What is word processor

Word processor

Sometimes abbreviated as WP, a word processor is a software program capable of creating, storing, and printing typed documents. Today, the word processor is one of the most frequently used software programs on a computer, with Microsoft Word being the most popular word processor.

A word processor should not be confused with a text editor, such as Notepad, that only allows editing and creating plain text documents.

Overview of Word

In a word processor, you are presented with a blank white sheet as shown below. The text is added to the document area and after it has been inserted formatted or adjusted to your preference. Below is an example of a blank Microsoft Word window with areas of the window highlighted.

Features of a word processor

Unlike a basic plaintext editor, a word processor offers several additional features that can give your document or other text a more professional appearance. Below is a listing of some of the most popular features of a word processor.

Some more advanced text editors can perform some of these functions.

Examples and top uses of a word processor

A word processor is one of the most used computer programs because of its versatility in creating a document. Below is a list of the top examples of how you could use a word processor.

Examples of word processor programs

Although Microsoft Word is the most popular word processor available, there are other word processor programs. Below is a list of some popular word processors in alphabetical order.

Word processor advantages over a typewriter

See our typewriter page for a listing of advantages a computer with a word processor has over a typewriter.

What is a Word Processor?

The capability to create documents using a word processor is known as word processing. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, which are sometimes utilized in specialized situations with a typewriter that has been customized. These were primarily intended for typists, especially in organizations where other employees would provide handwritten notes to be transcribed into documents for printing and then returned for inspection.
Different word processors are available today; some are proprietary, such as Microsoft Word, StarOffice Writer, WordPerfect Office, and others are open source, such as Openoffice.org Writer, etc.

How to open MS Word in Windows?

In Windows 8/above:

Step 1: Press Windows + C to open the search bar

Step 2: Type MS Word & click on the MS Word version you are having in your system. MS Word window will pop up.

In Windows 7 or below:

Step 1: Go to the program section in the windows start menu.
Step 2: Go to MS Office & click on it. A drop-down list is seen
Step 3: Click on MS Word & the MS Word window will pop up.

Creating a New Document in MS Word

Once your MS Word Window pops up, you can create & save the file by:

Step 1: Click on the Microsoft button on the top left.

Step 2: Click on New, a new Document window will pop up.

Step 3: Click on Create & a new document will be created

Note: Shortcut for New: Ctrl + N

How to Save a document or give a Name to a new document created?

Step 1: Click on the Microsoft icon

Step 2: Click On SaveAs button.

Step 3: Click on Word Document & a new Window for save as will pop up

Step 4: Select the drive (by clicking on it: Example: Local Drive (D)) in which you want to save the document
Then your driver will open up, select the folder in which you want to save the document (Example: img folder here) & then give the required name to your document (Example: Doc3 here)

Your document is created & saved with the provided name.

Note: Shortcut for save: Ctrl +s

How to print a document through an attached printer?

Step 1: Click on the Microsoft icon

Step 2: Click On Print & a window for Print & Preview the document will pop up.

Step 3: Click on Print. Then a window for Print will pop up.

Step 4: Select the printer by which you want to take out a print of the document. Select the page range (Print of all or some or current page) & the number of copies you want.

Step 5: Click on OK. You will get a print of your document.

Note: Shortcut for print is Ctrl + P.

MS Word Window

MS Word Window has the following components:

(i) Title Bar: Shows the name/title given by you to the current document. If the user does not save the document by any name, the default name given by MS Word appears in this bar.

(ii) Menu Bar: Contains menu items like Margins, views, page layout, etc.

(iii) Office Button: MS Office button on the left-most top.

(iv) Formatting Toolbar: Have tools like Bold, Italic, Underline, Font shape & size, etc. to format your data.

(v) Ribbon: To provide an easy & quick user interface we have ribbon in MS Word. Depending on what you’re doing in Word, Excel, or another Office software, the Ribbon varies.

(vi) Scrollbars: To scroll your document up or down.

