If you are using MS Office for MAC, you can still go through this Word training as much of the functions are the same. However, we do provide free resources that are directed towards MS Office for MAC, CLICK HERE
Word 2013 is a word processing application that allows you to create a variety of documents like letters, flyers, and reports. With the introduction of severalenhanced features—including the ability to create and collaborate on documents online—Word 2013 gives you the ability to do more with your word processing projects.
Word 2013 is very similar to Word 2010. If you’ve previously used Word 2010, then Word 2013 should feel familiar. But if you are new to Word or have more experience with older versions, you should first take some time to become familiar with the Word 2013 interface.
When you open Word 2013 for the first time, the Word Start Screen will appear. From here, you’ll be able to create a new document, choose a template, or access your recently edited documents.
Click the buttons in the interactive below to become familiar with the Word 2013 interface.
If you’ve previously used Word 2010 or 2007, then Word 2013 should feel familiar. It continues to use features like the Ribbon and the Quick Access toolbar, where you will find commands to perform common tasks in Word, as well as Backstage view.
Word 2013 uses a tabbed Ribbon system instead of traditional menus. The Ribbon contains multiple tabs, each with several groups of commands. You will use these tabs to perform the most common tasks in Word.
Learn more about the different commands available within each tab on the Ribbon.
The Home tab gives you access to some of the most commonly used commands for working with Word 2013, including copying and pasting, formatting,aligning paragraphs, and choosing document styles. The Home tab is selected by default whenever you open Word.
The Design tab gives you access to a variety of design tools, including document formatting, effects, and page borders, which can give your document a polished look.
The Page Layout tab allows you to change the print formatting of your document, including margin width, page orientation, page breaks, and more. These commands will be especially helpful when preparing to print a document.
The References tab allows you add annotations to your document, such as footnotes and citations. From here, you can also add a table of contents,captions, and a bibliography. These commands are especially helpful when composing academic papers.
You can use the Mail Merge feature in the Mailings tab to quickly compose letters, address envelopes, and create labels. This is especially useful when you need to send a letter to many different recipients.
You can use the Review tab to access Word’s powerful editing features, including adding comments and tracking changes. These features make it easy toshare and collaborate on documents.
The View tab allows you to switch between different views for your document and split the screen to view two parts of your document at once. These commands will also be helpful when preparing to print a document.
Contextual tabs will appear on the Ribbon when working with certain items, such as tables and pictures. These tabs contain special command groups that can help you format these items as needed.
Certain programs, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, may install additional tabs to the Ribbon. These tabs are called Add-ins.
The Ribbon is designed to respond to your current task, but you can choose to minimize the Ribbon if you find that it takes up too much screen space.
To learn how to add custom tabs and commands to the Ribbon, review our Extra on Customizing the Ribbon.
To learn how to use the Ribbon with touch-screen devices, review our Extra on Enabling Touch Mode.
Located just above the Ribbon, the Quick Access toolbar lets you access common commands no matter which tab is selected. By default, it shows the Save,Undo, and Repeat commands. You can add other commands depending on your preference.
The Ruler is located at the top and to the left of your document. It makes it easier to adjust your document with precision. If you want, you can hide the Ruler to create more screen space.
or hide 
the ruler.
Backstage view gives you various options for saving, opening a file, printing, and sharing your document.
Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about using Backstage view.
Word 2013 has a variety of viewing options that change how your document is displayed. You can choose to view your document in Read Mode, Print Layout, or Web Layout. These views can be useful for various tasks, especially if you’re planning to print the document.
Review the different document view options.
Read Mode: In this view, all of the editing commands are hidden so your document fills the screen. Arrows appear on the left and right side of the screen so you can toggle through the pages of your document.
Word files are called documents. Whenever you start a new project in Word, you’ll need to create a new document, which can either be blank or from a template. You’ll also need to know how to open an existing document.
When beginning a new project in Word, you’ll often want to start with a new blank document.
In addition to creating new documents, you’ll often need to open a document that was previously saved. To learn more about saving a document, visit our lesson on Saving and Sharing Documents.
If you’ve opened the desired presentation recently, you can browse your Recent Documents rather than searching for the file.
Word 2013 also allows you to open existing PDF files as editable documents. This is useful when you want to modify a PDF file. Read our guide on Editing PDF Files for more information.
If you frequently work with the same document, you can pin it to Backstage view for quick access.
will appear next to the document. Click the pushpin icon.
You can also pin folders to Backstage view for quick access. From Backstage view, click Open and locate the folder you wish to pin, then click the pushpin icon.
A template is a predesigned document you can use to create a new document quickly. Templates often include custom formatting and designs, so they can save you a lot of time and effort when starting a new project.
You can also browse templates by category or use the search bar to find something more specific.
It’s important to note that not all templates are created by Microsoft. Many are created by third-party providers and even individual users, so some templates may work better than others.
Sometimes you may need to work with documents that were created in earlier versions of Microsoft Word, such as Word 2010 or Word 2007. When you open these kinds of documents, they will appear in Compatibility mode.
Compatibility mode disables certain features, so you’ll only be able to access commands found in the program that was used to create the document. For example, if you open a document created in Word 2007 you can only use tabs and commands found in Word 2007.
In the image below, you can see how Compatibility mode can affect which commands are available. Since the document on the left is in Compatibility mode, it only shows commands that were available in Word 2007.
In order to exit Compatibility mode, you’ll need to convert the document to the current version type. However, if you’re collaborating with others who only have access to an earlier version of Word, it’s best to leave the document in Compatibility mode so the format will not change.
You can review this support page from Microsoft to learn more about which features are disabled in Compatibility mode.
If you want access to all Word 2013 features, you can convert the document to the 2013 file format.
Note that converting a file may cause some changes to the original layout of the document.
Whenever you create a new document in Word, you’ll need to know how to save in order to access and edit it later. As in previous versions of Word, you can save files to your computer. If you prefer, you can also save files to the cloud using OneDrive. You can even export and share documents directly from Word.
Word offers two ways to save a file: Save and Save As. These options work in similar ways, with a few important differences:
It’s important to save your document whenever you start a new project or make changes to an existing one. Saving early and often can prevent your work from being lost. You’ll also need to pay close attention to where you save the document so it will be easy to find later.
