As its name suggests, the file menu contains all manner of different functions you can do with the file you are currently working on. These functions do not modify the file in any way; instead, they are tools for doing things you’d want to do with files such as saving and printing them:

* “New” will have Word create a new blank file that you can subsequently modify.

* “Open” will bring up a dialogue window from which you can choose which file you would like to view / modify in Word. (We’ll go more into detail about this and saving shortly).

* “Save” will save to memory the changes you have made to the document since the last time it was saved. “Save as” does the same thing as save, but also allows you to rename the document if you so desire, as well as specify the location to which it should be saved.

* “Page Setup” allows you to adjust several settings – including print margins, the orientation of the page, i.e. portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal).

* “Print Preview” gives you a zoomed out view of the document so you can see roughly what it will look like when printed out. “Print” will open a window that allows you to select which printer you’d like to print to, along with a few other settings.

* “Send to” allows you to directly send the document as an attachment via Outlook.

* Between “Properties” and “Exit” are the last few files you’ve worked on – you can open them easily just by clicking here instead of hunting them down with the “Open” command.

Now, I want to spend a little time on the “Open” and “Save As” windows. I’ll picture the “Save As” window here, though the “Open” window works in much the same way:

Along the top you can see the “Save In” field. This specifies where in your filing system you would like to save the file – it’s very important to have a system for this so that you know where to look to find your files.

And then at the bottom is the “File Name” field, in which you’ll want to give your file a good name so that you can recognize and distinguish it.

The last field is the “Save as Type” field. This will default to a Word Document, and specifies how Word will code the file (this affects what programs will be able to open the file). For example, if I tried to open a Word file (.doc) with Claris Works on a Macintosh, it wouldn’t recognize the file as readable. What I might do in this case is save my file as “Rich Text.” This will save all the text and formatting (as long as it isn’t too fancy) but without all the signs that mark it as Word’s property, so to speak.

*tip* you can change the default location (where it wants to save to automatically) by going to Tools > Options > File Locations > and modifying the location next to “Documents”

The Edit Menu

Rather than containing functions to be performed with the file you are currently working on (i.e. the File menu), the Edit menu mostly contains various things for you to do to the file you are working on.

* “Undo Typing” is an extremely useful function that essentially undoes the last modification you made to the document, whatever it might be. For example, if you accidentally managed to delete a whole page of your document – this would fix it. (It will store the last 10 or so of these functions, undoing them one at a time). Note the key combination (Control + Z)

* “Repeat Typing” will repeat the last function you entered. For example, if you entered a “B” on the keyboard and then selected this, it would duplicate it.

* “Cut” is just like “Copy” except that it also deletes what is copied. (see “Copy”)

* “Copy” will write whatever text you have selected to memory and store it for “Pasting” somewhere else.

* “Paste” will take whatever has been “Cut” or “Copied” into memory and, as the name implies, paste it at the point of the cursor.

* “Select All” will highlight all the text on the page at once for you (this makes for easy copying and pasting)

* “Find” will have you type in a character or word and then search for it throughout the document. There is also a “Replace” function which allows you to not only search out all instances of a word, but also replace them all with something else. For example, let’s say you’ve written a form letter to Joe Schmoe and would like to use the same letter but for Jane Doe – you would enter “Joe” in “Find what” and “Jane” in “Replace With.”

The View Menu

The View Menu is the place you go to modify how you are viewing the document you’re currently working on.

* The first four options detail the various views of the document – you can see which is currently active by the lighter gray box next to “Print Layout” that looks like a button which is pushed in.

* “Toolbars” allows you to select which toolbars are currently available.

* “Ruler” toggles on and off the ruler display along the document that shows the margins.

* “Document Map” brings up a side panel that displays summarized information about the document (mostly useful for long outlines)

* “Header and Footer” opens the header and footer area. These are little areas in the top and bottom margin in which you can place information that you would like to appear on each page, such as a title. At the bottom of this page, of any page in this document, is an example of a footer.

“Footnotes” lets you view/edit the footnotes you have entered.

Tip: Footnotes are extremely difficult to edit once they’ve been put in. It’s always a good idea to wait and input the footnotes only after everything has been typed to your satisfaction.

* “Full Screen” will increase the size of the document to fill the entire screen. The only problem with this is that you then lose the title bar of the window.

* “Zoom” allows you to zoom in and out on the document according to the text. (The percentages are magnification percentages)

The Insert Menu

The Insert menu is used to insert various things into the document, including pictures and other files. (All the pictures in this handout are done using Insert). 

* “Break” means a page break – you don’t have to follow Word’s automatic page breaks, you can make your own

* “Page Numbers” inserts. you guessed it: page numbers! It has a number of options about how you wish to display the page numbers that we’ll look at.

* “Date and Time” will insert the text of the current date and time (based on the system clock).

* “Footnote” is a tool used to enter footnotes that refer to a specific point in the text. It will place a small superscripted number at the point of the cursor that corresponds to one at the bottom of the document. At this point, you can type whatever you would like to say in the footnote.

* “Picture” will allow you to insert a picture at the point of the cursor. As you can see, it has many different options as to where you get the pictures from (by far the most common are “Clip Art” and “From File”)

* “File” will insert the complete text of another document at the point of the cursor

* “Hyperlink” will insert a link to the web. This option will come up with a box that includes your favorites and websites you’ve visited recently.

The Format Menu

The Format menu contains functions that will modify the format of your document.

* “Font” allows you to choose various fonts to display in your document (the font you choose will affect the text you have selected).

* “Paragraph” includes indentation and most importantly spacing – if you want to double-space a document, this is where you go to do that.

* “Bullets and Numbering” allows you to create bullets or numbering for a list in your document.

* “Columns” is the way you can split your document into set column widths.

* “Tabs” allows you to set how far the cursor will move over when you hit the tab key (this is also settable on the ruler)

“Background” lets you fill in the background of your text (or an object) with a certain color.

Tip: As with most functions in Word or any Microsoft Office program, just about any function you can find in a menu is also available in a toolbar somewhere. The functions are represented by little graphics called icons, and it takes a while to learn which ones mean what. However, you can also hover your mouse over one of the icons and let it sit there for a few seconds. Doing this will bring up a “Tooltip” that will give you a brief explanation of what that icon does.

When you really feel comfortable with the menus and icons, there are also keyboard commands for most of the common functions. These are generally the fastest way of doing something. Examples include:

Ctl + N for a new document, Ctl + S to save, Ctl + P to print, Ctl + C to copy, Ctl + V to paste, Ctl + X to cut, Ctl + A for select all. etc.

The Tools Menu

The Tools menu is like a miscellaneous menu. There are a lot of different functions that didn’t necessarily fit into any of the other categories that go here.

* “Spelling and Grammar” is spellcheck.

* “Language” allows you access to various language options, and contains the thesaurus.

* “Word Count” will display a detailed summary of how many words are in your document.

* “AutoCorrect” is a nice function of Word that ends up irritating a lot of people. Basically, it comes with a list of common errors that it will correct automatically. For example, try typing teh. You’ll see it will automatically correct it to “the.” This function also contains many other such automatic features that are not so nice. For instance, if you type an asterisk (like I have at the beginning of each of these little explanations) it will automatically think you are making a bulleted list. This can be annoying if it is, in fact, not what you want at all. If you find anything like that happening to you, this is where you go to turn it off.

* “Mail Merge” is a feature that allows you to take data, such as a spreadsheet of names, and merge them with Outlook to create an email addressed to each person, or an envelope that can be printed out.

* “Envelopes and Labels” is a good tool for printing out envelopes (it will automatically do the formatting for you, but you need to make sure you are printing to a printer with an envelope tray – trying to put an envelope in a regular size tray will only jam the printer).

* “Letter wizard” is a tool that will create the basic formatting of a letter and you just fill in the blanks.

* “Options” contains a huge number of settings that effect Word in various ways – we’ll go over as many as we have time for, but I would encourage you to experiment with them (just always make sure you are experimenting on a non-critical document that you don’t mind messing up).

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