Introduction to Microsoft Word

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.06: Text, Symbols, Media

Where does the tablet end and the cloud begin? (Source)

Before now, most of the things we've looked at are helpful both on the screen and printed out. Except maybe hyperlinks. People tend to get confused about what random blue, underlined text is doing in a newspaper.

Where were we? Oh yeah. Now we're going to look at the rest of the Insert features. The ones that definitely won't work if you print your paper out. But let's face it: how many times do you actually print out your paper these days? The world is more and more in the cloud, and Word's moving with the times.

The hazy, overcast, unprinted times.

Besides, the only people reading printed newspapers these days are probably fish, and they don't care whether or not the hyperlinks are broken.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.06: Check Out These Inserts

Between the Pictures sub-tab and the Hyperlink sub-tab, there's a tiny sub-tab called Media. Big Disclaimer: inserting media's only actually a good idea if your paper's never going to be printed. Hey, it could happen.

If you aren't planning on printing it and want to use your electronic document to its full potential, click on this button:

You'll get a drop-down menu asking if you want to open the Browser (either for audio or videos) or pick something from a file. Sound familiar? It should, seeing as it's the exact same decision as you'd make when picking a picture.

Regardless of whether you're looking for a song or a video, clicking the Browser is going to open up a window like this:

Just enter your search into the bar, pick the video you want, and click "Insert." Word isn't always the best at playing videos, per se—even if we do use Bing—so you might want to test the video before you send it to all your friends.

What happens when you find the perfect video of pelicans stealing candy from babies and it doesn't play on Word? You could always just hyperlink out to it instead of directly embedding the video. Problem solved.

Plus it'd be much easier to gloss over if you change your mind at the last minute and print out the document. It's generally considered more professional to link out to the video instead of embedding it.

As far as Word's concerned, anyway.

The next sub-tab is kind-of unrelated, but it still has some good stuff in it. Text, which looks like this:

Let's go from left to right, shall we? On the far left, Text Box inserts an isolated box for text. It can be surprisingly helpful for things like

• making text boxes separate from the main text.
• that's basically it.
• theoretically putting text on Shapes, but that's going to shift during the course of your document, so you shouldn't do that.

It could help you a make flyer, poster, or any other graphical type document. The nice part is that you can move that isolated piece of text anywhere you want (which isn't very common in Word).

Then there's Quick Parts to the right of Text Box. It's a drop-down menu that'll let you insert

• Auto Text. Any kind of text that gets written in Word all the time is going to show up in AutoText. We're talking about things like your name, the "edited on" date, and the "written on" date. Just really formulaic stuff.
• Document Property. This usually helps more for things like creating forms. If you want to send a Word doc to someone to be filled out, this box is going to let you make the rest of the document protected but let someone fill out anything they want in the Document Property text box.

(If you're on a Mac, you might not see these in the tab, but you can find AutoText by using the Insert menu to open AutoText. Document Property doesn't really exist on Macs. Sorry, Shmooper.)

The next button we talk about should be used sparingly. WordArt makes fonts look fun and "artsy." It's going to basically turn your word(s) into a colorful, interesting font. All you need to do is highlight the text you want, click the WordArt button, and pick the general style. Once you've done that, a secret tab is going to open up, letting you really customize your… word/art.

You can also just click on the WordArt button (without highlighting anything) and write away. They'll both do the same thing. Once you write what you want (and change the styles through that secret menu), you can move it around just like a picture. It's slightly different than a straight picture, but yeah.

Just because you can use WordArt doesn't mean you should use it often (or ever). This is one of those features that you shouldn't even think about touching in an academic paper. For a poster, it might be good, but try to keep things simple. Nothing's worse than an over-adorned piece of WordArt.

After a certain point, the word part of it stops being words.

Beside WordArt is the Drop Cap button. If you've ever seen an illuminated manuscript (a book with illustrations and other bordering decorations, fyi), you might have seen a page or paragraph that starts with a giant letter. That's exactly what Drop Cap will do for your paper. Minus the other decorations. Or the decorative (WordArt-like) nature of the giant letters.

Using Drop Cap automates the entire process of making a bigger letter that fits in with the rest of your text. With normal in-line font size changing, all your text is going to stay on the same line, meaning that you'll have to do a lot of tricky manipulating to get the other words to fit next to that letter. Check out the difference here:

On the top: in-line fontiness. On the bottom, Drop Cap making things oh so much easier to read.

You can Drop Cap two ways: Dropped (like what we've been doing) and In Margin. In Margin just means that it places the rest of the text in that paragraph to the right side of that giant letter.

At the end of the Text sub-tab there are three smaller options; they're different if you're working on a Mac or PC version of Word (but what else is new?) If you're on a PC, the mini-button on top is the Signature button, which automates a signature line. It's going to ask you if you'd like to add a Suggested Signer, which is just for describing who who should be signing the document. That line will go below the signature box.

The Mac version doesn't have that, but you can create it yourself by

• making a 1x1 table.
• changing the border so that only the bottom border exists.
• add another row (if you want to create a suggested signer's box).

Clicking the borders options lets you change the borders of cells individually—on top of being able to change the whole thing—so you can essentially make a table that only has a line below the first row. In the second, you can put in a subtitle that says who should be signing the document.

Clunky, but it works.

Below Signature, the Date & Time button adds a list of your dreams and fears….wait, nope it just adds the date and/or the time. The Object button allows you to add—wait for it—an object, like charts or pictures, or text from another file.

We're near the end of the Insert tab, but we have one more sub-tab: Symbols. Symbols lets you insert

• special characters via the Advanced Symbol button.
• math equations via the Equation button.

Clicking on Advanced Symbol is just going to open a pop-up to pick your symbol and press Insert. That's it.

Clicking on Equation is going to open a drop-down menu of common equations like

• the Pythagorean theorem.
• the Area of a Circle.
• a couple of common trig identities.

If you need to insert a common function, look through that drop-down first because it could save you oodles of time. If it isn't there, though, you could also create your own equation. It's going to open up another secret tab that looks like this:

It gives you all the options you need to write some really complex equations.

A word of warning: in any of the insert options where you're creating something, that newly-created thing is only compatible with Microsoft Office products. If you create the coolest piece of WordArt ever, you'll only be able to enjoy it in a Word doc. Maybe PowerPoint.

What's our point? If you want to make a graphic that'll be used on a bunch of different types of documents, you shouldn't use MS Word for it. MS Word should be used on documents that are mostly text. That's it.

Insert wisely, Shmooper.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.06: Insert a Life

Inserting things can be tough. Especially when you're feeling full after inserting your first large pizza but optimistically ordered three for yourself. You can't just save the rest as leftovers. You made a commitment to eating three pizzas, and you have to stick to it.

But enough about Shmoop's Friday night plans. Since you learned all about inserting things in MS Word, let's have you insert some things into a document.

Bet you didn't see that one coming.

You're going to create a parental consent form for heading to a Stonehenge replica called Carhenge for a very important school field trip.

Download the activity here and change the following field trip form to make it more…better. You should change

• the fields—made from tables—so that parents can fill things out online.
• the title of the form into a snazzy piece of WordArt.
• an auto-generated date from the Date & Time setting for the parent or guardian's signature.
• the styles to make the text more streamlined and readable.
• a Drop Cap to the first line of the paragraph, to make this form feel especially official.
• a video at the end, showcasing the automotive wonders of Carhenge (make sure to check that it works)
• the fields so that they have fake information. Funny is okay, just remember that this is for a class, Shmooper.

Once you're done, submit the changed doc and enjoy your trip to the best roadside attraction in western Nebraska.