WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE

Word Processing Programs and Their Uses

• Word processors provide tools for creating, editing, and formatting text-based documents.
  
• You can use a word processor to create virtually any type of document, from a simple letter to a complete book.
  
• A word processor's formatting tools let you create professional-quality documents easily.
  

The Word Processor's Interface

Most Windows-based word processors offer a similar set of tools, which you use to navigate, edit, and format documents:

• Document Area
  
• Menu Bar
  
• Toolbars
  
• Rulers
  
• Scroll Bars
  
• Status Bar
  

 

Entering and Editing Text – Adding Text to a Document

• You create a document by entering text in the document window.
  
• A blinking insertion point shows you where characters will be placed as you type.
  
• When you type to the end of a line, the program automatically moves the insertion point to the next line. This feature is called word wrap.
  

Entering and Editing Text – Editing a Document

Making changes to an existing document is called editing. Tools are provided for erasing and retyping text quickly:

• The Backspace and Delete keys let you erase one or more characters.
  
• Overtype mode lets you type over previously entered text.
  
• AutoCorrect can automatically correct spelling and typing errors.
  
• Undo and Redo let you reverse the effect of a previous action.
  

Entering and Editing Text - Selecting Text

• Word processors let you work with entire blocks of text. You can format, move, copy, or delete a block.
  
• To work with a block of text, you must first select it, using one of many selection options. Selected text is highlighted on the screen.
  
• When you are finished working with selected text, you can deselect it.
  

Formatting Text

Formatting a document means controlling its appearance.

Formats fall into three broad categories:

1. Character Formats

• You can use multiple fonts in a document, such as Arial or Times New Roman.
  
• Word processors let you apply different sizes – measured in points – to the text in a document.
  
• You can apply type styles to your text, such as bold, italic, and underline, among others.
  

2. Paragraph Formats

• In a word processor, you create a new paragraph whenever you press Enter. You can format each paragraph in a different way.
  
• You can set the amount of blank space between lines in a paragraph and between paragraphs in a document.
  
• To align a paragraph, you set the space between its edges and the page's margins. You can also indent a paragraph's first line.
  
• Borders and shading create special effects for paragraphs.
  

3. Document Formats

• Margins are the amount of blank space between the edges of the text and the edges of the page.
  
• Word processors let you print documents on different size paper, in portrait or landscape orientation.
  
• Headers and footers are commonly used in long documents, to provide continuing information along the top or bottom of the pages.
  

 

Special Features of Word Processing Software

Today's word processors provide a variety of specialized tools, including:

1. Language Tools

Language tools can help you improve the quality of your documents by catching language errors. Language tools include:

• Spell checkers, which can help you find and correct misspelled words.
  
• Grammar checkers, which help your document, conform to accepted grammatical rules.
  
• Thesauri, which can help you, make the best word choices.
  

2. Tables

• Tables let you set up rows and columns of information.
  
• You can format a table in dozens of ways, add headings, and more.
  

3. Mail Merge

• Mail merge is the process of combining a form letter with contents of an address database.
  
• Using mail merge, you can create a standard letter and automatically make a copy for each person in your database.
  

4. Support for Graphics and Sounds

• Word processors allow you to add images to your documents.
  
• Once you add a graphic to a document, you can select it, move it, resize it, and more.
  
• You also can add sound files to a document. A sound file appears as an icon; click the icon on screen and the file plays.
  

5. Templates

• A template is a pre-designed document.
  
• A template simplifies document design. You simply open the document and type your text.
  

 

SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE

 

Spreadsheet Programs and Their Uses

• Spreadsheets provide tools for working with numerical data.
  
• You can use a spreadsheet program to create budgets, balance sheets, and other types of number-based documents.
  
• You can display your information in a traditional row-and-column format, or in a chart.
  

The Spreadsheet's Interface

• In a spreadsheet program, you work in a document called a worksheet. You can collect multiple worksheets into a file called a workbook.
  
• Most Windows-based word spreadsheets offer a similar set of tools, including a formula bar, where you can enter and edit data.
  
• Data is displayed in cells. A cell is the intersection of a row and column.
  
• Each cell has a cell address – the combination of the cell's column letter and row number.
  

Entering Data in a Worksheet - Types of Data

You enter four types of data in a worksheet's cells:

• Labels – text or numbers not used in calculations.
  
• Values – numbers that can be used in calculations.
  
• Dates – a necessary part of most worksheets.
  
• Formulas – commands to perform calculations based on numbers or formulas.
  

Entering Data in a Worksheet - Formulas and Functions

• If a formula uses a value in another cell, the formula contains a cell reference, or the address of the referred cell.
  
• Formulas can refer to entire ranges (or blocks) of contiguous cells as well as individual cells.
  
• A function is a predefined formula, which the spreadsheet provides to perform a specific type of calculation. You provide arguments that tell the function what data to use.
  

Editing and Formatting a Worksheet

• Spreadsheets provide many of the same editing and formatting tools found in word processors.
  
• You can change, copy, move, and delete the data in any cell.
  

Relative and Absolute Cell References

• If a formula uses a relative cell reference, it automatically dates if (copied or moved), to a different place.
  
• An absolute cell reference always refers to the same cell even if the formula is moved to a different place.
  

Adding Charts

• A chart is a graphical representation of the data in a worksheet.
  
• Spreadsheets provide tools that make it easy to create a chart from worksheet data.
  
• You can use many different types of charts, and apply many effects to a chart, to present your data in the most appropriate way.
  

Analyzing Data in a Spreadsheet

Three commonly used data-analysis tools are:

• What-if analysis, which lets you test scenarios to see how each affects the result.
  
• Goal seeking, which finds values that make the result meet your specifications.
  
• Sorting, this lets you arrange the worksheet's data in various ways.