Computer Science — Chapter 5

MS Office — Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the Shortcut Keys

Why this chapter matters: Chapter 4 taught you that MS Office is packaged application software — one company’s suite, sold to everyone. This chapter opens the box. It is also the most practical chapter in the subject: the papers ask it twice over — as theory (“which tab?”, “which extension?”) and as proficiency (“which shortcut?”), because posts like Junior Clerk test exactly this material on the job. Our verified banks hold 70 questions matching this chapter directly by question text (Word 20, Excel 20, PowerPoint 16, shortcut keys 11, Office suite 3). Word is taught from Lecture 4 in full; Excel and PowerPoint, which no lecture covers as a unit, are taught from the banks plus standard references (their function tables are marked ★).

How this chapter relates to the rest of Computer Science: the software families of Chapter 4 are assumed — Word, Excel and PowerPoint are all application software, and all three are packaged software. The browsers behind Chapter 6’s work are not taught here; the file-extension family is completed in Chapter 7 (Abbreviations).

1. The suite at a glance

MS Office is Microsoft’s office suite — the textbook example of packaged software (Chapter 4). Its members:

The extensions are asked constantly, and in both directions: “the file extension of an MS Word document is” → .docx; “the extension of PowerPoint” → .pptx. Note the trap in Section 9: one paper offered .xls, .docx and .pdf for PowerPoint — none of them is right, so the answer was “None of these”. The co-founders behind the suite’s company are Bill Gates and Paul Allen (asked as “co-founder of Microsoft Office”).

The old name of MS Word was Multi-Tool Word — the bank’s own answer, and a favourite “old name” question.

2. MS Word I — the window

Lecture 4 is a practical tour of the Word window, and the papers mine it bar by bar:

• Title Bar — the topmost bar of the application window; it shows the name of the file/program. Asked verbatim: “top most bar of the application window is” → Title Bar.
• Menu Bar — the strip directly below the Title Bar, starting from File and running across.
• Ribbon — the wide strip under the tabs showing each tab’s tools; it changes with the tab (Home’s ribbon ≠ Insert’s ribbon). A single block inside it — e.g. the Clipboard block holding Paste, Cut, Copy, Format Painter — is called a Group.
• Quick Access Bar — shortcuts of other bars, placed together for quick work: File, Save, Undo, Refresh, plus a dropdown arrow (in Office 2013 it often holds Format Painter).
• Window controls (top-right) — Minimize, Maximize/Restore, Close, and Help, whose shortcut key is F1.
• Tab Selector, Ruler, Text Area — the Tab Selector sits at the left edge of the ruler (left tab, centre tab, right tab, hanging indent, decimal tab, bar tab, first-line indent; left tab selected by default); the Ruler is the scale on top and left; the Text Area is where you type.
• Status Bar (bottom strip) — shows page numbering (Page 2 of 17), word count (words, not letters), spelling-error check, view buttons and the zoom tool.

Zoom — the three-way split the papers love:

• MS Word maximum zoom = 500%
• MS Excel maximum zoom = 400%
• MS PowerPoint maximum zoom = 400%

New file default name: press Ctrl+N and the title bar reads Document1, then Document2, Document3…

3. MS Word II — the File tab and page setup

Save, Save As, Open, Close, Print, New, Options all live under the File tab.

• New → Templates: a template is a premade document with a specific font size, layout and background. Readymade templates are available under File tab → New (asked verbatim).
• Options → Proofing: spell check / AutoCorrect live here. F7 opens the spelling & grammar check / dictionary / thesaurus (synonyms). A red wavy line under a word indicates a spelling mistake.
• Page size: Letter size in MS Word = 8.5 × 11 inches. Normal margins: left = 1 inch, right = 1 inch (the left margin is the one most often asked).
• Orientation: by default the document mode is Portrait (lengthwise; Landscape = widthwise), changed at Page Layout → Orientation. Asked as “NOT a paper size”: options Letter, A4, Legal + Landscape → Landscape is the answer — it is an orientation, not a size.
• Default alignment of text: Left.
• Print Preview shortcut: Ctrl+F2. Open a Word document: Ctrl+F12.
• Table of Contents is inserted from the References tab.
• Header & Footer live in the Insert tab — Header = top, Footer = bottom (page numbers usually go in the footer).

