Formatting with Styles

You can work through a document applying formats to headings and other special paragraphs one by one, but Word provides an easier way: You can store custom combinations of formatting by defining the combination as a style . You can then apply that combination to a highlighted text selection or a paragraph simply by selecting the style from the Style button s drop-down list on the Formatting toolbar.

Every paragraph you write has a style. When you open a new blank document, it is based on the Normal template, and Word applies that template s Normal style to all paragraphs unless instructed to do otherwise . This Normal style formats characters as 12-point regular Times New Roman and paragraphs as left-aligned and single- spaced . When you base a document on a template other than Normal, the styles included as part of that template are available, and you can format the document simply by applying those styles to selected text or paragraphs. It s well worth taking the time to learn how to use Word s predefined styles and how to define styles of your own.

Information about  

Templates, page 66

Viewing the Style List

In Chapter 2, you created a new document based on the default Normal template. As you learned while working with that document, Word comes with nine predefined heading styles, one for each of the heading levels you can designate when outlining a document. The Normal template also has predefined paragraph styles for a number of other common document elements, such as normal text, index entries, headers, footers, and footnotes.

Character styles vs. paragraph styles

Character styles affect only the selected text, and these styles are applied on top of any paragraph formats assigned to the selected text. Paragraph styles affect the entire paragraph containing the insertion point. For example, you can apply a paragraph style that makes the font and size of an entire paragraph 12-point regular Arial, and then you can select the first word and apply a character style that makes just that word bold, italic, and underlined . If you later apply a different paragraph style that makes the font and size of the entire paragraph 14-point regular Times New Roman, the first word will retain its character formatting and will remain bold, italic, and underlined.

 

For a new document based on the Normal template, Word lists only the Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and Normal paragraph styles. Word does not list the other predefined styles unless you insert one of those elements in the document. Then Word both applies the corresponding style to the element and adds the style to the Style list. When Word applies one of its built-in styles to an element, it uses the formatting that has been predefined for that element. Once the style is available on the Style list, you can apply it to other paragraphs. You can also redefine the style to suit the document you are creating, and you can create new styles.

Let s look at the styles available for the Flyer document:

1. Press Ctrl+Home to move to the top of the document, and then on the Formatting toolbar, click the Style box s down arrow to drop down a list of the styles in the document.

2. Scroll through the list.

   The list includes the styles from both the memo template and the FAQ document, each displayed with the formatting that will be applied to the selected paragraph if you select that style. To the right of the style name , Word displays the paragraph alignment, the font size, and whether the style is a paragraph style or a character style. Paragraph styles are indicated with a paragraph mark in the right margin, and character styles are indicated with a letter a . In addition, when your documents contains a list or table, you ll see list styles designated by a bulleted list and table styles designated by a four-square grid.

3. At the bottom of the list, click More .

   The Style and Formatting task pane opens. This task pane provides a central location for features and options related to styles.

4. At the bottom of the task pane, click the Show box s down arrow, and then click Available Styles in the drop-down list.

   The Pick formatting to apply list now shows all the styles that can be applied to the Flyer document, whether or not the document already contains an element to which the styles have been applied.

5. Close the task pane.

Creating a Style from an Existing Paragraph

Although Word does a good job of anticipating the document elements for which you will need styles, you will often want to create additional styles of your own. Suppose you want to delete the space between the first two paragraphs of the flyer and then indent their first lines so that it s easy to tell at a glance where one paragraph ends and another begins. You also want to make some changes to the FAQ part of the flyer, so let s create a couple of styles now:

1. Delete the paragraph mark between the first and second paragraphs.

2. Click anywhere in the first paragraph, and on the Format menu, click Paragraph .

3. Click the Indents and Spacing tab.

   Word displays the Paragraph dialog box shown in this graphic:

   

   Notice that you can control the alignment, the indentation, the space above and below paragraphs, and the line spacing (single-spaced, double-spaced, and so on) all from this one dialog box.

4. In the Indentation area, click the Special box s down arrow, and click First line in the drop-down list.

   Word enters the default first-line indent in the By text box and shows in the Preview box how your text will look with this setting.

5. Change the setting in the By text box to 0.15" , change the After setting in the Spacing area to 6 pt , and click OK .

