Getting Started

In your first lesson in Office 2007 we explore the new Ribbon interface and the reason for the changes.

The first version of Word included only 100 commands.  Word 2007 has about 1500 commands.  There was an obvious need to change the interface.  These changes include:

• The Office Button
• The Ribbon (Ribbon Tabs, Groups, Widgets)
•  Contextual Ribbon
•  Galleries with Live Preview
•  Quick Access Toolbar

Opening Documents

To create new documents, open existing documents or save the document we are working in... can be done by selecting the Office Button in the top left-hand corner.

Reading Documents

Explore different ways to view your documents. By using some of these features you can be “green” by not printing your documents while you proof them.  For example, you can use Full Screen Reading view.

This can be found on the View ribbon, under the Document Views group.

Learn to use the Reading View and how to navigate your document. There are additional options to get the most out of working with our documents on-screen.  For example, 'Allow Typing', 'Track Changes' and so forth.

Document Views

Word 2007 offers us a variety of different views to choose from.  These can be found on the View ribbon, under the Document Views group.

The view options include:

• Print Layout
• Full Screen Reading
• Web Layout
• Outline
• Draft
• Print Preview

You want to pick the right view for the right job.

Customizing Your View

This lesson will help you to learn how to adjust the Zoom using the slide bar or the Zoom dialog box. 

You will also learn how to turn off and on items that will help your laying out your document, like the grid or ruler.

Finally, you will learn how to hide and restore the Ribbon to get the most space on your screen

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar is not part of the Ribbon.  It resides, by default, above the ribbon.  You can can move it below the ribbon if you want.  You can also Customize the toolbar to include additional tools.  The purpose of the toolbar is to give you the ability to create a working environment where the tools you use more often are made more easily available.

Getting Help

We all need assistance from time to time.  In the top right hand corner of our application there is a little question mark that is always ready to assist you with any problems you may be having.

Simple Text Editing

You can easily begin to type your text into a Word document... but it is the modifying and editing of that text that you may need to learn.  Modifying the font size, style and format and then preview these adjustments as you work.  Most of these options can be found on the Home ribbon, under the Font group.

You can also adjust the alignment quickly from the Paragraph group off the Home ribbon.

In addition, you may need to Undo your work, which by default is located on the Quick Access toolbar.

Finding and Replacing Text

The Find and Replace dialog box is found under the Editing group off the Home ribbon.  You can use this tool to perform simple find/replace operations, however you can also select the 'More' button to locate Search Options, Format options and Special options (like paragraph marks and so forth).

This is really a powerful tool if you know how to use it properly to find what you are looking for.

Correcting Spelling and Grammar

Word can help you look more professional by proofing your documents.  While you type you will notice that sometimes words are underlined in red, blue or green squiggly lines.  These indicate a problem with spelling (red lines), contextual spell checking (blue lines) and grammar (green lines). 

Contextual spell checking involves words that are spelled correctly but are being used in the wrong way.  For example: I bought a pear of shoes yesterday.

Use the Review Tab and look under the Proofing Group to access the Spelling and Grammar tools to correct your documents.

Move, Cut, Copy & Paste

In this lesson you will learn the following important aspects to Word: 

• Moving text around in your document.
• Working with the Clipboard (located by selecting the little callout off the Clipboard group found on the Home ribbon).
• Using other aspects of the Clipboard group like Cut, Copy and Paste.

Printing Documents

Before you actually print your document you may want to take a look at a preview. 

To print the document, select Print off of the Print Preview ribbon to access the Print Dialog Box for additional settings.  Or, you can select the Office Button and select Print (or Quick Print).

To make printing quicker (or previewing documents more quickly), you may want to consider adding Quick Print (or Print Preview)  to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Quick Styles

On the Home ribbon under the Styles group you see a quick way to apply preconfigured styles and as you run your mouse over the style option you see a 'Live Preview' of that style in action!

There is a lot you can do with styles and this lesson will show you can you can alter the Style Set, make modifications to existing styles, create your own styles and (by selecting the arrow in the bottom right-hand corner of the group) activate the Style dialog window.

Font Options

We are once again in the Font group under the Home ribbon where you can find options that allow you to highlight your text, alter the font color or the font case and size.

