Add styles to word

You can use styles to quickly apply a set of formatting choices consistently throughout your document. If you want formatting choices that are not available from the built-in styles and themes available in Word, you can modify an existing style and customize it to suit your needs. You can change the formatting (such as font size, color, and text indentation) in styles applied to titles, headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on. You can also select formatted text in your document to create a new style in the Styles gallery.

The styles covered in this article are located in the Styles gallery, a visual menu located on the Home tab. To apply a style, simply select the text you want to format, and then click the style you want in the Styles gallery. To learn more, see Apply a style to text in Word.

Modify an existing style

You can modify an existing style in the Styles gallery in two ways:

• Modify a style by updating it to match formatting in your document

• Modify a style manually in the Modify Style dialog box

Modify a style by updating it to match formatting in your document

If you have text in your document that already has a style applied, you can change the formatting of that text and apply it to the style in the Styles gallery.

1. Select text in your document that has the style applied, such as Heading 1.

   When you select text that has a style applied, that style is highlighted in the Styles gallery.

   

2. Format the selected text with the new attributes that you want.

   For example, you might want to change the point size for the Heading 1 style from 16 points to 14 points.

3. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, right-click the style that you want to change, and then click Update [Style Name] to Match Selection.

   Note: All text with the style that you changed will automatically change to match the new style that you defined.

Modify a style manually in the Modify Style dialog box

You can modify a style directly in the Styles gallery, without using the text in your document.

1. On the Home tab, right-click any style in the Styles gallery and click Modify.

   

2. In the Formatting section, make any formatting changes you want, such as font style, size, or color, alignment, line spacing, or indentation.

   

3. Choose whether the style change applies to the current document or to all future documents.

   

Create a new style based on document formatting

You can select formatted text in your document to create a new style that you add to the Styles gallery.

1. Right-click the text on which you want to base a new style.

2. In the mini toolbar that appears, click Styles, and then click Create a Style.

   

3. In the Create New Style from Formatting dialog box, give your style a name and click OK.

   Your new style will now appear in the Styles gallery.

   Note: If you want your new style to appear in all new Word documents, right-click it in the Styles gallery, click Modify, and then select New documents based on this template at the bottom of the dialog box.

1. Right-click the text on which you want to base a new style, point to Styles, and then click Save Selection as a New Quick Style.

2. In the Create New Style from Formatting dialog box, give your style a name and click OK.

   Your new style will now appear in the Styles gallery.

   Note: If you want your new style to appear in all new Word documents, right-click it in the Styles gallery, click Modify, and then select New documents based on this template at the bottom of the dialog box.

See also

Apply a style to text in Word

Apply styles

Try it!

Styles give your document a consistent, professional look.

1. Select the text you want to format.

   Tip: If you place your cursor in a paragraph, the style is applied to the whole paragraph. If you select specific text, only the selected text is formatted.

2. On the Home tab, point to a style to preview it.

   

   If you don’t see a style you want, click the More button to expand the gallery.

3. Select a style.

Using Headings allows you to move parts of the document around by using View > Navigation Pane and then moving the listed headings up or down in the doc. Headings also can be used in creation of a table of contents. 

Note: If you need a different look, go to Design > Themes and select a new one. Each Theme has its own set of Styles.

Want more?

Use the Navigation pane in Word

Apply themes

Customize or create new styles in Word

Insert a table of contents

A style is a group of formatting settings stored under a single name. Using styles and style sets rather than formatting ad hoc has several advantages:

• The document looks professional and is easy to read.
• Styles provide consistency and can apply several formatting properties at one time.
• Heading styles can be used to create tables of contents and outlines.
• If you change the formatting properties of a style, all instances of the style are updated with the formatting changes.

Apply a Style

Word includes several built-in styles that cover most basic formatting needs in a document.

1. Click in the paragraph or select the text you want to apply a style to.
2. Click the Styles group dialog box launcher on the Home tab.

Alternatively, you can browse within the Styles gallery on the ribbon, which will also preview the formatting used in the style, but it’s often easier to choose from all the available styles at once by clicking the dialog box launcher.

