Computer Appreciation 103: Learning the basics of Microsoft Word 2007

Last Updated on March 8, 2020 by Memorila

Know the meaning of a word processor, its examples, meaning of Microsoft Word 2007 and its versions, and how to start and close it in this tutorial. Faruk Ahmed explains

In today’s tutorial, we are going to dive into the basics of word processing in which we are going to dissect one of the most popular word processing tools in the world, which is Microsoft Word. We will be treating the 2007 edition of the application, running it on a Windows 7 operating system. But before we dig in, let’s have some refreshers.

In our previous tutorial, we learnt how to power on a computer, what booting is, how a desktop looks like, types of click, how to change a wallpaper, add a screensaver, how to shut down, an so on.

What is a word processor?

A word processor is a computer application that is used in typing, formatting, editing and printing texts. Word processors have made the creation and formatting of texts to be in supersonic speeds and made editing them to be fun.

Before now, typewriters were used to process texts. But these machineries were rigid, because if you should make a mistake, the only way you can edit it is to retype another one or apply a correction fluid to type in whatever you intend.

Works then were tedious and clumsy. But not until the advent on word processing tools.

Examples of word processing software

Many forms of word processing software for computer and smartphones abound in the market today. But the most popular one is Microsoft Word. Other examples of word processing software include:

• Microsoft Word
• WordStar
• WordPerfect
• Pages
• WordPad
• AbiWord

What is Microsoft Word?

Microsoft Word is a word processing software that comes shipped inside the Microsoft Office suite of applications that include Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook, etc.

While Excel is used for calculations, PowerPoint for presentations, Publisher for designs, Outlook for email handling, Microsoft Word has cut a niche for itself in the area of word processing.

Today you can get mobile applications of Microsoft Word for android and iOS devices, while some online file services platforms like Dropbox come with Microsoft Word processing its texts files.

Versions of Microsoft Word

Since the onset of the Windows operating systems, there had been various versions of Microsoft Word. The most recent version of the software as at the time of writing this tutorial is Microsoft Word 2016. Other versions include Word 2013, 2010, 2007 and 2003.

But for the purpose of this tutorial, we are going to run a Microsoft Office Word 2007 due to its durability, ease of use and the similar features it shares with its predecessors and successors.

What can you do with a Microsoft Word?

There is virtually nothing one will do today that may not require typing of texts. If that is the case, the uses of Microsoft Word are therefore limitless. Some of the uses are listed below:

• Typing of blog posts, letters and projects.
• Writing of books and novels
• Presenting quotations, drawing tables and making simple calculations
• Typing examinations questions or answering them.
• Creation of tutorials, etc.
• Creating surveys, questionnaires, etc.

How to start a Microsoft Word

Follow the procedures below to start a Microsoft Word if you are using a Windows 7 or 10 operating systems.

• Click on the Start button at the bottom left corner of the taskbar and put the mouse pointer on All Programs (or Programs) and a submenu will display.

• Select (or click) on the Microsoft Office folder to display its content.
• Click on Microsoft Office Word 2007

• And then wait for it to load.

But in case you have the Microsoft Word icon pinned on the taskbar or already on the desktop as a shortcut, click or double-click on it to open.

Features of Microsoft Word 2007

Once the Microsoft Word is up and running, a blank page will welcome you to the Microsoft Word environment. Some features of the program are highlighted in the diagram below:

• Work area: The blank page you see once you open a Microsoft Office Word is the where you type in whatever you want to type.
• Blinking cursor: You must have noticed a slanting “I” coming on and off. That is the cursor. Wherever you see the cursor blinking, it shows the insertion point. If you were to type “I am happy today!” you will see it flowing out from where the blinking cursor is.
• Scroll bar: The horizontal scroll bar is used to move up and down of a page. There is a vertical scroll bar too (although not shown here) which is used to move the page from left to right or vice-versa.
• Menus: The menus contain buttons that are used to format texts. These menus include Home, Insert, Page Layout, View, etc.
• Office button: The office button contains commands that affect files operations. The commands can create a New file, Open an existing file, Save an opened one, Print a document, Close open files or Exit from the Microsoft Word itself.
• Quick Access Toolbar: This toolbar contains shortcut for buttons that used regularly. Such buttons are the Save, Undo, Redo, Open, Print Preview, etc.
• Status bar: The status bar contain information about the numbers of pages in a file, what page number you are on, numbers of words in an open document, a button for proofreading, document views, a zoom tool, etc.
• Title bar: As the name implies, this provides the name of the active file and that of the application (Microsoft Word).
• Windows tools: These tools are used to Minimize, Restore/Maximize or Close an application.

How to close a Microsoft Word

Having learnt so much in today’s tutorial, we will be calling it a day here. But you wouldn’t leave the Microsoft Word open without closing. If you already know how to close a program, go ahead and do it. If not, let me show you how to close a Microsoft Word program.

Follow the procedure below to close a Microsoft Word program:

1. Click on the Office Button which displays a drop-down menu.
2. If you click on Close, the active file will be closed but the Microsoft Word program will still be working.
3. But if you click on Exit, all files and the program itself will be closed.

Now, if you have made any change on the work area without saving, once you click on the Close or Exit button, a message box will prompt you to save your work.

 

If what you have on the computer is not important, just click on No; else, click on Yes to save the work. (We will treat more on Saving in our next tutorial!)

Wrapping up

In today’s tutorial, we have seen the meaning of a word processor, examples of word processors, meaning of Microsoft Word and its versions. We’ve also seen how to start the program, features of Microsoft Word and how to close the program when all things are done.

In our next tutorial, we will be treating how to save a file, create a new ones and will get our hands dirty with some basic operations like bold, italics, underline, etc.

If you have questions or suggestions please leave your comments below.

Continue reading Computer Appreciation 104: Files, folders, save and create new files, and keyboard – with pictures