Word processor and printer

There have been major improvements to the printing system in recent versions of DOSBox-X to make the printing functions work much easier and better than before. Note that the second link was written for earlier versions of DOSBox-X, and the method mentioned there will continue to work in the current version of DOSBox-X, but there are now much easier way to configure the printing feature in DOSBox-X instead of «listening» to physical files. Look at the first link for more recent examples.

You can also use external printing solutions such as DOSPRN, which are compatible with DOSBox-X as well. For example, if you use Windows and has DOSPRN installed you can just set the following to print to DOSPRN:

parallel1=file file:output1.prn timeout:1000 squote openwith:'"%ProgramFiles(x86)%DOSPRNDOSprn.exe"'

Omit «(x86)» if Windows is 32-bit. For other operating systems, just specify a different handler for printing.

Presentation on theme: «By Felixberto Dominic B. Eruela.  Using a computer to create, edit, and print documents. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common.»— Presentation transcript:

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By Felixberto Dominic B. Eruela

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 Using a computer to create, edit, and print documents. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common. To perform word processing, you need a computer, a special program called a word processor, and a printer. A word processor enables you to create a document, store it electronically on a disk, display it on a screen, modify it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard, and print it on a printer.

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 Most Office 2007 programs host a brand new interface called the Ribbon.

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 The ribbon is a visual tool, not a text-based menu system. Similar tasks are grouped together under tabs. Commands are no longer buried in menus and submenus. Just click a tab to find the one you need!

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 For instance, the Page Layout tab contains tools to set up your page: themes, margins, page orientation, backgrounds, cover pages, paragraph spacing, image layout options, text wrapping, and more.

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 Microsoft Word is a word processing software package. You can use it to type letters, reports, and other documents. This tutorial teaches Microsoft Word 2007 basics. Although this tutorial was created for the computer novice, because Microsoft Word 2007 is so different from previous versions of Microsoft Word, even experienced users may find it useful.

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 In the upper-left corner of the Word 2007 window is the Microsoft Office button. When you click the button, a menu appears. You can use the menu to create a new file, open an existing file, save a file, and perform many other tasks.

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 The Quick Access toolbar provides you with access to commands you frequently use. By default Save, Undo, and Redo appear on the Quick Access toolbar. You can use Save to save your file, Undo to rollback an action you have taken, and Redo to reapply an action you have rolled back.

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 The Title bar displays the title of the document on which you are currently working

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 You can use the ruler to change the format of your document quickly. If your ruler is not visible, follow the steps listed here:

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 Just below the ruler is a large area called the text area. You type your document in the text area. The blinking vertical line in the upper-left corner of the text area is the cursor. It marks the insertion point. As you type, your text displays at the cursor location. The horizontal line next to the cursor marks the end of the document.

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 The vertical and horizontal scroll bars enable you to move up, down, and across your window simply by dragging the icon located on the scroll bar. The vertical scroll bar is located along the right side of the screen. The horizontal scroll bar is located just above the status bar. To move up and down your document, click and drag the vertical scroll bar up and down. To move back and forth across your document, click and drag the horizontal scroll bar back and forth. You won’t see a horizontal scroll bar if the width of your document fits on your screen.

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 The Status bar appears at the very bottom of your window and provides such information as the current page and the number of words in your document. You can change what displays on the Status bar by right-clicking on the Status bar and selecting the options you want from the Customize Status Bar menu. You click a menu item to select it. You click it again to deselect it. A check mark next to an item means it is selected.

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 Draft View Draft view is the most frequently used view. You use Draft view to quickly edit your document.  Web Layout Web Layout view enables you to see your document as it would appear in a browser such as Internet Explorer.  Print Layout The Print Layout view shows the document as it will look when it is printed.  Reading Layout Reading Layout view formats your screen to make reading your document more comfortable.  Outline View Outline view displays the document in outline form. You can display headings without the text. If you move a heading, the accompanying text moves with it.

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 Click the Microsoft Office button. A menu appears.  Click Exit Word, which you can find in the bottom- right corner.

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 you are prompted: «Do you want to save changes to Document1?» To save your changes, click Yes. Otherwise, click No. If you click Yes, the Save As dialog box appears. Move to the correct folder. Name your file by typing Yourname_activity#.doc in the File Name field. Click Save. Word saves your file.

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 Every time you save your document, you overwrite the previous version of your document. For example, you create a document and save it. Later you delete several passages from the document and then save your changes. The passages from the first draft of the document no longer exist. If you want to save both the original draft of your document and the revised document, you must save the second draft of the document using a different name. To save the document using a different name, click the Microsoft Office button. A menu appears. Click Save As. The Save As dialog box appears. Use the File Name box to give your document a new name. Big Note!!!!

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Татьяна Шкляр

Эксперт по предмету «Информатика»

Задать вопрос автору статьи

Масштаб документа

Для отображения документа на экране с таким масштабом, как это будет выглядеть при печати, можно настроить вид окна Word на вкладке Вид.

Рисунок 1. Настройка масштаба отображения страницы

Быструю настройку масштаба можно выполнить в правом нижнем углу окна над строкой состояния.

Рисунок 2.

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Печать документов

Для печати документа используется пункт Печать в меню кнопки Office или комбинация клавиш Ctrl+P.

Рисунок 3.

Быстрая печать используется в случае, если пользователь уверен в правильности настроек документа для печати и его устраивают настройки принтера для печати документа. Документ в таком случае без открытия окон с параметрами сразу отправляется на печать.
Печать позволяет выполнить настройки печати перед отправкой документа на принтер.
Рассмотрим наиболее распространенные настройки печати.

Рисунок 4. Окно Печать

«Печать документа в текстовом процессоре MS Word» 👇

В списке Имя принтера отображаются все принтеры, доступные для печати на данном компьютере.
Блок Страницы используется для указания страниц, которые необходимо отправить на печать.
В списке Включить можно выбрать один из трех вариантов: Все страницы диапазона, Четные страницы и Нечетные страницы. По умолчанию стоит вариант Все страницы диапазона.
Панель Копии используется для указания количества копий документа, которые нужно распечатать.
Для изменения настроек принтера используется кнопка Свойства. Для разных моделей принтеров окно свойств может существенно отличаться.

Рисунок 5. Диалоговое окно свойств принтера

В данном окне изменению часто подлежит настройка качества печати и формата бумаги.
Подробные настройки документа перед печатью можно выполнить с помощью выбора опции Предварительный просмотр, после чего пользователь до печати сможет увидеть, как будет выглядеть документ на бумаге.

Рисунок 6. Окно предварительного просмотра документа

При предварительном просмотре документа пользователь может настроить параметры печати; поля, ориентацию, размер страницы и другие параметры, касающиеся оформления страницы документа.

Замечание 1

Стоит обратить отдельное внимание на команду Сократить на страницу, с помощью которой можно немного сократить документ путем уменьшения размера и интервалов текста. Выполняются данные действия в случае, если последняя страница документа содержит небольшое количество строк текста и ее можно убрать.

Находи статьи и создавай свой список литературы по ГОСТу

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Дата написания статьи: 22.07.2016

It is a good practice to preview the document before taking the print out.

Page Preview , Setting the printer and Printing a document

1. Preview the document to be printed

It is a good practice to preview
the document before taking the print out. The steps to be followed to preview
the document :

·             
Click File  -> Page Preview, or click the Page Preview button. The Writer displays the Page Preview toolbar

·             
In the
page preview tool bar click Multiple
Pages icon to display multiple
pages.

·             
To
close the preview click the Close Preview button.

2. Setting the Printer and Printing

The following are the steps to
change the printer setting :

·             
Click File  -> Print or Ctrl + P or Print File Icon which opens the Print dialog box
as shown in Figure 6.43.

·             
Click General Tab.

·             
Select
the required printer from the list of printers.

·             
Under Range and copies section : select All Pages option to print all pages,
select Pages option to specify the
particular page or page range.

·             
Specify
Number of Copies using spin arrows. 

·             
Click Print button.

Tags : Word Processor Basics ( OpenOffice Writer) , 11th Computer Science : Chapter 6 : Word Processor Basics ( OpenOffice Writer)

Study Material, Lecturing Notes, Assignment, Reference, Wiki description explanation, brief detail

11th Computer Science : Chapter 6 : Word Processor Basics ( OpenOffice Writer) : Page Preview, Setting the printer and Printing a document | Word Processor Basics ( OpenOffice Writer)

A
word processor (more formally known as document preparation system)
is a computer application used for the production (including
composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort
of printable material.

Word
processor may also refer to a type of stand-alone office machine,
popular in the 1970s and 1980s, combining the keyboard text-entry and
printing functions of an electric typewriter with a dedicated
processor (like a computer processor) for the editing of text.
Although features and design varied between manufacturers and models,
with new features added as technology advanced, word processors for
several years usually featured a monochrome display and the ability
to save documents on memory cards or diskettes. Later models
introduced innovations such as spell-checking programs, increased
formatting options, and dot-matrix printing. As the more versatile
combination of a personal computer and separate printer became
commonplace, most business-machine companies stopped manufacturing
the word processor as a stand-alone office machine. As of 2009 there
were only two U.S. companies, Classic and AlphaSmart, which still
made stand-alone word processors.[1] Many older machines, however,
remain in use.

Word
processors are descended from early text formatting tools (sometimes
called text justification tools, from their only real capability).
Word processing was one of the earliest applications for the personal
computer in office productivity.

Although
early word processors used tag-based markup for document formatting,
most modern word processors take advantage of a graphical user
interface providing some form of What You See Is What You Get
editing. Most are powerful systems consisting of one or more programs
that can produce any arbitrary combination of images, graphics and
text, the latter handled with type-setting capability.

Microsoft
Word is the most widely used word processing software. Microsoft
estimates that over 500,000,000 people use the Microsoft Office
suite,[2] which includes Word. Many other word processing
applications exist, including WordPerfect (which dominated the market
from the mid-1980s to early-1990s on computers running Microsoft’s
MS-DOS operating system) and open source applications OpenOffice.org
Writer, AbiWord, KWord, and LyX. Web-based word processors, such as
Google Docs, are a relatively new category.

Word processing

Characteristics

Word
processing typically implies the presence of text manipulation
functions that extend beyond a basic ability to enter and change
text, such as automatic generation of:

• batch
mailings using a form letter template and an address database (also
called mail merging);

• indices
of keywords and their page numbers;

• tables
of contents with section titles and their page numbers;

• tables
of figures with caption titles and their page numbers;

• cross-referencing
with section or page numbers;

• footnote
numbering;

• new
versions of a document using variables (e.g. model numbers, product
names, etc.)

Other
word processing functions include «spell checking»
(actually checks against wordlists), «grammar checking»
(checks for what seem to be simple grammar errors), and a «thesaurus»
function (finds words with similar or opposite meanings). Other
common features include collaborative editing, comments and
annotations, support for images and diagrams and internal
cross-referencing.

Word
processors can be distinguished from several other, related forms of
software:

Text
editors (modern examples of which include Notepad, BBEdit, Kate,
Gedit), were the precursors of word processors. While offering
facilities for composing and editing text, they do not format
documents. This can be done by batch document processing systems,
starting with TJ-2 and RUNOFF and still available in such systems as
LaTeX (as well as programs that implement the paged-media extensions
to HTML and CSS). Text editors are now used mainly by programmers,
website designers, computer system administrators, and, in the case
of LaTeX by mathematicians and scientists (for complex formulas and
for citations in rare languages). They are also useful when fast
startup times, small file sizes, editing speed and simplicity of
operation are preferred over formatting.

Later
desktop publishing programs were specifically designed to allow
elaborate layout for publication, but often offered only limited
support for editing. Typically, desktop publishing programs allowed
users to import text that was written using a text editor or word
processor.

Almost
all word processors enable users to employ styles, which are used to
automate consistent formatting of text body, titles, subtitles,
highlighted text, and so on.

Styles
greatly simplify managing the formatting of large documents, since
changing a style automatically changes all text that the style has
been applied to. Even in shorter documents styles can save a lot of
time while formatting. However, most help files refer to styles as an
‘advanced feature’ of the word processor, which often discourages
users from using styles regularly.

Document
statistics

Most
current word processors can calculate various statistics pertaining
to a document. These usually include:

• Character
count, word count, sentence count, line count, paragraph count, page
count.

• Word,
sentence and paragraph length.

• Editing
time.

Errors
are common; for instance, a dash surrounded by spaces — like either
of these — may be counted as a word.

Typical
usage

Word
processors have a variety of uses and applications within the
business world, home, and education.

Business

Within
the business world, word processors are extremely useful tools.
Typical uses include:

• legal
copies

• letters
and letterhead

• memos

• reference
documents

Businesses
tend to have their own format and style for any of these. Thus,
versatile word processors with layout editing and similar
capabilities find widespread use in most businesses.

Education

Many
schools have begun to teach typing and word processing to their
students, starting as early as elementary school. Typically these
skills are developed throughout secondary school in preparation for
the business world. Undergraduate students typically spend many hours
writing essays. Graduate and doctoral students continue this trend,
as well as creating works for research and publication.

Home

While
many homes have word processors on their computers, word processing
in the home tends to be educational, planning or business related,
dealing with assignments or work being completed at home, or
occasionally recreational, e.g. writing short stories. Some use word
processors for letter writing, résumé creation, and card creation.
However, many of these home publishing processes have been taken over
by desktop publishing programs specifically oriented toward home use.
which are better suited to these types of documents.

History

Toshiba
JW-10, the first word processor for the Japanese language (1971-1978
IEEE milestones)

Examples
of standalone word processor typefaces c. 1980-1981

Brother
WP-1400D editing electronic typewriter (1994)

The
term word processing was invented by IBM in the late 1960s. By 1971
it was recognized by the New York Times as a «buzz word».[3]
A 1974 Times article referred to «the brave new world of Word
Processing or W/P. That’s International Business Machines talk…
I.B.M. introduced W/P about five years ago for its Magnetic Tape
Selectric Typewriter and other electronic razzle-dazzle.»

IBM
defined the term in a broad and vague way as «the combination of
people, procedures, and equipment which transforms ideas into printed
communications,» and originally used it to include dictating
machines and ordinary, manually-operated Selectric typewriters. By
the early seventies, however, the term was generally understood to
mean semiautomated typewriters affording at least some form of
electronic editing and correction, and the ability to produce perfect
«originals.» Thus, the Times headlined a 1974 Xerox product
as a «speedier electronic typewriter», but went on to
describe the product, which had no screen, as «a word processor
rather than strictly a typewriter, in that it stores copy on magnetic
tape or magnetic cards for retyping, corrections, and subsequent
printout.»

Electromechanical
paper-tape-based equipment such as the Friden Flexowriter had long
been available; the Flexowriter allowed for operations such as
repetitive typing of form letters (with a pause for the operator to
manually type in the variable information)[8], and when equipped with
an auxiliary reader, could perform an early version of «mail
merge». Circa 1970 it began to be feasible to apply electronic
computers to office automation tasks. IBM’s Mag Tape Selectric
Typewriter (MTST) and later Mag Card Selectric (MCST) were early
devices of this kind, which allowed editing, simple revision, and
repetitive typing, with a one-line display for editing single lines.

The
New York Times, reporting on a 1971 business equipment trade show,
said

The
«buzz word» for this year’s show was «word
processing,» or the use of electronic equipment, such as
typewriters; procedures and trained personnel to maximize office
efficiency. At the IBM exhibition a girl [sic] typed on an electronic
typewriter. The copy was received on a magnetic tape cassette which
accepted corrections, deletions, and additions and then produced a
perfect letter for the boss’s signature….

In
1971, a third of all working women in the United States were
secretaries, and they could see that word processing would have an
impact on their careers. Some manufacturers, according to a Times
article, urged that «the concept of ‘word processing’ could be
the answer to Women’s Lib advocates’ prayers. Word processing will
replace the ‘traditional’ secretary and give women new administrative
roles in business and industry.»

The
1970s word processing concept did not refer merely to equipment, but,
explicitly, to the use of equipment for «breaking down
secretarial labor into distinct components, with some staff members
handling typing exclusively while others supply administrative
support. A typical operation would leave most executives without
private secretaries. Instead one secretary would perform various
administrative tasks for three or more secretaries.» A 1971
article said that «Some [secretaries] see W/P as a career ladder
into management; others see it as a dead-end into the automated
ghetto; others predict it will lead straight to the picket line.»
The National Secretaries Association, which defined secretaries as
people who «can assume responsibility without direct
supervision,» feared that W/P would transform secretaries into
«space-age typing pools.» The article considered only the
organizational changes resulting from secretaries operating word
processors rather than typewriters; the possibility that word
processors might result in managers creating documents without the
intervention of secretaries was not considered—not surprising in an
era when few but secretaries possessed keyboarding skills.

In
the early 1970s, computer scientist Harold Koplow was hired by Wang
Laboratories to program calculators. One of his programs permitted a
Wang calculator to interface with an IBM Selectric typewriter, which
was at the time used to calculate and print the paperwork for auto
sales.

In
1974, Koplow’s interface program was developed into the Wang 1200
Word Processor, an IBM Selectric-based text-storage device. The
operator of this machine typed text on a conventional IBM Selectric;
when the Return key was pressed, the line of text was stored on a
cassette tape. One cassette held roughly 20 pages of text, and could
be «played back» (i.e., the text retrieved) by printing the
contents on continuous-form paper in the 1200 typewriter’s «print»
mode. The stored text could also be edited, using keys on a simple,
six-key array. Basic editing functions included Insert, Delete, Skip
(character, line), and so on.

The
labor and cost savings of this device were immediate, and remarkable:
pages of text no longer had to be retyped to correct simple errors,
and projects could be worked on, stored, and then retrieved for use
later on. The rudimentary Wang 1200 machine was the precursor of the
Wang Office Information System (OIS), introduced in 1976, whose
CRT-based system was a major breakthrough in word processing
technology. It displayed text on a CRT screen, and incorporated
virtually every fundamental characteristic of word processors as we
know them today. It was a true office machine, affordable by
organizations such as medium-sized law firms, and easily learned and
operated by secretarial staff.

The
Wang was not the first CRT-based machine nor were all of its
innovations unique to Wang. In the early 1970s Linolex, Lexitron and
Vydec introduced pioneering word-processing systems with CRT display
editing. A Canadian electronics company, Automatic Electronic
Systems, had introduced a product with similarities to Wang’s product
in 1973, but went into bankruptcy a year later. In 1976, refinanced
by the Canada Development Corporation, it returned to operation as
AES Data, and went on to successfully market its brand of word
processors worldwide until its demise in the mid-1980s. Its first
office product, the AES-90, combined for the first time a CRT-screen,
a floppy-disk and a microprocessor,[citation needed] that is, the
very same winning combination that would be used by IBM for its PC
seven years later. The AES-90 software was able to handle French and
English typing from the start, displaying and printing the texts
side-by-side, a Canadian government requirement. The first eight
units were delivered to the office of the then Prime Minister, Pierre
Elliot Trudeau, in February 1974. Despite these predecessors, Wang’s
product was a standout, and by 1978 it had sold more of these systems
than any other vendor.

In
the early 1980’s, AES Data Inc. introduced a networked word processor
system, called MULTIPLUS, offering multi-tasking and up to 8
workstations all sharing the resources of a centralized computer
system, a precursor to today’s networks. It followed with the
introduction of SuperPlus and SuperPlus IV systems which also offered
the CP/M operating system answering client needs. AES Data word
processors were placed side-by-side with CP/M software, like
Wordstar, to highlight ease of use.

The
phrase «word processor» rapidly came to refer to CRT-based
machines similar to Wang’s. Numerous machines of this kind emerged,
typically marketed by traditional office-equipment companies such as
IBM, Lanier (marketing AES Data machines, re-badged), CPT, and
NBI.[13] All were specialized, dedicated, proprietary systems, with
prices in the $10,000 ballpark. Cheap general-purpose computers were
still the domain of hobbyists.

Some
of the earliest CRT-based machines used cassette tapes for
removable-memory storage until floppy diskettes became available for
this purpose — first the 8-inch floppy, then the 5-1/4-inch (drives
by Shugart Associates and diskettes by Dysan).

Printing
of documents was initially accomplished using IBM Selectric
typewriters modified for ASCII-character input. These were later
replaced by application-specific daisy wheel printers (Diablo, which
became a Xerox company, and Qume — both now defunct.) For quicker
«draft» printing, dot-matrix line printers were optional
alternatives with some word processors.

With
the rise of personal computers, and in particular the IBM PC and PC
compatibles, software-based word processors running on
general-purpose commodity hardware gradually displaced dedicated word
processors, and the term came to refer to software rather than
hardware. Some programs were modeled after particular dedicated WP
hardware. MultiMate, for example, was written for an insurance
company that had hundreds of typists using Wang systems, and spread
from there to other Wang customers. To adapt to the smaller PC
keyboard, MultiMate used stick-on labels and a large plastic clip-on
template to remind users of its dozens of Wang-like functions, using
the shift, alt and ctrl keys with the 10 IBM function keys and many
of the alphabet keys.

