When you buy modern Windows, you get a word-processing program free! That word-processing program is called WordPad. It’s one of the Windows accessories.

To use WordPad, get the Accessories menu onto the screen (by clicking Start then “All Programs” then “Accessories”) and then click “WordPad.” You’ll see the WordPad window.

In the window’s top right corner, you see the X button. Next to the X button is the resize button (which is also called the maximize/restore button) Clicking the resize button changes the window’s size.

Try clicking the resize button: see the window’s size change! Try clicking the resize button again: see the window’s size change again!

If the window is small, clicking the resize button makes the window become huge so it consumes the whole screen. If the window is huge and consumes the whole screen, clicking the resize button makes the window become small.

If the window consumes the whole screen, the window is said to be maximized. If the window is smaller, the window is said to be restored to a small size.

Click the resize button if necessary, so that the WordPad window consumes the whole screen (and is maximized).

Now that the WordPad window consumes the whole screen, you can easily do word processing: you can easily type words and sentences. Try it! Type whatever sentences you wish to make up. For example, try typing a memo to your friends, or a story, or a poem. Be creative! Whatever you type is called a document.

Use the keyboard

Read the section called “Examine the keyboard,” which is on page 77. Here are more hints to help you type.…

Capitals To capitalize a letter of the alphabet, type that letter while holding down the Shift key. (One Shift key is next to the Z key; the other Shift key is next to the question-mark key. Each Shift key has an up-arrow on it.)

To capitalize a whole passage, tap the Caps Lock key, then type the passage. The computer will automatically capitalize the passage as you type it. When you finish typing the passage, tap the Caps Lock key again: that tells the computer to stop capitalizing.

Backspace key If you make a mistake, press the Backspace key. That makes the computer erase the last character you typed. (The Backspace key is in the top right corner of the keyboard’s main section. It’s to the right of the + key, and it has a left-arrow on it.)

To erase the last two characters you typed, press the Backspace key twice.

Word wrap If you’re typing near the screen’s right edge, and you type a word that’s too long to fit on the screen, the computer will automatically move the word to the line below. Moving the word to the line below is called word wrap.

If you’re using Windows XP, make word wrap work properly by doing this (unless you or your colleagues did so already):

Enter key When you finish typing a paragraph, press the Enter key. That makes the computer move to the line underneath so you can start typing the next paragraph.

Windows 7 automatically leaves a slight gap between the paragraphs, to separate them. If you want Windows 7 to leave a bigger gap between the paragraphs — or want Windows XP or Vista to double-space between the paragraphs — press the Enter key twice instead of once.

Tab key If you want to indent a line (such as the first line of a paragraph), begin the line by pressing the Tab key. The computer will indent the line a half inch.

Nudge a phrase To move a phrase toward the right, press the Tab key several times before typing the phrase. To move a phrase down, press the Enter key several times before typing the phrase.

Ctrl symbols On your keyboard, below the two Shift keys, are two Control keys, which say “Ctrl” on them. You can use them to type special symbols:

Alt symbols You can type these alternative symbols:

For example, here’s how to type the symbol ¢, whose code number is 155. Hold down the Alt key; and while you keep holding down the Alt key, type 155 by using the numeric keypad (the number keys on the far right side of the keyboard). When you finish typing 155, lift your finger from the Alt key, and you’ll see ¢ on your screen! Try it!

That chart skips numbers whose results are unreliable (producing different results on different printers and on different versions of Windows).

Windows copied that chart from DOS. But Windows goes beyond DOS by letting you also use this fancier chart:

For example, here’s how to type the symbol ©, whose code number is 0169: while holding down the Alt key, type 0169 on the numeric keypad.

Scroll arrows

If your document contains too many lines to fit on the screen, the screen will show just part of the document, accompanied by two arrows at the screen’s right edge: a scroll-up arrow and a scroll-down arrow.

Insert characters

To insert extra characters anywhere in your document, click where you want the extra characters to appear (by moving the mouse’s pointer there and then pressing the mouse’s button). Then type the extra characters.

For example, suppose you typed the word “fat” and want to change it to “fault”. Click between the “a” and the “t”, then type “ul”.

(When you’re using Windows, notice that you click between letters, not on letters.)

As you type the extra characters, the screen’s other characters move out of the way to make room for the extra characters.

