INTRODUCTION TO WORD PROCESSING (MS-WORD)

Word processing is the use of software that aid in the composition, revision, filing and printing of text in the early days of computing, a word processor was an entire computer: dedicated to the task of word processing. Today, word processor commonly means software rather a dedicated computer.

  

The needs to create and manipulate document of different types have gained prominence in the business/ commercial world. Today’s W.P (Word Processing) systems can easily create and manipulate the following kind of document (s).

1.         Letter (Personal & Business)

2.         Memoranda

3.         Proposals & Reports

4.         Newsletters, Journals & Thesis

5.         Project Documents

6.         Literatures and text designs

7.         Graphics and text designs

8.         Letter headed papers, invitation cards etc.

ADVANTAGES OF WORD PROCESSOR

1.   High speed & accuracy

Easy typing because line does not end in the VDU the way it ends in the manual type writer due to the word wrap features it has.

2.   Storage of document is possible unlike the manual type writer

3.   Uses of different font is possible

4.   Printing of graphics are possible

5.   Automatic settings like page setup are possible

NOTE: That any document done or created in WP system is easily formatted, edit, and printed. There are numerous features in the WP system such as: spell checker, inbuilt dictionary etc.

COMMON WORD PROCESSORS

Among the long list of word processors programs/packages available today, these are the following popular ones; MS-WORD and WORD PERFECT.

For the purpose of this lecture, we shall consider MS-Word (Microsoft Word) for our study because it is one of the most current and popular word processors available for today’s commercial usage.

OVER VIEW OF WORD PROCESSING (using MS- word)

MS-word is a word processing package that runs on the window environment. This makes the manipulation of text easy and flexible. It is a product of a MICRO SOFT CORPORATION, software House based in America. MS-word is an incorporation of very extensive word processing features; it also provides additional basic DTP (Desktop Publishing) and graphics facilities.