4. MS Word III — fonts

• Default font of MS Word = Calibri (letters are mostly typed in Times New Roman). Default font size = 11 (bank answer).
• Font sizes — three MCQs, one rule: smallest = 8, largest = 72, maximum (typed manually) = 1638. Rule: if the paper says “by default” → 72; if 1638 is in the options → 1638.
• Font styles = 4 only: Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic. Underline is NOT a font style — it is given as a trap option, and the bank asks “which is not a font style?” with Superscript as the answer in the same family: superscript is a font effect, not a style.
• Font effects (asked most): Superscript, Subscript, Strikethrough. Also: Double Strikethrough, Small Caps, All Caps, Hidden. Strikethrough = a line through the text — used to show what was cut while keeping it visible (e.g. thesis corrections for a senior).
• Text Effects = Shadow, Reflection, Glow.
• Highlighter and font colour are also in the Font group.
• Colour of a hyperlink by default: Blue.
• =rand() trick: type =rand() + Enter → Word generates paragraphs; =rand(5) → 5 paragraphs (the lecture’s sample-text trick).

5. MS Word IV — the Home tab: Paragraph group and Styles

• The Paragraph group is in the Home tab (asked — options included Insert, Page Layout, References; answer = Home).
• Home tab’s 5 groups: Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Styles, Editing.
• Bullets and Numbering live in the Paragraph group.
• Multi-level list — asked: “multi level list is available in which tab?” → Home. It makes nested lists: main headings numbered 1, 2, 3 and sub-parts A, B, C (press Tab on an item to push it under the heading — e.g. Vegetables → potato, onion; Fruits → banana, mango).
• Shading is in the Paragraph group. Line spacing options and borders live here too.
• Show/Hide (¶) reveals: dots = spaces, ¶-mark = Enter, arrow = Tab.
• Styles (Home tab): Intense and Quote (the 66/99 quotation look) — asked in proficiency tests.
• Direction buttons switch the paragraph between left-to-right (English) and right-to-left (Urdu).
• Word wrap — text that reaches the right margin moves automatically to the next line; it does not scroll sideways and nothing is deleted. If a paper asks what word wrap means, the “automatically moves to next line” option is the answer.

6. MS Word V — moving text, the Insert tab, and tables

Two methods of moving text (asked in a past paper):

1. Cut and Paste (Ctrl+X, then Ctrl+V)
2. Drag and Drop — select with the left mouse button, hold, and drag the text where you want it.

Insert tab groups: Pages, Tables, Illustrations, Links, Header Footer, Text, Symbols.

• Illustrations — asked: which tab? → Insert. Contains: Picture, Clip Art, Shapes, SmartArt, Chart, Screenshot.
• Artistic effects are applied using WordArt (Picture format) — WordArt also carries the skewing, shadowing, stretching effects (asked in a 2022 departmental paper).
• Drop Cap — by default covers 3 lines.
• Symbols (special characters not on the keyboard): © Alt+Ctrl+C, ® Alt+Ctrl+R, ™ Alt+Ctrl+T.

Tables — insert via Alt, N, T, I. Limits (all asked):

• Maximum columns in an MS Word table = 63 (Word refuses more: “the number must be between 1 and 63”).
• Minimum rows × columns = 1 × 1.
• Smallest width of a column = 0.5 inches.
• Order MCQ: “5 * 2” → 5 rows, 2 columns — rows come first in this notation.
• Removing a table: Layout → Delete → Table. “Line boxes” (ruled boxes) are inserted by Insert Table.
• Track Changes (Review tab) records the editing history of a document — every insertion, deletion and formatting change, with who made it — so it is the tool for reviewing edits, not for spell check or printing.
• Header & footer (Insert tab → Header Footer group) repeat on every page and can carry page numbers, titles and dates — “header & footer include” with those three in the options → all of these.

7. MS Excel ★ — the spreadsheet

What it is: a spreadsheet program — a grid of rows and columns for numbers and calculations. A workbook is a collection of worksheets; each worksheet is one grid.

• The basic unit of a worksheet is the Cell — the box where you enter text or numbers. A cell’s address (e.g. B7) is shown in the Name Box.
• Rows are indicated by numbers; columns by letters (A, B, C… AA, AB… up to XFD).
• Worksheet size — the old/new trap (Section 9): modern Excel (2007 onward) allows 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns per worksheet. Older Excel (2003 and before) allowed 65,536 rows and 256 columns — which is why one bank paper answers “a single worksheet contains 256 columns”. If the options carry 16,384, that is the current answer; 256 is the legacy answer.
• Formulas begin with = (the bank’s “NOT a valid formula syntax” question is the one entry missing the = sign: SUM(Sales)/(10-5)).
• Maximum zoom: 400%.

Excel functions ★ (the table the papers draw from)

• Conditional formatting is used to apply colour (formatting) to cells meeting a certain condition.
• Pivot Table is inserted from the Insert tab.
• Macros in Excel are automated scripts — recorded or written (in Visual Basic, as in Word) to repeat a task automatically.
• Excel file formats: .xlsx is valid; .pdf is NOT a valid Excel file format (bank answer — a PDF is an export, not a workbook format).
• Moving between sheets: Ctrl+Page Down (next sheet). Insert the date: Ctrl+; (semicolon). Repeat the last action: F4 (the bank’s garbled “Cnty+y” key is the Ctrl+Y redo twin — see Section 8).
• Filter (Data tab) narrows a list two ways at once: it sorts data and shows only the selected data — “Filter is used for” with sorting and selecting in the options → both.
• Freeze Panes (View → Freeze Panes) locks chosen rows and/or columns on screen so they stay visible while the rest of the sheet scrolls — the row/column headings do not scroll away. The View tab is the tell: Insert, Data and Format do not hold it.

8. MS PowerPoint ★ — the presentation

What it is: a presentation program — a presentation is a collection of slides that can carry text, pictures, graphics, tables, sound and video. (Created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at Forethought, released 20 April 1987 for Macintosh, then acquired by Microsoft — the history the standard references give; the papers test the program, not the biography.)

• Apply a theme: the Design tab. A Slide Master exists to apply consistent formatting, fonts and layouts across the whole presentation.
• Slide layout is chosen from the Home tab (the Layout gallery in the Slides group) — Design holds the theme, Home holds the layout; papers swap the two tabs deliberately.
• Transitions are applied to slides; animations are applied to objects in slides — the pair the papers swap deliberately.
• Slide Show view displays only the slide contents, hiding the editing elements — the full-screen show itself.
• Maximum zoom: 400%.
• Starting the application (bank phrasing): Run (Ctrl+R) → type ppoint.exe → Enter.

PowerPoint shortcuts (bank-verified)

9. MS Access — the suite’s database member (brief)

Access is taught here only as the suite’s fourth member, because the banks ask it in Office questions: MS Access is database software (the bank’s answer to “MS Access is which type of software?”). Its wildcard rule is the one detail the papers test: in a search pattern, ? stands for exactly one character — so a 5-character word starting with S is searched as S????. Full database theory (tables, keys, queries) belongs to a specialist syllabus, not to this chapter.

10. Master shortcut table — Ctrl A to Z and beyond

The Word Ctrl A–Z table from Lecture 4, with the Excel, PowerPoint and general keys added. Learn it as one table — the papers mix programs in a single question set.

