Communication Studies and Language Language

Text Formatting And Layout Editing Skills Training

SAQA US 117947 | NQF 7 | Credits 10 | Duration 7 Days
From $1,523 per delegate

Description

This course equips learners with the skills to format and edit text documents professionally, focusing on layout design, typography, and style consistency. Participants will gain practical expertise in using word processing software to produce polished, business-ready documents that adhere to organisational standards.

Learning Outcomes

  • Apply advanced text formatting techniques to improve document readability and visual appeal.
  • Analyze document layouts to ensure consistency and alignment with corporate style guides.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of typography choices, including font selection, spacing, and alignment.
  • Design document templates that streamline repetitive formatting tasks.
  • Implement layout editing features such as columns, tables, and headers/footers for professional presentation.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in using styles, themes, and automated formatting tools to maintain document integrity.

Target Audience

This course is ideal for administrative staff, office managers, content creators, and any professionals who regularly produce or edit text-based documents and wish to enhance their formatting and layout skills.

Prerequisites

None — open enrollment. Basic computer literacy is recommended.

Course Outline

Day 1: Introduction to Text Formatting and Layout Principles

Objectives:
• Understand the scope and importance of text formatting and layout in professional documents.
• Identify key formatting elements: fonts, sizes, styles, and spacing.
• Recognise the role of layout in readability and visual appeal.
• Navigate the interface of common word processing software.
• Apply basic formatting to a sample document.

Topics:
• Overview of the course and unit standard requirements.
• Fundamentals of typography: serif vs sans-serif, font families, and point sizes.
• Paragraph formatting: alignment, indentation, line spacing.
• Introduction to page layout: margins, orientation, and columns.
• Hands-on practice: formatting a simple business letter.

Day 2: Advanced Text Formatting Techniques

Objectives:
• Apply character-level formatting: bold, italic, underline, superscript, subscript.
• Use styles and templates to ensure consistency.
• Create and modify bulleted and numbered lists.
• Insert and format special characters and symbols.
• Utilise find and replace with formatting options.

Topics:
• Character formatting and its impact on emphasis.
• Working with styles: creating, modifying, and applying paragraph and character styles.
• Lists: customising bullets, numbering, and multilevel lists.
• Special text elements: drop caps, text boxes, and WordArt.
• Efficient editing with advanced find and replace.

Day 3: Page Layout and Document Structure

Objectives:
• Set up page layout: margins, orientation, size, and sections.
• Insert and manage headers, footers, and page numbers.
• Use columns for newsletter-style layouts.
• Create and apply page breaks and section breaks.
• Implement watermarks and page borders.

Topics:
• Section breaks: continuous, next page, and odd/even pages.
• Headers and footers: different first page, linking/unlinking sections.
• Column layouts: balancing text and column breaks.
• Page numbering: formats, starting values, and suppression.
• Enhancing pages with watermarks, borders, and background colours.

Day 4: Working with Tables and Graphics

Objectives:
• Create and format tables: merge, split, adjust row/column size.
• Apply table styles and borders.
• Insert and position images, shapes, and SmartArt.
• Wrap text around graphics and use alignment tools.
• Use captions and cross-references for figures and tables.

Topics:
• Table creation: inserting, drawing, and converting text to tables.
• Table formatting: shading, borders, text alignment, and repeating headers.
• Graphic insertion: from files, online sources, and screenshots.
• Positioning: text wrapping, anchoring, and layering.
• Adding captions and cross-references for professional documents.

Day 5: Styles, Templates, and Automation

Objectives:
• Create and manage templates for consistent document creation.
• Use Quick Parts and AutoText for reusable content.
• Automate formatting with themes and style sets.
• Generate tables of contents, indexes, and bibliographies.
• Apply fields for dynamic content like dates and document properties.

Topics:
• Template creation: saving, modifying, and using templates.
• Quick Parts: building blocks, AutoText, and document properties.
• Themes: applying and customising fonts, colours, and effects.
• Table of contents: automatic generation and customisation.
• Indexes and bibliographies: marking entries and inserting.

Day 6: Proofreading, Collaboration, and Finalisation

Objectives:
• Use spelling and grammar checkers effectively.
• Track changes and manage comments for collaboration.
• Compare and combine documents.
• Protect documents with passwords and restrict editing.
• Prepare documents for printing and digital distribution (PDF).

