How to use the tool bars and menus in MS Word

The large number of different functions available in word can be applied in one of three different ways:

Via a wide variety of "Buttons" available directly on any of the "Tool Bars" e.g. The "Standard" tool bar

Via an even larger number of items available in the drop down menus available on the "Menu Bar":

Via keyboard shortcuts associated with any of these buttons &/or menu items. Unfortunately this latter technique, though a standard function of most Windows programs can be relatively confusing. As such it is best to stick to a small number of Standard Keyboard Shortcuts.

This section will therefore cover the first two techniques and, rather than present an exhaustive breakdown of all the functions in Word, will concentrate on the most useful functions available via Toolbar buttons and Menu items.

1.0 Toolbars and their most useful function buttons

There are currently a total of 16 different tool bars available for display as follows:

Menu: View > Toolbars -. then check required tool bar

The 6 most useful Word Tool bars are checked in the above list and dealt with next in order of appearance:

1.1 The Standard Toolbar

Button	Associated function
	Should be used to add transcriptions during finalization
	Can be used to copy the style of selected text and paint it onto other text

1.2 The Formatting Toolbar

Button	Associated function
	Double Indent : Adds double indents to selected text
	Remove Double Indent : Removes double indents from selected text
	Page Setup: Invokes the Page Setup dialog
	Head/Foot. :Opens the page header and associated Header and Footer toolbar
	Reset Different First Page : Removes the different first page option
	Continue in Next Page : Inserts the "./." mark in the document footer
	Path File Name: Inserts the file path and file name dynamically
	Subscript : Toggles selected text to and from subscript
	Superscript : Toggles selected text  to and from superscript
	Go To: Invokes the Go To dialog for rapid access to any page
	Print Current Page : Prints the last page the cursor was clicked in.
	Remove Double Paragraph Mark : Removes double paragraph marks from selected text
	Projects : Invokes the Transcription Setup Dialog NB This button is only present when the Project.dot template has been chosen in the  New Document dialog

1.3 The Drawing Toolbar and Draw Submenu

Button	Associated function
Draw	Draw : Invokes the Drawing  submenu (see next)
	Select Objects: May looks like the standard pointer but it is actually necessary to click this icon before click & drag selecting drawing objects

Button	Associated function
	Group: Converts several separate images selected together into a single object
	Grid: Open the Snap to Grid dialog allowing objects to be moved freely or in a stepwise manner

1.4 The Tables and Borders Toolbar

1.5 The lsdd_t toolbar

Button	Associated function
En	Applies English (United Kingdom) to selected text.
Fr	Applies French (Standard) to selected text.
Sp	Applies Spanish (Modern Sort) to selected text.
No	Removes proof reading from selected text
	Show Style Area : Switches to Normal view & shows styles as described in more detail
	Hide Style Area (returns to Page layout View)
	Fixes French problems with auto-correct including spaces after Canada and conversion of "-" NB IT is only necessary to use this button once after each templates update. A second use will provoke an error message. There will be no effect on the English and Spanish installations.

 1.6 The WTO editing Toolbar

Button	Associated function

2.0 The menu bar, the most useful menus and associated functions

2.1 The Menu bar

Despite appearances the Menu bar is NOT another toolbar. For one thing it can not be removed in the same way as any of the other tool bars (see Section 1.0 above) and most importantly it does not contain any function buttons only a series of drop-down menus described next:

2.2 The File Menu

Menu	Button	Associated function

2.3 The Edit Menu

Menu	Button	Associated function

2.4 The View Menu

Menu	Button	Associated function

2.5 The Insert Menu

Menu	Button	Associated function