Glossary

Alignment	The position of text or objects in relation to the margins of a page. Word's horizontal alignment options for text are right, left, centered, and justified.



Answer Wizard	The Microsoft Word Help tab that allows you to ask questions just as you would ask the Office Assistant.



Application	See program.



Arrow keys	The [ ], [ ], [ ], and [ ] keys on the keyboard. Used to move the insertion point, select from a menu or a list of options, or in combination with other keys to execute specific commands such as selecting text.



Ascending order	See Sort order.



AutoCorrect	A feature that automatically corrects misspelled words as they are entered. Word provides many entries for commonly misspelled words, but you may also add your own.



AutoFit	A feature that resizes table columns to match their contents or, on Web pages, resizes the entire table so that it fits on the visible page when the window is resized.



AutoFormat	A feature that improves the appearance of a document by applying consistent formatting and styles based on a default document template or a document template that you specify. The AutoFormat feature can also add bullets or numbers to lists and symbols for trademarks and copyrights where necessary.



Automatic save	A feature that automatically saves document changes in a temporary file at specified intervals. If power to the computer is interrupted, the changes in effect from the last save are retained. Enabled by default, you can turn off this feature from the Save tab of the Options dialog box on the Tools menu.



AutoText	Text that Word is programmed to recognize. When you begin to type a word or phrase that Word recognizes, the program offers to complete it for you.



Axis	A horizontal or vertical line bordering a chart area providing a frame of reference for measuring the chart's data; the horizontal line is the X axis, and the vertical line is the Y axis.



Blank Document template	The collection of settings used in the blank document you see when you first launch Word or when you click the New button on the Standard toolbar.



Break	A feature that ends a current line, section, or page of text and/or graphics and starts the material on the next line, section, or page.



Browser	An application that allows you to find and view information on the World Wide Web. Major browsers include Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.



Bullet	A character or symbol, often a heavy dot, used to separate items in a list.



Case	Refers to whether or not a letter is capitalized. Some search features are case-sensitive; that is, they will differentiate between words that are spelled the same but have different capitalization.



Cel	l The basic unit of a table, separated by gridlines. In a table, the intersection of a row and a column forms one cell.



Cell reference	A code that identifies a cell's position in a table. Each cell reference contains a letter indicating its column and a number indicating its row.



Character style	A combination of character formats from the Font dialog box that is identified by a style name. Changing an element (such as the font size) of a character style changes all text that has been formatted with that style.



Chart	A graphical representation of data.



Click	To press and release a mouse button in one motion; usually refers to the left mouse button.



Click and drag	To press and hold the mouse button, move the mouse along a flat surface, and then release the mouse button at the appropriate time.



Clip art	A precreated, usually copyright-free, graphic image that can be inserted into a document to illustrate a point or to add visual interest. Clip art often comes in large collections.



Clipboard	A temporary storage area for cut or copied text or graphics. You can paste the contents of the Clipboard into any Word document or into a file of another Microsoft Windows pro-gram. The Office Clipboard differs from the Windows Clipboard in that it can hold up to 24 items at once. You can view the contents of the Office Clipboard by activating the Clipboard Task Pane from the Edit menu.



Clip Gallery	A Microsoft Office feature that acts as a library of clip art, pictures, sounds and videos. It allows you to import, store, and reuse these objects in Word documents and in other Office applications.



Column	In documents, a vertically arranged section of text and/or graphics on a page; in tables, a vertically arranged collection of cells and generally containing the same category of information.



Contents tab	The Microsoft Word Help tab that organizes Help topics like a table of contents or outline.



Control menu	Menu available from the Title bar that contains commands for managing the active window.



Copy	To send a copy of selected text or a graphic from a document to the Clipboard so that you may be reproduce it elsewhere in the document or in another document.



Custom dictionary	A document containing all the words that have been "learned" by Word's spell checker. More that one custom dictionary can be created and referenced by a single copy of Microsoft Word.



Cut	To remove selected text or a graphic from a document to the Clipboard so that it may be reinserted elsewhere in the document or in another document.



