Adding or Replacing Text and Moving in the Document

After you have completed a draft of your document, you will find yourself in a situation where you want to add and delete text in the document as you edit your work. Word makes it very easy for you to add new text and delete text that you don't want. You also will find that, whether you use the mouse or the keyboard to move around in your document as you edit, Word offers a number of special keystrokes and other tricks that make moving within the document a breeze .

The primary tool for placing the insertion point into a document that already contains text using the mouse is the I-beam . It looks like an uppercase "I." Place it anywhere in the document and click the left mouse button. This places the insertion point in the document at the I-beam's current position.

I-beam This is the shape that the mouse pointer takes when you place it over any text in a Word document. Use it to place the insertion point at a particular position in a document.

Adding New Text

You actually have two possibilities for adding text to the document: insert and typeover . To insert text into the document and adjust the position of the existing text, place the I-beam where you want to insert the new text. Click the mouse to place the insertion point at the chosen position. Make sure that the OVR indicator on the Status bar near the bottom of the screen is not active (it will be gray rather than bolded). This means that you are in the insert mode.

Insert Mode The default text mode in Word. New text is added at the insertion point and existing text is pushed forward in the document so that it remains as part of the document.

Type your new text. It is added at the insertion point, and existing text (the text to the right of the inserted text) is pushed forward in the document.

Replacing Text with Typeover

If you want to add new text to a document and simultaneously delete text to the right of the insertion point, use the mouse to place the insertion point where you want to start typing over the existing text. Press the Insert key on the keyboard and add your new text. The added text types over the existing text, deleting it (see Figure 3.1). When you switch to Typeover mode using the Insert key, the Word status bar displays the message OVR. This means that you are currently in Typeover mode.

Figure 3.1. When you are in Typeover mode, existing text is overwritten by the new text.

Typeover Mode Press the Insert key to enter this mode; new text is added at the insertion point and types over the existing text, deleting it.

If you want to return to Insert mode, press the Insert key again (it toggles Word between the Insert and Typeover modes) and the OVR message on the status bar is dimmed (you can also double-click OVR on the status bar to toggle this feature on and off).

Undo That Typeover If you inadvertently type over text in a document because you are in the Typeover mode, click the Undo button (it might take several clicks in cases where you have added several words to the document) on the toolbar to return the deleted text to the document (or press Ctrl+Z ).

Moving Around the Document

Whether you are a mouse aficionado or prefer to stick close to your keyboard, Word provides several shortcuts and tools for moving around a document that you are trying to edit.

When you use the mouse, you can move to a different position on the current page by using the I-beam. You also can use the mouse to move through your document using the vertical and horizontal scrollbars. For example, clicking the up scroll arrow on the vertical scrollbar moves you up through the document. Clicking the down scroll arrow moves you down through the document. If you want to quickly move to a particular page in the document, you can drag the scroll box to a particular place on the vertical scrollbar. As soon as you click on the scroll box, a page indicator box appears that you can use to keep track of what page you are on as you drag the scroll box up or down on the vertical scrollbar.

The vertical scrollbar also provides Previous Page and Next Page buttons (the double-up arrow and double-down arrow buttons on the bottom of the scrollbar) that can be used to move to the previous page and next page, respectively. Use the mouse to click the appropriate button to move in the direction that you want to go in your document.

The horizontal scrollbar operates much the same as the vertical scrollbar; however, it offers the capability to scroll only to the left and the right of a document page. This is particularly useful when you have zoomed in on a document and want to scrutinize an area of the page in great detail.

You should be aware that clicking the mouse on the vertical scrollbar to change your position in a document allows you to view a different portion of a page or a different part of the document; however, it does not move the insertion point to that position on the page. To actually place the insertion point, you must move to a specific place or position in the document, and then click the mouse I-beam where you want to place the insertion point.

When you're typing or editing text, you might find that the fastest way to move through the document is with the help of the keyboard shortcuts shown in Table 3.1. Keeping your hands on the keyboard, rather than reaching out for the mouse, can be a more efficient way to move in a document while you compose or edit.

Scroll Quickly with a Wheel Mouse You might want to purchase a wheel mouse, such as Microsoft's IntelliMouse, which provides a rolling device on the top of the mouse (between the click buttons). With your finger on the wheel device, you can literally "roll" the vertical scrollbar through the document at the pace of your choicerapidly or slowly.

Table 3.1. Using the Keyboard to Move Through the

Key Combination	Movement
Home	Move to the beginning of a line
End	Move to the end of a line
Ctrl+Right arrow	Move one word to the right
Ctrl+Left arrow	Move one word to the left
Ctrl+Up arrow	Move to the previous paragraph
Ctrl+Down arrow	Move to the next paragraph
PgUp	Move up one window
PgDn	Move down one window
Ctrl+PgUp	Move up one page
Ctrl+PgDn	Move down one page
Ctrl+Home	Move to the top of a document
Ctrl+End	document