Microsoft Word, Without the Worry

A free, gentle course for anyone who wants to write a letter, set the margins, print it and send it — without the program fighting back. Seven short lessons at your own pace, plain English throughout, and a printable certificate with your name on it at the end — from the family-run team at 365 Techies in Bournemouth, helping people with computers since 1995.

★ Rated 4.9 on Google100% free7 short lessonsCertificate & checklist

Welcome

// WHAT’S IN THIS COURSE

7 short lessons, at your own pace

Every lesson ends with one gentle “what would you do?” question — no scores, no time limits, no pass marks. Here’s what you’ll cover:

  1. Opening Word and Starting a Letter. Word is the program for writing things down: letters, lists, a notice for the village hall, the family news at Christmas.
  2. Typing Without Fighting It. A few habits make typing in Word calm rather than exasperating.
  3. Making It Look Right: Fonts, Size and Bold. Once the words are down, you can dress them.
  4. Margins, Page Size and Where the Words Sit. Margins are the empty border around the page — the space between the edge of the paper and the words.
  5. Saving, Naming and Finding It Again. A letter that exists only on screen is a letter one power cut away from oblivion.
  6. Printing It, and Saving as a PDF. When the letter is right, hold Ctrl and tap P .
  7. Sending It: Attaching Your Document to an Email. The final step is the one people find hardest, and it’s really just two things: knowing where the file is, and telling the email to bring it along.

// KEEP THIS BY THE COMPUTER

Your one-page checklist

The whole course, boiled down to the reminders that matter. Print it and keep it near the computer.

  1. Blank document, then type. The buttons can wait until you actually want something from them.
  2. Press Enter for a new paragraph only — Word turns the lines itself.
  3. Made a mess? Hold Ctrl and tap Z. Undo is the most useful key in Word.
  4. Select first, then change: fonts, size, bold, bullets and centring all live on the Home tab.
  5. Zoom makes it bigger for you; font size makes it bigger on paper.
  6. Margins: Layout, then Margins, then Normal. Page size: Layout, then Size, then A4 — not Letter.
  7. Save early: hold Ctrl and tap S, name it so your future self recognises it, and keep it in Documents.
  8. Printing: hold Ctrl and tap P, check the Printer box shows your printer’s name, then click Print once.
  9. Sending something people shouldn’t change? File, Save As, choose PDF.
  10. Attach it: save, then the paperclip in your email, Documents, click the file, check it shows in the message, then Send. Stuck? 365 Techies, 01202 775566.

// GOOD QUESTIONS

Frequently asked

Is this course really free?

Completely. No payment details, no catch and no time limit. We’re a family-run IT firm in Bournemouth, and courses like this are our way of helping local people feel confident with technology.

Which version of Word does this cover?

It’s written for Microsoft Word on a Windows computer — the version that comes with Microsoft 365 — but the ideas are the same in older versions, where a tab may have a slightly different name (Layout was once called Page Layout). The free version of Word that runs in a web browser, and the free LibreOffice Writer, work the same way for everything in this course.

I don’t have Word. Do I have to buy it?

Not to follow this course. A simpler free version of Word runs in your web browser with a free Microsoft account — at the time of writing, at microsoft365.com — and the free LibreOffice Writer does everything here too. If you’d like the full program, Microsoft 365 is a subscription, and we’re happy to talk through whether it’s worth it for you.

Is this a Microsoft course?

No. Microsoft Word is Microsoft’s product; this course is ours, written by a family-run IT firm in Bournemouth for the people we help every week. The certificate at the end is a 365 Techies certificate of completion, not a Microsoft qualification.

Do I get a certificate?

Yes — when you finish, you can print a 365 Techies certificate of completion with your name on it. It’s our own certificate rather than a formal qualification, but plenty of people pin it up, and it’s earned.

What if I get stuck partway through?

Take your time — there’s no clock, and the course will wait for you. If something has you truly stuck, help is one phone call away on 01202 775566, and we run friendly in-person lessons at the Kinson Community Centre in Bournemouth.

Rather learn with a friendly human?

We run patient, plain-English computer lessons at the Kinson Community Centre — and we’re on the phone Mon–Fri, 9–5. No silly questions, ever.

01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM