Word 2007: The Missing Manual

Chapter 1. Creating, Opening, and Saving Documents

Every Word project you create—whether it’s a personal letter, a TV sitcom script, or a thesis in microbiology—begins and ends the same way. You start by creating a document, and you end by saving your work. Sounds simple, but to manage your Word documents effectively, you need to know these basics and beyond. This chapter shows you all the different ways to create a new Word document—like starting from an existing document or adding text to a predesigned template—and how to choose the best one for your particular project.

You’ll also learn how to work faster and smarter by changing your view of your document. If you want, you can use Word’s Outline view when you’re brainstorming, and then switch to Print view when you’re ready for hard copy. This chapter gets you up and running with these fundamental tools so you can focus on the important stuff—your words.

Tip

If you’ve used Word before, then you’re probably familiar with opening and saving documents. Still, you may want to skim this chapter to catch up on the differences between this version of Word and the ghosts of Word past. You’ll grasp some of the big changes just by examining the figures. For more detail, check out the gray boxes and the notes and tips—like this one!

Launching Word

The first time you launch Word after installation, the program asks you to confirm your name and initials. This isn’t Microsoft’s nefarious plan to pin you down: Word uses this information to identify ...