Microsoft Word 2008

Document Basics

The blank screen is like a blank piece of paper. The following instructions will guide you through the basics of Word 2008 including saving, opening, printing, and exiting.

Creating a New Document
Saving a Document
Opening a Document
Selecting a Printer
Using Print Preview
Printing a Document
Closing a Document

Creating a New Document

You can create a new document by using either the menu option or the toolbar option.

Creating a New Document: Menu Option

From the File menu, select New Blank Document

Creating a New Document: Toolbar Option

From the Standard toolbar, click NEW BLANK DOCUMENT
A new document appears.

Saving a Document

The Save and Save As commands are located under the File menu. If you are saving a document for the first time, either selection will take you to the Save As dialog box.

Saving a Document: Save As Option

To save and name your document or to save a copy of your document under another name:

From the File menu, select Save As...
The Save As dialog box appears.
From the Where pull-down list, select the desired save location
HINT: Your personal home directory is generally your username followed by a $.
EXAMPLE: DOEJANE$
In the Save As text box, type the document name
WARNING: Previous versions of Microsoft Word (e.g., Word 2004) cannot open .docx files.
HINTS:
To help you locate the file in the future, use a descriptive filename.
By default, Word will automatically add a .docx extension.
Click SAVE

Saving a Document: Save Option

Use the Save command to save a document that has already been named and saved. If you select the Save command and you have not saved the document before, you will see the Save As dialog box. Use the Save command to save the changes you make to the original document.

To save a document using a menu:

From the File menu, select Save
Word will automatically save your document to the location you previously selected.

To save a document using a button:

From the Standard toolbar, click SAVE
Word will automatically save your document to the location you previously selected.

Opening a Document

Follow these instructions if you have already created a document or if you want to open a document already created in Word.

From the File menu, select Open…
OR
From the Standard toolbar, click OPEN
OR
On the keyboard, press [Command] + [O]
The Open dialog box appears.
From the Where pull-down list, navigate to the desired file
NOTE: Although all file types are shown, only file types associated with Word (e.g., .docx, .doc, .rtf) can be opened. The remainder are grayed out and cannot be selected.
To select the document, click the name of the document you want to open
Click OPEN

Selecting a Printer

In order to print any document, a printer must be selected. These instructions will show you how to select a printer and set one as the default.

From the File menu, select Print...
The Print dialog box appears.
From the Printer pull-down list, select the printer you wish to use
Your printer is selected.

To set a default printer:

To make selecting a printer from the Print dialog box easier, simply set a default printer that will automatically be used every time you print.

From the File menu, select Print...
The Print dialog box appears.
From the Printer pull-down list, select Print and Fax Preferences...
The Print and Fax dialog box appears.
From the Selected Printer in Print Dialog pull-down list, select the desired printer
OR
If the desired printer does not appear in the list,
1. Click
  The Printer Browser dialog box appears.
2. Using the pull-down list and navigation window, locate and select the desired printer
3. Click ADD
Click CLOSE
You are returned to the Print dialog box.
From the Printer pull-down list, select the desired printer again
The default printer is changed.
To print, click PRINT
To return to your document without printing, click CANCEL

Using Print Preview

The Print Preview feature is useful for viewing your document prior to printing. You can verify that the page breaks are acceptable and that there are not any extra pages in your document. You can also print directly from the Print Preview screen.

From the File menu, select Print Preview
The Print Preview screen appears.
OPTIONAL: To print from Print Preview, on the Print Preview toolbar, click PRINT
To return to your document, on the Print Preview toolbar, click CLOSE

Printing a Document

The general steps to printing an open document are as follows:

Printing a Document: Menu Option

From the File menu, select Print…
The Print dialog box appears.
In the Copies and Pages sections, specify the range of pages you want to print and/or the number of copies you want
NOTE: For more information about printing, refer to Specifying the Pages to Print.
Click PRINT

Printing a Document: Toolbar Option

From the Standard toolbar, click PRINT
WARNING: When you use the toolbar option, all pages of your document will be printed using default printer settings. This print process does not take you through the Print dialog box.

Closing a Document

When you are done working with your document and would like to take it off the screen, you have two options, depending on whether you would like to start another Word document or exit Word. If you are finished using Word for the day, be sure to select the Exit command.

To close the saved document and begin another document in Word:

From the File menu, select Close
Open another document or create a new document in Word

To close the saved document and exit Word:

From the Word menu, select Quit Word
NOTE: If you have made changes that have not been saved, a dialog box may appear asking you if you want to save the document.
To save the document, click SAVE
To close without saving, click DON'T SAVE
To continue working, click CANCEL