USING MICROSOFT NOTEPAD   - SIMPLE VERSION

Prepared by Richard Nelson

January 29, 2009

GENERAL

Microsoft Notepad is a word processing program that is included with all versions of Windows. Notepad word processing replaces a typewriter for producing text documents on a computer. For the beginner it is ideal because it is relatively simple. Also what you will learn using Notepad is transferable to Microsoft Works and Microsoft Word which are also used to type on a computer, Microsoft Works and Word are more complicated and powerful than Notepad.

 

RULE #1

STARTING YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM

We are going to start your computer and monitor so you can see what the words below are describing.

 

Here are the rules for starting your computer system:

1.     TURN ON THE MONITOR BY FIRMLY BUT BRIEFLY PRESSING THE BUTTON ON THE FRONT BELOW THE SCREEN

2.     THEN TURN ON THE COMPUTER CONSOLE BY FIRMLY BUT BRIEFLY PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON ABOUT HALF WAY DOWN ON THE FRONT PANEL OF THE CONSOLE. WAIT WHILE THE COMPUTER SYSTEM STARTS UP IT MAY TAKE QUITE AWHILE. YOU SHOULD SEE THE DESKTOP SCREEN.

 

THE DESKTOP

The Desktop on a computer screen is similar to the top of an office desk. That is where much of the work on a computer starts. The desktop of a computer displays icons that represent computer work activities. These work activities are called computer programs or software. Remember computers have two major parts- hardware and software

The hardware is what you can see and the software is what you use to perform work on a computer but cannot.  It is inside the computer console box 

 

 

RULE # 2

CLICKING THE LEFT BUTTON OF THE MOUSE

NOTE: IN THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW, WHEN IT SAYS CLICK IT MEANS TO CLICK THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON. It is important to know that a click is made up of three actions as follows:

 

Here are the rules for left clicking a mouse

1.     Pointing the arrow of the mouse on the screen at an icon or word

2.     Then quickly pushing down on the left mouse button without moving the mouse

3.     And then quickly letting up without moving the mouse 

 

RULE #3

STARTING MICROSOFT NOTEPAD   

STARTING NOTEPAD   FROM THE START BUTTON

On many computers the Notepad icon does not appear on the Desktop. The Notepad icon looks like a regular Notepad with a pen on top of it. If you do not have a Notepad   icon on your desktop, you will have to start it using the Start button found on the lower left side of the monitor screen as follows:

 

Here are the rules for starting Notepad 

1.     Click on the Start button

2.      Slide the mouse arrow up to Programs. Don’t click (on some computers it is called Programs). A new menu will pop out – carefully slide the mouse arrow horizontally over to the new menu.

3.      side the mouse arrow up to Accessories – Ignore any menus that might pop out – don’t click- another new menu will pop out 

4.      Carefully slide you mouse arrow horizontally over to the new menu, and then down to Notepad   and click. (Again ignore any menus that might pop out). That will open the Notepad   word processing program on your monitor screen. 

 

DETERMINING THE PURPOSE OF THE CURSOR

The cursor is the little blinking vertical line in the text area on your screen. The cursor is automatically placed in the text area of Notepad   by design. The cursor indicates where the text begins and where the next character (letter) will be inserted when you type it in from the keyboard. The cursor has other names like: insertion point and place marker. Actually the cursor marks the insertion point on the text screen.

 

In the following exercise we will type in the sentence:  Living in Florida offers many wonderful opportunities, but first we will type in just the first word Living

So type in the letter capital L for the beginning of the word Living and notice what happens. What happens is the cursor moves over one space to the right of L. Next type in the character i.  Notice again that the cursor moves one position to the right. Type the rest for Living - and then peck the space bar. Notice that there is a space between the character g and where the cursor is blinking ready for you to type in the next word. It is important to know that a space at the end of a word in word processing is a character just like any other alphabetical character, and that a word is not complete when doing word processing without a space at the end of each word..

Now type in the next part of the sentence: in Florida.

 

RULE #4

IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE

You can erase mistakes by using either the Backspace key or the Delete key.

Here are the rules for using the Backspace and Delete keys

 

1.     The Backspace key on the keyboard will erase the character to the left of the cursor – One peck on the Backspace key will erase one character.

 

2.     The delete key on the keyboard will erase the character to the right of the cursor.

 

SAVING YOUR NEW DOCUMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME

 

WHAT DOES SAVING A DOCUMENT DO?

