Pro Office for iPad: How to Be Productive with Office for iPad (2014)
Chapter 4. Getting Up to Speed with Word for iPad
In this chapter, you will get up to speed with Word for iPad. This chapter will first dig into the app’s features and limitations so that you know what to expect and what will be missing. You will then learn how to create new documents, how to navigate the Word interface, and how to enter and edit text in the document. Along the way, you will find out how to work with tabs and line breaks, use the Paste Options feature to control what you paste, and display invisible characters when you need to see them.
Understanding Word for iPad’s Features and Limitations
You probably wouldn’t expect Word for iPad to offer the 1,500-odd features that Word for Windows does—and you’d be right. Microsoft has sensibly concentrated on implementing the essential features and has omitted specialized features that few people use.
Note Microsoft is gradually adding features to Word, so the details in this section may no longer be accurate by the time you read it. For example, Microsoft added printing and the ability to create new comments to Word for iPad soon after releasing the app. So you should update Word on your iPad to the latest version, either by running the App Store app on your iPad and looking on the Updates tab or by using iTunes on your computer.
This chapter starts by digging into the features that Word does have and those it lacks. It then looks at what happens to document content that Word for iPad doesn’t support.
Which Features Does Word for iPad Have and Lack?
Word for iPad enables you to perform standard actions with documents, as discussed in Chapter 2. You can create a new document and save it either on your iPad or on a supported cloud service, such as OneDrive or SharePoint; you can open and close existing documents; you can print a document; you can duplicate an existing document; and you can restore a document to an earlier version.
At this writing, Word for iPad lacks or has only partial implementations of several important features that the desktop versions of Word offer:
· Templates: Word for iPad enables you to create documents based on a selection of templates included with the app. But there is no straightforward way to create a document based on a template of your own. Nor can you create your own templates on Word for iPad.
· Views: Whereas the desktop versions of Word give you a handful of different views, ranging from the everyday Draft view and Print Layout view to the more specialized Master Document view, Word for iPad has a single view. This view is a layout view in which objects appear on screen as they will appear in the final document.
· Outlines and master documents: Given that Word for iPad doesn’t have the Outline view or Master Document view, it’ll be no surprise that the app lacks the desktop versions’ features for manipulating outlines quickly and easily. You can still change the structure of a document by applying Heading styles, but you cannot view just the headings. If you create long documents, you’ll feel this loss more acutely than if you mostly work with short documents.
· Fields: Word for iPad has partial support for fields. You can view and update existing fields, but you cannot enter new fields (except for page numbers). Similarly, you cannot create cross-references, indexes, or content tables (such as tables of contents or tables of figures).
· Endnotes: Word for iPad offers partial support for endnotes too. You can view and edit existing endnotes—you can even delete them—but you cannot create new endnotes.
· Tables: Word for iPad enables you to create and edit tables, but it doesn’t have as extensive table features as the desktop versions.
· Spelling and grammar checking: Word for iPad enables you to check the spelling in your documents, but it doesn’t have grammar-checking features.
· Mail merge: Word for iPad doesn’t have features for creating merged documents, such as form letters, labels or envelopes, or catalogs.
· WordArt, equations, SmartArt: Word for iPad doesn’t have advanced features such as WordArt (text-based illustrations you can create in the desktop versions of Word), equations, or SmartArt diagrams (such as flow charts or hierarchical diagrams).
· Macros and VBA: Word for iPad doesn’t have the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming language, which enables you to automate tasks using macros and user forms (custom dialog boxes).
What Happens to Content That Word for iPad Does Not Support?
When you open a document that includes content that Word for iPad doesn’t fully support, the app displays as much of the content as possible so that you can view it even if you cannot edit it. For example, if you open a document that contains WordArt items, Word displays them correctly and even enables you to edit their text. Similarly, equations appear correctly in Word for iPad, and you can format them, but you cannot edit their contents.
Note When you open a document that contains VBA, Word for iPad displays a message saying that it cannot run macros but will preserve them. When you tap the Convert and Edit button, Word converts the document from its older format (such as the Word 97–2003/Word 98–2004 format, which can contain VBA code) to the .docm format, the new file format that can contain VBA (whereas the .docx format cannot). After you save the document, the File Upgraded dialog box appears, telling you that the document “has been upgraded, and may include minor layout changes.”
Creating a New Document on Your iPad
Here’s how to create a new document in Word on your iPad.