3. Select a style from the Styles pane.

   

The style is applied to the text or paragraph.

Change Style Sets

Another advantage to using styles throughout your document is the ability to quickly change how those styles appear using Style Sets.

Style Sets will update the appearance of the built-in default styles. This way, you can format these elements at once instead of one by one.

1. Click the Design tab.
2. Open the Style Set gallery by clicking the gallery’s More button.

Thumbnails previewing the available Style Sets appear.

3. Select a Style Set.

   

The new Style Set is applied, affecting all the default styles used in the document.

Create a Style

You can also create your own styles, saving a set of formatting to use easily in other places. If the need arises, creating a style is quick and easy. There are five different types of styles:

• Character: Includes any type of character formatting, such as font size, type, color, and effects. These styles can be applied to any selected text.
• Paragraph: Includes any type of paragraph formatting, such as paragraph, tab, border, and bullets and numbering formats. These styles will be applied to entire paragraphs.
• Linked: Uses a combination of character and paragraph formatting properties. These styles will be applied to entire paragraphs as well.
• Table: Provides a consistent style for all borders, shading, alignment and fonts in tables.
• List: Applies similar alignment, numbering or bullet characters and fonts to lists.

You can also base a style on another style. The new style will inherit the formatting of the original style, as well as any changes made to the original style later.

1. Format the selected text the way you’d like it to appear in your style.
2. Click the New Style button, in the Styles pane.

The differences between the selected text that was formatted and the style that it’s based on will be captured. The style that it’s based on will also be listed here.

3. Give the new style a name.
4. Make any additional adjustments to the style formatting.

Basic formatting commands are found right in this dialog box. To customize more advanced formatting, click the Format button and select a category from the menu.

5. Click OK.

   

The new style is created and can be applied to other text in the document.

Modify a Style

One of the benefits of using styles is that when you make a change to one, everything that’s using the style is automatically updated.

1. Change the formatting of some text using a style.
2. Click that Style’s list arrow in the Styles pane.

To delete a style, select Delete or Revert to [style name]. If there is no option to delete the style, reverting it back to the style it was based on effectively deletes the style.

3. Select Update [style name] to Match Selection.

   

The style is updated, and the changes you made are applied to all text that uses the style.

Only Show Styles in Use

There are a lot of built-in styles that don’t get used and get in the way of the styles you’re working with. You can change the Styles pane settings to show only the styles used in a document.

1. Click Options in the Styles pane.

The Style Pane Options dialog box opens.

2. Click the Select styles to show list arrow.
3. Select In use.
4. Click OK.

   

Now only the styles used in the document are shown in the Styles pane.

FREE Quick Reference

Click to Download

Free to distribute with our compliments; we hope you will consider our paid training.

Для большего удобства использования Microsoft Word, разработчики этого текстового редактора предусмотрели большой набор встроенных шаблонов документов и набор стилей для их оформления. Пользователи, которым обилия средств по умолчанию будет недостаточно, могут с легкостью создать не только свой шаблон, но и собственный стиль. Как раз о последнем мы и поговорим в данной статье.

Урок: Как в Ворде сделать шаблон

Все доступные стили, представленные в Word, можно просмотреть на вкладке «Главная», в группе инструментов с лаконичным названием «Стили». Здесь можно выбрать различные стили оформления заголовков, подзаголовков и обычного текста. Здесь же можно создать и новый стиль, используя в качестве его основы уже имеющийся или же, начиная с нуля.

Урок: Как в Ворде сделать заголовок

Создание стиля вручную

Это хорошая возможность настроить абсолютно все параметры написания и оформления текста под себя или под требования, которые перед вами выдвигают.

1. Откройте Word, во вкладке «Главная» в группе инструментов «Стили», непосредственно в окне с доступными стилями, нажмите кнопку «Больше», чтобы отобразить весь список.

2. Выберите в открывшемся окне пункт «Создать стиль».

3. В окне «Создание стиля» придумайте название для вашего стиля.

4. На окно «Образец стиля и абзаца» пока можно не обращать внимание, так как нам только предстоит приступить к созданию стиля. Нажмите кнопку «Изменить».

5. Откроется окно, в котором как раз-таки и можно выполнить все необходимые настройки свойств и форматирования стиля.

В разделе «Свойства» можно изменить следующие параметры:

• Имя;
• Стиль (для какого элемента он будет применен) — Абзац, Знак, Связанный (абзац и знак), Таблица, Список;
• Основан на стиле — здесь можно выбрать один из стилей, который будет лежать в основе вашего стиля;
• Стиль следующего абзаца — название параметра вполне лаконично говорит о том, за что он отвечает.

Полезные уроки по работе в Ворд:
Создание абзацев
Создание списков
Создание таблиц

В разделе «Форматирование» можно настроить следующие параметры:

• Выбрать шрифт;
• Указать его размер;
• Установить тип написания (жирный, курсив, подчеркнутый);
• Задать цвет текста;
• Выбрать тип выравнивания текста (по левому краю, по центру, по правому краю, по всей ширине);
• Задать шаблонный интервал между строк;
• Указать интервал перед или после абзаца, уменьшив или увеличив его на необходимое число единиц;
• Установить параметры табуляции.

Полезные уроки по работе в Word
Изменение шрифта
Изменение интервалов
Параметры табуляции
Форматирование текста

Примечание: Все изменения, которые вы вносите, отображаются в окне с надписью «Образец текста». Непосредственно под этим окном указаны все параметры шрифта, которые вы задали.

6. После того, как вы внесете необходимые изменения, выберите, для каких документов будет применяться этот стиль, установив маркер напротив необходимого параметра:

• Только в этом документе;
• В новых документах, использующих этот шаблон.

7. Нажмите «ОК» для того, чтобы сохранить созданный вами стиль и добавить его в коллекцию стилей, которая отображается на панели быстрого доступа.

На этом все, как видите, создать собственный стиль в Ворде, который можно будет использовать для оформления своих текстов, совсем несложно. Желаем вам успехов в дальнейшем изучении возможностей этого текстового процессора.

Еще статьи по данной теме:

Помогла ли Вам статья?

Although you can style every part of a Microsoft Word document individually with unique fonts and colors, it is not a convenient approach since you have to repeat the steps many times, consuming more time and increasing the chances of mistakes, and this is when styles and themes can come in handy.

In the Office apps, styles are collections of fonts, text sizes, and colors that you can apply to different parts of the document (titles, subheadings, quotation, etc.). On the other hand, themes are collections of styles that you can use to format the entire document quickly.

When you use styles and themes, you will still be using a few steps, but it is a more organized way to format a document on Windows 10, and you will really see the benefit when you need to make changes since updating the format can be as easy as selecting a new theme or style.

In this Windows 10 guide, we will walk you through the steps to change the look and feel of Word documents using the style and themes settings whether you use Office from Microsoft 365 or Office 2019.

• How to use styles in Word
• How to use themes in Word

How to use styles in Word

To change the overall look of a Word document, use these steps:

1. Open the Word app.
2. Under the «New» section, click the Blank document option (or open an existing document).
3. Create the document’s content.
4. Select with the mouse the text you want to apply a different format – for example, the title.

1. In the «Home» tab, under the «Styles» section, select the content type to style.Quick note: When selecting a style, make sure to apply it to the correct formating. For example, if you choose the title, then the style should be «Title.» For the subtitle, select the «Subtitle» style and the rest of the headings using «Heading» 1 through 9 accordingly. And don’t worry about the colors. You will customize these when applying a theme. Also, to view all the available elements, click the More button in Styles’s bottom-right corner.

1. Continue applying the styling for subtitles, headings, quotes, and anything else you want to format.Quick tip: You can always click and hold the Ctrl key and use the mouse pointer to select the same parts of the document, including the same stying, for instance, all the subtitles (headings).

Once you complete the steps, the document will be formatted with the styling you selected, and when you make changes to the style, the formatting will change automatically for all the same parts of the document.

In addition to selecting from the predefined settings, you can also create new or modify existing elements to style documents with custom settings.

