Formatting Text - Working with Word - Office 2016 For Dummies (2016)

Office 2016 For Dummies (2016)

Part II

Working with Word

Chapter 6

Formatting Text

In This Chapter

arrow Changing fonts

arrow Changing the font size

arrow Using text styles

arrow Coloring text

arrow Justifying text

arrow Creating lists

After you type text into a document, edit it, and check it for spelling and grammatical errors, you’re ready to make it look pretty — a process known as formatting text. A properly formatted document can make your text easy to read, while a poorly formatted document can make even the best writing difficult or confusing to read.

The Home tab groups Word’s formatting tools into three categories:

· Font: Defines the font, font size, color, highlighting, and style (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, and case).

· Paragraph: Defines justification (left, center, or right), line spacing, shading, borders, indentation, formatting symbols, and list style (bullets, numbered, and outline)

· Styles: Displays predefined formatting that you can apply to your text

To format any text, follow these steps:

1. Select the text you want to format.

2. Choose a formatting tool.

remember When you choose certain formatting commands such as italic, bold, or underline, the command you’ve chosen stays on until you turn it off by choosing the same command again.

tip As soon as you select text by dragging the mouse, Word displays the most commonly used formatting tools in a floating toolbar. You can click any icon on this floating toolbar rather than click the same icon stored on the Ribbon.

Changing the Font

The most common way to format text is to change the font. The font defines the uniform style and appearance of letters; examples include Baskerville, Courier, langa-1, and langa-2.

To change the font, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to change.

3. Click the Font list box.

A list of the fonts available on your computer appears, as shown in Figure 6-1.

4. Move the mouse pointer over each font.

Word temporarily changes your selected text (from Step 2) so you can see how the currently highlighted font will look.

5. Click the font you want to use.

Word changes your text to appear in your chosen font.

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Figure 6-1: The Font list box displays the appearance of each font.

tip As a general rule, try not to use more than three fonts in a document. If you use too many fonts, the overall appearance can be langa-3 langa-4 langa-5.

remember Not all computers have the same lists of fonts, so if you plan on sharing documents with others, stick with common fonts that everybody’s computers can display. The more bizarre the font, the less likely everybody will have that font on their computers.

Changing the Font Size

The font changes the appearance of text, but the font size defines how big (or small) the text may look. To change the font size, you have two choices:

· Select a numeric size from the Font Size list box.

· Choose the Increase Font/Decrease Font commands by either clicking on the icons or by pressing either Ctrl + ] (Increase Font Size) or Ctrl + [ (Decrease Font Size).

remember You can use both methods to change the font size of text. For example, you may use the Font Size list box to choose an approximate size for your text, and then use the Increase Font/Decrease Font commands to fine-tune the font size.

To change the font size, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to change.

3. Choose one of the following:

· Click the Font Size list box and then click a number, such as 12 or 24, as shown in Figure 6-2.

· Click either the Increase Font or Decrease Font icon, or press Ctrl + ] or Ctrl + [.

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Figure 6-2: Changing the font size changes how big or small your text appears.

Changing the Text Style

The text style defines the appearance of text in one or more of the following ways:

· Bold: Press Ctrl+B.

· Italic: Press Ctrl+I.

· Underline: Press Ctrl+U.

· Strikethrough: This formatting draws a line through text.

· Subscript: Use this to create text that falls below the text line, as in the 2 in H2O.

· Superscript: Use this to create text that sits higher than the top of the text line, as in the 2 in E = mc2.

To change the style of text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to change.

3. Click a Style icon, such as Bold or Underline.

4. Repeat Step 3 for each additional style you want to apply to your text (such as italic and underline).

tip If you select any style change without selecting any text, Word applies your style changes to any new text you type from the cursor’s current position.

Changing Colors

Color can emphasize text. There are two ways to use color:

· Change the color of the text (Font color).

· Highlight the text with a different color (Text Highlight color).