While you’re inserting the extra characters, you can erase nearby mistakes by pressing the Backspace key or Delete key. The Backspace key erases the character that’s before the mouse’s pointer. The Delete key erases the character that’s after the mouse’s pointer.

Split a paragraph

Here’s how to split a long paragraph in half, to form two short paragraphs.

Decide which word should begin the second short paragraph. Click the left edge of that word’s first letter.

Press the Backspace key (to erase the space before that word), then press the Enter key. Now you’ve split the long paragraph in two!

If you want to double-space between the two short paragraphs, press the Enter key again. If you want to indent the second paragraph, press the Tab key.

Combine paragraphs

After typing two paragraphs, here’s how to combine them, to form a single paragraph that’s longer.

Click at the end of the first paragraph. Press the Delete key several times, to delete unwanted Enters and Tabs. Now you’ve combined the two paragraphs into one!

Then press the Space bar (to insert a space between the two sentences).

Movement keys

To move to different parts of your document, you can use your mouse. To move faster, press these keys instead:

On notebook computers (which have narrow keys), the Page Down key is labeled “Pg Dn” and the Page Up key is labeled “Pg Up”.

Here’s what happens if you press the movement keys while holding down the Ctrl key:

Congratulations

You’ve mastered the basics of WordPad. Now let’s explore WordPad’s advanced features.…

The version of WordPad that comes in Windows 7 is called WordPad 7. Here are its advanced features. (If you have Windows XP or Vista instead, skip ahead to the next section, called “WordPad classic.”)

Zoom slider

At the screen’s bottom-right corner, you see a plus sign (+). Left of it, you see a minus sign (-). Between those signs, you see the zoom slider, which is a pentagon.

Try this experiment: drag the zoom slider toward the right. Here’s how:

If you drag the zoom slider toward the right, the screen’s characters enlarge, so you can read them even if you’re sitting far from the screen or have poor vision. It’s like looking at the document through a magnifying glass: the document looks enlarged, so you can see the details of each word and character more clearly; but not as many words and characters fit on the screen. Use the arrow keys to see different parts of the page.

If you drag that slider toward the left, the screen’s characters shrink, so they’re harder to read but you can fit more characters and pages onto the screen.

When you finish playing with the zoom slider, put it back to its normal position (the middle), so the number left of the minus sign is “100%” (or a number close to 100%, such “98%”), by dragging the slider (or pressing the keyboard’s arrow keys, which give you more accurate control).

All delete

Here’s how to delete the entire document, so you can start over:

Quick Access Toolbar

At the screen’s top-left corner, you see a gray bar (called the Quick Access Toolbar), which includes these icons (little pictures) called buttons:

If you point at a button (by moving your mouse’s arrow there, without clicking), the computer will tell you the button’s name.

Here’s how to use those buttons.…

Save button To save the document you’ve been typing (copy it onto the disk), click the Save button.

If you haven’t saved the document before, the computer will say “File name”. Invent a name for your document. Type the name and press Enter.

That makes the computer copy the document onto the hard disk. For example, if you named the document “mary”, the computer puts a document called mary.rtf into the Documents folder. If you wish, you can prove it by doing this:

Afterwards, if you change your mind and want to do more editing, go ahead! When you finish that extra editing, save it by clicking the Save button again.

Save often! If you’re typing a long document, click the Save button about every 10 minutes. Click it whenever you get to a good stopping place and think, “What I’ve typed so far looks good!” Then if an accident happens, you’ll lose at most 10 minutes of work, and you can return to the last version you felt good about.

Instead of clicking the Save button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the S key (which stands for “Save”).

Undo button If you make a mistake (such as accidentally deleting some text or accidentally inserting some useless text), click the Undo button (which is an arrow turning back). That makes the computer undo your last activity, so your text returns to the way it looked before you made your boo-boo. (To undo your last two activities, click the Undo button twice.)

Instead of clicking the Undo button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the Z key (which stands for “Zap”).

If you click the Undo button, the computer might undo a different activity than you expected. For example, it might even erase everything you typed! If clicking the Undo button accidentally makes the text look even worse instead of better, and you wish you hadn’t clicked the Undo button, you can “undo the undo” by clicking the Redo button (which is next to the Undo button and shows a blue arrow curving to the right, so it bends forward).

