Office and Productivity Software

What the page covers

Most of the material is about Microsoft Word and desktop publishing (DTP). The quizzes Word 1, Word 2, Word 3 and Word 4 work through tab stops, margins, endnotes, headers and footers, sort order and keyboard shortcuts. Others look at styles and themes, cut, copy and paste, selecting text, and inserting pictures.

Beyond Word, you will find mind maps on presentation software, mail merge, information handling software, compressing files, online documents and navigation modes. There are also slide sets and short notes on text formatting, tables and page-level formatting.

Where to start

If you are new to word processing, begin with Beginning word processing or the Cut, Copy and Paste Quiz. Then work through Word 1 to Word 4 in order. The quiz Computing for Beginners Microsoft Word icon Quiz helps you learn what the ribbon buttons do.

For desktop publishing, open the DTP terms flashcards first. They cover words such as bleed, caption, cropping, drop capital and footer. After that, try the GCSE-style DTP revision quiz and the several DTP mind maps.

Using quizzes and maps together

1. Read a mind map on a topic, such as mail merge or presentation features.
2. Go through a flashcard deck to fix the key terms.
3. Take a quiz to see what you still miss.
4. Return to the map for the weak points.

Some resources mention GCSE ICT, IGCSE ICT and ECDL, so check that a resource matches your course before relying on it. Teachers can set a quiz as a starter or a flashcard deck as a plenary.

Where it fits

This unit sits in the Foundations of Computing and Digital Literacy strand of Computing and ICT. It covers the everyday software skills that other digital work builds on.

Choose one resource that suits your level, give it a go, and add your own maps or flashcards if something is missing.