Microsoft Word: Documents That Look Professional
Word is where most business documents are born. This lesson covers document creation, formatting, tables, images, headers/footers, printing, and templates.
Learning objectives
- Create a new document from a template.
- Apply consistent styles rather than manual formatting.
- Insert tables and images cleanly.
- Set up headers, footers, and page numbers for printing.
Step-by-step
1. Start from a template
File → New shows templates for letters, resumes, reports, invoices. Templates ensure consistency and save time.
2. Styles beat manual formatting
Use Heading 1, Heading 2, Normal, etc. Change the style once and every occurrence updates. Never manually bold and enlarge — use styles.
3. Tables
Insert → Table for a grid. Table Design/Layout tabs appear when a table is selected: banded rows, header row, alignment.
4. Images
Insert → Pictures. Right-click → Wrap Text → Square or Tight so text flows around. Compress pictures before emailing.
5. Headers, footers, page numbers
Insert → Header or Footer. Page numbering under Insert → Page Number. Use Different First Page for cover sheets.
6. Printing
File → Print for preview. Check margins, orientation, and page breaks. Save as PDF when sending outside your company.
Key takeaways
- Create a new document from a template.
- Apply consistent styles rather than manual formatting.
- Insert tables and images cleanly.
- Set up headers, footers, and page numbers for printing.
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