Datasheet	A grid of data related to a chart that has been created from a pre-existing table.



Defaults	Predefined settings for variable items such as page margins, tab spacing, and shortcut key assignments; these can be changed when necessary.



Descending order	See Sort order.



Destination file	The file to which you transfer a source file-for example, a business report in Word that uses a table from another program like Excel or Access.



Dialog box	A box that displays the available command options for you to review or change before executing a command.



Document window	The window on the screen in which a document is viewed and edited. When the document window is maximized, it shares its borders and title bar with the Word application window.



Double-click	To press and release a mouse button twice rapidly; usually refers to the left mouse button.



Drag	To hold down the mouse button while moving the mouse.



Drag-and-drop	Method of moving selected text and objects by dragging them from one location to another with the mouse.



Draw Table tool	Allows you to create the borders and gridlines of a table free-hand.



Drive	The mechanism in a computer that reads recordable media (such as a disk or tape cartridge) to retrieve and store information. Personal computers often have one hard disk drive labeled C, a drive that reads floppy disks labeled A, and a drive that reads CDs labeled D.



Edit	To add, delete, or modify text or other elements of a file.



Effects	Text formats such as small caps, all caps, hidden text, strikethrough, subscript, or superscript.



Embedded objec	t Information contained in a source file and inserted in a destination file; after embedding, the object becomes part of the destination file; changes made in the embedded object are reflected in only the destination file (see also Linked object).



Endnote	Explanatory material, usually marked by a sequential number or letter, that appears at the end of a document (see Footnote).



Extend selection	To increase the selected area. When a selection is extended, it grows progressively larger each time [F8] is pressed. To shrink the selection, press [Shift]+[F8]. The arrow keys may also be used with the [Shift] key to enlarge or shrink the selection.



Field	The place in a main document where a specific portion of a record, such as a postal code, will be inserted when the document is merged. Also known as a merge field.



File	A document that has been created and saved under a unique file name. In Word, all documents and pictures are stored as files (see also Destination file, Source file).



Find and Replace	To search for text or graphics in a document and then to substitute other text or graphics in its place.



Folders	Subdivisions of a disk that work like a filing system to help you organize files.



Font	A name given to a collection of text characters at a certain size, weight, and style. Font has become synonymous with typeface. Arial and Times New Roman are examples of font names.



Font size	Refers to the physical size of text, measured in points (pts). The more points, the larger the appearance of the text on the page.



Font style	Refers to whether text appears as bold, italicized, or under-lined, or any combination of these formats.



Footnote	Explanatory material, usually marked by a sequential number or letter, that appears at the bottom, or "foot," of a document; a footnote usually comments or expands upon the main text to which it refers (see Endnote).



Format	The way text appears on a page. In Word, formats come from direct formatting or the application of styles. The four formatting levels are character, paragraph, section, and document.



Format Painter	A tool enabling you to copy many formatting settings from selected text to another section of text; it is especially useful in documents like flyers and newsletters where distinctive formatting is common, even essential, to the document's appearance.



Formula	A mathematical expression that performs a calculation in a table.



Global template	In Word, a template named NORMAL.DOT that contains default menus, AutoCorrect entries, styles and page setup settings. Documents use the global template unless a custom template is specified. See also template.



Gridlines	The lines that separate cells in a table. Gridlines do not print. You can alternately hide and display gridlines with the Gridlines command on the Table menu.



Hanging indent	A paragraph format in which the first line of a paragraph extends farther to the left than subsequent lines.



Header/footer	A header is an item or group of items that appears at the top of every page in a section. A footer appears at the bottom of every page. Headers and footers often contain page numbers, chapter titles, dates, and author names.



Hidden text	A character format that allows you to show or hide designated text. Word indicates hidden text by underlining it with a dotted line. You can select or clear the Hidden Text option with the Options command on the Tools menu. Hidden text may be omitted when printing.



Horizontal ruler	A bar displayed across the top of the document window in all views. The ruler can be used to indent paragraphs, set tab stops, adjust left and right paragraph margins, and change column widths in a table. You can hide this ruler by clicking View, then clicking Ruler.



HTML	An acronym for HyperText Markup Language, which is the language that defines the way information is presented on a Web page. Word can automatically convert the formatting you have given a document into HTML, which functionally turns your document into a Web page.



HTTP	An acronym for HyperText Transfer Protocol; appears at the beginning of a URL to notify the browser that the following information is a hypertext Web document.



Hyperlink	Originated as an element of Web page design; usually text, clicking a hyperlink brings you directly to a predefined location within a document or to a specific page on the World Wide Web.



Indent	The distance between text boundaries and page margins. Positive indents make the text area narrower than the space between margins. Negative indents allow text to extend into the margins. A paragraph can have left, right, and first-line indents.



Index tab	The Microsoft Word Help tab that allows you to query the Help files using an alphabetical list of keywords.



Insertion point	A vertical blinking line on the Word screen that indicates where text and graphics will be inserted. The insertion point also determines where Word will begin an action.



Label	In tables, data consisting of words (see also Value); in printing, a small, generally rectangular, adhesive-backed sheet of paper for printing folder captions, addresses, or similar data for mass printing.



Landscape	A term used to refer to horizontal page orientation; opposite of "portrait," or vertical, orientation.



Line break	A mark inserted where you want to end one line and start another without starting a new paragraph. A line break may be inserted by pressing [Shift]+[Return].



Line spacing	The height of a line of text, often measured in lines or points.



Linked object	Information contained in a source file and inserted in a destination file that maintains a connection between the two files; after embedding, changes made in the source file object can be reflected in the destination file (see also Embedded object).



Margin	The distance between the edge of the text in the document and the top, bottom, or side edges of the page.



Maximize	To enlarge a window to its maximum size. Maximizing an application window causes it to fill the screen; maximizing a document window causes it to fill the application window.



Menu bar	Lists the names of menus containing Word commands. Click a menu name on the Menu bar to display a list of commands.



Merge cells C	ommand that combines two or more cells in a table into one cell.



Microsoft Graph Chart	A program that displays a chart created from a pre-existing table and a datasheet containing data related to the chart; you can directly access the chart and datasheet to change their contents and/or appearance.



Minimize	To shrink a window to its minimum size. Minimizing a window reduces it to a button on the Windows taskbar.



My Computer	A Windows operating system utility that gives you access to the various disk drives and other resources available to your computer.



Nonprinting characters	Marks displayed on the screen to indicate characters that do not print, such as paragraph marks or spaces. You can control the display of these characters with the Options command on the Tools menu, and the Show/Hide ¶ button on the Standard toolbar.



Normal View	Used for most editing and formatting tasks. Normal View shows text formatting but simplifies the layout of the page so that you can type and edit quickly.



Note pane	A special window in which the text of all the footnotes in a document appears. The note pane can be accessed by double-clicking a note reference mark.



Object	A table, chart, graphic, equation, or other form of information you create and edit with a program other than Word, but whose data you insert and store in a Word document.



Office Assistant	An animated manifestation of the Microsoft Office help facility. The Office Assistant provides hints, instructions, and a convenient interface between the user and Word's various Help features.



Options	The choices available in a dialog box.



Overtype	An option for replacing existing characters one by one as you type. You can select overtype by selecting the Overtype option on the Edit tab with the Options command on the Tools menu. When you select the Overtype option, the letters "OVR" appear in the status bar at the bottom of the Word window. You can also double-click these letters in the status bar to activate or deactivate overtype mode.



Page Break	The point at which one page ends and another begins. A break you insert is called a hard break; a break determined by the page layout is called a soft break. In Normal View, a hard break appears as a dotted line and is labeled Page Break, while a soft break appears as a dotted line without a label.



Paragraph style	A stored set of paragraph format settings.



Paste	To insert cut or copied text or objects into a document from the Clipboard.



Paste Options button	Appears when you execute the Paste command. Clicking the Paste Options button opens a menu of commands that allows you to determine what formatting will be used on the item you pasted.



Path	The address of a file's location. It contains the drive, folder and subfolders, and file name. For example, the complete path for Microsoft Word might be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Winword.exe.



Point size	A measurement used for the size of type characters. There are 72 points per inch.



Portrait	A term used to refer to vertical page orientation; opposite of "landscape," or horizontal, orientation.



Position	The specific placement of graphics, tables, and paragraphs on a page. In Word, you can assign items to fixed positions on a page.



Preview Area	A section of a dialog box that displays the results of format-ting using the current settings of the dialog box.



Preview Diagram	A section of a dialog box that displays the results of format-ting using the current settings of the dialog box and has additional tools surrounding the display to alter formatting.



Print Layout View	A view of a document as it will appear when you print it. Items such as headers, footnotes, and framed objects appear in their actual positions, and you can drag them to new positions.



Print Preview	Allows you to view a document as it will appear when printed. Includes a Magnifier tool, a text-editing tool, and the ability to view multiple pages at once.



Program	A software application that performs specific tasks, such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.



Program window	A window that contains the running program. The window displays the menus and provides the workspace for any document used within the application. The application window shares its borders and title bar with maximized document windows.



Read-Only	A file setting that allows a file to be opened and read, but not modified.



Redo	Counteracts the Undo command by repeating previously reversed actions or changes, usually editing or formatting commands. Only actions that have been undone can be reversed with the redo command.



Repeat	Command that performs your most recent operation again.



Resize	To change the size of an object (such as framed text or a graphic) by dragging sizing handles located on the sides and corner of the selected object, or by adjusting its dimensions in a dialog box.



Restore	To reduce a window to its size before it was maximized.



Right-click	To click the right mouse button; often necessary to access specialized menus and shortcuts. The designated right and left mouse buttons may be reversed with the Mouse control panel to accommodate user preferences.



Row	In tables, a horizontally arranged collection of cells generally containing various categories of information related to a particular person, place, type of data, or topic.



Ruler	A horizontal or vertical bar marked with measurements such as inches or centimeters that displays, respectively, at the top or left edge of a document window.



Sans serif font	A font whose characters do not include serifs, the small strokes at the ends of the characters. Arial and Helvetica are sans serif fonts.



Save	To store a computer file electronically on a device such as a floppy disk or hard drive so that you can retrieve the file even after you have shut down the computer.



Save As	Command you use to save a new file for the first time, or to save an existing file in a new location, with a different name, or as a different file type.



ScreenTip	A brief explanation of a button or object that appears when the mouse pointer is paused over it. Other ScreenTips are accessed by clicking What's This? on the Help menu and then clicking a particular item, or by clicking the question mark button in the Title bar of dialog boxes.



Scroll bar	A graphical device for moving vertically and horizontally through a document with the mouse. Scroll bars are located along the right and bottom edges of the document window.



Search and replace	See Find and replace.



Section	A part of a document separated from the rest of the document by a section break. By separating a document into sections, you can use different page and column formatting in different parts of the same document.



Selection bar	An invisible column at the left edge of a column of text used to select text with the mouse. In a table, each cell has its own Selection bar at the left edge of the cell.



Serif font	A font that has small strokes at the ends of the characters. Times New Roman and Palatino are serif fonts.



Show/Hide button	Turns on and off the display of nonprinting characters such as formatting, space, and paragraph marks.



Sizing handles	Small boxes at the corners or edge midpoints of a chart, graphic, or other object to click and drag with the mouse pointer to change the dimensions of the object.



Smart Tag	Enables you to perform external actions on types of data that Word recognizes such as names, e-mail addresses, and Web addresses. Items with Smart Tags are underlined with purple dots on the screen.



Soft return	A line break created by pressing [Shift]+[Enter]. This creates a new line without creating a new paragraph.



Sort order	The sequence in which you arrange text or data in a table; ascending order arranges from the start to end of the alpha-bet, lowest to highest number, or earliest to latest date; descending order arranges in the opposite direction.



Source file	A file that you transfer to a destination file-for example, a table from Excel or Access that you insert in a business report in Word.



Spreadsheet program	A software program used for calculations and financial analysis.



Standard toolbar	A row of buttons that perform some of the most frequently used commands, such as Open, Print and Save. Usually located under the menu bar.



Status bar	Located at the bottom of the Word window, it displays the current page number and section number, the total number of pages in the document, and the vertical position of the insertion point. It also indicates whether certain options are active.



Style	A group of formatting instructions that you name and store, and are able to modify. When you apply a style to selected characters and paragraphs, all the formatting instructions of that style are applied at once.



Style dialog box	A feature that allows you to examine the overall formatting and styles used in a document template. You can also preview your document formatted in the styles from a selected template.



Table	One or more rows of cells commonly used to display numbers and other data for quick reference and analysis. Items in a table are organized into rows and columns. You can convert text into a table with the Insert Table command on the Table menu.



Tab stop	A measured position for placing and aligning text at a specific distance along a line. Word has four kinds of tab stops, left-aligned (the default), centered, right-aligned, and decimal. Tab stops are shown on the horizontal ruler.



Task Pane	A new feature to Word that organizes common Word tasks in one pane that is convenient to access on the screen. Numerous Task Panes are available including New Document, Basic Search, Clipboard, and Reveal Formatting.



Template	A special kind of document that provides basic tools and text for creating a document. Templates can contain styles, AutoText items, macros, customized menu and key assignments, and text or graphics that are the same in different types of documents.



Thesaurus	A Word feature that supplies a list of synonyms (words with similar meanings) and antonyms (words with opposite meanings) for a word selected in a document.



Title bar	The horizontal bar at the top of a window that displays the name of the document or application that appears in that window.



Toolbar	A graphical bar containing several buttons that act as short-cuts for many common Word commands.



Undo	A command that lets you reverse previous actions or changes, usually editing or formatting actions. Actions from the File menu cannot be reversed. You can undo multiple actions by using the Undo drop-down list.



URL	An acronym for Uniform Resource Locator; an address specifying where a particular piece of information can be found. A Web address is a kind of URL.



Value	In tables, data consisting of numbers (see also Label).



Vertical alignment	The placement of text on a page in relation to the top, bottom, or center of the page.



Vertical ruler	A graphical bar displayed at the left edge of the document window in Print Layout view. You can use this ruler to adjust the top and bottom page margins, and change row height in a table.



View	A display that shows certain aspects of the document. Word has seven views: Normal, Print Layout, Outline, Web Layout, Master Document, Full Screen, and Print Preview.



View buttons	Appear in the horizontal scroll bar. Allow you to display the document in one of four views: Normal, Print Layout, Web Layout, and Outline.



Window	A rectangular area on the screen in which you view and work on documents.



Windows Explorer	The powerful two-paned file management tool of the Windows operating system.



Winword.exe	The executable file stored on your hard drive or on a network server that actually runs Microsoft Word. When you launch Word from the Start menu, you are actually using a shortcut to this file.



Wizard	A helpful program you use to create documents. When you use a wizard to create a document, you are asked a series of questions about document preferences and content, and then the wizard creates the document to meet your specifications.



Word processing program	Software used to create documents efficiently. Usually includes features beyond simple editing, such as formatting and arranging text and graphics to create attractive documents.



Word Wrap	Feature that allows text you are typing to continue on the next line when you run out of space on the current line.



World Wide Web	A major component of the Internet, which is a vast global network of smaller networks and personal computers. Web pages include hyperlinks and present information in a graphical format that can incorporate text, graphics, sounds, and digital movies.



WYSIWYG	An acronym for What You See Is What You Get; indicates that a document will print out with the same formatting that is displayed in the document window.



Zoom box	The rightmost box on the Standard toolbar for setting the percentage of enlargement of a document in the document window; Normal View default settings range from 10% to 500%.

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