Changing the Look of Paragraphs


You can enhance the appearance of a paragraph by changing the way text is aligned, modifying the spacing between paragraphs, and adding borders and shading around text. In Word, a paragraph is any amount of text that ends when you press the [ENTER] key. A paragraph can include a single sentence consisting of one or more words, or several sentences.

You control the width of paragraphs by setting the left and right margins, and you control the length of pages by setting the top and bottom margins. The margin size controls the amount of white space that surrounds your text. You can use the options in the Page Setup dialog box to control the margins of the entire document and of specific sections of the document.

After you ve set up a document s margins, you can control the position of the text within the margins. In Word, you can align lines of text in different locations along the horizontal ruler using tab stops. You can also indent paragraphs, controlling where the first line of text begins, where the second and subsequent lines begin, and where paragraph text wraps at the right margin.

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Finding and Replacing Formatting

In addition to searching for words and phrases, you can use the Find and Replace dialog box to search for a specific format and replace it with a different format.

To search for a specific format and replace it with a different format:

  1. On the Edit menu, click Replace .

    The Find and Replace dialog box appears, displaying the Replace tab.

  2. Click the More button to expand the dialog box, click the Format button, and then click Font or Paragraph .

    The Find Font or Find Paragraph dialog box appears. (You can also click Styleto search for paragraph styles or character styles.)

  3. In the dialog box, click the format you want to find, and then click OK .

  4. Click the Replace With text box, click Format , click Font or Paragraph , click theformat you want to use, and then click OK .

  5. Click Find Next to search for the next occurrence of the format, and then click Replace to replace that one instance or Replace All to replace every instance.

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While you are adjusting the appearance of paragraphs in a document, it is a good idea to work in Print Layout view, which shows two rulers: the horizontal ruler at the top and the vertical ruler along the left side of the document window.

You can use Word s horizontal ruler to set tab stops . Tab stops are locations across the page that you can use to align text. By default, left-aligned tab stops are set every half- inch, as indicated by gray marks below the ruler. To set a tab stop using the ruler, you click the Tab button located at the left end of the ruler until the type of tab stopyou want appears. This table shows the Tab button options.

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After selecting the type of tab stop, you click the ruler where you want to set the tab stop. Word then removes any default tab stops to the left of the one you set. To remove a tab stop, you drag it down and away from the ruler.

To move the text to the right of the insertion point to the next tab stop, you press the [TAB] key. The text is then aligned on the tab stop according to its type. For example, if you set a center tab stop, pressing [TAB] moves the text so that its center is aligned with the tab stop.

Tip  

When you want to fine-tune the position of tab stops, you can click Tabs on the Format menu to display the Tabs dialog box. You might also open this dialog box if you want to use tab leaders ” visible marks such as dots or dashes connecting the text before the tab with the text after it. For example, tab leaders are useful in a table of contents to carry the eye from the text to the page number.

In addition to tab stops, the horizontal ruler also displays indent markers that use to control how text wraps on the left or right side of a document. You use these markers to indent text from the left or right margins as shown in this table.

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You can also position text within the document s margin using the alignment buttons on the Formatting toolbar, as shown in this table.

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To add space between paragraphs, you can press the [ENTER] key to insert a blank line, or for more precise control, you can adjust the spacing before and after paragraphs. For example, instead of indicating a new paragraph by indenting the first line, you could add 12 points of blank space before a new paragraph. You use the Paragraph dialog box to adjust the paragraph spacing.

You also use the Paragraph dialog box to adjust line spacing. You can select Single, 1.5 lines, or Double spacing; or you can enter a specific spacing in points.

To set off a paragraph from the rest of the document, you can add borders and shading. For example, if The Garden Company is sending a letter to customers advertising a spring sale, they might put a border around the paragraph they want customers to pay the most attention to. Alternatively, they might shade the background of the paragraph to create a subtler effect.

Collectively, the settings used to vary the look of paragraphs are called paragraph formatting . After you indent, align, space, border, or shade one paragraph, you can press [ENTER] to apply the same formatting to the next paragraph that you type. To apply the formatting to an existing paragraph, you can use the Format Painter button to quickly copy the formatting of one paragraph to another.

In this exercise, you ll set margins, change text alignment, insert and modify tab stops, modify line spacing, and add borders and shading around text to change the appearance of the paragraphs in the document.

USE the FormatPara document in the practice file folder for this topic. This practice file is locatedin the  My Documents\Microsoft Press\Office 2003 SBS\ChangingText\ChangingPara folder and can also be accessed by clicking Start/All Programs/Microsoft Press/Microsoft Office System 2003 Step by Step .

OPEN the FormatPara document.

  1. In the lower-left corner of the document window, click the Print Layout View button. Then zoom the page to 75% .

    You can now see how the text column is aligned between the left and right margins. In addition to the horizontal ruler at the top of the document window, a vertical ruler appears on the left side of the document window.

  2. On the File menu, click Page Setup .

    The Page Setup dialog box appears, displaying the Margins tab with the value in the Top text box selected in the Margins area,

  3. Type 1.5" . Then select the value in the Bottom text box, and type 1.5" .

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  4. Click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.

    The amount of blank space at the top and bottom of each page increases from 1 inch to 1.5 inches.

