc. Within these options are the ability to format your document in different ways. The most often used settings are changing the font style, size, and document layout. For example, go to File → Page Setup. Here you can change the document margins or turn the page to landscape orientation.

If you have information that you’d like to include in a more organized way, you can arrange it in a table from the Insert or Table menu. Tables can be formatted to change the borders and shading of individual cells, or the table as a whole. To change the formatting, select the whole table or individual rows, columns, or cells as desired, then right-click on the selection and select Table Properties.

You can also choose to add pictures or graphics to a document. To do so, use the Insert menu, and then choose Image or Picture. You will see a window that prompts you to select a graphic, usually from your computer, but your program may allow you to use a picture on the internet without downloading it first.

Review and Formatting Tools

The most useful tool you can use for proofreading work is the Spell Check tool, which, if your application supports it, is usually found in the Review or Tools menu. Most spell check tools will look at the spelling of the words in your document, and many will attempt to make sure that the grammar of your sentences makes sense, but both of these tools can sometimes fail. You should always double-check and proofread for words with easily mistakable spelling. 

Most spelling and grammar checkers will alert you to possible errors by underlining words or sentences with a squiggly line: red if it’s a misspelled word, and blue or green if it is a sentence with poor grammar.

Headers and footers will allow you to insert document titles, page numbers, author details or other information that will help users navigate your document. You can add these using the Insert menu.

Rather than hitting “enter” many times to make a new page, you can force the start of a new page by using the Page Break option from the Insert menu or using the hot-key “ctrl-enter”.

Using bulleted or numbered lists is a way to separate and organize lists of data. Select text, and use the formatting menu to apply.

You can change the space in between lines of text, or in between paragraphs, by using the lines and spacing tool from the formatting menu.

Saving and Sharing Documents

As outlined in Chapter 1, saving and backing up your work is an important step to document creation and use. Different word processing software offer various file formats to save your work, but the most common is .docx, which maintains formatting and allows for easy editing.  Sharing a document can be done through email as a link or attachment, or more efficiently via cloud storage services like OneDrive or Google Drive, allowing you to keep track of edits and version changes. When sharing, remember to consider if the person you're sharing with will need to edit the document or just view it, and adjust permissions accordingly.