Basic Formatting Techniques in Microsoft Word

What You Will Learn

Additional Written (or Web) Resources 

Last edited by Charles Kenyon Monday 08 May 2006

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(this guide table of contents) ----- (MS Word New Users FAQ)

CK Section on Creating a New Document

There are a number of ways to create a new document. The simplest is to click on the new document icon on the standard toolbar. This creates a new document based on the normal.dot template. While this is the simplest method, I only use it to create scratch paper. For serious work, I use custom templates or one of the ones that comes with Word. That is because these can have the styles and formatting I want already built into the new document. So, I start with a letter, memo, report or fax rather than setting one up on a blank screen. (Note, you should not put this kind of special formatting in normal.dot or it will ruin not only your scratch paper but also other Word functions like labels.

To get to these templates you need to select New under the File menu. In Word 97-2000 this will bring up the new file dialog box:

In Word 2002 and later, it will bring up the New File Task Pane. (If you don't like this and would prefer to just get the new document dialog box, see the NewFileDialog Add-In.)

Clicking on "General Templates" (Word 2002) or "Templates ... On My Computer" (Word 2003) in the Task Pane will bring you to the New File Dialog.

If the template you want is in your User Templates Folder or in the Workgroup Templates folder it will show up in the dialog box. If it is in a subfolder of these, it will show up when you click on the tab representing that subfolder. (These folders are explained in Templates in Microsoft Word.) The "More" Tab in the dialog will show you folders that might not show up in the tab space.

The "Blank Document" template shown in the New File Dialog is really your normal.dot template. The General Tab displays the contents (other than folders) of the User Templates Folder and the Workgroup Templates Folder.

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Moving and Copying Text

To move text, you are actually "cutting" or removing the text from where it is and "pasting" it where you want it. To accomplish this, select the text and then click the Cut button on the Standard toolbar (you may also use CTRL+X). The text disappears and moves to the clipboard. Click the mouse pointer where you want to move the text and then click the Paste button or press CTRL+V. The text moves to the new location.

A similar process is used for copying. The text is first selected and you click the Copy button (CTRL+C). The text stays where it is and a copy of it goes to the clipboard. Move the cursor to where the text will be pasted, and click the Paste button on the Standard toolbar. The text appears in both places.

In Word 97, cut or copied text remains on the clipboard until it is replaced with something else. In Word 2000, there is an Office Clipboard toolbar that holds up to 12 items that have been cut or copied. They may be pasted individually or as a group into the document. For more on the Office Clipboard, see "Collect and Paste" later in this chapter.

1. Type the following:

   Two (press ENTER)
   Three (press ENTER)
   One (press ENTER)

2. Move the text into the proper order — one, two, three. To do so, select the item you wish to cut or copy, then press CTRL+X for Cut or CTRL+C for Copy.
3. Copy One to the bottom of the list. You can press CTRL+V for Paste.

The Copy, Cut and Paste commands are also available under the Edit menu.

Practice: More with Cut, Copy and Paste

1. Create a numbered list in a document.
2. Select the entire numbered list EXCEPT for the paragraph mark at the end of the last item in the numbered list.
3. Copy the selection. Keyboard users can press CTRL+C on the keyboard.
4. Create a new, blank document by pressing CTRL+N on the keyboard.
5. Paste the numbered list. Keyboard users can press CTRL+V on the keyboard. What happened?

In versions of Microsoft Office prior to Office 2000, Office used the Windows clipboard, which had a couple of major limitations, among them being the fact that you couldn't cut or copy anything without "destroying" the last item the clipboard held that you had cut or copied. This made it very difficult to work with collections of useful items. In Word 2000, you can use the Office Clipboard to Collect and Paste up to 12 items separately or simultaneously. The Office Clipboard will work with text or graphics.

Practice: Work with the Office Clipboard

1. Display the Office Clipboard by choosing Toolbars from the View menu, and then clicking Clipboard.
2. Select any item you want to copy, and click Copy on the Clipboard toolbar.
3. Repeat as necessary.
4. Paste an item from the Office Clipboard by clicking the appropriate icon on the Clipboard toolbar. If you want to paste all items, click Paste All.

