Are you bored of Standard Styles? Could you use some simple formatting tips to improve your documents?

Want to add your company branding styles into a Microsoft Word template/document?  Want to create a group of set styles to use throughout your documents?  The following steps document how to do this in MS Word 2013.

Create your own document styles

Using the mouse (or Shift and the arrows/home/end keys) select the text you want to apply a new style to

Highlighted text in a word document

Format the text to be italic and indented once from the margin.

Italic text in a Word document

Ensuring the text is selected, in the Styles group box click on the lower downward arrow to display a dropdown menu.

Word styles ribbon

From the dropdown menu click on Create a Style.

Word create a new style menu link

This will open the Create New Style from Formatting window.

Word create new style window

Click in the Name and name it Quotes.

Click on the OK button.

highlighted style on styles ribbon in Word

The window will close and the Quotes style is added into the Styles group box.  From now on you can apply your new style quickly to any highlighted text by using this option (or by selecting it prior to typing).
 
Formatting a Word document can be a lengthy process.  Luckily we have a really handy tip which helps to format your document with ease!

Using the Format Painter

Word format painter tool on ribbon

The Format Painter provides a quick way of copying formatting from one block of text/image to another via the Ribbon.

  • Using the mouse (or Shift and the arrows/home/end keys) select the text who’s formatting you want to copy
  • On the Home Ribbon click on the Format Painter button

Your mouse cursor will change to a paintbrush.

  • Using the mouse (or Shift and the arrows/home/end keys) select the text you want the formatting applied

If you want to apply the format more than once:

  • Follow the above instructions, but double-click instead of single-clicking when you click on the Format Painter
  • Click again on the Format Painter button or press the esc key to switch off the paintbrush

This time saving tip will help to ensure your document formatting is consistent and means you have more time to complete the nitty gritty!