 

A computer has two places where a document can exist, one is temporary and one is permanent:

The temporary area is called memory or RAM (Random Access Memory). The permanent area is called storage and the Hard Drive is one of the several types of storage areas.

Memory or RAM is only available when the computer is running. When the computer is turned off, RAM is emptied. The Hard Drive is permanent and what is stored on the hard drive is always available. In other words what is stored on the Hard Drive does not go away when the computer is turned off. (there are exceptions to this case in the Shell Point computer labs)

 

RULE #5

SAVING YOUR NEW DOCUMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME TO THE “MY DOCUMENTS” FOLDER ON THE HARD DRIVE

 

Here are the rules:

1.      Using your mouse go up and click on the “File” button in the upper left corner of the menu bar. This will give you a new menu. 

2.      Now click on the “Save as” button. This will give you a dialog box titled “Save As”

3.      Notice what is says in the “Save In” box. It says “My Documents”. So this time to make it easy we will save to the folder titled My Documents on the hard drive.

4.      Now go down to the “File Name” box and peck the Backspace key to clear the box

5.      Type in a new name for the file.  I suggest you use the word Living for the file name 

6.      Now click on the Save Button in the lower right corner, or just peck the Enter key 

 

COMMENT

It is important for you to understand that if you save to the My Documents folder on the Hard Drive of a public computer that your document is on the hard drive of that computer and could be erased or changed by anyone else using that computer. In some public computer labs, like Shell Point, or the Lee County libraries, all documents saved to the My Documents folder are automatically erased when the computer is shut down. (At The Brooks it is necessary and proper to erase the files before you leave.)

 

SEEING IF YOUR DOCUMENT WAS SAVED

CHECKING THE TITLE BAR

If your computer saved the document, you will see up on the Title bar of your NOTEPAD   document word “Document” has been replaced by whatever you typed in the “File Name” box when you saved it: In this case LIVING  - Please see below.

The most important operation that has occurred here is that now you can turn off your computer and that document you have typed on the screen is permanently stored on the Hard Drive of your computer in the My Documents folder. At some later time you can come back to your computer and Open that document and make additions and changes to it

In the computer world this process of making a copy of a document that is on the screen of the monitor and storing it on the Hard Drive of your computer is called Saving. And when you save a document to a storage device on your computer it is now called a File.  

 

To review, a typed document on your monitor screen is called File when it is on a storage unit like the Hard Drive.

 

ANOTHER WAY OF SEE IF YOUR DOCUMENT IS SAVED

Another way to see if you saved the document is to click the “File” button again, and then click the “Open” button.  You should now see your file name on the screen in the Open display.

Now click on the “Cancel” button to get back to you document.

 

ADDING MORE TEXT TO YOUR DOCUMENT ON THE SCREEN

NOW WE WILL ADD THE REST OF THE WORDS

offers many wonderful opportunities

 

RULE # 6

SAVING ADDITIONS AND CHANGES

TO SAVE THE ADDITIONS YOU MADE TO YOUR DOCUMENT

 

Here are the rules:

1.     Run your mouse arrow up to the menu bar and click on File – you will get a menu

2.      Carefully bring you mouse arrow down to the word Save and click –that will save your additions

 

DETERMINING THE PURPOSE OF THE I-BEAM

In addition to the cursor on the screen, notice there is also an I-Beam. The I-Beam is the presence of the mouse when it is in the TEXT area of the NOTEPAD   text screen. Notice when you move the mouse the I-Beam moves around the screen when it is in the text area.  Note: If you move the mouse I-beam out of the text area up or down, it will change to an arrow. So the mouse has two personalities an I-beam or an arrow depending on its location on the screen. (Later you will find that the mouse has other personalities) 

 

RULE #7

HOW TO MOVE THE CURSOR

THIS PROCESS ONLY WORKS WHEN YOU ARE WITHIN THE TEXT ON THE SCREEN

Here are the rules for moving the cursor:

1.      Move the I-Beam of the mouse on the screen and place it where you want to put the Cursor,

2.      Then click on the left mouse button without moving the mouse

3.      Move the I-Beam out of the text area to the right

4.      You will note that the Cursor has been placed where you clicked the I-Beam

 

DETERMINING THE PURPOSE OF THE ARROW

If you move the I-Beam up into the top of the Notepad   processing screen, it turns into an arrow. (Remember, we said the mouse has more than one personality.) The reason the mouse turns into an arrow is so you can select options (commands) from the many possibilities available on the Menu bar.

