The Use of Microsoft Word Pad

You need to update your resume to get a job, but being that you're unemployed, the budget doesn't allow for the purchase of the latest, greatest word processing software. You need a job to have the money to pay for the program; you need the program to create the resume to get the job. Quite the conundrum. It doesn't have to be if you know about a free program called WordPad.

History

WordPad is the complimentary word processor program that has been a permanent fixture of Microsoft Windows operating systems since the launch of Windows 95. Think of it as the kid sister to Microsoft Word and the big brother to Notepad. It's more than a text editor yet not quite a full-featured word processor. It's somewhere in between.

WordPad is normally located in the Accessories group of your Start menu, so the route there would look like this: Start button, All Programs, Accessories, WordPad. If you think you'll be using WordPad regularly, you can always pin a shortcut to the Start menu for easy access (right-click the program icon from the Accessories group and then choose "Pin to Start Menu").

Impressive Features

Although you won't be able to use WordPad for more advanced word processing functions like creating a mail merge or a table for basic word processing functions like changing font styles and editing text to update that resume, it will work just fine. The WordPad menus are simplified versions of those in Microsoft Word and include impressive features for a program that didn't cost any extra. For example, if you're looking to revamp resume work experience into an easier-to-read, bulleted format, simply list each responsibility making sure to do a hard return (hit the "enter" key) after each one. Select the entire list and then choose "Bullet Style" from the Format menu.

To set specific page margins or change the orientation of your page, make your selections from "Page Setup" on the File menu. For more specific layout needs, you can set tab stops from the "Tabs" option on the Format menu or choose Paragraph from the Format menu to set indents for your paragraphs.

Layout Choices

To set specific page margins or change the orientation of your page, make your selections from "Page Setup" on the File menu. For more specific layout needs, you can set tab stops from the "Tabs" option on the Format menu or choose Paragraph from the Format menu to set indents for your paragraphs.

Spell Check Feature Workaround

There is no spell check feature in WordPad, but once the final version of your document is complete, you could try pasting all text into SpellBoy, a free webpage gadget available at iGoogle.com.

File Formats

The file format options for saving a WordPad file are text (.txt) and rich text format (.rtf). These formats can be easily recognized by any common word processing program. Someone wanting to open your WordPad file using Microsoft Word would need to make sure to change the File Type option to show All Files from the "Open" dialog box to ensure the rich text format or text format file would be shown.