1. Open Word if it’s not already running. If Word displays the document you were using last, tap the Back button to display the file management screen.
2. Tap the New button in the left column to display the list of available templates (see Figure 4-1).
Figure 4-1. Tap the New button to display the available templates, and then tap the template on which you want to base the new document
3. Tap the template you want to use. Word creates a new document based on that template. You can add content to the document using the methods discussed later in this chapter.
Note Use the New Blank Document to create a default document with a minimalist design and no contents.
4. If you want to name the document immediately, tap the File button and then tap Name. The Save As dialog box opens, and you can enter the filename, choose the location, and then tap the Save button to save the document.
Navigating the Word Interface
Once you’ve opened a document, you’ll see the Word interface. As you can see in Figure 4-2, Word has the following five static tabs on the Ribbon:
· Home: This tab contains essential formatting commands, such as styles, fonts and font sizes, and alignment.
· Insert: This tab enables you to insert pages, breaks, footnotes, and Office-standard items such as tables, pictures, shapes, and text boxes.
· Layout: This tab provides controls for setting the page size, orientation, and margins; changing the text direction; creating newspaper-style columns of text; and setting up headers, footers, and page numbers.
· Review: This tab allows you to work with comments and with Track Changes, the revision-marking feature. You can also block authors from editing particular parts of a document and set the language for the proofing tools to use.
· View: This tab enables you to turn the spelling checker on and off, toggle the display of the ruler, and open the Word Count pop-up panel.
Figure 4-2. Word has five static tabs on the Ribbon, plus context-sensitive tabs such as the Table tab (shown here with shading beneath it). The Home tab provides essential formatting commands
Word also has various context-sensitive Ribbon tabs, such as the Table tab shown in Figure 4-2. These tabs appear only when an object that requires them is active. (This document layout includes a table, but this is hard to see in the figure.)
Entering and Editing Text in a Document
After creating a new document, you’ll likely want to add text to it. This section makes sure you have the skills you need to enter and edit text in documents.
MAKING THE MOST OF AUTOFORMAT AS YOU TYPE
Like the desktop versions, Word for iPad includes a feature called AutoFormat As You Type that automatically reformats your text as you work. AutoFormat As You Type can save you time and effort, so it’s well worth spending a few minutes learning what it can do—especially as some of its actions can come as a surprise if you don’t know about them.
You can turn AutoFormat As You Type on or off by opening the Settings app, tapping the Word button in the left column, and then setting the AutoFormat As You Type switch to the On position or to the Off position, as appropriate. Unlike the desktop apps, which enable you to choose which actions AutoFormat As You Type should perform, AutoFormat As You Type in Word for iPad gives you only an on/off choice for the feature as a whole.
AutoFormat As You Type on the iPad performs the following actions:
· Replaces straight quotes ("") with smart quotes (“”).
· Replaces typed fractions (such as 1/4) with fraction characters (such as ¼).
· Formats a word preceded and followed by an asterisk (such as *emphasis*) with boldface (removing the asterisks).
· Formats a word preceded and followed by an underscore (such as _necessary_) with italics (removing the underscores).
· Replaces typed ordinal numbers (such as 1st) with superscript ordinals (such as 1st).
· Replaces a hyphen preceded and follow by a space as an en dash (a short dash), and replaces two hyphens in succession with an em dash (a longer dash).
· Replaces Internet paths (such as http://www.apress.com or mailto:info@apress.com) with hyperlinks.
· Applies bulleted-list formatting when you start a paragraph with an asterisk, a hyphen, or a greater-than sign followed by a space or tab.
· Applies numbered-list formatting when you start a paragraph with a number or letter followed by a period or closing parenthesis, and then type a space or tab.
· Adds a decorative border when you type three or more hyphens, underscores, asterisks, tildes, equal signs, or hash marks at the beginning of a paragraph and then press the Enter key. Try these out to see the types of lines they produce.
· Creates a table when you type a series of plus signs and hyphens indicating how many columns you want and their relative widths. Each plus sign indicates a column border, so +--+--+--+ produces a three-column table. The number of hyphens indicates the relative width of the columns, so here the columns are equal width.
These actions are similar to those in the desktop versions, which have several actions that Word for iPad doesn’t have at this writing: applying heading styles by using combinations of Enter and Tab keypresses; using tabs and backspaces to set the left indent and first-line indent; formatting the beginning of a list item like the item before it; and defining styles based on your formatting.
