To enter text, simply start typing! Text will appear on the screen where the blinking cursor is located. To move the cursor, use the arrow buttons on your keyboard or select a location with the mouse. Below are some useful buttons and key combinations that will help you effectively manage the text of your document.
Movement Action |
Key Combination |
Move cursor to the beginning of the line | |
Move cursor to the end of the line | |
Move cursor to the top of the document | + |
Move cursor to the end of the document | + |
In order to change the attributes of your text, the text must first be selected. To select text, simply click and drag the mouse over the desired text.
The following table contains techniques for selecting specific portions of your text:
Selection |
Technique |
Whole word | Double-click within the word |
Whole paragraph | Triple-click within the paragraph |
Several words or lines | Click and drag the mouse over the words |
Entire document | Choose Edit > Select All from the menu bar, or press + |
To deselect text, do one of the following:
To delete a small portion of text, use one of the following keyboard options:
To delete a large portion of text:
To move text from one area of a document to another, you must first cut or copy the text, and then paste the text to its new location. When you cut text, it is removed from the document and placed on a clipboard. When you copy text, it is copied from the document and placed on a clipboard.
To cut text, do one of the following:
To copy text to the clipboard, do one of the following:
To move a small amount of text a short distance, the drag-and-drop method may be quicker.
To paste cut or copied text, move the cursor to the location where you want the text to be placed, and then do one of the following:
The last 24 items that you cut or copied are placed onto Word's clipboard.
To add a clipboard item back into your document:
To clear the contents of the Clipboard, click the Clear All button on the Clipboard pane.
The Home tab on the left of the ribbon contains the most common tools you will need to edit text. For example, it has tools for editing text font, type, size, color, and style.
A useful feature for formatting text is the Format Painter button, located in the Clipboard group on the Home tab.
For example, if you have already formatted your text with a certain font size and style, and you want to format other portions of text the same way, you can use the Format Painter tool instead of manually adding the text attributes each time.
To add the formatting to multiple selections of text, double-click the Format Painter button instead of clicking once. The Format Painter will stay active until you press the key to turn it off.
If you make a mistake while formatting text, or if you are unhappy with your formatting choices, you can undo your last action by doing one of the following: