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Learn quickly how to get started in Word.

When you open Word, you're faced with a blank screen with toolbars at the top.

If you're new to Word, you may wonder what to do first as you start to type your letter, report, or list of things to do.

How do you indent a paragraph or adjust margins, and what are those strange red and green underlines in your document?

We'll begin by helping you get comfortable with some Word basics that will guide you when you get to work in Word.

To find the complete lesson with audio for Microsoft Word go to the following link:

Word#1

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A blank document, ready for you to type in.

When you start Word, a new file opens. That file is called a document. Above the document you'll see the menu bar and the toolbars displayed across the top of the window, as shown in the illustration.

If you've already started Word, you create a new document by clicking New on the File menu. In the New Document task pane that opens, click Blank document.

In the upper-left corner of the document, or page, is the insertion point, a blinking vertical line. The first thing you type will appear there. You can start further down the page if you want to by pressing ENTER until the insertion point is where you want the first line to begin. As you type, the insertion point moves to the right.

If you're typing a letter, you might start by typing the date. After that, press ENTER to move the insertion point down the page one line.

If there's an address, you might add a few empty lines before you type. Press ENTER several times, until the insertion point is where you want it. Then type the first line of the address, press ENTER, type the next line, press ENTER, and so on. Then type the greeting.

When you type the body of the letter, if you want to indent the first line of a paragraph, you can do that by pressing the TAB key on your keyboard to move the insertion point one-half inch to the right.

Go ahead and type. When you get to the end of the first line, you don't have to press ENTER, as you would if you were using a typewriter; Word takes care of that for you. Just continue to type. Whatever you are typing will continue on to the next line.

You do press ENTER to start another paragraph.

To find the complete lesson with audio for Microsoft Word go to the following link:

Word #2

(Left) The Save button on the Standard toolbar.

(Right)  The Save As dialog box, which appears the first time you save your document.

Perhaps by now you have a finely tuned sentence, or a paragraph of facts and figures that you would regret losing if you accidentally deleted some text, or if a power failure shut your computer down.

To keep your work, you have to save it, and it's never too early to do that.

To save your document for the first time, click Save (Left picture) on the Standard toolbar (see left picture). If you prefer to use the keyboard, press CTRL+S (hold down the CTRL key and then press S; this is called a keyboard shortcut).

Tip    Toolbars have all sorts of buttons that you can use to carry out commands. To find out what a button does, move your mouse over it. A word or two is displayed to tell you what the button does.

The Save As dialog box opens next (see Figure 2). A dialog box is a smaller window in which you perform some action. You use this box to tell Word where you want to store the document on your computer, and what you want to call it.

In the practice you'll learn the steps for exactly how to use the Save As dialog box.

After you save your document, and you continue to type, click the Save button, or click CTRL+S, every once in a while. That will save the changes you make as you work. Then, when you finish, save the document once again.

When you are through working, and have saved your work, you close the file by clicking Close on the File menu.

Tip    If you forget to save your document before you close the file, Word will remind you by asking if you want to save changes. You can then click Yes or No.