Topic 80

Effective use of word processing functions to streamline production of documents by Joseph Toyoshima

Microsoft Word is not simply a typing based word processing program, which can easily be saved, edited, sent, and printed. There are also many other uses, which can help improve on the effect a document can have. In this essay I would briefly introduce uses and types of functions that can be used.

One of the main and most useful functions is the help menu. To get the help box, simply click F1. From there you can search anything based on the uses of Word. Another basic use of Word is the format menu, in which you can choose the font, size, and style. Most times this is at the top of the screen and you can easily access it by clicking on the types you wish to use. A very important function that can affect how the page looks is the formatting of page size and layout. This can be accessed from the file menu, in page setup.

Many people use this wrongly, for example some people who need to have an essay filled up until one page makes the margins small so it works out. Not only is this unethical, but the display of the page is very ineffective. There are techniques though to avoid this, such as decreasing both the vertical margins and horizontal margins by a relative amount. By having only one of those changed, it can look very awkward.

Another way to make your document look longer is to use line spacing, which can be found in format, paragraph. An essay that is supposed to be singled space is hard to have a change in spacing, but if you use exactly or multiple spacing properly you can format it to look like it is close to single spaced. Other uses of spacing are for editing in the extra spaces and for the looks of the document. One of the most convenient functions of Word is Header and Footer, found in View. The reason that this is very useful is because you can easily write the title of the document, your name, and any excess information of the document.

You can also insert the page number, the recent date, and use many other functions. To make your document nicer and more colorful, you can use the pictures, found in Insert. In this you can add your own pictures, those of clipart, and have a variance in word font. In Table, you can go to Draw Table to make a table, which also helps improve the presentation of the document.


These are only basic functions of Word; there are many other useful ones that you can use to make your document presentation better and easier to read. By using the Help function and by trying out stuff, you can master the use of Word making the use of documents easier and better.