Formatting Text

Word offers many shortcuts for applying formatting to the text in your documents.

Shortcuts for Formatting Text

Toggle all caps

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [A]

All caps capitalizes all letters in the selection but has no effect on non-letter keys (for example, numbers ) ”unlike pressing [Shift] or applying [Caps{Lock] and typing.

Toggle small caps

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [K]

Small caps applies SMALL CAPITALS to all letters in the selection.

Cycle the case of the selection

[Shift] - [F3]

This shortcut cycles the case among lowercase, title case (the first letter of each word is capitalized), and uppercase (all letters are capitalized). This shortcut is an alternative to the Format Change Case command, but that command also offers a Sentence Case option (the first letter of each sentence is capitalized) and a tOGGLE cASE command (Word inverts the capitalization of each letter).

Toggle boldface

[Ctrl] - [B] , [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [B]

Both these shortcuts work the same way, but there s no reason to use the [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [B] shortcut unless you ve reassigned the [Ctrl] - [B] shortcut. The [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [B ] shortcut is there for backward compatibility with older versions of Word.

Toggle underline

[Ctrl] - [U] , [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [U]

Both these shortcuts work the same way, but there s no reason to use the [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [U] shortcut (which is there for backward compatibility) unless you ve reassigned the [Ctrl] - [U] shortcut.

Toggle word underline

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [W]

Word underline applies an underscore to each word and to punctuation, but not to the spaces between words. Unlike the previous two shortcuts, you must press [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [W] to apply word underline from the keyboard; [Ctrl] - [W] is the shortcut for closing the active window.

Toggle double underlining on the selection

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [D]

Toggle subscript

[Ctrl] - [=]

Subscript decreases the font size of the selected text and lowers it below the base line of the other characters .

Note

The Character Spacing tab of the Font dialog box gives you finer control over subscripts and superscripts.

Toggle superscript

[Ctrl] - [+]

Superscript decreases the font size of the selected text and raises it above the base line of the other characters.

Toggle character and character code

[Alt] - [X]

The character code is the Unicode number used to identify the character. Place the insertion point after the character or character code you want to toggle, and then press [Alt] - [X] to toggle it. For example, type 20AC and then press [Alt] - [X] to toggle it to a euro symbol ( ‚). Word 2000 Word 2000 doesn t support the [Alt] - [X] keyboard shortcut.

Display the Font dialog box

[Ctrl] - [D]

If your hands are on the keyboard, this is the easiest way of displaying the Font dialog box.

Select the Font Size drop-down list

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [P]

Use this shortcut to quickly activate the Font Size drop-down list without taking your hands off the keyboard. See also the next four shortcuts for even quicker ways of changing the font size using the keyboard.

Increase the font size in jumps

[Ctrl] - [ > ]

With this shortcut and the [Ctrl] - [ < ] shortcut, Word uses the font sizes listed in the Font Size drop-down list and the Font dialog box: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, and so on.

Decrease the font size in jumps

[Ctrl] - [ < ]

Use this shortcut to quickly decrease the font size to the next size that Word lists.

Increase the font size by one point

[Ctrl] -]

Use this shortcut to increase the font size gradually. If you hold down this shortcut, you can wait as Word gradually increases the font size to the size you need.

Decrease the font size by one point

[Ctrl] -[

Use this shortcut to decrease the font size gradually rather than in jumps. Again, you can hold down this shortcut and wait as Word gradually decreases the font size.

Apply the Symbol font

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [Q]

When you need the Symbol font, this shortcut is much quicker than applying it via the Font drop-down list or the Font dialog box.

Display the Style dialog box

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [S]

In Word 2000 and Word 2003, this shortcut is the quickest way of displaying the Style dialog box. Word XP In Word XP, pressing [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [S] activates the Style drop-down list rather than displaying the Style dialog box.

AutoFormat the document

[Ctrl] - [Alt] - [K]

The AutoFormat operation uses the settings you ve chosen on the AutoFormat tab of the AutoCorrect Options dialog box (Tools AutoCorrect). Word displays the AutoFormat dialog box before performing the AutoFormat, so you can cancel the operation if you invoked it by mistake.

Make the selection hidden text

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [H]

You can display hidden text by pressing [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [*] (on the number row), by selecting the All check box on the View tab of the Options dialog box (Tools Options), or by clicking the Show/Hide button on the Standard toolbar.

Copy the formatting of the selection

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [C]

Pressing this keyboard shortcut is the equivalent of clicking the Format Painter button on the Standard toolbar: it copies the formatting of the selected text or other object to the Clipboard, so that you can paste it to other text (or another object).

Apply the copied formatting to the selection

[Ctrl] - [Shift] - [V]

After copying formatting using [Ctrl] - [Shift] - [C] (or by clicking the Format Painter button), apply the formatting to its destination by using this shortcut or by clicking the Format Painter button.