1. Start typing your new document
What this page is about
For those of you who have just joined us, this page is in the series of Basic Concepts in Word. Use the menu at left to go to the different pages.
Each Basic Concept page has three sections:
This tutorial will take you through the basic steps in creating a new document and entering the first text in the sample document.
Step 1: Start by opening Microsoft Word
If you want to work through the steps on this page, it might be useful to print out this page. Alternatively, arrange the windows on your screen so that you can see this page and Word at the same time.
Open up Word. How you do that may depend on your machine. Click the big blue W logo on the Office Shortcut bar in the top right hand corner of the screen. If you can't see a blue W logo there, try clicking the Start button. If you don't see a blue W Word logo there, choose Programs. Click the blue W Word logo to start Word.
Step 2: Create a new document
In Word, on the main menu choose File > New.
If you have Word 2002 or Word 2003, you'll see a pane on the right of the screen. Click Blank Document. In earlier versions of Word you won't see the task pane. Instead, you see a dialog box. Click on Blank Document, then click OK.
Professional users wouldn't use Blank Document. In Word 2003, they would click "On my computer" and choose an appropriate template. In Word 2002, they would click "General Templates" and choose an appropriate template. In older versions of Word, they would choose an appropriate template from the dialog box. But for now, let's just click Blank Document.
You can now see your new, empty document on the screen.
You will notice three important things about your new document:
- there may be a rectangle drawn in a dotted line on the page
- there's a flashing cursor at the top of the page
- the top highlighted bar says "Document1" or something similar.
Step 3: Type within the dotted lines
If you don't see a rectangle drawn with dotted lines, do this. On the main menu, choose Tools > Options. Click the View tab. Now, tick the box that says "Text boundaries" then click OK. And, choose View > Print Layout or View > Page Layout (the terminology changed in recent versions of Word).
You can see dotted lines that show you the text boundaries. When you type, you'll type within these boundaries. They are showing you the margins of your page.
Step 4: Type where you see the cursor or Insertion Point
At the top left of the text boundary area, you see a flashing cursor. It's called the Insertion Point, because if you type, your typing gets inserted at the Insertion Point. (Just to make the point, move your mouse around. You'll see that the Insertion Point didn't move.)
We're going to create the sample document in Word, to demonstrate the basic concepts. So, type the first line of text so that it looks something like the following (you'll have to imagine that the cursor is flashing).
If you make a typing mistake, use the Backspace key to reverse what you've done, and try again. (You'll learn about niftier ways to edit mistakes later.)
About foxes and lazy dogs|
Step 5: Save your document
In the far top left corner of the window, the highlighted bar next to the Word logo says Document1 (or some such). This is because you haven't yet saved your document and given it a more useful name.
Even though you haven't typed much yet, it's a good idea to save your document now, and save it again every few minutes, so you don't lose your work.
So on the main menu, choose File > Save. The Save As box will open, where you can give your document a name. So type a name in the "File Name" box, and click Save.
You can now see your own file name in the top highlighted bar next to the Word logo.
It may not say a lot, but you have created and saved a new document in Word.
This page covers the first Basic Concept of Word: how to create a new document and start typing.
- To create a new document, use the main menu to choose File > New.
- A large dotted rectangle on the page shows the text boundaries.
If you can't see the text boundaries, choose Tools > Options. Click the View tab. Tick "Text boundaries" then OK. And, choose View > Print Layout or View > Page Layout (this functionality changed its name in recent versions of Word).
- A flashing cursor or Insertion Point shows where your text will be inserted. To position the cursor or Insertion Point, click with the mouse or move the cursor with the arrow keys.
- Type your text within the dotted rectangle of the text boundaries. When you type, your typing appears where the Insertion Point or cursor is flashing.
- If you make a typing mistake, use the Backspace key to reverse what you've done, and try again. (You'll learn about niftier ways to edit mistakes later.)
- To save your document, choose File > Save. Save your document frequently, to prevent losing your work.
Go to the next basic concept: Concept 2: Rules for typing in Word or continue to read the Curiosity Shop box.
Curiosity Shop: Using menus and toolbars
One of the important features of Microsoft Word is that you can do almost everything in several different ways. It makes Word a fantastically flexible program, because you can use it the way that suits you. It also makes it hard to write about, because there are often umpteen ways to do the same thing.
When there is a choice, these Basic Concept pages prefer to use the main menu bar or, failing that, other toolbars. But you can decide how to invoke the menu items.
Using the menus with the mouse
You can use the menu by clicking with the mouse.
Using the menus with the keyboard
You can use the menu by using the keyboard. To do that, hold down Alt and press the letter that is underlined in the menu item. Then let Alt go. So you can open the File menu by pressing Alt-F.
You can then choose an item on that menu by pressing the key that is underlined in the menu item. On the File menu, the Save option has the S underlined. So you can choose Save by pressing S.
Using shortcut keys
You can also use Word's built‑in shortcut keys. You can see the shortcut keys in the menus. If you look at the File menu, you will see that ctrl-s is the shortcut for Save. (It's shown over on the right of the drop-down menu.)