Microsoft Word (MS Word) is the word processor of Microsoft Office. A word processor is a program to type, edit, format and print documents such as letters, reports and notices. It does what a typewriter did, and much more. Punjab Police SI and Constable papers ask about Word every year. They ask about the ribbon and status bar, selecting and finding text, font and paragraph formatting, page setup and tables. This page covers all of it.
45
Past questions on this page
Punjab Police SI & Constable
.docx
Default file type
Word 2007 and later
4
Text alignments
Left, Center, Right, Justify
72
Largest size in Word's font list
PowerPoint's list goes to 96
Know the screen
The top of the window, the page, the status bar and the views.
Top of the Microsoft Word window
WHAT EACH NUMBER IS
- 1Quick Access Toolbar — Small buttons near the top: Save, Undo, Redo.
- 2Title bar — The bar at the very top. It shows the file name, such as Document1 - Word.
- 3Home tab — One tab of the Ribbon. Each tab holds groups of tools to edit and format.
- 4Layout tab — Called Page Layout before Word 2016. Margins, orientation, size, columns.
- 5Format Painter — In the Clipboard group. Copies formatting only; see the video in Part 2.
- 6Font group — Bold, Italic, Underline, superscript, font colour. The group name is written at the bottom.
- 7Paragraph group — Bullets, numbering, and Align Left / Center / Align Right / Justify.
- 8Ruler — Measuring strip that shows margins, indents and tab stops.
The page and the status bar
WHAT EACH NUMBER IS
- 1Header — Text typed here once repeats at the top of every page. Insert tab.
- 2Margin — The blank space round the text.
- 3Drop Cap — A large first letter at the start of a paragraph. Insert tab.
- 4Insertion point — The blinking line where the next letter you type will appear.
- 5Status bar — The bottom strip. Shows the page number and the word count.
- 6View buttons — Read Mode, Print Layout, Web Layout.
- 7Zoom — Makes the page look bigger or smaller on screen. The printout does not change.
| Tab | Main tools |
|---|---|
| File | Opens Backstage view: New, Open, Save, Save As, Print (with preview) |
| Home | Groups: Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Styles, Editing (Find, Replace) |
| Insert | Cover Page, Page Break, Table, Pictures, Shapes, Chart, Screenshot, Header & Footer, Text Box, WordArt, Drop Cap |
| Page Layout (called Layout from Word 2016) | Margins, Orientation, Size, Columns, Breaks |
| References / Mailings | Table of contents, footnotes / mail merge |
| Review | Spelling (F7), comments, track changes |
| View | Views, Ruler, Zoom, Window (New Window, Arrange All, Split, Switch Windows), Macros |
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Print Layout | The page as it will print, with all formatting: margins, headers, pictures. The default view. |
| Read Mode (Word 2010: Full Screen Reading) | Easy reading, like a book |
| Web Layout | The document as a web page, no page breaks |
| Outline | Headings as a list you can rearrange |
| Draft | Plain text for fast typing |
QUICK CHECK
The user-interface bar at the top of the window that holds a variety of tools organised under tabs, and helps you edit and format an MS-Word 2010 document, is called what?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: C — Ribbon
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Tools grouped under tabs at the top is the definition of the Ribbon. The Ruler only measures margins and indents.
QUICK CHECK
Which of the following is NOT a screen element in Microsoft Word 2010?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: C — Subtitle bar
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Title bar on top and status bar at the bottom are real. "Subtitle bar" does not exist in Word.
QUICK CHECK
In MS-Word 2016, which of the following provides information about the current document?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — Status bar
Punjab Police SI, 2023. The status bar reports page number, word count and language. Toolbars and menus hold commands, not information.
Selecting, editing, finding and saving
Mouse clicks, the clipboard, wildcards and Save As.
| To select | Do this |
|---|---|
| One word | Double-click the word |
| One paragraph | Triple-click inside it |
| One sentence | Hold Ctrl and click the sentence |
| The whole document | Ctrl+A |
KEY TERM
Format Painter
The Format Painter (a paint-brush button in the Clipboard group of the Home tab) copies formatting only, not text. Double-click the brush to use it many times; press Esc to stop.