   

Occasionally you may want to paste a WordPerfect document (or a portion of the document) into Word. To get rid of all the formatting in the WP document, select all text except for the last paragraph mark. Copy it and then, in a new document, from the Edit menu choose Paste Special. The following dialog box appears:

If you select Unformatted Text and click OK, you will have a clean, "native" document without any legacy codes, greatly decreasing your chance of corruption.

Format Painter

You may have noticed the "paintbrush" button on the toolbar. This button is called Format Painter, and it's one of the most useful buttons in Word. Format Painter copies character or paragraph formatting from one place to another within a document. To copy paragraph formatting; select the text including the paragraph marker. Click the paintbrush button and then paint (drag across) the text that you want to look like the originally selected text.

If you double-click the Format Painter button, it becomes a toggle and you can paint the new formatting to several paragraphs. The character formatting works the same way: click within the paragraph that you want to copy the formatting of the text, click the Format Painter button, and then either select or click within the paragraph that should be reformatted to look like the first paragraph. If you've activated the Format Painter in this way, press ESC when you're finished and your mouse will return to normal.

Word provides four types of indents: first line indent, hanging indent, right indent and left indent. The following figure shows different types of indents.

One quick and easy way to set these indents is to use the mouse and drag the indent markers on the horizontal ruler. Indents are controlled by the small gray triangles and box on the horizontal ruler.

1. Type a paragraph of text and click the mouse pointer anywhere within the paragraph.
2. Drag the First Line Indent marker (downward-pointing triangle) to one-half inch on the ruler. This indents the first line of text.
3. Type a new paragraph and click the mouse pointer anywhere within the paragraph.
4. Drag the Hanging Indent marker (upward-pointing arrow on the left of ruler) to one inch. You can also use CTRL+T to accomplish this task and CTRL+SHIFT+T to undo a hanging indent. This indents all lines under the first line.
5. Type a new paragraph and click the mouse pointer anywhere within the paragraph.
6. Drag the Left Indent marker (the small rectangle under the ruler line and the upward-pointing arrow on the left of ruler) to one-half inch. You can also use CTRL+M to accomplish this task and CTRL+SHIFT+M to undo a hanging indent. This indents the entire paragraph.

If you are using Word 2000, try using the Tab Alignment box to set the indents. Instead of dragging a marker, select the appropriate indent mark (First Line or Hanging Indent) and click the ruler. The indent you're setting only applies to the paragraph you have your cursor positioned. If you want to have an indent apply to many paragraphs, select all the paragraphs to which you want it applied.

Practice: Set Indents Using the Paragraph Dialog Box

1. Type several lines of text to represent a quote and click anywhere within the paragraph.
2. From the Format menu, choose Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box is shown in the next figure.
3. Select the Indents and Spacing tab.
4. Set the left and right spin box buttons at one inch. Click OK.

   

The Special drop-down list allows you to set hanging and first line indents in the Paragraph dialog box.

Working with Tabs

There is no "Flush Right" command in Word like there is in Word Perfect. It is necessary to use a right-aligned tab to achieve the same result.

There are five types of tabs in Word: left, right, center, decimal and bar. In Word 2000, they are all available on the ruler. In Word 97, the bar tab is only accessible by choosing Tabs from the Format menu. The bar tab draws a vertical line at the position you set.

Setting a tab using the mouse is a two-step process: While your cursor is positioned in the paragraph you want to add the tab to, first click the Tab Alignment box at the left edge of the ruler until you access the tab that you want to use. Second, click the ruler where the tab should appear. Many users report that they have better luck setting tabs in the horizontal ruler when they click in the bottom half of the ruler.

Practice: Set Tabs On the Ruler

1. To set tabs for a signature block, first, position your cursor in the paragraph in which you want to insert the tab then click the Tab Alignment box until you have a Left Tab selected.
2. Click the ruler bar at 3.5 inches.
3. Press the TAB key and type your preferred closing (Very Truly Yours, Sincerely, Best regards).
4. Press ENTER several times leaving enough room for your signature.
5. Press TAB and type your name.

Once you understand how tabs work in Word, you'll be able to set a single tab for the precise location you need rather than press TAB repeatedly to position text.

Practice: Set Tabs Using the Tabs Dialog Box

1. Position your cursor in the paragraph in which you want to insert a tab.
2. From the Format menu, choose Tabs.
3. Type 6 in the Tab stop position box.
4. Under Alignment, select Right.
5. Under Leader, select the dotted line (2).
6. Click Set, and then click OK.
7. Type Name, press TAB, type Telephone and press ENTER.
8. Type your name; press ENTER; type your telephone number and press ENTER.

You can set dot leaders, dash leaders, or solid leaders in this way.

Page Setup

Before using section breaks in a document, it is important to understand page setup. To access the Page Setup dialog box, from the File menu, choose Page Setup. In the dialog box, there are four tabs: Margins, Paper Size, Paper Source and Layout. Each controls a different part of how the document is set up.

The first tab, Margins, allows you to set the margins for the document, including the placement of the headers and footers.

Paper Size offers the opportunity to move from portrait to landscape, choose the paper size, and select the portion of the document to apply this particular formatting.

Paper Source relates to printer trays. One tray may hold letterhead, another bond, and another copy paper. There may also be a manual feed for envelopes, labels, and card stock.

The Layout tab presents the options to choose any of the section breaks described in the preceding section; choose a different first page header/footer; have different headers and footers on odd and even numbered pages; select whether the page will be centered vertically on the page, aligned at the top, aligned at the bottom; and whether this formatting is to be applied to the section, the whole document or from this point forward.

Practice: Insert Section Breaks to Change Headers and Footers

1. Create a new document.
2. At the top of the document, type COVER PAGE.
3. Press ENTER and then insert a Next page section break. From the Insert menu, select Break, and then select Next Page).
4. From the File menu, choose Page Setup, and then select the Layout tab.
5. In the Headers and Footers section, select Different first page and click OK.
6. From the View menu, choose Header and Footer. (The toolbar shown in the next figure will appear.) Click the Switch Between Header and Footer button to move to the footer section.

Practice: Section Breaks and Columns

In this exercise, you will set up a document with a headline centered at the top of the page followed by text formatted in three columns, followed by a single column (page width) of text — it will look like a newsletter.

1. Create a new blank document.
2. Type and center the word HEADLINE at the top of the document.
3. From the Insert menu, choose Break and insert a Continuous section break.
4. Click the Columns button on the Standard toolbar or choose Columns from the Format menu.
5. Select three columns.
6. Type text or type =rand(5,5) and press ENTER to have word generate random text.
7. The text you type or insert should fill up the first column before moving to the second. To manually insert a column break, move approximately one third the way through your text and either 1) press CTRL+ SHIFT+ENTER or 2) choose Insert, Break, Column break. Do the same thing two thirds of the way through your text so you see three columns of text.

1. Create a new document using a letter template (File, New, Letters & Faxes).
2. Fill in the address completely with a person's name and address.
3. Select the name and address.
4. From the Tools menu, choose Envelopes and Labels.
5. Select the Envelopes tab. Note that the address is automatically added to the envelope.
6. Click Add to document.
7. Click the Print Preview button on the Standard toolbar and note that the envelope is attached to the beginning of the document.
8. Press the Escape key to cancel out of Print Preview.
9. From the View menu, choose Normal. Note that Word has added the necessary section break to separate the Landscape envelope from the Portrait letter.

Practice: Section Breaks to Format Page Numbers in Complex Documents

In this exercise we will create a document that will contain multiple pages as they might occur in any long legal document such as an agreement. You will use page setup, section breaks, footers and format page numbering.

1. Create a new blank document.
2. From the File menu, choose Page Setup and select the Margins tab.
3. Set all margins for 1" for the entire document, and then click OK.

4. From the File menu, choose Page Setup, and set margins, headers and vertical alignment.
5. Insert Next page section breaks after first, third, fourth and fifth pages. (Place your mouse pointer in each location and then from the Insert menu, choose Next page section break.
6. Click in a section in the document and from the View menu, choose Headers and Footers.
7. Turn OFF "Same as Previous" in the footer for the section to disconnect that section from the previous one.
8. Browse to the next section's footer by clicking on the Show Next button.
9. Repeat step 7 above.
10. Click the Insert Page Number button on the Header and Footer toolbar and insert a page number for sections 2,3,4 and 5.
11. Select each section page number individually and then click the Format Page Number button on the Header and Footer toolbar. Format different page numbering schemes for Sections 2, 3, 4, and 5.
12. Change page orientation in Sections 4 and 5 by moving the cursor to each section and then clicking the Page Setup button on the Header and Footer toolbar.
13. Select the Paper Size tab.
14. Select Landscape and click OK. Click the Close button on the toolbar to leave Header and Footer view and return to the document view.