(vii) Zoom Slider: To zoom in or zoom out your document
(viii) View Buttons: Provides different views of your document like Print view, full-screen view, web layout view, etc.
(ix) Quick Access Toolbar: To quickly save your document on clicking the save button, or to redo or undo the last work done.
(x) Work Window: The area where you can actually word, write data, including images, etc,

Sample Questions

Question 1. What will you do for closing a document?

Answer:

The procedure is as follows:
Step 1. Go to Office Button
Step 2. Click on close (last option in the list).

Question 2. Give shortcuts to create, print, close & save a document.

Answer:

1. Ctrl +N – Create a New Document-
2. Ctrl + S – Save a Document
3. Alt + F4 – Close a Document.
4. Ctrl + P – Print a Document.

Question 3. How to Open MS Word in Windows 7?

Answer:

The Steps to open MS Word are as follows:
Step 1. Click on Start icon on the screen.
Step 2. Choose All Programs
Step 3. Select Microsoft Office
Step 4. Click on Microsoft Word.

Question 4. What are different Alignments available in MS Word?

Answer:

The appearance and direction of the paragraph’s edges are determined by alignment. Types of alignment are:
1. Left Alignment: The text was aligned uniformly along the left margins.
2. Right Alignment: The text was aligned uniformly along the right margins.
3. Center Alignment: The text is aligned evenly with the center of the page.
4. Justified Alignment: The text was aligned evenly with both the left and right margins.

Question 5. How to use Save as option in MS Word?

Answer:

The steps for using Save As :
Step 1. Click on Office button on the left top
Step 2. Choose Save As Option under it.
Step 3. Save As Dialog box pops up
Step 4. Select the location to save as your document & provide a new name
Step 5. Click on Save.

What Is Word Processor?

Word Processor is a term used to describe a hardware or software which is used for input, edit, format, output, convert some text. Even first-word processors are hardware-based or provide very basic features for word processing. Modern word processors like MS Word, Libre Office, OpenOffice, etc. provide advanced features.

Word Processor History

Word processor history goes back to the 1970s. Even hardware-based word processor roots go older than that we will look at the history of the software-based word processor.

Word Processor Features and Operations

Word Processors provide different features in order to create documents. Not all of them provide advanced features but different processors provide a different level of features.

Insert text is the most basic and popular feature where text, words, and characters are typed into the document which is provided by the word processor.

Delete text is another popular operation where miss-typed or unwanted text and characters are deleted.

Copy is another popular operation where some text is copied from the given document.

Paste is similar operation to “insert text” but the text is copied from different documents, browsers, etc. into the current document.

Page size and properties can be configured accordingly for better and specific view and page type.

Search operation will search and find a given word or characters in the current word processor document.

Replace is related to the “search” operation where matched search can be changed or replaced with the given word or characters.

Print is used to print the given document into a different format like PDF or sent to into printer to get a hard copy.

File management is used to create, delete, move, rename word processor documents.

Font management is used to set and change font type which is related to the character representations.

Spell checking is another popular feature where the text content is checked again spelling or grammatical errors.

Footnotes are used to put some information about specific text or paragraph.

References is used for academic purposes.

Headers and footers are used to show some generic information like document name, page number,

Macro is used to run simple scripts to generate, calculate some data, or create actions according to the keystrokes and automatically run some functions.

Index Table is used to show list of headers and document parts with page information.

Graphics are used to show some data or information in a graphical way. The graphic can be a bar, pie, line type.

Table is used to show tabular data in a structured way which is easy to read and look.

Word Processor GUI

Even a word processor provides a lot of features it provides very basic GUI in order to make the user experience easier for most of the people from different knowledge level.

Word Processor Use Cases

Even word processor is a very similar text editor it provides a lot more features and detailed configurations. Below we will list some use cases for the word processor.

Popular Word Processor Software

Even Microsoft Word is the most popular and defacto word processor there are a lot of proprietaries and free/opensource word processors. Below we will list some of them.

word processor

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

word processor, computer program used to write and revise documents, compose the layout of the text, and preview on a computer monitor how the printed copy will appear. The last capability is known as “what you see is what you get” ( WYSIWYG; pronounced wi-zē-wig).

