4.8. Formatting with Styles Like the Format Painter, Word's styles are great time-savers because they let you apply a whole bunch of formatting commands in one fell swoop. Unlike Format Painter, Word's styles are permanent repositories of formatting information that you can always apply with one click. So, if you've discovered or created the perfect style (formatting) for a heading, you can apply that same style to headings today, tomorrow, or a week from tomorrow. Microsoft provides sets of predesigned Quick Styles. These sets include a Normal style for body text and a number of Heading styles. You can also find a variety of styles for lists, quotes, references, and for paragraphs or text that deserve special emphasis. With a click of your mouse, you can apply any one of these styles and make dramatic changes to your document (Figure 4-21). Some styles define character formatting, such as font, font size , font style, and special effects such as underlining or strikethrough . Other styles define both character formatting and paragraph formatting. Paragraph formatting includes things like paragraph alignment, line spacing, bullets, numbering, indents, and tab settings. | | Figure 4-21. This attractive page uses four Quick Styles: Book Title style centers the text and sets the font to 30-point Constantia with colored borders above and below. Heading 1 for the chapter heading uses a different color and generous paragraph spacing. The Heading 2 spec uses a complementary color and closer paragraph spacing. Finally, the body text uses the Normal style, which provides, among other things, an indent for the first line of each paragraph. | | 4.8.1. Applying Quick Styles It's easy to preview and apply a style to your text. The action takes place in the Styles group on the Home tab. Follow these steps: -
Select the text or paragraph that you want to format . When you want to apply a style to an entire paragraph, just click to put the insertion point in that paragraph. When you want to apply a style to text, you need to select the text first. -
Go to Home Styles and hold your cursor over a style to see a live preview in your document . The Styles group shows a few styles right on the ribbon. To see more styles, use the arrows on the right to scroll through the list, or click the button at bottom to open the entire menu (Figure 4-22). When you hold the mouse cursor over a style, the text in your document changes, showing you the effect of applying that style. -
Click to apply the style . When you click a style on the ribbon or in the menu, Word applies that style to your paragraph or text selection. | | Figure 4-22. Each style is a collection of formatting commands that you can apply with a mouse click. To browse the available styles, go to Home Styles. When you hold your mouse over a style, the text in your document changes, giving you a live preview of the style. Word offers dozens of predesigned Quick Styles, or you can create your own. | | |