Word offers nine standard menus. The commands found within each one are described in detail throughout the various chapters of this book. The following sections present a mini-synopsis of each menu, the useful functions the menus provide, and where in the book to go for details.
Use the File menu to control Word files. Start, save, close, and print documents, edit document properties, and exit the Word program. The File menu’s most frequently used commands are included as the first six commands on the Standard toolbar. These six commands also contain some anomalies. Normally, the menu command and the toolbar equivalent perform the same task in the same way. Not so with the New button and File → New, and the Print button and its menu companion, File → Print. In both cases, the menu command opens a dialog box for setting options and the button performs the command using default actions.
Use the Shift Key for More File Menu Options
If you press and hold the Shift key before opening the File menu, the Close command becomes Close All (meaning all open documents) and the Save command becomes Save All. Use these changes to close and/or save all open documents without repeatedly opening the File menu.
The Edit menu offers the ability to undo previous actions (and redo any undone actions), select the entire document, delete content, and search your document for a particular word, phrase, or code, such as a paragraph mark or a non-breaking space.
The Edit menu’s Cut, Copy, and Paste commands move document text around inside and between documents. In addition, you can paste objects from other applications, such as a section of an Excel worksheet or a PowerPoint chart, to a document and create a link to the source content by using the Paste Special command. The Edit menu also provides a way to maintain this linked content (Edit → Links), and to edit the linked object (Edit → Object).
| Undo the last action: Edit |
| Cut, copy, and paste content: Edit |
| Paste linked content: Edit |
| Select an entire document: Edit |
| Search a document for a particular word, phrase, or code: Edit |
| Replace a word, phrase, or code with another: Edit |
| Move to a particular page or section in a document: Edit |
| Update or remove links to a document: Edit |
The View menu provides a series of commands for changing the way a document window looks and works. Choose from four main views, or turn off all onscreen tools and elements, showing only the document itself in Full Screen view. Toggle views of the ruler, comments, or any of Word’s toolbars.
Finally, use the View menu to change the display size of a document. Zoom in close to make intricate changes in the position of a graphic, or zoom out to see a document’s “big picture.” The Zoom feature’s Whole Page view is a great alternative to Print Preview, in that you can both see and edit the entire document.
| Change to Normal view: Alt-Ctrl-N |
| Change to Outline view: Alt-Ctrl-O |
| Change to Page Layout view: Alt-Ctrl-P |
| Change to Normal view: View |
| Change to Print Layout view: View |
| Change to Web Layout view: View |
| Build a document outline: View |
| Display various toolbars: View |
| Turn on the ruler: View |
| Open the Document Map: View |
| Create a header and/or footer for a document: View |
| View comments for a document: View |
| Change to Full Screen view: View |
| View multiple pages of a document, or use zoom on a single page: View |
The list of items you can insert in a document is extensive — everything from the date and time, to a scanned image, to a link that accesses a web site when clicked.
One of the Insert menu’s most powerful commands is Insert → Object, which inserts content from another application. Add a blank object and build it using the native application’s tools (which appear within the Word application window), or add an object from an existing file.
| Insert a page break: Ctrl-Enter |
| Insert a Bookmark: Ctrl-Shift-F5 |
| Insert AutoText: F3 or Alt-Ctrl-V |
| Insert a Hyperlink: Ctrl-K |
| Force a page break within a document: Insert |
| Insert page numbers: Insert |
| Create or insert an AutoText entry: Insert |
| Insert a field: Insert |
| Insert a special character or symbol: Insert |
| Create a footnote or endnote: Insert |
| Place a caption with a figure or table: Insert |
| Generate a table of contents or index: Insert |
| Add clip art or other graphic elements: Insert |
| Create a cross-reference to another part of a document: Insert |
| Insert an object from another application: Insert |
| Bookmark your document: Insert |
| Insert a hyperlink to another file or a web site: Insert |
There are several levels of formatting in Word. Format individual characters by applying different fonts, text colors, and font sizes. Format paragraphs by applying indents, tabs, and styles. Format sections with page layout and margin settings.
