Ms Word Tutorial: Formatting Text

 

·         Formatting Text

·         Word - Setting Text Fonts

·         Word - Text Decoration

·         Word - Change Text Case

·         Word - Change Text Color

·         Word - Text Alignments

·         Word - Indent Paragraphs

·         Word - Create Bullets

·         Word - Set Line Spacing

·         Word - Borders and Shades

·         Word - Set Tabs

·         Word - Apply Formatting

 

Formatting Text

Setting Text Fonts

In this chapter, we will discuss how to set the text fonts and size in Word 2010. Microsoft word allows you to use different fonts with different size. You can change your document's appearance by changing the fonts and their size. Usually you use different fonts for paragraphs and headings. It is important to learn how to use different fonts. This chapter will teach you how to change a font and its size in simple steps.

Change the Font Type & Size

We will understand in brief the font buttons that we will further use in this tutorial. Following is a screenshot to show you a few font related buttons.

Step 1 − Select the portion of text the font of which needs to be changed and click the Home tab. Now click the Font Type button to list down all the fonts available as shown below.

Step 2 − Try to move the mouse pointer over the listed fonts. You will see that the text font changes when you move the mouse pointer over different fonts. You can use the Font Scroll Bar to display more fonts available. Finally select a desired font by clicking over the font name in the list. We have selected MV Boli as the font for our sample text.

Step 3 − Similar way, to change the font size, click over the Font Size button which will display a font size list. You will use the same procedure to select a desired font size that you have used while selecting a font type.

Use Shrink and Grow Buttons

You can use a quick way to reduce or enlarge the font size. As shown in the first screenshot, the Shrink Font button can be used to reduce the font size whereas the Grow Font button can be used to enlarge the font size.

Try to click either of these two buttons and you will see the effect. You can click a single button multiple times to apply the effect. Each time you click either of the buttons, it will enlarge or reduce the font size by 1 point.

Clear Formatting Options

All of the setting can be reset to plain text, or the default formatting. To reset text to default settings −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that you want to reset.

Step 2 − Click the Clear Formatting button in the Home tab Font group, or simply use Ctrl + SPACEBAR.

 Text Decoration

In this chapter, we will discuss text decoration in Word 2010. When we use the term decorate, it means decorate by putting the text in italics, underlining the text or making it bold to look more fancy and much more. In this chapter, we will also learn how we can strikethrough a text.

Making text bold

We use bold text to give more emphasis on the sentence. It is very simple to change a selected portion of text into bold font by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that the font of which needs to be made bold. You can use any of the text selection methods to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Font Bold [ B ] button in the Home tab Font group, or simply use Ctrl + B keys to make the selected portion of text bold.

Making Text Italic

An italic text appears with a small inclination and we use the italicized text to differentiate it from other text. It is very simple to change the selected text into italic font by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text the font of which needs to be italicized. You can use any of the text selection methods to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Font Italic [ I ] button in the Home tab Font group, or simply use the Ctrl + I keys to convert the portion of text in italic font.

Underline the Text

An underlined portion of text appears with an underline and we use the underlined portion of text to make it more distinguished from other text. It is very simple to change the selected text into underlined font by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text which needs to be underlined. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click Font Underline [ U ] button in the Home tab Font group, or simply use the Ctrl + U keys to put an underline under the text.

Strikethrough the Text

Strikethrough portion of text will look as if a line has been drawn through the middle of it. A strikethrough portion of text indicates that it has been deleted and that the portion of text is not required any more. It is very simple to change a selected portion of text into a strikethrough portion of text by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that you want to change to a bold font. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click Font Strikethrough [ abc ] button in the Home tab Font group to put a line in the middle of the text which is called strikethrough the text.

 Change Text Case

In this chapter, we will discuss how to change text cases in Word 2010. You can also capitalize a character you are typing by pressing and holding the SHIFT key while you type. You can also press the CAPS LOCK to have every letter that you type capitalized, and then press the CAPS LOCK again to turn off capitalization.

Change Text to Sentence Case

A sentence case is the case where the first character of every sentence is capitalized. It is very simple to change the selected portion of text into sentence case by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that that needs to be put in sentence case. You can use any of the text selection methods to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Change Case button and then select the Sentence Case option to capitalize the first character of every selected sentence.

Change Text to Lowercase

Changing text to lowercase is where every word of a sentence is in lowercase. It is very simple to change a selected portion of text into lowercase by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that needs to be put in lowercase. You can use any of the text selection methods to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Change Case button and then select Lowercase option to display all the selected words in lowercase.

Change Text to Uppercase

This is where every word of a sentence is in uppercase. It is very simple to change selected text into uppercase by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that you want to change to a bold font. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Change Case button and then select UPPERCASE option to display all selected words in all caps. All characters of every selected word will be capitalized.