Entering Text with the Onscreen Keyboard
Like many iPad apps, Word for iPad provides an onscreen keyboard for entering text in your documents. You can display the keyboard by tapping in a part of the document that can accept text (this means that in a typical document, you can tap almost anywhere). When you don’t need the keyboard for now, you can hide it by tapping the Hide Keyboard button in the lower-right corner of the keyboard.
With the keyboard displayed, move the insertion point to the appropriate point if necessary, and then tap the keys. If the Suggestions bar displays the word you’re typing (see Figure 4-3), tap the word to insert it.
Figure 4-3. You can enter text by tapping the keys on the onscreen keyboard and accepting any suitable suggestions from the Suggestions bar
Note Unlike Excel, which has custom keyboards to help you enter data and calculations more easily, Word uses standard iPad keyboards.
Inserting Tabs and Line Breaks
To lay out text the way you want, you may need to use tabs and line breaks. Tabs are useful for laying out columns of text when you don’t want to use tables.
Tip A line break is different from a paragraph character. You use a line break to end the current line and make the text continue on the next line. If the paragraph style of the current paragraph has a different style set for the Style for Following Paragraph setting, inserting a line break instead of a paragraph enables you to continue the current style on a new line. For example, the Heading 1 style may have Body Text set for the Style for Following Paragraph settings, so when you tap Return at the end of a Heading 1 paragraph, Word applies the Body Text style to the next paragraph. By inserting a line break instead of a paragraph, you can make the next line have the Heading 1 style as well. You might want to do this for a multiline heading.
Here’s how to insert a tab or a line break.
1. Tap the appropriate point in the text to display the Edit menu (see Figure 4-4).
Figure 4-4. To insert a tab or a line break, first tap the Insert button on the Edit menu
2. Tap the Insert button to display the Insert menu (see Figure 4-5).
Figure 4-5. Tap the Tab button or the Line Break button on the Insert menu, as nedeed
3. Tap the Tab button or the Line Break button, as needed.
THREE TIMES NOT TO USE A TAB
Tabs are great when you need to line up multiple short text items in paragraphs, but there are three times when you shouldn’t use tabs because Word offers the following better alternatives:
· Indenting a whole paragraph: To indent a whole paragraph, don’t put a tab at the beginning of each line and a line break at the end. Instead, tap the Indent button near the right end of the Home tab of the Ribbon to indent the whole paragraph in a single move; tap again to indent it further. If you need to decrease or remove the indent, tap the Unindent button, the button to the left of the Indent button.
· Creating multi-line columns of text: To lay out multi-line or multi-paragraph blocks of text in columns, use a table instead of tabs.
· Creating newspaper-style columns: To create columns where the text runs all the way down the first column and then continues at the top of the second column (and so on), use the Columns feature. See Chapter 5 for details.
Setting Tabs
Here’s how to set tabs in a document.
1. Tap in the paragraph for which you want to set tabs. If you want to set tabs for multiple paragraphs, select them.
2. If the ruler isn’t displayed across the top of the screen below the Ribbon, tap the View tab and then set the Ruler switch to the On position.
3. Tap the point on the ruler where you want to place the tab. A tab marker appears bearing an L, indicating that it is a left-aligned tab.
4. If you need to reposition the tab, tap it and drag it to the right place. Word displays a readout showing the exact position (see Figure 4-6).
Figure 4-6. Tap the ruler to place the tab. You can then position the tab more exactly by using the readout that appears when you tap and hold the tab
5. If you need to change the tab’s type, double-tap the tab marker. Double-tap once to change it to a center tab, double-tap again for a right tab, double-tap again for a decimal tab, or double-tap a fourth time for a bar tab. Figure 4-7 shows the symbol for each tab type. See the nearby sidebar for an explanation of the tab types and their uses.
Figure 4-7. Each tab type has a distinctive marker on the ruler
Note To remove a tab, tap it and drag it off the ruler into the document.
USING WORD’S FIVE TYPES OF TABS
To enable you to create exact text layouts, Word gives you five types of tabs:
· Left tab: This is the normal type of tab. Text appears left-aligned after a block of white space.
· Center tab: Word aligns the center of the text on the position of the tab. Center tabs are useful for headings and similar display text.
