Working with Columns in Microsoft Word for Windows 97 Doc 5.92 Ver 1 Date Oct 2000

Author Vivien Hall Central Computing Services

1 Introduction This leaflet explains how to create leaflets, with the text arranged in columns, using Microsoft Word for Windows 97. The example uses pictures from the Microsoft Clip Art Gallery, however, you can just as easily insert pictures from your own graphics files. You will start by creating an A4 landscape1 leaflet of 3 columns each side, suitable for 'Z' folding. The leaflet front cover is the first column. You can also create leaflets suitable for other sorts of folding, for example sides to middle. You can use linked text boxes to create the effect of newspaper columns. We will use a Microsoft Word for Windows 97 wizard to create a newsletter. Conventions used in this document are:
Italics are used to introduce new terminology, for emphasis, and for proprietary names. For example copying is a term that is defined later in the text, A4 paper is emphasised. Windows NT is a proprietary name for the software that controls the computer.
Words, which the computer uses to prompt you and titles of boxes, are in bold type, e.g. the Locate Value box.
Words that you type or choose are in bold type, e.g. File.
Keys which you press are shown in small capitals e.g. press ALT.
Press KEY1 + KEY2 means press both keys together e.g. press CTRL + Z
Press KEY1, KEY2 means press each key consecutively e.g. press A, B.
Tasks for you to try as you work through the notes are labelled Exercise, e.g. Practice Getting Help While you work, and the steps that you do to perform the task are marked by round bullets (•).
Hints and tips are indicated by


2 About Newspaper Columns When you are creating a document such as a newsletter or a small leaflet it is often useful to arrange the text in columns like a newspaper so that as you type text is continued into a new column as you reach the end of each column . Note that newspaper columns do have some limitations - for example:
Newspaper columns are not supported in HTML. Microsoft Help suggests that you use tables to create a multicolumn effect.
You cannot use newspaper columns in headers, footers, comments, or frames. To arrange text in these areas, use a table. 1

longest sides of the paper are at the top and bottom

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3 Create A Leaflet with Columns Set the Page Layout If you have not logged in and started Word for Windows 97 please do so now. The first task is to set the page layout to landscape If you want an A4 landscape layout then you must set the page layout to landscape before you begin. When you open Microsoft Word for Windows 97 or create a new document it assumes portrait layout. If you were set up (say) 3 column layout when you start and then select landscape layout, Microsoft Word for Windows 97 would change the page layout to landscape. However, because the column sizes were set up for a long narrow page rather than a short wide one the columns would be on the left of the page. Exercise 1 Set the page layout • • • • • • • •

Position the cursor at the start of your document From the File menu choose Page Setup. Click on the Paper Size tab. Select Landscape Orientation by clicking on the Landscape option box. Make sure that Whole Document is selected in the Apply To box. (If it is not selected then select it from the pull down menu by clicking on the down arrow on the right of the box.) Click on O.K Save your file as porridge.doc Click on the Print Preview button. You will see that there is a landscape page in your document.

Create the Columns The next step is to create the number of columns that you want on the page. For our Z fold leaflet we will have three columns Exercise 2 Create Columns • •

Use hover help to locate the Columns button (see left) on the standard tool bar. Click on the button and drag to select 3 columns (Figure 1) Figure 1 Select 3 Columns

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The ruler at the top of your document should now show 3 evenly spaced columns. (Figure 2) Figure 2 Ruler with Columns

Column Markers

Enter Text and Graphics in a column
You can format text in any way that you would in any other Microsoft Word for Windows 97 document, e.g. different fonts, different styles (see CCS document 5.85 'Working with templates & styles in Microsoft Word for Windows 97').
You can insert clip art examples as we will do here, or you can insert other images such as the Birkbeck logo. When using the Birkbeck logo you should follow the guidelines given at http://staff.bbk.ac.uk/er/guidelines.html


Note that in the following examples text for you to type yourself is shown in Courier font for clarity. However, there is no need for you to change the font in order to do the exercises. Exercise 3 Insert text and Graphic • • •

Type the title Meet our friendly porridge testing team. In the example the font is 20 pt Arial bold and the text is centred, but you may wish to experiment with something different. Press the enter key about 3 times to insert some white space in your document then position the cursor in the middle of the white space. Choose Picture from the Insert menu, then choose Clip Art. (Figure 3) Figure 3 Insert a Picture

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In the Insert Picture dialogue box select a suitable picture from the Microsoft clip art gallery. (Hint: you can use the Find button to search for keywords) Click on Insert. The picture will be inserted in your document.

As we want this picture to always remain with the title it would be a good idea to lock the anchor to the current paragraph. Normally Microsoft Word for Windows 97 hides the paragraph marker symbols ¶, but as we now need to work with paragraphs and another non-printing symbol (called an anchor) we need to show where they are. Exercise 4 Lock Picture to Text • •

• • • • • •

Make sure that the Show/Hide ¶ button in the standard toolbar is highlighted. If it is not highlighted then click on it to highlight it Select the picture by clicking on it. Look in the left margin of your document. (Use the horizontal scroll bars if you cannot see the left margin). You will see a small anchor symbol (see left). This indicates that Microsoft Word for Windows 97 has anchored the picture to the current paragraph. Drag the anchor to the paragraph beginning Meet our friendly … From the Format menu choose Picture. Click on the Position tab Make sure that the Lock Anchor box is checked. Click on O.K. When you return to your document drag the picture so that it is positioned centrally beneath the text. Type a few lines of text beneath the picture.

Insert a Column Break You have now created the first column. Just as Microsoft Word for Windows 97 will insert a soft page break when you reach the end of a page, it will insert a soft column break when you reach the end of a column. However, when designing leaflets you may wish to have more control over the layout so Microsoft Word for Windows 97 allows you to insert your own hard column breaks. Exercise 5 Insert a column break • •

Press the CTRL+SHIFT+Enter keys together. A column break marker should appear in your document (Figure 4). If it does not appear, then make sure that the Show/Hide button on the toolbar is highlighted. Figure 4 Column Break


You can also insert column breaks using the Insert menu

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Doc 5.92 Ver 1 Exercise 6

• • •

Insert a column header for Ian, then insert a column break. Repeat this for Goldilocks, Ness, Winnie the Pooh, and Samantha. Experiment by inserting some text and graphics in each column and changing the appearance. There is an example at the back of the document if you are short of ideas.

4 Changing the appearance Formatting text You can format the text in your columns just as you would format text on the page. The sample leaflet for the Porridge Eating Team has for example: Arial 20 pt bold with centre justification for the title Left alignment for the address and contact details

Justification for body text

Heading 2 style for the names of the team members.

Adjusting column width
You can adjust the width of the columns by choosing Columns from the Format menu. Then type the column widths that you require in the Width boxes.
If you want equal column widths make sure that the equal column width box is checked. Then type in the value for the spacing and Microsoft Word for Windows 97 will adjust the widths to fit.
You can also adjust column widths by dragging the column markers on the horizontal rule. (Figure 2) The sample leaflet at the back of this document has rather narrow margins for a Z fold, so would benefit from wider spaces between the columns. Exercise 7 Change column widths • •

Click on the format menu Click on columns

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When the columns dialogue box appears ( Figure 5) make sure that the equal column width box is checked (i.e. it has a tick in it) and set the Spacing to 1.75 cm. Figure 5 Column settings dialogue box

5 Changing the number of Columns
You can change the number of columns in your document by using the Columns settings dialogue box and selecting the number of columns from the Presets. This will change it for the entire document.
You can also change the number of columns for preselected text. You can choose Select All from the Edit menu (this is equivalent to using the Presets as explained above) or you can select part of your document.
When changing the number of columns you need to bear in mind the layout of the columns and the way that it will be reproduced. For example the Porridge Testing Team will reproduce their publicity leaflet by copying it double sided and Z folding it. However, if they decided to change it to a 2 column layout, folded in half and stapled then the pages would not be in a sensible order. Exercise 8 Changing the number of columns •

Open a new document and type the following text: Ian is the heaviest member of the team. He has almost 7 years experience of eating porridge and he weighs 514 lbs. His favourite way of serving porridge is to add a tablespoon or two of honey.

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Goldilocks will cheerfully eat your porridge for you, however you like it served. She's a keen walker, and can often be found taking a stroll through the woods. • •

Select the paragraph that describes Ian Click on the Columns button and select 2 columns. Your text should now appear like

Ian is the heaviest member of the team. He has almost 7 years experience of eating porridge and he weighs 514 lbs. His

favourite way of serving porridge is to add a tablespoon or two of honey.

Goldilocks will cheerfully eat your porridge for you, however you like it served. She's a keen walker, and can often be found taking a stroll through the woods.

6 Creating a newsletter using a Wizard Microsoft Word for Windows 97 provides a newsletter wizard. We will generate a newsletter using the wizard. The newsletter itself provides further tips on formatting newsletters. You may be in the habit of creating a new document using the New button on the toolbar. If you use this short cut then Microsoft Word for Windows 97 opens a template file2 called normal.dot. However, you can also access other templates supplied with Microsoft Word for Windows 97 by using the File menu. Exercise 9 Create a News Letter • • • • •

• • •

From the File menu choose New. When the New dialogue box appears click on the Publications tab, then click on Newsletter Wizard.wiz (see left) to select it3. Click on O.K Newsletter Wizard appears. Click on Next> In the Style and Colour box choose a style by clicking in an option box (see left). At this point you also need to choose whether the newsletter should be black and white or colour. If you are using CCS workstations for training please use black and white. Click on Next> The next box asks you to type a title. You can also change the date, volume and issue at this point. Click on Next> In the next box leave room for a mailing label then click on Next>. In the last box click on Finish.

2

A template is a special kind of document that allows you to standardise the appearance of your documents. For more information on working with templates see CCS document 5.85. 3 At this point you could choose to open your document as a template.

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Save your newsletter as N:\My Documents\News.doc.

If you read the newsletter you will see that it contains information about the Microsoft Word for Windows 97 techniques that were used to create it. You can print it out for future reference.

7 Finding Out More The Microsoft Word for Windows 97 online Help provides much useful information if you know where to look. Let us explore the Getting Results section to find out more about working with text and graphics. Exercise 10 Finding Out More • • • • • •

Click on the Help menu, then click on Contents and Index. Make sure that the Index tab is on top (click on it to bring it on top if it is not). In the box labelled 1 type Getting . A list of topics starting with Getting Results will appear. Scroll down until you see Newsletter and click on the Display button. Click on Arrange text and graphics in a page. Click on the button next to For examples of ways to position text and graphics

Here you can read about text boxes referred to in the newsletter that you created.

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Meet our friendly porridge testing team

All our team are dedicated to ensuring that your porridge is served in the way that suits you best. They spend many hours eating porridge to be sure that they can advise you on the various alternatives You can contact us at Bear House Malet St. London WC1E 7HX Phone: 020 7631 6543 e-mail: [email protected] web site: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/bears

Ian

Goldilocks

• • •

Ian is the heaviest member of the team. He has almost 7 years experience of eating porridge and he weighs 514 lbs. His favourite way of serving porridge is to add a tablespoon or two of honey.

•

Goldilocks will cheerfully eat your porridge for you, however you like it served. She's a keen walker, and can often be found taking a stroll through the woods.

Ness

•

•

Although he's the smallest member of the team at 26 lbs., baby Ness is an enthusiastic eater and we expect him to eventually overtake his father Ian. He's called after the well known monster of Loch Ness, and as you'd expect from someone with Scottish connections, he eats his porridge with salt.

Winnie the Pooh

Samantha

•

• •

Winnie's advice is to pour a jar of honey over your porridge, and you won't notice the lumps. If you've burnt it as well, pour another jar of honey over it.

Samantha likes lots of cream with her porridge.