9 Notes for digital documentation
9 Notes for digital documentation
Digital Documentation
Notes by Anshu Sir
Document : A document is a paper with written contents for example letters, reports,
thesis, manuscripts, legal documents, books, etc.
Word processing : Word processing is the use of computer software to enter, edit,
format, store, retrieve and print the document.
Word Processor : A word processor is a computer application used for the production of
printable material. In the beginning WordStar was the most widely used word
processor.
Web-based word processors are
• Google Docs
• Office 365 Word
• Microsoft OneDrive Word
It is faster It is slower
Ctrl + Home Key Text Cursor jumps in the beginning of the document.
Ctrl + End Key Text Cursor jumps in the beginning of the document.
Mouse Pointer :
The mouse pointer (by default arrow shape) changes to I shape, when moved over the
text in a document.
To select a single word at a Position the mouse pointer anywhere on that word and
time double click.
To select a complete sentence Position the mouse pointer anywhere in the sentence and
at a time triple click.
(e) Selecting non-consecutive text items : Steps to select non-consecutive text items are
1. select the first piece of text.
2. hold down the Ctrl key and use the mouse to select the next piece of text.
3. repeat as often as needed.
(f) Selecting a vertical block of text : To activate this press Ctrl + F8 from the keyboard
or select Edit → Selection Mode→ Block Area
(g) Find and Replace : This feature is used to search for a text and replace it with other
text.
1. Select Edit → Find & Replace (or press Ctrl + F), the dialog box will open.
2. Type the text to find in the Find box.
3. To change the text with different text, enter the new text in the Replace box
(h) Jumping to the page number : To jump to a particular page select the Edit Menu→
Go to Page (Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+G). Specify the page number in the dialog box. The
cursor will move to the first character of the specified page.
(i) Non-printing characters : To display the non-printing character(like Spacebar, tab,
enter etc.), press the toggle formatting mark (¶) or use keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F10.
The tab space is shown by → sign and spacebar is shown by dot (.)
(j) Checking spelling and grammar : To check the spelling and grammar of the
document (or selected text), select Tools →Spelling and Grammar, or click the Spelling
and Grammar button on the Standard toolbar, or press the keyboard key F7. The
Spelling and Grammar dialog box opens.
(k) Using synonyms and the thesaurus : synonyms are different words with the same
meaning. To find the synonyms of a word
Right-click on a word and point to Synonyms on the context menu. A submenu of
alternative words and phrases are displayed. Click on a word or phrase in the submenu
to replace it with the highlighted word.
Formatting a document :
Page Setup : To setup a page, select and click on the Format →PageSetup and the Page
option. It allows to select paper size and format (A4, A5,B4, Letter). User can adjust
‘Orientation’ as Portrait or Landscape. The user can set the Margins (Left, Right, Top,
Down)
Formatting text :
Formatting Text refers to the formatting of paragraphs and characters. To do the
formatting, first select the text and then apply the required text formatting features.
(a) Removing manual formatting : Select the text and choose Format → Clear Direct
Formatting from the Menu bar, or click the Clear Direct Formatting button on the
Formatting toolbar, or use Ctrl+M from the keyboard.
(b) Common text formatting : Some of the common text formatting features generally
used are
1. Changing font size – by selecting font size.
2. Changing font style – bold, italic, underline
3. Changing font type – by selecting font drop down.
4. Changing font colour – by selecting font colour icon.
The keyboard shortcuts for bold (Ctrl+B), for italic (Ctrl+I) and (Ctrl+U) for underline.
(c) Changing text case : It is possible to change the case of the text. There are 6 Change
Case options in LibreOffice Writer which are :
1. Upper Case
2. Lower case
3. Cycle Case
4. Sentence Case
5. Capitalize Every Word
6. Toggle Case
(d) Superscript and Subscript :
1. To apply superscript: Select the text and select Format → Text → Superscript
2. To apply subscript: Select the text and select Format → Text → Subscript
Paragraph style
A paragraph in a document can have several sentences, a single sentence, a single word,
or no words at all. Every paragraph in Writer has a paragraph style and any one can
select the given options
(a) Indenting paragraphs : Place the Text Cursor anywhere in the paragraph, click on the
‘Increase Indent’ tool. the current paragraph’s indent will increase. There is also a
Decrease Indent tool that removes the indent.
(b) Aligning paragraphs : The paragraph can be aligned as Left, Right, Center and
Justify. To align the paragraph, place the text cursor in the title paragraph, select the
appropriate tool (Left, Right, Center or Justify) from the Format Toolbar.
(c) Font colour, highlighting, and background colour : There are three more tools—Font
Color, Highlighting,
and Background tools on the Format Toolbar.
(d) Using the bullets and numbering : You can assign the bullets or numbering to the
list items in the document by using the options on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar.
(e) Assigning background colour : Select the paragraph. Select Format →Paragraph →
Area→ Colour, then select the colour. After selecting, click ‘Ok’.
(f) Assigning border : Select the paragraph, then select Format → Paragraph →Borders →
Select Line – Style, Width, Colour. After selecting, click ‘Ok’.
Page formatting
(a) Page styles : Page styles define the basic layout of all pages in the document. It
includes page size, margins,
header and footer, border and background, number of columns, etc. The Default Style is
assigned to
the new document by default.
(b) Inserting a page break : To break the current page select Insert → Page Break from
the Menu bar or use the keyboard command (Ctrl + Return).
(c) Creating header/footer and page numbers : Headers appear at the top of every page.
Footers appear at the bottom of a page. To insert header in the document, select Insert
→Header and Footer → Header
To insert footer in the document, select Insert →Header and Footer → Footer.
To split a table :
1. Place the cursor in a cell (the table splits immediately above the cursor).
2. Choose Table → Split Table from the Menu bar.
3. A Split Table dialog opens.
4. Click OK.
To merge two tables :
1. Delete the blank paragraph between the tables.
2. Select any cell in one of the tables.
3. Right-click and choose Merge Tables in the context menu. You can also use Table
→ Merge Table from the Menu bar.
Deleting a table :
1. Click anywhere in the table.
2. Choose Table → Delete Table from the Menu bar.
Copying a table :
1. Click anywhere on the table.
2. From the Menu bar choose Table → Select →Table.
3. Press Ctrl+C
4. Move the cursor to the target position
5. Press Ctrl+V
Moving a table :
1. Click anywhere in the table.
2. From the Menu bar choose Table → Select →Table.
3. Press Ctrl+X
4. Move the cursor to the target position
5. Press Ctrl+V
6. Return to the original table, click somewhere in it and then choose Table → Delete
Table from the Menu bar.
Print preview :
Print preview is useful to check the document before printing. A user can check that
how the document will look like after printing. To print the document click File → Print
or press Ctrl+P from keyboard.
Main Document : Document which contain common contents is called main document.
Data Source : Data source contains values of the corresponding variables of the main
document.
Main Steps for Mail Merge are :
1. Create main document.
2. Create data source.
3. Specify the variable fields in the main document.
4. Merging the data with the main document.