Free demo · Microsoft Word · Lesson 2 · Introduction · Typing rules

Six typing rules for clean documents

Word is not a typewriter. Follow these rules and your documents stay tidy when you edit them later.

Thank you for enrolling Asha in the summer
camp at the MAVI Foundation centre near
Girish Park.

Classes start on Monday. Bring a water bottle.

MAVI Foundation
11/A Jora Pukur Square Lane, Kolkata

Date:15 June
Time:9 am

Date:·····15 June·(spaces never line up)

  1. 1Keep typing: Word wraps lines for you
  2. 2Never press Enter at the end of a line: Enter = new paragraph (¶)
  3. 3One space after a full stop
  4. 4Shift + Enter = a line break inside a paragraph (addresses, poems)
  5. 5Tab (→) to line things up
  6. ✓Never use spaces to align · Show/Hide ¶ (Ctrl+Shift+8) reveals them
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. Enrol

Tip: press → or Space to step through, ← to go back, R to replay.

About this lesson

Word wraps text automatically, so you only press Enter to start a new paragraph; pressing it at the end of every line breaks the document as soon as you edit or change the font. Use one space after a full stop, Shift + Enter for a line break inside a paragraph (an address or a poem), and the Tab key, never spaces, to line things up. The Show/Hide ¶ button (Ctrl + Shift + 8) reveals paragraph marks, tabs and spaces so you can see exactly what you typed. These rules are the foundation for everything that follows: styles, tables of contents and mail merge all depend on clean paragraphs.

Key points

  • Word wrap: Enter only starts a new paragraph
  • Shift + Enter and Tab
  • Show/Hide ¶ to see what you typed