SECTION 3
Lesson 3.1: Using Styles

   

 

 

There are a few ways to modify a style. As we explained earlier, when you format text a style is created to reflect those options, even if it’s just bold text. If you modify text that a style has been applied to, the same thing happens.

 

 

In addition to Heading 1, we now have Heading 1 + Centered. This style will be saved so that we can apply it later on. However, if we delete the only text that uses this style, the style will be deleted as well.

 

There’s another way to modify styles. You can right-click any style in the list and click Modify, like the sample on the right.

 

After you click that option, the window pictured on the next page will open.

 

The formatting options in this dialog box will reflect whatever is already set for this style.

 

The first four options allow you to set the properties for the style.

 

Name

This is the name that will be displayed in the styles list (menu or task pane). You should change this name if you do not want your current style to be overwritten.

Style type

This menu allows you to choose what item your style will apply to: paragraph, character, table, or list. For our purposes, we’re going to focus on paragraph styles for now.

Style based on

Choose which style you want to use as a starting point.

Style for following paragraph

Choose the style for the paragraph after the current style ends.

 

Then, the formatting options allow you to set the specifics for your style. You can set typical formatting options from here, including font type and size; effects like bold, underline, and italics; font colour; text alignment and spacing; and indents.

 

You can see a preview of your text in the white window below the formatting options.

 

 

The two checkboxes along the bottom provide these options:

 

Add to template

 Add the current style to the current template.

Automatically update

 When you make a manual formatting adjustment in to text that has this style applied, the adjustment will be applied directly to the style. (This option is only recommended for experienced style users.)

  

 

You can click any of the options listed in the menu circled to the right for that dialog box to open. (For example, if you clicked Border, the Borders and Shading dialog would open.) The options you set will then be added to your style.

 

Once you are done configuring your style, click the OK button to save your changes, or click Cancel to discard them.

 

If you click OK, your style will be displayed in the styles task pane. Unless you have chosen to add it to the current template, however, it will not be available outside this document.

 

The other way to modify a style is to type your text and format it the way you want. Then, you can right-click the style and click Update to Match Selection:

 

 

You may find this method a bit easier than hunting around in the Modify dialog box.

 

If you modify a selection that is in use and overwrite it, your changes will apply to all the text that has that existing style. Let’s say you create a style called First Word. You’ve applied this style to the first word in every paragraph in your document. It has red text using the Algerian font face, size 14. You add bold italics to this style and save it as First Word. The first word of every paragraph will now have bold italics in addition to the other formats. This can be a useful tool to update a style and keep your document consistent, but it can also be a pain if you modify something you didn’t mean to.