If you want to create an outline, you should start with a fresh document. Then, you should switch to Outline View by clicking the View menu and clicking Outline.

 

Outline view is special for a few reasons:

-          Rather than using numbers or bullets to identify different levels of text, it uses heading styles and indents. Although the headings styles will remain consistent, the indents you see here will not be reflected in other views as they are a visual aid rather than an actual format.

-          Word displays markers with different types of headings. Headings that have subordinate text have plus signs next to them; headings without subordinate text (or without a level applied to them) have a minus sign next to them. Paragraphs that contain regular text (known as body text) are marked with a square.

 

Because of these special features, you should not worry about formatting, indenting, and other finishing touches while in outline view. Once your outline is as complete as possible, switch to another view to start writing your document, format it, and put the finishing touches on it.

 

Here’s a sample of an outline for a company handbook on proper telephone techniques:

 

 

You can see how we added body text to the first heading; this text is marked with a small square. Body text is automatically aligned with the heading it belongs to. Being able to add body text is a great feature as you can jot down a few quick notes or get into detailed writing. You can also see how different levels of our document have plus or minus signs; some have subordinate text and some don’t.

 

This view also opens the Outlining toolbar, which looks like this:

 

 

Note that this toolbar is different if you are in Outline view or Normal view.