· Right tab: Text appears right-aligned at the position of the tab. As you type more text, it moves back to the left. Right tabs are useful for laying out headers and footers.
· Decimal tab: Text appears aligned on the decimal point (the period) in the text. You normally use decimal tabs to align columns of numbers on the decimal point; this is especially useful when the numbers have different numbers of decimal places.
· Bar tab: A vertical bar character (|) appears at the position of the tab. This is a way of drawing a vertical line down the screen using characters rather than lines. Bar tabs are outmoded, but there’s nothing to stop you from using them if you find them useful.
Entering Text with a Hardware Keyboard
When you need to enter a lot of text in a document quickly and accurately, connect a hardware keyboard to your iPad as discussed in Chapter 2. The hardware keyboard not only makes it easier to type but also enables you to see much more on screen because the onscreen keyboard isn’t taking up a large proportion of the space.
Tip You can use the keyboard shortcuts explained in Chapter 2 for navigating around your documents and selecting text. If your keyboard has a Command key, you can use standard keyboard shortcuts such as Copy (Command+C), Cut (Command+X), Paste (Command+V), Undo (Command+Z), and Undo (Shift+Command+Z).
If you need to make the onscreen keyboard available temporarily without disconnecting the Bluetooth keyboard in Settings (or by turning off Bluetooth in Control Center), try pressing the Eject key on the keyboard. Only some keyboards have the eject key, and this trick works on only some of them, but it’s handy if it works on yours.
Copying and Pasting Text
You can copy text in Word as usual by selecting what you want to copy and then tapping the Copy button on the Edit menu. You can then paste the text wherever you need it.
Note You can also copy other objects by using the same method: tap to select the object, and then tap the Copy button on the Edit menu.
When you paste text into a document, Word displays a Paste Options button below and to the right of the pasted material. You can tap this button to display the Paste Options menu (see Figure 4-8), and then tap the appropriate button:
· Keep Source Formatting: Tap this button to make the pasted material keep its original formatting.
· Match Destination Formatting: Tap this button to make the pasted material pick up the formatting of the paragraph into which you pasted it.
· Keep Text Only: Tap this button to remove any formatting from the pasted material, leaving only the text.
Figure 4-8. After pasting text, you can tap the Paste Options button and change the formatting of the pasted material
Tip In some cases, you get the same result from using the Match Destination Formatting option as from using the Keep Text Only option. This is normal.
Editing Text
Word for iPad makes it as easy as possible to enter text using the touchscreen. When you want to add to the existing text, tap to position the insertion point. You can then type text or tap the Delete key to delete the character to the left of the insertion point.
Note When you tap in existing text, Word positions the insertion point between words by default. To position the insertion point precisely, tap and hold to display the pop-up magnifier, and then move your finger to drag the insertion point to where you need it.
To change an existing word (or multiple words), it’s usually easiest to select the text and then type over it (replacing it with what you type) than to delete it one character at a time. Double-tap a word to select it, and then drag the selection handles to enlarge or reduce the selection as needed. You can then either type in the correction or give a command from the Edit menu for text (see Figure 4-9). For example, tap the Cut button to cut the text from its current position to the Clipboard so that you can then paste it in somewhere else, or tap the Delete button to delete the text without placing it on the Clipboard.
Figure 4-9. The Edit menu for text includes the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete commands
Note The Paste Format command on the Edit menu enables you to paste formatting that you’ve copied from other text. The Define command displays a definition of the word (if one is available).
Tip If you’re used to using a hardware keyboard to edit text in the desktop versions of Word, you’ll probably be able to edit much more quickly in Word for iPad if you connect a hardware keyboard.
Displaying Invisible Characters
Word normally doesn’t display invisible characters such as spaces, tabs, paragraph marks, and breaks (page breaks and other breaks). But when you need to see them, you can display them by tapping the Show/Hide button at the right end of the Home tab of the Ribbon. As you can see inFigure 4-10, a line break appears as a blue arrow going down and to the left, a paragraph mark appears as a blue paragraph symbol (or pilcrow, ¶), a tab appears as a blue arrow pointing to the right, and a page break appears as a blue line with the words “Page Break” in it. Spaces also appear as blue dots, but you’ll need good eyes to see these in the figure.
