The fanciest word-processing program ever invented is Microsoft Word. It runs in all three popular environments (DOS, Windows, and Mac) and uses similar commands in each of those environments.
Other versions
This chapter explains how to use version 6 of Microsoft Word for Windows. Other versions of Microsoft Word are similar.
Mac If you're using a Mac instead of Windows, here's the main difference: instead of pressing the Ctrl key, press the COMMAND key (on which you'll see a squiggly cloverleaf ___ and also see an apple if your keyboard is modern).
Old versions If your version of Microsoft Word is older than version 6, you should upgrade to version 6!
If you can't upgrade (because you have no money or because your computer has too little RAM or too slow a CPU to run Word well), phone me at 617-666-2666 to get an older version of this book. The 19th edition explained version 2 of Word for Windows and also version 5.1 of Word for the Mac. So did the 18th and 17th editions.
Prepare yourself
Before reading this chapter, read and practice my Windows chapter. Before using version 6 of Microsoft Word for Windows, you must buy Windows 3.1 and 4M of RAM. To run version 6 of Microsoft Word for Windows well, you should have a 486 or Pentium, and you should have 8M of RAM.
Copy Microsoft Word to the hard disk
Microsoft Word comes on floppy disks. To use Microsoft Word, you must copy it from those floppy disks to your hard disk. Here's how.
Turn on the computer without any floppy in drive A. Start Windows (by typing ``win'' after the C prompt). You'll see the Program Manager Window.
Choose Run from the File menu. The computer will say ``Command Line''.
What happens next depends on how you bought Word.
If you bought just Word If you bought just Microsoft Word ___ without buying Microsoft Office ___ you get a box that contains two manuals, nine 1.44M floppies, and a coupon you can mail to Microsoft to get 1.2M floppies instead.
Put Disk 1 in drive A. Type ``a:setup'' (and press ENTER).
The computer will say ``Microsoft Word 6.0 Setup''. Press ENTER.
If Disk 1 was never used before, the computer will ask you to type your name. Type your name, press the TAB key, and type the name of your company (if any).
Press ENTER several times, until the computer says, ``Please insert Disk 2.'' Put Disk 2 in drive A and press ENTER. When the computer tells you, do the same for Disks 3 through 9.
The computer will say, ``Microsoft Word Setup needs to restart Windows.'' Press ENTER.
If you bought Office Here's the smartest way to acquire Microsoft Word: buy a cheaper word processor (such as Ami Pro), then use that as an excuse to buy the upgrade version of Microsoft Office Professional, which includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel (a spreadsheet program), Microsoft Access (a database program), and other goodies.
The Microsoft Office Professional Upgrade comes in a huge box that contains ten manuals, thirty-one 1.44M floppies, and a coupon you can mail to get 1.2M floppies instead.
Put Disk 1 in drive A. Type ``a:setup'' (and press ENTER).
The computer will say ``Microsoft Office 4.3 Professional Setup''. Press ENTER.
If Disk 1 was never used before, the computer will ask you to type your name. Type your name, press the TAB key, and type the name of your company (if any).
Press ENTER several times, until the computer says, ``Choose the type of installation by clicking one of the buttons.'' If you click the Complete/Custom button, the computer will install Microsoft Office Professional completely and consume 114 megabytes of your hard disk. If you click the Typical button, the computer will install just the most commonly used features of Microsoft Office Professional and consume just 58 megabytes of your hard disk. If you click the Laptop/Minimum button, the computer will install just the minimum features you need to survive and consume just 29 megabytes of your hard disk. Click one of those buttons.
Press ENTER several times, until the computer says, ``Please insert Disk 2''. Put Disk 2 in drive A and press ENTER. When the computer tells you, do the same for Disks 3 through 31.
If the computer says ``Setup couldn't create a SYSTEM.MDA file'', press ENTER.
The computer will say, ``Setup needs to restart Windows.'' Press ENTER.
Close the Microsoft Office Cue Cards window (by double-clicking its control box).
Final steps Close the Microsoft Office window. Close the Program Manager window.
The computer will say ``Exit Windows''. Press ENTER.
Then turn off the computer, so you can start fresh.
Launch Microsoft Word
Here's how to start using Microsoft Word.
Turn on the computer without any floppy in drive A. Start Windows (by typing ``win'' after the C prompt). If the computer says ``Microsoft Office Cue Cards'', close the Microsoft Office Cue Cards window (by double-clicking its control box). The computer says ``Program Manager''.
If you see a slanted W near the screen's top right corner, click it. If you don't see a slanted W, double-click the Microsoft Office icon then the Microsoft Word icon.
If the computer says ``Tip of the Day'', press ENTER. See the rulers
About 2 inches down from the top of the screen, you should see a horizontal ruler, which goes across the screen and is numbered 1", 2", 3", 4", 5", etc. If you don't see that ruler, make it appear by choosing Ruler from the View menu.
At the screen's left edge, you should see a vertical ruler, which goes up & down the screen and is numbered 1", 2", etc. If you don't see the vertical ruler, make it appear by choosing Page Layout from the View menu.
Now you see two rulers ___ a horizontal ruler, plus a vertical ruler ___ so you can use the full power of Microsoft Word!
Let's begin. . . .
Type your document
Start typing your document.
Microsoft Word uses the mouse and fundamental keys the same way as Windows Write. For details, read these sections on pages 151-152:
``Use the keyboard''
``Scroll through documents''
``Insert characters''
``Split a paragraph''
``Combine paragraphs''
All delete
Here's how to delete the entire document, so you can start over. . . .
While holding down the Ctrl key, press the A key. That means ``all''. All of the document turns black.
Then press the DELETE key. All of the document disappears, so you can start over!
Movement keys
To move to different parts of your document, you can use your mouse. To move faster, press these movement keys instead:
Key you press Where pointer moves
right-arrow right to the next character
left-arrow left to the previous character
down-arrow down to the line below
up-arrow up to the line above
END right to the end of the line
HOME left to the beginning of line
PAGE DOWN down to the next screenful
PAGE UP up to the previous screenful
Near the screen's top, you see the formatting toolbar:
Each symbol on the toolbar is called a tool. Here's the name of each tool:
If you forget a tool's name, try this trick: point at the tool (by using the mouse, but without clicking), then wait a second. Underneath the tool, you'll see the tool's name; and at the screen's bottom left corner, you'll see a one-sentence explanation of what the tool does.
The toolbar's right half consists of 12 tools saying ``B'', ``I'', ``U'', etc. Those 12 tools are called buttons. To use a button, press it by clicking it with the mouse. Here are the details. . . .