Do you need to find something in a large document later?  Highlight text in the same way you would with a marker.  And you can change the color of the highlighter too.  Or, if you want the document to have a variety of color to the text itself, you can use options available for font color.

You can also work with the Change Case option off the Font group to allow you to select Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each Word and tOOGGLE cASE.

Paragraph and Line Spacing & Alignment

Use the Paragraph group, off the Home ribbon, to adjust the spacing between lines in a paragraph.  There is a button that allows you to change the spacing between paragraphs and adjust the alignment of the paragraphs while previewing the changes.

To adjust line spacing between paragraphs you want to go to the Page Layout ribbon to the Paragraph group.  There you will see the Spacing options.

Some advanced paragraph features can be found on the Home ribbon, under the Paragraph group by selecting the little arrow in the bottom right-hand corner.  This will take you to the Paragraph dialog box.

Special Formatting & Format Painter

Click in the arrow in the bottom right-hand corner of the Font Group to open the Font dialog box to fine tune additional font settings and apply a variety of Effects (like Strikethrough, Superscript and so forth).

You can use the Preview window to see how the changes will look on your actual text before you apply it.

Once you have formatted the text the way you like, use the Format Painter to quickly apply those settings to additional text.  This can be found on the Home ribbon under the Clipboard group

Setting & Modifying Themes

Themes affect everything in a document (the format and structure for the entire document).

You find the Themes Gallery on the Page Layout ribbon under the Themes group.

You can customize the existing Themes and then adjust the colors and fonts used by those themes.  Once you have customized the Theme, save the settings to be used at a later time.

Note:  SmartArt can be adjusted by modifying a theme. 

Line & Art Borders

You might improve the look of your document by creating a 'line border' around a page or, perhaps an art border.

You find the settings for Page Borders under the Page Background group off of the Page Layout ribbon.

You can adjust the application, style, setting, color and width of the page line border, as well as add art to the border.

You might note, on the Page Border tab of the Borders and Shading dialog box, that there is a button in the bottom left corner called 'Horizontal Line...' that you can use to add different types of horizontal lines to your document.

Add a Border or Shading to a Paragraph

To add a border to a paragraph you go to the Page Layout ribbon and select Page Borders in the Page Background group.  Here you will notice that you can select the Borders tab or the Shading tab from the 'Borders and Shading' dialog box.

Note:  Another way to access the Borders tab and Shading tabs of the 'Borders and Shading' dialog box is off the Home ribbon.  Under the Paragraph group you can select the 'Borders and Shading' button.

Creating a Multilevel, Bulleted or Numbered List

This lesson will help you to learn how to create a multilevel, bulleted or numbered list in Word 2007. 

On the Home tab in the Paragraph group you can use the buttons to add bullets, numbers or a multilevel format to your list.  Another way is to select the text you wish to convert and right-click over the selection and choose Bullets or Numbers. 

Creating a Drop Cap & Special Characters

Finish off your document by adding elegant touches.  For example, you can add a drop cap.  For those of you who aren't sure what a drop cap is, it looks like this:

Insert a dropped capital letter at the beginning of a paragraph by clicking just in front of the letter and go to the Insert ribbon, to the Text group and select the Drop Cap.  You can adjust size or font by selecting the Drop Cap Options.

To insert special characters you go to the Insert ribbon, under the Symbols group and choose Equation or Symbol for your options.

Creating Custom Text Boxes

Text boxes are a common element in documents, however, you may not be aware that there is a gallery of text boxes in Word that you can choose from.  To see your options go to the Insert ribbon under the Text group and select the Text Box option.  You have many different types to choose from.

Once you insert the text box (either from the gallery or by drawing one) a Format contextual ribbon will appear that offers additional formatting choices like Text Box Styles, Shadow and 3-D Effects and much more

Footnotes & Endnotes

This lesson will help you to learn how to insert footnotes and endnotes to your document.  To begin with you want to go to the References ribbon and look under the Footnotes group for the options you need.

Use the dialog box, by clicking on the lower right corner of the Footnotes group, to convert footnotes to endnotes or to make other formatting changes.

Note:  Footnotes go at the end of each page to provide the reference material that connects to a number within the page.  Endnotes provide reference material as well, however they are located at the end of the document (or section).

