Viewing Options

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Viewing Options

There are many options available to customize your working Word window. In this section, you will learn how to view toolbars and the documents you are working on.

Page Layout View

In Word, the "Page Layout View" feature allows you to choose from one of five viewing options. These are normal, online layout, page layout, outline, and master document. Try some of them out by opening an existing document on your computer and changing the selected view by going to the "View" menu and clicking on the layout you want.

Viewing Toolbars

Toolbars allow you to organize the commands in Word according to your personal preferences, so that you can find and use them quickly. Toolbars can be easily customized; for example, menus and buttons can be added or deleted, new toolbars can be created, existing ones can be hidden, displayed, or moved around. What toolbars you choose to display will depend on what features you want to use. The "formatting" toolbar appears as follows:

The menu bar (see below) is a special toolbar at the top of the screen that contains menus such as File, Edit, and View. You can customize the menu bar the same way you customize any built-in toolbar; for example, you can quickly add or remove buttons and menus on the menu bar, but you cannot hide the menu bar.

You can view the selection of toolbars by going to the "View" menu and selecting "Toolbars" (see below). When a checkmark appears next to a toolbar option, it means the toolbar is already being displayed in your Word window. Click a toolbar that has no checkmark to make it appear, and vice-versa to make one disappear. Toolbars can be moved around in your Word window by clicking and dragging them to a new location. Double-clicking on a toolbar will free it from its "docked" location, and the menu will appear free-floating in the middle of your document window.

To learn more about the number of customizations that can be done with toolbars, go to the Help menu, click on "Contents and Index," then search for the keyword "toolbar." A lengthy list of help topics will appear.

Ruler

The ruler that appears at the top and left side of the document window can be displayed or hidden. You may set your preference by going to the View menu and clicking on "Ruler." When the button is depressed, the ruler is on view. When released, it is hidden.

Full-Screen Mode

To display as much of your document as possible on the screen, you can switch to full-screen mode. In this mode, Word removes visible screen elements, such as toolbars and scroll bars. To turn on this mode, go to the View menu and click "Full Screen."

To return to the regular document window, click "Close Full Screen" in the floating toolbar or press the "Esc" button on your keyboard. To access the menu bar while in full-screen mode, move your pointer to the top of the window, and it will appear.

Zoom

The zoom option is available to get a close-up view of your document or to zoom out to see more of your page at a reduced size. This is especially helpful if your document is too wide to fit on the screen. There are two ways to set your zoom preference:

Go to the "View" menu and select "Zoom..." to get this window. Set your preference and click "OK."

The Zoom drop-down menu appears in the "Standard" toolbar. You can select your zoom setting by clicking on the down arrow to view the menu and then click the setting of your choice.

One of the zoom settings is "page width," which shrinks the text so it fits within the document window. Keep in mind that changing a documents view setting does not affect its appearance when you print it.

Document View Options

To customize the way Word displays the contents of your document,

go to the Tools menu
select Options
go to the "View" tab. In this window, you can display or hide items in your document (such as graphics, animated text, and field codes) or screen elements (such as scroll bars). Notice that the image below shows "Page Layout view options." This is because the options available will depend on which view you are in (i.e., page layout view, normal, online layout, etc.).
Insert or remove checkmarks according to your preferences, then click OK.

View two parts of a document at the same time

It is possible to split the document window into two parts, so that you can simultaneously view two parts of a document. This would allow you to move or copy text in one pane to the destination for the text in the other pane. To split your document into two panes, move your pointer to the split bar at the top of the vertical scroll bar as shown below:

When your pointer changes to , drag the split bar to the position you want. To return to a single window, drag the split bar (or border between the two windows) back to the top of the screen, or double-click the split bar.

Please continue to the next section on Manipulating Text.