Figure 4-10. Tap the Show/Hide button on the Home tab of the Ribbon when you need to see spaces, tabs, and paragraph marks
Checking the Spelling
Word includes a spelling checker that you can use to check text automatically as you write. The spelling checker is normally turned on by default to help you avoid mistakes. You can turn the spell checker on or off as needed by tapping the View tab of the Ribbon and then setting the Spelling switch to the On position or to the Off position.
Tip If you find the spelling checker distracting when you’re focusing on composing text, set the Spelling switch on the View tab of the Ribbon to the Off position until you finish writing. You can then turn the spelling checker on and deal with all the queries at once.
When the spelling checker is on, Word displays a wavy red underline under each word that doesn’t appear in its spelling dictionary. Tap an underlined word to display a menu of suggested replacements (see Figure 4-11), and then tap the word you want to replace the queried word.
Figure 4-11. Tap a word the spelling checker has queried, and then tap the replacement word on the menu
If the queried word is correct, you can tap the +Learn button to add it to Word’s dictionary. Word then removes the underline and doesn’t query the word again.
Note If the spelling checker doesn’t suggest the word you want, you can simply type the correction needed.
SETTING THE PROOFING TOOLS LANGUAGE
To control which language Word is using for the spelling checker, tap the Review tab and then tap the Set Proofing Tools Language button, the button to the right of the Block Authors button at the right end. In the Set Proofing Tools Language pop-up panel that opens, tap the language you want to use.
Checking the Word Count of a Document
Tap the Word count button on the View tab to display the Word Count pop-up panel (see Figure 4-12), which shows you the numbers of pages, words, characters with spaces, and characters without spaces in the document. Set the Include Additional Text switch to the On position if you want to include any text in text boxes, footnotes, and endnotes in the count; set this switch to the Off position if you want to count only the main text.
Figure 4-12. Open the Word Count pop-up panel to see how many pages, words, and characters your document contains
Using Find and Replace
Word provides a straightforward Find and Replace feature that enables you to search your documents for specific text and, optionally, replace it. Compared to the Find and Replace features in Word for Windows or Word for the Mac, the Find and Replace features on the iPad are limited, but they still have enough power to save you time and effort.
Here’s how to use Find and Replace.
1. Tap in the document at the point where you want to start searching.
2. Tap the Search icon (the magnifying glass) near the right end of the Ribbon to display the Find and Replace bar.
3. Tap the Options button (the cog icon) at the left end of the Find and Replace bar to display the Options panel (see Figure 4-13), and then choose the options you want.
Figure 4-13. Tap the Options button and choose options for Find and Replace
o Find: Tap the Find button, placing a check mark next to it, to use Find without Replace.
o Find and Replace: Tap the Find and Replace button, placing a check mark next to it, to use Find and Replace.
o Match Case: Set this switch to the On position to search only for matches that have the same case as the search text you specify. Set this switch to the Off position to turn off case-sensitive searching.
o Whole Words: Set this switch to the On position to search only for matches that are the entire word rather than partial words. Set this switch to the Off position to search for matches within words as well. For example, with the Whole Words switch set to the On position, searching for test finds Test or test but not contest or testing.
4. Tap the Find box and type the text for which you want to search. Word searches automatically as you type the search text and selects the first match (if there is one). The number of matches appears at the right side of the Find box.
Tip To find text that appears at the beginning of a word, include a space before the text. Similarly, to find text that appears at the end of a word, put a space after it. These searches are often effective, but beware of quotes or punctuation making them miss some instances.
5. If you’re using Find and Replace, tap in the Replace With box and type the replacement text. Figure 4-14 shows the Find and Replace bar in use.
Figure 4-14. The Find and Replace bar in action
6. Control the Find operation or the Find and Replace operation by tapping the appropriate command buttons.
o >: Tap this button to find the next instance of the search term.
o <: Tap this button to find the previous instance of the search term.
o Replace: (Find and Replace only.) Tap this button to replace the current instance of the search term with the replacement text.
o All: (Find and Replace only.) Tap this button to replace all instances of the search text with the replacement text.
7. When you finish using the Find feature or the Find and Replace feature, tap anywhere in the document to hide the Find and Replace bar.
Summary
In this chapter, you learned how to get started with Word for iPad. The chapter first examined the app’s features and limitations, then showed you how to create new documents, navigate the Word interface, and enter and edit text. You now know the essentials of creating documents, including how to enter characters that don’t appear on the keyboard; how to display invisible characters; and how to use the Spelling, Word Count, and Find and Replace features.