Introduction to WP 6.1 for Windows

Getting Started:

• Click on the WordPerfect icon to begin. Once you see the followign screen, you can start typing.

Automatic Word Wrapping

• Unlike a typewriter, continue typing past the end of the line. The text will automatically go to the next line.

Changing the Position of the Cursor:

• The blinking cursor will show your location in the text.
• You can change the position of your cursor with the arrow keys or through use of the mouse.

Centering

• Centering is done by first placing the insertion point just before the line that you want centered. Select Format from the menu bar at the top of the screen, select Line, and finally select Center. This will center the line you specified.
• To delete centering, place the insertion point just before the first word in the centered text and hit the Backspace key.

Changing the Font

You may want to change the style of the font and change its appearance.

• To do this, click on Format at the top of the screen and choose Font.
• From here you can enlarge, underline, bold, italicize, double underling, shadow, or set OTHER COMBINATIONS.
• To remove any options return to the Format, Font menu and remove the changes.

Adjusting Tabs and Margins

• Make sure that the insertion point is at the top of the document, because the changes only affect the text after the insertion point.
• Adjusting tabs and margins is easiest if you have the Ruler Bar active. The Ruler Bar is activated by clicking on the View menu and choosing Ruler Bar. A line will appear above your document with many triangles inside; these triangles mark tab points. Simply click on the Ruler Bar where you want the tab.
• If you would like to remove a tab, click and hold down the left mouse button on top of the triangle you wish to remove and drag it down off the Ruler Bar.
• To adjust the margins use the a white bar just above the tab set bar. To alter the margins place the mouse arrow on one of the two black markers surrounding that white bar and hold the mouse button down as you move the margin to where you want.
• To set the margin in place, release the mouse button.

Line Spacing

• Click on the Format menu, then choose Line, and finally Spacing. A widow will pop up in the center of the screen.
• Enter the number of spaces you want between each line and hit return.
• If when you return to the document you are not pleased with the spacing you can change it back the same way.

The Scroll Bar

• If you would like to go to the end of your paper screen by screen, click inside the scroll bar just above the down arrow.
• To go down line by line click on the down arrow.
• To skip to the bottom of the entire paper, hold down the left mouse button on the top of the block inside the scroll bar. Then drag the block down as far as it will go.
• The same steps apply for advancing up in your document also.

Revising

• If you want to insert a word, first make sure you are in the Insert mode.
• To check this look in the lower left-hand corner of the screen; if the word Typeover is showing there, hit the Insert key justto the left of the Backspace key on the keyboard. Position the mouse arrow just before where you want to insert the word, or group of words. Click the left mouse button to position the cursor there. What you type will appear before the character to the right of the cursor.
• To remove an accidentally typed word, place the mouse arrow directly behind the word you wish to remove. Then click once toposition the insertion point there, and use the backspace button to delete the word.
• Deleting and moving is very quick when you fully utilize the mouse features. First, highlight the text you wish to delete by clicking the left mouse button just before the text and letting go of the button at the end of the text. Hit the Backspace key and you will delete all of the highlighted text.
• You can highlight a word by double-clicking on that word, a sentence by triple-clicking, and a paragraph by quadruple-clicking.

Saving a File

• You should save your document to your own diskette every few minutes.
• Click on the icon that looks like a disk in the upper left-hand corner of the toolbar (or click on the File menu and choose Save As.... The Save screen will appear and the insertion point will be in the Filename field. Place your disk into the disk drive, and at Save screen type 'a:filename' (where filename is the name of your file, typed without the quotations) then hit return.
• You must start by typing a:; otherwise your document will by default be saved to the c:\ drive, which in all UIC computerlabs, is cleared when rebooted; any documents saved on such a drive will be erased if the computer loses power or is rebooted.
• Once you have saved a document, you can resave it by holding down the Ctrl key (at the bottom corners of the keyboard) and striking the letter S.
• NOTE: if you only save your document to the c:\ drive you are taking a big risk. If the computer freezes up, the only thing you can do is to reboot the computer, which erases all of your work, because the c:\ drive is cleared when the machine is rebooted. Therefore, the best idea is to SAVE YOUR WORK EARLY AND OFTEN ON YOUR OWN DISKETTE.

Opening a File

• To open a file either click on the folder icon in the upper left-hand corner of the toolbar or click on the File pull-down menu and click on Open. When the Open File menu pops up, type the name of your file. Remember to type a: before the filename. Hit enter.
• If you do not remember the name of your file, look in the large white box below the Filename field in the Open File menu. By default, the c:\ directory is shown: if you would like to see all the files on your disk type a: in the Filename field and hit enter. Then double-click on the name of the file you wish to open.

Selecting Text with the Mouse

• To "highlight" a text is to mark it with your mouse so that you can alter it, move it, or change it in some way. When you highlight the text, it will change color on your screen.
• To highlight text, click the left mouse button just before the text you wish to edit, pull the mouse through the text you wish to mark, and let go of the mouse button at the end of the text you wish to highlight.
• After this, open the Edit pull-down menu and choose cut. If you want to place this text somewhere else in your document, position the insertion point where you want the text to begin, go to the Edit pull-down menu, and choose paste.
• If you accidentally highlight any text, click anywhere on the highlighted region.
• You can highlight a word by double-clicking on that word, a sentence by triple-clicking, and a paragraph by quadruple-clicking.

Let WordPerfect Check Your Paper

• WordPerfect has a spell checker and a grammar checker.
• If you would like to use either of these, they are accessible from the toolbar at the top of the screen toward the right.
• The grammar checker is not always accurate, and you must not accept changes recommended by the grammar checker without understanding the suggested change.
• The spellchecker will not flag words that are used incorrectly if they are spelled correctly (eg. their, there, they're).

Printing

• There is a printer icon near the top left-hand corner of the screen.
• To print, click on that icon (or click on the File pull-down menu and then click on Print. The print menu will pop-up in the middle of the screen. From there, click on the PRINT button in the upper right-hand corner. Eventually, WordPerfect will reply with a screen saying "Document will be printed on 'printer name.'" Right then your document is starting to print on the specified printer.
• Always use Print Preview (immediately above the Print command on the pull-down menu) before printing a hard copy of your work. Many times, this will save you a long wait at the printer only to find that you've used the wrong font or set the margins wrong. Fix your errors, check your document in Print Preview again, and only print when you have it correct.

Modified version of the WP seminar handout