Page Setup

On the Page Layout ribbon there is a group called Page Setup that can help with the following aspects of a document:

• Margins
• Orientation
• Size
• Columns
• Page Breaks
• Line Numbers
• Hyphenation

The Page Setup dialog box is accessed by clicking the arrow in the bottom right-hand corner of the Page Setup group.  Here there are three tabs for more advanced control: Margins, Paper and Layout.

Table Styles & Quick Tables

To begin with, if you have a table already created you can select the table or place your cursor in the table.  Then you will notice the Table Tools contextual ribbons appear (Design and Layout).

From the Design ribbon you have the following groups:  Table Style Options, Table Styles, and Draw Borders.  If you select the Table Styles group and select the down-arrow to display the different preconfigured styles.

If you need a table inserted that is already designed according to your needs, you can use Quick Tables.  This can be found on the Insert ribbon, under the Table group.  Select the Table option and it is down at the bottom.

Creating Tables

Tables are an effective easy way to organize and present data into little boxes. The little boxes are called cells.  The cells that run horizontally are called rows.  The cells that run vertically are called columns.  We can use text or objects (like pictures) in our tables.

To create a Table you can use the Insert ribbon and under the Table group, select Table then Draw Table and you can draw your table with rows and columns by drawing them.

Another method is to go to the Insert ribbon,  select Table then select the table size you want.

If you have text already organized by tabs or some other method, you may want to convert the text into a table.  Convert text to a table by selecting the text then go to the Insert ribbon, select Table and then Convert Text to Table.

Rows, Columns & Positioning in a Table

This lesson will help you insert rows and columns, as well as reposition text within your table.

To insert a row or column you place your cursor in the table, right-click and from the Insert options choose what you need.

You can delete rows or columns by selecting the row/column, right-clicking and selecting the Delete Cells option.

To alter the text or object alignment within a cell you select the cell and then right-click and from the Cell Alignment options you choose what you need.

Sizing, Aligning & Moving a Table

This lesson will help you to learn how to adjust your table's row and column sizes, the alignment and the location of the table.

You resize a row or column by hovering your mouse over the lines between rows and columns and once the pointer becomes a double arrowed resizing cursor you can adjust the sizes manually.

Resize the table by selecting the table and then selecting the lower left corner and dragging it to the size you want.

To change the alignment of the table select the table and and go to the Table Tools Layout ribbon under the Table group and select Properties.

 Move the table by selecting the table and select the upper right corner and move it on the page.

Adding Pictures, Clip Art & Shapes

This lesson will help you to insert illustrative elements to your document, such as pictures, ClipArt and Shapes.

Adding these elements is handled on the Insert ribbon, under the Illustrations group.

Editing Pictures

There is quite a bit you can do to a picture once it is inserted within your document.  You can rotate and resize the picture.  You can adjust the brightness and contrast of a picture and much more.

As for rotating pictures, this is done by selecting the picture and then using the green circle above the picture to rotate the shape to the angle you need.  You can resize a picture by selecting the picture and dragging the corners to the size you need.

Learn how to adjust the brightness and contrast of a picture using the Picture Tools Format contextual ribbon.  There are many variations to adjust the color and the display of the picture including the Adjust, Picture Styles, Arrange and Size groups.

You can quickly alter the look of a picture by choosing from amongst the many different Picture Styles.

Under the Picture Styles group you can locate Picture Effects, which can quickly change the way you view your picture especially by giving them depth.

Formatting Shapes

In Word 2007 shapes are no longer static images.  We can do so much more.

On the Insert tab select Shapes and select where you want to place it in a document.

Once the shape is created, select the shape and use the Drawing Tools Format contextual ribbon to access the Shape Styles to quickly make adjustments to your shapes. 

Text Wrapping

How can you make your text look good when you add graphics or pictures to your documents?  Obviously you will want to have the text wrap around the graphic in certain documents... sometimes tightly, sometimes above and below.  It all depends upon the type of graphic and the look you are going for. 

First select the picture and then use the Drawing Tools Format contextual ribbon to change the text wrapping.   You might select the Position option under the Arrange group to adjust the location of the graphic.  You might select the Text Wrapping option to determine how you want the text to move around the graphic. 

Or you can select 'More Layout Options' to open the Advanced Layout dialog box.  Change the wrapping points to make the picture really standout from your text. 

Arranging & Positioning Graphics

When you have multiple graphics on a page, what tools are available to arrange them?

Use the Picture Tools Format contextual ribbon to release a picture to be moved by changing the Position.  Then you can change the Alignment by using the buttons in the Alignment group.

You can even select multiple pictures and change the alignment for all of them at the same time. 

Open a New Drawing Canvas to insert pictures and shapes in the same area of your document by going to the Insert ribbon and select Shapes and click on New Drawing Canvas.  Now you can insert your different objects so they look like they are one integrated object.

WordArt

Forget about plain text on a page.  In this lesson you are going to learn how to create and edit WordArt and take advantage of the new features in Word 2007. 

On the Insert ribbon look in the Text group for the WordArt option.  Select the WordArt drop down arrow for a gallery of preconfigured settings.

Once you have WordArt inserted within your document, select the WordArt to see the WordArt Tools Format contextual ribbon.  From here you have the Text, WordArt Styles, Shadow Effects, 3-D Effects, Arrange and Size groups.  There is quite a bit you can do to enhance the look of your WordArt.

SmartArt

What is SmartArt?  A visually appealing way to represent your data or ideas within a document.  An example might be an Org Chart where you create a visual representation of the managerial structure of your business.

To insert SmartArt, go to the Insert ribbon and  in the Illustrations group click on SmartArt.  After you select one and insert it, you can enter text when you click on the left bar and the Text dialog box opens.  You can cut and paste text into this box to populate the SmartArt.

 Using the SmartArt Tools on the contextual ribbon you can change the look of the SmartArt including adding 3-D Effects. 

Custom Cover Page, Page Number & Table of Contents

This lesson centers in on a few diverse topics like the creation of a customized cover page, the customizing of page numbers and constructing a Table of Contents.

Quick Parts

What are Quick Parts?  These contain Building Blocks of information that we want to repetitively use over and over again.  Some of these building blocks are already preconfigured and provided to you in Word.  However, you can add new blocks to the gallery to be used at a later date.

You can locate Quick Parts on the Insert ribbon under the Text group.  Select the down arrow and you will see the following:

• Document Property
• Field
• Building Blocks Organizer
• Get More on Office Online
• Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery

The Building Blocks Organizer will show you all of your saved building blocks and will indicate which Gallery they belong to.  There is also a preview so you can see what the block is for.

Word Compatibility Checker

The Word Compatibility Checker helps to determine if Word 2007 can open earlier versions of Word documents and if earlier versions of Word can open up a Word 2007 document.  Some elements may not be compatible between the legacy and modern Word features and that is where the Compatibility Check can assist.

You can locate and run the Compatibility Checker from the Office button, by hovering over the Prepare option, and selecting the 'Run Compatibility Checker' link.

Inserting Microsoft Excel Data

This lesson helps explain how you can perform the following:

• Insert Excel data within a document
• Link Excel data to a document
• Reformat aspects of the data

Restricting Access to a Document

There are times when you do not want persons to be able to access a document, or if they are able to access the document, they are limited in what they can do.  This lesson helps to explain the process of setting up these types of restrictions.

To start with you want to go to the Review ribbon and look under the Protect group for the Protect Document options.  It's from within here that you can restrict formatting and editing.

Choosing options under the Restrict Permission settings will require you to sign up for the Information Rights Management Service (IRM).  IRM uses a server to authenticate the credentials of people who create or receive documents or e-mail with restricted permissions.

Signing a Document

This lesson will help you to create a digital signature and 'sign' a document both electronically and visibly.

To insert a visible signature you go to the Insert ribbon, to the Text group and choose the Signature Line option.

Microsoft Office Diagnostics

You can run diagnostics from within the Office application and/or from the Microsoft Office tools off of the Start menu.  Diagnostics will perform the following checks:

• Disk Diagnostic
• Memory Diagnostic
• Update Diagnostic
• Compatibility Diagnostic
• Check for known solutions.

Document Encryption

Encryption goes beyond password protection by scrambling the contents of a document, making it readable only to those with the proper password.

To encrypt a document you go to the Office button, then to the Prepare link and finally to the Encrypt Document option.  You will have to provide a password for the encryption process.  (Do not lose the password!)

Mail Merge

The dreaded mail merge.  The taking of a set of information and attaching it to a template.  So, if you have a contact database and want to send a template letter (a.k.a. form letter) to all of those contacts, you can merge the two together.

Word users for many years have feared the complicated task of mail merges but this lesson will help to walk you through the creation of the data source, the template with fields and the process of merging the two together.

For this lesson you are going to work with the Mailings ribbon.

Publish a PDF or XPS Document

In addition to the standard .doc and .docx file types you can save a document as... Word 2007 offers the ability to save a document in the well known Portable Document Format (PDF) or XML Paper Specifications (XPS) formats.

First you have to install the '2007 Microsoft Office Add-in:  Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS' add-in from Microsoft, which you can locate here:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en

To publish a document as either PDF or XPS you select the Office button, the Save As link and then choose 'PDF or XPS'

Using Themes Between Office Applications

Themes provide you the ability to give your documentation, spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentations a consistent and unified look.  This is done by matching color schemes, fonts, shape effects and so forth between all three applications.

Track Changes

This lesson will help you to learn how to collaborate with others on a document by using Track Changes.  This allows edits that are made to a document to be marked so that others can see the portions that are original and the portions that are changed. 

Changes can be Accepted or Rejected and you can also adjust the way changes are shown to you either through balloons or inline.

You will find these options on the Review ribbon under the Tracking group and the Changes group.

Document Inspector

There are times when you send a document to persons within your company or to another company and you need to ensure private material is not included.  That private material may be metadata that is still hidden in the Properties of the document (such as the Author of the document) or it may be held in other locations.

The Document Inspector will search the document and provide feedback to you that will allow you to ensure the document is clean for sharing.

You start the Document Inspector by selecting the Office button and then the Prepare link and choose Inspect Document.  You will be offered the options of scanning the document for the following:

• Comments, Revisions, Versions and Annotations
• Document Properties and Personal Information
• Custom XML Data
• Headers, Footers and Watermarks
• Hidden Text

Comparing & Merging Documents

This lesson will help you to learn how to compare two documents and review changes.

You find these options under the Review ribbon, off the Compare group.  You select Compare and you are giving the following options:

• Compare: Compare two versions of a document
• Combine: Combine revisions from multiple authors into a single document

Word Options

If you aren't sure where some of your options have gone in Word 2007... they may be located in the Word Options section.  To locate this you select the Office button and you will find it in the bottom of the dialog.

Here you will find the following links to choose from (and this lesson will walk you through many of these):

• Popular
• Display
• Proofing
• Save
• Advanced
• Customize
• Add-Ins
• Trust Center
• Resources

Working with the Show/Hide Button

To see a behind-the-scenes view of a documents paragraph marks, spaces, page and section breaks, and so forth... you need to use the Show/Hide button.

This button can be found on the Home ribbon, under the Paragraph group.  The button looks like a paragraph mark actually.

Creating a 3-Fold Brochure

There are two different ways to create a 3-Fold brochure.  One is through the use of templates.  When you create a new document you can choose a preconfigured document template from a wide selection (including brochures).

The second way is to use all of your newly acquired skills throughout this series and putting them together to create a technically complicated document (like a 3-fold brochure).

.DOC vs. .DOCX - Which to Choose

For many years the .doc format was the Word document default setting for saving documents.  Not .rtf, or .txt but .doc.  Well... in Word 2007 this has changed to the .docx file format.

If you are going to send your document to someone whom you know has Word 2007, you can save the file as .docx and they will have no difficulty opening it.  If they have a legacy version of Word (which is any flavor of Word prior to 2007) then you may want to choose the Office button and select Save As, and choose a .doc format for compatibility.

If, however, a person receives a .docx file, they can download a free conversion tool from Microsoft.

Translation Tools

Under certain circumstances you may need to work with documents that are written in a language other than your native tongue... or simply have a few words that are from another language.

In this lesson we will discuss how you can set the language for your Word document, how to use Translation Screen Tips, and how to translate an entire document (or parts of a document) into your desired language.

These options are located on the Review ribbon under the Proofing group

Windows Settings

This lesson helps to explain the various Window Settings for working with multiple documents at the same time in Word.

Features that are explored include Split Screen, New Window, Arrange All, View Side by Side, and Synchronous Scrolling.  All of these options and more can be located on the View ribbon under the Window group.