Instead of clicking the Redo button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the Y key (which stands for “Yes, I do want it, very much”).

WordPad button

Near the screen’s top-left corner, just below the Save button, you see the WordPad button. Click it. Then you see the WordPad menu:

From that menu, choose whatever you wish (by clicking it). Here are the most popular choices.…

Save If you choose Save from the WordPad menu (by clicking the word “Save” after clicking the WordPad button), you get the same result as clicking the Save button that’s on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Save as Suppose you’ve already saved a document then edited it some more, but you’re not sure you like the new editing. Try this experiment.…

Choose “Save as” from the WordPad menu (by clicking the phrase “Save as” after clicking the WordPad button); when you do that, make sure you click the phrase “Save as”, not just the arrow next to it.

Then invent (and type) a new name for the document. At the end of the new name, press Enter.

The computer will copy the document’s new, edited version onto the hard disk. That new, edited version will have the new name you invented.

The document’s old original version will be on the disk also and keep its old original name. The disk will contain both versions of the document.

How to finish

When you finish working on a document, choose Exit or New or a previous document from the WordPad menu.

Exit Whenever you want to stop using WordPad, choose Exit from the WordPad menu (or click the WordPad window’s X button).

New If you choose New (instead of Exit) from the WordPad menu, the computer will let you start typing a new, different document.

A previous document If you want to reuse a previous document you had saved, click the WordPad button. To the right of the WordPad button, you see a list of the 9 documents you used most recently: that list starts with the most recent. Click whichever document you want to use. If you want to use a different document, which is not on that list of 9, do this:

Didn’t save? If you didn’t save your document before doing those “how to finish” procedures, the computer asks, “Do you want to save?” If you click “Save”, the computer copies your document’s most recent version to the hard disk; if you click “Don’t Save” instead, the computer ignores and forgets your most recent editing.

How to hide from the recently-used list To the right of the WordPad menu, you see a list of the 9 documents you used most recently. That list might annoy you, for two reasons:

If the document list annoys you, delete documents from it, as follows.…

Print

Here’s how to print a document onto paper.

Make sure you’ve bought a printer, attached it to the computer, turned the printer’s power on, and put paper into the printer.

If your computer has never used that printer before, do this:

Choose Print from the WordPad menu (by clicking the word “Print” after clicking the WordPad button); when you do that, make sure you click the word “Print”, not just the arrow next to it.

Press Enter. The computer will print the document onto paper.

Font group

To make sure your computer is acting normally, click the word “Home” (which is near the screen’s top-left corner).

Then you see these 5 words: Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Insert, Editing. Above each word, you see a group of icons. I’ll explain how to use each group. Let’s start with the Font group, which looks like this:

Underline Here’s how to underline a phrase (like this).

Activate the Underline button (which says U on it) by clicking it. Activating the button makes the button turn orange. Then type the phrase you want underlined. Then deactivate the Underline button (by clicking it again).

Go ahead: try it now! Practice using the underline button before you progress to more advanced buttons!

Instead of clicking the Underline button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the U key.

Bold Here’s how to make a phrase be bold (like this). Activate the Bold button (which says B on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want emboldened. Then deactivate the Bold button (by clicking it again).

Here’s how to make a phrase be bold and underlined (like this). Activate the Bold and Underline buttons (by clicking them both). Then type the phrase. Then deactivate those buttons (by clicking them again).

Instead of clicking the Bold button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the B key.

Italic Here’s how to italicize a phrase (like this). Activate the Italic button (which says I on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want italicized. Then deactivate the Italic button (by clicking it again).

Instead of clicking the Italic button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the I key.

Superscript Here’s how to make a phrase be tiny and raised (^{like this}). Activate the Superscript button (which says x² on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want superscripted. Then deactivate the Superscript button (by clicking it again).

The superscript button helps you type math formulas, such as the Pythagorean Theorem (a² + b² = c²).

Subscript Here’s how to make a phrase be tiny and lowered (_{like this}). Activate the Subscript button (which says x₂ on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want subscripted. Then deactivate the Superscript button (by clicking it again).

The subscript button helps you type math formulas, such as the Fibonacci Series (F_n+2 = F_n + F_n+1) and the Slope Formula: m = (y₂ - y₁) / (x₂ - x₁).

Strikethrough Here’s how to make a phrase be crossed out (like this). Activate the Strikethrough button (which says abc on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want crossed out. Then deactivate the Strikethrough button (by clicking it again).

The Strikethrough button helps you type semi-censored sentences, such as “You’re an asshole showing little sympathy for the team’s needs.”

Font size Look at the Font Size box (which has a number in it). Usually that box contains the number 11, so you’re typing characters that are 11 points high.

Here’s how to type characters that are bigger or smaller.…

Any new characters you type afterwards will be the size you chose. (Characters typed earlier don’t change size.)

The popular sizes look like this:

When you finish typing the enlarged or reduced characters, here’s how to return to typing characters that are normal size (11 points high): click the down-arrow that’s to the right of the Font Size box, then click 11.

Font You see a box saying “Calibri”. That’s called the Font box.

Next to that box is the symbol 6. Click it.

You’ll start seeing the Font menu, which is a list of fonts in alphabetical order. (To see the rest of the list, press the down-arrow key or rotate the mouse’s wheel toward you.)

Click whichever font you want. Though Microsoft likes the font called “Calibri”, the best fonts are “Times New Roman”, “Tahoma”, “Comic Sans MS”, and “Courier New”. Here’s how they look:

After you’ve clicked a font, any new characters you type will be in that font. (The characters you typed earlier remain unaffected.)

When you finish typing in that font, here’s how you can return to typing characters in the Calibri font: click the Font box’s down-arrow then click “Calibri”.

Text color Normally, the characters you type are black. Here’s how to make them a different color, such as red.

Look at the Text color button, which has an underlined A on it. Notice the color of the A’s underline. If it’s the color you want, click the underline. If it’s not the color you want, do this instead:

Afterwards, whatever characters you type will be in the color you chose. (The characters you typed earlier remain unaffected.)

When you finish typing in that color, here’s how to return to typing characters that are normal (black): click the down-arrow that’s to the right of the A’s underline, then click “Automatic” (which means “normal”).

Text highlight color Normally, the characters have a white background, as if they were on plain paper. Here’s how to make the background be a different color, such as yellow, as if you were using a yellow highlighting pen.

Look at the Text highlight color button, which is just left of the Text color button and shows a pen writing on paper. Notice the paper’s color. If it’s the color you want, click the underline. If it’s not the color you want (if it’s just white or pale blue), do this instead:

Afterwards, whatever characters you type will be highlighted in the background color you chose. (The characters you typed earlier remain unaffected.)

When you finish using that highlighter, here’s how to return to typing normal characters (on a white background): click the Text color button’s down-arrow, then click “No color” (which means “normal”).

Select

Here’s how to dramatically change a phrase you typed.

Point at the phrase’s beginning. Then hold down the mouse’s left button; and while you keep holding down that button, move to the phrase’s end.

(Moving the mouse while holding down the left button is called dragging. You’re dragging from the phrase’s beginning to the phrase’s end.)

The phrase you dragged across gets highlighted: its white background  turns blue. Turning the phrase blue is called selecting the phrase.

Then say what to do to the phrase. For example, choose one of these activities:

Go ahead! Try it now! It’s fun!

Other ways to select The usual way to select a phrase is to point at the phrase’s beginning, then drag to the phrase’s end. But sometimes other methods are faster!

To select a phrase, choose one of these methods.…

To select several phrases at once, do this procedure:

Document vanishes While you’re typing a document, if the whole document suddenly disappears, you accidentally deleted it. Here’s why:

Cure:

Drag a phrase To move a phrase to a new location, just “select the phrase, and then drag from the phrase’s middle to the new location.” Here are the details:

In that procedure, you drag the phrase to a new location then drop it there. That procedure is called drag & drop.

Clipboard group

In the Clipboard group, you see 3 choices: Cut, Paste, and Copy.

Cut and paste Here’s another way to move a phrase to a new location.

Select the phrase (by dragging across it with the mouse, so the phrase turns blue). Click the Cut button (which looks like a pair of scissors). The phrase will vanish from its original location.

Click the new location where you want the phrase to reappear. Then click the Paste button’s picture of a clipboard (not the word “Paste”). The phrase will appear at that new location.

Here are shortcuts:

Copy Here’s another way to copy a phrase, so the phrase appears in your document twice.

