Formatting

Formatting refers to the appearance or presentation of the paper. Another word for formatting is
the layout. Most papers contain at least four different text types: headings, regular paragraphs,
quotation marks, and bibliographic references. You can also include footnotes and endnotes.
You should also consider the fonts that you used and page numbering.

In Word, you have several options for adjusting the font of your text, including size, color, and
inserting special symbols. You can also adjust the alignment of the text to change how it is
displayed on the page.

There are three types of formatting available in MS Word 2010, including:

 Character Formatting
 Paragraph Formatting
 Page Formatting

1. Character Formatting:
This involves changing the appearance of individual characters or groups of characters within a
document. Common character formatting options include font style (such as bold, italic, underline),
font size, font color, and subscript, superscript, and text effects.

To apply character formatting in MS Word, the following should be used:

 The document's text should be selected.
 To access the Font dialogue box, select Format Font.
 Choose the necessary font from the Font list to change the font.
 Choose the necessary font style from the Font style list to alter the font style.
 Choose the appropriate font size from the Size list to alter the font size.
 Choose the desired font colour from the Font colour drop-down list to alter the font
colour.
 Choose the necessary underline, Bold, Italic style from the Underline, Bold, Italic style
drop-down list to determine the underlining style.
 Choose the necessary underline colour from the Underline colour drop-down list to
determine the underline colour.
 Select the check box for the specific effect, such as shadow from the Effects section, if
you wish to apply it to the text.
 Click the Preview area to see the text preview.

Applying a Font

You can apply a font to either an entire document or to certain portions of a document. The
choice is yours. To apply a font, click on the Home tab. You'll see the toolbars, or groups, as
pictured below.
Following is a zoom of the Home tab again. This is the left side where fonts are chosen, their
size chosen, and can be bolded, italicized, and underlined among other things.

The type of font you're currently using will appear. In the picture above, the current type of font
is Calibiri. You can click on the arrow in that window to display other types of font available to
use.

To change the type of font within a document or for the entire document, simply select the text to
be formatted, then select your new font. It's really that easy.

Note: You can also do all font formatting by selecting the arrow key beside the word Font at the
bottom of the section. By clicking on this arrow, you can also alter character spacing.

Changing Font Size

Next to the type of font under the Home tab is a box that states the size of font currently being
used. Using the picture above, the font size is 11. Once again, you can use the down arrow key to
either enlarge or reduce the font size. To change the size of the font, simply select the text that
you want to change, then select the new font size. You can change an entire document or just a
portion. The choice is yours.

You can also use the two uppercase A's beside the font size box to change the size of fonts you're
currently using.

Pushing the larger A will increase your font size by one for each time it's clicked. On the other
hand, clicking the smaller A will decrease the font size by one for each time it's clicked.

Font Attributes
As we discussed earlier, you may want to select text to either boldface, italicize, or underline a
section of text. The boldface command in MS Word is represented by an uppercase, boldfaced B.
Italics are represented by an uppercase, italicized 'I', and underline by an uppercase U with a line
under it. These buttons are located directly below the font type window. Locate them in the
picture below.

To add italics, boldfaced, or underlining to any portion of a text within a document, select the
desired text, then click the appropriate button (B for bold, I for italic, or U for underline.)

Next to the commands for boldfaced, italics, and underline, you'll see an 'abc' with a line through
it. (abc) This is for strikethrough. When clicking on this button, it will put a line through any text
you have selected.

Next to the strikethrough command, you'll see 'X2'is Subscript. This simply puts smaller text
below the text line of the normal text. X2 is superscript just the opposite, putting smaller text
above the text line. This makes creating footnotes easier than it had been with previous versions
of Word.

The uppercase A and lowercase a that are situated side by side allow you to change the case of
selected text. You can change from lowercase to uppercase or vice versa , toggle He CaSe, or
select other common capitalizations.

Font Color

Changing the font color is as simple as changing the font. Look for the uppercase A with a black
bar under it as pictured below.
Select your text, then click on the button to choose the color you want to apply to the selected
text.

You can also highlight selected text. To the left of the font color button, you'll see a lowercase
'ab' with a marker near it. It is highlighted in yellow. Simply select the portion of text you want
to highlight, click the button, and select the color of highlight that you want to apply.

Clear Formatting

To clear formatting within a document or a specified portion of text, simply select the text, then
click on the 'As' with the eraser beside it. It's located to the right of the two uppercase A's that
allow you to increase or decrease font size. (see the picture below.) By selecting the text and
clicking on this button, it will remove all formatting done to the text and leave you with the
default font and font size for the document.

2. Paragraph Formatting:
Paragraph formatting involves adjusting the appearance and layout of entire paragraphs. This
includes options like alignment (left, right, center, justified), indentation (left or right), line
spacing (single, 1.5 lines, double), spacing before and after paragraphs, and paragraph borders
and shading.

1. Text Alignment
As with all word processing programs, you can either left, right, center or justify your
text. You can either do one of these things to a portion of text or to the entire
document.

This is an example of text that is aligned to the left.

This is text that is aligned to the right.

This text is centered.

 1. 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.

2. 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.
 3. 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.
 4. 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.

In the above picture, the left alignment button is highlighted. Beside it is the center,
then right, and then justify. To use these, simply select the text you want to align, and
click on the appropriate button.

Peragraph formatting items

3. Page Formatting:
Page formatting involves setting up the overall layout and appearance of the document pages. This
includes options like page orientation (portrait or landscape), page size (letter, legal, A4, etc.), margins
(top, bottom, left, right), page borders, and page background
Page formatting items

1. Adjust Margins

The following steps will help you understand how to set margins for an open document.

Step 1 − Open the document the margins of which need to be set. If you want the margins to be
applied only to a selected part of a document, select that particular part.
Step 2 − Click the Page Layout tab, and click the Margins button in the Page Setup group. This
will display a list of options to be selected but you have to click the Custom Margins
option available at the bottom.

2. Add Header and Footer

The following steps will help you understand how to add header and footer in a Word document.

Step 1 − Click the Insert tab, and click either the Header button or the Footer button that
which needs to be added first. Assume you are going to add Header; when you click the Header
button it will display a list of built-in Headers from where you can choose any of the headers by
simply clicking on it.
 3. Add Page Numbers

Following are the simple steps to add page numbers in a Word document.

Step 1 − Click the Insert tab, and click the Page Number button available in the header and
footer section. This will display a list of options to display the page number at the top, bottom,
current position etc.

4. Change Page Orientation

The following steps will help you understand how to change the page orientation of a word
document.

Step 1 − Open the Word document the orientation of which needs to be changed. By default,
orientation will be Portrait Orientation as shown below.

Step 2 − Click the Page Layout tab, and click the Orientation button available in the Page
Setup group. This will display an Option Menu having both the options (Portrait &
Landscape) to be selected.

5. Change Page Columns

Click the Page Layout tab, and click the Columns button available in the Columns
groups.