Categories
Microsoft Word

The Home Tab

All Office applications have a Home tab, which is the default tab of all Office applications. The home tab in Microsoft Word has five groups of related commands:

Clipboard

When you writing a document, you might need to Copy some text, an image, or other item and Paste it in various places. Or, you might want to use the Cut command to move a piece of text or other item from its original location and Paste it elsewhere (see, Office Clipboard). Or, you might need to copy formatting and apply it on various pieces of text using the Format Painter.

Home Tab > Clipboard Group
  1. Cut
    The Cut command (Ctrl+X) cuts the selection and keeps it in the clipboard.
  2. Copy
    The Copy command (Ctrl+C) copies the selection to the clipboard.
  3. Paste
    The Paste command (Ctrl+V) pastes the contents from the clipboard to where you want them. The Paste command’s drop-down menu contains the following options:
    • Paste Options
      The available options vary depending on the type of content that you have cut or copied to the Clipboard.
    • Paste Special
      This option enables you to convert the format of pasted item.
    • Set Default Paste
      Allows you to customize the behavior of paste command.
  4. Format Painter
    This command allows you to copy multiple formats from selected text to another, instead of repeating the formatting manually over and over.
  5. Clipboard Task Pane
    The Clipboard pane lists your copied items and allows you to paste any of its items into the current document.

Font

The options under this tab include font size, font type, increase and decrease font, bold, underline, and italic.

Home Tab > Font Group
  1. Font
    The Font drop-down menu provides the list of available fonts which you can apply to selected text.
  2. Font Size
    The Font Size drop-down menu allows you to set the size of selected text.
  3. Increate Font Size
    You can use this command (or keyboard shortcut CTRL+Shift+>) to increase the font size of the selected text to the next largest size.
  4. Decrease Font Size
    You can use this command (or keyboard shortcut CTRL+Shift+<) to decrease the font size of the selected text to the next smaller size.
  5. Change Case
    Use this command to change the case of selected text. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Shift+F3 to change the case of selected text. Clicking the Change Case command button displays the following options:
    • Sentence case
      Capitalizes the first word in the selected text.
    • lowercase
      Convert the selected text to lowercase.
    • UPPERCASE
      Convert the selected text to uppercase (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+A).
    • Capitalized Each Word
      Capitalizes the first letter of each word.
    • tOGGLE cASE
      Reverses the case of each letter in the selected text.
  6. Clear All Formatting
    This command removes all the formatting from the selected text.
  7. Bold
    This command (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+B) makes the selected text bold.
  8. Italic
    This command (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I) makes the selected text italic.
  9. Underline
    This command (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U) adds a line under the selected text. The Underline drop-down menu provides different types of lines (dotted, thick, dashed, etc.) which you can easily choose from. You also can change the color of Underline by using the drop-down menu.
  10. Strikethrough
    Strike through the selected text. It is commonly used to describe the previous or rejected text.
  11. Subscript
    Superscript text appears below the line, such as 52. This command makes the selected text subscript, the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+=.
  12. Superscript
    Superscript text appears above the line, such as 52. This command makes the selected text superscript, the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift++.
  13. Text Effects and Typography
    You can use menu to apply formatting that makes the selected text look like a WordArt object.
  14. Text Highlight Color
    The command highlights a color (choose from the drop-down menu) to the text. You can activate this command without first selecting the text to randomly highlight the text. Choose Stop Highlighting from the drop-down menu or press Esc key to deactivate this command.
  15. Font Color
    This command changes the color of the selected text. You can choose a custom color for your text from the command’s drop-down menu.
  16. Font Dialog Box
    Press CTRL+D or click the dialog box launcher button in the bottom-right corner of the Font group to open the Font dialog box. This dialog box contains all your font-formatting in a neatly organized fashion.

Paragraph

The paragraph group contains lists (number, bulleted and multilevel), indent, sort, alignment, spacing and many more commands to set the look of a paragraph.

Home Tab > Paragraph Group
  1. Bullets
    Create a Bulleted List.
  2. Numbering
    Create a Numbered List.
  3. Multilevel List
    Create a Numbered List with several levels.
  4. Decrease Indent
    This command moves the paragraph closer to the page margin (left-hand side) by decreasing the indent level.
  5. Increase Indent
    This command moves the paragraph farther from the page margin (right-hand side) by increase the indent level.
  6. Sort
    This command enables you to sort any text. Clicking Sort command button opens the Sort Text dialog box where you can specify the details for the sort.
  7. Show/Hide Formatting Symbols
    Hide or show the enter key, spacebar, and other nonprinting characters.
  8. Align Left
    This command aligns the current paragraph (or a selection) to the left. You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L to left-align a paragraph (or a selection).
  9. Center
    This command aligns the current paragraph (or a selection) in the center of the page. To center a paragraph (or selection), press Ctrl+E keyboard shortcut.
  10. Align Right
    This command aligns the current paragraph (or a selection) the right. To right align a paragraph, press Ctrl+R keyboard shortcut.
  11. Justify
    The justify command is very useful for creating a professional document. Its lines-up neatly on the both sides of a paragraph. Press Ctrl+J keyboard shortcut to justify a paragraph.
  12. Line and Paragraph Spacing
    This command allows you to allocate the space between lines of text or between paragraphs.
  13. Shading
    This command applies a color background shade behind a heading, a paragraph, or a table cell to draw your readers’ attention.
  14. Borders
    This command applies the border to the selected text. The Border command menu displays a list of border options.
  15. Paragraph Dialog Box
    Clicking the dialog box launcher opens the Paragraph dialog box with more detailed options for the commands in the group.

Styles

The styles group enables you to format a document more quickly and giving it a more professional look.

Home Tab > Styles Group

Style Pane
Click the dialog box launcher to display Styles pane. The Styles pane lists the recommended styles. This pane enables you to quickly preview styles and create new styles.

Editing

The Editing group helps you to select, find or replace the text, objects and formatting.

Home Tab > Editing Group
  1. Find
    Clicking this command (or pressing Ctrl+F) open the Navigation pane. The Find’s drop-down menu contains more options for finding text in your document:
    • Find
      Opens the Navigation pane. The keyboard shortcut for this command is Ctrl+F.
    • Advanced Find
      Opens the Find and Replace dialog box with Find tab selected.
    • Go To
      Open the Find and Replace dialog box with Go To tab selected.
      This command enables you to easily find locations or objects in the document. The keyboard shortcut for this command is Ctrl+G.
  2. Replace
    Opens the Find and Replace dialog box with Replace tab selected. This command enables you to replace formatting, a specific word or phrase for another. The keyboard shortcut for this command is Ctrl+H.
  3. Select
    • Select All
      This command (or pressing Ctrl+A) selects everything (text and objects etc.) in the current document.
    • Select Objects
      Click this command button and drag a rectangle on the page to surround all the objects that you want to select.
    • Select All Text with Similar Formatting
      This command enables you to quickly select the text that has similar formatting.
    • Selection Pane
      Selection pane lists all the objects created by you. Using this pane you can select objects and make them visible or hidden in the current document.