17. Use a Style  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 5 Edit Text
 SEE ALSO 18 Use a Template
Using a style is simple. You can apply a style to selected text to format that text with the style's character and paragraph formatting. Writer comes with several styles, and you can add your own. Suppose that you routinely write r sum s for other people. You might develop three separate sets of character and paragraph formats that work well, respectively, for the title of a r sum and an applicant 's personal information and work history. Instead of defining each of these formats every time you create a r sum , you can format a paragraph with each style and store the styles under their own names (such as R sum Title, R sum Personal , and R sum Work ). The next time you write a r sum , you need only to select a style, such as R sum Title, before typing the title. When you then type the title, the title looks the way you want it to look without your having to designate any character or paragraph format. One of the easiest ways to apply a style is to keep the Styles and Formatting window open at all times by pressing F11 (or by selecting Styles and Formatting from the Format menu). If you don't have the screen room to keep the Styles and Formatting window showing, you can display it when you want to apply a style and then click its Close button to hide the Styles and Formatting window once again.  TIP The Styles and Formatting window provides existing styles, and you can define your own from text you select before displaying the window.
17. Use a Style 
| 1. | Select Text for the Style
When you want to apply a predefined style to text, first select the text. Most of the time you'll select a paragraph to format with a style, so if nonprinting characters are showing, be sure to include the paragraph mark when you select the text if you want the style to apply to the entire paragraph. The format of the text will completely change depending on which style you apply, but the text itself will not change.
| | 2. | Display the Styles and Formatting Window Press F11 to display the Styles and Formatting window. If you don't see paragraph styles ( assuming you're adding a style to a paragraph), click the Paragraph Styles button in the window's upper-left corner. The style names will then appear that you can apply to your selected paragraph text. NOTE The Styles and Formatting window provides styles for characters, frames , pages, and numbered lists in addition to paragraph styles. | | 3. | Select a Style In the Styles and Formatting window, double-click the style that you want to apply. Depending on the arrangement of your screen and windows , you can usually see the style immediately applied to your selected text. If you want to try a different style, double-click another in the list. Feel free to keep the Styles and Formatting window open. TIP You can drag and drop a text selection directly into the Styles and Formatting window to create a new paragraph style or character style. | | 4. | Select Formatted Text
You can easily add your own styles to the collection Writer provides. You add styles by example. In other words, you format text to match a style you want to create and then tell Writer to create a new style based on that formatted text.
To add a new paragraph style, for example, format and then select an entire paragraph (including its paragraph symbol if nonprinting characters are showing). Press F11 to display the Styles and Formatting window if it's not currently showing.
| | 5. | Type a New Style Name
Click the New Styles button (the first button from the right at the top of the Styles and Formatting window) and then click New Style from Selection in the submenu that opens. Writer displays the Create Style dialog box.
Type a name for the style (one that does not already exist in the Styles and Formatting windowunless you want to replace one). When you click OK , Writer creates the new style based on your selected text. The next time you select text and then select your new style, Writer applies the new style's formatting to the text.
The other two options in the New Style from Selection submenu will become more useful to you as you work more with styles. If you previously created a style but want to make changes to it, modify the formatting of the text, and then follow this step and click the Update Style option in the submenu; the style is updated based on the current text selection. If you want to use styles from another document, click the Load Style option in the submenu and use the resulting dialog box to import styles from another document.
|  |