Changing the color of text

When you change the color of text, you’re physically displaying a different color for each letter. Normally Word displays text in black, but you can change the color to anything you want, such as bright red or dark green.

remember If you choose a light color for your text, it may be hard to read against a white background.

To change the color of text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to color.

3. Click the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the Font Color icon.

A color palette appears, as shown in Figure 6-3.

4. Click a color.

Word displays your selected text (from Step 2) in your chosen color.

image

Figure 6-3: Coloring text in different ways can emphasize parts of your document.

tip After you choose a color, that color appears directly on the Font Color icon. Now you can select text and click directly on the Font Color icon (not the downward-pointing arrow) to color your text.

Highlighting text with color

Highlighting text mimics coloring chunks of text with a highlighting marker that students often use to emphasize passages in a book. To highlight text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to highlight.

3. Click the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the Text Highlight Color icon.

A color palette appears, as shown in Figure 6-4.

4. Click a color.

Word highlights your selected text (from Step 2) in your chosen color.

5. Press Esc (or click the Text Highlight Color icon again) to turn off the Text Highlight Color command.

image

Figure 6-4: The Text Highlight Color palette lets you choose a highlighting color.

To remove a highlight, select the text and choose the same color again or choose No Color.

tip If no text is selected and the Text Highlight Color currently displays a color you want to use (such as yellow), you can click the Text Highlight Color icon (not its downward-pointing arrow). This turns the mouse pointer into a marker icon. Now you can select and highlight text in one step.

Using Text Effects

If you want a fast way to format text to make it appear colorful like a neon sign, then you can use Text Effects by following these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to modify.

3. Click the Text Effects icon.

A menu of different effects appears, as shown in Figure 6-5.

4. Click an effect.

Word changes your selected text (from Step 2) in your chosen visual effect.

image

Figure 6-5: The Text Effects menu displays all available visual effects for text.

technicalstuff Text Effects are a special feature of recent versions of Office. If you save your document in an older Word file format (such as Word 97-2003), you won’t be able to use Text Effects.

Justifying Text Alignment

Word can align text in one of four ways, as shown in Figure 6-6:

· Left: Text appears flush against the left margin but ragged on the right margin.

· Center: Every line appears centered within the left and right margins.

· Right: Text appears flush against the right margin but ragged on the left margin.

· Justified: Text appears flush against both the left and right margins.

image

Figure 6-6: The four different alignment styles display text in different ways.

To align text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Move the cursor anywhere in the text you want to align.

3. Click one of the alignment icons, such as Center or Justify.

tip Rather than click an alignment icon, you can use one of the alignment keystroke shortcuts as follows: Align Left (Ctrl+L), Center (Ctrl+E), Align Right (Ctrl+R), or Justify (Ctrl+J).

Adjusting Line Spacing

Line spacing defines how close lines appear stacked on top of each other. To change the line spacing of text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text where you want to adjust the line spacing.

3. Click the Line Spacing icon.

A pull-down menu appears, as shown in Figure 6-7.

4. Click the line spacing you want, such as 1 (single spacing) or 3 (triple spacing).

image

Figure 6-7: Line spacing can make text appear farther apart or squashed together vertically.

technicalstuff If you click the Line Spacing Options in the pull-down menu, you can precisely define your own line spacing, such as 2.75 or 3.13. Line spacing depends on the largest font used in your text. Larger fonts will create different line spacing from that of smaller fonts, even if the setting for line spacing (say, 2.0) is identical.

By default, Word automatically adds a blank line between paragraphs regardless of the line spacing you choose. To get rid of this extra space between paragraphs, click the Layout tab, click in the After text box in the Paragraph group, and type 0 (zero). (The default value may be 8 or 10 pt.)

Making Lists

Word can organize and arrange text in three types of lists:

· Bullets (like this list)

· Numbering

· Multilevel list

You can create a list from scratch or convert existing text into a list. To create a list from scratch, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Move the cursor where you want to create a list.

3. Click the Bullets, Numbering, or Multilevel List icon.

Word creates your list (bulleted or numbered).

