Learn Desktop Publishing the Easy Way with Microsoft Word
Getting Started with DTP Using Word
Many people believe they need special training to get started with desktop publishing. To begin exploring your inner creativity, you need only to accept the idea that desktop publishing is nothing more than the creation of a document on your computer for a specific use. These first three articles will discuss the difference between desktop publishing and word processing. You will also discover that learning just a few basic page layouts will get you started. Let your inner artist out—try using the various fonts already installed on Word, and then try downloading four free extra fonts.
Fonts affect the way your document will look. Windows 7 allows for very easy installation of new fonts—much easier than Windows XP and Vista, but you can still do it if you remember, when you are downloading them, exactly where you are saving them. Then you can open the file and copy or drag it to your Fonts folder (in the Windows folder on your C drive). Also, keep in mind when working with fonts that the version of Word on your home computer might be different from the version you have at work, so if you email a document from one place to the other, check to be certain that you retained the font style you wanted.
- Desktop Publishing vs. Word Processing
- Desktop Publishing Page Layouts and Setup in MS Word
- Four Free Fonts for Microsoft Word
How to Do What in Word
Years ago, people viewed Word as nothing more than a new way of typing. However, Word really gets you cooking with some style and pizzazz if you let yourself try out some of its most popular features. Older versions of Word—if you are using 2003, for example—feature the typical plain toolbar, where you click on each heading and get a dropdown menu of choices. Versions of Word released in 2007 and 2010 have integrated the unique ribbon. Along the top of the “ribbon,” you see there are tabs, with various categories of tasks “grouped” along the bottom. Become accustomed to some of Word’s wonderful features by exploring these basic tutorials.
- Enhance Your Word 2007 Document: Borders for Word Documents
- How to Use the Drawing Toolbar with Word 2007
- How to Insert and Format Text Boxes in Word 2007
- Working with Images in Microsoft Word – Using the Picture Toolbar
- Making Labels in Microsoft Word Is a Snap
- Tips for Printing Envelopes in Word
- Using the Word 2007 Mail Merge Feature
Forms You Can Use for Your Business or Your Home
Take the time to think about what you would get from Word if you just knew how. Do you simply want to type your resume? Are you
interested in creating stationery for your personal or business use? Word can mean real savings for your business if you follow these simple tips and tricks. The stationery you produce on your computer will save you bucks over ordering it from a vendor, and it will reflect your own personal style.
- Using MS Word to Write Your Resume (using Word’s built-in templates)
- Make Your Resume with a Microsoft Word Resume Template (searching Microsoft.com’s library of resume templates)
- Software to Create Business Cards in Word
- Free Letterhead Templates for Microsoft Word
- How to Make an Envelope with a Microsoft Word Tutorial (downloadable template)
- Creating a Marketing Postcard from a Microsoft Word Template
- Using Free Certificate Templates for Microsoft Word
Business Forms
Most of these articles contain links to free, downloadable forms that you can put to good use. They offer tips and tricks to the person who needs something special but just doesn’t need enough documents to buy specific publishing or artistic software. Some of them are ready to use, and others require just a little spark of creativity. Once you begin thinking of what you can do with Word to create new forms or modify old ones, the possibilities are endless.
- How to Make Receipts
- Need a Purchase Order? Free Word Templates
- Using Word for Invoice Creation: Free Template & Tips (download a free invoice created in Word)
- How to Create an Invoice in Microsoft Word (make your own from an MS Word template)
- How to Make an Expense Report with Microsoft Word
Pamphlets, Flyers, Brochures: Necessary Marketing Tools
Other than basic letterhead and forms, you have to consider how you plan to market your business. In this section you will find tools to
create the brochures or pamphlets that will tell prospective clients why they should buy products or services from you. The articles here have diverse ideas to get you thinking. And don’t forget Word’s own stockpile of templates–just open Word, click on New, and browse through the wide variety available.
- How to Use Microsoft Word Brochure Templates (Word 2003)
- Guide for Making a Brochure with a Microsoft Word Template (Word 2007 and 2010, including discussion on brochure size options and folds.
- Tutorial on How to Make a Pamphlet Using Microsoft Word 2007
- MS Word How-to: Creating a Flyer (make your own from scratch)
- Flyers for Any Occasion: 10 Free Word Templates (downloadable templates for specific events)
Manuals, Newsletters, Calendars, and More
Now that you’ve gotten your feet wet, why not try your hand at something a little more complicated? You can learn how to create a basic manual using Word—an employee manual, a procedure manual, or even an instruction manual. Certificates–to award gifts or recognize merit–signs, a company or family newsletter, plus even your very own personalized calendar: All of these items plus more are possible using nothing more than Word as your desktop publishing software.
- Creating a Manual in MS Word? Get Help with These Templates
- Creating a Calendar in MS Word
- Custom Newsletters the Easy Way with Versatile Word Templates
- Self Publishing Print Formatting
- Create Gift Certificates in Word 2010 in a Few Easy Steps
- Print Your Own Custom ID Badges and Tags
- Write the Perfect Term Paper with the Word 2007 Review Feature
For the Kids
It is time to see what Word can turn out to amuse the kiddies in your household. Learn how inserting and enlarging Word’s built-in clipart images will supply you with endless ready-made coloring pages for your kids or for visitors at your office who bring children. Create a word-search for Halloween—or for any upcoming holiday. Why not try your hand at these Valentine’s Day cards instead of buying a box at the store? Download some summer-day stationery or “pen pal” stationery so that your children learn what it is like to send real letters instead of just texts.
- How to Create Valentine Day’s Cards for Kids Using Microsoft Word
- Thanksgiving Trivia Games for Kids with Microsoft Word
- Creating a Halloween Word Search with Microsoft Word
- Printable Halloween Masks Using Word
- Halloween Coloring Pages with Word
- Great Free Stationery for You to Use in Microsoft Word
Lifetime Occasions
MS Word can be your main desktop publishing software no matter what life throws at you. There are templates for funerals and obituaries and ideas for all kinds of wedding stationery. The tips and tricks you’ll learn in these articles will help you to design birthday
greeting cards and place cards for your dinner party. Let me know what works for you and what doesn’t, because with Word you can be prepared for whatever life throws at you.
- [Designing a Funeral Program: A Lasting Tribute](https://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/publishing/articles/119745.aspx#secn_2 includes link to free template)
- Writing an Obituary in MS Word: Format, Tips and Template
- Creating a Wedding Program with Microsoft Word
- Creating Your Own Wedding Program Using One of These Templates (4 are compatible with Word and the work is done for you)
- Should You Make Your Own Wedding Stationery?
- Keep in Touch: Make a Family Newsletter in Word
- 10 Great Patriotic Templates for Microsoft Word (including notecards, flyers, envelopes and labels, stationery)
References
- Images created by writer, using Word’s clipart on blank Word docs or templates