Other
early word-processing software required users to memorize
semi-mnemonic key combinations rather than pressing keys labelled
«copy» or «bold.» (In fact, many early PCs lacked
cursor keys; WordStar famously used the E-S-D-X-centered «diamond»
for cursor navigation, and modern vi-like editors encourage use of
hjkl for navigation.) However, the price differences between
dedicated word processors and general-purpose PCs, and the value
added to the latter by software such as VisiCalc, were so compelling
that personal computers and word processing software soon became
serious competition for the dedicated machines. Word Perfect,
XyWrite, Microsoft Word, Wordstar, Workwriter and dozens of other
word processing software brands competed in the 1980s. Development of
higher-resolution monitors allowed them to provide limited WYSIWYG —
What You See Is What You Get, to the extent that typographical
features like bold and italics, indentation, justification and
margins were approximated on screen.

The
mid-to-late 1980s saw the spread of laser printers, a «typographic»
approach to word processing, and of true WYSIWYG bitmap displays with
multiple fonts (pioneered by the Xerox Alto computer and Bravo word
processing program), PostScript, and graphical user interfaces
(another Xerox PARC innovation, with the Gypsy word processor which
was commercialised in the Xerox Star product range). Standalone word
processors adapted by getting smaller and replacing their CRTs with
small character-oriented LCD displays. Some models also had
computer-like features such as floppy disk drives and the ability to
output to an external printer. They also got a name change, now being
called «electronic typewriters» and typically occupying a
lower end of the market, selling for under $200 USD.

MacWrite,
Microsoft Word and other word processing programs for the bit-mapped
Apple Macintosh screen, introduced in 1984, were probably the first
true WYSIWYG word processors to become known to many people until the
introduction of Microsoft Windows. Dedicated
word processors eventually became museum pieces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_processor

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This article is about stand-alone word processing machines. For the computer program, see Word processor program. For the general concept, see Word processor.

A word processor is an electronic device (later a computer software application) for text, composing, editing, formatting, and printing.

The word processor was a stand-alone office machine developed in the 1960s, combining the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an electric typewriter with a recording unit, either tape or floppy disk (as used by the Wang machine) with a simple dedicated computer processor for the editing of text.^[1] Although features and designs varied among manufacturers and models, and new features were added as technology advanced, the first word processors typically featured a monochrome display and the ability to save documents on memory cards or diskettes. Later models introduced innovations such as spell-checking programs, and improved formatting options.

As the more versatile combination of personal computers and printers became commonplace, and computer software applications for word processing became popular, most business machine companies stopped manufacturing dedicated word processor machines. As of 2009 there were only two U.S. companies, Classic and AlphaSmart, which still made them.^{[2][needs update]} Many older machines, however, remain in use. Since 2009, Sentinel has offered a machine described as a «word processor», but it is more accurately a highly specialised microcomputer used for accounting and publishing.^[3]

Word processing was one of the earliest applications for the personal computer in office productivity, and was the most widely used application on personal computers until the World Wide Web rose to prominence in the mid-1990s.

Although the early word processors evolved to use tag-based markup for document formatting, most modern word processors take advantage of a graphical user interface providing some form of what-you-see-is-what-you-get («WYSIWYG») editing. Most are powerful systems consisting of one or more programs that can produce a combination of images, graphics and text, the latter handled with type-setting capability. Typical features of a modern word processor include multiple font sets, spell checking, grammar checking, a built-in thesaurus, automatic text correction, web integration, HTML conversion, pre-formatted publication projects such as newsletters and to-do lists, and much more.

Microsoft Word is the most widely used word processing software according to a user tracking system built into the software.^{[citation needed]} Microsoft estimates that roughly half a billion people use the Microsoft Office suite,^[4] which includes Word. Many other word processing applications exist, including WordPerfect (which dominated the market from the mid-1980s to early-1990s on computers running Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system, and still (2014) is favored for legal applications), Apple’s Pages application, and open source applications such as OpenOffice.org Writer, LibreOffice Writer, AbiWord, KWord, and LyX. Web-based word processors such as Office Online or Google Docs are a relatively new category.

Characteristics[edit]

Word processors evolved dramatically once they became software programs rather than dedicated machines. They can usefully be distinguished from text editors, the category of software they evolved from.^[5][6]

A text editor is a program that is used for typing, copying, pasting, and printing text (a single character, or strings of characters). Text editors do not format lines or pages. (There are extensions of text editors which can perform formatting of lines and pages: batch document processing systems, starting with TJ-2 and RUNOFF and still available in such systems as LaTeX and Ghostscript, as well as programs that implement the paged-media extensions to HTML and CSS). Text editors are now used mainly by programmers, website designers, computer system administrators, and, in the case of LaTeX, by mathematicians and scientists (for complex formulas and for citations in rare languages). They are also useful when fast startup times, small file sizes, editing speed, and simplicity of operation are valued, and when formatting is unimportant. Due to their use in managing complex software projects, text editors can sometimes provide better facilities for managing large writing projects than a word processor.^[7]

Word processing added to the text editor the ability to control type style and size, to manage lines (word wrap), to format documents into pages, and to number pages. Functions now taken for granted were added incrementally, sometimes by purchase of independent providers of add-on programs. Spell checking, grammar checking and mail merge were some of the most popular add-ons for early word processors. Word processors are also capable of hyphenation, and the management and correct positioning of footnotes and endnotes.