Create new style element

To create a custom style element in Microsoft Word, use these steps:

1. Open the Word app.
2. Click the Open option.
3. In the «Home» tab, under the «Styles» section, click the More (down-arrow button) menu.

1. Click the Create a style option.

1. Specify a name for the style.

1. Click OK button.

After you complete the steps, the new element will appear in the Styles menu.

Modify style elements

To modify a new or existing style element, use these steps:

1. Open the Word app.
2. Click the Open option.
3. In the «Home» tab, under the «Styles» section, right-click the style and select the Modify Option.

1. Customize the style name and formatting settings (for example, font, size, color, aligment, etc.) as necessary.

1. Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, the new styling changes will apply to the element.

Get subscribed

Microsoft 365 gives you full access to all the Office apps and perks, such as 1TB OneDrive storage and Skype minutes. You can also install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other apps on up to five devices, and depending on the subscription, you can share the account with up to five people.

How to use themes in Word

After applying the style, you can use themes to give the document a different look and feel with colors and a combination of fonts.

To apply a theme to a Microsoft Word document, use these steps:

1. Open the Word app.
2. Click the Open option.
3. Select the document you already styled to open it.
4. Click the Design tab.
5. Click the Themes button.
6. Roll the mouse pointer over the themes to see a live preview of each available theme.
7. Click the theme you want for the document.

1. (Optional) Use the «Document Formatting» section to select another version of the theme with different combinations of fonts and colors.

1. (Optional) Click the «Colors» menu to select a different color scheme.
2. (Optional) Click the «Fonts» menu to select a different combination of fonts.Quick note: As you open the menu, the top font is one for the title, the one in the middle is for the subheadings, and the one at the bottom is for the content.

After you complete the steps, the content will incorporate the new colors and fonts available through the theme you selected.

Set theme as the default

To set a theme as the default for Word, use these steps:

1. Open the Word app.
2. Click the Open option.
3. Select the document you already styled to open it.
4. Click the Design tab.
5. Customize the formatting of the document with colors, fonts, spacing, and effects.
6. Click the Set as Default button.

1. Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, the theme will be available as the default for every new document. However, it won’t apply to the document automatically. Instead, it will be the default theme in the «Style» section, in the «Home» tab.

Create a new theme template

To create a new theme for Microsoft Word documents, use these steps:

1. Open the Word app.
2. Click the Open option.
3. Select the document you already styled to open it.
4. Click the Design tab.
5. Use the «Document Formatting» section to select a format.
6. Click the «Colors» menu to select a color scheme.
7. Click the «Fonts» menu to select a combination of fonts.

1. Click the «Paragraph Spacing» menu and select one of the predefined options.Quick tip: You can also click the Custom Paragraph Spacing option to create a new style.
2. (Optional) Click the «Effects» menu and select the effect you want to use when inserting objects.

1. Click the «Themes» menu and choose the Save Current Theme option.

1. Confirm a name for the theme.

1. Click the Save button.

After you complete the steps, the new theme will be available from the «Themes» menu in the «Custom» section.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

• Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
• Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
• Windows 10 forums on Windows Central

All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.

Mauro Huculak is technical writer for WindowsCentral.com. His primary focus is to write comprehensive how-tos to help users get the most out of Windows 10 and its many related technologies. He has an IT background with professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA, and he’s a recognized member of the Microsoft MVP community.

/en/word2016/smartart-graphics/content/

Introduction

A style is a predefined combination of font style, color, and size that can be applied to any text in your document. Styles can help your documents achieve a more professional look and feel. You can also use styles to quickly change several things in your document at the same time.

Optional: Download our practice document.

Watch the video below to learn more about using styles in Word.

To apply a style:

1. Select the text you want to format, or place your cursor at the beginning of the line.

   

2. In the Styles group on the Home tab, click the More drop-down arrow.

   

3. Select the desired style from the drop-down menu.

   

4. The text will appear in the selected style.

   

To apply a style set:

Style sets include a combination of title, heading, and paragraph styles. Style sets allow you to format all elements in your document at once instead of modifying each element separately.

