Word processing/Working with text/Editing features

Word processing

Learn to use a word processor to produce documents for a business or organisation.
An OP Online course from the National Certificate in Computing (Level 2) programme.

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Editing

To edit a document is to change the way it appears: this can be by moving and inserting text, deleting text or creating and removing paragraphs.

The following functions are used when editing an existing document or text you have entered. The procedure column outlines the commands you will need to carry out in order to apply the editing feature.

Editing Function	Procedure to use
Inserting	Click the I-Beam cursor at the point to insert, and type in the text to be inserted.
Overtyping	Double click OVR on the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. Type text. Double click OVR to end overtyping or press Insert on the keyboard to begin overtyping, press Insert again to end overtyping.
New Paragraph	Press the Enter key twice after the end of the previous text.
Join Paragraphs	Place cursor at the end of the first paragraph and press Delete twice or place cursor at the beginning of the second paragraph and press Backspace twice. Press the Spacebar.
Delete to right of cursor	Press the Delete key. (Ctrl + Delete deletes a word to the right).
Delete to left of cursor	Press the Backspace key. (Ctrl + Backspace deletes a word to the left).
Delete a blank line	Place the cursor on the blank line and press Delete.
Insert a blank line	Place the cursor where you want the new line and press Enter.
Undo last action	Click the Undo button or click the Edit menu then select Undo.
Redo last “Undo”	Click the Redo button to redo the last “Undo” or click the Edit menu then select Redo.
Typing Replaces Selection	Select (highlight) text and type in new text.
Transpose text (swap)	Select the second part of the text to be swapped. Click the Edit menu, then click Cut. Click the cursor where you want the text to be placed. Click the Edit menu, then click Paste.

Spell Check a whole document

The Spell checker is great for picking up errors but don’t rely on it entirely. A word may be spelt correctly but still not be correct e.g. here/hear, went/want, their/there. It is still very important to proofread (check) your document before printing.

Activity

Please note: the following tutorial will open in a new window/tab. When you have finished the tutorial, simply close the window/tab and you'll return to this page. Before you go on, please work through the following tutorial: Proofing Features Don't forget to watch the 3-minute video on page 2!

1. Click on Customize Quick Access Toolbar and add Spelling & Grammar
2. Click on .
   
   The Spelling and Grammar dialog box will appear and the cursor will move to the first incorrect word and highlight the word.
   
   
3. The spell check feature automatically gives you some options down the right hand side of the dialog box.

This is what each option means:

Change

When the word is spelt incorrectly click on the correct spelling from the list of suggestions, then click on Change.

Ignore Once

Click on Ignore Once when you know the word is spelt correctly but is not in the dictionary and you are not likely to use it again e.g. an odd place name

Add to Dictionary

When you know the word is spelt correctly and you are likely to use it again e.g. your name, highlight the “incorrect” word and click on Add to Dictionary. The highlighted word will be added to your own Custom Dictionary rather than the main Word dictionary.

Spell check exercise

Activity

Open the page called Words. Follow the instructions there. Create a new Word document and paste in the text you copied from the Words page. Save the document as Words. Use either of the two methods outlined on the previous pages for checking the Spelling and Grammar of the document. Change the line spacing of the paragraph to double (2.0) Print Preview your document to see hot i looks, then close Print Preview Turn the Show / Hide Feature on Justify the document (alignment) Close the document saving the changes you made

Editing exercise 1

Activity

Open the page called Leisure. Follow the instructions there. Create a new Word document and paste in the text you copied from the Leisure page. Save the document as Leisure Time. Follow the instructions as indicated below to change the document: Check the spelling and grammar of the document. Save and close the document

Editing exercise 2

Activity

Open the page called Heart at work. Follow the instructions there. Create a new Word document and paste in the text you copied from the Heart at work page. Save the document as Heart at work. Follow the instructions as indicated below to change the document: Check the spelling and grammar of the document. Save and close the document

Moving and copying blocks of text

You can change the order of words, sentences and paragraphs to improve the structure of your document. When moving or copying text, the text (plus any space required) must be selected.

