4.2 (p.67) Step-by-step instructions for managing files.

The FILE menu of many word processing programs is used to work with documents (sometimes called "files"). Below is a list with illustrations of the options provided within the FILE menu. Many of these options are also included as icons on the standard toolbar.

1. NEW—begins a blank document or document template. To create a new document, click on the FILE menu and then click on NEW

A text box will open with the option of opening a blank document or opening a document for the Web. Click on blank document.

Another way to open a new document is to click on the icon that looks like a blank piece of paper on the far left of your tool bar.

2. OPEN—opens an existing document. To open a document, click on the FILE menu and then click on OPEN.

The following text box will open and you will have to choose the folder that you want to look in and then click on the document name. The illustration below shows how to open the document "Table" from the "My Document" folder.

Another way to open a document is to click on the icon on the toolbar that looks like a folder.

3. CLOSE—closes an open document. To close an open document, go to the FILE menu and click on close. Make sure you save your changes before closing a document.

Another way to close a document is to click on the X icon in the upper-right corner of the document. Once again, make sure you save your changes first.

4. SAVE—saves a new document with an appropriate name. To save a new document, go to the FILE menu and click on SAVE.

A text box will open up and you will need to choose which folder you want to save in and what you want to call the document. The click on the save icon in the lower right-hand corner of the box. The graphic below illustrates saving a document as "New Document" in "My Documents."

You can also save a document by using the icon on the toolbar that looks like a computer disk. Just click on the icon and the same text box as above will appear

5. SAVE AS—saves an existing document with a new name. First, you’ll need to open your document using the instructions above. Then go to the FILE menu and click on SAVE AS.

A text box will appear that will allow you to rename your file. Type in the new name for the document and then click on the save icon in the lower right-hand corner of the box. The graphic below illustrates how to change the document name from "New Document" to "First Draft."

6. SAVE AS A WEB PAGE—saves a word processing document as a Web Page. To save a document as a Web page, go to the FILE menu and click on SAVE AS WEB PAGE.

A text box will appear that will allow you to save your file. Notice that the document type has changed to Web Page.

Above the name of the document, there is a button that says "Change Title." If you click on this, another text box will appear where you can type in a new name. This name will appear on the upper-left hand corner of the Web page.

7. PAGE SET UP—format a document’s margins, paper size, paper orientation, etc. To change the configuration of your document’s layout, go to the FILE Menu and click on PAGE SETUP.

When you click on PAGE SETUP a text box will appear with several options to choose from. One option is to change the margins of your document. Click on the first tab that says "Margins," and you will be able to change the margins for the top, bottom, left, and right margins. You can apply this change to your whole document, or just to part of it. You can also adjust the margins of headers or footers. A graphic in the text box will show you how your document will look when you make the changes. You will need to click on OK to lock in the changes. Remember to check with your instructor to find out what your margins should be set at.

You can also change the size and orientation of your paper. Click on the tab that says PAPER SIZE and you can change your paper size by choosing the size from the pull-down menu, or you can type in the dimensions. You can also change the orientation of your document to portrait or landscape. Once again, there’s a graphic to show you how your document will look. Make sure to click on OK to make the changes.

From the PAGE SETUP menu you can also change the PAPER SOURCE. Simply click on the PAPER SOURCE tab and choose the options of which tray in the printer that you want your paper to print from. Keep in mind that if you are printing in a computer lab, you should not change this option unless you’ve checked with a lab assistant.

You can also change the page LAYOUT. Click the LAYOUT tab to change line numbers, borders, and alignment. You have the option of applying the changes to the whole document or just parts of it.

8. PRINT PREVIEW—displays the page as it will look when printed. To see what your page will like when you print it, go to the FILE menu and click on PRINT PREVIW.

Your screen will change to show the document. It will be smaller and you will not be able to type any changes on it.

Your arrow will turn into a magnifying glass, and if you left-click on your mouse, the magnifying glass will zoom in and make a section of your document larger. If your arrow has not changed, you can click on the magnifying glass icon on the tool bar.

There are several icons across the toolbar that will allow you to change the size of the preview. You can change the percentage, make it fit in full screen, or show multiple pages. You should play around with these options until you feel comfortable with them. When you’re ready to go back to your original document, then click on the CLOSE button on the toolbar.

You can also preview your document by clicking on the icon on the toolbar that looks like a magnifying glass.

9. PRINT—sends the page to the printer. When you’re finished with your draft and you want to print a copy, go to the FILE menu and click on PRINT.

After you’ve chosen the print option, a text box will open up. From here you will have the option of changing which printer you want to print from, the number of copies you want to print, which pages you want to print, and whether or not the printer should collate your pages. In order to send your job to the printer, you will need to press OK.

You can also print by using the icon on the tool bar that looks like printer. When you use the icon, you are not able to change your options. Your whole document will print to the selected printer.

10. SEND TO—e-mails or FAXES the document to someone else. If you want, you can send your document to someone without printing it and delivering the hard copy. To do so, go to the FILE menu and click on SEND TO. There will be an arrow next to this option, and another menu will appear.

11. PROPERTIES—identify the document’s writer and track its length, etc. If you want to track changes in your documents and label your document, go to the FILE Menu and click on PROPERTIES.

When you click on PROPERTIES a text box will appear. When you click on GENERAL you can find out the title, type, location and size of your document. You can also see when you first created it, when you modified it, and when you accessed it last. You can also view the attributes.

The SUMMARY option will let you put in your name and the title of your document. There are also fields to put in subject and keywords and hyperlink names. This option is especially useful if you’re going to save your document as a Web page. The information you include in these fields would show up as the description and keywords when someone searches for a Web page.

The next tab is to see the STATISTICS of your document. In this section you can also see the dates that you last created, modified, and accessed your document, and you can also see the last time you printed, and saved, and not only which revision you’re on but also how long you spent revising. You can also see how many pages, paragraphs, lines, words, characters etc. are in your document.

From the PROPERTIES menu you can also list the contents of your document. This is especially useful if you have a particularly long document with several parts to keep track of.

The last tab is CUSTOM. From here you can choose which categories you want on the document and in what order.

12. LIST OF FILES—the most recent documents worked on. If you want to see the last files you worked on, or to open these files without going through several steps, you can look on the FILE Menu. The names will be listed at the very end of the list.