Windows 7: Features

By John Campbell

In previous versions of Windows, right back to Windows 95, the useful WordPad provided “Beginners to Computing” with a simple easy-to-use word processor to create simple documents.

It was unencumbered with the “bells and whistles” that Microsoft Word had. Not only that, it came as a “freebie” with Windows itself. Even in Windows 7, it is still available.

So then, why rush out to buy Microsoft Office to get Word, when there is a great little application available and waiting. You will find it in the Accessories folder. For a beginner, there is no better place to start learning word processing than here, in WordPad.

The earlier version of WordPad and the new version in Windows 7 are shown below. You will see there are some major differences.

1. Comparing the two versions of WordPad

The New Look for WordPad
In Windows 7, WordPad has undergone a refit. Let’s take a look at WordPad’s new interface.



2. New WordPad features

The WordPad Button
This button is located just above the Paste button in the Clipboard section of the Ribbon Bar. Clicking it opens up a conventional menu containing commonly used commands.


3. WordPad Button and its Menu

The Ribbon Bar
The new version of WordPad (Windows 7), now includes a Ribbon Bar similar to the one in Word 2007. All commands on the Ribbon Bar are grouped according to a common purpose. So, all commands relating to Fonts are in the Font section of the Ribbon Bar.

You can use the Ribbon Bar to access the Clipboard (cut, copy and paste), Fonts (change Font, Font Size and Font Color), Paragraph (change Indent, Spacing and Alignment) and Insert Options (insert a Picture, access Paint and insert Date & Time and an Objects).


4. The New Ribbon Bar

The Older Toolbars in WordPad
The earlier versions of WordPad contained two toolbars, the Standard and the Formatting toolbars. Each toolbar had a set of buttons for commonly used commands.


5. Menu Bar and Toolbars in old WordPad

In the earlier versions of WordPad, uncommon commands were hidden away in the Menu system. If you wanted to insert the “Date and Time” in a document, as there was no toolbar button available, you had to search the Menu system for the appropriate command.

It was hidden in the Insert menu. In the new version of WordPad, this command is just a click away as it has a button on the Ribbon bar.


6. Menus V’S Ribbon Bar

The Quick Access Toolbar
This is another new feature of WordPad. It is located at the top of WordPad’s window. Its default setting displays three tools – Save, Undo and Redo. However, you can customize it.

To do this, click the Customize Quick Access toolbar button. This opens a menu where you can add or remove several additional commands.


7. Customize Option Quick Access toolbar

When you compare the older version of WordPad and this new version that comes with Windows 7, the difference is amazing and the improvements are outstanding.

So give it a go!