You can also access the Save command by pressing Ctrl+S on your keyboard.
If you want to save a different version of a document while keeping the original, you can create a copy. For example, if you have a file named “Sales Report”, you could save it as “Sales Report 2” so you’ll be able to edit the new file and still refer back to the original version.
To do this, you’ll click the Save As command in Backstage view. Just like when saving a file for the first time, you’ll need to choose where to save the file and give it a new file name.
If you don’t want to use OneDrive, you may be frustrated that OneDrive is selected as the default location when saving. If you find it inconvenient to selectComputer each time, you can change the default save location so Computer is selected by default.
Word automatically saves your documents to a temporary folder while you are working on them. If you forget to save your changes or if Word crashes, you can restore the file using AutoRecover.
By default, Word autosaves every 10 minutes. If you are editing a document for less than 10 minutes, Word may not create an autosaved version.
If you don’t see the file you need, you can browse all autosaved files from Backstage view. Just select the File tab, click Manage Versions, then chooseRecover Unsaved Documents.
Be default, Word documents are saved in the .docx file type. However, there may be times when you need to use another file type, such as a PDF or Word 97-2003 document. It’s easy to export your document from Word in a variety of file types.
Exporting your document as an Adobe Acrobat document, commonly known as a PDF file, can be especially useful if sharing a document with someone who does not have Word. A PDF file will make it possible for recipients to view, but not edit, the content of your document.
By default, Word will export all of the pages in the document. If you wish to export only the current page, click Options in the Save as dialog box. TheOptions dialog box will appear. Select Current page, then click OK.
If you need to edit a PDF file, Word allows you to convert a PDF file into an editable document.
You may also find it helpful to export your document in other file types, such as a Word 97-2003 Document if you need to share with people using an older version of Word, or an .rtf file if you need a plain-text version of your document.
You can also use the Save as type: drop-down menu in the Save As dialog box to save documents in a variety of file types.
Word 2013 makes it easy to share and collaborate on documents using OneDrive. In the past, if you wanted to share a file with someone you could send it as an email attachment. While convenient, this system also creates multiple versions of the same file, which can be difficult to organize.
When you share a document from Word 2013, you’re actually giving others access to the exact same file. This lets you and the people you share with edit the same document without having to keep track of multiple versions.
In order to share a document, it must first be saved to your OneDrive.
Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about different ways to share a document.
If you’re new to Microsoft Word, you’ll need to learn the basics of working with text so you can type, reorganize, and edit text. Basic tasks include the ability to add, delete, and move text, as well as the ability to find and replace specific words or phrases.
The insertion point is the blinking vertical line in your document. It indicates where you can enter text on the page. You can use the insertion point in a variety of ways:
In a new blank document, you can double-click the mouse to move the insertion point elsewhere on the page.
Before applying formatting to text, you’ll first need to select it.
When you select text or images in Word, a hover toolbar with command shortcuts appears. If the toolbar does not appear at first, try moving the mouse over the selection.
Other shortcuts include double-clicking a word to select it and triple-clicking to select a sentence or paragraph. You can also select all of the text in the document by pressing Ctrl+A on your keyboard.
There are several ways to delete, or remove, text:
If you select text and start typing, the selected text will automatically be deleted and replaced with the new text.
Word allows you to copy text that is already in your document and paste it to other areas of the document, which can save you time. If there is text that you wish to move from one area of the document to another, you can cut and paste or drag and drop the text.
Copying text creates a duplicate of the text.
You can access the cut, copy, and paste commands by using keyboard shortcuts. Press Ctrl+X to cut, Ctrl+C to copy, and Ctrl+V to paste.
You can also cut, copy, and paste by right-clicking your document and choosing the desired action from the drop-down menu. When you use this method to paste, you can choose from three options that determine how the text will be formatted: Keep Source Formatting, Merge Formatting, and Keep Text Only. You can hover the mouse over each icon to see what it will look like before you click on it.
Dragging and dropping text allows you to use the mouse to move text.
under it to indicate that you are moving text.
If text does not appear in the exact location you wish, you can press the Enter key on your keyboard to move the text to a new line.
When you’re working with longer documents, it can be difficult and time consuming to locate a specific word or phrase. Word can automatically search your document using the Find feature, and it allows you to quickly change words or phrases using Replace.
In our example, we’ve written an academic paper and will use the Find command to locate all references to a particular author’s last name.
to move through the results one at a time.
You can also access the Find command by pressing Ctrl+F on your keyboard.
For more search options, click the drop-down arrow next to the search field.
At times, you may discover that you’ve made a mistake repeatedly throughout your document (such as misspelling a person’s name), or that you need to exchange a particular word or phrase for another. You can use Word’s Find and Replace feature to quickly make revisions. In our example, we’ll use Find and Replace to change the title of a magazine so it is abbreviated.
You can also access the Find and Replace command by pressing Ctrl+H on your keyboard.
For more search options, click More in the Find and Replace dialog box. From here, you can select additional search options, such as matching case and ignoring punctuation.
Formatted text can draw the reader’s attention to specific parts of a document and emphasize important information. In Word, you have many options for adjusting the font of your text, including size, color, and inserting special symbols. You can also adjust the alignment of the text to change how it is displayed on the page.
By default, the font of each new document is set to Calibri. However, Word provides a variety of other fonts you can use to customize text and titles.
When creating a professional document or a document that contains multiple paragraphs, you’ll want to select a font that is easy to read. Along with Calibri, standard reading fonts include Cambria, Times New Roman, and Arial.
Your color choices aren’t limited to the drop-down menu that appears. Select More Colors… at the bottom of the menu to access the Colors dialog box. Choose the color that you want, then click OK.
Highlighting can be a useful tool for marking important text in your document.
To remove highlighting, select the highlighted text, then click the Text Highlight Color drop-down arrow. Select No Color from the drop-down menu.
If you need to highlight several lines of text, changing the mouse into a highlighter may be a helpful alternative to selecting and highlighting individual lines. Simply click the Text Highlight Color command, and the cursor changes into a highlighter 
. You can then click, hold, and drag the highlighter over the lines you wish to highlight.