Extra keys from the lecture and the banks:

• Ctrl+Shift+C = copy format; Ctrl+Shift+V = paste format (keyboard Format Painter).
• Superscript = Ctrl+Shift+= (x² — text goes above the line); Subscript = Ctrl+= (H₂O — text goes below the line). Trick: 3 keys = up (three people lift a thing up), 2 keys = down (two people drop it).
• Alt+Ctrl+V = Paste Special (paste as text / unformatted text / picture / HTML / unformatted unicode).
• Ctrl+5 = 1.5 line spacing (the tricky one — asked); Ctrl+1 = single, Ctrl+2 = double. Double spacing is used when someone must hand-write corrections under your printed work.
• Ctrl+Enter = Page Break; Shift+Enter = Line Break (line breaks, paragraph stays the same).
• Ctrl+Spacebar in MS Word = remove formatting (back to original). Same keys in MS Excel = select entire column (both asked).
• Ctrl+Z = Undo; Ctrl+Y = Redo.
• Copyright © = Alt+Ctrl+C; Registered ® = Alt+Ctrl+R; Trademark ™ = Alt+Ctrl+T (all three asked).
• Decrease font size: Ctrl+Shift+< (increase: Ctrl+Shift+>). Font-size tool on the formatting toolbar: Ctrl+Shift+P.
• Change font case: Shift+F3. Print Preview: Ctrl+F2. Open a document: Ctrl+F12.
• Help: F1 (everywhere in Office). Spelling & grammar: F7. Repeat last action (Excel): F4.
• Next sheet (Excel): Ctrl+Page Down. Insert date (Excel): Ctrl+;
• General Windows keys the papers file here: F2 = rename a file or folder; Shift+Delete = delete a file without sending it to the Recycle Bin.

11. Master table — the whole chapter in one view

12. Rapid-fire one-liners

• Word extension → .docx; Excel → .xlsx; PowerPoint → .pptx.
• Old name of Word → Multi-Tool Word.
• Topmost bar → Title Bar; Help → F1; spelling → F7.
• Max zoom: Word 500%, Excel and PowerPoint 400%.
• New Word file → Document1.
• Templates → File → New; spell check → File → Options → Proofing.
• Letter size → 8.5 × 11 inches; margins → left 1 inch, right 1 inch.
• Default orientation → Portrait; Landscape is NOT a paper size.
• Default font → Calibri; default size → 11.
• Font sizes → smallest 8, largest 72, maximum 1638.
• Font styles = 4 (Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic); underline is NOT one.
• Home tab’s 5 groups → Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Styles, Editing.
• Paragraph group → Home tab; multi-level list → Home tab.
• Moving text → Cut and Paste; Drag and Drop.
• Illustrations → Insert tab; Header & Footer → Insert tab.
• Table insert → Alt, N, T, I; max columns → 63; min → 1 × 1.
• “5 * 2” → 5 rows, 2 columns (rows first).
• WordArt → skewing, shadowing, stretching; Drop Cap → 3 lines.
• Cell → basic unit of a worksheet; address in the Name Box.
• Rows → numbers; columns → letters (to XFD).
• Modern worksheet → 1,048,576 rows × 16,384 columns; legacy → 65,536 × 256.
• SUMIF → adds on a condition; VLOOKUP → vertical, leftmost column; CONCATENATE → combines text.
• Pivot Table → Insert tab; macros → automated scripts.
• Filter → sorts + selects; Freeze Panes → View tab.
• Word wrap → text moves to next line; Track Changes → editing history; header/footer → page numbers, titles, dates.
• Slide layout → Home tab; Slide Master → consistent formatting, fonts and layouts.
• Transitions → slides; animations → objects in slides.
• Slide show → F5 from beginning, Shift+F5 from current slide; new slide → Ctrl+M.
• Ctrl+5 → 1.5 spacing; Ctrl+Enter → Page Break; Shift+Enter → Line Break.
• Ctrl+Spacebar → Word: remove formatting; Excel: select entire column.
• © → Alt+Ctrl+C; ® → Alt+Ctrl+R; ™ → Alt+Ctrl+T.
• F2 → rename; Shift+Delete → delete without Recycle Bin.

13. Most-asked facts (from our verified past-paper banks)

• Extensions first: .docx (asked twice in the counted set), .pptx (asked twice) and the “None of these” PowerPoint paper — the extension family is the single most repeatable mark in the chapter. If .pptx is not among the options, do not force it: the answer is “None of these”.
• Word window and fonts (20 questions): the title bar, the File tab’s contents, the Home tab’s groups, the 500% zoom, Calibri, font sizes 8/72/1638, the 4 font styles, and the table limits (63 columns, 1 × 1, 0.5 inches). The lecture’s quick-fire list (Section 10’s source) is the revision sheet for this block.
• Excel (20 questions): the cell as basic unit, the Name Box, rows-by-numbers, SUMIF-on-a-condition, VLOOKUP’s vertical search in the leftmost column, concatenation, conditional formatting, the pivot-table tab, and the 256-column legacy answer. The function table in Section 7 is the whole block.
• PowerPoint (16 questions): the .pptx extension, the Design tab for themes, the Slide Master, transitions-vs-animations, and the F5 / Shift+F5 / Ctrl+M trio. The transitions-on-slides vs animations-on-objects pair is the chapter’s classic swap.
• Shortcut keys (11 questions, plus the Word/PowerPoint keys counted in their own buckets): Ctrl+K hyperlink, Ctrl+E centre, Ctrl+F find, Shift+F3 case change, Ctrl+; date, Ctrl+Page Down next sheet, and the general F2 / Shift+Delete pair. The Ctrl A–Z table in Section 10 covers every one of them.

14. Traps & confusions

• 256 columns vs 16,384 columns: both are real — 256 is Excel 2003 and earlier (65,536 rows); 16,384 (XFD) is Excel 2007 onward (1,048,576 rows). Read the question’s era: if 16,384 is offered, it is the current answer; the bank’s “256 columns” paper predates the change.
• PowerPoint extension “None of these”: the paper offered .xls, .docx and .pdf — none is PowerPoint’s. The standard answer stays .pptx; the paper’s answer follows its own options.
• Margin sides vs margin presets: Left, Right and Top are margin sides; Narrow is a margin preset (like Normal, Moderate, Wide). The bank’s “which is not a page margin?” paper lists three sides and Narrow — Narrow is the odd one out there, even though Narrow is a real preset elsewhere.
• Formula syntax: every Excel formula begins with =. The bank’s invalid-syntax entry is the one missing it (SUM(Sales)/(10-5)); =SUM(A1:A10) and =AVERAGE(B1:B5) are valid.
• Underline vs font style: underline is a font effect family member in the papers’ wording, not one of the 4 font styles (Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic). Superscript is likewise an effect, not a style.
• Transitions vs animations: transitions move between slides; animations move objects within a slide. Papers swap them in the same question stem.
• F5 vs Shift+F5: F5 starts from the beginning; Shift+F5 from the current slide. The shift key shifts the start point forward.
• Ctrl+M means two things: indent paragraph in Word, new slide in PowerPoint. The program in the question stem decides.
• Ctrl+Spacebar means two things: remove formatting in Word, select the entire column in Excel. Again, the program decides.
• Superscript vs subscript shortcuts: Ctrl+Shift+= (3 keys) lifts text up; Ctrl+= (2 keys) drops it down. The key count is the memory hook (Section 15).
• Word’s 72 vs 1638: 72 is the largest size in the dropdown (“by default”); 1638 is the largest size you can type manually. If 1638 is in the options, it wins.
• “MS EXCELL” and similar spellings in older papers are the same program — do not let a spelling variant throw the question.

