Word - Formatting Content

Background Information

Word provides users with a tremendous amount of control in changing the appearance of a document.  These changes are made using the Formatting options available on the Character, Paragraph, and Section levels.

Types of Formatting

Font / Character Formatting

Common font, or character, formatting can be modified using buttons in the Font Group of the Home tab. More advanced Font formatting is accessible by clicking the Dialog Box Launcher at the bottom right of the Font group.

Add character formatting by following these steps:

1. Select the words to be formatted.
2. Choose the desired formatting from the Home tab.

OR

1. Click the Font Dialog Box Launcher to open the Font window.
2. Make changes as desired. (Note there are two tabs in this window, Font and Character Spacing)
3. Click OK.

Font Terminology

Feature	Location	Definition
Hidden	Font Tab	Hidden text is only visible when the Show/Hide Paragraph feature is turned on ( ¶ )
Kerning	Font Tab	Change the spacing between certain pairings of letters above a particular font size
Scale	Character Spacing Tab	Stretches or shrinks text horizontally
Superscript	Font Tab	Raises text slightly higher than other text on a line (e.g., e=mc2)
Subscript	Font Tab	Lowers text below other text on a line (e.g., H2O)

 

Paragraph Formatting

Common Paragraph formatting can be modified using buttons in the Paragraph Group of the Home tab. More advanced Paragraph formatting is accessible by clicking the Dialog Box Launcher at the bottom right of the Font group.

Add paragraph formatting by following these steps:

1. Place your cursor anywhere in the paragraph that is to be formatted.
2. Choose the desired formatting from the Home tab.

OR

1. Click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher to open the Paragraph window.
2. Make changes as desired. (Note there are two tabs in this window, Indents and Spacing and Line and Page Breaks)
3. Click OK.

Paragraph Terminology

Feature	Location	Definition
General	Indents and Spacing Tab	Align paragraphs horizontally within a document.
Indentation	Indents and Spacing Tab	Indent paragraphs or create hanging and first-line indents.
Spacing	Indents and Spacing Tab	Can add space before or after a paragraph, or can space out all lines within a paragraph.
Widow/Orphan	Line and Page Breaks Tab	A Widow is the last line of a paragraph printed by itself at the top of a page.  An Orphan is the first line of a paragraph printed by itself at the bottom of a page.
Page Break Before	Line and Page Breaks Tab	Creates an automatic page break before a paragraph.

 

Section Formatting

Section formatting can be changed from a number of locations.  There is no Section formatting option as there is for font or paragraph formatting.  The best place to look for section formatting is the Page Setup group of the Page Layout Tab. More advanced Section formatting is accessible by clicking the Dialog Box Launcher at the bottom right of the Page Setup group.

By default, all new documents have one section.  If you apply section formatting to a document with only one section, the entire document is affected.  Add section formatting by following these steps:

1. Place your cursor anywhere in the section that is to be formatted.
2. Choose the desired formatting from the Page Layout Tab.

OR

1. Click the Page Setup Dialog Box Launcher to open the Page Setup window.
2. Make changes as desired. (Note there are three tabs in this window, Margins, Paper, and Layout)
3. Click OK.

 

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