Topics:
• Proofreading tools: spell check, grammar, thesaurus, and readability statistics.
• Collaboration: track changes, comments, and reviewing pane.
• Document comparison and merging changes.
• Security: password protection, marking as final, and restricting editing.
• Output preparation: print settings, PDF export, and accessibility checks.

Day 7: Integration, Assessment, and Application

Objectives:
• Integrate all skills to produce a complex, multi-section document.
• Apply layout and formatting to real-world scenarios (reports, brochures, newsletters).
• Demonstrate competence through a practical assessment.
• Review key concepts and address individual queries.
• Develop a personal action plan for continued skill development.

Topics:
• Capstone project: create a professional report or newsletter from scratch.
• Practical assessment: formatting and layout task covering all unit standard outcomes.
• Peer review and feedback session.
• Recap of best practices and common pitfalls.
• Resources for further learning and certification pathways.

Practicals

No practicals for this training.

This course is made up of exercises and case studies delivered alongside the theory — no separate practical sessions are required to complete it.

Summatives

Each delegate is assessed continuously throughout the course and a final summative test at the end.

Daily Exercises — 30%

Every training day ends with a multiple-choice exercise scored out of 100%. The scores from each daily exercise are averaged across the duration of the course to produce a Daily Average mark, which contributes 30% to the final total.

Final Test — 70%

On the last day a final summative test is written. It is a multiple-choice paper with multiple-answer questions: each question may have more than one correct option, and a single wrong selection on a question marks the entire question wrong — no partial credit. The final test is scored out of 100% and contributes 70% to the overall mark.

Final Total
Component Out of Weight
Daily Average (multiple choice) 100% 30%
Final Test (multi-answer multiple choice) 100% 70%
Final Total 100%

All marks are recorded on the AATICD LMS and visible to each learner under their account.

Certificate

Certificate of Completion

Awarded to delegates who achieve an overall mark of 50% or higher on the Final Total (Daily Average 30% + Final Test 70%).

How it works
  • Certificates are auto-generated on the AATICD LMS as soon as the marks pass the 50% threshold.
  • Each certificate is a branded PDF with the delegate's name, the course title, the unit standard ID, NQF level, credits, and the date of issue.
  • You can download or print your certificate from your LMS dashboard at any time after issue — there's no reissue fee and no expiry date.
  • If you scored under 50% you can sit the final test again at the next scheduled session at no extra cost.
Where to find it

Sign in to the LMS, open your dashboard, and your certificates appear under My Certificates. Each entry has a View / Download button and a print option.

Training Discounts

Group discounts apply automatically — the more delegates you enrol, the greater the saving. Discounts are calculated at 3% per 5 delegates, scaling up to 40% off for 100+ delegates.

Delegates Discount
5 3% off
10 6% off
15 9% off
20 12% off
25 15% off
30 18% off
50 30% off
75 35% off
100 40% off

3% discount per 5 delegates, up to 40% off for 100+ delegates. Contact us for a custom group quote.

