Microsoft Word Terminology

Apps for Office

Small programs available from the online Office Store that allow you to access information on the Web without having to leave Word.

Sizing handles

Small squares at each corner of a selected object or control; dragging a handle resizes the object or the control. Also known as handles.

Normal style

The default style for text and paragraphs in Word.

Document

The electronic file you create using Word.

Cut-and-paste operation

The feature in document production software that allow you to delete words and objects from one place in a document and place them somewhere else.

Copy-and-paste operation

The feature in document production software that allows you to duplicate selected words and objects somewhere else in the document.

Spell check

The feature in document production software that helps you avoid typographical and grammatical errors.

Orphan

The first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.

Widow

The last line of a paragraph when it is carried over to the top of the following page, separate from the rest of the paragraph.

Blogger

The person who creates and maintains a blog.

I-beam pointer

The pointer used to move the insertion point and select text.

Document window

The portion of a program window in which you create the document; displays all or part of an open document.

Vertical alignment

The position of text in a document relative to the top and bottom margins.

Title bar

The shaded top border of a window that displays the name of the window, folder, or file and the app name; darker shading indicates the active window.

Footnote

Text that provides additional information or acknowledges sources for text in a document and that appears at the bottom of the page on which the note reference mark appears.

Endnote

Text that provides additional information or acknowledges sources for text in a document and that appears at the end of a document.

Line spacing

The amount of space between lines of text.

Paragraph spacing

The amount of space between paragraphs.

Scroll arrow

The arrow at the end of a scroll bar that is clicked to scroll a document one line at a time, or to scroll a document left and right in the document window.

Margin

The blank area between the edge of the text and the edge of a page; also the space between the outer edge of the control and the data displayed inside the control.

Cell

The box formed at the intersection of a row and a column in a worksheet or a table.

Ribbon

In many Microsoft application program windows, a horizontal strip near the top of the window that contains tabs (pages) of command buttons, organized into groups, that you click to interact with the program.

Footer

Information, such as text, a page number, or a graphic, that appears at the bottom of every page in a document or a section.

Header

Information, such as text, a page number, or a graphic, that appears at the top of every page in a document or a section.

Status bar

Located at the bottom of the window; displays the Web addresses of a link on the Web page when you move your mouse pointer over that link; also shows the zoom percentage.

Field

(Access and Excel) In a table, a field corresponds to a column of data, a specific piece or category of data such as a first name, last name, city, state, or phone number. (Outlook) In an Outlook contact, an area that stores one piece of information, such as a first name or an e-mail address. (Word) A code that serves as a placeholder for data that changes in a document, such as a page number.

Table

(Word) A grid made up of rows and columns of cells that can contain text and graphics.

Tab stop

(Word) A location on the horizontal ruler that indicates where to align text. (Access) Refers to whether you can tab into a control when entering or editing data; in other words, whether the control can receive the focus.

Shading

A background color or pattern that can be applied to text, tables, or graphics.

Insertion point

A blinking, vertical bar that indicates where the next character you type will appear, such as in a document, formula bar, or active cell.

Scroll box

A box in a scroll bar that that indicates your relative position within the window and that you can drag to display a different part of a window.

Even page section break

A break that begins a new section on the next even-numbered page.

Odd page section break

A break that begins a new section on the next odd-numbered page.

Next page section break

A break that begins a new section on the next page.

Continuous section break

A break that begins a new section on the same page.

Column break

A break that forces text following the break to begin at the top of the next column.

Zoom level button

A button on the status bar that is used to change the zoom level of the document in the document window.

Ribbon Display Options button

A button on the title bar that is used to hide or show the Ribbon and the Ribbon tabs and commands.

Toggle button

A button that turns a feature on and off.

Microsoft Word Help button

A button used to access the Word Help system.

System Clipboard

A clipboard that stores only the last item cut or copied from a document. See also Clipboard and Office Clipboard.

Clip art

A collection of graphic images that can be inserted into documents, presentations, Web pages, spreadsheets, and other Office files; simple drawings that are included as collections with many software packages.

Keyboard shortcut

A combination of keys or a function key that can be pressed to perform a command.

Save As

A command on the FILE tab that saves the open file in a new location and/or with a new name; in Access, used to save the entire database (and all objects it contains) or only the current object with a new name.

Quick Access toolbar

A customizable toolbar on the left side of a Microsoft application program window's title bar, containing icons that you click to quickly perform common actions, such as saving a file.

Read Mode view

A document view that hides the tabs and Ribbon and is useful for reading long documents.

