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The basic skills from this article will be used in future articles. Believe
it or not, it gets more interesting.
Drawing Lines
- Open Word. If you are practicing, use a new blank document. Otherwise, open
the document which needs a line, and scroll down to the place where you want
the line to appear.
- Display the Drawing toolbar, if it is not already visible, by clicking
View/Toolbars/Drawing.
- Click on the Line button on the Drawing toolbar. Note that,
as with any other toolbar button, you only need to click on it once and
release the mouse button to activate it.
- Mouse your mouse pointer onto the document. It should look like a thin cross.
- Click and drag within your page to draw a line.
Tip! Hold down the Shift key while you click and drag to get
a straight line. The angle will depend on the way you draw your line.
It will prevent the jaggedness sometimes seen in the middle of an otherwise
straight line.
Tip! If you need to draw multiple lines, double-click the Line
button on the Drawing toolbar. The button stays depressed. Click it again when
you have finished drawing your lines.
Tip! Another way to draw a line is via the Borders and Shading menu
option (under the Format menu). This applies to borders around clipart
or screen dumps, or can be used for adding border lines in tables.
Drawing Arrows
- Click the Arrow button on the Drawing toolbar.
- Click and drag within your document to draw the arrow. Note that
the arrowhead appears at the end—the point where you released the mouse
button.
Making Modifications
Lines, arrows, shapes and clipart can be modified after adding them to the document—you
can move, resize and recolour the line, and modify line thickness and style.
Before you can modify a shape or line, you need to select it. A selected object
will have handles. Modifications include colour, width and text wrapping.
These handles can also be used to move or resize an object.
In some cases, you need to click the Select Object button on the Drawing
toolbar before you can select an object. This may happen if the object is behind
text or otherwise difficult to select easily. Use this button if you click the
object and keep getting a flashing cursor.
Moving
- Click once on the line you drew previously.
- Click and drag the centre of the line to a new location. Note that dragging
a handle will resize and/or rotate the line. Putting your mouse over the centre
of the line should display a four-headed arrow, which lets you move the line
without changing its alignment or size.
- Release the mouse button when done.
Tip! When clicking and dragging an object, it snaps to an invisible
grid. To have more control over its location, hold down the Alt key while you
drag the object.
Resizing
Click once on the line to select it. Click and drag one of its handles to resize
the line.
It is sometimes easier to delete the existing line and re-draw it at the correct
length. It can be fiddly to modify its size via the handles.
Zooming In
It is easier to select objects if you zoom in. Use the Zoom button on the Standard
toolbar, or use View - Zoom. Select or type in a number higher than 100. The
highest number you can use here is 500% (or 5 times the object's actual size).
Zooming Out
When you have made your change, zoom back to 100%, or your previous zoom setting,
so you can view the page layout and location of objects and text.
It can be useful to zoom to Whole Page, to view your overall layout and location
of your objects.
Change Colour and/or Pattern
- Select the line or arrow.
- Click on the Line Colour button on the Drawing toolbar. This
will change the colour to the same as the button's line colour.
- Click on the arrow at the edge of the button to display more options. These
include:
No line: Use in autoshapes (other than lines) to remove the outside
border but leave a fill colour or effect.
Colours: Displays a grid containing a choice of colours. Click
on a colour to select it.
More line colours: Displays a dialogue box with a Standard
tab and a Custom tab. The Standard tab displays a colour
wheel. The Custom tab lets you choose from a multitude of colours
and shades.
Patterned lines: This is more effective for thick lines. It replaces
the line with a pattern.
Changing Width
To make a line wider, use the Line Style button on the Drawing
toolbar.
- Select the line.
- Click on the Line Style button.
- Choose a line style from those displayed. You can go up to 6 point, by choosing
an option from the Format dialog box displayed.
Figure01—The Format dialog.
From the Format dialog box, you can choose a colour, dashed style,
style and width (or weight) (in points) for our line. You can also convert
the line to an arrow, and choose which style of arrow you want (begin style
and end style).
- Click on OK when done.
Make a Dashed Line
- Select the line.
- Click on the Dash Style button on the Drawing toolbar.
- Choose a dash style for your line or arrow.
Again, you could use Format/AutoShape and select a Dashed style
from the Format dialog box.
Rotate
- Select the line.
- Click on the Free Rotate button on the Drawing toolbar.
- Green dots replace the white handles.
- Click and drag a green dot until the line is at the angle you require.
- Click the Rotate button a second time to de-select it, or click away
from your object.
- Use Draw/Rotate or Clip for objects you want to flip or rotate
90 or 180 degrees. This is on the Drawing toolbar.
Swap Arrow Head to the Other End
You can modify an existing line to add an arrowhead, or you can swap the end
where the arrowhead currently sits.
- Select the line or arrow.
- Click the Arrow Style button on the Drawing toolbar.
- Select a style from those displayed.
- Use More Arrows to display the dialog box.
Here you can choose a colour, dashed style, style and width (in points) for
our line. You can also convert the line to an arrow, and choose which style
of arrow you want (begin style and end style).
- Click on OK when done.
Delete
To delete any object, select it first. Then press the Delete key on the
keyboard. Or right-click on the object and choose Delete from the shortcut
menu.
If you are having trouble selecting an object, click the Select Objects
button on the Drawing toolbar.  It can also help to zoom in.
The next article will cover Autoshapes and some of the many things you
can do with them.
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