Insert/Overtype, Formatting Marks, and Word Wrap
1. Open the document titled Word Wrap from the Class Website … monnigcte.weebly.com
2. Save a copy of the document on your Personal Folder on the Desktop. You will be working
with this document for today’s activity.
Insert and Overtype
Have you ever been typing a letter or report only to decide that you want to add something up
above? You move your insertion point to the place where you want to add and start typing, only
to watch the hard work you had already done disappear letter by letter as you type!
Insert and Overtype are two different settings that have two different purposes. Insert is used
when you want to add to text you have already typed. When your word document is set on the
Insert mode, the text to the right of the insertion point will move as you type. When your word
processor is set on Overtype mode, everything you type erases whatever is to the right of the
insertion point as you type.
The Insert/Overtype setting is a simple toggle switch. This
means that it is either ON or OFF like a light switch. If you
will look at the status bar at the bottom of the document, you
will be able to see the word Insert or Overtype indicating
which mode the computer is currently in. When it says insert
this means that when you type it will insert your text, moving
any previous text to the right as you go.
Now press the insert key on your keyboard. This should make the Status
bar read Overtype indicating that the word processor is in overtype mode.
Now as you type the word processor will replace the pervious text with
what you are typing.
Formatting Marks
Formatting marks are tools that can be used to help you find problems or figure out what keys
you have pressed on your keyboard. Even though you can’t normally see them, formatting marks
are always there. In the top right corner of the Paragraph grouping on the Home ribbon, there is a
button that has this symbol on it [¶]. If you click on this button the formatting marks will become
visible, click it again and they disappear. Note: formatting marks DO NOT print!
The paragraph mark (¶) appears in your document every time you press the enter key. The tab
mark () appears every time you press the tab key, and the space mark (∙) appears every time
you press the space bar.
Turn on the formatting marks fix the formatting errors in the two paragraphs of the
document. The paragraphs are already divided. Remember that there should only be one
space between words, paragraph marks should only appear at the end of a paragraph, and
each paragraph should begin with a tab mark.
Word Wrap
When typing drills in a keyboarding program, you are usually instructed to press enter at the end
of each line; however, when typing sentences and paragraphs that are continuous, you should
only press enter when you get to the end of a paragraph. When you press enter at the end of a line
of text, the word processing program thinks that this is the end of a sentence and, therefore,
capitalizes the first letter of the next line. If you are in the middle of a sentence when you press
enter, this could lead to incorrect capitalization in your document.
Practice using word wrap by typing the following three paragraphs below the two
paragraphs at the bottom of the word wrap document (the one that you already
downloaded and saved). Only press enter at the end of a paragraph, not at the end of each
line. Do not forget to tab at the beginning of every new paragraph. If the first two
paragraphs have not been indented … place and insertion point at the beginning of each
and press the Tab Key. This is called, Indenting the first line of a paragraph.
"... The public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hotline has been set up, and any
sighting of Black should be reported immediately."
"No need to tell us he's no good," snorted Uncle Vernon, staring over the top of his newspaper at the prisoner.
"Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout! Look at his hair!"
He shot a nasty look sideways at Harry, whose untidy hair had always been a source of great annoyance to Uncle
Vernon. Compared to the man on the television, however, whose gaunt face was surrounded by a matted, elbowlength tangle, Harry felt very well groomed indeed.
Allow your instructor to view and check your work before turning it in.