    Tip  

    The standard size of a page is 8.5 inches by 11 inches. With marginsof 1.5 inches on each side, you are left with a work area that is 5.5 inches wide.

  5. Click immediately to the left of the word for in the title, hold down the [SHIFT] key, press the [ENTER] key, and then on the Formatting toolbar, click the Center button.

    You have broken the title so that it wraps to a second line without starting a new paragraph. Word indicates this text wrapping break or line break with a bent arrow and centers the two lines of the title, making it appear more balanced.

    Tip  

    When you apply paragraph formatting to a line of text that ends with a line break, the formatting is applied to the entire paragraph, not just that line.

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  6. Click anywhere in the first paragraph, and then on the Formatting toolbar, click the Justify button.

    The edges of the paragraph are now flush against both the left and right margins.

  7. On the horizontal ruler, drag the First Line Indent marker to the 0.5-inch mark.

    The first line of text is indented a half inch from the left margin.

  8. Click anywhere in the paragraph that starts The description should explain , and on the horizontal ruler, drag the Left Indent marker to the 0.5-inch mark.

    The First Line Indent and Hanging Indent markers move with the Left Indent marker, and the entire paragraph is now indented a half inch from the left margin.

  9. Drag the Right Indent marker to the 5-inch mark.

    The paragraph is now indented from the right margin as well.

    Tip  

    Left and right margin indents are often used to draw attention to special paragraphs, such as quotations.

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  10. Scroll down the page, select the Dates: and Tickets cost: paragraphs, make sure the Left Tab button is active, and click the ruler at the 1-inch mark to set a left tab stop.

  11. Click to the left of the word Dates: to position the insertion point there, and then press the [TAB] key.

    Word left-aligns the text at the new tab stop.

  12. Press [END] to move the insertion point to the end of the line, and press [ENTER] to create a new paragraph. Press [TAB], and then type Times: .

  13. Press [ENTER] to create a new paragraph, press [TAB], type Location: , press the [ ’] key to move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph, and then press [TAB].

  14. Drag through any part of the two paragraphs that start with $10.00 and $6.00 , click the Tab button three times to activate the Decimal Tab button, and then click the ruler at the 2.5-inch mark to set a decimal tab.

    Tip  

    When applying paragraph formatting, you don t have to select the entire paragraph.

  15. Click to the left of $10.00 , press [TAB], click to the left of $6.00 , and press [TAB] again.

    The dollar amounts are now aligned on their decimal points.

  16. Drag again through any part of the two paragraphs with dollar amounts, and on the horizontal ruler, drag the decimal tab stop from the 2.5-inch mark to the 2.0-inch mark. Then press the [HOME] key to see the results.

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  17. Press [CONTROL]+[HOME] to move the insertion point to the top of the document, and on the Format menu, click Paragraph .

    The Paragraph dialog box appears.

    Tip  

    When you want to make several adjustments to the alignment, indentation, and spacing of selected paragraphs, it is sometimes quicker to use the Paragraph dialog box than to click buttons and drag markers.

  18. In the Spacing area, click the up arrow to the right of the After text box untilthe setting is 12 pt .

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  19. Click OK to close the Paragraph dialog box.

    The paragraph below the title moves down, setting the title off from the restof the document.

  20. On the Standard toolbar, click the Format Painter button, point to the Event Title paragraph, and click to copy the formatting from the title paragraph.

    Word changes the font size of the paragraph to 18 points and adds space between the title paragraph and the following one.

  21. On the Format menu, click Paragraph , and in the Spacing area of the Paragraph dialog box, click the up arrow to the right of the Before text box until the settingis 12 pt . Then click OK .

    Word adds space between the Event Title paragraph and the one before it.

  22. Scroll to the bottom of the document, drag through any part of the last four paragraphs, and then on the Formatting toolbar, click the Center button.

    Word centers the paragraphs.

  23. On the Format menu, click Paragraph , click the down arrow to the right of the Line Spacing text box, click 1.5 lines , and click OK .

  24. On the Format menu, click Borders and Shading .

    The Borders and Shading dialog box appears, displaying the Borders tab.

  25. In the Setting area, click the Shadow icon to select that border style.

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    Tip  

    You can change the settings in the Style, Color , and Width boxes to create the kind of border you want. If you want only one, two, or three sides of the paragraph to have a border, click the buttons surrounding the image in the Preview area.

  26. Click the Shading tab, click the Light Yellow box in the third column of the last row of the color palette, and then click OK .

    A border with a shadow surrounds the text, and the background color is light yellow.

  27. Move the pointer to the center of the page about two lines below the yellow shaded box.

    The pointer s shape changes to indicate that double-clicking will center whatever text you type next. You can use this Click and Type feature to create appropriately aligned text wihtout pressing the [ENTER] key.

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  28. Double-click to position the insertion point, and then type All announcements must be submitted 6 months in advance.

    The newly inserted text appears centered in the document.

  29. On the Formatting toolbar, click the Show/Hide button to hide the formatting marks.

    Word hides the non-printing characters .

  30. On the Standard toolbar, click the Save button.

    Word saves your changes to the document.

CLOSE the FormatPara document.




Microsoft Office 2003 Step by Step
MicrosoftВ® Office ExcelВ® 2003 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))
ISBN: 0735615187
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 350
Authors: Curtis Frye

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