The Bold, Italic, and Underline commands can be used to help draw attention to important words or phrases.
When you need to quickly change text case, you can use the Change Case command instead of deleting and retyping text.
By default, Word aligns text to the left margin in new documents. However, there may be times when you want to adjust text alignment to the center or right.
Learn more about the four text alignment options.
Align Text Left: Aligns all selected text to the left margin. The Align Text Left command is the most common alignment and is selected by default when a new document is created.
Align Text Right: Aligns all selected text to the right margin.
Justify: Justified text is equal on both sides. It lines up equally to the right and left margins. Many newspapers and magazines use full justification.
You can use Word’s convenient Set as Default feature to save all of the formatting changes you’ve made and automatically apply them to new documents.
Sometimes you may find that you need to add a symbol to your text, such as the Copyright symbol, ©. Word offers a large collection of symbols for currency, languages, mathematics, and more.
If you don’t see the symbol you’re looking for, click More Symbols… to open the Symbol dialog box. Locate and select the desired symbol, then click Insert.
One formatting aspect you’ll need to consider as you create your document is whether to make adjustments to the layout of the page. The page layout affects how content appears and includes the page’s orientation, margins, and size.
Word offers two page orientation options: landscape and portrait. Landscape means the page is oriented horizontally, while portrait means the page is oriented vertically. Compare our example below to see how orientation can affect the appearance and spacing of text and images.
A margin is the space between the text and the edge of your document. By default, a new document’s margins are set to Normal, which means it has a one-inch space between the text and each edge. Depending on your needs, Word allows you to change your document’s margin size.
Word has a variety of predefined margin sizes to choose from.
Word also allows you to customize the size of your margins in the Page Setup dialog box.
By default, the page size of a new document is 8.5 inches by 11 inches. Depending on your project, you may need to adjust your document’s page size. It’s important to note that before modifying the default page size, you should check to see which page sizes your printer can accommodate.
Word has a variety of predefined page sizes to choose from.
Word also allows you to customize the page size in the Page Setup dialog box.
Alternatively, you can open the Page Setup dialog box by navigating to the Page Layout tab and clicking the small arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup group.
You can use Word’s convenient Set as Default feature to save all of the formatting changes you’ve made and automatically apply them to new documents.
Once you’ve created your document, you may want to print it to view and share your work offline. It’s easy to preview and print a document in Word using thePrint pane.
Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about using the Print pane.
Sometimes you may find it unnecessary to print your entire document, in which case custom printing may be more suited for your needs. Whether you’re printing several individual pages or a range of pages, Word allows you to specify exactly which pages you’d like to print.
If you’d like to print individual pages or page ranges, you’ll need to separate each entry with a comma (for example, 1, 3, 5-7, 10-14).
Indenting text adds structure to your document by allowing you to separate information. Whether you’d like to move a single line or an entire paragraph, you can use the tab selector and the horizontal ruler to set tabs and indents.
In many types of documents, you may wish to indent only the first line of each paragraph. This helps to visually separate paragraphs from one another. It’s also possible to indent every line except for the first line, which is known as a hanging indent.
A quick way to indent is to use the Tab key. This will create a first line indent of 1/2 inch.
If you can’t see the ruler, select the View tab and then click the check box next to Ruler.
In some cases, you may wish to have more control over indents. Word provides indent markers that allow you to indent paragraphs to the location you desire. The indent markers are located to the left of the horizontal ruler, and they provide several indenting options:
: Adjusts the first-line indent
: Adjusts the hanging indent
: Moves both the first line indent and hanging indent markers at the same time (this will indent all lines in a paragraph)
If you want to indent multiple lines of text or all lines of a paragraph, you can use the Indent commands.
To customize the indent amounts, select the Page Layout tab and enter the desired values in the boxes under Indent.
Using Tabs gives you more control over the placement of text. By default, every time you press the Tab key, the insertion point will move 1/2 inch to the right. Adding tab stops to the ruler allows you to change the size of the tabs, and Word even allows you to apply more than one tab stop to a single line. For example, on a resume you could Left Align the beginning of a line and Right Align the end of the line by adding a Right Tab.
Pressing the tab key can either add a tab or create a first-line indent, depending on where the insertion point is. Generally, if the insertion point is at the beginning of an existing paragraph, it will create a first-line indent; otherwise, it will create a tab.
The tab selector is located above the vertical ruler on the left. Hover the mouse over the tab selector to see the name of the active tab stop.
: Left-aligns the text at the tab stop
: Centers the text around the tab stop
: Right-aligns the text at the tab stop
: Aligns decimal numbers using the decimal point
: Draws a vertical line on the document: Inserts the indent marker on the ruler, and indents the first line of text in a paragraph: Inserts the hanging indent marker, and indents all lines other than the first lineAlthough Bar Tab, First Line Indent, and Hanging Indent appear on the tab selector, they’re not technically tabs.
To remove a tab stop, click, hold, and drag it off of the ruler.
Word can display hidden formatting symbols such as the space bar (
), paragraph (
), and Tab key (
) markings to help you see the formatting in your document. To show hidden formatting symbols, select the Home tab, then click the Show/Hide command.
As you design your document and make formatting decisions, you will need to consider line and paragraph spacing. You can increase spacing to improve readability or reduce it to fit more text on the page.
Line spacing is the space between each line in a paragraph. Microsoft Word allows you to customize the line spacing to be single-spaced (one line high),double-spaced (two lines high), or any other amount you want. The default spacing in Word 2013 is 1.08 lines, which is slightly larger than single-spaced.
In the images below, you can compare different types of line spacing. From left to right, these images show the default line spacing, single spacing, and double spacing.
Line spacing is also known as leading (pronounced to rhyme with “wedding”).
Your line spacing options aren’t limited to the ones in the Line and Paragraph Spacing menu. To adjust the spacing with more precision, select Line Spacing Options from the menu to access the Paragraph dialog box. You’ll then have a few additional options you can use to customize the spacing:
By default, when you press the Enter key Word 2013 moves the insertion point down a little farther than one line on the page. This automatically creates space between paragraphs. Just as you can format spacing between lines in your document, you can adjust spacing before and after paragraphs. This is useful for separating paragraphs, headings, and subheadings.
