Glossary

Once edits have been made with Track Changes turned on, each change can be accepted (kept) or rejected (discarded). In both cases the Track Changes formatting disappears. Accepted changes become part of the document content, while rejected changes revert to their previous form.

Changes can be handled individually one by one, or all at once using Accept All or Reject All. Accept and Reject controls are found on the Review tab of the ribbon.

For certain images and graphic visuals when selected a selection frame appears around it including a yellow dot called an adjustment handle. These let you adjust the inner or outer dimensions of that image/graphic. Not to be confused with sizing handles, for more information and examples see here: Altering images and objects

Floating images are associated with (or 'anchored' to) a certain paragraph indicated by a small blue anchor in the left margin. If the image is moved far enough up/down the page Word reassigns the anchor to another paragraph. If the paragraph it is anchored to is moved then the image will move with it.

It is also possible to lock an anchor to a paragraph. See more here: Anchoring.

In emails, Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) allows you to include someone as a secondary recipient without other recipients seeing. In Outlook, enter the address in the Bcc field below the Cc field when composing or replying to an email. To turn on Bcc field got to Options.

A character-level text formatting tool used to emphasise keywords or important content. Bold thickens the selected characters to make them stand out like this from surrounding text. Found on the Home tab of the ribbon in Microsoft Office applications.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + B

When opening or saving a file from an application in Windows, a file dialog window appears (also known as a browser window, which is what we'll call them here). Browser windows allow you to navigate to a file location to open, or choose where to save a file. They feature bookmarked shortcuts on the left and relevant options at the bottom.

A list format of text where each new line has a bullet dot before it. Useful for condensing information into bitesize points. See Lists.

Example of a bullet list:

Holiday Itinerary

• Passports
• Online check in
• Travel insurance
• Convert cash to foreign currency
• Pack chargers

In emails, Cc (Carbon Copy) allows you to include someone as a secondary recipient. The email is not directly addressed to them but they receive a copy for their awareness. All recipients can see who has been cc'd. In Outlook, enter the address in the Cc field below the To field when composing or replying to an email. See also: Bcc.

Copies selected information to the clipboard. Content remains where it is.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + C

• Windows clipboard: system-wide and is used by all apps.
• Office clipboard: this clipboard works within MS Office apps only, storing up to 24 items which means you can copy multiple content (up to 24 at once) to paste them later. The Office clipboard keeps this information until you close the app.

An editing tool that adds annotations alongside a Word document or PowerPoint presentation, separate from the document content itself. Useful for brainstorming, collaborating, reviewing, and proofreading.

The Comments tool is found on the Review tab of the ribbon.

Not to be confused with Word's Track Changes, which records edits made directly to content rather than annotations added alongside it.

Also not to be confused with PowerPoint's Notes, which are presenter-facing notes shown per slide during a presentation. Comments are visible while editing but not during a presentation.

One or more files that have been compressed to reduce their size. Zipping files is common when saving storage space or complying with file size limits on email attachments; Outlook for example has a file size limit of 35MB. The most common format is .zip, though others exist such as .7z and .rar.

Compressed files need to be extracted before use. See this article for how: Unzipping zipped files

Cropping removes part of an image. To crop an image, select it and the Picture Format tab will appear on the ribbon. Under Picture Format select the Crop tool. Crop handles will appear around the image which you can drag inward to remove content.

Cropping removes part of an image. To crop an image, select it and the Picture Format tab will appear on the ribbon. Under Picture Format select the Crop tool. Crop handles will appear around the image which you can drag inward to remove content.

The cursor, also known as the pointer, is the arrow or symbol where your mouse or mousepad is currently pointing. It is used to select system files, menus, buttons, objects and content. In applications the cursor icon can change for different actions.

Copies selected information to the clipboard and removes it from the editable space.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + X

The Windows desktop is the and main workspace you see when you log into Windows Operating System (OS). The desktop is like a digital desk to organize apps, manage files, and navigate the system.

It has three sections:

1. The workspace: the background area where you can place file and folder icons and shortcuts.
2. The taskbar
3. The Start menu: The start menu is activated by the Start button found on the taskbar. It serves as a central hub to find files on your computer, launch applications and access system settings.

A view in Microsoft Word that displays a document's content in a simplified, text-focused layout, hiding most layout elements that you would see in the default Print layout such as margins, headers, footers and images. Unlike Read mode, editing is enabled in Draft view. It can be useful for quickly writing and editing text without distractions from layout elements.

The built-in file management tool in Windows. File Explorer lets you browse, organise, and manage files and folders on your computer. You can copy, move, rename, delete, and more via the right-click menu. The view can be changed to different icon sizes and layouts, including Details view which shows file information such as file size, file type, and date modified.

File size is how much storage space memory the file takes up on a computer. You can see this in the Details view of a window by looking at the Size column. File sizes are measures in bytes. The more information a file stores the larger its file size.

File sizes go up like this:

• B – Byte – roughly one character of text
• KB – Kilobyte (1024 bytes) – A small image or icon might be ~20–300 KB

• MB – Megabyte (1024 KB) – Typical Word docs are 50–500 KB; image‑heavy docs can reach 500MB

  Note: Very large office files can be slow to run and in some cases problematic to use. When sending files you may run into a file size limit; for example Microsoft Outlook 365 has a file size limit of 35MB for emails attachments.

• GB – Gigabyte (1024 MB) – HD/4K videos, large apps, game files
• TB – Terabyte (1024 GB) – Modern SSDs/HDDs; large game installs can be 100+ GB
• PB – Petabyte (1024 TB) – Used for massive datasets (cloud storage)

The Find tool is found in most Microsoft Office applications and lets you search a document for a specific word or phrase. Matching results are highlighted and you can step through them one by one. You can also apply formatting and wildcards to narrow your search. See more in this article: Find.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + F

An extension of the Find tool that lets you replace found text with something else — either one match at a time or all instances at once. You can specify formatting in both what you search for and what you replace it with.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + H

A view in Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) that hides the Quick Access Toolbar, ribbon, and status bar, showing only the page against a dark background. It is designed for distraction-free editing. Move the mouse to the top of the screen to temporarily reveal the ribbon, status bar and quick access toolbar if needed.

A view in Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) that hides the Quick Access Toolbar, ribbon, and status bar, showing only the page against a dark background. It is designed for distraction-free editing. Move the mouse to the top of the screen to temporarily reveal the ribbon, status bar and quick access toolbar if needed.

Content placed at the bottom of each page to help the reader navigate, identify or understand the context of the page or document. Page numbers for example are usually found in a footer.

To access the footer space either double click in the margin at the bottom of the page or go to Insert > Header & Footer > Footer. See more here: Headers and Footers

Formatting Marker	Symbol when Show/Hide ¶ is on	Purpose
Page break		Marks where a new page begins
Section break		Indicates a change in formatting or layout
Hidden text		Shows text formatted as hidden

Note: Paragraph marks (hard returns), line breaks (soft returns), spaces and tabs are formatting marks.

Note: Page breaks, section breaks and hidden text are not formatting marks, they are formatting markers.

A very useful tool that lets you copy the formatting of text to apply it on other text, like copy and paste but for formatting. See this article for more on Formatting text.

Guttering is extra space added to the left side or top margin to allow for physical binding of a document. It's purpose is to ensure content on the page remains visible and isn't swalled up by physical binding when it's applied to the pages (e.g. a book spine, stapling, or hole‑punching).

In Word, guttering can be edited in the Page setup dialog which is detailed in this article: Page setup options

Content placed at the top of each page to help the reader navigate, identify or understand the context of the page or document. For example a chapter/unit/section title might be something you find in a header.

To access the header space either double click on the margin at the top of the page or go to Insert > Header & Footer > Header.

Hyperlinks (commonly called 'links') let you navigate to a webpage, or a document or folder location on a computer or shared server. They are typically displayed underlined and in a distinct colour. On web browsers the mouse cursor usually changes when hovering over one. In Microsoft Office applications hold Ctrl and click to follow a link.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + K

Space between content and the margin. Indents move content inward from the margin boundary, letting you control the position of content in the editable area. Margins are separate from indents; they define the outer boundary of the editable area itself. You can add indents by pressing Tab or adjust them via Home > Paragraph > Increase/Decrease Indent. It is also possible to set a negative indent, which extends content beyond the margin.

The finer details of indents can be controlled by dragging indent markers on the horizontal ruler. See examples in this article: Indents.

A character-level text formatting tool used to emphasise keywords, titles, or technical terms. Italics slant selected text slightly to the right like this to create a subtle emphasis against surrounding text. Found on the Home tab of the ribbon in Microsoft Office applications.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + I

Kerning is about adjusting the spacing between individual letters in a word to improve visual balance and readability. For example kerning may be used to bring adjacent letters like 'A' and 'V' closer together so they look evenly spaced. Kerning is key to typography in headlines, logos, and display type. If done poorly though kerning can lead to word being misinterpreted, e.g. if you put 'r' and 'n' to close together they can appear like an 'm'.

A combination of two or more keys held down simultaneously to run a command in Windows or a Microsoft Office application, typically as a faster alternative to using menus or the ribbon. See the Keyboard shortcuts page for a list of useful shortcuts, or test your knowledge with the Keyboard shortcuts quiz.

Line numbers are numbers against each line in a document, typically used in legal documentation, scripts and technical reviews. You can turn them on in Word via Layout then selecting an option from the Line numbers drop down menu.

Note: You can change where the numbers should and should not apply by 'suppressing' line numbers via Paragraph Options > Line and Page Breaks.

The space between the edge of the page and the editable area in a document. Margins apply to all content including text, images and objects. There are four margins: top, bottom, left and right. These are all editable via Layout > Margins or rulers.

Not to be confused with indentation: margins define the outer boundary of the editable area, while indents move content inward from within that boundary.

It is also possible to drag the left margin or right margin beyond the margin of a page, known as a negative margin.

An option to hide the currently open window/application. It can be opened again from the taskbar. Typically found on the Quick Access Toolbar at the top of a window/application or from the right-click menu on a taskbar preview when open.

Tip: If you want to minimise all open windows/applications to just see the desktop use the keyboard shortcut Windows + D

The navigation pane appears when using the Find tool (Ctrl + F) to search for text in a document.

Matching entries are shown in the pane and are highlighted on the page throughout the document. The navigation pane can be moved by dragging it, you can also dock it to the right side of the screen.

A list format of text where each new line has a sequential number before it. Used primarily for an order of steps in a process. See Lists.

Example bullet list:

1. Open web browser
2. Go to ctrlall.org
3. Click on Content control in the left menu
4. Click on Keyboard Shortcuts Quiz
5. Test your knowledge

An OLE object uses Micrsoft's OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) framework to allow an application to display content from an external file, e.g. on a page in Word. OLE objects can be linked to their source with updates in real time or be embedded as a static standalone copy.

A full tutorial to OLE objects can be found here: Embedded files (OLE objects)

The first line of a paragraph that appears alone at the bottom of a page detached from the rest of the paragraph on the next page. The opposite of this is a widow. Word prevents these by default but you can disable widow/orphan control in the Line and Pages breaks tab in Paragraph Options

An outline level determines a hierarchy order for a paragraph versus other paragraphs. You can change the outline level of a paragraph in Paragraph Options. There are heading levels 1-9 (1 is the highest, 9 is the lowest), and body text. For more see this article: Paragraph Options

A view in Microsoft Word that displays a document's content in a structured, hierarchical layout based on outline levels. It hides layout elements visible in the default Print layout such as margins, headers, footers and images.

Outline view is designed for structural editing of long documents. You can collapse and expand sections, promote and demote headings, and drag sections to reorder them.

Duplicates information from the clipboard. See these articles for examples of pasting in action: Moving content / Copying content

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + V

A view in Microsoft Word that displays a document's content in a simplified, text-focused layout, hiding most formatting elements that you would see in the default Print layout such as margins, headers, footers and certain graphics.

Read mode is designed for reading documents comfortably without layout distractions. Editing is disabled in Read mode. To edit, switch back to Print layout by pressing Escape, selecting View > Print Layout, or clicking the Print Layout icon in the bottom-right corner.

When you delete a file in Windows it's transferred to the Recycle Bin which is accessible from the desktop. Files can be restored to their original location if needed by right-clicking a file(s) and selecting Restore, or you can delete them permanently, which frees up space on your hard drive. Be careful not to permanently delete anything you might need later; data retrieval tools exist but recovery is not always guaranteed.

Option to repeat the last action. The opposite of undo.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Y

A menu appears in Windows or a Microsoft Office application when you right click with a mouse, mousepad, or dedicated keyboard key. It is called a context menu because its contents change depending on what you right click on.

For example in Microsoft Word, right clicking a word gives different options to right clicking an image. It's typically a quicker way to give a command than navigating through the ribbon or a top menu.

When an image or object is selected it will have a selection frame around it which sometimes includes a rotate handle depending on what it is. You can hold left click and drag on the rotate handle clockwise or anti-clockwise to freely rotate the image/object as needed. See example here: Altering images, graphic visuals and some objects

The horizontal and vertical rulers measure the physical size of the digitally presented page. It also allows you to alter the left margin, right margin, indent markers, and add tab stops. The ruler is turned on via a checkbox under View > Show.

Saving a file means storing the file's content in its current state onto your computer, cloud drive, or external device. In a browser window you choose what it's called (the filename) and where it's stored, allowing you to access it later.

You also decide what format the file is saved as (the file type); this is indicated by the filename extension. It's good practice to save frequently to avoid losing work due to crashes or power outages.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + S

A file that acts as a link to open another file, folder, or application from a different location without moving the original. In Windows, shortcut icons have a small arrow in the bottom-left corner. Shortcuts are normally placed on the desktop for quick access but can be added to folders as well.

To make a shortcut file, right-click on the destination file or folder and select Show more options > Create shortcut to make one. Not to be confused with a keyboard shortcut.

When an image or object is selected a selection frame appears around it with dots known as sizing handles. These let you resize the image/object. See examples here: Altering images and objects

A built-in Windows feature that lets you automatically resize and arrange multiple application windows on your screen. It's an easier way to view windows side by side or in multi-window grids without manually resizing them. Drag a window to the edge or corner of the screen to snap it into position, or use Windows + Left/Right arrow keys.

Some panels within Microsoft Office applications, such as the navigation pane in Word, can also be docked to the left or right side of the app window in a similar way.

A character-level text formatting tool used to convey that text is no longer relevant or is proposed for removal, while keeping it visible to the reader. It looks like this. Found on the Home tab of the ribbon in Microsoft Office applications.

Note: In Microsoft Word, Track Changes also uses strikethrough to mark deleted text — this is automatic behaviour rather than a manually applied formatting tool.

The bar at the bottom of a Windows screen that shows currently open and pinned applications, allowing you to switch between them. It also houses a search bar, system icons, volume control, battery indicator, and the time and date.

A collaboration tool that records any changes made by you or other users in a Word document or PowerPoint presentation. Changes are then reviewed and either accepted or rejected. It is useful for multi-stage editing processes and version control.

Track Changes is found on the Review tab of the ribbon. Not to be confused with Comments, which are annotations added alongside the document rather than edits to it.

• a misspelled word (e.g., “teh” instead of “the”)
• wrong characters entered by pressing a nearby key instead of the intended key (e.g., “worf” instead of “word”)
• missing or extra letters (“Micosoft” instead of “Microsoft”)
or
• incorrect punctuation or space (“cant” instead of “can’t”).

A character-level text formatting tool used to emphasise keywords. Underline adds a horizontal line beneath the selected characters like this to create emphasis and draw attention within the surrounding text. It is best to avoid underlining body text in digital documents since it can be confused for hyperlinks which are typically underlined. Found on the Home tab of the ribbon in Microsoft Office applications.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + U

A very useful option to reverse your last action. The opposite of redo.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Z

A view in Microsoft Word that displays a document's content as it would appear in a web browser, with a continuous, fluid layout rather than fixed pages. Web layout is intended for editing content destined to be viewed online. Unlike Print layout, it does not show fixed page boundaries, margins, or page breaks. Instead, text and images automatically reflow to fill the available width.

The last line of a paragraph that appears alone at the top of a new page detached from the rest of the paragraph on the page before. The opposite of this is an orphan. Word prevents these by default but you can disable widow/orphan control in the Line and Pages breaks tab in Paragraph Options

Special pattern characters used in the Find and Find and replace tools that let you build flexible search patterns, for example:

• * — matches any string of characters
• ? — matches any single character

Wildcards can be useful for tasks like fixing irregular spacing.

Note: Enabling wildcards disables some other search options that would conflict with pattern matching.

A count of how many words are in a document, shown on the left of the status bar at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on it shows more detail including a page count, paragraph count, line count, and character count with and without spaces. Selecting text before clicking it will show the word count for that selection only, useful for checking a specific section against a word limit.