This manual, along with the Canon Cat Reference Guide and the Canon Cat Reference Card, was supplied with the Canon Cat beginning in 1987. The manuals; by David Alzofon, Dave Caulkins, Jef Raskin, and James Winter; were written on the Canon Cat. We are grateful to Russell Nelson for putting them into computer-readable form.

Use the links below to view the manual or download it in PDF format (about 31 MB).

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Table of Contents

For The New Owner  i
Table of Contents  iii
What Is the Cat?  v

Setting Up and Starting Up  1

Packing List  002
Getting to Know Your Cat  002
Care and Feeding of the Cat  003
Introducing the Keyboard  005
Introducing the Disk Drive System  006
A Look at the Back  008
Plugging In Your Cat  009
Connecting Your Printer  010
How to Set Up the Canon Laser Beam Printer VP3103II  012
Hooking Up Your Phone  015
Final Checklist  016
What's On the Screen  017

Tutorial  019

Step 1. Learning the Basics  020
Step 2. How to Type, Print, and Record Your First Document  035

Basic Functions  043

Typing  044
Page Numbering  047
Marking the Beginning of a Document  049
Titling Your Documents  050
Understanding the Ruler Line  052
Leaping  054
Highlighting Text  060
Moving Text  065
Erasing Text  067
Using the Disk Drive  070
Printing Your Document  076
Using the UNDO and EXPLAIN Keys  078

Advanced Functions  079

Customizing the Appearance of Paragraphs  080

1. Setting Margins and Indents  083
2. Setting Tabs  084
3. Setting Line Spacing  087
4. Styling the Paragraphs  088

Customizing the Appearance of Words/Letters  090

1. Capitalizing Words/Letters  090
2. Underlining Words/Letters   091
3. Making Boldface Words/Letters  091

Copying Text  092
Checking and Correcting Your Spelling  093
Protecting Your Documents Against Changes  095
Leaping Within a Specified Area  096
Changing the Keyboard Setting  097

Other Userful Features  098

Using the Cat Over the Telephone  099

1. Dialing and Hanging Up  099
2. Holding a Cat Conversation  103
3. Talking With Outside Data Services  106

Calculating With the Cat  109
Putting Text in Alphabetical/Numerical Order  122
Teaching the Cat to Repeat Your Commands  128
Changing Document Formats  132
Stopping an Operation Already in Progress  133
Creating and Printing Form Letters  134

Regulations and Requirements  141

Index  146

Command Index  147