Capitalize Text

A capitalize case is the case where every first character of every selected word is in capital. This is very simple to change selected text into capitalize by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that needs to be capitalized. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Change Case button and then select the Capitalize Each Word option to put a leading cap on each selected word.

Toggle the Text

The Toggle operation will change the case of every character in reverse way. A capital character will become a character in lower case and a character in lower case will become a character in upper case. It is very simple to toggle case of the text by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that you want to change to a bold font. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Change Case button and then select the tOGGLE cASE option to change all the words in lowercase into words in uppercase; the words in uppercase words change to words in lowercase.

 Change Text Color

In this chapter, we will discuss how to change text colors in Word 2010. We will also understand how to mark text which should look like it was marked with a highlighter pen. In addition, we will learn how to apply different effects on portions of text.

Change Font Colors

The text that we type comes in black by default; you can always change the color of the font to a color of your choice. It is very simple to change the text color by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text the font color of which needs to be changed. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Font Color button triangle to display a list of colors. Try to move your mouse pointer over different colors and you will see the text color will change automatically. You can select any of the colors available by simply clicking over it.

If you click at the left portion of the Font Color button, the selected color gets applied to the text automatically; you need to click over the small triangle to display a list of colors.

If you do not find a color of your choice, you can use the More Colors option to display the color pallet box which allows you to select a color from a range of colors.

Highlight Text with Colors

You can highlight a selected portion of text using any color and it will look like it was marked with a highlighter pen. Usually we highlight a text using yellow color. It is very simple to highlight a portion of text with a color by following two simple steps

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that needs to be highlighted with color. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Text Highlight Color button triangle to display a list of colors. Try to move your mouse pointer over different colors and you will see the text color changes automatically. You can select any of the colors available by simply clicking over it.

If you click at the left portion of the Text Highlight Color button, then the selected color gets applied to the portion of text automatically; you need to click over the small triangle to display a list of colors.

Apply Text Effects

Microsoft word provides a list of text effect which add to the beauty of your document, especially to the cover page or the headings of the document. This is very simple to apply various text effects by following two simple steps −

Step 1 − Select the portion of text that you want to change to a bold font. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Text Effect button to display a list of effects including shadow, outline, glow, reflection etc. Try to move your mouse pointer over different effects and you will see the text effect will change automatically. You can select any of the text effect available by simply clicking over it.

 Text Alignments

In this chapter, we will discuss text alignments in Word 2010. There are four types of paragraph alignment available in Microsoft Word — left-aligned, center-aligned, rightaligned, and justified.

Left-Aligned Text

A paragraph's text is left aligned when it is aligned evenly along the left margin. Here is a simple procedure to make a paragraph text left-aligned.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to align and click the Align Text Left button available on the Home tab or simply press the Ctrl + L keys.

Center Aligned Text

A paragraph's text will be said center aligned if it is in the center of the left and right margins. Here is a simple procedure to make a paragraph text center aligned.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to align and click the Center button available on the Home tab or simply press the Ctrl + E keys.

Right-Aligned Text

A paragraph's text is right-aligned when it is aligned evenly along the right margin. Here is a simple procedure to make a paragraph text right-aligned.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to align and click the Align Text Right button available on the Home tab or simply press the Ctrl + R keys.

Justified Text

A paragraph's text is justified when it is aligned evenly along both the left and the right margins. Following is a simple procedure to make a paragraph text justified.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to align and click the Justify button available on the Home tab or simply press the Ctrl + J keys.

When you click the Justify button, it displays four options, justify, justify low, justify high and justify medium. You need to select only the justify option. The difference between these options is that low justify creates little space between two words, medium creates a more space than low justify and high creates maximum space between two words to justify the text.

 Indent Paragraphs

In this chapter, we will discuss the how to indent paragraphs in Word 2010. As you know the margin settings determine the blank space that appears on each side of a paragraph. You can indent paragraphs in your document from the left margin, the right margin, or both the margins. This chapter will teach you how to indent your paragraphs with or without the first line of the paragraphs.

Left Indentation

Left indentation means to move the left edge of the paragraph inward towards the center of the paragraph. Let us use the following steps to create left indentation.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to indent left and click the Increase Indent button available on the Home tab or simply press the Ctrl + M keys. You can click multiple times to create deeper indentation.

Step 2 − You can remove left indentation by clicking the Decrease Indent button available on Home tab or simply press Ctrl + Shift+ M keys. You can click multiple times to remove deeper indentation.

You can also use the Paragraph Dialog Box to set left and right indentations. We will see this dialog box in the last section of this chapter.

Right Indentation

Right indentation means to move the right edge of the paragraph inward towards the center of the paragraph. Let us use the following steps to create right indentation.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to indent and then click on the Increase Right Indent spinner available on the Page Layout tab. You can click on the spinner multiple times to create deeper indentation. You can use the Left Indent spinners as well to set left indentation from the same place.

