Unit 3: MS-Word & MS-PowerPoint
IT Tools for Business notes · PTU syllabus (BBASEC 301-18)
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Unit summary
Word processing and presentations are core business skills. This unit covers creating, formatting, saving and printing documents in MS Word, alignment, indents, lists, headers and footers, mail merge, and creating and presenting slide shows in PowerPoint.
After this unit you can
- Create and format documents in MS Word
- Use alignment, indents, lists and headers and footers
- Perform a mail merge
- Create, design and deliver PowerPoint presentations
PTU syllabus topics
- Creating
- formatting
- saving and printing documents
- alignment
- indents
- lists and headers/footers
- mail merge
- creating and designing presentations
- slide sorter view
- slide shows
- inserting graphics
- 1Main document
Letter with placeholders
- 2Data source
Excel list of names and addresses
- 3Insert merge fields
Name, address and so on
- 4Preview results
Check each letter
- 5Finish and merge
Print or email
Topic 1
Creating and formatting documents in Word
- Create, save and print: File → New; Ctrl + S to save (.docx); Ctrl + P to print with print preview.
- Character formatting: font, size, bold (Ctrl + B), italic (Ctrl + I), underline (Ctrl + U), colour.
- Paragraph formatting: alignment (left, centre, right, justify), indents (left, right, first-line, hanging), line spacing.
- Lists: bullets and numbering.
- Headers and footers: text shown on every page — company name, page numbers, date.
- Page setup: margins, orientation (portrait/landscape) and paper size.
Topic 2
Mail merge
- 1Main document
Letter with fixed text
- 2Data source
List of names and addresses (Excel or Word table)
- 3Insert merge fields
«Name», «Address»
- 4Preview
Check each letter
- 5Finish and merge
Print or create documents
Example
A company sends 200 personalised festival greetings to customers from one letter and one Excel list.
Topic 3
Creating presentations in PowerPoint
- Start with a layout (title slide, title and content) and a design theme.
- Add text, pictures, charts, tables and SmartArt.
- Slide sorter view shows thumbnails of all slides to rearrange them.
- Slide show (F5) presents slides full-screen.
- Animations move objects on a slide; transitions are effects between slides.
Purpose
Documents: letters, reports
Visual presentations
Unit
Pages
Slides
Key views
Print layout, read mode
Normal, slide sorter, slide show
Exam tip
Good slides follow the 6 × 6 rule: about six bullets per slide and six words per bullet.
Key terms
- Indent
- Space between the margin and the text
- Header/footer
- Text repeated at the top/bottom of every page
- Mail merge
- Creating personalised documents from a data list
- Slide sorter view
- A view of all slides as thumbnails
- Transition
- An effect when moving from one slide to the next
Quick revision
- Ctrl + S save, Ctrl + P print, Ctrl + B/I/U formatting.
- Alignment: left, centre, right, justify.
- Mail merge = main document + data source + merge fields.
- Animation within a slide; transition between slides.
Important exam questions
Practice questions written to the PTU exam pattern for this unit's syllabus: short answers (Section A style) and long answers (Sections B and C style).
Short-answer questions
- Q1.What are the four types of alignment in Word?
- Q2.What is a hanging indent?
- Q3.What is mail merge?
- Q4.What is slide sorter view?
- Q5.Differentiate between animation and transition.
Long-answer questions
- Q1.Explain document formatting features of MS Word.
- Q2.Explain the steps of mail merge with an example.
- Q3.Explain how to create and deliver an effective presentation in PowerPoint.
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