Objects (Grade 12 NSC Matric Computer Application Technology): Revision Notes
Objects
Microsoft Word gives you powerful tools to enhance your documents by adding various types of objects like pictures, graphs, and tables. These objects can be customised, positioned, and connected to external sources in different ways to create professional-looking documents.
Objects are essential building blocks for creating engaging, professional documents that go beyond plain text. Mastering their use will significantly improve the visual appeal and effectiveness of your Word documents.
What are objects in Word?
Objects in Microsoft Word are elements that you can insert into your documents to make them more visually appealing and informative. The main types of objects include:
- Pictures and images
- Tables for organising data
- Graphs and charts
- Other multimedia elements
These objects can be manipulated, formatted, and integrated into your document in various ways depending on your needs.
Working with tables
After you create a table in your document, you can modify it extensively to suit your requirements. When you select a table by clicking on it, Word automatically displays special ribbon tabs that help you customise the table's appearance and structure.
Design and layout options
The Design tab provides tools for changing how your table looks visually. You can apply different table styles, modify borders, and add shading to make your table more attractive and easier to read.
The Layout tab offers structural controls that let you modify the table's organisation. You can add or remove rows and columns, adjust cell sizes, merge cells together, and control how data is distributed across the table structure.
Worked Example: Formatting a Data Table
Step 1: Create your table with data
Step 2: Click anywhere in the table to select it
Step 3: Use the Design tab to apply a professional table style
Step 4: Use the Layout tab to add or remove rows as needed
Step 5: Adjust column widths by dragging borders to fit your content
These formatting options help you create tables that not only contain your information clearly but also match the overall design of your document.
Working with images
When you insert an image into your Word document, you have many options for customising how it appears and interacts with your text.
Basic image adjustments
Once you've placed an image in your document, you can resize it by dragging the small circular handles that appear at the corners and edges when the image is selected. You can also right-click on any image to access a quick menu with additional editing options.
Always maintain image proportions when resizing by dragging corner handles rather than side handles. This prevents distortion and keeps your images looking professional.
The Format tab
Selecting an image activates the Format tab on the ribbon, which contains several powerful formatting categories:
Resizing and cropping pictures: Cropping allows you to cut away unwanted parts of an image while keeping the portions you need. For instance, if your image has a decorative frame but you only want to show the main subject, you can crop out the frame to display just the central content.
Rotating pictures and text wrapping: Text wrapping determines how your document's text flows around the image. You can choose whether text wraps around the image, appears in front of it, or stays behind it. This setting significantly affects how your document layout appears.
Applying styles and formatting effects: You can enhance your images by adding borders, shadows, reflections, and other visual effects that help them integrate better with your document's overall design.
Adjusting brightness, contrast, and colour: These tools let you fine-tune how your image appears, making it lighter or darker, more or less vibrant, and adjusting its colour balance to match your document's tone.
Embedded objects
Embedded objects become a permanent part of your main document when you insert them. This means that once you embed an object like a spreadsheet or chart, it exists independently of its original source file.
The key characteristic of embedded objects is that they won't change if you later modify the original source document. This makes embedded objects ideal when you want a stable snapshot of information that won't be affected by future updates to the source material.
To work with embedded objects, you typically use the Insert menu, then select Object, and choose "Text from file" to browse for the document or file you want to embed. This creates a completely independent copy within your document.
Linked objects
Linked objects maintain a live connection to their source document, which creates a dynamic relationship between your main document and the external file.
How linking works
When you create a linked object, the actual data remains stored in the original source document. Your main document displays this information, but any changes you make to the source file will automatically appear in your main document as well.
Important considerations for linked objects
There are several crucial points to remember when working with linked objects:
Updating links: You can refresh a linked object by selecting it, right-clicking, and choosing the "Update link" option. This ensures you're seeing the most current version of the linked information.
File location matters: If you move or rename the source file, the link will break. You'll need to re-establish the connection between your document and the moved file.
Editing linked content: When you double-click on linked data (such as a spreadsheet) within your Word document, it will open the original source file, allowing you to edit the information directly.
Critical File Management Warning: Moving or renaming source files will break all links to those files. Always maintain consistent file locations and names when working with linked objects, or plan to update all links if you need to reorganise your files.
This linking system is particularly useful when you're working with data that changes frequently, as it ensures your document always reflects the most up-to-date information without requiring manual updates.
Key Points to Remember:
- Objects enhance documents - Pictures, tables, and graphs make your documents more professional and easier to understand
- Tables have two main formatting tabs - Use Design for visual styling and Layout for structural changes
- Images can be extensively customised - The Format tab provides tools for resizing, cropping, rotating, wrapping text, and applying visual effects
- Embedded vs Linked objects work differently - Embedded objects become part of your document permanently, while linked objects maintain connections to their source files
- Linked objects need careful file management - Moving or renaming source files will break links and require you to re-establish connections