MS Word 97 - Formatting text on the page

This is not a course. It is a...

Tip Sheet

Text Justification

What is justification?

This line is left justified.

The line is centre justified

This line is right justified.

Full justify is when your paragraph has both left and right justify at the same time.

The icons in the toolbar should explain that further for you. Normal justification is left. When you click on one of the justification icons (e.g. centre) the justification of the document will change (to centre justification, for example) from the point where your cursor is onwards. It will not return to the original justification (left) until you once again select it by clicking on the icon (the left justify icon in this example).

You can highlight text and then choose a justification just for the highlighted portion.

Paragraph Indent

         To indent the first line of a paragraph (as shown in this paragraph), you place your cursor at the beginning of the line (in front of the first word) and the press the Tab key on the keyboard.

         To indent the entire paragraph (as shown in this paragraph) you place your cursor at the
         beginning of the paragraph, and then click on the Increase Indent icon on the right-hand
         side of the formatting toolbar. To reverse the process click on the Decrease
         Indent icon.

Line Spacing

Normal line spacing is single spacing. You can change this

Click on Format Click on Paragraph
Go to Line spacing: Click on the black triangle Choose the spacing you want by clicking on it Click on OK

Page Margins

The default (normal) margin around the page is 2.5cm (1 inch) on top and bottom and 3.17cm on the left and right. You can adjust these by Clicking on File        Click on Page Setup        Click on Margins Use the up and down arrow to adjust the value of the margin or click on the value itself and change it by typing in a value of your choice.
Margin settings apply to the whole page unless you choose the option to Apply to:   and then  click on This point forward

Page Orientation

Normal paper as it emerges from the printer is orientated as Portrait. To turn the paper sideways for very wide documents, you use Landscape. Click on File        Click on Page Setup        Click on Paper Size Choose either Portrait or Landscape by clicking in the circle to the left of the word in the Orientation section of the pop-up screen.