Styles and Templates in Microsoft Word 2002

Styles

Styles are used to apply a particular format to a given piece of text (eg a heading, list item or quotation). This ensures that similar pieces of text are formatted in exactly the same way, thereby maintaining consistency within a single or between several documents.

Word supports four types of styles: paragraph styles, character styles, table styles and list styles. Paragraph styles include both font (eg size, type, colour, bold/italic) and layout (eg justification, line spacing) settings. Paragraph styles are, as might be expected, usually applied to whole paragraphs; however they can also be applied retrospectively as character styles to selected text (when only the font settings are activated). The default paragraph style is called Normal.

Character styles are used for changing the format of a particular piece of text within a paragraph. They contain only font settings. The default character style is called Default Paragraph Font. Table styles contain cell border, shading and alignment (as well as font) settings. List styles contain numbering (or bulleting) settings (+ font etc) for each level in a list.  

There are many reasons for using styles, apart from consistency. Styles are simple to use and save you having to first turn on formatting and then turn it off again to return to normal. One paragraph style can be set to automatically change to another as you press the Return key to end a paragraph. You can define your own styles and/or modify the ones provided by Microsoft Word. If you modify a style in a document, all paragraphs or occurrences of text using that style are reformatted to reflect the new style. Finally, styles can be used to generate an Index and/or Table of Contents or Figures.

Styles are associated with the document or template in which they are first defined. However it is possible to associate or merge styles from another document or template into the current one.

Using the Default Paragraph Styles

The styles currently defined for any document can be displayed by clicking on the list arrow attached to the [Style] button on the Formatting toolbar. Each style name is displayed in its own format, with the style type shown by symbols on the far right. Each paragraph has its own style setting.

1. Start up Word or create a new document then click on the list arrow attached to the [Style] button (on the left of the Formatting toolbar) - the list of styles is displayed as below:

This shows four pre-defined paragraph styles (denoted by a paragraph mark ¶). These derive from the template being used for the document - in this case the default template, normal.dot. To use a style (eg Heading 1):

2. Click on Heading 1 - the name in the style box will change from Normal to Heading 1

3. Type in the words for your first heading - eg Exercise on Using Styles - the words will appear larger (16 point) and bolder than normal and in a different font (Arial)

4. Press <Return> - the style name will automatically be reset to Normal 5. Press <Return> again for a blank line then type in a couple of lines of

ordinary text (which appears in 12 point Times New Roman font)

Paragraph styles can be applied at any time to a particular paragraph - they do not have to be set in advance of typing. To demonstrate this:

6. Make sure the typing position is within the paragraph - press <Backspace> if necessary

7. Click on the list arrow attached to the [Style] button again 8. Choose Heading 2 - the whole paragraph will change to Arial bold italic

14 point 9. Click on the [Style] list arrow again and choose Normal - the text will

return to Times New Roman 12 point

If you select part of a paragraph, you can apply a style to just the selected text:

10.Select part of your normal text - a single word will suffice (double click on it)

11.Click on the [Style] list arrow and choose Heading 2 - the text changes to Arial 14 bold italic

12.Press the <right arrow> key to move away from the selection - note that the paragraph style still shows as Normal

13.Click on the [Style] list arrow again but this time choose Heading 1 - the whole paragraph takes on the Heading 1 style except for the word(s) using the Heading 2 character style!

Even if you select the whole paragraph and apply a new paragraph style, the words using the different character style remain different:

14.Select the whole paragraph - the easiest way is to click three times anywhere within it

15.Repeat step 13 but this time choose Normal - again, only the paragraph style is effected (at least one word is still Arial 14 bold italic)

To return the whole paragraph to normal, the current style settings must be cleared:

16.Make sure the whole paragraph is still selected 17.Click on the [Style] list arrow as usual but this time choose Clear

Formatting - the whole paragraph should return to Times New Roman 12 point

Hopefully, the above exercise has demonstrated the difference between a paragraph and character style. You can now go on to create your own styles and modify existing ones.

Creating a Paragraph Style

The easiest way to create a paragraph style is to copy it from a paragraph which has been set up exactly as required:

1. Make sure that your paragraph is still marked - it must be selected when creating a style

2. Apply the required formatting - here, you are going to set up a style for a quotation:

i. Click on the [Italic] button

ii. Click on the [Increase Indent] button towards the right of the Formatting Toolbar

iii. Drag the Right Indent marker on the far right of the Ruler back to the 13cm mark

iv. Press <Ctrl 0> to give an extra blank line before the paragraph 3. Now click on the list arrow attached to the [Style] button

You will find a new style has automatically been generated - the style settings are used to name it. This happens whenever you apply formatting to a paragraph (eg when you centre a heading). You could leave the new style name as it is but it's better to give it a sensible name:

4. Type in the name for the new style, quote, and press <Return>

A quote style has now been created and added to the list of available styles. To test it out:

5. Click on the [Style] list arrow and choose Normal 6. Press <Ctrl End> to move to the end of your work 7. Press <Return> once to end the paragraph and start a new one 8. Click on the [Style] list arrow and choose quote 9. Type in a quotation - anything will do, a couple of lines will suffice 10.Press <Return> to start a new paragraph

You will find that the quote paragraph style is still set on - you will see later how to get it to revert automatically to normal.

11.Click on the [Style] list arrow and choose Normal 12.Press <Return> once for a blank line and type another Normal

paragraph 13.Use this new paragraph to practice setting up another new style called

mystyle, which uses a different font in a different point size, is double spaced and fully justified

14.Test out your new style on the first (Normal) paragraph

The Task Pane

The Task Pane offers a host of useful features and makes working with styles much easier (although it does take up quite a lot of the screen). To display the Styles and Formatting task pane:

1. Click on the [Styles and Formatting] button on the far left of the Formatting toolbar (or open the Format menu and choose Styles and Formatting...) - the task pane appears:

As you move the mouse over the styles listed in the pane, formatting details are shown. You can examine these in even greater detail by switching to another task pane called Reveal Formatting:

2. Open the Format menu and choose Reveal Formatting... - a different task pane appears:

Note: you can also open this pane via the list arrow at the top right of the Task Pane. 

The details shown may vary from those above - these are for the quote style. To see the settings for a particular style:

3. Move the insertion point into the paragraph whose style settings you wish to examine

The settings are split into various sections - eg Font and Paragraph. In each section, note the blue hyperlinks. If you click on one of these, a dialog box appears which lets you change the settings. Don't do so here - you will be covering this later. Sometimes settings are derived from more than one style (eg the quote style defines the font as italic but the font isn't set explicitly (it uses the Default Paragraph Font). The Distinguish style source option at the foot of the pane can be used to find out these details, though it's debatable whether you need to know too much about this.

There are several other facilities provided by this pane (for example you can compare two pieces of text to find out the differences in style settings) but it's probably best not to spend too much time exploring these. Move back to the normal Styles and Formatting task pane:

4. Click on the [Styles and Formatting] button (or use the list arrow provided at the top right of the pane and choose Styles and Formatting) 

Other Style Types

Currently there are no character, list or table styles shown in the list of styles. You can display the other default styles via the Styles and Formatting task pane:

1. At the bottom of the task pane, click on the list arrow attached to Show: and choose Custom... - the Format Settings dialog box appears:

2. In the list of Styles to be visible: turn on Default Paragraph Font - click in the check box

3. Repeat step 2 for No List and Table Normal 4. Note the other settings in this window then press <Return> for [OK] 5. Examine the list of available styles attached to the [Style] button or in

the task pane - note the symbols used to denote the different style types

Character:      List:     Table:

Generally there's no need to have these styles showing. To return to the original list:

6. Press <Ctrl z> or click on [Undo]

Microsoft Word has well over a hundred hidden built-in styles, some of which may appear in the style list as you issue certain commands - when you insert a table or list, for example. To see the available styles:

7. Click on the list arrow attached to Show: and choose All styles 8. Move up and down the style list in the task pane, just to see what's

available

Note: not all the styles are shown here - some only appear when they are needed - eg Table of Contents, caption and footnote styles. Don't forget that you can always turn off seldom-used styles in a list via Custom...