In our example, we’ll increase the space before a paragraph to separate it from a heading. This will make our document easier to read.
From the drop-down menu, you can also select Line Spacing Options to open the Paragraph dialog box. From here, you can control how much space there isbefore and after the paragraph.
You can use Word’s convenient Set as Default feature to save all of the formatting changes you’ve made and automatically apply them to new documents.
Bulleted and numbered lists can be used in your documents to outline, arrange, and emphasize text. In this lesson, you will learn how to modify existing bullets, insert new bulleted and numbered lists, select symbols as bullets, and format multilevel lists.
When you need to organize text into a numbered list, Word offers several numbering options. You can format your list with numbers, letters, or Roman numerals.
If you want to restart the numbering of a list, Word has a Restart at 1 option. It can be applied to numeric and alphabetical lists.
Customizing the look of the bullets in your list can help you emphasize certain list items or personalize the design of your list. Word allows you to format bullets in a variety of ways. You can use symbols and different colors, or even upload a picture as a bullet.
Not all pictures work well as bullets. Generally, it’s best to use a simple graphic that has a white (or transparent) background. This ensures the bullet will have a recognizable shape.
Multilevel lists allow you to create an outline with multiple levels. Any bulleted or numbered list can be turned into a multilevel list by using the Tab key.
You can make adjustments to the organization of a multilevel list by increasing or decreasing the indent levels. There are several ways to change the indent level:
When formatting a multilevel list, Word will use the default bullet style. To change the style of a multilevel list, select the list, then click the Multilevel listcommand on the Home tab.
Adding hyperlinks to text can provide access to websites and email addresses directly from your document. There are a few ways to insert a hyperlink into your document. Depending on how you want the link to appear, you can use Word’s automatic link formatting or convert text into a link.
Hyperlinks have two basic parts: the address (URL) of the webpage and the display text. For example, the address could be http://www.popsci.com, and the display text could be “Popular Science Magazine”. When you create a hyperlink in Word, you’ll be able to choose both the address and the display text.
Word often recognizes email and web addresses as you type and will automatically format them as hyperlinks after you press Enter or the space bar. In the images below, you can see a hyperlinked email address and a hyperlinked web address.
To follow a hyperlink in Word, hold the Ctrl key and click on the hyperlink.
To remove a hyperlink, right-click the hyperlink and select Remove Hyperlink from the menu that appears.
After you create a hyperlink, you should test it. If you’ve linked to a website, your web browser should automatically open and display the site. If it doesn’t work, check the hyperlink address for misspellings.
Alternatively, you can open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box by right-clicking the selected text and selecting Hyperlink… from the menu that appears. Once you’ve inserted a hyperlink, you can then right-click the hyperlink to edit, open, copy, or remove it.
Adding breaks to your document can make it appear more organized and can improve the flow of text. Depending on how you wish to change the pagination or formatting of your document, you can apply a page break or a section break.
Page breaks allow you to move text to the next page before reaching the end of a page. You might use a page break if you’re writing a paper that has a title page or a bibliography to ensure it starts on a new page. In our example, our chart is split between two pages. We’ll add a page break so the chart will be all on one page.
By default, breaks are hidden. If you wish to show the breaks in your document, click the Show/Hide command.
Section breaks create a barrier between parts of a document, allowing you to format each section independently. For example, you may want one section to have two columns without adding columns to the entire document. Word has several different types of section breaks:
In our example, we’ll add a section break to separate a paragraph from a two-column list. This will allow us to change the formatting of the paragraph so it no longer appears formatted as a column.
When you want to format the appearance of columns or modify text wrapping around an image, Word offers additional break options that can help.
By default, breaks are hidden. If you wish to delete a break, you’ll first need to show the breaks in your document.
Sometimes the information you include in your document is best displayed in columns. Not only can columns help improve readability, but some types of documents (like newspaper articles, newsletters, and flyers) are often written in column format. Word also allows you to adjust your columns by addingcolumn breaks.
To remove column formatting, place the insertion point anywhere in the columns, then click the Columns command on the Page Layout tab. Select One from the drop-down menu that appears.
Your column choices aren’t limited to the drop-down menu that appears. Select More Columns… at the bottom of the menu to access the Columns dialog box. Click the arrows next to the Number of columns: to adjust the number of columns.
If you wish to adjust the spacing and alignment of columns, click, hold, and drag the indent markers on the ruler until the columns appear the way you want.
Once you’ve created columns, the text will automatically flow from one column to the next. Sometimes, though, you may want to control exactly where each column begins. You can do this by creating a column break.
In our example below, we’ll add a column break that will move text to the beginning of the next column.
The header is a section of the document that appears in the top margin, while the footer is a section of the document that appears in the bottom margin. Headers and footers generally contain additional information such as page numbers, dates, an author’s name, and footnotes, which can help keep longer documents organized and make them easier to read. Text entered in the header or footer will appear on each page of the document.
In our example, we want to display the author’s name at the top of each page, so we’ll place it in the header.
Word has a variety of preset headers and footers you can use to enhance your document’s design and layout. In our example, we’ll add a preset header to our document.
If you want to delete a Content Control field, right-click it and select Remove Content Control from the menu that appears.
After you close the header or footer, it will still be visible, but it will be locked. Simply double-click a header or footer to unlock it, which will allow you to edit its content.
When your document’s header and footer are unlocked, the Design tab will appear on the right side of the Ribbon, giving you various editing options:
Sometimes it’s helpful to include the date or time in the header or footer. For example, you may want your document to show the date when it was created.
On the other hand, you may want to show the date when it was printed, which you can do by setting it to update automatically. This is useful if you frequently update and print a document, since you’ll always be able to tell which version is the most recent.
Word can automatically label each page with a page number and place it in a header, a footer, or in the side margin. When you need to number some pages differently, Word allows you to restart page numbering.
In our example, we’ll add page numbering to our document’s footer.
Alternatively, you can add page numbers to the header or footer by clicking the Page Number command and then selecting Top of Page or Bottom of Page. If you have an existing header or footer, it will be removed and replaced with the page number.
