Home / Non-Accredited / Microsoft Office & Computer Skills / Microsoft Word Beginners (1 day)
Quick Look Course Summary:Microsoft Word Beginners (1 day)
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Length: 1 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 5,654 EX VAT 3 Person R 3,982 EX VAT 10 Person R 2,954 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Microsoft Word Beginners (1 day)
Produce clean, consistent business documents in Word – letters, memos, minutes and short reports – without fighting the formatting.
Most people were never taught Word. They pick it up on the job, and it shows: spacing done with the Enter key, tables that collapse when a column is added, numbering that restarts on its own, and documents that look different on every computer in the office. This one-day Microsoft Word course puts the fundamentals in place for staff who write letters, memos, minutes, forms and short reports every day.
The day is built on BOTI's licensed Word Essentials workshop kit and is hands-on from the first hour. Delegates create and save documents, set up pages properly, format text and paragraphs, build tables and lists that behave, add footnotes and a table of contents, and place pictures, shapes and SmartArt where they want them. Everything is practised on realistic South African office documents: a letter on a company letterhead, a staff notice in two columns, a team list in a table, a short report with a cover page.
By the end of the day delegates can produce a professional document from a blank page without calling a colleague for help. It is the first step on BOTI's Word ladder – Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced, one day each – which can be booked separately or combined.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Documents that look consistent across the whole team, not just from the strong typists
- Less time lost fixing layout before a letter or report can go out
- Fewer embarrassing errors in documents that reach customers, auditors and the board
- Staff who can edit a PDF, save in the right format and print exactly what is needed
- A clear next step: the Intermediate and Advanced days build on exactly what is covered here
For your delegates
- Confidence to start a document from a blank page and get the layout right first time
- Tables, lists and numbering that stay where you put them
- Everyday time-savers: Format Painter, built-in styles, AutoCorrect and the Quick Access Toolbar
- Practice on real workplace documents with the facilitator at your elbow
- A manual and exercise files to keep and refer back to
What delegates will be able to do
- Create, open and save documents, including opening a PDF for editing and saving to PDF and older Word formats
- Set up a page correctly: margins, orientation, headers, footers and page numbers
- Format text and paragraphs with fonts, spacing, indents, built-in styles and Format Painter, and clear unwanted formatting
- Lay out text in columns and control page, section and column breaks
- Build and modify tables – styles, merged cells, sorting and a repeating header row – and convert text to a table
- Create bulleted, numbered and multi-level lists and control how they number
- Insert footnotes, captions, a cover page and a standard table of contents
- Insert and position pictures, shapes, screenshots, text boxes and SmartArt, with text wrapping and alt text
- Check a document for hidden personal information and accessibility problems before sending it
- Print all or part of a document and adjust the print settings
Who should attend
New and self-taught Word users: administrators, receptionists, clerks, personal assistants, HR and finance staff, supervisors who write their own letters and reports, and people returning to office work. No previous Word training is needed; delegates should be comfortable with a keyboard and mouse. Anyone new to computers altogether should start with Introduction to Computers and Microsoft Office Basics.
Course outline
Day 1 – Beginners: the fundamentals done properly
Creating, saving and finding your way around documents
- Starting from a blank page or a built-in template; opening a PDF in Word to edit it
- Inserting text from another file; Find, Go To and bookmarks for moving around a long document
- Hyperlinks to a web page, an email address or another document
- Views, zoom and split window; adding your most-used commands to the Quick Access Toolbar
- Showing formatting marks to see why a document is misbehaving
- Document properties, print settings and printing only part of a document
- Saving as PDF and other formats; checking compatibility with older versions of Word
- Inspecting a document for hidden personal information and accessibility problems before it leaves the organisation
Page setup and the look of the document
- Margins, orientation and paper size – A4 by default
- Headers, footers and page numbers
- Document themes and style sets for a consistent look in one click
- Page colour and page borders for a notice or certificate
- Page, section and column breaks, and changing the page setup for one part of a document
- Text in two or three columns for a newsletter or staff notice
Formatting text and paragraphs
- Selecting, cutting, copying and pasting; find and replace
- AutoCorrect entries for words you type often; special characters and symbols
- Fonts, size, colour, highlighting and Format Painter
- Alignment, line spacing, paragraph spacing and indents – without pressing Enter twice
- Clearing unwanted formatting from pasted text
- Applying built-in heading and body styles
- WordArt and arranging text for a heading on a notice or flyer
Tables and lists
- Inserting a table, or converting typed text to a table and back again
- Table styles, cell margins and spacing; merging and splitting cells
- Resizing rows and columns, splitting a table and sorting the rows
- A header row that repeats on every page of a long staff list
- Bulleted and numbered lists: changing bullets and number formats, custom bullets
- Multi-level lists: promoting and demoting levels, restarting or continuing numbering, setting a starting number
Simple references, cover pages and graphics
- Footnotes and endnotes, and changing how they are numbered
- Captions for figures and tables
- A standard table of contents from the gallery, and updating it
- A cover page for a short report or proposal
- Pictures, shapes, screenshots and text boxes
- Picture styles and effects, removing a background and wrapping text around an object
- Positioning objects on the page and adding alternative text for accessibility
- SmartArt for an organogram or a simple process diagram
How it is delivered
One day, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20, each working on their own machine. Taught in Word for Microsoft 365; the skills apply equally to Word 2019, 2021 and 2024. Laptops with the software can be supplied on request. Manual and exercise files included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“Business Optimization Training Institute facilitated Microsoft Excel Training for our company. The course was efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training.”
“The training was very informative and practical, leaving our employees feeling confident in their ability to leverage Excel more effectively.”
“The training courses were efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training. I look forward to working with Business Optimization Training Institute in the future.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa, on your own computers or on laptops we supply on request. We can also host the course at a BOTI venue or run it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to a group of about 20, each on their own machine so that everyone practises every exercise. See the price table for group pricing, or ask us for a quote.
Is the course accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance. The training spend may count towards your B-BBEE skills development – check with your verification agency. If you need an accredited route, ask us about BOTI's End User Computing skills programmes (QCTO accreditation pending).
How is this different from Microsoft Word Intermediate?
Beginners covers the fundamentals: creating and saving documents, page setup, formatting, tables, lists, simple references and graphics. Microsoft Word Intermediate (1 day) assumes those skills and moves on to styles and numbering schemes, long structured documents, Track Changes and comments, forms and templates. Microsoft Word Advanced (1 day) adds building templates, building blocks, macros, advanced references and mail merge. Book two or three days together as Microsoft Word Beginners to Intermediate (2 days) or Microsoft Word Beginners to Advanced (3 days).
Can the exercises use our own documents?
Yes. Send us a few typical documents beforehand – a letter template, a report, a form – and the facilitator works them into the exercises.
Which version of Word do we need?
The course is taught in Word for Microsoft 365 and works equally well in Word 2019, 2021 and 2024. If your office is on an older version, tell us when you book and we adapt. Laptops with the software can be supplied on request.
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