9. To set the list just to the styles being used, repeat step 7 but choose Formatting in use - note that Heading 2 and 3 are missing

10.Repeat step 7 again but choose Available styles - Heading 2 and 3 are back

Being able to customize the list of styles can be a very useful feature. It's all too easy to generate lots of styles, some of which are only used once or twice (remember that as soon as you apply formatting to a paragraph a new style is created automatically). You can prevent this happening by turning off the Keep track of formatting option, which is on the Edit tab when you issue an Options command from the Tools menu.

Another useful feature of the Task Pane is that it lets you select all the text using a particular style. As an example, use it to change both mystyle paragraphs back to Normal:

11.Move the insertion point into a paragraph using the mystyle style - this will show at the top of the task pane under Formatting of selected text

12.Underneath this, click on the [Select All] button - this should select both paragraphs

13.Now under the heading Pick formatting to apply in the task pane choose Normal - both paragraphs will have reverted to Normal

Being able to select all the paragraphs (or text) using a particular style is very useful. For example, you may have used a style to format references in an essay in a particular way. You could then select them all and copy and paste them to give you a list of references. You might also want a word count excluding headings, tables etc. You can get that using this facility.

Creating a Character Style

Only paragraph styles can be created by copying the format of existing text. For other style types, you have to choose the settings required from a dialog box:

1. Click on the [New Style] button at the top of the Task Pane - the New Style dialog box appears:

This dialog box can be used to set up a paragraph style; here, however, you are going to create a character style. A good example of a character style would be for Greek characters:

2. Type in a Name: for the style - here, call it greek 3. Change the Style type: to Character - note that paragraph settings are

now greyed out and that the style is based on Default Paragraph Font, not Normal

4. Under Formatting change the Font:  to Symbol (click in the currently empty [Font] box and type sym) and turn on [Italic]

5. Make sure the Size: of the font is not set - if it is, drag through any value and <Delete> it

6. Click on [Format] - here you can set up further Font characteristics and a Language and Shortcut Key... if you want (don't bother making any changes  - click again to close the menu)

Note the Add to template check box which lets you add your new style to your normal.dot template (so it is available for all your documents). By default, styles are just saved in the current document.

7. Click on [OK] to close the New Style dialog box and return to your document

Now try out your new style:

8. Select some normal text (a single word will do) then click on the [Style] list arrow and choose greek (or use the task pane) - the text will appear in italics in Symbol font

You will remember that the new character style was set up without a fixed font size. Doing this enables the style to take on the font size set by the paragraph style. To demonstrate this:

9. Repeat step 8 but on any word in your main heading - the word appears in greek but this time 16 point (the same as the rest of the paragraph)

10.Press <Ctrl z> on click on [Undo] to return the heading to its original state

11.Press <Ctrl End> to move to the end of your work then <Return> twice for a new paragraph

Creating a List Style

Whenever you click on the [Numbering] or [Bullets] button, a list style is used. Again, you can create your own list style using the [New Style] button:

1. Click on the [New Style] button in the Task Pane 2. Type in a Name: for the style - here call it abclist 3. Change the Style type: to List - the dialog box changes accordingly:

Note that Apply formatting to: is set up for the first level of your list. You can customise each level as you would like it but here, just change the one level:

4. Click on the list arrow attached to the [Number style] button (currently shown as 1, 2, 3, ...) and select A, B, C... instead

5. Press <Return> for [OK] to define the style 6. Test out your style by choosing it and typing in a short list - press

<Return> twice to end the list and return to Normal

Creating a Table Style

Table styles are quite complicated and few people make use of them. They can include settings for various recognised table elements such as the left/right column or the top/bottom row. In addition, there are a host of pre-defined table layouts, devised by Microsoft.

