MS Word Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: Choosing the format in which the content is pasted

Paste Special, Ctrl + Alt + V, offers a choice of formats rather than pasting in the default one: formatted text, unformatted text, a picture, an embedded object or a linked object. Unformatted text is the option used most, since it strips the fonts, colours and background of the source - the standard remedy for text copied from a web page, which otherwise arrives carrying the site’s styling. The distinction between Paste and Paste Link is worth knowing. A pasted Excel range is a static copy; a linked one updates whenever the source workbook changes, which keeps a report and its underlying data in step. The Paste Options button that appears after an ordinary paste offers the same choices more briefly - Keep Source Formatting, Merge Formatting, or Keep Text Only. The second option describes the Office clipboard, which holds up to 24 items.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Ctrl + P

Ctrl + P opens Print, and in recent versions it shows the print settings alongside a preview of the page, so the older separate Print Preview command is no longer needed. The distractors are the other file-level shortcuts, and they are best learned together: Ctrl + N creates a new document, Ctrl + O opens an existing one, Ctrl + S saves, Ctrl + W closes the document, and F12 opens Save As. The print settings offer more than most users notice. Pages can be given as a range or as a list such as 1,3,5-8; Print on Both Sides handles duplex printing, manually if the printer cannot do it itself; Collated decides whether multiple copies come out in sets or grouped by page; and the scaling option prints several pages to a sheet. Printing a selection rather than the whole document is chosen from the same panel.

Answer: D

Correct answer: None of above

Save is not on any of the ribbon tabs: it lives on the Quick Access Toolbar and in the Office button or File menu, because it is a file command rather than a content command. Home, Insert and Review hold commands that act on the document's contents.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Drag the tab stop marker out of the ruler

A tab stop is removed by dragging its marker off the ruler - the same gesture that sets one, in reverse. Neither double-clicking nor right-clicking a marker offers a remove command.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Left Indent

Ctrl + M increases the left indent of the paragraph by one tab stop, and Ctrl + Shift + M decreases it again.

Answer: D

Correct answer: a large first letter of a paragraph occupying several lines

A drop cap is an enlarged first letter of a paragraph, set to occupy several lines of the text beside it. It is a decorative device inherited from manuscript illumination and is used at the opening of a chapter or an article. It is inserted from the Insert tab, with two options: Dropped, where the letter sits within the text and the lines wrap around it, and In Margin, where it hangs out to the left of the text block. The dialogue also sets how many lines it spans and how far it stands from the text. Technically Word implements it as a small frame containing the letter, which is why it can be selected and formatted independently - given a different font or colour from the paragraph it introduces. It is best used once at the start of a section rather than repeatedly, and it does not survive conversion to plain text.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Copies formatting from one selection and applies it to another

The Format Painter copies the formatting - font, size, colour, spacing, indentation - from selected text and applies it elsewhere, leaving the content untouched. Its usual behaviour is to apply the formatting once and then switch itself off. Double-clicking the button locks it on, so the formatting can be applied to several places in turn until Escape is pressed - a detail that saves a great deal of time and is frequently examined. Its icon is a paintbrush, which is where the name comes from. The keyboard equivalent is Ctrl + Shift + C to copy formatting and Ctrl + Shift + V to apply it. For consistency across a long document, styles are the better tool: they define formatting centrally so that changing the style updates every paragraph using it, whereas the Format Painter copies formatting one instance at a time.

Answer: A

Correct answer: The cursor moves to the next cell

Inside a table, Tab moves the cursor to the next cell, and Shift + Tab moves to the previous one. Pressing Tab in the last cell of the last row adds a new row, which is the quickest way to extend a table while typing. To insert an actual tab character within a cell, Ctrl + Tab is used. That behaviour is the main reason for using Tab rather than the arrow keys when entering data: the arrow keys move within the text of a cell first and only then to the next cell, which is slower and less predictable. Other table shortcuts are worth knowing. Alt + Shift + Up and Down move a whole row. Selecting a row and pressing Ctrl + Shift + Enter splits the table above it. And a table’s header row can be set to repeat on every page from the Table Layout tab, which matters for any table longer than a page.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Save and Close document

Ctrl + W closes the document, prompting to save it first if there are unsaved changes. It closes the document rather than the application, which is Alt + F4.

Answer: C

Correct answer: add a note to the document without changing its text

A comment attaches a note to a selected piece of text, displayed in the margin with the reviewer’s name and the date. It annotates without altering the document, which is exactly what distinguishes it from Track Changes. The two are complementary and are used together. Track Changes proposes an edit to the text; a comment raises a question or explains a suggestion. A reviewer might delete a sentence with Track Changes on and add a comment saying why. Comments can be replied to, forming a thread, and marked as Resolved when dealt with - which greys them out without removing them, so the discussion remains visible. Deleting removes them entirely. The shortcut to insert one is Ctrl + Alt + M, and comments are managed from the Review tab. Both comments and tracked changes remain in the file until removed, and the Document Inspector exists to find them before a document is sent out.