Word 2019 For Dummies

Dan Gookin

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781119514060
• eBook ISBN: 9781119514084
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Desktop Applications
• Index: Computer Science

The bestselling beginner's guide to Microsoft Word

Whether you've used older versions of this popular program or have never processed a single word, this hands-on guide gets you going with the latest version of Microsoft Word. In no time, you'll begin editing, formatting, proofing, and dressing up your Word documents like a pro.

In this leading book about the world's number one word processing application, Dan Gookin talks about using Microsoft Word in friendly, easy-to-follow terms. Focusing on the needs of the beginning Word user, it provides everything you need to know about Word—without any painful jargon.

• Covers the new and improved features found in the latest version of Word
• Create your own templates
• Explains why you can't always trust the spell checker
• Offers little-known keyboard shortcuts

If you're new to Word and want to spend more time on your actual work rather than figuring out how to make it work for you, this new edition of Word X For Dummies has you covered.

Part 1

Your Introduction to Word

IN THIS PART …

Learn how to start Word 2019 and decipher the Word screen.

Familiarize yourself with how to quit and minimize Word 2019.

Get to know the PC keyboard and the touchscreen.

Learn how to read the status bar and discover secret symbols representing special characters in your text.

Chapter 1

Hello, Word!

IN THIS CHAPTER

Starting Word

Deciphering the Word screen

Understanding the Ribbon

Zooming in and out

Quitting Word

Minimizing Word

According to the popular book Pencils For Dummies, the pencil is the ultimate word processing tool. It’s easy to use, it’s wireless, and it features the original Undo command, in the form of an eraser. And that’s about as funny as Pencils For Dummies gets.

As a writing tool, the pencil remains popular and easy to figure out, but it’s not that technologically advanced. Your typical Ticonderoga #2 lacks many of the powerful capabilities you find in a sophisticated application like Microsoft Word, which is why Word requires a more formal introduction.

Start Your Word Day

As a digital resident of your PC, Microsoft Word serves as a loyal subject to the king of computer realm, Windows. To get work done in Word, you must contend with the multitudinous ways available in Windows to start the Word program. These methods can vary from the obvious to the obnoxiously cryptic, so instead I present you with the three most common ways to start your Word day:

• Before you can use Word, your computer must be on and ready to work. So turn on your PC, laptop, or tablet if it’s not already on and toasty. Log in to Windows.
• Do not attempt to make toast in your computer.
• 

  Ensure that you sport a proper posture as you write. Your wrists should be even with your elbows. Your head should tilt down only slightly, though it’s best to look straight ahead. Keep your shoulders back and relaxed. Have a minion gently massage your feet.
• 

  Other nerdy terms for starting a program: Run. Launch. Open. Fire up. Beg. Thrash. Whimper.

Starting Word the traditional way

Propriety demands that I show the traditional, boring way to start Word. I’ll be quick:

1. Press the Windows key on the keyboard.
   The Windows key is adorned with the Windows logo icon, which I won’t illustrate here because it changes more frequently than teenage fashion. The key is nestled between the Ctrl and Alt keys to the left of the spacebar. A duplicate is found on the right side of the spacebar on desktop computers. Use either key.
2. Look for Microsoft Word on the Start menu.
   The item might be titled Word or Word 2019 or something similar.
   If you don’t find Word right away in Windows 10, click the All Apps button to hunt it down. In Windows 7, click the All Programs button.
   Sometimes Word is found on a Microsoft Office or Office 2019 folder or submenu.
3. Click the Word icon or button to start the program.

Watch in amazement as the program unfurls on the screen.

Starting Word the best way

The best way to start Word, and the way I do it every day, is to click the Word icon on the taskbar. Word starts simply and quickly.

The issue, of course, is how to get the Word icon on the taskbar. If the icon doesn’t appear on the taskbar, follow these steps to add it:

1. Find the Word icon on the Start menu.
   See the preceding section, Steps 1 and 2.
2. Right-click the Word icon.
3. Choose the command More, Pin to Taskbar.
   The Pin to Taskbar command might appear directly on the right-click menu; otherwise, you find it on the More submenu.

The Word icon is pinned (permanently added) to the taskbar. From there you need click it only once to start the program.

Opening a document to start Word

You use the Word program to create documents, which are stored on your computer in much the same way as people pile junk into boxes and store them in their garages. To start Word, open a Word document. Follow these steps:

1. 

   Locate the Document icon.
   Use your Windows kung fu to open the proper folders and hunt down a Word document icon, similar to the one shown in the margin.
2. Double-click the icon.
   This step is a standard Windows operation: Double-click an icon to open a program. In this case, opening a Word document starts the Word program.

The document is opened and presented on the screen, ready for whatever.

• You use Word to create documents. They’re saved to storage on your computer or in the cloud. Details are offered in Chapter 8.
• The document name is assigned when it’s originally saved. Use the name to determine the document’s contents — providing that it was properly named when first saved.
• 

  Documents are files. As such, they are managed by Windows. If you need to find a lost document or rename it or organize your documents into a folder, you use Windows, not Word.

Behold the Word Program

Like all programs in Windows, Word offers its visage in a program window. It’s the place where you get your word processing work done.

Working the Word Start screen

After starting Word, you may first see something called the Word Start screen, as shown in Figure 1-1. It’s friendlier than that ominous empty page that has intimidated writers since the dawn of paper.

FIGURE 1-1: The Word S...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: Your Introduction to Word
• Part 2: Your Basic Word
• Part 3: Fun with Formatting
• Part 4: Spruce Up a Dull Document
• Part 5: The Rest of Word
• Part 6: The Part of Tens
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement