Ruler in MS Word and its uses

In this blog we discuss about ruler in MS Word.

What is ruler?

In Word’s rulers let you control the margins of your page and the indentation of paragraphs. They’re great for precisely lining up images, text, and other elements. If you’re printing a document, the rulers can help ensure that what you see on your screen translates into what you’ll get on the printed page.

Show the ruler:

Go to View and select Ruler.

To show the vertical ruler

·        Go to File > Options > Advanced

·        Select the Show vertical ruler in Print Layout view under Display.

Access the Page Setup Window:
Double-click any empty space on the ruler to open the Page Setup window. This is the same window you can open from the Layout tab on the Ribbon.

The “Page Setup” window shows you most of the physical layout properties of the document. The “Margins” tab lets you set the margins for the top, bottom, left, and right, which you can verify with the markers on the ruler.

What are tab stops?

A tab stop is the location your cursor moves to when you hit the Tab key. A default Word document has no tab stops, so each time you hit the Tab key, the cursor jumps ahead about eight characters. Setting tab stops lets you better control and line up text.

Settings:

Clicking this button lets you cycle through the different types of tab stops Word makes available. Here they are:

·         Left: Left tabs are Word’s default tap stop. They’re what most people think of when they think of tab stops, and what you’ll likely use most of the time. Text is aligned against the left edge of the tab stop.

·         Centre: Centre tabs align the text around the centre of the tab stop.

·         Right: Right tabs align text against the tab stop’s right edge and are a great way to align the rightmost digits of lengthy lists of numbers as you enter them.

·         Decimal: Decimal tabs align numbers based on decimal points. They are great for aligning currency figures. Be careful, though. Text is also aligned on decimals, so if you type a sentence with a period, the period will align on the tab stop.

·         Bar Tab: Bar tabs do not create an actual tab stop. Instead, they create a vertical line wherever you insert them. You could use these for putting vertical lines between tabbed columns in instances where you’d rather not use a table.

·         Indents: Select first line and hanging indent options and then click anywhere in the active ruler space to place the indent there. This works the same as dragging the indent markers the way we discussed in the previous section.

 Parts of MS Word

To familiarize Microsoft Word you need to know the basic parts and controls when you open the program.

When Word is launched, a new blank document—or default window—opens in Print Layout view. Although window elements are fully explained in our Windows course, here is a brief explanation of the Word window.

Main basic parts:

·        Title bar

·        Menu bar. Standard toolbar

·        Formatting toolbar

·        Ruler

·        Insertion point

·        End-of-document marker

·        Help

Explanation:

 Here is the explanation of basic parts.

Title bar:

On the Title bar, Microsoft Word displays the name of the document you are currently using. At the top of your screen, you should see name of document. It lies next to the Quick Access Toolbar. It displays the title of the currently open document or application. It is present on almost all windows displayed on your computer. So, if there are several windows across the screen, you can identify each window by looking at the title bar. In many graphical user interfaces, you can also move a window by dragging the title bar.

Menu bar. Standard toolbar:

The Menu bar is directly below the Title bar and it displays the menu. The menu begins with the word File and continues with Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Table, Window, and Help. You use the menu to give instructions to the software. A menu bar is a graphical control element which contains drop-down menus. The menu bar's.

Formatting toolbar:

The Formatting Toolbar contains a collection of icon buttons that allows the user to access various formatting menus such as changing the font or the paragraph format. Changes the font of the selected text.

Ruler:

To show the ruler in Word or hide it, first select the “View” tab in the Ribbon. Then check or uncheck the “Ruler” checkbox in the “Show” button group to turn the display of the ruler on and off, if available for your currently selected document view. Checking the checkbox shows the ruler.

Insertion point:

The insertion point is the blinking vertical line in your document. It indicates where you can enter text on the page. You can use the insertion point in a variety of ways: Blank document. When a new blank document opens, the insertion point is located in the top-left corner of the page.

End-of-document marker:

Horizontal line like a short underline at the end of document seen only when is in normal view is called end of document marker is it lets you know where the end of document occur.