Chapter 5 Multi-Page Documents in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word 2007 to 2010

Downloading a Text File

In this section, you're going to create a document with more than one page. You'll learn how to insert a file into your Word document. You'll add a header and footer to your document, and put some page numbers at the bottom. You'll also learn about Page Preview.

There is a text file we've prepared for this section called Little Thumb. It can be downloaded by clicking the link below. However, read the download instructions first before clicking the link:

Get the Little Thumb text file

The document above is a text file, and you need to save it to your own computer. Click the link above with your right mouse button. You'll then see a menu appear. Select Save Target As from the menu (or Save Link As if you use Firefox to browse the internet). You'll then see a dialogue box where you can choose a location on your computer to save the file:

In the image above, we're saving the file to a folder called "My WP Project", which is in the Document folder of this Windows 7 computer. You can save your file anywhere you like, just as long as you remember where!

Note that the File name area above says "Little Thumb.txt". Click Save and the file will be download to your computer. You'll then see this box if you have Internet Explorer:

Click the Close button, rather than Open or Open Folder.

Once you have the file you need, you can make a start. Let's see how to insert this text file into a Word document.

Open a new Microsoft Word Document. If you already have Word opened, you can click on the Office button in the top left, in Word 2007. From the menu, select New:

Word 2010 users need to click the File tab, then the New item:

From the dialogue box that appears, choose Blank Document. Then click theCreate button in the bottom right.

Setting up Page Margins and Tab Stops

Before we insert the text file that you download in the previous lesson, we can set up our margins and tabs. To set the margins for the entire document, do the following:

• Click on the Page Layout tab at the top of Word
• From the Page Layout tab locate the Page Setup panel
• Now click the small arrow in the bottom right of the Page Setup panel:

You can also click the Margins item, and then Custom Margins from the menu that appears:

The Margins dialogue box will appear, and look like this:

The values to set are these:

Top: 2.5 cm (1 inch)

Bottom: 2.5 cm

Left: 3.5 cm (1.38 inches)

Right: 3.0 cm (1.18 inches)

Apply to: Whole Document

When you're done, click OK. You will be returned to your blank page with the new margins set.

We're going to set up a Tab Stop for the first line of each paragraph. We can then indent by pressing the Tab key on the keyboard. To set a Tab stop, do the following:

• Still on the Page Layout tab, locate the Paragraph panel
• Click the small arrow in the bottom right of the Paragraph panel:

This will bring up the Indents and Spacing dialogue box, which you've met before. (You brought up this dialogue box from the Paragraph panel on the Home ribbon, previously. But it's the same one.)

Click the Tabs button in the bottom left to bring up the Tabs dialogue box:

We're going to change the Default tab stop. A default is a number that is built into the programme. If you look at the top right of the Tabs dialogue box you'll see the figure of 1.27 cm for the "Default tab stops" (or the equivalent in inches). This default number will be the same for everybody with the same version of Microsoft Word. You can, of course, change it. But what you are changing here is the size of the jump that the cursor makes when you press the Tab key on your keyboard. So with the cursor blinking on the first line, when you press the tab key, your cursor will jump 1.27 centimetres.

• Click inside the text box next to "Default tab stops". Delete the number 1.27 and type in 1.5 instead (or 0.59 if you're working in inches)
• When you have finished, click the OK button
• On your new blank page, make sure your cursor is blinking at the start of a line
• Press the tab key on your keyboard
• Your cursor should now jump 1.5 centimetres.

All right, time to insert the text file. We'll do that in the next lesson below.

How to Insert a Text File

To insert a file into your Microsoft Word document, do the following:

Click on the Insert tab at the top of Microsoft Word

From the Insert tab locate the Text panel

On the Text panel, click the Object item, and then Text from File from the menu:

When you click on Text from File, you'll see the Insert File dialogue box appear:

Navigate to your where you saved your text file to. We kept ours in the Documents folder of Windows 7, and have navigated to there.

Click on the file called Little Thumb to select it. If you can't see this file, click the dropdown list to the right of the File name textbox at the bottom. Set it to Text Files:

Once you have selected the Little Thumb text file click the Insert button. The file will be inserted into your new document.

You cursor will be flashing at the end of the story, on page seven. To get back to the top, you can hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard. Keep it held down and press the Home key on your keyboard (usually just above the arrow keys on a standard keyboard. On a laptop, the Home key may be found on the top row, to the right).

Another quick way to get back to the top of the document is to right click one of the scrolling arrows on the right hand side of Microsoft Word:

Select Top from the menu to move the cursor to the start of the document.

What we'd like to do to this document is to change the style. At the moment, all the text is set to a font called Courier New, and the font size is 10.5. We'll change the body text to one font, and the heading text to something else.

Select just the heading of your story. Use the Font dialogue box to choose a font and font size for your heading. Now select all the text of the story, but not the heading. With the story text selected choose a font and font size again.

