Besides checking for spelling or grammatical mistakes, Word can also proofread your document to highlight other possible problems, such as misplaced commas or correctly spelled words that may be used incorrectly. To make Word proofread your document, follow these steps:

1. Click the Proofing icon at the bottom of the document window. Word highlights a possible error and displays a pop-up menu offering options.

2. Choose one of the following:

• What you want: Click the correct word that appears in bold in the pop-up menu.

• Ignore Once: This tells Word to ignore this error.

By default, Word automatically checks for spelling and grammatical mistakes. If this bothers you, you can turn these features off by right-clicking the status bar; when a pop-up menu appears, remove the check mark from the Spelling and Grammar Check check box.

Typing Symbols Most keyboards display a limited number of characters you can type, but what if you want to create unusual symbols such as Ð or ©? To create these symbols, Word can display a list of common symbols and let you click the one you want to insert in your document. To insert an unusual symbol in a document, follow these steps:

1. Move the cursor where you want to insert a character that you can’t type from the keyboard.

2. Click the Insert tab.

3. Click the Symbol icon in the Symbols group.

4. Click the symbol you want. Word inserts your chosen symbol in your document.

5. (Optional) If you don’t see the symbol you want to add

   a. Click More Symbols.
 Word  displays a Symbol dialog box.
 b. Click a symbol you want to use and then click Close.
 Word  can also insert mathematical equations into a document if you click
 Equations  instead of Symbol in Step 3.

Formatting Text

After you type text into a document, edit it, and check it for spelling or grammatical errors, you’re ready to make it look pretty, a process known as formatting text. A properly formatted document can make your text easy to read, while a poorly formatted document can make even the best writing difficult or confusing to read. The Home tab groups Word’s formatting tools into three categories:

 Font: Defines the font, font size, color, highlighting, and style (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, and case)

 Paragraph: Defines justification (left, center, or right), line spacing, shading, borders, indentation, formatting symbols, and list style (bullets, numbered, and outline)

 Styles: Displays predefined formatting that you can apply to your text To format any text, you must follow these steps:

1. Select the text you want to format.

2. Choose a formatting tool.

Changing the Font The most common way to format text is to change the font. The font defines the uniform style and appearance of letters such as Baskerville, Courier, Old English, or Stencil. To change the font, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to change.

3. Click the Font list box. A list of available fonts on your computer appears.

4. Move the mouse pointer over each font. Word temporarily changes your selected text (from Step 1) so you can see how the currently highlighted font will look.

5. Click the font you want to use. Word changes your text to appear in your chosen font. As a general rule, try not to use more than three fonts in a document. If you use too many fonts, the overall appearance can be annoying and distracting. Not all computers have the same lists of fonts, so if you plan on sharing documents with others, stick with common fonts that everybody’s computer can display.

Changing the Font Size The font changes the appearance of text, but the font size defines how big (or small) the text may look. To change the font size, you have two choices:  Select a numeric size from the Font Size list box.  Choose the Grow Font/Shrink Font commands. You can use both methods to change the font size of text. For example, you may use the Font Size list box to choose an approximate size for your text, and then use the Grow Font/Shrink Font commands to fine-tune the font size. To change the font size, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to change.

3. Choose one of the following:

• Click the Font Size list box and then click a number, such as 12 or 24.

• Click the Grow Font or Shrink Font icon.

Changing the Text Style The text style defines the appearance of text in one or more of the following ways:

    Bold: Press Ctrl+B.
    Italic: Press Ctrl+I.
  Underline: Press Ctrl+U.
  Strikethrough: This formatting draws a line through  text.
  Subscript: Use this to create text that falls below  the text line, as in the
   2  in H2O.
  Superscript: Use this to create text that sits higher  than the top of the
 text  line, as in the 2 in E = mc2.

To change the style of text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to change.

3. Click a Style icon, such as Bold or Underline.

4. Repeat Step 3 for each additional style you want to apply to your text (such as italic and underlining).

If you select any style change without selecting any text, Word applies your style changes to any new text you type from the cursor’s current position.