How to Get Started with Word: Workspace, Views and Saving

Word is where most letters, reports, handouts and school assignments start. Before you worry about fonts or page numbers, it pays to know your way around the window and to save your work so it never disappears.

In this tutorial you will create the first document for a small Tutoring Club: a welcome letter for families. You will meet the parts of the screen, try the different views, and save, close and reopen the file the safe way.

The parts of the Word window

When you open a document, Word shows the same layout every time. Learn these six parts and you will always know where to look.

Part	Where it is	What it does
Title bar	Very top	Shows the file name, the AutoSave switch and the Search box
Ribbon	Below the title bar	Holds every command, sorted into tabs such as Home, Insert and Layout
Quick Access Toolbar	Above or below the ribbon	A few buttons you can always reach, such as Save and Undo
Ruler	Above and left of the page (when turned on)	Shows margins, indents and tab stops
Document area	The middle	The page you type on. The blinking line is the insertion point, where your typing appears
Status bar	Very bottom	Shows the page number, word count, language, view buttons and the zoom slider

Two of these are worth turning on now if you don't see them. For the ruler, use View then Show then Ruler. If the Quick Access Toolbar is hidden, right-click any ribbon tab and choose Show Quick Access Toolbar.

The status bar is more useful than it looks. Click the word count to see characters and paragraphs too, and right-click the status bar to choose what else it shows, such as line numbers.

Find commands on the ribbon

The ribbon is organized in three levels: tabs (Home, Insert, Layout…), groups inside each tab (Font, Paragraph, Styles…) and the buttons inside each group. When a tutorial on this site says Home then Font then Bold, it means: click the Home tab, find the Font group, click Bold.

HomeFontBold. Tab first, then group, then button.

A few habits make the ribbon easier:

Hover to learn. Point at any button and wait a second. A tooltip tells you what it does and its keyboard shortcut.
Use the small arrow. Many groups have a tiny arrow in the bottom-right corner (the dialog box launcher). It opens the full set of options, for example every font setting at once.
Search instead of hunting. Click the Search box in the title bar, or press Alt+Q, and type what you want, such as "page numbers". Word shows the command and runs it when you click it.
Get space back. Press Ctrl+F1 to collapse the ribbon to only its tabs, and again to bring it back.

Some tabs only appear when you need them. Click a picture and a Picture Format tab shows up; click a table and you get Table Design and Layout. If a command seems to be missing, check that you have selected the right thing first.

Switch views and zoom

A view changes how the document looks on screen, not how it prints. You can switch with View then Views or with the small buttons at the right end of the status bar.

ViewViews. Print Layout is the default and the one you'll use most.

View	Use it to	Good to know
Print Layout	Write and format	Shows real pages, margins, headers and footers, exactly as they will print
Read Mode	Read a long document comfortably	Hides the ribbon and lays pages out like a book. Press `Esc` to leave
Web Layout	See text without page breaks	Lines stretch to the width of the window
Outline and Draft	Work on structure or plain text	You'll use Outline later, with headings
Focus	Write without distractions	On the status bar or View then Immersive then Focus. Press `Esc` to leave

To zoom, drag the slider at the bottom right, or hold Ctrl and turn the mouse wheel. View then Zoom then One Page shows a whole page so you can check the layout, and Page Width makes the page fill the window. Zoom never changes the size of your text when printed.

Create a new document

When you start Word, the Home screen offers a Blank document, a few templates and your recent files. Inside Word, you have three ways to start something new:

Press Ctrl+N for a new blank document.
Go to File then New then Blank document.
Go to File then New and pick a template, such as a letter, résumé or flyer. A template is a ready-made starting file; you replace its sample text with your own.

For the welcome letter, start with a blank document. Type the heading Welcome to the Tutoring Club, press Enter, and type a short paragraph. Don't format anything yet. Getting words on the page comes first; formatting is the next two tutorials.

Notice that Word wraps lines for you. Only press Enter when you want to start a new paragraph, never at the end of every line. If you need a line break without a new paragraph, such as in an address, press Shift+Enter.

Save your document the right way

Save early, as soon as the document has a few words, and then let Word or your own habit keep it saved.

Press Ctrl+S (or click Save on the Quick Access Toolbar).
The first time, Word asks for a file name and a location. Type a name that says what the file is, such as Tutoring Club - Welcome Letter.
Choose where it goes: OneDrive (online, and available on your other devices) or a folder on This PC. To pick an exact folder, click More options or Browse.
Click Save. The new name appears in the title bar.

Before

Says nothing about the content
Hard to find later

After

Names the project and the document
Versions and dates are clear

A good file name tells you what is inside without opening it.

AutoSave. When a file is saved to OneDrive or SharePoint, the AutoSave switch in the top-left corner turns on, and Word saves every change within seconds. For files saved on your computer, AutoSave is off, so press Ctrl+S often.

Save vs. Save As. Save updates the file you already have. File then Save As (or Save a Copy when AutoSave is on) creates a new, separate file with a different name, place or format, and leaves the original as it was. Use it when you want a second version, such as a copy for a different event.

File type	Extension	When to use it
Word Document	`.docx`	The normal choice for anything you'll keep editing
PDF	`.pdf`	Sharing a finished document that should look the same everywhere (covered in Tutorial 7)
Word Template	`.dotx`	A starting file you'll reuse again and again
Word 97–2003 Document	`.doc`	Only if someone has very old software. Some features are lost

Open, reopen and recover documents

Press Ctrl+W to close a document. If anything is unsaved, Word asks whether to save it. Read the message before you click: Don't Save throws away your changes.

To get back to a file, go to File then Open or press Ctrl+O. The Recent list shows the files you opened last. Hover over a file you use often and click the pin icon to keep it at the top. If the file isn't listed, click Browse and find it in its folder.

If Word or your computer crashes, don't panic:

Restart Word. A Document Recovery pane usually lists the files it rescued. Open each one and save it right away.
For a file you never saved, go to File then Info then Manage Document then Recover Unsaved Documents.
For files on OneDrive, File then Info then Version History lets you open or restore an earlier version, which is also how you undo a whole bad editing session.

Behind the scenes, AutoRecover keeps a backup copy every 10 minutes by default. You can make it more frequent in File then Options then Save. It is a safety net, not a replacement for saving: it only helps after a crash.

Common mistakes

Mistake	What happens	Fix
Leaving the name as Document1	You can't tell files apart later	Name the file the first time you save
Not knowing where the file was saved	You can't find it again or attach it to an email	Check the location before you click Save; use Browse to choose a folder
Pressing Don't Save by reflex	Your latest changes are gone	Read the close message; choose Save when in doubt
Editing the original when you meant to make a copy	With AutoSave on, the old version is overwritten	Use Save a Copy before you start changing it
Pressing `Enter` at the end of every line	Lines break in odd places when you change the font or margins	Let Word wrap lines; press `Enter` only for a new paragraph
Searching the ribbon tab by tab	Slow, and you may give up	Use the Search box (`Alt`+`Q`) to find any command

Practice

Create, save and reopen your first document

Guided practice

Open Word and start a blank document. You will build the first draft of the Tutoring Club welcome letter.

Type: enter the heading Welcome to the Tutoring Club, press Enter, and write two or three sentences about when and where sessions happen. Let Word wrap the lines.
Formatting marks: turn on Home then Paragraph then Show/Hide ¶ and find the ¶ marks. Count how many paragraphs you have, then turn the marks off again.
Save: press Ctrl+S and save the file as Tutoring Club - Welcome Letter in a folder you choose. Check the new name in the title bar.
Views: switch to Read Mode, then Web Layout, then back to Print Layout using the status bar buttons. Use View then Zoom then One Page to see the whole page.
Search: press Alt+Q, type word count, and open the Word Count box. Compare it with the count on the status bar.
Close and reopen: add one more sentence, then press Ctrl+W. When Word asks, choose Save. Reopen the file from File then Open and pin it to the Recent list.
Copy: use File then Save As (or Save a Copy) to make Tutoring Club - Welcome Letter (Spanish). Close it and check that the original is unchanged.

Independent challenge: Find it three ways

Pick three commands you haven't used yet, such as Line Numbers, Word Count and Page Color. Find each one three ways: on the ribbon, with the Search box, and with its keyboard shortcut if it has one (hover over the button to see it). Write down which way was fastest for each.

Reflect: where will you keep your Word files from now on, and how will you name them so you can find any file in a few seconds?

Check your understanding0 of 4 correct

Pick an answer to see whether it's right and why.

Where do you look to see how many words your document has?
The status bar shows the word count, page number, language, view buttons and zoom. Click the word count for more detail.
You opened last year's flyer to reuse it, and AutoSave is on. What should you do before editing?
With AutoSave on, every change goes straight into the file. Saving a copy first keeps the original untouched.
Which view shows your document exactly as it will print, with margins, headers and footers?
Print Layout shows real pages. It is the default view and the one to use while writing and formatting.
You can't find the command to add line numbers. What is the quickest way to find it?
The Search box in the title bar finds any command by name and runs it for you, so you don't need to know which tab it lives on.

You're ready to move on when

Tick each one off as you go. Your ticks are saved in this browser only.

You can name the title bar, ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar, ruler, document area and status bar
You find commands by tab, group and button, or with the Search box
You can switch between Print Layout, Read Mode and Web Layout and zoom to a full page
Your document is saved with a clear name in a folder you can find again
You know when to use Save, Save As or Save a Copy, and how to recover unsaved work

How to Get Started with Word: Workspace, Views, and Saving

What you'll learn

Before you start