Step 2 − You can remove right indentation by clicking the Decrease Right Indent spinner in the opposite direction.

You can also use the Paragraph Dialog Box to set the left and the right indentations. We will see this dialog box in the next section.

First Line Indentation

You can move the left side of the first line of a paragraph inward toward the center. Let us see the procedure to perform first line indentation.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to indent right and click the Paragraph Dialog Box launcher available on the Home tab.

Step 2 − Click the Before Text spinner to set left indentation and select the First Line Option to move the left side of the first line of a paragraph inward toward the center. You can control the movement by setting the Indentation Unit. A preview box will give only the idea and not the indentation status.

Hanging Indentation

You can move the left side of the first line of a paragraph leftward, away from the center which is called the hanging indentation. Let us see the procedure to perform hanging indentation.

Step 1 − Click anywhere on the paragraph you want to indent right and click the Paragraph Dialog Box launcher available on the Home tab.

Step 2 − Click the Before Text spinner to set left indentation and select Hanging Option to move the left side of the first line of a paragraph leftward, away from the center. You can control the movement by setting the Indentation Unit. A preview box will give only the idea and not the indentation status.

You can use the After Text spinner to set the right indentation. You can try it yourself.

 bullets and numbers

Microsoft word provides bullets and numbers to put a list of items in a nice order. This chapter will teach you simple steps to create either the bulleted or the numbered lists in simple steps.

Create a List from Existing Text

This is very simple to convert a list of lines into a bulleted or numbered list. Following are the simple steps to create either bulleted list or numbered list.

Step 1 − Select a list of text to which you want to assign bullets or numbers. You can use any of the text selection method to select the portion of text.

Step 2 − Click the Bullet Button triangle to display a list of bullets you want to assign to the list. You can select any of the bullet style available by simply clicking over it.

Step 3 − If you are willing to create a list with numbers, then click the Numbering Button triangle instead of the bullet button to display a list of numbers you want to assign to the list. You can select any of the numbering style available by simply clicking over it.

Create a List as You Type

You can create a bulleted list as you type. Word will automatically format it according to your text. Following are the simple steps to create bulleted list as you type.

Step 1 − Type *, and then either press the SPACEBAR or press the TAB key, and then type the rest of what you want in the first item of the bulleted list.

Step 2 − When you are done with typing, press Enter to add the item in the list automatically and go to add next item in the list.

Step 3 − Repeat Step 2 for each list item.

You can create a numbered list as you type. Word will automatically format it according to your text. Following are the simple steps to create numbered list as you type.

Step 1 − Type 1, and then either press the SPACEBAR or press the TAB key, and then type the rest of what you want in the first item of the numbered list.

Step 2 − When you are done with typing, press Enter to add the item in the list automatically and go to add next item in the list.

Step 3 − Repeat Step 2 for each list item.

You can create sub-lists. These sub-lists are called multi-lists. It is simple to create sublists; press the Tab key to put items in sub-list. You can try it yourself.

 line spacing

In this chapter, let us discuss how to set line spacing in Word 2010. A line spacing is the distance between two lines in a Microsoft Word document. You can increase or decrease this distance as per your requirement by following a few simple steps. This chapter will explain how to set the distance between two lines as well as how to set the distance between two paragraphs.

Spacing between Lines

Following are the simple steps to adjust spacing between two lines of the document.

Step 1 − Select the paragraph or paragraphs for which you want to define spacing. You can use any of the text selection method to select the paragraph(s).

Step 2 − Click the Line and Paragraph Spacing Button triangle to display a list of options to adjust space between the lines. You can select any of the option available by simply clicking over it.

Spacing between Paragraphs

You can also set distance between two paragraphs. Following are the simple steps to set this distance.

Step 1 − Select the paragraph or paragraphs for which you want to define spacing and click the Paragraph Dialog Box launcher available on the Home tab.

Step 2 − Click the Before spinner to increase or decrease the space before the selected paragraph. Similar way, click the After spinner to increase or decrease the space after the selected paragraph. Finally, click the OK button to apply the changes.

You can use the Line Spacing option available at the dialog box to set line spacing as we have seen in previous example. You can try it yourself.

 borders and shades

In this chapter, we will discuss how to work on borders and shades in Word 2010. Microsoft Word allows you to place a border on any or all of the four sides of selected text, paragraphs, and pages. You can also add different shades to the space occupied by the selected text, paragraphs, and pages. This chapter will teach you how to add any of the borders (left, right, top or bottom) around a text or paragraph or a page and how to add different shadows to them.

Add Borders to Text

Following are the simple steps to add border to any text or paragraph.

Step 1 − Select the portion of text or paragraph to which you want to add border. You can use any of the text selection method to select the paragraph(s).