When you copy or move text, the text retains the character formatting e.g. bold, font style. If the copied or moved text includes the paragraph mark ¶, the text retains the paragraph formatting e.g. line spacing, alignment.

To move text

Cut the text from one place in the document and paste it into another.

To copy text

Copy it from one place in the document and paste a copy of it into another.

Activity

Please note: the following tutorial will open in a new window/tab. When you have finished the tutorial, simply close the window/tab and you'll return to this page. This online tutorial includes a useful guide to moving and copying text: Text Basics

Moving paragraphs exercise

Activity

Open the page called Blue Lake. Follow the instructions there Create a new Word document and paste in the text you copied from the Blue Lake page. Save the document as Blue Lake. Move the paragraphs as indicated below and ensure that only one space is left between each paragraph: Save the changes and close the document.

Find and Replace Text

The Find facility allows you to quickly find text and/or formats when editing a document. For example, say you find a mistake in a printed document, instead of scrolling through the document yourself; you can use Find and go straight to the mistake.

Find Text

1. Go to Home Tab ⇒ Editing group
2. Click on Find. (The keyboard shortcut key is Ctrl F)
3. The Find dialog box will appear:
   
   
   
   
4. Key the text to be found in the Find what field
5. Click Find Next

Replace Text

The Replace facility allows you to replace existing text with other text and/or formats. For example, say you keyed in Club Med throughout a document and you wanted to replace it with Holiday Club, you tell Word to do this once and it happens throughout the document.

1. Go to Home Tab ⇒ Editing group
2. Click on Replace
3. The Find and Replace dialog box will appear:
   
   
   
   
4. Key the text to be found and the text you would like it to be replaced with
5. Click on Find Next - the first occurrence will be highlighted
6. Click on Replace
7. Repeat until all occurrences have been replaced and this appears: Click on OK
8. Click on Close in dialog box

Both Find and Replace save lots of time!

Extra resources

Please note: the following tutorial will open in a new window/tab. When you have finished the tutorial, simply close the window/tab and you'll return to this page. This tutorial is for an older version of Word (2003) so some items will look a little different - but the principles are the same: Use AutoCorrect and Find and Replace

Replace text automatically

This time we will replace all occurrences automatically

1. Press Ctrl + H to open dialog box.
2. Next to Find what, enter the text to find : our.
3. Next to Replace with, enter the new text: the
4. Fill in options – whole word only, search all
5. Close options - click on Less
6. Click on Replace All
7. When this appears, click on OK or press Enter
8. Click on Close to close the dialog box

Replace standard text with formatted text

1. Press Ctrl + H
2. Key text to find: Holiday Club. Key text to replace with: Holiday Club
3. Click on More
4. Choose Format ⇒ Font
   
   
5. The Font dialog box will appear: choose the Font, Font style and Size, then click on OK
6. Click on Less and the dialog box will close up
7. Check that the format is under the Replace with text, not the Find what text:
   
   

   Note: If formatting appears under Find what, this is a mistake:
   
   

   To fix this, click on No Formatting and redo making sure you are in Replace with:
   
   

8. Click on Replace all
9. When replacement has finished, a dialog box will appear. Press Enter or click on OK.
10. Print preview – Oh!!! the font size was too small with this font. So Press Ctrl + H again, click on Replace with text Holiday Club
11. Change the Replace with font format to 18
12. Replace all, check your Preview, then close the Preview.
13. Save the changes to the document and close it

Find and replace exercise

Activity

Locate and open the file Words you created earlier Use the Find and Replace tool to change the following words: Change France ⇒ Germany Change deep red ⇒ scarlet Change limpid ⇒ lifeless Save the document as Words V2.

Corrections

Note: When you have finished with this section, you can use your browser's Back button to return to the page you were viewing.

The following correction signs are commonly used to indicate alterations in a document:

Activity

In a new document, enter the following text: Now, referring to the correction signs above, edit the document and make the following corrections:

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