Now that we know how to use our outlining tools, let’s get into creating an actual outline.

 

If you’ve opened a blank document and then switched to Outline view, the first sentence you type will automatically be at Level 1. Once you press Enter, the next sentence will be at Level 1 as well. This is a great way to get all your major ideas listed at once:

 

 

If you want to add a line, just place your cursor at the end of the previous line, press Enter, and then add your text, just like you would in a normal document.

 

 

You can add headings at a lower level by pressing the Tab key once for each level you want to demote:

 

 

In the sample above, we pressed Enter after the line Taking a Message and then pressed Tab on the new line. You can see in the level selection menu and in the styles menu that this idea is now at Level 2. You can press Tab up to eight times to go as small as Level 9. If you go too far, you can press Shift and Tab to go back one level.