With a heading font and a different body text font set, we'll move on and have a look at Headers and Footers.

Setting up Headers and Footers

Headers and footers are pieces of text or graphics that appear at the top and bottom of a page. After you set up a header and footer, they will appear on all of your pages. You can add a page number to a header or footer, and Microsoft Word will automatically insert the right page number for you.

To set up a header and footer for your document, click on the Insert tab at the top of Word. Now locate the Header & Footer panel:

Click on the Header item and you'll see a drop down list appear:

The items on the list are Headers that are built in to Microsoft Word. There are some nice Headers on the list, but we'll do our own so that you can see how they work.

Select the first item on the list, Blank. The top of your page will then look like this:

Notice, too, that a new tab has appeared - the Design tab. The panels on the tab are: Header & Footer, Insert, Navigation, Options, Position, and Close.

The thin, dashed blue line is the bottom of your header, and everything above is the area where you can type your header text (or insert images).

There is already a selected area with the words "Type text" in it. However, this is the first page in the story. We don't want any header on the first page, as it doesn't look very good. We want the headers to start on page two.

So have a look at the Design tab, and locate the Options panel. Left click inside the check box next to Different First Page:

Now locate the Navigation panel, and click the Next Section button (In Word 2010, it's just Next):

The header text on page 2 will now be selected. Go ahead and type the title of the story again, Little Thumb.

Just like text anywhere, you can select your header text and format it to your liking. So choose a font and font size, and then centre it. For the font and the centring, you'll need to click back on the Home ribbon. The Design ribbon will stay open, though. (You might accidentally click outside of the header, and lose the Design tab. To get it back, double click anywhere inside of the Header area.)

Click back on the Design tab when you're done. Your header will then look like this:

One last thing we'll do here is to add a line in the Header, underneath the title.

To do that, click on the Insert tab. From the Insert tab, locate the Illustrations panel. On the Illustrations panel click the Shapes item, and then select the straight line, as in the image below:

With the line shape selected, click on your Design tab to get back to your Header area. Now hold down your left mouse on the left edge of the header, just in line with the left edge of the story. Keep your left mouse button held down and drag to the right edge of the header. Release your mouse button when you get to the right edge of the story. You will then have a line that looks like ours below:

In Word 2010, if your line is not solid black, click on the Format tab. Locate theShape Styles panel, and click the first line:

Notice the two round circles at either end of your line. This indicates that the line is selected. If your line is not big enough, or it's too big, hold your left mouse button down on one of the circles. Your mouse pointer will change to the shape of cross. Keep your left mouse button help down and drag either to the left to make your line shorter, or to the right to make it bigger. If your line is not straight, move your mouse up or down while holding down the left mouse button.

To move the whole line up or down, hold your left mouse button down anywhere on the line except for the two green circles on the end. Keep your left mouse button down and drag your line up or down. Place it just under the title.

Another way to move the whole line is with the arrow keys on your keyboard, in combination with the CTRL key. Hold down the CTRL key. Keep it held down and tap one of your arrow keys. You can move the line up, down, left, and right using this method.

When you're done, though, your header should look like from above:

Footers

Microsoft Word allows you to insert page numbers into your document. This is done (usually) in the Footer area of the page. The Footer is just the opposite of the Header. You can do the same things with the Footer as you can with the Header. We'll see how to insert page numbers into the Footer.

Make sure the Design tab is select at the top of Word. Now locate the Navigation panel again. Click the item that says "Go to Footer":

Word will then jump to the bottom of the page, and your cursor will be flashing in the Footer area. Because you checked "Different First Page", your cursor should be on page 2 of your story.

To insert page numbers, locate the Header & Footer panel on your Design tab. Click the Page Number item to reveal a drop down list. From the Page Number menu, select "Bottom of page", as in the image below:

When you select "Bottom of page" you should see some options appear:

These are built-in page number formatting. Scroll down and find one that you like. Then click it with your left mouse button. We've gone with Square 2:

And here's what our footer looks like on the page:

Once you're happy with your headers and footers, you can close the Design tab. To do that, click the Close button:

Print Preview

To see what your headers and footers look like, you can preview them.

Print Preview in Word 2007

Click the round Office button in the top left of Word, in Office 2007. Then select Print. From the Print options, select Print Preview:

When you click on Print Preview you're left with just a single tab. This one:

To get back to the normal Word ribbons, click the Close Print Preview button on the right.

But have a look at your headers and footers. Use the Zoom control on the tab to zoom in and out.

Print Preview in Word 2010

In Word 2010, there is no Print Preview tab. Instead, click on the File tab then onPrint from the left menu:

You should see some settings for your installed printer appear. To preview what you're about to print, have a look just to the right of the printer settings area. You should see your document. Use the zoom tool at the bottom, or the next page icons.

OK, we're done with the story now. So save your work and we'll move on to creating a booklet in Microsoft Word.