Click and Type

A feature that allows you to automatically apply the necessary paragraph formatting to a table, graphic, or text when you insert the item in a blank area of a document in Print Layout or Web Layout view.

AutoCorrect

A feature that automatically detects and corrects typing errors, minor spelling errors, capitalization, and inserts certain typographical symbols as you type.

Word wrap

A feature that automatically moves the insertion point to the next line as you type.

AutoComplete

A feature that automatically suggests text to insert.

Format Painter

A feature used to copy the format settings applied to the selected text to other text you want to format the same way.

Sans serif font

A font (such as Calibri) whose characters do not include serifs, which are small strokes at the ends of letters.

Serif font

A font (such as Times New Roman) whose characters include serifs, which are small strokes at the ends of letters.

Template

A formatted document or a database that contains placeholder text you can replace with your own text.

Section break

A formatting mark inserted to divide a document into sections.

Inline graphic

A graphic that is part of a line of text.

Floating graphic

A graphic to which text wrapping has been applied, making the graphic independent of text and able to be moved anywhere on a page.

ScreenTip

A label that appears when you point to some buttons and icons and that identifies the name of the button or feature, briefly describes its function, conveys any keyboard shortcut for the command, and includes a link to associated help topics, if any.

Drop cap

A large dropped initial capital letter that is often used to set off the first paragraph of an article.

Clip Organizer

A library of art, pictures, sounds, video clips, and animations that all Office applications share.

Tab leader

A line that appears in front of tabbed text.

Borders

A line that can be added above, below, or to the sides of a paragraph, text, or table cell; a line that divides the columns and rows of a table. Also refers to a window's edge; drag to resize the window.

Works cited

A list of sources that you cited while creating a document.

Bibliography

A list of sources that you consulted or cited while creating a document.

Multilevel list

A list with a hierarchical structure; an outline.

Note reference mark

A mark (such as a letter or a number) that appears next to text to indicate that additional information is offered in a footnote or endnote.

Indent marker

A marker on the horizontal ruler that shows the indent settings for the active paragraph.

Clip

A media file, such as a graphic, photograph, sound, movie, or animation, that can be inserted into a document.

Style

A named collection of character and paragraph formats that are stored together and can be applied to text to format it quickly.

Table style

A named set of table format settings that can be applied to a table to format it all at once.

Manual page break

A page break inserted to force the text following the break to begin at the top of the next page.

Automatic page break

A page break that is inserted automatically at the bottom of a page.

Citation

A parenthetical reference in the document text that gives credit to the source for a quotation or other information used in a document.

Click and Type pointer

A pointer used to move the insertion point and automatically apply the paragraph formatting necessary to insert text at that location in the document.

Section (Word)

A portion of a document that is separated from the rest of the document by section breaks.

Theme

A predefined set of colors, fonts, line and fill effects, and other formats that can be applied to an Excel worksheet and give it a consistent, professional look.

Quick Part

A reusable piece of content that can be inserted into a document, including a field, document property, or a preformatted building block.

Horizontal ruler

A ruler that appears at the top of the document window in Print Layout, Draft, and Web Layout view.

Vertical ruler

A ruler that appears on the left side of the document window in Print Layout view.

Tab

A section of the Ribbon in Office programs that identifies groups of commands like the HOME tab; click a tab to make it the active tab. See also Tab stop.

Zoom slider

A slider on the status bar that is dragged to enlarge or decrease the display size of the document in the document window.

Bullet

A small graphic symbol used to identify an item in a list.

Mini toolbar

A small toolbar that appears next to selected text that contains basic text-formatting commands.

Word processing program

A software program that includes tools for entering, editing, and formatting text and graphics.

Symbol

A special character that can be inserted into a document using the Symbol command.

Clipboard

A temporary storage area for items that are cut or copied from any Office file and are available for pasting. See Office Clipboard and System Clipboard.

Office Clipboard

A temporary storage area shared by all Office programs that can be used to cut, copy, and paste multiple items within and between Office programs. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items collected from any Office program. See also System Clipboard.

First line indent

A type of indent in which the first line of a paragraph is indented more than the subsequent lines.

Left indent

A type of indent in which the left edge of a paragraph is moved in from the left margin.

Negative indent

A type of indent in which the left edge of a paragraph is moved to the left of the left margin.

Right Indent

A type of indent in which the right edge of a paragraph is moved in from the right margin.

Hanging indent

A type of indent in which the second and subsequent lines of a paragraph are indented more than the first.

Filename

A unique, descriptive name for a file that identifies the file's content; the name given to a document when it is saved.

Print Layout view

A view that shows a document as it will look on a printed page.

Web Layout view

A view that shows a document as it will look when viewed with a Web browser.

Outline view (Word)

A view that shows the headings of a document organized as an outline.

Portrait orientation

A way to print or view a page in which the page is taller than it is wide, such as 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall.

Landscape orientation

A way to print or view a page in which the page is wider than it is tall, such as 11 inches wide by 8.5 inches tall.

Center

Alignment in which an item is centered between the margins.

Justify

Alignment in which an item is flush with both the left and right margins.

Right-align

Alignment in which an item is flush with the right margin.

Left-align

Alignment in which the item is flush with the left margin.

File

An electronic collection of information, such as a letter, video, or app, stored on your computer that has a unique name, which distinguishes it from other files.

Blog

An informal journal that is created by an individual or a group and available to the public on the Internet; short for weblog.

Content control

An interactive object that is embedded in a document you create from a template and that expedites your ability to customize the document with your own information. Also called control.

Control

Any element on a form or report such as a label, text box, line, or combo box. Controls can be bound, unbound, or calculated. Also called content control.

Vertical scroll bar

Appears along the right side of a page window if the page is longer than the window's viewable area; allows you to move the current Web page up or down in the browser window. See also scroll bar.

View buttons

Buttons on the status bar that are used to change document views.

Document properties

Details about a file, such as author name or the date the file was created, that are used to describe, organize, and search for files.

Gutter

Extra space left for a binding at the top, left, or inside margin of a document.

Font effect

Font formatting that applies a special effect to text, such as small caps or superscript.

Text wrapping

Formatting applied to a graphic to make it a floating graphic.

Bold

Formatting applied to text to make it thicker and darker.

Italic

Formatting applied to text to make the characters slant to the right.

Text effect

Formatting that applies a visual effect to text, such as a shadow, glow, outline, or reflection.

Character spacing

Formatting that changes the width or scale of characters, expands or condenses the amount of space between characters, raises or lowers characters relative to the line of text, and adjusts kerning (the space between standard combinations of letters).

Mirror margins

Margins used in documents with facing pages, where the inside and outside margins are mirror images of each other.

Formatting marks

Nonprinting characters that appear on screen to indicate the ends of paragraphs, tabs, and other formatting elements.

File tab

Provides access to Backstage view and the Word Options dialog box.

Building block

Reusable piece of formatted content or document part that is stored in a gallery.

Page break

See Automatic page break or Manual page break.

Soft page break

See Automatic page break.

Shortcut key

See Keyboard shortcut.

Outdent

See Negative indent.

Horizontal scroll bar

See Scroll bar.

Hard page break

See manual page break.

Tabs

See tab.

Hyperlink

Words, phrases, or graphics that you click, to connect to and view other Web pages when you view Web pages with a browser; can also open graphics or text files or play sound or video files. Also called links.

Font size

The size of characters, measured in points (pts).

Indent

The space between the edge of a line of text or a paragraph and the margin.

Font

The typeface or design of a set of characters (letters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation marks).

Point (noun)

The unit of measurement for text characters and the space between paragraphs and characters; 1/72 of an inch.

Word program window

The window that contains the Word program elements, including the document window, Quick Access toolbar, Ribbon, and status bar.

Select

To change the appearance of an item by clicking, double-clicking, or dragging across it, to indicate that you want to perform an action on it.

Paste

To insert items stored on the Clipboard into a document.

Copy and paste

To move text or graphics using the Copy and Paste commands.

Cut and paste

To move text or graphics using the Cut and Paste commands.

Delete

To permanently remove an item from a document.

Copy

To place a duplicate copy of a file, folder, or other object that you want to store in another location on the Clipboard without removing it from a document.

Cut

To remove an item from a document and place it on the Clipboard.

Save

To store a file permanently on a disk or to overwrite the copy of a file that is stored on a disk with the changes made to the file.

Drag and drop

To use a pointing device to move or copy a file or folder directly to a new location instead of using the Clipboard.

Scroll

To use the scroll bars or the arrow keys to display different parts of a document in the document window.

Highlighting

Transparent color that can be applied to text to call attention to it.

Office Web App

Versions of the Microsoft Office applications with limited functionality that are available online from Windows Live SkyDrive. Users can view documents online and then edit them in the browser using a selection of functions.

Backstage view

View available in all Microsoft Office programs that allows you to perform many common tasks, such as opening and saving a file, printing and previewing a document, and protecting a document before sharing it with others.