1. From the Design tab, click the More drop-down arrow in the Document Formatting group.

   

2. Choose the desired style set from the drop-down menu.

   
3. The selected style set will be applied to your entire document.

   

To modify a style:

1. In the Styles group on the Home tab, right-click the style you want to change and select Modify from the drop-down menu.

   

2. A dialog box will appear. Make the desired formatting changes, such as font style, size, and color. If you want, you can also change the name of the style. Click OK to save your changes.

   

3. The style will be modified.

   

When you modify a style, you’re changing every instance of that style in the document. In the example below, we’ve modified the Normal style to use a larger font size. Because both paragraphs use the Normal style, they’ve been updated automatically to use the new size.

To create a new style:

1. Click the arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Styles group.

   

2. The Styles task pane will appear. Select the New Style button at the bottom of the task pane.

   

3. A dialog box will appear. Enter a name for the style, choose the desired text formatting, then click OK.

   

4. The new style will be applied to the currently selected text. It will also appear in the Styles group.

   

You can also use styles to create a table of contents for your document. To learn how, review our article on How to Create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word.

Challenge!

1. Open our practice document. If you already downloaded our practice document, be sure to download a fresh copy by clicking the link again.
2. On page 1, select the first line of text Shelbyfield Animal Rescue and change the style to Title.
3. Select the second line that says August Volunteer Update and change the style to Heading 1.
4. Select the third line that says A Message From Your Director and change the style to Heading 2.
5. In the Design tab, change the style set to Casual.
6. Modify the Normal style so the font is Cambria and the font size is 14 pt.
7. When you’re finished, the first page of your document should look like this:

   

8. Optional: Modify the Heading 3 style any way you want. You can change the font, font size, color, and more. This heading appears throughout the document, so try to choose formatting that complements the body text.

/en/word2016/mail-merge/content/

Here’s the basics of Styles in Word for paragraph, character or both (Linked) plus Tables and Lists. I know talking about styles in Word makes eyes glaze over but they are a really useful part of Word (plus Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).

Today I watched an ‘experienced’ Word user reformatting a document.  He laboriously worked through the document, selecting paragraphs, phrases and even individual words then clicking on the ribbon to change the look.  It took 10 minutes or more.  With styles it would have taken a few seconds.

Styles have been around for all of Word’s history.  They have changed and expanded over the years but the fundamentals are the same.

In this article we’ll explain the different types of styles including at least one that sneaked in without many people noticing.   From just one type in the early days of Word, there’s five different style types in modern Microsoft Word.

What is a Style?

A style is just a collection of formatting settings under a single name.

For example  ‘Heading 1’ has these default values in Word (choose Heading 1 style, right-click and choose ‘Modify Style’.

So ‘Heading 1’ means Cambria font, 14pt, Bold with a color setting, Left justified, 1.15 line spacing and 24pt line space before the text, plus other settings.

Instead of having to apply all those separate formatting options for each main heading, just apply the ‘Heading 1’ style.

Even better, if you decide to change the look of the headings, change the ‘Heading 1’ settings and all the headings with that style will be changed automatically.

Paragraph and Character styles

There are different types of style that can be applied to different parts of a document. Originally there were only Paragraph styles – styles you could apply to an entire paragraph.

That was OK but no help if you wanted consistent formatting for words in a paragraph like a product name  Office-Watch.com  or just emphasis.

So Microsoft added character styles.  These are styles that can be applied to a word or even a single letter.  A character style could be called ‘Product Name’ to ensure all references to a product or service look consistent.

Character styles have all the attributes of paragraph styles that are applicable to individual characters.  Things like font, size, color, bold, italic etc are in both character and paragraph styles.  Line spacing, Left/Right/Center/Justify etc. can only apply to entire paragraphs.

Linked styles

Adding character styles created a new problem.  Microsoft discovered that users sometimes had two styles with the same name – one as a paragraph style, the other as a character style.  Or people would have two styles such as ‘QuoteP’ and QuoteC’ with the same settings, one for paragraphs and another for word/characters.

So Word 2007 introduced ‘Linked Styles‘ which act as both a paragraph style and character style, depending on the situation.

A linked style acts like a paragraph style when a paragraph/s is selected and the style applied.

It acts like a character style when less than a paragraph (a character/word/phrase) is selected and the style applied.

Gone is the need for ‘twin’ styles – now you can have a single style that can applied to any text in a document.

The best example of a linked style is already in Word 2007 and later.  All the Heading styles were changed to linked styles.  Here’s an example of ‘Heading 1’ style used as both a paragraph and character style at the same time.

Both the paragraph and words were changed to the same style by selecting them and pressing the ‘Heading 1’ shortcut Ctrl + Alt + 1 .  The Style Gallery or styles list could have been used to do the same thing.

In the Modify Style dialog you’ll see the style type just under the name.

‘Linked’ isn’t the best choice of terms for this type of style. Most styles are already ‘linked’ to others through style inheritance.  ‘Merged’ or ‘Combined’ might have been clearer to most people – but we’re stuck with ‘Linked’.

Which is which?

On the styles list, the three types of style have their own markers.

The lower case ‘a’ next to a character style.

The ‘backwards P’ or Pilcrow is used as an end of paragraph mark in Word and also serves to denote a Paragraph style.

The combined pilcrow and a is, unsurprisingly, for a linked style.

Alas, the Style Gallery on the ribbon isn’t as clear.  Among various (ignored) complaints about the Style Gallery is the inconsistent marking.

Paragraph styles (e.g. Normal, Pictures etc.) have the pilcrow next to the style name.

Linked paragraphs (Heading styles etc.) have no marking next to the name.

But neither do the character styles!  In the above image there’s no way to know that ‘Subtle Emphasis’ is a character style.

Inheritance

A brief mention of style inheritance.

Styles are normally based on an existing style so only changes from the inherited style need to be made.  This lets you apply broader changes to a document a lot faster.

For example, here’s settings for Heading 2

Heading 2 is based on the Heading 1 style, so all the settings for Heading 1 are used for Heading 2 as a starting point.

The settings like ’13pt, Not Bold …’ etc. are only the differences between Heading 1 and what’s been changed to the look for Heading 2.

If the font for Heading 1 is changed then the font for Heading 2 will also change due to style inheritance.

In a standard Word document, styles can usually be traced back to some base Word styles like Normal and Default Paragraph Font (paragraph and character styles respectively).  However you can create a style ‘from scratch’ with no inheritance.  Here’s the same Heading 2 style with the ‘Style based on’ removed.

Now you can see all the formatting attributes in detail.

Unlinking styles might seem like a good idea that makes things simpler, but experienced Word users almost never do it.  Style inheritance can be a nuisance at times, but its more helpful than a hindrance.

What’s going on?

Sometimes the formatting can get confusing.  What’s a paragraph setting, what’s a character style and what is directly applied with no style?  WordPerfect had a ‘Reveal Codes’ feature which Microsoft resisted copying but finally added to Word.

There’s two options for exposing what Word is up to. The Style Inspector (Word 2007 and later) and Reveal Formatting.  Here’s both in action side-by-side.

As you can see the Style Inspector is a small box that can be dragged around the screen.  Open the Style Inspector from the button at the bottom of the Styles pane:

Reveal Formatting has a lot more detail and sits in the right-hand pane.  There’s a button for Reveal Formatting on the Style Inspector box.

The Shift + F1 shortcut will open the Reveal Formatting pane. This shortcut has worked since Word 2002 (XP).

Table and List styles

Added in Word 2007 were two more styles.

Table styles, let you group together all the many formatting options for tables.

Similarly, all the options for list formatting were a nightmare until Word 2007 when List Styles were introduced.  Now all the, sometimes complex, choices for lists (numbering, indenting at each level) can be more easily and consistently applied.

Fix your Word Style Gallery
Word style renaming and alias tricks
Show a Word style marked ‘Hide until used’.
What does Word style ‘Automatically update’ really mean?
Change Word style to match current paragraph