Word allows you to restart page numbering on any page of your document. You can do this by inserting a section break and then selecting the number you’d like to restart the numbering with. In our example, we’ll restart the page numbering for our document’s “Works Cited” section.
Adding pictures to your document can be a great way to illustrate important information or add decorative accents to existing text. Used in moderation, pictures can improve the overall appearance of your document.
If you have a specific image in mind, you can insert a picture from a file. In our example, we’ll insert a picture saved locally on our computer.
To resize an image, click and drag one of the corner sizing handles 
. The image will change size while keeping the same proportions. If you want to stretch it horizontally or vertically, you can use the side sizing handles 
.
If you don’t have the picture you want on your computer, you can find a picture online to add to your document. Word offers two options for finding online pictures:
When adding images, videos, or music to your own projects, it’s important to make sure you have the legal right to use them. Most things you buy or download online are protected by copyright, which means you may not be allowed to use them. For more information, visit our Copyright and Fair Use lesson.
You can also insert an image from your OneDrive (previously called SkyDrive) or other online accounts that may be linked with your Microsoft account, such as Facebook or Flickr. Select the Insert tab, then click the Online Pictures command.
When you insert an image, you may notice that it’s difficult to move it exactly where you want. That’s because by default the image is in line with the text. If you want to move the image freely, you’ll usually need to choose a different text wrapping setting. The text wrapping for that image is set to In Line with Text. You’ll need to change the text wrapping setting if you want to move the image freely or if you’d like the text to wrap around the image in a more natural way.
Alternatively, you can access text wrapping options by selecting the image and clicking the Layout Options button that appears.
If the alignment guides do not appear, select the Page Layout tab, then click the Align command. Select Use Alignment Guides from the drop-down menu that appears.
Predefined text wrapping allows you to move the image to a specific location on the page.
There are a variety of ways to format the pictures in your document. Depending on how the images are used and where they are placed, you can use Word’spicture tools to personalize and modify them in interesting ways.
When you crop an image, a part of the picture is removed. Cropping may be helpful when a picture has a lot of content and you want to focus on only part of it.
The corner handles are useful for simultaneously cropping the image horizontally and vertically.
Word offers many options for changing the way images appear in your document. For example, you can add a frame, make image corrections, change the image’s color or brightness, or even add some stylish artistic effects. These options are located in the Adjust and Picture Styles groups on the Format tab.
When you’re ready to make adjustments or experiment with the look of an image, select the picture and choose one of these options from the Format tab:
If you intend to email a document that contains pictures, you’ll need to monitor its file size. Large, high-resolution pictures can quickly cause your document to become very large, which may make it difficult or impossible to attach to an email. Additionally, cropped areas of pictures are saved with the document by default, which can add to the file size. Word can reduce the file size by compressing pictures, which will lower their resolution and delete cropped areas.
Removing the background from an image can give it a cleaner appearance. If you’re printing your document, it can also save ink.
With Background Removal, Word uses special algorithms to determine which parts of the image are the background and then removes those areas from the image.
As with artistic effects, Background Removal will not work with some clip art images.
You can add a variety of shapes to your document, including arrows, callouts, squares, stars, and flowchart shapes. Want to set your name and address apart from the rest of your resume? Use a line. Need to create a diagram showing a timeline or process? Use flowchart shapes. While you may not need shapes in every document you create, they can add visual appeal and clarity.
If desired, you can enter text in a shape. When the shape appears in your document, you can simply begin typing. You can then use the formatting options on the Home tab to change the font, font size, or color of the text.
Some shapes also have one or more yellow handles that can be used to modify the shape. For example, with star shapes you can adjust the length of the points.
To rotate the shape, click, hold, and drag the rotation handle.
If one shape overlaps another, you may need to change the ordering so the correct shape appears in front. You can bring a shape to the front or send it to theback. If you have multiple images, you can use Bring Forward or Send Backward to fine tune the ordering. You can also move a shape in front of or behindtext.
In some cases, the ordering option you select will not affect the ordering of the shapes. If that happens, try selecting the same option again or try a different option.
If you have many shapes placed on top of each other, it may be difficult to select an individual shape. The Selection Pane allows you to select a shape and drag it to a new location. To access the Selection Pane, click Selection Pane on the Format tab.
Word allows you to modify your shapes in a variety of ways so you can tailor them to your projects. You can change a shape into a different shape, format a shape’s style and color, and add shadow effects.
Choosing a shape style allows you to apply preset colors and effects to quickly change the appearance of your shape.
If you want to use a different type of fill, select Gradient or Texture from the drop-down menu. You can also select No Fill to make it transparent.
From the drop-down menu, you can change the outline color, weight (thickness), and whether or not it is a dashed line.
Adding a shadow to a shape can make it appear as though it is floating above the page, and it can help to add contrast between the shape and the background.
To adjust the shadow color, size, distance and more, select Shadow Options from the drop-down menu. The Format Shape pane will appear on the right side of the Word window, allowing you to customize the shadow.
There are two kinds of effects you can apply to your shapes to give them a 3D appearance: 3-D Rotation and Bevel. 3-D Rotation gives the appearance that you are viewing an object from a different angle, and it can be applied to any shape. Bevel adds thickness and a rounded edge to shapes, but it doesn’t work with every type of shape.
If desired, you can customize 3-D Rotation. Select 3-D Rotation Options… from the drop-down menu, and the Format Shape pane will appear on the right side of the Word window. From here, you can adjust the rotation values.
If desired, you can customize the bevel effect. Select 3-D Options… from the drop-down menu. The Format Shape pane will appear on the right side of the Word window. From here, you can modify the width, height, and depth of a bevel. You can also change the shape’s material to give it a metal, plastic, or translucent appearance, as well as choose the lighting type to change how the shape is illuminated.
Text boxes can be useful for drawing attention to specific text. They can also be helpful when you need to move text around in your document. Word allows you to format text boxes and the text within them as WordArt.
You can also select one of the built-in text boxes that have predefined colors, fonts, positions, and sizes. If you choose this option, the text box will appear automatically, so you will not need to draw it.
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Word offers many options for changing the way text boxes appear in your document. You can change the shape, style, and color of text boxes. Additionally, when you want to add a little more dimension you can add a shadow effect.
