Document views in Word
You can change how a document appears in the Word document window. Here are your options:Print Layout: This is the standard view; in this mode, you see all elements on a page, including text, graphics, headers, footers, and even the page margins if you adjust the zoom.
Web Layout: This view is good for creating web pages. It lacks page margins, just as a web page lacks various paper page elements. This mode isn't good for writing documents that you plan to print.
Read Mode: You use this mode to read text. Writing new text and editing isn't possible. This is perhaps Word's least popular mode, which makes you wonder why its shortcut is on the status bar.
Draft: Word's default view; Draft mode is good for writing text. When you need to format a page or add graphics, Word switches automatically to Print Layout view.
Outline: Though this view presents a document's text, it's really designed for organizing thoughts or topics or anything with a hierarchical structure.
- To switch modes, you click on the Read Mode, Print Layout, or Web Layout icons on the status bar. Otherwise, click the View tab and choose a mode from the Views group.
- If you're simply writing text, use Draft view. In this mode, Word presents text with character and paragraph formatting, but without graphical or page-level formats visible.
- Documents open in Print Layout view or Web Layout view, depending on which one you used last.
- The keyboard shortcut to enter Print Layout view is Ctrl+Alt+P.
- The keyboard shortcut to enter Draft view is Ctrl+Alt+N. The N stands for normal because this was once Word's default (or normal) view.
- The keyboard shortcut to enter Outline view is Ctrl+Alt+O.
Tab-stop types
The Tab key generates the tab character, which is inserted into the text along with other characters. The width of the tab character, and the behavior of text that's typed after the tab, depends on which tab stop you select. You have several choices:Left: This is the standard tab stop, which left-aligns text that's typed after the tab character.
Right: This tab stop right-aligns text that's typed after the tab character.
Center: This tab stop centers text from left to right at the tab stop's position.
Decimal: This tab stop right-aligns text that's typed after the tab character. Once a period (decimal) is typed, text continues left-aligned on the line.
Bar: This tab stop inserts a vertical line in the text. It is purely for decorative purposes and doesn't affect the tab character's width or text alignment.
- Choose the tab-stop type from the Ruler: Click the gizmo on the far left end of the Ruler until the tab stop you want appears, and then click on the Ruler to set the tab stop.
- Tab stops are also set from within the Tabs dialog box.
- The Right, Center, and Decimal tab stops are best used in paragraphs that feature only a single line of text.
- Decimal tabs are ideal for aligning numeric values in a list or table.
- Word sets default tab stops on every line of text. These stops are positioned at half-inch intervals, unless another tab stop is set on the line.
- Document headers and footers feature default tab stops: a center tab stop in the middle of the paragraph and a right tab stop at the paragraph's right indent.
- Avoid typing two tabs in a row. Instead, reset the tab stops so that only one tab character is needed.
- Remember that it's the tab-stop type that affects the behavior of text that's typed after you press the Tab key.
Section-break types
Section breaks help you include multiple page formats within a single document. The section break can affect page margins, page orientation, paper size, columns, page numbers, and the contents of headers and footers.The section-break commands are found on the Layout tab, in the Page Setup group. Click the Breaks button to view the section-break types.
Next Page: Similar to a hard page break, this section break starts the new section at the top of a page.
Continuous: This section break works like a next-page section break for the paper size and orientation formatting commands. For page margins and columns, the Continuous section break allows you to change formats anywhere on a page.
Even Page: This section break works just like a next-page section break, but the new page starts on an even-numbered page.
Odd Page: This section break is identical to the even-page break, but the new page always starts on an odd-numbered page.
- To best set a section break, position the insertion pointer at the start of a paragraph and then apply the section break. That paragraph becomes the start of the new section.
- Section-break effects are shown in Print Layout mode. To view the section break itself, use the Show/Hide command: Click the Home tab and, in the Paragraph group, click the Show/Hide button.
- To remove a section break, use the Show/Hide command to display its hidden code in the document. Place the insertion pointer just before the section break and press the Delete key.
- If you use the Even Page or Odd Page section breaks, Word may insert an extra blank page into the document to ensure that the section break starts on an even or odd page.
- Word determines whether a page is even or odd based on the page's number. If you change page numbering in a document, Word uses the new numbering value and not the page's physical page number.