Drawing in Word 2007

This is a brief introduction to the drawing tool in Microsoft Word.

In Word, you can draw on the diagram above or create your own drawings using the Drawing toolbar. On the main screen, next to the home menu, you should see the insert menu. In that menu, you should see, under the illustrations set, Shapes toolbar. You can use this tool to make drawings.

In order to draw an autoshape, first click on the shape under the shape toolbar, then your mouse will change into a cross shape. You can now drag on the white space in your document and create the shape you wanted. After you've created the autoshape, you can drag it around, resize, and rotate it as needed. If you want to draw a right shape (strait line, circle, etc.), hold down shift when you construct your shape.

For fine control of the object's position, use the arrow keys. For even finer control, press CTRL while using the arrow keys.

To format colors, etc., right click on the shape and select Format Autoshape. For textboxes, it's usually a good idea to remove the border. (Select No Color for Color.)

In order to save time, you can copy and paste similar types of objects and then edit the copied object. To copy and paste, do the following:

i. Click on the autoshape to select it.

ii. CTRL-C to copy.

iii. Click away from the object to deselect it.

iv. CTRL-V to paste.

v. Move the copied object where you want it and edit as desired.

If an object is covering another object and you want the former to be on top, then right click on the shape that is currently in front, and select order à send backward command.

To subscript text, select the text that you want to subscript. Then type CTRL =. For superscripts, use SHIFT-CTRL +. To remove formatting, use CTRL Space.