More advanced features found in recent word processors include:

• Collaborative editing, allowing multiple users to work on the same document.
• Indexing assistance. (True indexing, as performed by a professional human indexer, is far beyond current technology, for the same reasons that fully automated, literary-quality machine translation is.)
• Creation of tables of contents.
• Management, editing, and positioning of visual material (illustrations, diagrams), and sometimes sound files.
• Automatically managed (updated) cross-references to pages or notes.
• Version control of a document, permitting reconstruction of its evolution.
• Non-printing comments and annotations.
• Generation of document statistics (characters, words, readability level, time spent editing by each user).
• «Styles», which automate consistent formatting of text body, titles, subtitles, highlighted text, and so on.

Later desktop publishing programs were specifically designed with elaborate pre-formatted layouts for publication, offering only limited options for changing the layout, while allowing users to import text that was written using a text editor or word processor, or type the text in themselves.

Typical usage[edit]

Word processors have a variety of uses and applications within the business world, home, education, journalism, publishing, and the literary arts.

Use in business[edit]

Within the business world, word processors are extremely useful tools. Some typical uses include: creating legal documents, company reports, publications for clients, letters, and internal memos. Businesses tend to have their own format and style for any of these, and additions such as company letterhead. Thus, modern word processors with layout editing and similar capabilities find widespread use in most business.

Use in home[edit]

While many homes have a word processor on their computers, word processing in the home tends to be educational, planning or business related, dealing with school assignments or work being completed at home. Occasionally word processors are used for recreational purposes, e.g. writing short stories, poems or personal correspondence. Some use word processors to create résumés and greeting cards, but many of these home publishing processes have been taken over by web apps or desktop publishing programs specifically oriented toward home uses. The rise of email and social networks has also reduced the home role of the word processor as uses that formerly required printed output can now be done entirely online.

History[edit]

Word processors are descended from the Friden Flexowriter, which had two punched tape stations and permitted switching from one to the other (thus enabling what was called the «chain» or «form letter», one tape containing names and addresses, and the other the body of the letter to be sent). It did not wrap words, which was begun by IBM’s Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (later, Magnetic Card Selectric Typewriter).

IBM Selectric[edit]

Expensive Typewriter, written and improved between 1961 and 1962 by Steve Piner and L. Peter Deutsch, was a text editing program that ran on a DEC PDP-1 computer at MIT. Since it could drive an IBM Selectric typewriter (a letter-quality printer), it may be considered the first-word processing program, but the term word processing itself was only introduced, by IBM’s Böblingen Laboratory in the late 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

In 1969, two software based text editing products (Astrotype and Astrocomp) were developed and marketed by Information Control Systems (Ann Arbor Michigan).^[8][9][10] Both products used the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8 mini computer, DECtape (4” reel) randomly accessible tape drives, and a modified version of the IBM Selectric typewriter (the IBM 2741 Terminal). These 1969 products preceded CRT display-based word processors. Text editing was done using a line numbering system viewed on a paper copy inserted in the Selectric typewriter.

Evelyn Berezin invented a Selectric-based word processor in 1969, and founded the Redactron Corporation to market the $8,000 machine.^[11] Redactron was sold to Burroughs Corporation in 1976, where the Redactron-II and -III were sold both as standalone units and as peripherals to the company’s mainframe computers.^[12]

By 1971 word processing was recognized by the New York Times as a «buzz word».^[13] A 1974 Times article referred to «the brave new world of Word Processing or W/P. That’s International Business Machines talk … I.B.M. introduced W/P about five years ago for its Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter and other electronic razzle-dazzle.»^[14]

IBM defined the term in a broad and vague way as «the combination of people, procedures, and equipment which transforms ideas into printed communications,» and originally used it to include dictating machines and ordinary, manually operated Selectric typewriters.^[15] By the early seventies, however, the term was generally understood to mean semiautomated typewriters affording at least some form of editing and correction, and the ability to produce perfect «originals». Thus, the Times headlined a 1974 Xerox product as a «speedier electronic typewriter», but went on to describe the product, which had no screen,^[16] as «a word processor rather than strictly a typewriter, in that it stores copy on magnetic tape or magnetic cards for retyping, corrections, and subsequent printout».^[17]

Mainframe systems[edit]

In the late 1960s IBM provided a program called FORMAT for generating printed documents on any computer capable of running Fortran IV. Written by Gerald M. Berns, FORMAT was described in his paper «Description of FORMAT, a Text-Processing Program» (Communications of the ACM, Volume 12, Number 3, March, 1969) as «a production program which facilitates the editing and printing of ‘finished’ documents directly on the printer of a relatively small (64k) computer system. It features good performance, totally free-form input, very flexible formatting capabilities including up to eight columns per page, automatic capitalization, aids for index construction, and a minimum of nontext [control elements] items.» Input was normally on punched cards or magnetic tape, with up to 80capital letters and non-alphabetic characters per card. The limited typographical controls available were implemented by control sequences; for example, letters were automatically converted to lower case unless they followed a full stop, that is, the «period» character. Output could be printed on a typical line printer in all-capitals — or in upper and lower case using a special («TN») printer chain — or could be punched as a paper tape which could be printed, in better than line printer quality, on a Flexowriter. A workalike program with some improvements, DORMAT, was developed and used at University College London.^{[citation needed]}