4. Type your text and press Enter to create another blank item in your list.

5. Repeat Step 4 for each additional bullet or numbered item you want to make.

If you have existing text, you can convert it into a list by following these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text you want to convert into a list.

3. Click the Bullets, Numbering, or Outline Numbering icon.

Word converts your selected text into your chosen list where each paragraph appears as a separate item in the list.

Indenting list items

After you create a list, you may want to indent one list item underneath another one. To indent an item in a list, follow these steps:

1. Move the cursor anywhere in the text in the list item you want to indent.

2. Press the Home key to move the cursor to the front of the line.

3. Press the Tab key to indent an item to the right (or press the Shift+Tab keystroke combination to shift an item to the left).

When you indent a list, Word changes the number or bullet style to set the line apart from the rest of your list.

Converting list items back into text

If you have a list, you may want to convert one or more items back into ordinary text. To convert a list item into plain text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the list items you want to convert into plain text.

3. Click the appropriate Bullets, Numbering, or Outline Numbering icon.

If you want to convert a bullet list item into text, click the Bullets icon.

Customizing a list

When you create a bullet or numbered list, you can choose from a variety of different styles. To choose a numbering style, follow these steps:

1. Click the downward-pointing arrow to the right of a list icon, such as the Bullet or Numbering icon.

remember Make sure that you don’t click the Numbering icon itself.

A pull-down menu appears, listing all the different numbering styles available, as shown in Figure 6-8.

2. Click the numbering style you want.

The next time you click the Numbering icon, Word will use the numbering style you chose.

image

Figure 6-8: The different numbering styles you can choose for creating numbered lists.

remember The changes you make to the numbering or bullet style will apply only to your current document.

Renumbering numbered lists

Numbered lists can cause special problems when you’re dividing or copying them because the numbering may get out of sequence, or you may want to start numbering from a number other than 1.

To change the starting number of a numbered list, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the item that you want to renumber.

If you want to renumber your entire list, right-click the first item at the top of the numbered list.

A pop-up menu opens, as shown in Figure 6-9.

2. Choose one of the following:

· Restart at 1: Restarts the numbering of your list at 1.

· Adjust List Indents: Defines the indentation of your text and number in a numbered list.

· Continue Numbering: Changes the number of the current list item to one greater than the last numbered list item earlier in the document.

· Set Numbering Value: Displays the Set Numbering Value dialog box, shown in Figure 6-10, so you can change the current list item to a specific number such as 34 or 89.

image

Figure 6-9: Right-clicking a numbered list item to see options for renumbering your list.

image

Figure 6-10: The Set Numbering Value dialog box.

Using the Ruler

When you create a document, Word creates page margins automatically. However, if you want to adjust the left and right page margins, or define how far the Tab key indents text, you need to use the Ruler.

By default, Word hides the Ruler to avoid cluttering up the screen. To display (or hide) the Ruler, follow these steps:

1. Click the View tab.

2. Select (or clear) the Ruler check box in the Show group.

The Ruler appears at the top and left margin of your document, as shown in Figure 6-11.

image

Figure 6-11: The Ruler defines the margins and indentation for your document.

Adjusting left and right paragraph margins

The Ruler defines the left and right margins for your paragraphs. To change these paragraph margins, follow these steps:

1. Make sure that the Ruler appears visible.

2. Select any text.

3. Move the mouse pointer over the Left Indent icon on the Ruler (the top icon), hold down the left mouse button, and drag (move) the mouse to the right to adjust the left paragraph margin.

Word displays a dotted vertical line to show you where the paragraph’s new left margin will be, as shown in Figure 6-12.

4. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the position of the left paragraph margin.

5. Move the mouse pointer over the Right Indent icon on the Ruler, hold down the left mouse button, and drag (move) the mouse to the left to adjust the right paragraph margin.

Word displays a dotted vertical line to show where the new right paragraph margin will be.

6. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the position of the right paragraph margin.

image

Figure 6-12: Dragging the Left Indent icon lets you define a new left page margin for an entire document or just for selected text.

Defining indentation with the Ruler

The two icons on the Ruler that define indentation are the First Line Indent and the Hanging Indent icons. The First Line Indent icon defines the position of (what else?) the first line of every paragraph. The Hanging Indent icon defines the position of every line of text except for the first line, as shown in Figure 6-13.

image

Figure 6-13: Drag the icons to set the indentation.

To define the first line and hanging indent, follow these steps:

1. Make sure that the Ruler appears visible.

2. Select any text.

3. Move the mouse pointer over the Left Indent icon on the Ruler, hold down the left mouse button, and drag (move) the mouse to the right.

Word displays a dotted vertical line to show you where the new indentation margin will be.

4. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the position of the left indentation of your text.

5. Move the mouse pointer over the First Line Indent icon on the Ruler, hold down the left mouse button, and drag (move) the mouse to the right (or left).

Word displays a dotted vertical line to show you where the new first line indentation will be.

6. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the position of the first line indent position.

Using Format Painter

Formatting can be simple, such as underlining text, or fairly complicated, such as underlining text while also changing its font and font size. After you format one chunk of text a certain way, you may want to format other parts of your document the exact same way.

Although you can take time to format text manually, it’s much easier to use Format Painter instead. Format Painter tells Word, “See the way I formatted that chunk of text over there? Apply that same formatting to a new chunk of text.”

To use Format Painter, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text that contains the formatting you want to copy.

3. Click the Format Painter icon, as shown in Figure 6-14.

4. Select the text that you want to format. (Move the mouse pointer over the beginning of the text you want to format, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the mouse until you reach the end of the text you want to format.)

Word applies your formatting to your selected text.

image

Figure 6-14: After you choose the Format Painter command, the mouse pointer turns into a Paintbrush icon.

tip If you double-click the Format Painter icon on the Home tab, you can select and format multiple chunks of text. When you’re finished formatting text, just click the Format Painter icon again to turn off this Format Painter feature.

Using Styles

As an alternative to choosing fonts, font sizes, and text styles (such as bold) individually, Word offers several predefined formatting styles. To apply a style to your text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text that you want to format.

3. Click the up/down arrows of the Styles scroll bar to scroll through the different styles available. Or click the More button to display a pull-down menu of all the Quick Formatting styles, as shown in Figure 6-15.

4. Move the mouse pointer over a style.

Word displays what your text will look like if you choose this style.

5. Click the style you want to use, such as Heading 1, Title, or Quote.

Word formats your text.

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Figure 6-15: Clicking the More button displays a menu of all available styles.

Using Templates

In case you need to format an entire document a certain way, you may want to use templates. Templates act like preformatted documents. Word comes with several templates, but Microsoft offers several through its website as well.

To create a new document from a template, follow these steps:

1. Click the File tab and then choose New.

All available templates appear, as shown in Figure 6-16.

2. Double-click a template.

Word creates a blank document with “dummy” text to show you how the formatting looks.

3. Type new text into your newly created document.

remember You may need to be connected to the Internet to download some of the available templates.

image

Figure 6-16: Templates let you create a new document based on the formatting of an existing file.

Removing Formatting from Text

After you format text, you can always remove that formatting. The simplest way to do this is to apply the same formatting you want to remove. For example, if you underline text, you can remove the underlining by highlighting all the underlined text and choosing the underline command (by pressing Ctrl+U or by clicking the Underline icon).

If you want to remove multiple formatting from text, you can remove each formatting style one by one, but it’s much easier just to use the Clear Formatting command, which removes all formatting from text, no matter how much formatting there may be.

To use the Clear Formatting command, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Select the text that contains the formatting you want to remove.

3. Click the Clear Formatting icon, as shown in Figure 6-17.

Word removes all formatting from your selected text.

remember The Clear Formatting command will not remove any highlighting you may have applied over your text.

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Figure 6-17: The Clear Formatting icon removes all text formatting.