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Introduction

Word is the most popular word processing program available. Its primary mission is to help you type and format text documents, but it also offers a host of other powerful features that let you create tables, work with graphics, create mass mailings , design Web pages, and more. This book teaches you to use the most recent incarnation of the program, Word 2003.

What This Book Will Do for You

If you rank learning new software right up there with trips to the dentist, you're not alone. Many people feel less than enthusiastic about exploring new programs because the "how-to" books they use are unclear or intimidating. This book aims to give you a much more positive learning experience. In it, you learn a good portion of the Word program ”enough to create just about any type of document you need ”in a thorough and systematic way.

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Word 2003 in 24 Hours is organized in 24 sessions that should take approximately one hour each to complete. Depending on your previous experience with Word and your areas of interest, some sessions may take less than an hour and others may take more. The exact amount of time is not important. After you've practiced and absorbed all the information in a session that is relevant to your work, you're ready to move on.

What Is Word Designed to Do?

Word's fundamental mission is simple: to help you type, revise , and format text. To this end, it offers a complete set of tools that enable you to create just about any type of document imaginable. You can produce anything from basic letters and memos to complex documents such as reports , papers, newsletters, brochures , r sum s, mass mailings , envelopes, and mailing labels. You can even compose e-mail messages and design Web pages in Word.

Each person who uses Word needs a slightly different combination of features. If you're an administrative assistant, you may need to use Word's mail merge feature to generate mass mailings. If you're a student, you'll want to learn about footnotes and endnotes for your term papers. If you're a marketing executive, you may want to use the table feature to present information in charts . Depending on the documents you create, you'll use some parts of Word constantly, and others you will never venture into. This is to be expected. Learn the areas of Word that you need, and don't feel compelled to explore every nook and cranny.

Word is part of Microsoft Office, a suite of business applications. The other key players in Office are Excel, a spreadsheet program, and PowerPoint, a presentation program. Depending on the edition of Office you have, you may also have a database program called Access, a personal information manager (PIM) and e-mail application called Outlook, and possibly a few others. All the Office applications have a similar look, and they are tightly integrated to let you use them in combination with one another (see Hour 20, "Integrating with Other Office Products").