Text editor: purpose and basic functions. What are the main functions of a text editor?

We think that at present it is extremely difficult to find a person who would not encounter using office applications in everyday life. As practice shows, in 90% this program is a text editor. And in our country, in addition, it is almost always a question of the notorious "Word" from Microsoft.

Reasons for success

Why exactly this class of utilities has become so common? It's simple. First, we often work with the text. Secondly, the functionality of modern applications of this kind is so broad that they sometimes replace and spreadsheets, and even the simplest graphic editors. But still the main functions of a text editor are:

• Create and edit text.
• The main functions of a text editor include copying, cutting and pasting.
• Formatting documents.
• Preparation and review of reports, articles, other types of text files.

Advanced Functionality

But modern conditions of office work dictate their own rules. If all this was quite enough eight years ago, today the main functions of a text editor include the following features, all of which are very important:

• Mandatory support for various add-ons. If you open a document created using an add-in, many functions will be supported even if this extension was not installed for some reason specifically on this computer.
• Use of SmartArt graphic elements. When you open a document that initially has this option, you can edit and create text data, and also cut, paste and resize the existing shapes.
• Creating bookmarks is a must-have feature! When you open a document in which the bookmarks are available, you can continue working exactly from the point where it was stopped.
• Creates a cross-reference. You can go through them (if the intersecting documents are preserved), cross-references can be deleted and edited. It is very convenient if you have to work with hundreds of different, but interrelated text files.
• The next mandatory function is to create a table of contents, which is especially important for students and researchers. If in the document the table of contents was originally, then it can be changed or deleted its elements.

Tools for serious work

But even this is just the basic basis! Modern text editors are a powerful tool. So the main functions of a text editor include other important options:

• Create footnotes. You can cut, move or delete footnotes contained in an open document from the beginning, or create your own.
• Among the main functions of the text editor MS Word are also the processes of creating formulas and signatures. Especially important are the first, because both in science and in business, it is very important to visualize the methods of calculating various indicators.
• It supports the creation of a list of illustrations, their editing, as well as the addition and deletion of new pictures.
• Automatic creation of headers, footers, lists of used literature.
• Express blocks. A very convenient feature that saves a lot of time for those who often work with large arrays of electronic documents.
• The developers of MS Word 2007 provide the ability to implement the integration of a text editor with the Internet, for which there is a tab "Newsletters".
• Group "Start merger". Due to the commands included in this group, it is possible to mass mail letters, envelopes, labels, etc. to a large number of correspondents by e-mail.

Other functional

Recall that even in Office 2007, Microsoft introduced into the package a huge number of visual effects, which allow you to create a glow effect, three-dimensional deformation or shadow (with reference to any object). In Office 2010, this initiative is not only preserved, but also continued. So, the main functions of a text editor are (the answer is sure to amaze any inexperienced user), even the means of working with images!

Added a lot of stylizing effects (for example, you can now create a pencil sketch from the photo), there were even complex effects of mosaic or broken glass. Of course, this text editor, the purpose and basic functions of which any schoolboy knows today, is not a competitor of "Photoshop", but still the simplest operations can be performed in it.

Work with graphics

As experienced users can know, such effects are mainly only in professional graphics editors, but their presence in your favorite text editor is only encouraging. Among other things, the programs received the means to better control the contrast, brightness, as well as the gamut of the image and its blurriness. In addition, new tools have been added to create snapshots of the entire screen, snapshots of application windows, and the function of removing background images.

Also, the main functions of a text editor are insertion and copying. It should be noted that in earlier versions, text formatting was available only after it was inserted into the text. Now in the insertion menu there is a separate item in which you can set formatting options in advance. There is also a function Paste Preview, which allows you to evaluate how the document will look with the inserted text fragment.

Cut and paste

One of the most common types of formatting used by both beginners and advanced users is cutting the selected fragment and then inserting it elsewhere in the document (or in another document). Perhaps, these are the main functions of a text editor, which are used by an average office worker.

To perform this operation after selecting text, you can either use the corresponding buttons located on the main tab in the Clipboard group, or use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + X to cut, Ctrl + C to paste. In the case where you want to leave the selected fragment in the source text, apply the copy: the key on the main tab or the key combination "Ctrl + C".

Expanding the capabilities of the standard "insert"

In the same group "Clipboard" there is an extremely useful command "Format by pattern", which is used to apply the format of one part of the text to another. This command also has its own key combination: "Ctrl + Shift + C".

It should be noted that multiple applications of the same format are possible. To do this, after selecting the desired fragment, double-click the "Format by pattern" button, and then simply select the parts of the document that you want to format with the left mouse button.

Advanced features (from Word 2010 and older)

And what about the contacts, the calendar and the schedule of affairs? Actually, the local tabs from the "postal" in no way differ. Yes, and the changes seemed to be reduced as if to a copy paper: the most significant difference was the appearance of large icons of functions and applications, it was easier to get to. In addition, the user can now customize the options for displaying the calendar, which is also very, very convenient. In general, the contacts in the changes are similar. It is especially pleasant that you can choose the options for displaying business cards.

There is no longer a big round button "Office", as it was replaced by the File tab, the activation of which leads to the disclosure of a new menu, which can be called without undue modesty one of the main innovations of the entire Office 2010/2013. This is not just an expanded context menu, but a powerful tool that allows you to work with almost all types of office files (with Word files, PowerPoint, etc.). In its development, the goal was to minimize the number of various dialog boxes that could easily confuse an ordinary user, allowing the latter to easily and without further hesitation work with documents.

There are quite a number of completely new options. For example, from now on any Word file can be converted to PDF without using third-party applications.

We hope that from now on you know the main functions of the text editor.