Source text→Format Painter→Target text
WATCH IT · Watch: Format Painter in Microsoft Word
Step by step
- Select "Important:". This text already has the look you want: bold and red.
- Click Format Painter (Home tab → Clipboard group). It picks up the formatting.
- Drag over "Note:", the text you want to change.
- "Note:" now has the same bold red look. The words did not change; only the formatting was copied.
KEY TERM
Wildcards in Find
In Find and Replace (Ctrl+H), click More and tick Use wildcards. Now some symbols stand for unknown letters, like a blank in a crossword. The two papers ask about are below.
| Wildcard | Matches | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ? (question mark) | Exactly one character | s?t finds sat, set, sit |
| * (asterisk) | Any number of characters | b*t finds but, boot, burst |
- Print Preview lets you see how each page will look before printing. From Word 2010 it sits beside the print settings in File → Print (Backstage view). Ctrl+P opens it.
- Over text you can edit, the mouse pointer turns into an I-beam (a tall thin I).
- Switch Windows (View tab) jumps straight to another open document. Split shows two parts of one document.
QUICK CHECK
How can you select a whole word in Microsoft Word?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — By double-clicking on the word
Punjab Police Constable, 2024. Double-click selects a word; triple-click selects the whole paragraph. Ctrl+V pastes.
QUICK CHECK
The _______ feature allows you to remove the selected text from a document and temporarily place it on the MS-Office 2010 clipboard.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: A — Cut
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Cut removes the text and keeps it on the clipboard. Copy is the trap: it leaves the original in place.
QUICK CHECK
In MS Word 2019, 'b * t' is used in a wildcard search. Which of the following search results will be shown? I. but II. boot III. burst
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — I, II and III
Punjab Police SI, 2022. The asterisk stands for any number of letters. All three words start with b and end with t, so all are found.
Character formatting: the font
How letters look: typeface, size, bold, effects and the drop cap.
KEY TERM
Font
The font decides how characters look: the typeface (like Calibri or Arial), size, style (bold, italic), colour and effects. These tools sit in the Font group of the Home tab. Character formatting changes letters; it does not move whole paragraphs.
| Keys | Font command |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I / Ctrl+U | Bold / Italic / Underline |
| Ctrl+Shift+> / Ctrl+Shift+< | Grow / shrink font size |
| Ctrl+= / Ctrl+Shift+= | Subscript (H₂O) / superscript (x²) |
| Shift+F3 | Change case (lower, UPPER, Title) |
| Ctrl+Shift+Space | Non-breaking space |
KEY TERM
Toggle button
A toggle button has two states. One click turns it on, the next click turns it off. Bold, Italic and Underline are toggles. The font style / font name box is a drop-down list, not a toggle.
Click: on→Click again: off
Insert → Text
Drop Cap
A large capital letter at the start of a paragraph, dropping two or three lines deep. Choose Dropped or In margin.
Keeps words together
Non-breaking space
Stops two words splitting across lines, as in a name or a date like "12 June".
Font dialog
Effects
Strikethrough, superscript, subscript and more. These are character effects, not paragraph formatting.
QUICK CHECK
______ decides the appearance of characters in an MS-Word 2016 document.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: A — Font
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Typeface, size, style and colour are all font settings. Design sets document-wide themes; Layout sets the page.
QUICK CHECK
In MS-Word 2010, _______ option is used to create a large capital letter at the beginning of a paragraph.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: A — Drop Cap
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Drop Cap (Insert tab, Text group) enlarges the first letter. SmartArt makes diagrams; Header repeats text at the top of pages.
Paragraph formatting
Alignment, line spacing, indents, bullets and numbering.
KEY TERM
Paragraph group
The Paragraph group of the Home tab holds alignment, bullets, numbering, multilevel lists, indents, line and paragraph spacing, shading and borders. These shape a whole paragraph, not single letters.
The Paragraph dialog box
WHAT EACH NUMBER IS
- 1Alignment — Left, Centered, Right or Justified: the same four as the ribbon buttons.
- 2Indentation — Moves the paragraph in from the margins: Left, Right, and Special (First line or Hanging).
- 3Spacing Before / After — Space above and below a paragraph, in points (pt). This is the Spacing section papers ask about.
- 4Line spacing — Gap between lines inside the paragraph: Single, 1.5 lines, Double, At least, Exactly, Multiple.