Electromechanical paper-tape-based equipment such as the Friden Flexowriter had long been available; the Flexowriter allowed for operations such as repetitive typing of form letters (with a pause for the operator to manually type in the variable information),^[18] and when equipped with an auxiliary reader, could perform an early version of «mail merge». Circa 1970 it began to be feasible to apply electronic computers to office automation tasks. IBM’s Mag Tape Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST) and later Mag Card Selectric (MCST) were early devices of this kind, which allowed editing, simple revision, and repetitive typing, with a one-line display for editing single lines.^[19] The first novel to be written on a word processor, the IBM MT/ST, was Len Deighton’s Bomber, published in 1970.^[20]

Effect on office administration[edit]

The New York Times, reporting on a 1971 business equipment trade show, said

The «buzz word» for this year’s show was «word processing», or the use of electronic equipment, such as typewriters; procedures and trained personnel to maximize office efficiency. At the IBM exhibition a girl typed on an electronic typewriter. The copy was received on a magnetic tape cassette which accepted corrections, deletions, and additions and then produced a perfect letter for the boss’s signature …^[13]

In 1971, a third of all working women in the United States were secretaries, and they could see that word processing would affect their careers. Some manufacturers, according to a Times article, urged that «the concept of ‘word processing’ could be the answer to Women’s Lib advocates’ prayers. Word processing will replace the ‘traditional’ secretary and give women new administrative roles in business and industry.»^[13]

The 1970s word processing concept did not refer merely to equipment, but, explicitly, to the use of equipment for «breaking down secretarial labor into distinct components, with some staff members handling typing exclusively while others supply administrative support. A typical operation would leave most executives without private secretaries. Instead one secretary would perform various administrative tasks for three or more secretaries.»^[21] A 1971 article said that «Some [secretaries] see W/P as a career ladder into management; others see it as a dead-end into the automated ghetto; others predict it will lead straight to the picket line.» The National Secretaries Association, which defined secretaries as people who «can assume responsibility without direct supervision», feared that W/P would transform secretaries into «space-age typing pools». The article considered only the organizational changes resulting from secretaries operating word processors rather than typewriters; the possibility that word processors might result in managers creating documents without the intervention of secretaries was not considered—not surprising in an era when few managers, but most secretaries, possessed keyboarding skills.^[14]

Dedicated models[edit]

In 1972, Stephen Bernard Dorsey, Founder and President of Canadian company Automatic Electronic Systems (AES), introduced the world’s first programmable word processor with a video screen. The real breakthrough by Dorsey’s AES team was that their machine stored the operator’s texts on magnetic disks. Texts could be retrieved from the disks simply by entering their names at the keyboard. More importantly, a text could be edited, for instance a paragraph moved to a new place, or a spelling error corrected, and these changes were recorded on the magnetic disk.

The AES machine was actually a sophisticated computer that could be reprogrammed by changing the instructions contained within a few chips.^[22][23]

In 1975, Dorsey started Micom Data Systems and introduced the Micom 2000 word processor. The Micom 2000 improved on the AES design by using the Intel 8080 single-chip microprocessor, which made the word processor smaller, less costly to build and supported multiple languages.^[24]

Around this time, DeltaData and Wang word processors also appeared, again with a video screen and a magnetic storage disk.

The competitive edge for Dorsey’s Micom 2000 was that, unlike many other machines, it was truly programmable. The Micom machine countered the problem of obsolescence by avoiding the limitations of a hard-wired system of program storage. The Micom 2000 utilized RAM, which was mass-produced and totally programmable.^[25] The Micom 2000 was said to be a year ahead of its time when it was introduced into a marketplace that represented some pretty serious competition such as IBM, Xerox and Wang Laboratories.^[26]

In 1978, Micom partnered with Dutch multinational Philips and Dorsey grew Micom’s sales position to number three among major word processor manufacturers, behind only IBM and Wang.^[27]

Software models[edit]

In the early 1970s, computer scientist Harold Koplow was hired by Wang Laboratories to program calculators. One of his programs permitted a Wang calculator to interface with an IBM Selectric typewriter, which was at the time used to calculate and print the paperwork for auto sales.

In 1974, Koplow’s interface program was developed into the Wang 1200 Word Processor, an IBM Selectric-based text-storage device. The operator of this machine typed text on a conventional IBM Selectric; when the Return key was pressed, the line of text was stored on a cassette tape. One cassette held roughly 20 pages of text, and could be «played back» (i.e., the text retrieved) by printing the contents on continuous-form paper in the 1200 typewriter’s «print» mode. The stored text could also be edited, using keys on a simple, six-key array. Basic editing functions included Insert, Delete, Skip (character, line), and so on.

The labor and cost savings of this device were immediate, and remarkable: pages of text no longer had to be retyped to correct simple errors, and projects could be worked on, stored, and then retrieved for use later on. The rudimentary Wang 1200 machine was the precursor of the Wang Office Information System (OIS), introduced in 1976. It was a true office machine, affordable by organizations such as medium-sized law firms, and easily learned and operated by secretarial staff.