Word processors facilitate writing and editing, especially with their ability to copy and move text (“cut-and-paste”), their built-in dictionaries to check spelling, and their grammar checkers. Other common features include a wide choice of typographic fonts and sizes, various paragraph and page layouts, tools for finding and replacing strings of characters, and word counts. Modern word processors also have many features once reserved for desktop publishing systems, such as table creation and importation of graphic images. They typically provide templates for common document types, such as letters, memos, and résumés, and can generate multiple copies of a document with recipient addresses drawn from a list (“mail merge”).

Before word processors were available, text-editing programs offered the basic editing capabilities of word processing but without WYSIWYG. WYSIWYG depends on high-resolution bit-mapped computer graphics displays. For example, IBM’s 1964-model Selectric typewriter with a magnetic tape drive predated bit-mapped graphics and had only modest formatting capabilities.

Programs known as text formatters give more control over document layout and appearance, especially for scientific and mathematical documents, than do word processors. On the other hand, these programs, like TeX and LaTeX, are much more difficult to learn, requiring an author to embed formatting commands directly in the text. (Word processors automatically generate and hide formatting information in the document file.) Desktop publishing programs have word processing features but also provide highly flexible layout and control over appearance to combine text and graphics for advertising copy, magazines, and books.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.

Word Processing

Word processing refers generally to the creation, editing, formatting, storage, and output of both printed and online or electronic documents. Word processing is undoubtedly the most-used business application for personal computers, perhaps alongside World Wide Web browsers and electronic-mail (e-mail) applications.

Word-processing software includes basic applications designed for casual business or home users and powerful, advanced applications capable of meeting the most-demanding needs of businesses. Many word-processing applications are designed for use as part of a suite or integrated group of word-processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs. For example, Microsoft Word, probably the most widely used word-processing software, is part of the Microsoft Office suite, which includes Microsoft’s PowerPoint presentation program and Excel spreadsheet program. Corel WordPerfect, a less widely used but very popular word-processing program, is part of Corel’s WordPerfect Office suite, which includes Quattro Pro spreadsheet software and Presentations multimedia slide-show software.

Some word-processing software is available as shareware for a relatively small fee or as freeware at no cost. For example, Yeah Write, a basic fill-in-the-blank word processor designed for people who do not want to deal with formatting tasks, is available as shareware. OpenOffice.org is a complete office suite that includes a powerful word-processing program, WRITER, which is intended as an open-standard, vendor-neutral alternative to proprietary word-processing programs.

Most word processors include the same essential word-processing functions and a variety of more-advanced features for document production and formatting.

ESSENTIAL WORD-PROCESSING FUNCTIONS

Essential word-processing functions can be grouped into the categories of input, manipulation, formatting, and output of text.

Text Input

Typically, text is entered into the word processor from a keyboard; other input methods include:

Text Manipulation

Text manipulation refers to the «processing» part of word processing. Word processors provide easy methods of deleting, inserting, copying, and moving individual characters, words, phrases, and paragraphs — even entire pages of information — with a few clicks of a mouse button or with such keyboard shortcuts as Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-X to cut, and Ctrl-V to paste or insert text. Text can be automatically checked for spelling and for conformance to basic grammatical principles as the text is entered and edited.

Text Formatting

The most-common formatting tasks are typically performed by the user as a document is created. Individual character and word formatting includes selection of type size, type style, and typeface. Size is measured in points, a unit of measure in which 72 points make up an inch. Typically, 11- or 12-point type is used for basic business documents. Newsletters, annual reports, and other such «designed» documents may use type as small as 8 or 9 points for the basic text and as large as 24, 36, or 48 points (or more) for main titles. Type styles, such as italics, underline, and bold, are easily selected using keyboard shortcuts or by selecting them from the basic font menu. Typefaces (typeface refers to the look or design of the type) are available in thousands of varieties, including such commonly known faces as Times Roman, Arial, Helvetica, and Garamond.