- 5Preview — Shows how the paragraph will look before you click OK.
| Alignment | Keys | Lines sit |
|---|---|---|
| Align Left | Ctrl+L | Flush with the left margin |
| Center | Ctrl+E | In the middle |
| Align Right | Ctrl+R | Flush with the right margin |
| Justify | Ctrl+J | Both edges straight, like a newspaper |
REMEMBER
Left, cEnter, Right, Justify: "Let Every Row Justify".
- The quick way to indent is the Tab key. In a list, Tab moves an item one level in and Shift+Tab moves it back.
- Enter starts a new paragraph. Shift+Enter gives a new line inside the same paragraph. Ctrl+Enter starts a new page.
- To make a new numbering format: Home tab → Paragraph group → arrow next to Numbering → Define New Number Format.
COMMON TRAPS
- Underline and Effects are font (character) formatting, not alignment or paragraph options.
- Conditional Formatting belongs to Excel, not Word's paragraph tools.
- Paragraph alignment is left, centre, right, justify. "Top" is not one of them.
QUICK CHECK
Which of the following is NOT an example of a text alignment option in a word processing software?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: C — Underline
Punjab Police SI, 2023. The four alignments are left, centre, right and justify. Underline (Ctrl+U) draws a line under letters; it is font formatting.
QUICK CHECK
State whether the following statements are true or false. (i) Press the Enter key to create a new paragraph in Microsoft Word. (ii) Ctrl+E is used to centre align text in Microsoft Word.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: A — (i) True, (ii) True
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Enter ends a paragraph and starts a new one. Ctrl+E centres text. Both are true.
QUICK CHECK
Which of the following options of the Paragraph dialog box is used to adjust the amount of space before and after lines and paragraphs in an MS-Word 2019 document?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: C — Spacing
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Spacing holds Before, After and Line spacing. Indentation is the trap: it moves the paragraph in from the margins.
Page setup, headers and the Insert tab
Margins, gutter, orientation, headers, footers and breaks.
KEY TERM
Page Setup
Page Setup tells Word how the printed page should be: margins, orientation, paper size and how pages are arranged. It is on the Page Layout tab (named Layout from Word 2016). It does not deal with graphics.
Margins→Orientation→Paper size→Pages
The Page Setup dialog box
WHAT EACH NUMBER IS
- 1Margins / Paper / Layout tabs — Three tabs. Margins is open here; Paper sets the paper size.
- 2Top, Bottom, Left, Right — The four margins. There is no "Base" margin.
- 3Gutter — Extra margin for binding, so stitching does not hide the text.
- 4Gutter position — Left or Top: the edge where the binding goes.
- 5Orientation — Portrait (taller than wide, the default) or Landscape (wider than tall, for wide tables and charts).
KEY TERM
Header and footer
A header is the space in the top margin. What you type there once repeats at the top of every page, such as a title or page number. A footer does the same at the bottom. Add them from Insert → Header & Footer.
- Page Break is on the Insert tab (Pages group), with Cover Page and Blank Page. Shortcut: Ctrl+Enter.
- Screenshot is on the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group. It drops a picture of an open window into the document.
QUICK CHECK
In MS-Word 2016, ______ is the space left on one side of a document for stitching and binding.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — gutter
Punjab Police SI, 2023. The gutter is extra space added to the inside margin so binding does not hide text. A margin is the ordinary border.
QUICK CHECK
The Page Setup dialog box enables users to set all the margins in MS Word 2010, EXCEPT:
Tap an option to answer
Answer: A — Base
Punjab Police SI, 2023. The four margins are Top, Bottom, Left and Right. The bottom one is called Bottom, never "Base".
QUICK CHECK
Which of the following features of MS-Word 2010 helps to repeat content at the top of every page without inserting it on each page separately?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — Header
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Text typed once in the header appears at the top of every page. The footer does the same at the bottom.
Tables and file types
Rows and columns, merging cells, borders and .docx.
KEY TERM
Table
A table organises information into rows (across) and columns (down). Each box is a cell. Tables line up related facts so they are easy to compare. Charts, pictures and hyperlinks have their own commands.
Row→Column→Cell
| Way to make a table (Insert → Table) | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Drag over the grid | Fastest when you know the rows and columns (grid up to 10 × 8) |
| Insert Table dialog | Type the number of columns and rows you want |
| Draw Table | Draw cells by hand with a pencil pointer |
| Quick Tables | Ready-made tables such as calendars |
Table Layout
Merge Cells
Joins two or more adjacent cells into one.
Table Layout
Split Cells
Breaks one cell into several.
Table Design
Border Painter
Pick a line style, then paint borders onto chosen cell edges.
Border Painter is for borders in newer versions. Format Painter copies text formatting.
| Extension | What it is |
|---|---|
| .docx | Document: the default in Word 2007 and later |
| .doc | Old Word document (before 2007) |
| .dotx | Word template |
| .docm / .dotm | Document / template with macros |
| .rtf | Rich Text Format, opens in many programs |
FROM TYPEWRITER TO WORD
- c. 1870Sholes and Glidden prototype
Early typewriter work that led to QWERTY.
- 1961IBM Selectric
Electric typewriter with a swappable type ball.
- 1975Microsoft founded
By Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
- 1983First MS Word
Microsoft's word processor appears.
- 2007Ribbon and .docx
Menus and toolbars give way to the Ribbon.
- 2010File tab and Backstage view
Print and Print Preview join in one Print pane.
QUICK CHECK
Identify whether the given statements related to MS-Word 2010 are true or false. (i) If the number of rows and columns required for a table is known, then the fastest way to create the table is by dragging over the grid in the Table menu. (ii) The 'Merge Cells' option is used to combine two or more, or all adjacent cells into one cell.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — (i) True (ii) True
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Dragging over the grid makes the table at once, and Merge Cells joins adjacent cells. Both are true.
QUICK CHECK
Which of the following options is used to apply the formatting of specific borders in a table in MS-Word 2019?
Tap an option to answer
Answer: A — Border Painter
Punjab Police SI, 2023. Border Painter paints a chosen line style onto cell edges. Format Painter is the trap: it copies text formatting.
Quick revision
Keys, traps and one-line facts.
FLASHCARDS
Tap to check
- Ctrl+E
- Center align
- Ctrl+J
- Justify
- Ctrl+X
- Cut (removes text to the clipboard)
- Ctrl+H
- Find and Replace
- Ctrl+Enter
- Page break
- Shift+Enter
- New line in the same paragraph
- F12
- Save As
- Wildcard ?
- Exactly one character
- Double-click / triple-click
- Select a word / a paragraph
- Gutter
- Extra margin space for binding
- .dotx
- Word template
- Backstage view
- Opened by the File tab; holds Print with preview
COMMON TRAPS
- Copy keeps the original; Cut removes it.
- Paragraph is a group, not a tab. Page Break is on Insert.
- Gutter = binding space, not the gap between columns.
- Font style box is a list, not a toggle. Bold, Italic, Underline are toggles.
- Border Painter is for table borders; Format Painter is for text formatting.
- Word's font list stops at 72; PowerPoint's goes to 96.
Also asked onceTap to open
- In a wildcard search, ? stands for exactly one character.
- Insert Table lets you specify the number of rows and columns.
- The Format Painter copies formatting from one piece of text to another.
- A non-breaking space keeps words like a name or date together on one line.
- For lines closer than single spacing, choose 0.9.
- Page Orientation is changed from the Page Layout tab. Both Portrait and Landscape are valid.
- Numbering, Bullets and Align Left are in the Paragraph group of the Home tab.
- Switch Windows jumps straight to another open window.
- Screenshot is on the Insert tab.
- Print Layout shows the formatting as it will print.
- In Word 2010, the Print pane (Print + Print Preview) is in Backstage view.
- In old Word, Save, Print, Cut, Copy and Paste were on the Standard toolbar.
- Graphics is not a Page Setup setting; margins, pages and orientation are.
- .dotx is a valid Word extension (template).
CHECK YOURSELF
You type a 10-page report. You want the title at the top of every page, the first letter of chapter 1 large, and a table of 4 columns and 6 rows. Which features do you use?
Show answer
A Header (Insert → Header & Footer) for the title, Drop Cap (Insert → Text) for the big first letter, and Insert → Table, dragging a 4 × 6 grid or typing the numbers in Insert Table.