Microsoft Word 2013: Tabs, Tables & Graphics Guide

Overview

This polished guide concentrates on the practical skills needed to format and structure professional documents in Microsoft Word 2013, with a focus on tabs, tables and graphics. It walks learners through essential layout controls—section breaks, margins, headers and footers—while showing how to build consistent, reusable content. The emphasis is hands-on: step-by-step procedures, concise explanations of key concepts, and exercises that let you apply techniques to real documents.

Learning outcomes

After working through the material you will be able to: create and manage document sections to vary layouts within a single file; set and fine-tune tab stops (including tab leaders) to align text cleanly; insert, format and style tables so data is clear and responsive to content changes; and insert, crop and position images, text boxes and shapes with appropriate wrapping and layering. You will also learn how to save frequently used elements as Building Blocks or Quick Parts to speed up future document creation.

Skills and topics covered

The guide explains foundational formatting controls and shows how they interact in typical documents. It demonstrates using section breaks to apply differing page orientations or headers, and how to unlink headers/footers between sections. The treatment of tabs covers visual placement with the ruler, modifying tab stops via the Tabs dialog, and using leaders for tables of contents or aligned lists. Table guidance ranges from quick grid insertion and converting text to tables, to applying table styles, AutoFit options and cell-level formatting. For graphics, the guide covers inserting images, cropping, resizing, wrapping text and combining objects for advanced layouts. Finally, guidance on Building Blocks and Quick Parts teaches how to capture and reuse formatted elements like cover pages, headers and formatted text blocks.

Who should use this guide

This resource suits anyone who prepares structured Word documents: students formatting reports or theses, administrative staff producing formal correspondence, educators assembling handouts, and intermediate users aiming for more efficient workflows. It is accessible to beginners because of step-by-step exercises, while also offering intermediate tips—particularly in table formatting and reusable content—that help speed up recurring tasks.

How to work through the guide

Begin by configuring the interface and turning on formatting marks so you can see paragraph breaks and section divisions. Follow exercises in sequence: basic layout and tabs first, then tables, and finally graphics and Building Blocks—each section builds on earlier skills. Reproduce examples in a practice document and adapt them to your own content. Save custom styles and Building Blocks as you go so that the techniques become part of your regular workflow.

Practical exercises and project ideas

• Tab alignment practice: create a price list or contact list using custom tab stops and tab leaders to produce a professional, aligned layout.
• Table formatting exercise: convert tab-separated data into a table, apply table styles, and use AutoFit to optimise column widths.
• Layout project: build a multi-section report that uses both portrait and landscape pages, section-specific headers/footers, inserted figures and sidebars in text boxes.
• Reusable content task: create a branded cover page and header, save them as Building Blocks or Quick Parts, and insert them into a new document.

Why this guide is useful

By combining clear explanations with practical tasks, the guide helps users produce cleaner, more consistent documents faster. Emphasising reusable content and style-driven formatting reduces repetitive work and supports professional presentation—valuable for academic submissions, business reports and regular organisational communications.

Quick reference: core terms

A short glossary within the guide clarifies key terms such as section break, tab stop, AutoFit, Building Block and Quick Part so that readers can follow instructions confidently and apply them to their own documents.

Next steps

Use the exercises as templates: adapt the examples to your templates, save custom styles and blocks, and incorporate the guide’s techniques into one or two real documents to turn knowledge into lasting skill.