Paragraph formatting includes line spacing, meaning the amount of blank space left between lines of type (single spacing and double spacing, for example); paragraph spacing (the amount of blank space that precedes or follows each paragraph); justification (all lines of type made even at both margins, or left uneven or ragged at the right margin); and indentation (such as a first-line indentation at the beginning of each paragraph).

Page and overall-document formatting includes setting margins (typically 1-inch margins are used on the top, bottom, and both sides of such basic business documents as letters, reports, and memos), creating columns like those used in a newspaper or newsletter, and creating headers and footers (information such as the page number or a chapter title that is repeated at the top or bottom of each page of a document). Most word processors also provide special layout features for formatting outlines, tables, envelopes, and mailing labels.

Text Output

Once text has been created, edited, and formatted into a finished electronic document, it must be put into some tangible form or lasting electronic form to be of practical benefit. That output process usually starts with the saving of the document on the computer’s hard drive, a floppy disk, a CD, or a memory device such as a flash drive. Saving the document, in fact, is an activity that should take place frequently during the creation and editing processes to guard against loss due to problems such as electrical-power failure, computer malfunctions, and operator error.

Printing a document on paper is the most common output method; other output methods include faxing a document directly from the word processor by use of a computer modem, sending the document to another person by e-mail, and converting the word-processing document to various other electronic formats for online viewing or for eventual printing from other applications. For example, word-processing documents are frequently converted to HTML for use as Web pages, to portable document format (PDF) files, and to rich text format (RTF) files for use in other computer programs (particularly other word-processing programs).

ADVANCED WORD-PROCESSING FEATURES

Although most word-processing users tend to learn and use primarily the basic word-processing features, numerous more-advanced features are available in most word processors to make word processing much easier to complete in less time. Taking the time to learn some advanced word-processing features and functions usually has a high payoff in terms of productivity and professionalism.

Some of the more-common advanced word-processing features and functions are described briefly below:

Styles

Styles are user-created formatting commands that allow great control over repetitive formatting structures within a document. For example, using a «style» for each type of heading in a report will ensure consistent formatting of the headings and will eliminate the need for a user to manually format each heading as it is created.

Macros and Merging

Macros are stored keystrokes, or sets of editing and formatting commands, that can be replayed whenever needed. Macros can boost productivity and take much of the tedium out of repetitive word-processing tasks. Merging is the process of using lists of such information as names, addresses, phone numbers, product descriptions or model numbers, and so on to fill in designated fields or blanks in documents to create mass mailings, address labels, directories, and catalogs.

Version Control

Version-control features allow a user to track the various stages of editing that a document may pass through, including versions created by multiple users involved in the creation and editing of a document. Related features such as the ability to track changes made in a document enable multiple users to review suggested document changes and to accept or reject proposed changes.

Automatic References and Indexes

Documents that include tables of contents, cross-references, indexes, footnotes, endnotes, and captions will benefit from the capability of a word processor to automatically generate and format these items.

Desktop-Publishing Capabilities

Professional-looking documents such as newsletters, advertisements, annual reports, brochures, and business cards can be designed with most modern word-processing software.

Graphical images from clip-art collections, digital photographs, and scanned images, and drawings created with graphics programs, can be integrated easily into word-processing documents. Pages and paragraphs can be enclosed with decorative borders. Background images and colors can be added to pages within a document. Graphical elements such as lines, boxes, arrows, and artistic textual headings can be created quickly and easily within most word-processing programs.

Although word processors are generally not as sophisticated as desktop-publishing software or page-layout programs in their capabilities for setting type and for working with graphical elements, they can be used to create attractive, professional-looking documents that go beyond the basic layout and formatting of letters, memos, and reports. Using a word-processing program to create designed documents is often preferable to using a high- end desktop-publishing program, however, because word-processing users are not required to become proficient in using another program and because documents within an organization or department are created and maintained using the same application.

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