Word Tutorial
This tutorial is designed to help you find specific functions in Microsoft Word. It is not a
definitive "how to" for everything you might need to do for your thesis or dissertation.
Microsoft Word contains help information under the Help drop-down menu.

Identifying Word’s toolbars

Setting margins, headers and footers

Inserting page numbers in the preliminary pages

Inserting page numbers in chapters

Changing the page number font

Inserting special characters and symbols

Creating a hanging indent (for APA references)

Activating the Show/Hide function

Setting widow/orphan control

Turning off auto-hyphenation

Creating footnotes

Inserting a page number in portrait orientation on a landscape oriented page
Identifying Word’s toolbars
Standard Menu
Formatting Menu
Main Menu
Setting Margins, Headers and Footers
To set your margins, go to the Main Menu, click on FILE then PAGE SETUP then
MARGINS. Your computer has defaults set up for the margins, headers and footers.
Change the defaults by clicking on the up or down arrows. To attain the required results,
set margins to those shown in the figure below.
Page numbers are situated 1” from the edge of the page in the footnote area. To set the
headers and footers, go to FROM EDGE and set the HEADER and FOOTER to 1”.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Inserting page numbers in the preliminary pages
To insert page numbers in the preliminary pages, place your cursor on the first page of
your document. Go to the Main Menu, click on INSERT then PAGE NUMBERS. Select
the BOTTOM OF PAGE position, set the ALIGNMENT to CENTER, and remove the
check mark in the SHOW NUMBER ON FIRST PAGE box.
Your computer screen should look like this:
To set the page number font style as lower case Roman numerals, using the same
window, click on FORMAT. Click on the lower case Roman numeral option (i, ii, iii)
and set START AT to 1.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Inserting page numbers in chapters
To insert page numbers in the chapters, place your cursor on the first page of your
document. Go to the Main Menu, click on INSERT then PAGE NUMBERS. Select the
BOTTOM OF PAGE position, set the ALIGNMENT to CENTER and make sure that
SHOW NUMBER ON FIRST PAGE is selected.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Then, in the same window, click on FORMAT. The default font is Arabic, as required;
under PAGE NUMBERING, set START AT to 1.
Your computer screen will look like this:
Changing the page number font
To change the page number font, double click on the page number to activate the Footer
Window. (The Header and Footer toolbar will also appear.)
You computer screen should look like this:
Click on the page number once. You computer screen should look like this:
To select the page number, click once on the striped area surrounding the page number.
You computer screen should look like this:
On the Main Menu, click on FORMAT then FONT. Select the font and click OK. In the
Header and Footer toolbar, click CLOSE.
Note: The page number font must match the text font.
Inserting special characters and symbols
You can add special characters, such as ©, ½, or ™, to a document by using the symbols
dialogue box. On the MAIN menu click on INSERT then SYMBOL You might have to
browse through the different categories in SYMBOLS and SPECIAL CHARACTERS to
find the character you need. Once you find it, click INSERT then CLOSE, and it will
appear in the document wherever your cursor is positioned.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Creating a hanging indent (for APA references)
Example:
Anderson, J. E., & Valentine, W. L. (1944). The preparation of articles for publication in
the journals of the American Psychological Association. Psychological Bulletin,
41, 345-376.
American Psychological Association, Council of Editors. (1952). Publication manual of
the American Psychological Association. Psychological Bulletin,
To create a hanging indent, go to the Main Menu, click on FORMAT then PARAGRAPH
then SPECIAL. Pick HANGING from the drop down box.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Click OK.
Activating the Show/Hide function
¶
When you’re working with general paragraph marks, such as paragraph
marks, tabs, page breaks, section breaks, dots corresponding to spaces
between the words in your documents, etc., it helps if you can see them.
Click the SHOW/HIDE button on the Standard Toolbar, and they all
appear.
If the SHOW/HIDE button does not appear
on the Standard Toolbar, you can add it by
clicking the down arrow at the far right of the
toolbar, then click ADD OR REMOVE
BUTTONS. An extensive list of buttons
appears. Click to place a check mark next to
¶ SHOW ALL.
The button will now appear on the Standard
Toolbar. Click on it to view paragraph
marks.
Setting widow/orphan control
To control widows and orphans in your thesis or dissertation, go to the Main Menu, click
on FORMAT then PARAGRAPH then LINE AND PAGE BREAKS then check the
WIDOW/ORPHAN CONTROL box.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Turning off auto-hyphenation
To turn of auto-hyphenation, go to the Main Menu, click TOOLS then LANGUAGE then
HYPHENATION. Uncheck the AUTOMATICALLY HYPHENATE DOCUMENT
box.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Creating footnotes
To insert footnotes in your thesis or dissertation, place your cursor in the text where you
want to insert a reference number to a footnote. On the Main Menu, click on INSERT
then FOOTNOTE then OK
Your computer screen should look like this:
You will be taken to the footnote area where you can begin typing your footnote.
Your computer screen should look like this.
Footnote reference
number
Footnote area at the
bottom of the page.
Inserting a page number in portrait orientation on a landscape oriented page