Changing the shape of a text box can be a useful option for creating an interesting look in your document.
If you want to use a different type of fill, select Gradient or Texture from the drop-down menu. You can also select No Fill to make it transparent.
From the drop-down menu, you can change the outline color, weight (thickness), and whether or not it is a dashed line.
Choosing a shape style allows you to apply preset colors and effects to quickly change the appearance of your text box.
Adding a shadow to a shape can make it appear as though it is floating above the page, and it can help to add contrast between the shape and the background.
To adjust the shadow color, size, distance, and more, select Shadow Options from the drop-down menu. The Format Shape pane will appear.
There are two kinds of effects you can apply to text boxes to give them a 3D appearance: 3-D Rotation and Bevel. 3-D Rotation makes text boxes appear as if you are viewing the text box from a different angle. Bevel adds thickness and a rounded edge to text boxes.
If desired, you can customize the 3-D Rotation. Select 3-D Rotation Options… from the drop-down menu and the Format Shape pane will appear. From here, you can adjust the rotation values.
If you’ve changed the shape of your text box, it’s important to note bevel doesn’t work with every type of shape.
If desired, you can customize the bevel effect. Select 3-D Options… from the drop-down menu. The Format Shape pane will appear. From here, you can modify the width, height, and depth of a bevel.
In addition to adding effects to a text box, you can add effects to the text inside the text box, which is known as WordArt. For the most part, the types of effects you can add are the same as the ones you can add to shapes or text boxes (shadow, bevel, etc.). However, you can also Transform the text to give it a wavy, slanted, or inflated look.
Generally, you shouldn’t use WordArt in more formal documents like resumes and cover letters because it could seem too casual.
A quick style will automatically apply several effects to your text at once. You can then refine the look of your text by adding or modifying text effects.
For text to be formatted as WordArt, it needs to be inside a text box. However, there is a shortcut that allows you to convert text into WordArt even if it’s not in a text box.
Some effects, such as shadows, can be added from the Text Effects menu in the Home tab. When you add effects in this way, it will not place the text in a text box.
If desired, you can add additional effects such as shadow, bevel, and more to the transformed text.
In Word, a page may have multiple objects, such as pictures, shapes, and text boxes. You can arrange the objects the way you want by aligning, ordering,rotating, and grouping them in various ways.
When pictures are first inserted, you may notice that it’s difficult to move them. This is because by default, pictures are in line with the text. To arrange them, you’ll always need to choose a different text wrapping setting. To review how to modify text wrapping, visit our lesson on Pictures and Text Wrapping.
By default, Align Selected Objects will be selected, which will allow objects to be aligned without moving them to a different part of the page. If you want the objects to move to the top or bottom of the page, select Align to Page or Align to Margin before choosing an alignment option.
If you prefer to align objects manually, select View Gridlines. This option snaps objects to a grid, making it easier for you to align them with the mouse.
If you have arranged objects in a row or column, you may want them to be an equal distance from one another for a neater appearance. You can do this bydistributing the objects horizontally or vertically.
In addition to aligning objects, Word gives you the ability to arrange objects in a specific order. The ordering is important when two or more objects overlap, as it will determine which objects are in the front or the back.
When objects are inserted into a document, they are placed on levels according to the order in which they were inserted into the document. In the image below, the table is on the top level, but we can change the level to put it behind the other objects.
In our example, we’ll change the ordering so the table moves back by one level.
If you have many objects placed on top of each other, it may be difficult to select an individual object. The Selection Pane allows you to easily drag an object to a new location. To access the Selection Pane, click Selection Pane on the Format tab.
If you want to move an object behind or in front of several objects, it’s usually faster to bring it to front or send it to back rather than clicking the ordering commands multiple times.
At times, you may want to group multiple objects into one object so they will stay together if they are moved or resized. Often, this is easier than selecting all of the objects every time you want to move them. Shapes, clip art, and text boxes can all be grouped together.
If you wish to edit or move one of the objects in the group, double-click to select the object. You can then edit it or move it to the desired location.
A table is a grid of cells arranged in rows and columns. Tables are useful for various tasks such as presenting text information and numerical data. In Word, you can create a blank table, convert text to a table, and apply a variety of styles and formats to existing tables.
To move the insertion point to the next cell, press the Tab key while typing. If the insertion point is in the last cell, pressing the Tab key will automatically create a new row.
In this example, each row of information contains an item name and price, separated by tabs. Word can convert this information into a table, and it will use the tabs to separate the data into two columns.
It’s easy to modify the look and feel of any table after adding it to a document. Word includes many different options for customizing a table, including adding rows or columns, changing the table style, and more.
Alternatively, you can right-click the table, then hover the mouse over Insert to see various row and column options.
Once you’ve chosen a table style, you can turn various options on or off to change the appearance of the table. There are six options: Header Row, Total Row,Banded Rows, First Column, Last Column, and Banded Columns.
Depending on which Table Style you’re using, certain Table Style Options may have a somewhat different effect. You may need to experiment to get the exact look you want.
When you select a table in Word 2013, the Layout tab appears under Table Tools on the Ribbon. From the Layout tab, you can make a variety of modifications to the table.
Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the different ways you can modify a table with the Layout tab.
A chart is a tool you can use to communicate data graphically. Including a chart in your document can allow your reader to see the meaning behind the numbers, and it can make showing comparisons and trends easier.
Word has many different types of charts, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your data. In order to use charts effectively, you’ll need to understand how different charts are used.
Learn more about the types of charts in Word.
Word has a variety of chart types, each with its own advantages. Click the arrows to see some of the different types of charts available in Word.
Line charts are ideal for showing trends. The data points are connected with lines, making it easy to see whether values are increasing or decreasing over time.
Pie charts make it easy to compare proportions. Each value is shown as a slice of the pie, so it’s easy to see which values make up the percentage of a whole.
Bar charts work just like column charts, but they use horizontal bars instead of vertical bars.
Area charts are similar to line charts, except that the areas under the lines are filled in.
Surface charts allow you to display data across a 3D landscape. They work best with large data sets, allowing you to see a variety of information at the same time.
Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the different parts of a chart.
Word uses a spreadsheet as a placeholder for entering chart data, much like Excel. The process of entering data is fairly simple, but if you are unfamiliar with Excel you might want to review our Excel 2013 Cell Basics lesson.
You can edit the chart data at any time by selecting your chart and clicking the Edit Data command on the Design tab.
If you already have data in an existing Excel file that you would like to use for a Word chart, you can transfer the data by copying and pasting it. Just open the spreadsheet in Excel, select and copy the desired data, and paste it into the source data area for your Word chart.
You can also embed an existing Excel chart into your Word document. This can be useful when you know you’ll need to update the data in your Excel file and would like the Word chart to automatically update whenever the Excel data is changed.
There are many ways to customize and organize your charts. For example, Word allows you to change the chart type, rearrange a chart’s data, and even change the layout and style.
If you find that your data isn’t well suited to a certain chart, it’s easy to switch to a new chart type. In our example, we’ll change our chart from a line chart to acolumn chart.
Sometimes you may want to change the way charts group your data. For example, in the chart below the book sales data is grouped by genre, with columns for each year. However, we could switch the rows and columns so the chart will group the data by year, with columns for each genre. In both cases, the chart contains the same data—it’s just organized differently.
We’ve noticed that when numeric data has been entered in the first column of the spreadsheet, switching rows and columns may cause unexpected results. One solution is to type an apostrophe before each number, which tells the spreadsheet to format it as text (instead of a numeric value). For example, the year 2013 would be entered as ‘2013.
Word’s predefined chart layouts allow you to modify chart elements—including chart titles, legends, and data labels—to make your chart easier to read.
To change a chart element (such as the chart title), click the element and begin typing.
Chart styles allow you to quickly modify the look and feel of your chart.
You can also use the chart formatting shortcut buttons to quickly add chart elements, change the chart style, and filter the chart data.
Worried about making mistakes when you type? Don’t be. Word provides you with several proofing features—including the Spelling and Grammar tool—that can help you produce professional, error-free documents.
If no suggestions are given, you can manually type the correct spelling in your document.
The spelling and grammar check is not always correct. Particularly with grammar, there are many errors Word will not notice. There are also times when the spelling and grammar check will say something’s an error when it’s actually not. This often happens with people’s names, which may not be in the dictionary.
If Word says something is an error, you can choose not to change it. Depending on whether it’s a spelling or grammatical error, you can choose from several options:
For grammar errors, Word provides an explanation for why it thinks something is incorrect. This can help you determine whether you want to change or ignore it.
By default, Word automatically checks your document for spelling and grammar errors, so you may not even need to run a separate check. These errors are indicated by colored, wavy lines.
A misused word (also known as a contextual spelling error) occurs when a word is spelled correctly but used incorrectly. For example, if you used the phrase “Deer Mr. Theodore” at the beginning of a letter, deer would be a contextual spelling error. Deer is spelled correctly, but it is used incorrectly in the letter. The correct word is dear.
In previous versions of Word, grammar errors were marked with a green line, while contextual spelling errors were marked with a blue line.
You can also choose to Ignore All instances of an underlined word or add it to the dictionary.
You can also choose to Ignore an underlined word or phrase or go to the Spelling & Grammar pane for information about the grammar rule.
By default, Word does not check for sentence fragments (incomplete sentences) and run-on sentences. To turn on this feature, click Settings in the dialog box, then check the box next to Fragments and Run-ons.
If you’ve turned off the automatic spelling and/or grammar checks, you can still run a check by going to the Review tab and clicking the Spelling & Grammarbutton.
If you’re sharing a document like a resume with someone, you might not want that person to see the red and blue lines. Turning off the automatic spelling and grammar checks only applies to your computer, so the lines may still show up when someone else views your document. Fortunately, Word allows you to hide spelling and grammar errors so the lines will not show up on any computer.
If you have more than one document open, click the drop-down box next to Exceptions for: and select the desired document.
Suppose someone asked you to proofread or collaborate on a document. If you had a printed copy, you might use a red pen to cross out sentences, mark misspellings, or add comments in the margins. Word allows you to do all of these things electronically using the Track Changes and Comments features.
When you turn on Track Changes, every change you make to the document will appear as a colored markup. If you delete text, it won’t disappear—instead, the text will be crossed out. If you add text, it will be underlined. This allows you to see edits before making the changes permanent.
If there are multiple reviewers, each person will be assigned a different markup color.
Tracked changes are really just suggested changes. To become permanent, they must be accepted. On the other hand, the original author may disagree with some of the tracked changes and choose to reject them.
To accept all changes at once, click the Accept drop-down arrow, then select Accept All. If you no longer wish to track your changes, you can select Accept All and Stop Tracking.
If you have a lot of tracked changes, they may become distracting if you’re trying to read through the document. Fortunately, Word provides a few different ways to customize how tracked changes appear, including the option to hide tracked changes.
You can also click the marker in the left margin to switch between Simple Markup and All Markup.
Hiding Track Changes is not the same as reviewing changes. You will still need to accept or reject the changes before sending out the final version of your document.
By default, most revisions appear inline, meaning the text itself is marked. You can also choose to show the revisions in balloons, which moves most revisions to the right margin. Removing inline markups can make the document easier to read, and balloons also give you more detailed information about some markups.
Balloons Show Revisions in Balloons.
To go back to inline markups, you can select either Show All Revisions Inline or Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons.
Sometimes you may want to add a comment to provide feedback instead of editing a document. While often used in combination with Track Changes, you don’t necessarily need to have Track Changes turned on to use comments.
You can also respond to an existing comment. Just click the Reply button and type your response.
To delete all comments, click the Delete drop-down arrow and select Delete All Comments in Document.
If you edit a document without tracking changes, it’s still possible to use reviewing features such as Accept and Reject. You can do this by comparing two versions of the document. All you need is the original document and the revised document (the documents must also have different file names).
The original and revised documents will appear in a pane to the right that you can use for reference (although you can’t edit them). If you don’t see the pane, click Compare Show Source Documents Show Both.
Before sharing a document, you’ll want to make sure it doesn’t include any information you wish to keep private. You may also want to discourage others from editing your file. Fortunately, Word includes several tools to help finalize and protect your document.
