Menus

All of Word's commands are accessible through its menus. Word has two types of menus:

• Standard menus appear on the menu bar near the top of the window. Figures 5 and 6 show examples of standard Word menus.

  Figure 5. The Edit menu.

  

  
  

  Figure 6. The Toolbars submenu under the View menu.

  

  
  

• Shortcut or contextual menus appear at the mouse pointer. Figure 9 on the next page shows an example of a shortcut menu.

Here are some rules to keep in mind when working with menus:

• A menu command that appears in gray cannot be selected.

• A menu command followed by an ellipsis (...) displays a dialog.

• A menu command followed by a triangle has a submenu. The submenu displays additional commands when the main command is highlighted (Figure 6).

• A menu command followed by one or more keyboard characters can be chosen with a shortcut key.

• A menu command preceded by a check mark has been "turned on" (Figure 6). To toggle the command from on to off or off to on, choose it from the menu.

Tips

• The above menu rules apply to the menus of most Mac OS programs, not just Word.

• Dialogs and shortcut keys are covered later in this chapter.

• In Mac OS, menus are translucentyou can see right through them. Although I try to minimize menu backgrounds in screenshots throughout this book, Figure 9 shows an example of menu translucency.

To choose a menu command

1.

Click the name of the menu from which you want to choose the command. The menu appears (Figure 5).

2.

Click the command you want (Figure 7). Figure 7. Choosing the Paste command from the Edit menu. or If the command is on a submenu, click on the submenu to display it (Figure 6) and then click on the command you want (Figure 8). Figure 8. Choosing the Drawing command from the Toolbars submenu under the View menu. The command may blink before the menu disappears, confirming that it has been successfully selected.

Tip

• This book uses the following notation to indicate menu commands: Menu Name > Submenu Name (if necessary) > Command Name. For example, "choose View > Toolbars > Drawing" instructs you to choose the Drawing command from the Toolbars submenu under the View menu (Figure 8).

To use a shortcut menu

1.	Point to the item on which you want to use the shortcut menu.
2.	Hold down and press the mouse button down. The shortcut menu appears (Figure 9). Figure 9. A shortcut menu for selected text.
3.	Choose the command that you want.

Tip

• The shortcut menu only displays the commands that can be applied to the item to which you are pointing.