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Applying
Styles | Modifying Styles | Creating
New Styles
Styles
are one of the building blocks that Word uses in several different ways.
Making use of the style feature enables you to take advantage of other
features like inserting a table of contents, bookmarks, and other
referencing tools. But even if you don’t want to learn these more
advanced features, learning to use Styles will still save you time and
energy.
The
easiest way to wrap your mind around Styles is to think of them as
instructions you give to Word on how you want your text to look. You can
check what instructions you’re giving Word by looking at the Style
drop-down box on your Formatting Toolbar.
All
text has a style even if you don’t apply any style formatting to the
text yourself. The default style is called “
Normal
”, which is not to be confused with the
Normal
template. Most of your document will be produced in Normal style, with
some add-ons (eg, “Normal + Italic”, meaning you’ve applied Italics
to a section of
Normal
style text).
Occasionally
you will need to apply a different style to other text, such as any
headings, in your document. Instead of increasing the font size and
bolding your headings by hand, apply a preset Heading style (such as
“Heading 1”) to your headings.
Using
preset Heading styles ensures that all your headings conform to the same
specifications. You will never have to scroll through a document to check
whether you used Arial 14pt or Arial 16pt for the headings.
You can
also change your mind later if you find a nicer font to use, or want
italicised headings instead of bold. Word 2002/03 makes this even easier
than ever – see the instructions below.
To
apply a preset style to your text, highlight it and select the style from
the Style Drop-Down Menu on the Formatting Toolbar.
OR
Choose
your style from the Style Drop-Down Menu on the Formatting Toolbar before
you start typing
Back
to top
You can
also modify styles to suit your document. In Word 2002 and 2003, this can
be done through the Styles and Formatting Task Pane – for older
versions, access the Modify Style Menu through Format, Style…
(Word 2003/03)
-
Click
FORMAT, STYLES AND FORMATTING… (or the Styles and Formatting button
on the Formatting Toolbar)
-
In
the Task Pane, click the down-arrow of the style you wish to change
and select MODIFY…
-
In
the Modify Style dialog box, use the Font drop-down box, bold, italic,
and underline buttons, and alignment buttons to alter the style until
it looks the way you want it to.
-
If
you’re feeling more adventurous, the Format floating menu gives you
more advanced options for changing and setting up your style.
(Word 97/2000)
-
Click
FORMAT, STYLES…
-
In the Styles dialog box, select the style you wish to alter,
or the style that looks most similar to what you want to achieve.
Click MODIFY…
-
Use
the Font drop-down box, bold, italic, and underline buttons, and
alignment buttons to alter the style until it looks the way you want
it to.
-
If
you’re feeling more adventurous, the Format floating menu gives you
more advanced options for changing and setting up your style.
Back
to top
Creating
new styles is very similar to modifying existing styles, because all new
styles have to be based on an existing style. The difference is that
instead of merely changing one style, you now have two styles. This is
useful if you still want to use the existing style in your document, in
addition to the new style.
(Word
2003/03)
-
Click
FORMAT, STYLES AND FORMATTING…, In the Task Pane, click NEW STYLE…
-
In
the New Style dialog box, type a name for your style, and select an
existing style to base the new style on.
-
Use
the Font drop-down box, bold, italic, and underline buttons, and
alignment buttons to alter the style until it looks the way you want
it to. Click OK to accept all your settings.
(Word 97/2000)
-
Click
FORMAT, STYLES…
-
In the Styles dialog box, click NEW…
-
In
the New Style dialog box, type a name for your style, and select an
existing style to base the new style on.
-
Use
the Font drop-down box, bold, italic, and underline buttons, and
alignment buttons to alter the style until it looks the way you want
it to. Click OK to accept all your settings.
Back
to top
You
will notice that the Modify Style dialog box has a checkable option called
“Automatically Update”. Using
this option allows you to make any changes you want to your text, and Word
will automatically change all the other text in that style to match your
changes.
This is
great for keeping consistency, but can be annoying if you didn’t want
the rest of the document to be updated. TIP – click UNDO once to reverse
the update. If this happens to you often, access the Modify Style dialog
box and uncheck the box next to Automatically Update.
With
Word 2002/03, the automatic update feature does not have to be turned on,
making it far less irritating with common styles like
Normal
. If you do make a change that you want reflected throughout your
document, simply:
-
Highlight
the text you’ve changed
-
Click
the Styles and Formatting button on your Formatting Toolbar to access
the Task Pane
-
Click
the down-arrow next to the original style (not the new one that’s
been created with “+ [your changes]” after the style name)
-
Select
“Update to match selection”
Alternatively, you can do either of the following to change the appearance
of a particular style (using Word 2002/03):
- Right-click on an area of text
with the style you want to change.
- Click “Select Text with
Similar Formatting”
- Make the changes
OR
- In the Styles and Formatting
Task Pane, click the down-arrow of the style you want to change
- Click “Select all [number]
instance(s)”
- Make the formatting changes
These last two options are
temporary changes. If you continue typing outside the changed style area,
using the original style, your new typing will not reflect the changes.
Back to top
You’ll
also notice, alongside the Automatic Update option on the Modify Style
dialog box, is an option to “Add to template”.
Checking
this option will save any changes you make to the style over the style
setting in the
Normal
template. Therefore, every time you open a new blank document, the styles
you added or changed on the template will be available to you.
Back to top
copyright © Elsa Neal 2005 (Please contact the
for permission to reprint this article.)
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