Select the phrase (by dragging across it with the mouse, so the phrase turns blue). Click the Copy button (which looks like a pair of dog-eared pages). Click where you want the copy of the phrase to appear, and click the Paste button’s clipboard. The copy will appear at the new location, so the phrase will be in your document twice.

If you want the phrase to appear in your document a third time, click where you want that additional copy to appear, then click the Paste button’s clipboard again. If you want the phrase to appear in your document a fourth time, click where you want that additional copy, then click the Paste button’s clipboard again.

Here’s a shortcut: instead of clicking the Copy button, you can press Ctrl with C.

Paragraph group

The Paragraph group looks like this:

Alignment buttons While typing a line, you can click one of these alignment buttons:

     Align     Center       Align   Justify

     text                            text

     left                         right

Clicking the Center button makes the line be centered,

Clicking the Align text right button makes the line be at the right margin,

Clicking the Align text left button makes the line be at the left margin,

Clicking one of those buttons affects not just the line you’re typing but also all other lines in the same paragraph.

Clicking the Justify button makes the paragraph be justified, so the paragraph’s bottom line is at the left margin, and each of the paragraph’s other lines is at both margins (by inserting extra space between the words),

When you click one of those alignment buttons, you’re activating it. That button deactivates when you click a different alignment button instead.

When you start typing a new document, the computer assumes you want the document to be aligned left, so the computer activates the Align Left button. If you want a different alignment, click a different alignment button instead.

Examples:

Clicking one of those alignment buttons affects the entire paragraph you’re typing, but the paragraphs you typed earlier remain unaffected, unless you do this:

When you start typing a new paragraph, the computer gives that paragraph the same alignment as the paragraph above, unless you say differently (by clicking one of the alignment buttons).

Here’s how to type a centered title:

Here are shortcuts:

Line spacing While typing a paragraph, you can click the Line Spacing button (which has an up-arrow and down-arrow on it), which makes this menu appear:

Clicking “2.0” makes the paragraph be double-spaced (so there’s a blank line under each line). Clicking “1.0” makes the paragraph be single-spaced (without extra space under the lines). Clicking “1.15” makes the paragraph have a little extra space between each pair of lines; that’s what the computer assumes you want if you don’t say otherwise.

The computer assumes you want a 10-point-high blank space under the paragraph, to separate that paragraph from the paragraph below. If you don’t want that space, remove the checkmark that’s left of “Add 10pt space after paragraphs” (by clicking it).

Indentation Before typing a paragraph, you can press the Tab key. That makes the computer indent the paragraph’s first line, half an inch.

If you want to indent all lines in the paragraph, do this instead of pressing the Tab key: while typing the paragraph, click the Increase indent button (which shows a right-arrow pointing at lines). That makes the computer indent all lines in the paragraph. (The paragraphs you typed earlier remain unaffected.)

When you start typing a new paragraph, the computer indents that paragraph if the paragraph above it was indented.

If you indented a paragraph by clicking the Increase Indent button but then change your mind, here’s how to unindent the paragraph: click in the paragraph, then click the Decrease indent button (which shows a left-arrow pointing from lines).

For example, suppose you start typing a new document. Here’s how to make just paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 be indented.

To indent a paragraph you typed earlier, click in the middle of that paragraph and then click the Increase Indent button. To unindent a paragraph you typed earlier, click in its middle and then click the Decrease Indent button.

If you click the Increase indent button twice instead of just once, the computer will indent the paragraph farther. After typing that doubly indented paragraph, if you want the paragraph below to be unindented you must click the Decrease indent button twice.

Each time you click the Increase Indent button, the computer indents the paragraph a half inch farther. Each time you click the Decrease indent button, the computer indents the paragraph a half inch less.

Start a list Here’s a different way to indent an entire paragraph: while typing the paragraph, activate the Start a list button (which is the third button in the Paragraph group) by clicking it. That makes the computer indent the paragraph and also put a bullet (the symbol ·) to the left of the paragraph’s first line. That’s called a bulleted paragraph. The bullet symbol is indented a quarter inch; the paragraph’s words are indented a half inch.

After you’ve typed a bulleted paragraph, any new paragraphs you type underneath will be bulleted also — so you’re creating a list of bulleted paragraphs — until you request an unbulleted paragraph (by deactivating the Start a list button).

Here’s how to request different symbols instead of the bullet symbol: instead of clicking the Start a list button, click that button’s down-arrow. Then you see 7 popular choices:

Click the choice you want. Your choice affects the current paragraph. It also affects the paragraphs underneath that are part of the same list. It also affects each list you start typing in the future (until you choose different symbols instead or start a new document).

Editing group

In the Editing group, you see 3 choices: Find, Replace, and “Select all”.

Find Here’s how to make the computer search through your document to find whether you’ve used the word “love”:

Suppose you’ve written a history of America and want to find the part where you started talking about Lincoln. If you forget what page that was, no problem! Just put the cursor at the document’s beginning, click Find, type “Lincoln”, and press Enter.

Replace You can search for a word and replace it with a different word. For example, here’s how to change each “love” in your document to “idolize”:

The computer preserves capitalization. For example, if the document said —

the computer changes it to:

Notice that when told to change “love” to “idolize”, the computer unfortunately also changes “glove” to “gidolize”.

The Replace command helps you zip through many chores:

Select all To select everything in the document (so the whole document is highlighted in blue), use one of these methods:

Insert group

Here’s how to make the computer type the date & time.

In the Insert group, click “Date and time”. The computer will show a list of formats, like this:

Double-click the format you want. The computer will type the date or time in the format you requested.

The version of WordPad that comes in Windows XP & Vista is called WordPad classic. Here are its advanced features. (If you have Windows 7 instead, skip this section.)

Buttons

Near the screen’s top, you see these buttons:

Here is each button’s name:

      Bold     Italic  Underline  Color  AlignLeft  Center  AlignRight  Bullets

If you forget a button’s name, try this trick: point at the button (by using the mouse but without clicking), then wait a second. Underneath the button, you’ll see the button’s name; and at the screen’s bottom-left corner, you’ll see a short explanation of what the button does.

To use a button, activate it by clicking it with the mouse. Here are the details.…

Underline Here’s how to underline a phrase (like this). Activate the Underline button (which says U on it) by clicking it. Activating the button changes its appearance:

Then type the phrase you want underlined. Then deactivate the Underline button (by clicking it again).

Go ahead: try it now! Practice using the Underline button before you progress to more advanced buttons!

Instead of clicking the Underline button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the U key.

Fancy formats Your version resembles WordPad 7, so read these sections on page 85:

Color Here’s how to change a phrase’s color.

Click the Color button. You’ll see a list of 15 colors (plus “White” and “Automatic”). Click the color you want. Then type the phrase you want colorized.

Afterwards, click the Color button again and click “Black”.

Alignment While typing a line, you can click one of these alignment buttons: Center, Align Left, or Align Right.

Clicking the Center button makes the line be centered,

Clicking the Align Right button makes the line be at the right margin,

Clicking the Align Left button makes the line be at the left margin,

Clicking one of those buttons affects not just the line you’re typing but also all other lines in the same paragraph. When you click one of those buttons, you’re activating it. That button deactivates when you click a different alignment button instead.

When you start typing a new document, the computer assumes you want the document to be aligned left, so the computer activates the Align Left button. If you want a different alignment, click a different alignment button instead.

Clicking an alignment button affects the entire paragraph you’re typing, but the paragraphs you typed earlier remain unaffected, unless you do this:

When you start typing a new paragraph, the computer gives the new paragraph the same alignment as the paragraph above, unless you say differently (by clicking one of the alignment buttons).

Here’s how to create a centered title. Press the Enter key twice (to leave a big blank space above the title). Then click the Center button (so the title will be centered) and the Bold button (so the title will be bold), type the words you want to be in the title, and press the Enter key afterwards. Congratulations: you’ve created a centered title! Next, make the paragraph underneath the title be normal: make that paragraph be uncentered (click the Align Left button) and make it be unbolded (deactivate the Bold button, by clicking it).

Bullets While you’re typing a paragraph, you can activate the Bullets button (by clicking it). That makes the computer indent the entire paragraph and also put a bullet (the symbol ·) to the left of the paragraph’s first line. That’s called a
bulleted paragraph.

After you’ve typed a bulleted paragraph, any new paragraphs you type underneath will be bulleted also — until you request an unbulleted paragraph (by deactivating the Bullets button).

