COASTWEEK - -  FORMATTING means to set the correct size and kind of the fonts, headings, sub-headings and the paragraph to make your letter or any presentation to have a good professional look, writes VIPUL PATEL.

To do this, follow this simple rules and shortcuts to do them faster.

Formatting Text:

Select a font and size for your document from the Formatting Toolbar.

Hold down on the arrow and highlight your selection.

To change text that has already been typed, highlight it by holding the mouse key and dragging over it.

Then choose the font and size.

Bold, Italic, and Underline can be selected from the Formatting Toolbar.

You will probably want to use bold for titles or words that you want to stand out.

I normally use keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcuts help you to save time and holding on to your mouse and keep coming back to your keyboard.

To make text bold select the text and press "ctrl and letter B" to make it normal press the same keys again.

To make the text italic again select the text and press "ctrl and letter I " and to make it underlined press "ctrl and letter U".

Aligning text can be selected from the Formatting Toolbar. Highlight the text and select Align Left, Center or Align Right.

To delete text, move the cursor to the right of the text.

Then use the backspace key.

Or highlight the text and press the backspace or delete keys.

Cut Copy and Paste:

Highlight the text or graphic, then choose Cut or Copy from the Edit Menu.

Once again it can be done using the keyboard shortcuts.

To cut text press "ctrl and letter X" to copy the text press "ctrl and letter C " to paste the text "press "ctrl and letter V".

Inserting Page Numbers, this is important when making large documents or letters.

It will help you to compile the papers when binding them or filing them later on.

• Choose Insert from the Menu Bar and select Page Number.

• Select the position, alignment, and whether to show the number on the first page

You can also preview the formatting.

Spell Checking is very very important.

Remember after all the hard work you do to make a presentable letter or document it would look immature if you spelled a word wrongly.

Microsoft Word automatically spell checks as you type your document.

A red underline indicates that there is an error.

To obtain a list of suggestions, choose Tools from the Menu Bar and select Spelling and Grammar.

Or select Spelling and Grammar from the Standard Toolbar.

It is always a good habit to check your spelling before you send out a document.

Sometimes some words may not be recognized as a wrong spelling yet it means different for example if you type the word: form : when you really mean :from:, the spell checker will not catch the mistake.

Therefore make sure you go through it thoroughly.

One more thing to remember is to choose your choice of dictionary whether British or American as some words are spelled differently.

Next week we shall talk more about saving and making various folders.

• VIPUL PATEL is Sales and Marketing Executive with AfricaOnline Mombasa.