1. Introduction

Before the massive growth of the personal computer, all formal documents and letters had to be hand typed by a secretary (typist).

This was a skilled job because mistakes could not be easily fixed without making the document look really messy.

As computers became more common place, secretaries in typing pools were no longer needed. People began to create their own documents using word processing software.

Nowadays, only senior executives tend to have the luxury of a personal secretary / typist.

Most of us have to type out own documents and so having a fully featured, easy-to-use package to hand is a great help.

The majority of people in school and the workplace are able to achieve professional looking results very easily using a modern word processing application.