Learn MS Word 2003 - Main Menu Overview – Part I – File, Edit, View

Microsoft Word, first introduced in the 90s, currently is, without all doubt, the most popular text-editing program. It is also believed to be the most important and useful part of MS Office package – along with EXCEL. Even though latest version, MS WORD 2007 was released along with Office 2007, many are still using the 2003 version, which is, by all means, quite adequate when meeting most users' needs.

In this series, we are going to do an overview of the program main menu, briefly describing the most useful options. The in-depth analysis of each menu part will come in future articles.

The main menu consists of several drop-down options:

• File
• Edit
• View
• Insert
• Format
• Tools
• Table
• Window
• Help

Each of the above will be given a brief overiview in this series.

The File menu deals with various file operations. You can create new documents, open previously saved files, save and close your files (with certain options), print, and even email your documents. Document properties (such as Title, Subject, and Author) are accessed from this menu as well. Note the latest open documents collection in the bottom of the File Menu – the last files that you have worked on can be easily accessed this way.

Besides typing the text into your document, you can edit it in different ways – and those are gathered in the Edit Menu. The widely used copy/paste option is present. Also, the useful "Find" and "Replace" operations are found here. If you are unhappy with your latest actions, you can use the Undo operation along with the not-so-known "Redo" button present as well. The "Redo" is actually an "Undo" to your "Undo" – that is, this can be used when you have decided that you do like the latest changes to your document, after "undoing" them.

The View Menu is about the layout of your working window. There several layout options:

• Normal
• Web Layout
• Print Layout
• Reading Layout
• Outline

Those are better understood once tried, rather than explained. I find the Print layout the most suitable to work with, but this may be a question of personal preference.

The ruler (which defines your tabs, borders, and more) can be triggered on and off from this menu, as can the document map and thumbnails. To increase your "working space" on the screen, the "Full Screen" option is available, just above the Zoom row.

Another important feature of this menu is the "Toolbars", defining which "quick buttons" will be visible and accessible to you throughout your work.