Upcoming Training Sessions
Online training — attend live sessions from anywhere via our virtual classroom.
Start End Delivery Season Price Action
Mon 07 Sep 2026 Tue 15 Sep 2026 Virtual Spring 2026 $1,523 Register
Fri 02 Oct 2026 Mon 12 Oct 2026 Virtual Spring 2026 $1,523 Register
Thu 22 Oct 2026 Fri 30 Oct 2026 Virtual Spring 2026 $1,523 Register
Thu 10 Dec 2026 Fri 18 Dec 2026 Virtual Summer 2026 $1,523 Register
Wed 13 Jan 2027 Thu 21 Jan 2027 Virtual Summer 2026 $1,523 Register
Tue 16 Feb 2027 Wed 24 Feb 2027 Virtual Summer 2026 $1,523 Register
Mon 01 Mar 2027 Tue 09 Mar 2027 Virtual Autumn 2027 $1,523 Register
Fri 12 Mar 2027 Mon 22 Mar 2027 Virtual Autumn 2027 $1,523 Register
Thu 18 Mar 2027 Fri 26 Mar 2027 Virtual Autumn 2027 $1,523 Register
Wed 09 Jun 2027 Thu 17 Jun 2027 Virtual Winter 2027 $1,523 Register
Tue 29 Jun 2027 Wed 07 Jul 2027 Virtual Winter 2027 $1,523 Register
Mon 19 Jul 2027 Tue 27 Jul 2027 Virtual Winter 2027 $1,523 Register
Fri 10 Sep 2027 Mon 20 Sep 2027 Virtual Spring 2027 $1,523 Register
Thu 30 Sep 2027 Fri 08 Oct 2027 Virtual Spring 2027 $1,523 Register
Wed 20 Oct 2027 Thu 28 Oct 2027 Virtual Spring 2027 $1,523 Register
Thu 09 Dec 2027 Fri 17 Dec 2027 Virtual Summer 2027 $1,523 Register
Wed 29 Dec 2027 Thu 06 Jan 2028 Virtual Summer 2027 $1,523 Register
Tue 18 Jan 2028 Wed 26 Jan 2028 Virtual Summer 2027 $1,523 Register
On-Campus training — face-to-face sessions at our training venues across Africa and beyond.
Showing all 497 sessions across 26 venues
Start End Venue Season Price Action
Tue 04 Aug 2026 Wed 12 Aug 2026 Dubai, UAE Winter 2026 $5,929 Register
Wed 05 Aug 2026 Thu 13 Aug 2026 Pretoria, South Africa Winter 2026 $2,284 Register
Wed 05 Aug 2026 Thu 13 Aug 2026 Lagos, Nigeria Winter 2026 $5,173 Register
Thu 06 Aug 2026 Fri 14 Aug 2026 Johannesburg, South Africa Winter 2026 $3,283 Register
Fri 07 Aug 2026 Mon 17 Aug 2026 Mauritius Winter 2026 $4,525 Register
In-House training — we bring the trainer to your organisation, tailored to your team.
Start End Delivery Season Price Action
Tue 15 Sep 2026 Wed 23 Sep 2026 Your Premises Spring 2026 $1,982 Register
Mon 05 Oct 2026 Tue 13 Oct 2026 Your Premises Spring 2026 $1,982 Register
Fri 30 Oct 2026 Mon 09 Nov 2026 Your Premises Spring 2026 $1,982 Register
Fri 18 Dec 2026 Mon 28 Dec 2026 Your Premises Summer 2026 $1,982 Register
Thu 21 Jan 2027 Fri 29 Jan 2027 Your Premises Summer 2026 $1,982 Register
Wed 24 Feb 2027 Thu 04 Mar 2027 Your Premises Summer 2026 $1,982 Register
Tue 09 Mar 2027 Wed 17 Mar 2027 Your Premises Autumn 2027 $1,982 Register
Mon 15 Mar 2027 Tue 23 Mar 2027 Your Premises Autumn 2027 $1,982 Register
Fri 26 Mar 2027 Mon 05 Apr 2027 Your Premises Autumn 2027 $1,982 Register
Thu 17 Jun 2027 Fri 25 Jun 2027 Your Premises Winter 2027 $1,982 Register
Wed 07 Jul 2027 Thu 15 Jul 2027 Your Premises Winter 2027 $1,982 Register
Tue 27 Jul 2027 Wed 04 Aug 2027 Your Premises Winter 2027 $1,982 Register
Mon 13 Sep 2027 Tue 21 Sep 2027 Your Premises Spring 2027 $1,982 Register
Fri 08 Oct 2027 Mon 18 Oct 2027 Your Premises Spring 2027 $1,982 Register
Thu 28 Oct 2027 Fri 05 Nov 2027 Your Premises Spring 2027 $1,982 Register
Fri 17 Dec 2027 Mon 27 Dec 2027 Your Premises Summer 2027 $1,982 Register
Thu 06 Jan 2028 Fri 14 Jan 2028 Your Premises Summer 2027 $1,982 Register
Wed 26 Jan 2028 Thu 03 Feb 2028 Your Premises Summer 2027 $1,982 Register
Training Discounts
Delegates Discount
5 3% off
10 6% off
15 9% off
20 12% off
25 15% off
30 18% off
50 30% off
75 35% off
100 40% off

3% off per 5 delegates, up to 40% for 100+

View Sessions & Register Get A Quote Download Course Brochure
Have an account?

Sign in to track your applications and manage your cart.

Related Courses

Other Communication Studies and Language courses at NQF level 7 learners on this page also viewed.

Browse the full Communication Studies and Language category for communication studies and language training programmes.
GET A QUOTE / APPLY COURSE CATALOGUE