Microsoft Office Development and Consultancy

Document Components

A Word document can be divided into three four categories:

Document - A document contains one or more sections.

Sections - A section contains one or more paragraphs.

Paragraphs - A paragraph contains one or more characters and a paragraph mark.

Characters - A characeter is a single letter or number. The paragraph mark is a character.

Each one of the these components has specific formatting associated with it.

What is Paragraph Formatting ?

SS - Home tab, Paragraph group

Paragraph Formatting Options / Attributes

Some formatting options can be applied to whole paragraphs regardless of the size of the paragraph.

Bulleted Lists -

Numbered Lists -

Indents - These are paragraph specific

Alignment -

Line Spacing -

Tabs - These are line specific

Borders -

Shading -

The Paragraph mark at the end of your paragraphs contains all the attributes for the entire paragraph

To see all the attributes associated with a paragraph choose (Format>Paragraph) and remember that these attributes apply to the whole paragraph and not just a selection

Spacing - Different Types

There are two different types of spacing associated with paragraphs

Paragraph Spacing -

Line Spacing -

Paragraph Dialog Box

accessed from the dialog launcher

Applying Paragraph Formatting

There are two ways you can apply Formatting Paragraphs.

You can either define the formatting and then enter the text or enter the text and then apply the formatting.

If you want to apply Formatting Paragraphs to an existing paragraph just position the insertion point anywhere in the paragraph before applying your formatting.

Word automatically applies this to the whole paragraph.

You can change the formatting for consecutive paragraphs by selecting them first.

It is possible to insert a vertical text header down the left hand side of a page

If you are printing envelopes and labels it is possible to change the label font and font size (Tools > Envelopes and Labels) right click

You can easily insert right flush, centre tabs & decimal number tabs by togglying the choice in the top right corner by using the ruler.

Widow / Orphan control ??

If you are writing text to fit on one page and one or two sentences full on to the next page you can use the "Shrink to fit" feature to fit it onto one page. Always save a backup copy before doing this as there is no easy way to undo

You can easily select the paragraph mark along with the paragraph by pressing Ctrl while you double click the paragraph

Creating New Paragraphs

A new paragraph is created everytime you press Enter

Pressing Enter creates a paragraph with exactly the same Formatting Paragraphs as the one before it.

What is the Insertion Point ?

There is no need to add extra carriage returns before or after your pargraphs inorder to space out your paragraphs Adjust the paragraph spacing above and below (Format > Paragraph)(Indents and Spacing tab)

When you press Enter, the new paragraph inherits all the formatting from the previous paragraph.

Step 4 - Things to Remember

Everytime you press Enter you are creating a new paragraph.

A paragraph contains one or more characters including a paragraph mark.