Word Processor

Concept of Word processor

The word processor is application software which defines features to create, edit, view, format, store, retrieve and print documents such as letters, reports, books, etc. Some important features of word processors are editing, spelling checking, page setup, paragraph alignments, merging documents, typing in columns, etc.

Behind text, word processor also enables us to add images to the documents and design the documents that look like the product of professional print shop. Using word processor, we can create a long document with separate chapters, a table of contents, an index, and other features. An example of word processor is Ms-word, word star, word perfect, lotus Notes, etc.

Some common features found in most of the word processing software are:

• Entering text
• Editing text
• Formatting paragraph
• Formatting page style
• Importing text, graphics and images
• Entering mathematical symbols
• Checking spelling and grammar
• Header and footer and other

Basic Terms of Word Processing

Font: Complete set of character with the same style and size. A word processing package comes with several standard fonts.

Style sheet: Pre-stored package format that can be used while creating a new document or can be applied to an existing document.

Points: A point is 1/72 of an inch and the size refers to the distance from the top of the tallest character to the bottom of the character that extends lowest. Font size is measured in points.

Justification: It is the alignment of text on the left or right margin or both margins. Four types of justification are left- justification, right justification, center justification and full justification.

Cursor (Insertion Points): A blinking vertical line, as key types it advances across the screen.

Word Wrap: When the text reaches the right margin of pages, the word processor allows the user to change the text without retrying the entire page, only retype the text that needs to be changed.

Margin: White space around the page is called margin. There is top, bottom, left and right margin a page.

Working and Editing Text

The process of changing the content of the text, deleting some portion of text, moving or copying text is called editing the text. To edit the text, first, it should be selected. Following are the different editing features:

Cut: Using this option, we can remove the selected portion of a document and place it into special memory called clipboard. Actually, we use this option to move any objects from one part of the document to another part and even from one document to another document. The shortcut key for operation Cut is Ctrl+x.

Copy: This option is used to place the selected portion of a document and place it into clipboard without removing from the original place. Using this we create a duplicate copy of any objects from one part of the document to another part and even from one document to another document. The shortcut key for operation Copy is Ctrl+c.

Paste: Means inserting the most recent places content of clipboard into insertion point. The shortcut key for operation Paste is .

Redo and Undo: Undo operation is used to go to the previous state by canceling what is done recently. The reverse of Undo is Redo. The shortcut key for operation Redo is Ctrl+z and for Undo is Ctrl+y.

Find and Replace: To find any text in document, we use find feature and to replace the text with new text, use replace.

Formatting Character and Paragraphs

There are text and paragraph formatting feature under separate menus: Font and paragraph, we have these features listed in the formatting toolbar and also open the Front or Paragraph dialog boxes to select the options.

Therefore, we can categorize their formatting features as below:

Font: we change the style of the text typed in the documents. We can select a required font from the available font available list and change the style of the selected block of text.

Font Size: We change the size of the text in the documents. You can select a required font from the available font from the available list and change the size of the selected block of text.

Bold: We can make the selected block look bolder than the other text.

Italic: We can make the selected text slanted.

Underline: We underline the selected text.

Paragraph Formatting Features

In a word, a paragraph is a text separated by paragraph marks which is instead while pressing enter. We can apply different kinds of formatting on the paragraphs. When we apply certain format on the entire paragraph, the new paragraph is automatically affected by it. Basic paragraph format is:

1. Aligning paragraphs
2. Line paragraphs
3. Indenting Paragraph
4. Paragraph spacing

The above features can be applied from the paragraph dialog box which can be opened from the paragraph ribbon in the home menu.

1. Aligning paragraph: By default, the paragraph is aligned to left, to change the alignment, first, select the paragraphs and click on the respective alignment on the formatting toolbar or use the respective option from the paragraph dialog box. The different kinds of alignments are as follows:

Left: justifies text on the left margin.

Center: Centers all lines of the text.

Right: Justifies text on the right margin.

Justify: Justifies text on both left and right margin. This kind of alignment is to be applied for the mist paragraphs.

2. Line spacing: This is the spacing given to the every line of the paragraph. We can increase or decrease it using options in the Paragraph dialog box. We have a separate topic on it, line spacing which has options Single, 1.5, double, At least, exactly or Multiple.

3. Indenting Paragraph: Indenting paragraph set off a paragraph from the other text. To indent the paragraphs at the beginning of the line use special option and select the first line with proper indent value from the paragraph dialog box. Similarly, for hanging indent select Hanging instead of First line. To indent every line of the paragraph, use the Increase Indent and Decrease Indent button on the formatting toolbar or use Indent feature from the paragraph dialog box.

4. Paragraph Spacing: This is the space between the paragraphs. For this, after selection the paragraphs, we open Paragraph dialog box from the Format menu and from the Spacing option, we provide the certain pt. the value in the After or Before text box.

Other feature applied with the Paragraph

Borders and Shading: This is mostly applied in Table but, we can also apply this feature to the paragraphs. We can add borders and shading to ordinary text and to the paragraphs.

Step to apply or remove borders:

• Select the Paragraph that you want to apply borders.
• Click on the Boarders button in the paragraph ribbon.
• For applying borders, click or select Boarders Tab.
• In the Line Style Box, select the desired line style and click or select OK button.
• For applying shading, click or select Shading
• The Color Box will appear with different colors.
• From the color box, select the desired color and click on OK button.

Drop cap: Drop cap is a feature that WORD allows you to have a large letter or dropped a letter at the beginning or the paragraph. Drop Cap can be seen used in Newspapers, Magazines, etc. For inserting Drop Cap, first, select the required paragraph or the text and click on Drop Cap option from the text ribbons which is seen in the Insert Menu. Select font, Lines to drop and distance from the text if you like, click on OK.

Tab Settings: By default, the tab stops are set at 0.5-inch interval from the left margin. The insertion point can be moved to the next stop in the current paragraph by pressing the TAB key. By setting the tabs, we can format the text in tabular forms. For this, we can use the horizontal ruler at the top and the tab buttons at the left corner of this ruler. We can first set the tabs and begin typing or set the tab key at the left corner of the ruler and then, click on the ruler at the required position eg at 2.5” or 3”. After this, we get the tab sign on the ruler dragging is outside the rule above or below it. We can also set the tab using the Tabs dialog box from the Paragraph dialog box. To remove the Tabs all at once, we follow the step:

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(Dilli , 2015,218-222)

Bibliography

Dilli , S. P., Singh, k. E., Khadka , D., Bhatta, K. D., Baral, N., Saud, R. S., . . . Dangi, R. (2015). Fundamental of Computer Science. Kathmandu: KEC publication and Distribution.