Dividing a Document Into Sections

In WordPerfect, you can't format by section; you format by page. If you're converting from WordPerfect, you might find this topic difficult at first. Practice with the exercises in this section and on your own to get the hang of section formatting.

A section break is a mark inserted that shows the end of a specific section, and the end of the formatting that is applied to that section. This mark stores the section formatting (page orientation, margins, headers and footers, sequencing of page numbers). The mark appears as a double dotted line and identifies the kind of section break in the center. A section break is inserted by choosing Break from the Insert menu and then selecting the appropriate section break.

Styles can be defined as shortcuts to formatting paragraphs and text. In a document, the heading at the top of every important section might be centered, bold, and have a slightly larger font size. Instead of making those changes every time you come to a new heading, you can use or assign a style to keep that formatting intact. You can also change a style once, and all paragraphs that have that style applied will instantly be updated to reflect the changes.

Styles in Word differ greatly from the styles in WordPerfect. You may use the styles that come with Word by default as they are, modify them or design your own to best suit your needs. Styles are not turned on and off like a toggle, rather they are assigned to the text or paragraph in question. Using styles will make Word easier to use by reducing editing time and producing more consistent formatting.

To see the available styles in the current document, click the arrow at the right side of the Style box, which is the control at the far left side of the Formatting toolbar. You will see both paragraph styles (showing the Paragraph mark ) and Character styles (showing a). To see all the available styles, hold the SHIFT key while clicking on the down-pointing arrow. These are the styles that are built into Word. As a user, you can add your own styles or modify the ones that are already there.

To assign a style to a paragraph, place the insertion point in the paragraph and click the down pointing arrow by the Style box. Select the style and the paragraph will take on the formatting assigned to that named style.

If you want to view the definition of a style, from the Format menu, choose Style and the following dialog box appears:

1. From the Format menu, choose Style.
2. Click New. The New Style dialog box appears.
3. Name the style. (My Style) It may be more than one word, contain spaces, numbers and special characters EXCEPT for: semicolon (;), curly brackets ({…}) and forward slash (/).
4. From the Style Type list, select Paragraph.
5. In the Based On list, you may choose to find a style that closely matches the one you want to construct. Remember, if the style you base your style on is changed, it will also change your style! You may also choose No Style.
6. If you want the text following your new style to be assigned to a specific style (perhaps Normal) select that option in the Style for following paragraph.
7. Click the Format button and select Paragraph.
8. On the Indents and Spacing tab, make sure that both the left and right indents are set at 1" and that line spacing is set at Single.
9. If this is a style you will use frequently and you want it available in all documents based on the existing template, select the Add to Template option. If this is not selected, the style will be available only in the current document and any copies made from it.
10. If you want to use a shortcut key to apply the style, click the shortcut key button. The following dialog box appears:

    

11. Click in the Press New Shortcut Key section text box and enter different key combinations (such as ALT+M) until you find a combination that is unassigned. Generally ALT+ a key will be available. Once you find an unassigned shortcut key, click Assign and then click Close.
12. Try using your new style! Click in the middle of any paragraph on the document that doesn't already have your style applied, and press the keyboard shortcut you selected in the previous step.

Practice: Modify a Style

In this exercise, you will practice modifying a style. You can modify both your styles (user defined) and Word Styles (built-in).

1. Select Heading 1 and then type in the words Heading One. Notice how it looks. It is bold, 14 pt and left aligned.
2. Select the text you have just entered and make it italic and centered.
3. Click in the Style box or press CTRL+SHIFT+S. Do not change the name but instead press ENTER. The following dialog box appears.

   

4. Select Update the style to reflect recent changes. All paragraphs formatted with this style will change to look like your recently modified selection. The second choice will change the formatting of your selection back to the original style.
5. Click OK.
6. CTRL+ALT+1 will access the new heading one style.

Does it work as expected? For more information, see the section on Styles.

Automatic Paragraph Numbering

Automatic paragraph or outline numbering has nine levels available in each of its' seven default numbering styles. To access these choices, from the Format menu, choose Bullets and Numbering, and select the Outline Numbered tab.

The three choices in the top of the dialog box format paragraphs with outline numbering schemes. The four remaining choices on the bottom format the paragraphs with outline numbers and apply heading styles to the paragraphs.

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