   The results are shown in this graphic:

   

6. Select the paragraph, and change the font size to 12 .

7. Display the Styles and Formatting task pane by clicking the Styles and Formatting button on the Formatting toolbar.

8. With the first paragraph still selected, click the New Style button in the Styles and Formatting task pane.

9. In the Name text box, type Indented Paragraph , and click OK .

   Word creates the style and adds its name to the Style list so that you can then apply it to other paragraphs. In the Style box on the Formatting toolbar, Indented Paragraph appears, indicating that it is applied to the current paragraph.

Hyphenating a document

You can make both the left and right edges of a document even with the margins by clicking the Justify button on the Formatting toolbar or by selecting the Justify option in the Alignment area of the Paragraph dialog box. Word adds space between the words as necessary to achieve this affect, and if the spaces are too large, you will probably want to hyphenate some words to eliminate large gaps. To hyphenate a document, press Ctrl+Home to move to the top of the document, click Language and then Hyphenation on the Tools menu, and then select Automatically hyphenate document in the dialog box. Deselect Hyphenate words in CAPS if you don t want Word to words in capital letters to be broken across lines, and specify the number of consecutive lines Word can hyphenate in the Limit consecutive hyphens to area. Then click OK to have Word quickly hyphenate words appropriately. (You might be prompted to install this feature before you can use it.)

Information about  

Changing a selected style, page 89

 

Creating a Style from Scratch

Now turn your attention to the FAQ part of the flyer. Suppose you want to create a paragraph style in which there s some space before each paragraph and the size of the characters is slightly smaller. (Paragraphs with space before them are called open paragraphs .) Follow these steps:

1. Click the first text paragraph in the FAQ section, and in the Styles and Formatting task pane, click the New Style button to display the New Style dialog box.

2. Click the Format button in the lower-left corner, and then click Paragraph to display the Paragraph dialog box.

3. In the Spacing area, change the Before setting to 3 pt , and click OK .

4. In the Formatting area of the New Style dialog box, change the font size to 10 .

5. In the Name box, select Style1 , type Open Paragraph as this style s name, and click OK .

Applying a Style

After you have created a style, you can apply it to any characters or paragraphs you want, making the work of formatting a document go much faster. Follow these steps to apply the new Indented Paragraph and Open Paragraph styles to some paragraphs in the flyer:

Copying styles

Once you have created a style for use in one document, you don t have to re-create it for use in others ”you can simply copy the style to a new document or template. To copy a style, click Templates and Add-Ins on the Tools menu, and click the Organizer button. The Styles tab shows a list of styles available in the current document. Simply select the style you want and click Copy to make the style available to the document or template selected in the Styles available in box (To select a different document or template, click Close File, and then click Open File to browse to the file you want.)

 

1. Click in the second paragraph of the flyer, and in the Pick formatting to apply list in the Styles and Formatting task pane, click the Indented Paragraph style.

   Word changes the style of the second paragraph so that its formatting is consistent with the first paragraph.

2. Select the second paragraph in the FAQ section, and then click Open Paragraph in the Style list to apply that style.

3. Select the next paragraph of the FAQ, and on the Edit menu, click Repeat Style .

   Word repeats the previous formatting action, applying the Open Paragraph style to the third paragraph.

4. In turn, select the remaining text paragraphs of the FAQ (including the numbered paragraphs), and apply the Open Paragraph style to them.

5. Now go back and select the second and third paragraphs under the How does it work? heading, and click the Numbering button on the Formatting toolbar to apply the numbered-list format on top of the Open Paragraph style. Click anywhere to deselect the paragraphs.

6. Close the Styles and Formatting task pane by clicking its Close button.

   The results are shown in this graphic:

   

7. Check the layout of the pages by clicking the Print Preview button.

8. If the text does not fit on just the first page, click Close and then click Page Setup on the File menu.

9. On the Margins tab, set both the Top and Bottom settings to 0.75" , select Whole Document in the Apply to dropdown list, and then click OK .

10. Check the document in Print Preview again to verify that all the text now fits on the first page, and then close Print Preview.

Modifying styles

To modify one of Word s default styles or one of your own, first display the Styles and Formatting task pane, and then select the style you want to modify in the Pick formatting to apply list. Right-click the selection, and click Modify on the shortcut menu to display the Modify Style dialog box. Change the formatting options as necessary. Select the Automatically update check box if you want the style to be redefined whenever you make a change to any text that uses it. To use the modified style in new documents based on the same template, select the Add to template check box. Click OK to implement your choices. When you redefine a style, all text in the current document to which that style has been applied is updated.