Step 2 − Click the Border Button to display a list of options to put a border around the selected text or paragraph. You can select any of the option available by simply clicking over it.

Step 3 − Try to add different borders like left, right top or bottom by selecting different options from the border options.

Step 4 − To delete the existing border, simply select the No Border option from the border options.

Note − You can add a horizontal line by selecting the Horizontal Line option from the border options. Otherwise type --- (three hyphens) and press ENTER. A single, light horizontal line will be created between the left and the right margins.

Add Borders to Page

You can add borders of your choice to word pages by following the steps given below.

Step 1 − Click the Border Button to display a list of options to put a border. Select the Border and Shading option available at the bottom of the list of options as shown in the above screenshot. This will display a Border and Shading dialog box. This dialog box can be used to set borders and shading around a selected text or page borders.

Step 2 − Click the Page Border tab which will display a list of border settings, styles and options whether this border should be applied to the whole document or just one page or the first page.

Step 3 − You can use the Preview section to disable or enable left, right, top or bottom borders of the page. Follow the instruction given in the preview section itself.

Step 4 − You can customize your border by setting its color, width by using different art available under the style section.

You can have similar or even better borders as given below.

Add Shades to Text

The following steps will help you understand how to add shades on a selected portion of text or a paragraph(s).

Step 1 − Click the Border Button to display a list of options to put a border. Select the Border and Shading option available at the bottom of the list of options as shown in the above screenshot. This will display a Border and Shading dialog box. This dialog box can be used to set borders and shading around a selected portion of text or page borders.

Step 2 − Click the Shading tab; this tab will display the options to select fill, color and style and whether this border should be applied to a paragraph or a portion of text.

Step 3 − You can use the Preview section to have an idea about the expected result. Once you are done, click the OK button to apply the result.

set tabs

In this chapter, we will discuss how to set tabs in Word 2010. Microsoft Word tabs help in setting up information properly within a column. Word enables you to set left, center, right, decimal, or bar tabs to line up columnar information. By default, Word places tabs every .5 inch across the page between the left and right margins.

S.No	Tab & Description
1	Left Left-aligns text at tab stop and this is the default tab.
2	Center Centers text over tab stop.
3	Right Right-aligns text at tab stop.
4	Decimal Aligns numbers at decimal point over tab stop.
5	Bar Creates a bar to separate the text.

Setting a Tab

Following are the simple steps to set the center and the right tabs in a Word document. You can use similar steps but different tabs to set up decimal and bar tabs.

Step 1 − Type some text that you want to line up with the tab stops. Press the Tab key only once between each column of information you to want to line up. I typed the following three lines.

Step 2 − Select a tab type using the Tab button; assume the center tab and finally select the paragraph or paragraphs the tabs of which you want to set. Next click the ruler where you want the tab to appear, a tab will appear at the ruler where you just clicked and the selected portion of text will be adjusted in the center.

Step 3 − Now select the right tab using the Tab Button and click the ruler at the right side where you want to align the text at the right side. A right tab will appear at the ruler where you just clicked and the selected portion of text will be right-aligned.

Moving a Tab

You can move an already set tab at a particular location by following the steps given below.

Step 1 − Click just before the line for which you want to change the tab setting. Drag the tab sign available at the ruler to the left or right.

Step 2 − A vertical line marks its position as you drag and when you click and drag a tab, the text moves with the tab.

apply formatting

In this chapter, we will discuss how to copy and apply formatting in Word 2010. If you already have a well formatted portion of text and you want to apply similar formatting to another portion of text, then Microsoft Word provides a feature to copy and apply a format from one portion of text to another portion of text. This is very useful and a time saving operation.

Copy and Apply of text formatting works for various text attributes; for example, text fonts, text colors, margins, headings, etc.

Copy and Apply Text Formatting

The following steps will help you understand how to copy and apply text formatting from one portion of text in your document to another portion of text in your document.

Step 1 − Select the portion of text containing the formatting that you want to copy. I have selected a text which has bold and underlined font as shown below.

Step 2 − click the Home tab and click the Format Painter button to copy the format of the selected text. As soon as you click the format painter button, the mouse pointer changes to a paint brush when you move the mouse over your document.

Step 3 − Now you are ready to apply the copied text format to any of the selected text. So select a text using mouse where you want to apply the copied text format. While selecting a portion of text, you have to make sure that your mouse pointer is still in paint brush shape. After selecting the text, just release the right-click button of the mouse and you will see that newly selected text is changed to the format used for the original selection. You can click anywhere outside the selection to continue working on your document for further editing.

Copy and Apply Text Formatting multiple times

Step 1 − If you are intended to apply formatting at multiple places, then you will have to double-click the Format Painter button while copying the text format. Later on, you just keep selecting the text where you want to apply the text formatting.

Step 2 − When you are done with applying formatting at all the places, click Format Painter to come out of the format applying operation.