Create a Newsletter with Microsoft Word©. This should work on all versions post 97

All you will need is the Word programme, the drawing toolbar, and a graphic (.jpg) to practice with. If you have no suitable graphic you can use one from Word’s own clipart files.

Open Word. Click on the View menu, Toolbars, and then click Drawing. The draw toolbar will most likely appear at the bottom of the screen. This is what the toolbar looks like

On the Drawing toolbar there is a capital letter A, inclined to its right. Click on this A and the Word Art programme will start. This is what Word Art box looks like:

We need to create the Title of our Newsletter. Click on the shape in the WordArt graphic that takes your eye and then click OK. The dialogue box will appear.

Initially this box will have the words “Your Text Here” in highlights. Use your delete key to remove that wording and insert your own (In our case we are using “Guild Newsletter”). When you are satisfied with the wording press OK and the title will appear on the screen.

Tip: The default font and size varies according to the WordArt graphic selected. Bold causes the text to be displayed looking thicker. A different font can be selected if required.

If you are not satisfied with the colour of the headline right click on the headline, and from the WordArt box that appears choose Format WordArt, click on the “Colors and Lines” tab, then under Fill you can change the colour of the title. When satisfied press OK.

Your screen should look something like this

Click this title once to select it and move it up towards the top of the page (drag upwards with the dotted movement lines) Position in the centre of the document and de-select the image.

Press the enter key to move the cursor to go below the graphic. If the graphic then moves down don’t worry. Sometimes it moves, sometimes it doesn’t.

Go to the Insert menu, Break and under “Section Break Types” select “Continuous”, OK. This separates the top part from the rest of the document, allowing you to do the next process.

If the graphic has moved drag it back to the top of the page.

Place your cursor on the first line below the new page break.

Newsletters are usually in columns.

Select the Format menu and then columns. The box that appears look like this:

Select the number of columns you require (two is easy to handle for the purposes of this tutorial) and click OK. If the final result is not to your liking you can repeat the step and choose something else.

Newsletters should have headlines below the title so here goes….

Just type in the headline, keeping the cursor at the end of the wording. Do not press Enter at this stage.. In our case we have used “Newsletter launched”. Then we will format it. Word has a number of presets, which do the formatting for you. On the top tool bar go to the box marked Normal. There is a small downwards-pointing arrow to the right of this word. Press it and select Heading 1.

The headline will appear in the correct font and in bold script.

Once the headline is in place we need to place text into the columns. Word has a facility that will place dummy text into the columns so that you can see what the finished article will look like. This saves thinking about your own text until you are ready to finish off the Newsletter.

Place the cursor below the Headline and type =rand() [that is the equal sign, the letters rand, and then the two brackets] and then press the enter key. The column will fill with text. You may have to type this formula several times to completely fill the columns. If there is too much text for the first page Word will automatically create a second page using the same formatting. To remove the second page place the cursor at a convenient point in the right hand column of the first page and press the delete key until the second page disappears.

Tip: When you come to do your own text and you want to move to another column without the first one being completely full click on the Insert menu, Break and then Column Break.

That is the basic format for a newsletter but most people want to include graphics, photographs etc to make them look better. So this is what we will do now.

It’s graphic time.

Place your cursor where you want your graphic to appear. It can be in the middle of a paragraph, in the middle of a sentence etc. Select the Insert menu, Picture and From File if you have your own graphic, or from ClipArt if you are going to use a Word graphic. To insert your selected picture/graphic press OK. To insert a Word graphic double click your selected graphic and then select the top icon in the list which appears.

Left click the graphic to put the selection box around it and use the reduction/enlarging boxes (the eight little square boxes) around the edge of the graphic to make it bigger or smaller by dragging.

When satisfied with the size, right click the graphic. Select Format Picture, then the Layout tab (found at the top of the menu bar), then Advanced, then text wrapping. This is the box that you will see…

You can select Square or Tight. Square allows the text to flow around the (invisible) frame and is better for photographs or diagrams but tight allows the text to flow around the picture itself and not stop at the frame edge. This tight selection is better for objects. After making your choice press OK. The result should look something like this:

The lines on the text will not show in the final result. If the text is too difficult to read reduce the size of the graphic (highlight the graphic and use the enlarge/reduction boxes around the frame edge, until you have it the correct size).

At this stage you can select the graphic and use the four headed movement cursor to drag the graphic to the centre of the page. The text will then flow around both sides of the graphic.

Your finished article should look like this…

You can view it on the File Menu, Print Preview. This will remove the formatting lines and let you see what the finished newsletter will look like. When your newsletter is in serious production you can press the Print Preview at any time to check on your progress. When satisfied “Save” it with a suitable name to a My Documents directory.

Like anything else you do, you will need to practice with the method to create perfection

At this stage you can print it out from the Print Preview screen to see what it looks like and if you have used dummy text you now have to start composing the real thing. Spell-check and read it at least twice before publishing.

The next stage is to enter your own headings, text and graphics. You can retain the basic layout we have here and then add anything into the two column layout we created, even going into a second mage if necessary.

Tip: For best effects do NOT try to put too many graphics on a page. Keep things simple.

Al

October 2006-