Introduction

Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing application available for your personal computer. You will probably use it most often to write relatively straightforward documents such as memos, letters , and reports . But you can also create more complex documents with fancy formatting and embedded graphics, charts , and spreadsheets. You can print these documents on paper, or you can publish them directly from Word in a format that can be displayed on a web site and distributed over the Internet.

In this course, we focus on Word s most useful features ”the ones many people will use often and the ones more people would use if they knew how. By the time you finish this Quick Course, you ll have a firm understanding of the components of Word, and you will know enough to experiment on your own with the features we don t cover in detail. Specifically, you will know how to:

• Start using Microsoft Word 2002

• Create letter-perfect documents

• Create eye-catching documents

• Create tables and forms

• Add visual effects

• Create form letters and labels

In this course, we don t go into detail about installing Word on your computer, assuming that the program has already been installed either as part of Microsoft Office XP or separately. We also assume that you have experience working with Microsoft Windows (98, 2000, Me, XP, or later). If you are new to Windows, we recommend that you take a look at the appropriate edition of Quick Course in Microsoft Windows , which will help you quickly come up to speed. And finally, we assume you are using a mouse. You can perform many Word functions using the keyboard, but a mouse is required to complete certain instructions.

To accomplish its purpose, this course walks you through procedures one step at a time. But we don t just take a simple do this, do that approach, because when you ve finished the course, we want you to be able to apply what you have learned to your own work. So we explain how you need to set things up and why, what s going on at each step, and what the results will be. And we include lots of screen shots so that you can check your work in progress. The exercises indicate items you should click and keys you should press by showing them in bold type. If we want you to press two keys simultaneously , we show the keys one after the other, separated by plus signs ”for example, Ctrl+N . Anything you should type is shown in bold italic . So there is never any question about what you need to do when.

The step-by-step instructions in the course tutorial are self- contained, meaning that you create the files you need as you go along, and no additional files are necessary.

If you are interested in Microsoft Office Specialist certification, you can use this Quick Course to study for the core Word exam. For easy reference, here s a table listing all the core exam objectives and where they are covered. (This course also covers most of the expert exam objectives.)

Description	Location
Inserting and Modifying Text
Insert, modify, and move text	Chapters 1, 2, 5
and symbols
Apply and modify text formats	Chapters 1, 3
Correct spelling and grammar usage	Chapter 2
Apply text and font effects	Chapter 3
Enter and format date and time	Chapter 3
Apply character styles	Chapter 3
Creating and Modifying Paragraphs
Modify paragraph formats	Chapters 1, 3, 4
Set and modify tabs	Chapter 4
Apply bullet, online, and numbering	Chapter 3
formats to paragraphs
Apply paragraph styles	Chapter 3
Formatting Documents
Create and modify a header and footer	Chapter 3
Apply and modify column settings	Chapter 3
Modify document layout and Page	Chapter 3
Setup options
Create and modify tables	Chapter 4
Preview and print documents, envelopes, and labels	Chapters 3, 6
Managing Documents
Manage files and folders for documents	Chapter 1
Create documents using templates	Chapters 1, 3
Save documents using different names and file formats	Chapters 1, 4
Working with Graphics
Insert images and graphics	Chapter 5
Create and modify diagrams and charts	Chapter 5
Workgroup Collaboration
Compare and merge documents	Chapter 2
Insert, view and edit comments	Chapters 2, 3
Convert documents into web pages	Chapter 3