When you choose PORTRAIT orientation, the text flows across the 8 ½-inch side
of the page between the left and right margins, and the page is taller than it is
wide.

When you choose LANDSCAPE orientation, the text flows across the 11-inch
side of the page between the left and right margins and the page is wider than it is
tall.
On occasion it is necessary to switch a page to landscape mode, to accommodate a very
wide figure or table. To switch a page from portrait to landscape mode, click inside the
page, choose FILE then PAGE SETUP then PAPER SIZE then click the LANDSCAPE
option button. In the APPLY TO drop down window, select THIS POINT FORWARD.
Your computer screen should look like this.
Now click OK.
The page is now in landscape orientation, but the page number is in the wrong location.
It’s here (in the right margin in portrait orientation)
but it should be here (at the bottom of the page in portrait orientation, centered between
the left and right margin, situated 1” from the bottom margin).
Since Word offers no solutions to this problem, you’ll come up with your own solution
by undertaking the following steps:
1. activate the DRAWING tool bar,
2. draw a white box over the existing page number to conceal it,
3. draw a text box in which you will type the page number,
4. change the text direction of the new page number, then
5. drag the new page number to the required position.
You may have to practice this a few times.
1. Activate the DRAWING tool bar
Click on VIEW then TOOLBARS. Place a check mark next to the DRAWING toolbar.
The DRAWING toolbar will appear at the bottom of your screen.
2. Draw a white box over the existing page number to conceal it
Click on the RECTANGLE BOX button on the DRAWING toolbar. As you move the
mouse towards the page, the mouse pointer changes to crosshairs. Next, click on the
page in the area of the upper left corner of the existing page number, hold down the left
mouse button, and drag the mouse pointer to where you want the rectangle to end.
Release the mouse pointer, and a rectangle appears selected, covering the page number.
Your computer screen should look like this:
To make any changes
to a rectangle or any
other object on the
Drawing Toolbar, it
must be selected as
shown. To select an
object, click on it or use
the SELECT OBJECTS
button on the Drawing
Toolbar. To deselect an
object, click anywhere
on the page.
SELECT OBJECTS button
To remove the line around the rectangle, make sure it is selected then click on the down
arrow next to LINE COLOR on the DRAWING toolbar and select NO LINE.
The line will disappear, and the page number is no longer visible.
3. Draw a text box in which you will type the page number
On the DRAWING toolbar, click on the TEXT BOX button. You can type text in a
TEXT BOX but not in a RECTANGLE.
Draw a TEXT BOX, using the same technique you used to draw the
rectangle. Draw the TEXT BOX to approximately this size.
55
Click inside the box, and the flashing cursor appears. Type the page
number. For this exercise, we’ll assume that this is page 55.
4. Change the text direction of the new page number
The page number should be facing this way:
.
Click inside the TEXT BOX containing “55”. The box is now selected. On the MENU
toolbar, click on FORMAT then TEXT DIRECTION.
Your computer screen should look like this:
Text
The page number must face the bottom of the page, so click
, then OK
55
The page number should now look like this.
To remove the line around the text box, select the box, click on the down arrow next to
LINE COLOR on the DRAWING toolbar and select NO LINE.
The line around the text box disappears.
5. Drag the page number to the required position
1. To do this, you need to estimate the location of the bottom margin (portrait mode)
and the center point between the left and right margin (portrait mode) where the
page number should be located. You can do this in the following manner:
This is the margin line on
which the page number must
sit.
The page number will sit on
this line, centered over the
“crosshair”
55
The center point between
the left and right (portrait)
margins is located at 3.
Click on the new page number text box to
select it, drag the cursor over the text box
frame until the moving tool appears then,
holding down the left button on your mouse,
drag the page number to the required
location.
55
You can manipulate the page number in the
text box, using the space bar and ENTER
keys.
To remove the red lines, click on one of them to select it
then press DELETE. Remove the second line in the same
manner.