As a simple demonstration of a table style, carry out the following exercise:

1. Click on the [New Style] button in the Task Pane

2. Type in a Name: for the style - here call it mytable 3. Change the Style type: to Table - the dialog box changes accordingly:

4. Click on the list arrow attached to the [Shading Color] button (the one with the paint can) and select any colour

5. Click on the [Borders] button list arrow (immediately to the right) and select Inside Borders

6. Note that Apply formatting to: is set to Whole table - click on [OK] to define the style

7. Test out your style by inserting a table into your document - click on the [Insert Table] button and choose a 2x3 table

8. With the typing position inside the table, select mytable from the list of styles - the table should be coloured with the inner borders drawn

9. Press <Ctrl End> or use <down arrow> to move out of the table

Modifying an Existing Style

You can modify an existing paragraph style, including those supplied by Word, in one of two ways as described below. For example, you may prefer Heading 1 to be centred:

1. Press <Ctrl Home> to move to the top of your work 2. Click on the [Center] button to centre your main heading 3. In the Task Pane click on the list arrow which appears on the right of

Heading 1 as you move the mouse over it and choose Update to Match Selection

The style should now be redefined (centred).

You can also modify an existing style using the Style dialog box. In fact this is the only way to change a character, list or table style. Some paragraph style settings (such as Widow and Orphan control and the style for the following paragraph) can also only be set this way.

4. In the Task Pane click on the list arrow on the right of quote and choose Modify... - the Modify Style dialog box appears:

Note the Add to template check box (to add the modified style to the document template). Here, the Automatically update check box is also active. If you turn this on then any manual changes you make to a style are automatically added to the style settings (and all other paragraphs using

this style will be changed to match). It's probably not a good idea to activate this as it's all too easy to add something by mistake.

5. Click on the list arrow attached to the box on the right displaying ¶ quote under the heading Style for following paragraph:

6. Select ¶ Normal from the list which appears 7. Click on [Format] and choose Paragraph... 8. Under the Spacing heading, set After: to 12 pt, which will automatically

add a blank line after the quote (to match that before)

Note: Widow/Orphan control is set up here on the Line and Page Breaks tab.

9. Press <Return> or click on [OK] to return to the Modify Style box 10.Press <Return> or click on [OK] to save the modified style

You should find that you now have an extra blank line you don't need below your original quote paragraph, which you can delete.

10.Press <Ctrl End> to move to the end of your work and try out the redefined style by typing in a new quote - note how the style now returns to Normal when you press <Return>

Note: You cannot modify the Default Paragraph Font, the No List or the Table List styles. You can, however, change the font used by the Normal paragraph style if you prefer a different font to Times New Roman. If you do redefine the font in this way then all your other styles based on Normal (here mystyle, abclist and mytable) will automatically change to match it.

Deleting a Style

To delete an existing style:

1. In the Task Pane, click on the list arrow on the right of the style you no longer require - here select mystyle

2. Choose Delete... - you are now asked to confirm the deletion

3. Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion (or [No] if you decide you want to keep it)

The Format Painter

Format Painter:

Styles can be copied from one piece of text and applied to another using the Format Painter. A special button for this is provided on the Standard Toolbar, immediately after the cut/copy/paste buttons.

1. Drag through some greek text to select it (a few characters will do) 2. Click on the [Format Painter] button - the mouse cursor becomes a

little brush 3. Drag through some non-greek characters

When you let go of the mouse you will find the selected characters become greek - the special character style is applied to them. If you need to do this repeatedly:

4. With some greek text selected, double click on the [Format Painter] 5. Drag through some non-greek characters - they will become greek, as

before 6. Drag through other areas of text - they also will become greek 7. When you have finished, turn off the [Format Painter] by clicking on

the button once 8. Use <Ctrl z> or click on [Undo] to reverse the changes, if you don't

want them

Paragraph styles can be painted in exactly the same way. To copy the paragraph style, the whole paragraph must be selected before the Format Painter is used:

9. Select a quote paragraph - the easiest way is to click three times within it

10.Click on the [Format Painter] button - once to copy the style to a single paragraph or twice to copy the style repeatedly

11.Click on one of the abclist paragraphs - that too will become a quote 12.Press <Ctrl z> or click on [Undo] to return the paragraph to a list

Note: if you drag through just part of the paragraph then only the font settings are painted across and the paragraph will retain its original layout.

