Creating a Letter
The Task:
You will create a simple letter using Word.
When you are finished creating the letter, you'll
save your new document and print a copy.
Let's start:
Find and open Word 97.
If a Tip of The Day dialog box is displayed, click on
the OK button.
Word normally opens with a blank window
and is ready to create a new document. However,if someone was
using the computer before you, the window may already contain text.
In that case, you'll need to open a blank window for your new
document.
To open a blank window for a new document:
Choose New from the File menu.
The New dialog box will appear. This dialog box
allows you to select from a variety of templates
and wizards. Templates are preformatted
skeleton documents ranging from memos to
newsletters. Wizards ask a series of
questions about a document format and then uses
your answers to build a document for you to use.
Right now, you need the default general-purpose
template, named Normal.
Highlight Normal and click on the OK button.
The document area of the screen will be blank
except for the blinking insertion point (|) and the
end mark(__). The inserstion point marks
the position where the text will be inserted or deleted.
The end-of-document mark (end mark) shows
where the document ends.
Word displays several toolbars just below the
menu, which allow you to use certain commands
by clicking on their buttons. You can choose which
toolbars you want displayed. That is, you can
set up the Word screen to your liking.
Setting Up the Word Screen
Choose Toolbars... from the View
menu.
The following Toolbars dialog box should
appear:
Click in the Standard and Formatting boxes
until a check mark appears in the box.
This will display the Standard and Formatting toolbars
on your screen.
Click on the OK button.
It is also a good idea to have the ruler displayed.
To display the ruler:
Click and hold on the View menu.
If there is a check mark next to the word Ruler,
then the ruler will be displayed.
If no check mark appears next to the word Ruler,
the ruler will not be displayed.
Highlight the word Ruler, to place a check mark
there.
You also want to be in Normal view.
Choose Normal from the View
menu.
Word also has nonprinting characters.
Nonprinting characters are characters that will
not be printed in your final document.
Nonprinting characters include spaces, tabs,
and paragraph marks.
You can easily show or hide the nonprinting characters with the following button:
Show/Hide Paragraph button (
)
located in the Standard toolbar. The Show/Hide Paragraph
button displays or undisplays the nonprinting characters when it is clicked.
Click on the ,
to display nonprinting characters.
Your screen should look as follows:
Now that your screen is set up, it is time to
create a letter. The letter you will be creating
will look as follows:
When Word starts, it contains a blank document
ready for new text. The cursor, a flashing vertical
bar, is in the upper-left corner of the work
area, the area where text is entered and
modified.
Before you actually type your letter it is a
good idea to become familiar with Word's on
screen help program.
Click on the following link to continue the tutorial: