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Table of Contents Opening a New Document ......................................................................................................................... 3

Navigating the Toolbar .............................................................................................................................. 3

Clipboard ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Cut ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Copy ...................................................................................................................................................... 3

Paste ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Format Painter .................................................................................................................................... 4

Font ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

Changing font and text size .................................................................................................................. 5

Bold/Italicize/Underline text ................................................................................................................ 5

Other font tools .................................................................................................................................... 6

Paragraph .................................................................................................................................................. 7

Bulleted and numbered lists ................................................................................................................. 7

Indenting ............................................................................................................................................... 8

Alignment and spacing ......................................................................................................................... 8

Shading and borders ............................................................................................................................ 9

Styles ....................................................................................................................................................... 10

Inserting Content ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Pages ....................................................................................................................................................... 10

Cover Page ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Blank Page ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Page Break ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Tables ...................................................................................................................................................... 11

Table Design ...................................................................................................................................... 12

Layout ................................................................................................................................................. 12

Illustrations ............................................................................................................................................. 13

Pictures ............................................................................................................................................... 13

Shapes ................................................................................................................................................. 14

Icons .................................................................................................................................................... 15

Charts ................................................................................................................................................. 15

Header and Footer .................................................................................................................................. 16

Header ................................................................................................................................................ 16

Footers ................................................................................................................................................ 16

Introduction to Microsoft Word

2

Page number ...................................................................................................................................... 17

Text ......................................................................................................................................................... 18

Text box .............................................................................................................................................. 18

Word art ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Drop caps ........................................................................................................................................... 19

Signature line ..................................................................................................................................... 19

Date and time ..................................................................................................................................... 20

Symbols ................................................................................................................................................... 20

Equations ............................................................................................................................................ 21

Symbols ............................................................................................................................................... 21

Layout ........................................................................................................................................................ 22

Page Setup .............................................................................................................................................. 22

Margins ............................................................................................................................................... 22

Orientation .......................................................................................................................................... 23

Size ...................................................................................................................................................... 23

Columns .............................................................................................................................................. 24

Paragraph ................................................................................................................................................ 25

Indent .................................................................................................................................................. 25

Spacing................................................................................................................................................ 25

Reviewing Your Document ..................................................................................................................... 25

Proofing ................................................................................................................................................... 25

Check document ................................................................................................................................. 25

Thesaurus ............................................................................................................................................ 26

Word Count ........................................................................................................................................ 27

Language ................................................................................................................................................. 27

Translate ............................................................................................................................................. 27

Language ............................................................................................................................................ 28

Comments ............................................................................................................................................... 29

Tracking .................................................................................................................................................. 29

Changes ................................................................................................................................................... 29

MW Keyboard Shortcuts ........................................................................................................................ 30

Additional Resources ............................................................................................................................... 32

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Opening a New Document:

• Open Microsoft Word (MW or Word) and navigate to the templates menu

• If you want to customize the layout, design, and formatting, select blank document

• If you want to use a premade template for a specific type of document, select from the

given options or choose more templates

Navigating the Toolbar:

• There are four main sections of the toolbar: Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, and Styles.

Clipboard:

• The MW Clipboard is a tool that allows you to virtually copy or cut text, images, or other

content, and paste them elsewhere in the document.

• There are four tools in the clipboard section of the toolbar: Cut, Copy, Paste, and Format

painter

o Cut: This action becomes available when content is selected/highlighted. Choose

this option to remove the content.

o Copy: This action becomes available when content is selected/highlighted.

Choose this option to duplicate the content. Note: after you click ‘copy’ the

content does not appear in the document; MW holds the copy virtually until you

indicate where you would like to place the copied content in the document.

o Paste: This action becomes available when you have cut or copied content from

your document or another application. Choose the default paste option to maintain

the original formatting of the content. If you want to paste content with formatting

that is different than the source, choose the drop-down menu, select paste special,

and choose the option that suits your need.

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o Format Painter: This action allows you to copy formatting from one part of your

document and replicate it elsewhere in the document. To use, select the text with

the formatting you would like to copy, select the format painter icon, and then

highlight the text that you would like to format.

Font:

• The font section contains tools that format your text, including changing font and text

size, bold/italicize/underline text, strikethrough, sub- or superscript, highlighting or

changing text color, adding text effects, and changing case.

• Changing font and text size:

CUT

COPY

FORMAT

PAINTER

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o Click the left-hand drop-down menu to change the font. Scroll to view all

available fonts and click to select your choice. To change the font of existing text,

highlight the text first, then click the drop-down menu and select the desired font.

o Click the right-hand drop-down menu to change the text size. Select the desired

size, or click in the text box to manually type a specific size. You can also use the

icons to the right of the text box to either increase text size (A^ ) or decrease text

size (A ). To edit existing text, select the text before changing the size.

• Bold, italicize, and underline text:

o Bold: select the B to type bolded text. To bold existing text, select the text first,

then select the B

o Italicize: select the I to type italicized text. To italicize existing text, select the text

first, then select the I

Type to enter

specific font size

value

Increase (left) and

decrease (right) font size

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o Underline: select the U to underline text as you type. To underline existing text,

select the text, then select the U. To change the style or color of the underline, select

the drop-down menu and choose the desired style.

• Other font tools:

o Strikethrough: Select the ab to strikethrough text as you type. To strikethrough

existing text, select the text first, then select the ab.

o Subscriptexample: Select the x2 to type a subscript. To change existing text to a

subscript, select the text first, then select the x2

o Superscriptexample: Select the x2 to type a superscript. To change existing text to a

superscript, select the text first, then select the x2

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o Highlighting: Select the existing text that you wish to highlight and click the

highlighter icon. To change the color of the highlighter, click the drop-down menu

and select the desired color

o Changing text color: Select the drop-down menu by the text color icon and choose

a theme color, standard color, or customize the shade by clicking more colors. To

change the color of existing text, select the text first, then choose the color.

o Adding text effects: Select the drop-down menu by the and choose the desired effect.

To add effects on existing text, select the text first, then select the desired effect.

o Changing Text Case: To change text case, select the drop-down menu by the Aa

icon and choose from Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each

Word, or tOGGLE cASE. To change the case of existing text, select the text first

and then choose the desired case.

Paragraph:

• The paragraph section contains tools for formatting the basic layout of your document,

including bulleted and numbered lists, indenting, alignment and spacing, and shading and

borders.

• Bulleted and numbered lists:

o To start a bulleted or numbered list, click the corresponding icon. Use the drop-

down menu to change the shape of the bullet or the style of numbering. To indent

underneath one of the points in the list, hit ‘enter’ to create a new bullet and then

hit ‘tab’. To create a list out of existing content, select all of the content and then

click the icon of the list you want to create.

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• Indenting

o To change the indent of your paragraph, or how far it is from the edge of the

paper, place your cursor to the left of the text, then select either the ‘decrease

indent’ or ‘increase indent’ icons

• Alignment and spacing

o There are four alignment options in MW: left, center, right, and justify. Left- and

right-align will align content with their respective margins. The center alignment

will center content on the page. The justify alignment evenly distributes the text

between the margins. To set alignment, click the corresponding icon. To change

alignment of existing content, select the content first, then click the icon

Decrease indent Increase indent

Left-align

Center-align Right-align

Justify

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o To change text spacing, select the drop-down menu by the spacing icon. Then,

choose the preset spacing you want, or select ‘Line Spacing Options…’ to

customize the spacing. There is also the option to ‘add/remove space after

paragraph’. Selecting this option will change how much space is automatically

added when pressing the enter button to create a new line

• Shading and borders

o Shading: Shading is similar to highlighting, but offers a wider range of colors. To

shade your content, select the drop-down menu by the paint bucket icon and

choose a color. To shade pre-existing content, select the content first, then choose

a color.

o Borders: Use the border feature to add an outline to your content. Select the drop-

down menu by the grid icon and choose which borders you want to apply to your

content. To add borders on pre-existing content, select the content first, then

choose the border you want. Select ‘Borders and Shading…’ from the drop-down

menu to change the style , color, or weight of the borders

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Styles:

• The styles section contains preset formatting options that can be applied to your

document overall. Open the drop-down menu to view all available presets, or select

‘Create a Style’ to save your current formatting to the Styles library.

Inserting Content

• The inserting content menu can be accessed by selecting the ‘Insert’ tab on the toolbar. It

is organized into a number of sections, including pages, tables, illustrations, header &

footer, text, and symbols

Pages:

• The pages section allows you to insert a cover page, blank page, or page break

o Cover page: select the cover page drop-down menu and choose one of the cover

page templates. You can also view an extended library of templates by clicking on

‘More cover pages from Office.com’

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o Blank page: select this to insert a new blank page below your cursor. MW will

automatically insert a blank page as you are typing when you reach the end of a

page

o Page break: select page break to add a new page below the one you are working

on and move to that page.

Tables:

• The tables section allows you to create a table right in your document. Select the table

drop-down menu and choose the size of table that you want to insert. You can also select

‘Quick Tables’ to use any of the MW table templates or ‘Draw Table’ to manually create

the table by clicking and dragging your cursor.

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Once a table has been inserted, two

new formatting tabs will appear: Table Design Layout

• Table Design:

o This tab offers design options for your table. Select one of the premade table styles

from the drop-down menu, or use the shading and border tools to customize your

design.

• Layout:

o This tab has several sections with formatting options for your table, including

Draw, Rows and Columns, Merge, Cell Size, and Alignment

o Draw: Includes tools to draw or erase parts of a table manually

o Rows and Columns: Insert rows above or below the current row, insert columns

left or right of the current column, and delete rows or columns

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o Merge: Merge separate cells into one, split a single cell into multiple cells, and

split the table so that a row or column is separate from the rest

o Cell Size: Manually adjust the dimensions of individual cells using the arrow keys

or typing a value. Use the ‘Autofit’ drop-down menu to automatically fit the

width of your table to the width of either the whole page, or your content. Select

‘Distribute Rows/Columns’ to evenly distribute the height or width of selected

cells.

o Alignment: Use the icons to select the text alignment within table cells, click ‘Text

Direction’ to rotate the text, and select ‘Cell Margins’ to customize cell margins

and spacing between cells

Illustrations:

• The illustrations section has a variety of options for graphics that can be included in your

document, including pictures, shapes, icons, and charts.

o Pictures: selecting pictures will open your computer’s file browser, where you

can select the image you wish to insert. Once you insert an image, a ‘picture

format’ tab will be added to the toolbar, which contains tools for cropping and

resizing your photo, as well as adding effects and changing its position on the

page.

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o Shapes: click the drop-down menu by ‘shapes’ to view the menu of available

shapes. Choose the shape that you wish to insert, then click and drag on the page

to create the shape in the size that you want. Once the shape is inserted, a ‘shape

format’ tab will be added to the toolbar, with options for resizing the shape,

changing color, and changing position on the page.

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o Icons: opens a menu of premade icons that can be inserted into the document.

After the icon is inserted, a ‘graphics format’ tab will be added to the toolbar with

options for cropping, resizing, recoloring, or adding effects to the icon.

o Chart: opens a separate window where you can choose the category and type of

chart to insert. Once a chart is inserted, a corresponding MS Excel window will

open for the purpose of editing chart values. Chart titles, category labels and axis

labels can be added by clicking directly on the chart or by changing the

corresponding label in the MS Excel window. Two tabs, Chart Design and

Format, will also be added to the toolbar with options for changing color/design,

cropping, and repositioning the chart.

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Header & Footer:

• The header and footer section lets you edit the header and/or footer on your document, as

well as inserting a page number.

o Header: The header is text within the first inch of your document. It repeats on

every page and can be used to showcase information like title and author. To

insert a header click the drop-down menu by ‘Header’ and select a header

template. You can also manually format the header by choosing ‘Edit Header’

from the drop-down menu. After you select the header to insert, a ‘Header &

Footer’ tab will appear with formatting options. Header text can be formatted

using the ‘Font’ section on the ‘Home’ tab. To remove an existing header, select

‘Remove Header’.

o Footer: The footer is text within the bottom inch of your document. It repeats on

every page and, like the header, can be used to showcase information like title and

author. To insert a footer, click the drop-down menu by ‘Footer’ and select a

footer template. You can also manually format the footer by choosing ‘Edit

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Footer’. After you select the footer to insert, a ‘Header & Footer’ tab will appear

with formatting options. Footer text can be formatted using the ‘Font’ section on

the ‘Home’ tab. To remove an existing footer, select ‘Remove Footer’.

o Page Number: To add a page number, select the drop-down menu by ‘Page

Number’ and select the ‘Top of Page’ or ‘Bottom of Page’ menu, depending on

where you want to insert the page number. Then, choose a page number template.

To remove an existing page number, select ‘Remove Page Numbers’ from the

first drop-down menu.

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Text:

• The text section has options for adding non-standard text to your document.

o Text Box: A text box can be used to draw attention to important content, such as

headers or quotes. To insert a text box, select the drop-down menu and choose a

built-in text box template. You can also manually create a text box by selecting

‘Draw Text Box’. After the text box is inserted, a ‘Shape Format’ tab will open

with formatting options.

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o Word Art: Use word art to add some artistic flair to your content. To insert word

art, select the drop-down menu by the word art icon and choose the style of word

art that you want to use. The colors displayed in the drop-down menu correspond

to the preset theme colors of your document and can be changed after the word art

is inserted. Once the word art is inserted, a ‘Shape Format’ tab will appear with

options for formatting the size, color, style, and position of the word art.

o Drop Caps: Drop caps are a large capital letter at the beginning of a paragraph.

To add a drop cap, select the drop-down menu by the drop cap icon and choose

whether you want the drop cap to be dropped, or in the margin.

o Signature Line: Add a signature line if you are creating a document requiring a

signature, such as a contract or a letter. Select the drop-down menu by the

signature line icon and click ‘Microsoft Office Signature Line’. A window will

pop up where you can enter the signer’s name and title.

Dropped

In

Margin

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o Date and Time: To insert the current date and time, select the ‘Insert Date and

Time’ icon. Choose one of the built-in formats to insert. Check the ‘Update

Automatically’ box to have the date update to whatever the current date is

automatically.

Symbols

• The symbols section includes options for inserting text that is not present on the

keyboard, including foreign and mathematic characters.

XJohn Doe

Signer

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o Equation: To insert an equation, select the drop-down menu and choose one of the

built-in equation templates. Once the equation is inserted, it can be edited directly.

More templates can be accessed by clicking ‘More Equations from Office.com’.

You can also manually build your equation by selecting ‘Insert New Equation’.

Choosing this option will open the ‘Equation’ tab, which includes symbols and

structures for writing equations.

𝑥 =−𝑏±√𝑏2−4𝑎𝑐

2𝑎 𝑥 =

−4±√42−4(3)(5)

2(3)

o Symbol: To insert a symbol, select the drop-down menu and choose one of the

available symbols. If you want a symbol that is not pictured, click ‘More

Symbols…’, choose a symbol or special character, and select insert.

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Layout

• The layout tab contains options for formatting the actual pages that your content is on,

including adjusting the margins, changing orientation and page size, creating columns,

and standardizing the indent and spacing of your paragraphs

Page Setup

• Margins: To change the margins on your page, select the drop-down menu and choose

one of the built-in margin settings. To customize the margins, select ‘Custom Margins…’

and input the values you want. You can also adjust the margins by clicking and dragging

on the rulers at the top and left of the page.

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• Orientation: MW supports two orientations, portrait or landscape. The default orientation

when you open Word is portrait. To change to landscape orientation, select the drop-

down menu and click on ‘Landscape’

• Size: The default page size in Word is US Letter, 8.5” x 11”. To change the page size,

select the drop-down menu and choose one of the built-in templates. To manually enter a

custom page size, click ‘More Paper Sizes…’

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• Columns: The default setting in MW is one column. To add more columns, select the

drop-down menu and choose a column preset. To customize the column settings, choose

‘More Columns…’

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Paragraph

• Indent: Indent allows you to choose how far away to move the paragraph from either

margin. To set the values, click into either the ‘Left’ or ‘Right’ box (depending on which

margin you want to edit) and type distance you want. You can also manually change the

value by clicking on the up or down arrows to the right of the text boxes.

• Spacing: Spacing allows you to change how much space appears before and after

specific, selected paragraphs. To set the values, click into either the ‘Before’ or ‘After’

box and type the space you want before or after paragraphs. You can also manually

change the value by clicking on the up or down arrows to the right of the text boxes.

Reviewing Your Document

• The review tab contains tools for editing and revising your content with sections on

proofing, language, comments, tracking, and changes.

Proofing:

• Check Document: MW has a built-in editor that checks for spelling and grammar errors.

Content that MW labels as misspelled is underlined with red, while grammar errors are

underlined with green. To check all of the errors that MW identified in your document,

click ‘Check Document’. This will open the Editor panel. Click on ‘Spelling’,

‘Grammar’, or ‘Conciseness’ to view the errors and recommendations for correcting

them.

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• Thesaurus: Click on ‘Thesaurus’ to open Word’s built-in thesaurus, then type the word

you want to find synonyms for. You can also right-click on a word and click on

‘Synonyms’ to view a short list of similar words.

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• Word Count: Word automatically counts the number of words, pages, characters (with

and without spaces), paragraphs, and lines in your document. To view this information,

click on ‘Word Count’. You can also quickly check the number of words and pages in

your document in the lower left-hand panel of MW.

Language

• Translate: The MW translate function allows you to translate a section of your document

or to create a translated copy of your document. Select the drop-down menu and choose

the appropriate option. This will open the Translator panel, where you can enter the

language to translate to/from.

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• Language: The default proofing language for MW is English (United States). This can be

changed by going to the drop-down Language menu and selecting ‘Set Proofing

Language…’. You can also change the display language for the MW application by going

to the drop-down Language menu and selecting ‘Language Preferences…’

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Comments

• The comments section is part of Word’s built-in collaboration system. Highlight the text

you want to leave a comment on and select ‘New Comment’. A comments panel will

automatically be added to the side of your document. If you share your document with

others and they open it in MW on their computer, their comments will appear under their

name. Use the ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ buttons to jump between comments on the document.

To delete a comment, select the comment and click ‘Delete’. Use the drop-down Delete

menu to delete all comments in the document. Use the ‘Reply’ feature to discuss the

comment in the comments panel. You can also mark a comment as completed without

deleting it by selecting the comment and clicking ‘Resolve’. To revert a resolved comment,

select the comment and choose ‘Reopen’

Tracking

• The tracking section is also part of the MW collaboration system. Click on ‘Track

Changes’ to keep track of any changes that are made to your document. Text will

automatically be red and any deletions will appear as strikethroughs. If another author is

editing your document, the changes will be noted under their name.

Changes

• The changes section works with the tracking section for revising your content. Use the

‘Accept’ or ‘Reject’ buttons to accept or reject changes that have been made using ‘Track

Changes’. Choosing ‘Accept’ automatically integrates the changes into your document,

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while choosing ‘Reject’ will revert your content to what it was before the changes. Use

the ‘Previous’ or ‘Next’ buttons to jump between tracked changes. You can also accept or

reject all changes at once by clicking the respective drop-down menus and selecting

‘Accept/Reject All Changes’

MW Keyboard Shortcuts

Function:

Open a document

Create a new document

Save document

Close document

Cut

Copy

Paste

Select all content

Bold

Italic

Underline

Windows:

Ctrl + O

Ctrl + N

Ctrl + S

Ctrl + W

Ctrl + X

Ctrl + C

Ctrl + V

Ctrl + A

Ctrl + B

Ctrl + I

Ctrl + U

MacOS

Cmd + Shift + S

Cmd + F4

Cmd + X

Cmd + C

Cmd + V

Cmd + A

Cmd + B

Cmd + I

Cmd + U

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Function:

Decrease font size

Increase font size

Center text

Align text left

Align text right

Undo

Redo

Print

Print Preview

Copy selected formatting

Paste selected formatting

Indent paragraph

Remove paragraph indent

Apply single spacing

Apply double spacing

All text upper case

Hide selected text

Subscript

Superscript

Insert line break

Insert page break

Copyright symbol

Trademark symbol

Reg. trademark symbol

Ellipsis

Hyperlink

Insert comment

Windows:

Ctrl + Shift + <

Ctrl + Shift + >

Ctrl + E

Ctrl + L

Ctrl + R

Ctrl + Z

Ctrl + Y

Ctrl + P

Ctrl + Alt + I

Ctrl + Shift + C

Ctrl + Shift + V

Ctrl + M

Ctrl + Shift + M

Ctrl + 1

Ctrl + 2

Ctrl + Shift + A

Ctrl + Shift + H

Ctrl + =

Ctrl + Shift + Plus sign (+)

Shift + Enter

Ctrl + Enter

Ctrl + Alt + C

Ctrl + Alt + T

Ctrl + Alt + R

Ctrl + Alt + Period (.)

Ctrl + K

Ctrl + Alt + M

MacOS:

Cmd + Shift + <

Cmd + Shift + >

Cmd + E

Cmd + L

Cmd + R

Cmd + Z

Cmd + Y

Cmd + P

Cmd + Shift + C

Cmd + Shift + V

Ctrl + Shift + M

Cmd + Shift + M

Cmd + 1

Cmd + 2

Cmd + Shift + A

Cmd + =

Cmd + Shift + Plus sign

Shift + Return

Cmd + Return

Option + G

Option + 2

Option + R

Option + Semicolon (;)

Cmd + Option + A

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Additional Resources

• MW in-application training

o Access in training within the MW application by navigating to the ‘Help’ tab,

then clicking on ‘Show Training’

• Online Microsoft Word Help and Learning

o https://support.office.com/en-us/word

• “Welcome to Word” Document Template

o MW has a built-in introductory document. To open, first open MW, then click on

the ‘Welcome to Word’ template under ‘New’