Copying Styles Between Files

It is easy to merge the styles from one document into another (new or an existing one). However, if you want to merge styles into a document you are currently working on it then must be saved first. In this next exercise, you are going to copy your quote style into a new document:

1. Click on the [New] button for a new blank document 2. Click on the [Save] button and name the file tempstyle - press

<Return> to [Save] it 3. Look at the task pane or click on the [Style] list arrow and note which

styles are available

You should find that none of the styles you have created or modified are available to you - you only have the default styles (the ones you created have not been added to normal.dot). To copy a style from the document you have been working on:

4. Move to your original document (Document1) via the Window menu 5. Open the Tools menu and choose Templates and Add-Ins... 6. Click on [Organizer...] at the bottom left of the Templates and Add-ins

dialog box

The Organizer dialog box will open with the current document's styles listed on the left and the styles in Normal.dot (the default template) on the right.

The current configuration allows you to copy Styles from your document to the normal.dot template. Other tabs are provided to copy AutoText entries, Toolbars and Macros between templates and documents. Note that AutoText can only be copied between templates. To copy to a template or document other than Normal.dot:

7. Click on the [Close File] button on the right hand side (to close Normal.dot)

8. Now click on the same button which has been renamed [Open File...] 9. Change the Look in: directory to My Documents (click on the button at

the left) 10.Change Files of type: to Word Documents (*.doc) to move the styles

between documents 11.Select tempstyle.doc and press <Return> for [Open] 12.Select the style(s) to be copied (here choose quote) from the left-hand

box then click on the [Copy >>] button

Note that you can select more than one style by using <Shift click> and <Ctrl click> as in other dialog boxes in Windows.

13.Now [Close] the Organizer dialog box 14.Move back to your tempstyle.doc via the Window menu 15.Look at the task pane or click on the [Style] list arrow and note which

styles are now available - you should find quote has been added to the list

16.End by closing tempstyle.doc - from the File menu choose Close or click on the [Close Window] button. When asked, save the changes to tempstyle.doc - click on [Yes]

By changing the To: and From: options in Organizer you can copy styles etc between any of your documents or templates. You don't even have to have either of the files open when you do this (both files were kept open in the above exercise so that you could see what was happening).

Templates

Every Word document has a template; the default is Normal.dot. This determines the basic structure of the document - the page and screen layout, what styles are to be used, macros and shortcut keys, custom dictionaries and AutoText entries, and many other features. Templates can also contain text and graphics, for example a company logo and postal

address for a letter. They can even be used as forms, whereby boxes are provided for the user to type in responses to headings or questions.

There are in fact two types of template, global and document. In a global template, settings which can be applied to all documents are stored. Normal.dot is an example of a global template. In a document template, settings which are available only to documents specifically using that template are stored. A letterhead would be an example of a document template. Note that this would also use settings defined in the global template which are not set by the document template itself.

Word provides a range of built-in templates and lets you create your own.

Using a Built-in Template

The templates provided by Microsoft Word may or may not be exactly what is required. It's useful to be aware of what is available, however, as it may be easier to modify an existing template rather than create a new one. To use a template:

1. Open the File menu and select New... - the New Document task bar appears

2. Under New from template choose General Templates... - the following screen appears:

The current setting in the dialog box is to create a new blank document. Note the Template option button under the Create New heading - this can

be used to create a new template, as you will see later. Several other tabs (apart from General) are provided containing templates for that topic.

3. Click on the Letters & Faxes tab 4. Click once on each icon in turn and wait for the Preview to appear 5. Explore the other tabs too - note that Preview is not always available

It is important to realise that although you select a template, you are still creating a new Document. All you are doing is choosing a particular layout for your new document.

Though many of the templates may not seem suitable or appropriate for your work, it is worth trying to use one if only to see how it has been set up and what it offers. Students might like to try out the Thesis template on the Publications tab; secretaries may prefer to look at the Elegant Letter template on the Letters & Faxes tab. It's probably not wise to start up a Wizard until you are a little more familiar with using templates.

6. Try out one of the templates, as suggested in the paragraph above - select it then press <Return> for [OK]

7. Click on the [Style] list arrow to see what styles have been preset - note that you can always modify these and hide or delete any which are not needed

8. Try replacing some of the special (bracketed) fields provided with your own text

9. Press <Page Down> to move down through the document

Tip: If you decide you would prefer a different style for your document, you can apply one from the Style Gallery. Open the Format menu, choose Theme... then click on [Style Gallery...] and select the new style.

10.Close the document either using the [Close Window] button or Close from the File menu - there's no need to save it

Creating and Using Your Own Template

There are two ways to generate a template in Word. Perhaps the easiest is to create an ordinary document in the layout you want, setting up any styles etc required, and then to save this as a template file. The alternative method is to click on the Template option in the New dialog window you looked at in the previous section.

To save an ordinary file as a template:

1. Open the File menu and choose Save As... (use the current document, even though it isn't really suitable as a template)

2. Click on the list arrow attached to the Save as type: box and choose Document Template (*.dot)

3. The Save in: box should change automatically to the msoffice.xp folder (on the lab PCs) - if not, you may need to set up the location specifically

4. Normally you would now name and [Save] your file - here, click on [Cancel]

To create a template file from scratch:

1. Open the File menu and choose New... - the New Document task bar opens, as before - click on General Templates...

2. Make sure you are on the General tab (click on it if necessary) with Blank Document selected

Note: if you want to base your new template on an existing one - you need to select it at this point.

3. Click on the Template option button under the Create New section 4. Press <Return> or click on [OK]

Note that the document title on the title bar is called Template1. Carry on creating the template:

5. Enter any text or graphics - eg set up a letter template with your address and Dear Sir, - and apply any formatting

6. Carry out any page setup changes that may be wanted 7. Create, select or merge any styles needed 8. Create any autotext (glossary) entries - see Autotext (Glossaries) in

Microsoft Word 2002 for details

Once the template is to your liking save it so it can be used later:

9. Press <Ctrl s> for [Save] - or use Save from the File menu 10.Give the template an appropriate File name: - eg myletter 11.Check that Save in: is set to the appropriate msoffice.xp folder - if you

do not use the default directory then your template will not appear when you try to create a new document using it

12.Press <Return> or click on [Save] 13.Close the template either using the [Close Window] button or Close

from the File menu

To use your new template for a document:

14.Open the File menu and choose New... then click on General Templates... in the task pane

15.Make sure you are on the General tab (all user-defined templates are listed here)

16.Select your template and check the Document option control is set under Create New

17.Press <Return> or click on [OK]

You would now normally continue typing in your text and saving your file. Here, however, there is no need to do so.

18.Close your document either using the [Close Window] button or Close from the File menu

Modifying a Template

As you have seen, templates are stored in a special Templates folder, which may not be easy to find if you need to modify a template. To find out where your templates are stored:

1. Open the Tools menu and choose Options... 2. Click on the File Locations tab and select User templates

If only an abbreviated path to the location of the templates is given here you can find out the exact location by selecting the current location and clicking on [Modify...]. Move up through the file structure, at each step noting down the exact path on paper.

Now you know where to find your templates:

3. Click on [Open] or use the File menu and choose Open... 4. Change Look in: to the Templates directory you have just noted down -

in the labs click on .do_not_delete then open the msoffice.xp folder 5. Select the template you wish to modify then press <Return> or click on

[Open] 6. Make any necessary changes then [Save] and [Close] the file

Template files can be deleted in exactly the same way as a normal file.

Attaching Templates to Documents

You can attach another template to the current document, if you want. This makes styles and autotext (glossary) entries from that template available to the current document. To attach another template to an open document:

1. Make sure the document to which you want to attach the template is displayed

2. Click on the Tools menu and choose Templates and Add-ins... - the following window appears:

Note the link to [Organizer...] which would allow you to import particular styles etc from other templates, as you saw earlier, rather than the whole template itself.

3. Click on [Attach...] and select the template you want - eg myletter.dot 4. Set on the Automatically update document styles check box if you want

your styles updated to always match those defined in the template 5. Press <Return> or click on [Open] 6. Press <Return> or click on [OK]

The chosen template will be attached to the current document, allowing you to use any of the features associated with it.