CHAPTER 5

Word Processing
Software
Microsoft Word – Part 2
by Ms. Aiza Syahida binti Hj. Zakaria

5.0 Introduction

The most common computer application is a word processing. It is to create, edit

and print documents using a computer. To perform word processing, we need a
computer, a special program called a word processor, and a printer. A word
processor enables us to create a document, store it electronically on a disk, display
it on a screen, modify it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard,
and print it on a printer.

The great advantage of word processing over using a typewriter is that we can
make changes without retyping the entire document. If we make a typing mistake,
we simply remove it, without leaving a trace. It is equally easy to insert a word,
sentence, or paragraph in the middle of a document. Word processors also make it
easy to move sections of the text from one place to another within a document, or
between documents. When we have made all the changes we want, we can send
the file to a printer to get a hardcopy.

The most popular word processing software is Microsoft Word. Other software
includes WordStar from Star Office and Lotus Word Pro from the Lotus Suite.
 5.1 Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is an essential tool for the creation of documents. Its ease of
use has made Word one of the most widely used word processing applications
currently on the market. Therefore, it is important to become familiar with the
various facets of this software, since it allows for compatibility across multiple
computers as well as collaborative features. Word is a fairly simple program to
use for completing simple tasks. However, it may be more difficult to learn how
to explore the more advanced possibilities of Word.

5.2 Inserting a table

A table consists of rows and columns. There are two techniques to insert a table
into a Word document:

First technique:

a. Go to “Insert” in the menu bar, and click “Table”.

b. Choose the table dimension you want to insert, shown here is a 3 × 2 table –
3 columns and 2 rows on each row.
Second technique:

a. Go to “Insert” in the menu bar, and then extend “Table”.

b. Click on “Insert Table” below the table dimension.

c. The Insert Table dialog box will appear. You may enter the number of rows
and columns you want your table to have. Shown here is a table with 2 rows
and 3 columns in each row.

5.3 Formatting cells

You can customize the appearance of your table.

a. Click on the table. In the left, there is a small box with four arrows will appear.

b. Right click the small box and choose “Table Properties…”. The “Table
Properties” dialog box will appear as follow:
c. Under the “Table” tab, click on “Borders and Shading…” button. The “Borders
and Shading” dialog box will appear.
d. Under the “Borders” tab, you can format the line style for your table borders.
Simply click on the diagram on the right in the dialog box to choose where
you want your borders to be.

e. Under the “Page Border” tab, you can format the line style for your page
borders.

f. Under the “Shading” tab, you also can choose the background color of your
table. You may also use patterns to fill in your table.

g. Note that the formatting; borders and shading could be applied to either for a
single cell in the table or the whole table. For table appearance formatting,
we only use the “Borders and Shading” tabs only.

h. The width of columns in a table is easily resizes by hovering your mouse on

the table side borders until you get the resizing cursor as shown in the red
circle in the below image.
 i. Then just drag the cursor to resize the column width.

The new column

width after resizing

5.4 Merging cells

You can merge two or more cells into one single cell. Cells could be merged
either vertically or horizontally.

a. Select two cells as shown below:

b. Now merge the two cells by right click the two cells  “Merge Cells”.
c. Select two cells as shown below:

d. Now merge the two cells. The merge cells will look like this.

Other than merging cells, you could also split cells, inserting a row between
existing rows, and also inserting column as well. Note: Table on menu bar.

Try drawing a table looking like this:

5.5 Viewing the Drawing Toolbar

To display the Drawing Toolbar, click “Insert”  “Shapes”.

There are eight groups of shapes; 1. Lines, 2. Rectangles, 3. Basic Shapes, 4.

Block Arrows, 5. Equation Shapes, 6. Flowchart, 7. Stars and Banners and 8.
Callouts.
 5.6 Inserting Shapes

There are many shapes you can insert. Go to “Insert” in menu bar, and then
simply choose the shape you want and click in the drawing area to insert the
shape.

Draw a rectangle, and an oval inside the rectangle:

Note: The most common shapes used are Rectangle and Oval.

5.7 Formatting Shapes

You can add colors and patterns to your shape.

a. Go to the shape that you want to add color, right click  “Format Shape”.

b. The “Format Shape” dialog box will appear as below:

c. In the “Fill” tab, choose “Solid fill”. You could choose more colors by
clicking on “More Colors…” option.
d. You could also have Gradient fill, Picture or texture fill and Pattern fill.

e. Fill in the rectangle with Aqua, Accent 5, and Lighter 60%. Then, fill the
oval with a gradient Fire.
f. The result has shown as below.

g. You can change the line colors of your shape by right click on the shape 
“Format shape”. In Line Color tab, choose the “Solid line” option and change the
color.
h. Try changing the rectangle’s line color to red and no line for the oval. The result
has shown as below.
5.8 Word Arts

a. Go to “Insert” in the menu bar, and then click “WordArt”.

b. Choose a Word Art style from the word art gallery.

c. Type in your wording in the dialog box as shown below. You can also change
the font face, size and formatting.
5.9 Inserting Images

You can insert images by clicking on “Insert” in menu bar, and choose either
“Picture” or “Clip Art”.

Clip art are images already installed in Word. You may also get clip arts from the
Internet. Clip art are images that are royalty free. It means you could use the
images on your publication if you wish.

Inserting pictures on the other hand lets you insert any photo you have on your
computer. You could also use pictures you saved from the Internet. However,
beware of copyrights if you want to use it in your publications – you have to seek
for permission to use the picture from the rightful owner.