Whenever you create or edit a document, certain personal information may be added to the file automatically. You can use the Document Inspector to remove this kind of information before sharing a document with others.
Because some changes may be permanent, it’s a good idea to use Save As to create a backup copy of your document before using the Document Inspector.
By default, anyone with access to your document will be able to open, copy, and edit its content unless you protect it. There are many different ways to protect a document, depending on your needs.
Marking a document as final will not prevent someone from editing it. If you want to prevent people from editing it, you can use the Restrict Access option instead.
SmartArt allows you to communicate information with graphics instead of just using text. There are a variety of styles to choose from, which you can use to illustrate many different types of ideas.
You can also add text by clicking on the desired shape and then typing. This works well if you only need to add text to a few shapes. However, for more complex SmartArt graphics, working in the task pane is often faster.
You can also demote and promote shapes from within the task pane. With the insertion point in the task pane, press the Tab key to demote a shape. Press the Backspace key (or Shift+Tab) to promote a shape. It’s a lot like creating an outline with a multilevel list. For more information, you may want to review our Lists lesson.
After inserting SmartArt, there are several things you might want to change about its appearance. Whenever you select a SmartArt graphic, the Design andFormat tabs will appear on the right side of the Ribbon. From there, it’s easy to edit the style and layout of a SmartArt graphic.
If you don’t like the way your information is organized within a SmartArt graphic, you can always change its layout to better fit your content.
If the new layout is too different from the original, some of your text may not show up. Before deciding on a new layout, check carefully to make sure no important information will be lost.
A style is a predefined combination of font style, color, and size that can be applied to any text in your document. Styles can help your documents achieve a more professional appearance.
You can also use styles to create a table of contents for your document. To learn how, review our article on How to Create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word.
Style sets include a combination of title, heading, and paragraph styles. Style sets allow you to format all elements in your document at once, rather than modifying each element separately.
A theme is a set of colors, fonts, and effects that determine the overall look of your document. Themes are a great way to change the tone of your entire document quickly and easily.
All documents in Word 2013 use a theme. In fact, you’ve already been using a theme, even if you didn’t know it: the default Office theme. Every theme, including the Office theme, has its own theme elements:
If you’re using theme elements, you’ll probably find that your document looks pretty good and that all of the colors work well together. But there’s another great reason to use theme elements: When you switch to a different theme, all theme elements will update to reflect the new theme, allowing you to quickly change the look and feel of the entire document.
In the images below, you can compare the default Office theme and the Organic theme.
Remember, the colors and fonts will only update if you’re using theme fonts or theme colors. If you choose colors that are not theme colors or any fontsthat are not theme fonts, your document will not change when you apply a new theme.
If you’re using built-in styles, you may notice that the fonts for those styles change when you select a different theme. This is because all of the built-in styles are based on the theme fonts. If you don’t want the styles to change, you’ll need to create custom styles. Review our lesson on Styles to learn more.
Let’s say you really like the fonts from one theme, but you’d like to experiment with different color schemes. Word allows you to mix and match the colors,fonts, and effects from different themes to create a unique look for your document. If it still doesn’t look exactly right, you can customize the theme colors,fonts, and effects from the Design tab.
When choosing theme colors, try to find a part of your document that uses several colors to get an idea of how the colors will look together.
Once you’ve found settings you like, you may want to save the theme so you can use it in other documents.
Mail Merge is a useful tool that allows you to produce multiple letters, labels, envelopes, name tags, and more using information stored in a list, database, or spreadsheet. When performing a Mail Merge, you will need a Word document (you can start with an existing one or create a new one) and a recipient list, which is typically an Excel workbook.
The Mail Merge pane appears and will guide you through the six main steps to complete a merge. The following example demonstrates how to create a form letter and merge the letter with a recipient list.
Now you’ll need an address list so Word can automatically place each address into the document. The list can be in an existing file, such as an Excel workbook, or you can type a new address list from within the Mail Merge Wizard.
If you don’t have an existing address list, you can click the Type a new list button and click Create. You can then type your address list.
Now you’re ready to write your letter. When it’s printed, each copy of the letter will basically be the same; only the recipient data (such as the name andaddress) will be different. You’ll need to add placeholders for the recipient data so Mail Merge knows exactly where to add the data.
For some letters, you’ll only need to add an Address block and Greeting line. Sometimes, however, you may wish to place recipient data within the body of the letter to personalize it even further.
You can customize the Ribbon by creating your own tabs with the commands you want to use. Commands are always housed within a group, and you can create as many groups as you want in order to keep your tab organized. If you want, you can even add commands to any of the default tabs, as long as you create a custom group in the tab.
If you don’t see the command you want, click the Choose commands from: drop-down box and select All Commands.
If you’re working on a touch-screen device, you can enable Touch Mode to create more open space on the Ribbon, making commands easier to tap with your fingers.
To turn off Touch Mode, click the Touch/Mouse Mode command, then select Mouse from the drop-down menu.
If you have already created a chart in Excel, you can embed and link it to your Word document. When you embed an Excel chart in Word, any updates you make to the original Excel chart will automatically update in your Word document, as long as the files remain in the same location. This helps the data stay in sync, so you won’t have incorrect or out-of-date information in your chart.
To edit an embedded chart, double-click the chart. An Excel spreadsheet containing the chart’s source data will appear. After you have finished editing, be sure to save the chart in Excel.
Once you have embedded a chart, be careful not to delete or move the original Excel file. If the location of either the Word document or the Excel file changes, you may have to embed the chart again in order for it to display correctly.
A PDF file is a type of file that is designed to be viewable on any computer. It is useful when you want to send a document to someone and you’re not sure whether that person has Microsoft Word. PDF files are designed for viewing rather than editing, so they are ideal for situations where you have a final version that does not need any changes. However, if you need to edit a PDF file for any reason, Word 2013 allows you to edit it by converting it into a Word document.
Converting a PDF file into a Word document may cause some graphics and content to look different or disappear altogether.
After you finish converting and editing your PDF file, you’ll need to decide whether to save it as a PDF file or a Word document. Depending on your situation, one option may work better than the other:
You can take the Word quiz to see if you need to brush up on some of the training.
