Learn how to use styles in Word to quickly apply consistent formatting to headings, paragraphs, and other text. Styles save time and ensure your document has a professional, uniform look.
Highlight the paragraph, heading, or specific text you want to format. For a heading, you can simply place your cursor anywhere within the line.
Ensure the Home tab is selected in the Word ribbon at the top of your screen.
Look for the Styles group on the right side of the Home tab. You'll see a gallery of predefined styles like 'Normal,' 'Heading 1,' and 'Title.'
Click on the desired style from the gallery to apply it to your selected text. You can click the small arrow in the bottom-right corner of the gallery to see more options.
Pro Tips for Mastering Word Styles
Right-click any style in the gallery and select Modify to change its font, color, and spacing. The changes will update everywhere that style is used.
Click the small arrow in the corner of the Styles group and select Create a Style to save your custom formatting for easy reuse.
Press Alt+Ctrl+Shift+S to open the Styles Pane for a complete list and advanced management options.
Using the built-in 'Heading 1,' 'Heading 2,' etc., styles allows Word to automatically generate a Table of Contents for your document.
Explore other Word guides and shortcuts