The Format menu also customizes the way Word automatically formats a document (a.k.a. AutoFormat) — making such changes as converting fractions to symbols (1/2 to 1/2), displaying web addresses as hyperlinks, and automatically numbering or bulleting lists as you type.
While the most commonly used formatting commands are represented on the Formatting toolbar, you’ll find that the Format menu’s dialog boxes provide an extensive set of tools for changing fonts, setting alignments, and applying colors and borders to text. The toolbar equivalents are often faster to use, but they don’t offer the options and the same degree of control over how the formats are applied.
| Format characters and words: Format |
| Format paragraphs: Format |
| Apply character and paragraph styles: Format |
| Set indents, alignment, and line spacing: Format |
| Change bullet character, size, and color: Format |
| Apply custom borders and shading: Format |
| Convert paragraph text to columns: Format |
| Set custom tabs: Format |
| Change the case of selected text: Format |
| Apply a background to a web page: Format |
| Choose a theme for a document: Format |
| Apply and customize Word’s AutoFormat settings: Format |
| Format the selected graphic, text box, AutoShape, or other object: Format |
The Tools menu provides access to most of the commands in Word that don’t involve inserting objects, formatting text, using tables, or working with files. These commands include spelling and grammar checking, online collaboration tools, mail merge, and macros.
The Tools menu also contains commands for setting various Word options and for customizing Word’s menus and toolbars. The multi-tabbed Tools → Options dialog, for example, contains settings that control the way Word looks and works. The Options Dialog controls the basics, such as where files are saved, and which application window elements are displayed, as well as the settings that are a matter of personal taste and need, including how and when the spelling and grammar checking feature works.
| Spelling and Grammar: F7 |
| Open the Thesaurus: Shift-F7 |
| Open the Macros dialog box: Alt-F8 |
| Open the Visual Basic Editor window: Alt-F11 |
| Open the Microsoft Script Editor window: Alt-Shift-F11 |
| Spell-check a document: Tools |
| Find a synonym with the Thesaurus: Tools |
| Change the language settings for Word: Tools |
| Get a word count for a document: Tools |
| Create an automatic summary: Tools |
| Create or edit an AutoCorrect entry: Tools |
| Change AutoFormat settings: Tools |
| Collaborate with coworkers: Chapter 13 |
| Merge different versions of a document: Section 13.3 |
| Use mail merge to create form letters or labels: Tools |
| Record a new macro: Section 18.2.1 |
| Customize Word’s interface: Section 3.3 |
| Change Word’s application and document options: Section 3.2 |
Use the Table menu to control complex lists, create forms, or even provide layout for a page. Create formulas that reference cells within the table, referring to the cells by their column letters and row numbers, just like in an Excel worksheet.
Rather than setting indents to control the horizontal and vertical flow of text, create a table to house the text, and use the easily adjusted width of the table columns to control where text falls on the page.
The Table menu contains commands for drawing “freehand” tables or inserting a specified number of uniform columns and rows. There are also tools for changing the size and appearance of table columns and rows, and for converting tabbed text to tables.
| Draw a cell or block of cells: Table |
| Insert a uniform table: Table |
| Delete rows or columns: Table |
| Delete a table: Table |
| Insert columns or rows: Table |
| Merge table cells: Table |
| Split table cells: Table |
| Format a table automatically: Table |
| Convert between text and table format: Table |
| Sort table rows: Table |
| Perform a calculation within a table: Table |
| View and edit table properties: Table |
Use the Window menu to switch between open Word documents and choose how to display multiple open documents. The New Window command creates a duplicate window for the active document. Work in either window and scroll to view different portions of the same document.
By default, help comes through an animated Office Assistant in which you type a question and choose a help topic from those offered in response. Alternatively, turn the Assistant off and use a more traditional help window. If none of the articles offered meet your needs, search for help on the Web from Microsoft’s tech support site.
Other help features include special tools for WordPerfect users, a What’s This feature that opens ScreenTips explaining interface elements and character formatting, and the Detect and Repair command, which searches for problems in Word’s application files and attempts to fix them.
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