How to Use Microsoft Word (10 Skills in 10 Minutes!)

Hello, my name is Erin. Do you need to learn how to  use Microsoft Word quickly? This tutorial teaches ten core skills for beginners. We will look at how to start a new document, change the font, size, and color, change the alignment, line spacing, and indentations, add headings, change the margins, add images, page numbers, and headers and footers. Then we will look at how to run the Editor, which is the spelling and grammar check.

And save and print your file. Please note that this video is meant to be used as a quick start guide. I have in-depth tutorials for most of these topics linked in the description box below this video. Today I will be using Word for Microsoft 365. These steps are similar in the single-purchase versions of the software back o Word 2016.

We will cover these ten core skills in Word for Mac in a separate tutorial. To start a new document, open Word on your computer, which you can do by typing Word into the Windows search box. When Word opens, you will be in the home screen of the Backstage view. Select Blank Document to start a new document. Alternatively, select Open if you want to open an existing Word document.

When the new document opens, you will be in the Home tab and your cursor will automatically be placed towards the top, left-hand corner of the page, ready to type. You can change the font, font size, and font color before or after you type text. However, if you want to change existing text, first left-click, hold, and drag with your mouse to select the text you want to change.

Or press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select the entire document. Next, select the menu arrow to open and choose from a font, font size, and font color.

If you selected existing text, that text will change immediately. If you haven’t selected existing text, all new text will feature the choices you just made. Like the font choices shown in the previous section, you can change the alignment, line spacing, and indentations before or after you type text. However, if you want to change existing text, once again left-click, hold, and drag with your mouse to select the text. Now you can select the Align Left, Center, Align Right, or Justify button to position the text on the page.

Next, select the Line Spacing menu arrow and then choose a spacing option from the drop-down menu. You can also use the Increase Indent button and Decrease Indent buttons to adjust the indent as necessary. You may have noticed that these buttons change the indentation for the entire paragraph. If you want to indent the first line only, place your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph and press the Tab key on your keyboard.

You can turn existing text into a heading or choose a heading level before typing the heading text.

To do so, select a heading level from the Styles group. If the heading level you want isn’t visible, select the More button. And then choose an option from the menu that appears over the Styles group. Word includes nine heading levels,  although only a few will appear in your Styles group when you open a new document. Additional heading levels will appear after you use higher-level headings.

For example, heading 3 will appear after you use Heading 2. To change your page margins, select the Layout tab in the ribbon. Then, select the Margins button and select an option from the drop-down menu. If you want to add an image, place your cursor where you want it to be inserted. Next, select the Insert tab in the ribbon.

From there, select the Pictures button, and then select the location of the image. This Device lets you choose an image stored on your computer. Stock Images lets you choose stock images, icons, cutout people, stickers, and illustrations.  The full stock image library is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers. Online Pictures lets you search for images through Bing, Microsoft’s search engine.

For this tutorial, we will insert an image stored on my device. Next, locate and select the image in the dialog box and then select the Insert button.

When the image appears, select one of the resizing handles and then drag it to an appropriate size. You can also select the Layout Options button and then choose how the image is positioned with the surrounding text. I am going to choose Square.

The effect of each of these options will depend on the size of your image and the density of your text. So, you may need to experiment to find the one most suited to your content. When you’re finished, click away from the image. To add page numbers, select the Insert tab.

Followed by the Page Number button.

Next, select a location from the drop-down menu, followed by a design from the submenu. When you are finished, select the Close button to close the Header and Footer tab. Note that this tab only appears when the Header and Footers areas are active. To add headers and footers, we will stay in the Insert tab. Select the Header or Footer button and choose a design from the drop-down menu.

Next, type your text into the placeholders.

When you are finished, select Close button. In Word for Microsoft 365, the spelling and grammar check is called the Editor.  Your spelling and grammar options will depend on which version of Word you are using. Therefore, your interface may look different than what is shown here.

To begin, select the Review tab in the ribbon, and then select the Editor button. Older versions of Word will have a Check Document button, instead. When the Editor pane appears, select the corrections or refinements category you want to review.

When the software finds a possible error, you can select a recommended change, or select Ignore Once or Ignore All. Word will then automatically move to the next issue within that category.

When it is finished, you can select a new category or select the closing X to close the Editor. Before we move on, you may have noticed a Spelling and Grammar button next to the Editor button in the Review tab. This button provides a quick way to check spelling or spelling and grammar without checking the additional refinements reviewed by the Editor.

I recommend saving your file before printing just in case there is a disruption during the printing process.

To begin saving your file, select the File tab in the ribbon.

Then, select the Save button in the Backstage view. From there, select the location where you want to save the File. Browse is a good option because it opens the Save As window, which is similar to the File Explorer window. If you selected Browse, select a folder or location, type a name in the File Name text box, and then select the Save button. Once you have saved your document to a specific location, you can then select the Save icon if you make changes to the document later.

To print, reselect the File tab, and then select the Print tab. Ensure the correct printer is selected and turned on, enter the number of copies into the text box, and then select the Print button.

From there, follow any additional dialog boxes provided by your printer. All the steps we just performed are listed with images on my website at erinwrightwriting.com, which is linked in the description box below along with my playlist “How to Use Microsoft Word,” which offers my full collection of step-by-step Word tutorials.

Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic that you would like me to talk about in the future. And please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss upcoming tutorials. And give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for watching!

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Bonus: AI Words to Avoid

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