15. Memory tricks (from the lectures, plus clean professional aids)

• 3 keys = up, 2 keys = down: superscript needs Ctrl+Shift+= (three keys — three people lift a thing up); subscript needs Ctrl+= (two keys — two people drop it). The lecturer’s own hook, and it never fails.
• 500 for Word, 400 for the rest: Word zooms furthest — 500 for the Word processor’s pages, 400 for Excel and PowerPoint. One number to remember, one exception to carry.
• Document1, then count up: every new Word file is Document + the next number. If a question asks the second new file, it is Document2 — no trick, just the sequence.
• Rows first, always: “5 * 2” reads like a sentence — 5 rows, 2 columns. Tables are announced rows-first in every paper.
• V = vertical = VLOOKUP’s left column: VLOOKUP searches down the leftmost column; HLOOKUP searches across the top row. The letter gives the direction.
• F5 = full show, Shift+F5 = from here: F5 alone plays the whole show from slide 1; adding Shift moves the start to where you already are.
• PACKaged = PACKed for all (from Chapter 4): MS Office ships in one pack to everyone — the reason Word, Excel and PowerPoint share the same shortcut language (Ctrl+S, Ctrl+P, Ctrl+Z work in all three).

16. Visuals (site build specs)

• DIAGRAM — The Word window, labelled: title bar, menu bar, ribbon with its groups, ruler, text area and status bar, with the zoom tool and word count called out on the status bar — placed in Section 2.
• COMPARISON INFOGRAPHIC — The three programs: Word / Excel / PowerPoint columns (purpose, extension, max zoom, signature shortcut set) from the Section 11 table, with Access as a fourth, shaded “suite member” column — placed in Section 1.
• TABLE-GRAPHIC — The Ctrl A–Z shortcut grid: the Section 10 table rendered as a keyboard-grid poster, with the 3-keys-up / 2-keys-down superscript hook as a callout — placed in Section 10.
• DIAGRAM — The Excel grid: rows numbered, columns lettered to XFD, one cell highlighted with its address in the Name Box, and the modern-vs-legacy size strip (1,048,576 × 16,384 vs 65,536 × 256) beneath — placed in Section 7.

Appendix — Reference: The Book’s Keyboard Shortcuts List (added 2026-10-31)

The closing reference list of Advanced FPSC & Other Federal Model Papers (Edition 32), pp. 864–865 — “More than 100 Keyboard Shortcuts” — reproduced as a revision table. The same list is available as a practice MCQ set in the FPSC bank (Computer: Keyboard Shortcuts). Exact duplicates the book prints in two sections (F2, Alt+Enter, Windows Logo+U) appear once.

Windows

Dialog Box

Microsoft Natural Keyboard

Accessibility

Windows Explorer

MMC Console

Remote Desktop Connection

Microsoft Internet Explorer

17. Practice this topic

• Practice set: 70 verified past-paper questions in the PPSC + FPSC banks are tagged to this topic’s sub-topics (Word 20, Excel 20, PowerPoint 16, shortcut keys 11, Office suite 3) — the site serves them as this chapter’s practice set, with the IBES Computer capsule questions behind them. Note for the set: the 3 Office-suite questions include the two Access questions (database type, S???? pattern) and the Microsoft co-founders question; the F2-rename and Shift+Delete questions are general Windows keys filed here because the papers ask them inside Office shortcut sets. The software-type questions (“MS Access is which type of software?” aside, the packaged-software family) belong to Chapter 4; the browser and search-engine questions belong to Chapter 6.
• Book mode: ← Previous: Software & Operating Systems — System vs Application, Windows, Linux and Utilities · Next: Internet & Networking →

Goldmine Notes · Computer Science · Chapter 5 · Sources: TBT Computer Lecture 4 (MS Word, practical — full lecture), verified PPSC/FPSC past-paper banks (70 counted questions, answers verified). ★ Excel functions, PowerPoint program facts and worksheet limits verified against standard references (Excel 1,048,576 × 16,384 modern / 65,536 × 256 legacy; VLOOKUP/SUMIF/CONCATENATE definitions; PowerPoint F5/Shift+F5/Ctrl+M; PowerPoint created by Gaskins & Austin, released 20 April 1987). Office residues added 3 November 2026 from the PMS Screening 2026 Computer & IT mock (Filter, Freeze Panes View tab, word wrap, Track Changes, header/footer contents, slide-layout Home tab — standard program facts). Standard answers only.