Undo

If you make a mistake (such as accidentally deleting some text or accidentally inserting some useless text), click the Undo button, which is near the screen’s top and shows an arrow curving back to the left. The arrow is blue (unless you haven’t typed anything yet).

Clicking the Undo button makes the computer undo your last activity, so your text returns to the way it looked before you made your boo-boo. (To undo your last two activities, click the Undo button twice.)

Instead of clicking the Undo button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the Z key (which stands for “Zap”).

Font Size

Left of the Bold button, the screen shows a box containing the number 10. That’s called the Font Size box. The 10 in it means the characters you’re typing are 10 points high.

If you change that number to 20, the characters will be twice as high (and also twice as wide). To change the number to 20, click in the Font Size box, then type 20 and press Enter. Try it! Any new characters you type afterwards will be the size you chose. (Characters typed earlier don’t change size.)

You can make the font size be 10 or 20 or any other size you like. For best results, pick a number from 8 to 72. (If you pick a number smaller than 8 or bigger than 72, the result is ugly.) The number can end in .5; for example, you can pick 8 or 8.5 or 9 or 9.5 or 10.

Font

At the screen’s left edge, you see a box saying “Arial”. That’s called the Font box.

Next to that box is the symbol 6. Click it.

You’ll see the Font menu, which is a list of fonts in alphabetical order. (To see the rest of the list, press the up-arrow or down-arrow keys.)

Click whichever font you want. To avoid hassles, choose a font that has “TT” or “O” in front of it. (The “TT” means it’s a TrueType font. The “O” means it’s an OpenType font, which is even better.)

For most purposes, the best fonts are:

All delete

Here’s how to delete the entire document, so you can start over. While holding down the Ctrl key, press the A key (which means “all”). All of the document gets highlighted: its white background turns blue. Then press the Delete key. All of the document disappears, so you can start over!

Select

Here’s how to change a phrase you typed previously.

Point at the phrase’s beginning. Then hold down the mouse’s left button; and while you keep holding down that button, move to the phrase’s end.

(Moving the mouse while holding down the left button is called dragging. You’re dragging from the phrase’s beginning to the phrase’s end.)

The phrase that you dragged across gets highlighted: its white background turns blue. Highlighting the phrase that way is called selecting the phrase.

Then say what to do to the phrase. For example, choose one of these activities:

Go ahead! Try it now! It’s fun!

Advanced selection Your version resembles WordPad 7, so read these sections on page 87:

Extra buttons

Near the screen’s top-left corner, you see these extra buttons:

   New     Open     Save          Print   PrintPreview

Here’s how to use them.…

Save Here’s how to save the document (copy it onto the hard disk). Click the Save button. Then invent a name for the document. The name can be short (such as “Joe”) or long (such as “Stupidest Memo of 2011”). At the name’s end, press the Enter key. Then the computer will copy the document onto the disk.

Afterwards, if you change your mind and want to do more editing, go ahead! When you finish that extra editing, save it by clicking the Save button again.

Save often! If you’re typing a long document, click the Save button about every 10 minutes. Click it whenever you get to a good stopping place and think, “What I’ve typed so far looks good!” Then if an accident happens, you’ll lose at most 10 minutes of work, and you can return to the last version you felt good about.

Instead of clicking the Save button, you can use this shortcut: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the S key (which stands for “Save”).

Print To print the document onto paper, click the Print button.

Print Preview If you’re wondering what a page will look like but don’t want to waste a sheet of paper to find out, click the Print Preview button. The computer will show you a mock-up of what the entire page will look like: you’ll see the whole page, shrunk to fit on the screen, so the characters on the page appear very tiny. Those characters are too tiny to read, but you’ll see the page’s overall appearance: how much of the page is filled up, which parts of the page are blank, and whether the info on the page is centered. When you finish admiring that mock-up, click the word “Close”.

Finishing When you finish working on a document, you can click the New button or the Open button. If you click the New button and then press Enter, the computer will let you start typing a new document. If instead you click the Open button, here’s what happens:

When you finish using WordPad, click the X button (at the screen’s top right corner). That closes the WordPad window, so the WordPad window disappears.

Before the computer obeys the New button, Open button, or X button, the computer checks whether you saved your document. If you didn’t save your document, here’s the consequence in Windows XP:

Here’s the consequence in Windows Vista: