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Entering Text and Using Headings

On this page you start writing the document you want to create in the module. The page consists of a few tasks to help you move your document forward while learning about Word.

The Objective

At the end of the page, your document should look like this.

Text with six paragraphs and paragraphs of text on multiple lines

Guide

The smooth use of Word relies on using styles when writing texts.

Only format "by hand" (bold, italicise, underline, change font color, etc.) when you want to emphasize a single item.

In this exercise, you will learn the meaning of styles and how they differ from other formatting.

Task: Create a blank document

Create an empty document using Blank document base.

Video: Formatting Symbols

Info: Formatting symbols, what are they?

Formatting symbols (also known as non-printing characters or paragraph marks) are visual indicators that represent the formatting applied to the text in a document. These symbols do not appear when the document is printed but become visible when you enable them. At first, these characters may seem confusing—spaces, for example, appear as dots between words. However, you’ll get used to them quickly!

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Why Formatting Symbols Are Useful:

Troubleshooting: They allow you to see hidden formatting issues, such as extra spaces, unnecessary paragraph breaks, or incorrect use of tabs.
Precision in Formatting: They help ensure consistent formatting across your document, especially when dealing with complex layouts or when collaborating with others.
Document Layout Control: Understanding where these symbols are used helps in controlling the layout, like preventing unwanted page breaks or maintaining proper alignment.
Efficiency: They can speed up the editing process by making it easier to spot and correct formatting errors.

Most common non-printing characters

#### Space	Välilyönti muotoilumerkki
#### Non-breaking space	Sitova välilyönti muotoilumerkki
#### Line break	Rivinvaihto muotoilumerkki
#### Paragraph break	Kappalevaihto muotoilumerkki
#### Page Break	Sivunvaihto muotoilumerkki
#### Section Break	Osanvaihto muotoilumerkki

Line break (`Shift + Enter`) vs paragraph break (`Enter`)

A line break does not start a new paragraph. It can be used, for example, to create a multi-line heading with several lines in the same heading. It can also be used in lists to add line breaks under a single bullet point.

Section Break

A section break can be used to divide a document into different sections. We will review section breaks and their usage in more detail in the Horizontal Page and Document Sections chapter.

Osanvaihto valintanauhalla

Section breaks do not have a keyboard shortcut. You can find this option on the ribbon. Select the **Layout** tab, **Page Setup** group → **Breaks** → **Section Breaks**.

Space (`Space`) vs Non-breaking space (`Ctrl + Shift + Space`)

Non-breaking space adds a space that keeps words or characters together on the same line, preventing them from being separated by a line break (e.g. a phone number will not break even if the line changes).

Symbolit valintanauhalla

You can also insert a non-breaking space from the ribbon: On the **Insert** tab, in the **Symbols** group, on the **Symbol** menu, click the **More Symbols** button.

Erikoismerkit

The non-breaking space can be found on the Special Characters tab. You can add the character by selecting it and pressing the Insert button.

Page Break (`Ctrl + Enter`)

A page break is necessary when you want to start a new page in a document without affecting the content or formatting of the previous page.

The page break can also be found on the ribbon.

Sivunvaihto valintanauhalla

Click the Page Break button in the Pages group on the Insert tab.

Task: Make the formatting symbols visible

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### Design marks

Formatting symbols (also called unprinted characters or hidden characters) are characters that do not appear in normal mode. These include spaces, paragraph breaks and page breaks. Formatting symbols are also shown, for example, when the tab key has been pressed.

Image of what the unprinted characters look like

When you have these symbols visible, you can see which characters have been pressed and can more easily edit the document.

Hide formatting button in the middle of the Start tab of the selection bar

The hidden design button can be found on the start tab of the selection bar in the group selected

To view the formatting marks, click on the button **Show/Hide ¶** in the **Paragraph** group of the **Home** tab.

You can hide the formatting marks by pressing the button again.

Task: Write the paragraphs according to the template

The template: Tips for Formatting a Stylish Document [paragraph break] Design is Important [paragraph break] Word program is a word processor that enables you to create stylish documents. In practice, documents are always a form of communication: You are about to say something to the reader of the document.

In your blank document, type the text according to the template. Be sure to add an extra paragraph break at the end.

(Usually you get the documents and the bases ready, but now we'll start by writing some text by hand.)

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### Writing and text alignment

When typing text, press Enter only when you want to start a new paragraph, not at the end of each line. Word makes line breaks automatically. It is advisable to keep the formatting marks visible, so that you can see the Enter key presses on the screen even if they are not printed.

Video: Pointer and Cursor

Info: What's a cursor?

The mouse pointer and the cursor are two different things. A pointer is an icon (usually an arrow) that you move when you use the mouse. The cursor is instead a blinking vertical bar in the text, indicating the point of insertion of text.

The pointer is a mouse icon, and the cursor is a blinking vertical line in the text

Task: Format your headings with heading styles

The idea behind Word is to use ready-made styles in your designs.

One of the benefits of styles is that if you want to edit the formatting, you don't have to go to different parts of the document to do it, you can just edit the style and the changes will be applied wherever the style has been used. Heading styles will also be needed later for the table of contents and numbering of headings.

Word's default style is Normal, which is used in copy text.

Next, let's practise using heading styles: Format the first two lines using Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles. The selected heading style can be checked by hovering the cursor over the line, and the style in use will be highlighted with a grey frame. Model:

Problem: The style button I want is always hidden

Very often, only the first three or four style buttons are visible in the ribbon menu, which makes it a pain to have to search for styles from behind the menus. However, you can make more space on the ribbon menu by removing buttons you don't need.

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Home customize tab

To open the Word settings, first click on the File button on the left side of the ribbon menu.

To see the actual setting, click on the Options button.

In the Word Options window that opens, open from the left side Customize Ribbon tab.

Now you can edit the buttons that appear on the ribbon menu. First open Home the tab setting from the right-hand menu. Select the group you want to delete, for example Voice group and click Remove button.

You can delete other groups as well.

The Voice, Editor and Reuse Files groups are less commonly used.

Once they are removed, there is more room for styles.

Restoring adjustments

Sometimes you may want to reset the ribbon menu to the default state.

On the Customize Ribbon tab, first select the tab of the ribbon you want to reset (such as Home) and open the Reset menu. Select the option Reset only selected Ribbon tab.

Alternatively, you can disable all customizations by selecting Reset all customizations. (However, the button doesn't work in all versions of Word, so it might be a good idea to use the Reset only selected Ribbon tab function anyway.)

Info: Styles

In the Home tab, the Styles group has predefined styles that allow you to change the styling of the selected paragraph. Select the paragraph you want to format by clicking on the paragraph with your mouse or by painting several paragraphs. Then click on the style name to enable the desired style.

You can also set up a style before you write the text.

The styles can be found in the Start tab of the selection bar

Click on the symbol in the bottom right corner of the style set to see more style options.

If you have a small screen or high resolution, the style set may appear as a button. Click on the button to display the styles.

The styles can be found in the Start tab of the ribbon

Most commonly used styles (when using an Office theme)

#### Style	#### Description	#### Example
Normal	Default document format	image with template text
No Spacing	Similar to Normal style, but with smaller line spacing and no paragraph spacing	same template text in the image, but smaller line and paragraph spacing
Heading 1 Heading 2 Heading 3	Used in document headings. These styles can be used in the table of contents, they can be numbered and they can be used to browse and organise the document.	Header levels, with 1 being the largest and 3 being the smallest
Title	To be used as the main title of the document, if desired. This is not a heading style, so the features described in the previous section do not apply to this style.	Headline style can be used as the main headline

Task: Make sure the style of the body text is Normal

Body text is text that is not a heading. Make sure that the style Normal is used in the body text.

Task: Save the document

Save the document you have created with a name of your choice, using the docx file format.

Info: File formats

Docx files are Word's standard format for storing documents. However, documents can also be stored in other formats.

File format selection when saving

Otherwise, saving in different file formats is done in the same way as in the previous instruction, but the file format is changed when saving.

On saving, the file format is changed to odt

Since not all the document's properties may be saved in the new format, you may still get a confirmation window where you can either accept or reject the saving.

Saving can be confirmed or cancelled

Word's old file format (doc file extension)

Until 2003, Word documents were saved as doc files. Some old Word documents may be in this format. You can save these documents in the current docx format, but make sure that the layout of the document does not change. Sometimes some designs may look different.

PDF file

PDF (Portable Document Format) files are highly compatible, and will open as desired on virtually any computer, phone or tablet. On the other hand, PDF files are difficult to edit, which is sometimes desirable.

During the course we will practice creating PDF files from Word documents, Excel workbooks and PowerPoint presentations.

OpenDocument document (odt file extension)

Odt file format (Open Document Format for Office Applications) is an open file format standard most commonly used by OpenOffice.org software.

You have now gone through the first actual page of this entity and should have started and saved your own new document. In the future, remember to save your document so that the changes you make to it in the exercises on the following pages are not lost.

The next page explains the layout of the document. If you feel you have finished this page, you can mark it as completed and move on.

Have you completed the tasks on the page?

Mark as complete: