MS Office: Word Basics

• MS Office is a productivity suite tailored for diverse tasks.
• Core applications include Word (for word processing), PowerPoint (for presentations), and Excel (for spreadsheets).
• MS Office operates across Windows, macOS, web browsers, and mobile devices.
• MS Office is useful for personal and professional contexts.

MS Word Basics

• MS Word's primary function involves creating, editing, and formatting text documents.
• Key features:
  • Creation of new documents
  • Opening and saving documents
  • Text formatting adjustments for font, size, color and alignment
  • Paragraph formatting options for indentation, spacing, bullets and numbering
  • Inserting images, tables, shapes, headers and footers
  • Review tools like spell check, grammar check, tracked changes and comments
  • Page layout options for margins, orientation and size
• The Ribbon interface allows easy access to Word's tools, organized into tabs: "File," "Home," "Insert," "Page Layout," "References," "Review," and "View."
• Common file extensions for Word documents include .doc and .docx.
• Templates provide pre-designed layouts for resumes, letters or reports.
• Styles allow consistent formatting using predefined formatting options.
• Mail merge automates personalized documents (letters, emails) from data within a spreadsheet or database.

PowerPoint Basics

• PowerPoint is designed to create and deliver visual presentations.
• Key features:
  • Creating, editing slides
  • Adding text, images, charts and multimedia
  • Applying themes and layouts
  • Adding transitions and animations
  • Presentation slideshows
  • Speaker notes to help the presenter
• PowerPoint's Ribbon interface is similar to Word and Excel, including "File," "Home," "Insert," "Design," "Transitions," "Animations," "Slide Show," "Review," and "View."
• Common file extensions for PowerPoint presentations include .ppt and .pptx.
• Slide layouts contain predefined content placeholders.
• Themes offer coordinated color schemes, fonts and effects.
• Transitions control how slides appear and disappear during the presentation.
• Animations add movement to slide text and objects.
• Presenter view shows speaker notes on the presenter's screen while the audience views the slideshow.

Excel Basics

• Excel is used to create and manipulate spreadsheets for analysis, calculations, and visualization.
• Key features:
  • Creating worksheets and workbooks
  • Entering and formatting data in cells
  • Using formulas and functions for calculations
  • Creating charts and graphs to visualize data
  • Filtering and sorting data
  • Pivot tables to summarize and analyze data
• Excel's Ribbon interface tabs include "File," "Home," "Insert," "Page Layout," "Formulas," "Data," "Review," and "View."
• A workbook contains one or more worksheets.
• A worksheet contains a grid of rows and columns for data entry.
• Cells, the intersection of rows and columns, are identified by a cell reference, such as A1 or B2.
• Formulas begin with an equals sign (=) and perform calculations using cell references, operators, and functions.
• Functions are predefined formulas that perform calculations, such as SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT.
• Charts and graphs visually represent data in various formats.
• Pivot tables enable data summarization by grouping and aggregating data.
• Common file extensions for Excel workbooks include .xls and .xlsx.