The Wang was not the first CRT-based machine nor were all of its innovations unique to Wang. In the early 1970s Linolex, Lexitron and Vydec introduced pioneering word-processing systems with CRT display editing. A Canadian electronics company, Automatic Electronic Systems, had introduced a product in 1972, but went into receivership a year later. In 1976, refinanced by the Canada Development Corporation, it returned to operation as AES Data, and went on to successfully market its brand of word processors worldwide until its demise in the mid-1980s. Its first office product, the AES-90,^[28] combined for the first time a CRT-screen, a floppy-disk and a microprocessor,^[22][23] that is, the very same winning combination that would be used by IBM for its PC seven years later.^{[citation needed]} The AES-90 software was able to handle French and English typing from the start, displaying and printing the texts side-by-side, a Canadian government requirement. The first eight units were delivered to the office of the then Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, in February 1974.^{[citation needed]}
Despite these predecessors, Wang’s product was a standout, and by 1978 it had sold more of these systems than any other vendor.^[29]

The phrase «word processor» rapidly came to refer to CRT-based machines similar to the AES 90. Numerous machines of this kind emerged, typically marketed by traditional office-equipment companies such as IBM, Lanier (marketing AES Data machines, re-badged), CPT, and NBI.^[30]
All were specialized, dedicated, proprietary systems, priced around $10,000. Cheap general-purpose computers were still for hobbyists.

Some of the earliest CRT-based machines used cassette tapes for removable-memory storage until floppy diskettes became available for this purpose — first the 8-inch floppy, then the 5¼-inch (drives by Shugart Associates and diskettes by Dysan).

Printing of documents was initially accomplished using IBM Selectric typewriters modified for ASCII-character input. These were later replaced by application-specific daisy wheel printers, first developed by Diablo, which became a Xerox company, and later by Qume. For quicker «draft» printing, dot-matrix line printers were optional alternatives with some word processors.

WYSIWYG models[edit]

Electric Pencil, released in December 1976, was the first word processor software for microcomputers.^{[31][32][33][34][35]} Software-based word processors running on general-purpose personal computers gradually displaced dedicated word processors, and the term came to refer to software rather than hardware. Some programs were modeled after particular dedicated WP hardware. MultiMate, for example, was written for an insurance company that had hundreds of typists using Wang systems, and spread from there to other Wang customers. To adapt to the smaller, more generic PC keyboard, MultiMate used stick-on labels and a large plastic clip-on template to remind users of its dozens of Wang-like functions, using the shift, alt and ctrl keys with the 10 IBM function keys and many of the alphabet keys.

Other early word-processing software required users to memorize semi-mnemonic key combinations rather than pressing keys labelled «copy» or «bold». (In fact, many early PCs lacked cursor keys; WordStar famously used the E-S-D-X-centered «diamond» for cursor navigation, and modern vi-like editors encourage use of hjkl for navigation.) However, the price differences between dedicated word processors and general-purpose PCs, and the value added to the latter by software such as VisiCalc, were so compelling that personal computers and word processing software soon became serious competition for the dedicated machines. Word processing became the most popular use for personal computers, and unlike the spreadsheet (dominated by Lotus 1-2-3) and database (dBase) markets, WordPerfect, XyWrite, Microsoft Word, pfs:Write, and dozens of other word processing software brands competed in the 1980s; PC Magazine reviewed 57 different programs in one January 1986 issue.^[32] Development of higher-resolution monitors allowed them to provide limited WYSIWYG—What You See Is What You Get, to the extent that typographical features like bold and italics, indentation, justification and margins were approximated on screen.

The mid-to-late 1980s saw the spread of laser printers, a «typographic» approach to word processing, and of true WYSIWYG bitmap displays with multiple fonts (pioneered by the Xerox Alto computer and Bravo word processing program), PostScript, and graphical user interfaces (another Xerox PARC innovation, with the Gypsy word processor which was commercialised in the Xerox Star product range). Standalone word processors adapted by getting smaller and replacing their CRTs with small character-oriented LCD displays. Some models also had computer-like features such as floppy disk drives and the ability to output to an external printer. They also got a name change, now being called «electronic typewriters» and typically occupying a lower end of the market, selling for under US$200.

During the late 1980s and into the 1990s the predominant word processing program was WordPerfect.^[36] It had more than 50% of the worldwide market as late as 1995, but by 2000 Microsoft Word had up to 95% market share.^[37]

MacWrite, Microsoft Word, and other word processing programs for the bit-mapped Apple Macintosh screen, introduced in 1984, were probably the first true WYSIWYG word processors to become known to many people until the introduction of Microsoft Windows. Dedicated word processors eventually became museum pieces.

See also[edit]

• Amstrad PCW
• Authoring systems
• Canon Cat
• Comparison of word processors
• Content management system
• CPT Word Processors
• Document collaboration
• List of word processors
• IBM MT/ST
• Microwriter
• Office suite
• TeX
• Typography

Literature[edit]

• Matthew G. Kirschenbaum Track Changes — A Literary History of Word Processing Harvard University Press 2016 ISBN 9780674417076

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• FOSS word processors compared: OOo Writer, AbiWord, and KWord by Bruce Byfield
• History of Word Processing
• «Remembering the Office of the Future: Word Processing and Office Automation before the Personal Computer» — A comprehensive history of early word processing concepts, hardware, software, and use. By Thomas Haigh, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 28:4 (October–December 2006):6-31.
• «A Brief History of Word Processing (Through 1986)» by Brian Kunde (December, 1986)
• «AES: A Canadian Cautionary Tale» by CBC Television (Broadcast date: February 4, 1985, link updated Nov. 2, 2012)