Chapter 1

Introducing Microsoft Office 2019

IN THIS CHAPTER

Starting an Office 2019 program

Learning the Ribbon

Customizing an Office 2019 program

Exiting from Office 2019

Microsoft Office 2019 consists of five core programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook, and each program specializes in manipulating different data. Word manipulates text; Excel manipulates numbers; PowerPoint manipulates text and pictures to create a slide show; Access manipulates organized, repetitive data such as inventories; and Outlook manipulates personal information such as email addresses and phone numbers.

Although each Office 2019 program stores and manipulates different types of data, they all work in similar ways. First, you have to enter data into an Office 2019 program by typing on the keyboard or loading data from an existing file. Second, you have to tell Office 2019 how to manipulate your data, such as underlining, sorting, arranging, or deleting it. Third, you have to save your data as a file.

To help you understand this three-step process of entering, manipulating, and saving data, all Office 2019 programs offer similar commands so you can quickly jump from Word to PowerPoint to Access to Excel. Even better, Office 2019 organizes commands in tabs to make finding the command you need faster and easier than ever before.

If you're already familiar with computers and previous editions of Microsoft Office, you may want to browse through this chapter just to get acquainted with the appearance and organization of Office 2019. If you've never used a computer before or just don't feel comfortable using Microsoft Office, read this chapter first.

Starting an Office 2019 Program

You can start a Microsoft Office 2019 program in several ways. The most straightforward way is to use the Windows 10 Start menu. A second option is to open the File Explorer program and then double-click any file created by Office 2019. Doing so will open both the file and the Office 2019 program that created that file, such as Word or Excel.

If you're using an older version of Windows (such as Windows 8.1 or Windows 7), you can't install, let alone run and use, Microsoft Office 2019.

To make starting Office 2019 easier, load your favorite Office 2019 program, such as Word or Excel. When you see its program icon on the Windows taskbar at the bottom of the screen, right-click that icon and choose Pin to Taskbar from the pop-up menu. The program icon will remain on the taskbar, so you can start the program with one click.

To start Office 2019 using the Windows 10 Start menu, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button on the Windows taskbar (or press the Windows key on the keyboard).

   A pop-up menu appears displaying a list of installed programs and tiles.

2. Scroll down the list of installed programs.

   Look for the name of the program, such as Access or Word, and not the complete name, such as Microsoft Access or Microsoft Word. Unlike earlier versions of Microsoft Office, individual programs are no longer grouped in a Microsoft Office folder.

3. Click the Office 2019 program you want to run, such as Word or Outlook.

   Your chosen program appears on the screen. At this point, you can open an existing file or create a new file.

To start Office 2019 File Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Click the File Explorer icon on the Windows taskbar.

   The File Explorer window appears.

2. Double-click any Office 2019 file.

   Each file listed in the File Explorer program displays the icon of the program that created that file. So if you want to open a PowerPoint file, look for the file that displays the PowerPoint icon.

Introducing the Microsoft Office Ribbon

The basic idea behind the Ribbon interface in Microsoft Office is to store groups of related and commonly used commands (or their icons) under separate tabs.

CHANGING TO THE RIBBON

In older Windows programs, such as Microsoft Office 2003, the program displays pull-down menus at the top of the screen. To find a command, you have to click a pull-down menu, and then search for a command buried in the menu. This makes finding commands tedious and confusing. That's why newer versions of Microsoft Office have the Ribbon interface.

Although each Office 2019 program displays different tabs, the four most common ones are the File tab, the Home tab, the Insert tab, and the Draw tab.

The File tab lets you open, save, and print your files. In addition, the File tab also lets you close a document or customize an Office 2019 program through the Options command, as shown in Figure 1-1.

FIGURE 1-1: The types of commands available through the File tab.

The Home tab displays icons that represent the most common commands for that particular Office 2019 program, such as formatting commands as shown in Figure 1-2.

FIGURE 1-2: The Home tab displays common formatting commands.

The Insert tab displays icons that represent common commands for adding items such as pictures and tables to a file, as shown in Figure 1-3.

FIGURE 1-3: The Insert tab displays common commands for adding items to a file.

The Draw tab displays icons that represent common commands for drawing lines in colors, as shown in Figure 1-4.

FIGURE 1-4: The Draw tab displays common commands for drawing lines in a file.

In addition to the File, Home, Insert, and Draw tabs, every Office 2019 program also includes tabs that contain commands specific to that particular program. For example, Excel contains a Formulas tab that contains commands for creating a formula in a spreadsheet and PowerPoint contains a Transitions tab for adding transitions to your presentation slide shows.

Some tabs appear only when you click a certain item, such as a table, a picture, or a text box. These tabs provide specific commands for manipulating the currently selected item (such as letting you modify a picture). The moment you select a different item, the tab disappears.

Using the File Tab

Some of the various commands available on the File tab follow:

• Info: Protects your file from changes, inspects a file for compatibility issues with older programs, and manages different versions of your file. The Info command also lets you view the details of your file, such as the file's size and the date you created it, as shown in Figure 1-5.
• New: Creates a file.
• Open: Loads an existing file.
• Save: Saves your file. If you haven't named your file yet, the Save command is equivalent to the Save As command.
• Save As: Saves the current file under a new name, or in a different location such as a different folder, or computer, or both.
• Print: Prints the current file.
• Share: Sends a file as an email attachment or posts it online.
• Export: Saves the current file in a different file format.
• Close: Closes an open file but keeps the Office 2019 program running.

• Account: Displays information about your OneDrive account.

  OneDrive is Microsoft's cloud computing service that lets you store files online so you can access them from other devices, such as a smartphone, a tablet, or another computer.

• Options: Displays various options for customizing the way each Office 2019 program behaves.

FIGURE 1-5: Use the Info command on the File tab to protect or inspect a file.

In Word, a file is called a document. In Excel, a file is called a workbook. In PowerPoint, a file is called a presentation. In Access, a file is called a database.

Creating a file

Each time you create a file, you have the option of choosing different types of templates that are already formatted and designed for specific purposes, such as a calendar, newsletter, sales report, or corporate slideshow presentation, as shown in Figure 1-6.

FIGURE 1-6: The New command displays a variety of files you can create.

To create a file, follow these steps:

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click New.

   A list of templates appears (refer to Figure 1-6).

3. Double-click the template you want to use.

   Office 2019 creates a file based on your chosen template. Some templates must be downloaded from Microsoft's website, requiring access to the Internet.

Pressing Ctrl+N is a keystroke shortcut for creating a file.

Opening an existing file

When you load an Office 2019 program, you may want to edit a file that you created and modified earlier. To open an existing file, you need to tell Office 2019 the location and name of the file you want to open.

The five options for finding an existing file are as follows:

• Recent Documents/Workbooks/Presentations: Displays a list of files you recently opened.
• OneDrive: Displays a list of files stored on your...