Now we can get started.  Word 2007 uses a ribbon layout.  This is how the opening screen layout appears.

Menus

When you begin to explore Word 2007 you will notice the new look of the menu bar. There are three features that you should remember as you work within Word 2007: the Microsoft Office Button, the Quick Access Toolbar, and the Ribbon. These three features contain many of the functions that were in the menu of previous versions of Word. The functions of these three features will be more fully explored below.

The Microsoft Office Button

The Microsoft Office button performs many of the functions that were located in the File menu of older versions of Word. This button allows you to:

• Create a new document
• Open an existing document
• Save or save as
• Print
• Send (through email or fax)
• Publish
• Close

The Ribbon is the panel at the top portion of the document that is surrounded by the red box above. It has seven tabs:

• Home
• Insert
• Page Layout
• References
• Mailings
• Review
• View

Each tab is divided into groups. The groups are logical collections of features designed to perform functions that you will utilize in developing or editing your Word document. Commonly used features are displayed on the Ribbon, to view additional features within each group, click on the arrow at the bottom right of each group as shown in the picture below.

Each of the tabs contains the following tools:

Home: Clipboard, Fonts, Paragraph, Styles, and Editing.
Insert: Pages, Tables, Illustrations, Links, Header & Footer, Text, and Symbols
Page Layout: Themes, Page Setup, Page Background, Paragraph, Arrange
References: Table of Contents, Footnote, Citation & Bibliography, Captions, Index, and Table of Authorities
Mailings: Create, Start Mail Merge, Write & Insert Fields, Preview Results, Finish
Review: Proofing, Comments, Tracking, Changes, Compare, Protect
View: Document Views, Show/Hide, Zoom, Window, Macros
Acrobat: Create PDF’s, Email PDF’s, review PDF’s (this is add on software that is not part of the original Microsoft Office Suite)

Quick Access Toolbar

The quick access toolbar is a customizable toolbar that contains popular commands that you may want to use. You can place the quick access toolbar above or below the ribbon. To change the location of the quick access toolbar, click on the arrow at the end of the toolbar and click on Show Below the Ribbon.

You can also add items that you use often to the quick access toolbar. Right click on any item in the Office Button or the Ribbon and click on Add to Quick Access Toolbar and a shortcut will be added to the Quick Access Toolbar.