 

FOUR IMPORTANT CONCEPTS

So far there are four things that we have to deal with:

1.      The Cursor

2.      The mouse as an I-Beam

3.      The mouse as an Arrow

4.      Both the I-Beam and the Arrow are attached to the mouse. When the mouse is moved the Arrow or the I-Beam will move on the screen with the movement of the mouse.

NOTE: At this point you can say that the mouse has two personalities on the screen an Arrow and an I-Beam depending on the location on the screen

 

RULE # 8

PRINTING YOUR DOCUMENT

Before you print your document you should add your name so we can tell whose document is being printed.

To add your name, peck the Enter key twice. That will take cursor down two lines

Now type your full name.

 

Here are the rules for printing a document:

1.     Run your mouse arrow up to the Menu bar and click on File – you will get a menu

2.     Carefully bring you mouse arrow down to the word Print and click –that will start the print process and give you a print frame

3.     Now just click on the OK or Print button on the print frame – that should send the document to the printer

 

MOVING THE CURSOR AROUND

Reminder: wherever the cursor is, is where the next character you type will land, so it is very important to understand how to move your cursor around?

There are several ways you can move your cursor around in your document:

Using the I-beam is the most common if you are moving the cursor any distance from where it is.

 

The rule is wherever you put the I-beam within the text, and click, that is where your cursor will be set. Try it with the document that is on your screen now. Put the cursor between your first and last name and click. That will put the cursor between your names. Now move the I-beam out of the way. Now type in your middle initial.

 

Another way to move your cursor short distances is to use the arrow keys.  The right arrow key moves the cursor to the right and the left arrow key to the left. The up arrow key will move it up if there is room, and the down arrow key will move it down if there is room. We will now practice moving your cursor both with the I-beam and the arrow keys 

 

RULE #9

CLOSING YOUR DOCUMENT

Here are the rules to close your document:

1.     Go up to the Menu bar and click on File.

2.     Now come down and click on  the word Exit or Close

3.      If you have not saved your latest changes you will be ask if you want to save the changes. Click on the Yes button

 

 

 

 

 

RULE #10

SHUTTING DOWN YOUR COMPUTER (also called Turn Off Computer in some computers)

NOTE: We are shutting down the computer here so we can practice opening a saved document

Here are the rules to shut down your computer:

1.     Click on the master Start button on the lower left of your screen.

2.     Now click on Shut Down. You will get the Shut Down screen. Be sure that the bullet is in Shut Down. If not put it there.

3.      Then click OK. After showing several messages on the monitor, your computer should now shut down. It may take a few minutes for it to shut down. 

 

RULE # 12

OPENING A SAVED DOCUMENT

Before you open a saved document you must have your computer on and MICROSOFT NOTEPAD   started, as above

 

Here are the rules:

1.      Go to the Menu Bar and click on File, then click on Open – you will get the Open dialog display.

2.      Now find the document you want to open and click on it. (This is called “SELECTING”)

3.      Click the Open button. You should see your document on the screen.

 

ADDING MORE TEXT

Your first and last name has already been typed above. Now be sure that the cursor is at the end of your last name– if not put the I-beam at the end of your least name and click – move the I-beam away

Peck the Enter key to start a new paragraph

Type in your address

Peck the enter key to start a new paragraph

Type in the city and state and zip code

Peck the enter key to start another new paragraph

Type in your complete telephone number 

Now save your additions by going up to the Menu bar and click on File. Next click on Save.

 

YOU ARE DONE FOR THIS SESSION

 

CLOSE NOTEPAD 

Go up to the X in the upper right corner of the screen and click – that will close Notepad. If it asks you if you want of save the changes, click on the Yes button

Close any other software programs you might have open.

 

 

RULE #10 - Repeated

SHUTTING DOWN YOUR COMPUTER (also called Turn Off Computer in some computers)

 

Here are the rules to shut down your computer:

1.     Click on the master Start button on the lower left corner of your screen.

2.     Now click on Shut Down. You will get the Shut Down screen. Be sure that the bullet is in Shut Down. If not put it there.

3.      Then click OK. After showing several messages on the monitor, your computer should now shut down. It may take a few minutes for it to shut down. 

 

 

Filed in Notepad folder H on Store n Go