styles how to use msword the right way by duncan stigwood © flamingegg.co.uk 2005 add some fuel to...
TRANSCRIPT
StylesHow to use MSWord the right way
by Duncan Stigwood
© flamingegg.co.uk 2005
add some fuel to your ideas
by Duncan Stigwood
© flamingegg.co.uk 2005
add some fuel to your ideas
The theory
Up until now you have been formatting and structuring your document to make it easier for a HUMAN to read
With today’s new technologies you will make your life much easier if you help the computer understand the document as well.
Think…
Structure and Formatting
also referred to as Content and Design.
To help work with your documents you need to learn to separate the two in your mind (before combining them to style your document)
Why use styles?
Correct use of styles in a document will create:
– Compatibility between different programs which all follow the same standards. E.g. An Adobe PDF will define it’s bookmarks from the built-in MSWord styles.
– Continuity throughout the document and any subsequent documents – a consistent professional look.
– Efficiency in your work. You will save time! Guaranteed.
– More features. There’s a world of styles based facilities just waiting to be used.
Part 1 – Structure
All documents are made up of paragraphs laid out in a hierarchy of headings, subheadings and the main body of the information.
This hierarchy works on levels:
Level 1
Level 2 (Sub to level 1)
Level 3 (Sub to level 2)
A newspaper is the perfect example. It has a main headline, a subheading and then the article.
A book is made up of chapters which divide up the stories.
This presentation is made up of Headings and content.
How to structure a document
Say goodbye to bad habits
Everytime you enter a paragraph, a sentence or a piece of text…
STOP
Take a moment to think about what that piece of text is doing and tell MSWord by assigning a style.
For example, if it is a heading you might have thought about making it big and bold? Why not make MSWord do it for you…
Heading 1
Body Text
Heading 2
Structure is defined by tags
<heading 1> Main Heading </heading 1>
<heading 2> SubHeading </heading 2>
<heading 3> Another subheading, they go up to heading 9. Don’t be scared to use them! </heading 3>
<body text> Body text here </body text>
<body text> Most of the document will be styled as body text </body text>
<body text> These are just tags. They tell the computer what type of information the text represents. They don’t tell the computer what to do with it. I.e. they only define structure. Not formatting! </body text>
Style = Structure + Formatting
In MSWord, the word style refers to a set of formatting options with a name and a level.
Therefore, by applying a style, you are applying a tag AND formatting associated with that tag.
For example.
Style Heading 1 contains… (based on default formatting)
–Level 1
–Big
–Bold
–Paragraph spacing
Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense to you right now. Lets look at the default styles in MSWord.
The styles live up to their name
This is what the styles look like as standard in MSWord.
There are default formatting settings for each style in Normal.dot
This is what the styles look like as standard in MSWord.
There are default formatting settings for each style in Normal.dot
The Styles and Formatting Panel
The styles and formatting panel
The styles and formatting panel
Part 2 – Formatting
Everytime you have a piece of text in MSWord it will be associated with a style, whether you defined it or not.
Most often this style is Normal, because unless MSWord tries to guess and apply a different style, all your content will remain Normal from default.
If you apply formatting, i.e. if you press a button on the formatting toolbar, MSWord creates a new entry into the panel which represents the new formatting.
Eg. Default text & make size 12pt & change to Arial =
“Normal + 12pt + Arial”
MSWord does not automatically update the style with the new formatting you’ve applied. If it did, everytime you hit bold – all the text in that style would become bold.
NOTE:This would actually be listed as
“Arial 12pt”If it is based on the Normal style, the word Normal does not appear.
If it was based on Body Text, it would be listed as
“Body Text + Arial 12pt”
More on Formatting
Remember, everytime you apply formatting…
STOP - Take a moment to think “why am I doing this?”
A good example is making text bold.
“When crossing the road look both ways.”
This is using bold to emphasise a word.
You don’t need to tell MSWord why its emphasised.
The acceptable way to make this bold is simply to hit the bold button.
“How to cross the road
When crossing the road look both ways.”
This is using bold to highlight a heading. The correct way to do this is to assign the text to the Heading style.
If the heading style does not make the text bold, you can then use the bold button and then tell MSWord to update the Heading style to match.
Now everytime you want a heading, you hit one button and
1. it looks like a heading,
2. it reads like a heading and
3. the computer knows it is a heading.
You should now grasp the theory of Styles
Normal + Bold + Center + Big
How to boil an egg
Ingredients
An Egg
Water
Directions
Bring water to the boil
Carefully lower in the egg
Tip – use a spoon to lower it in without risk of burning your fingers.
This is what happens when you only use the toolbar buttons
Normal + Bold
Normal + Bold
Normal + Indented
Normal + Indented
Normal + Indented
Normal + Indented
Normal + Indented 2 + Smaller
Heading 1 (which knows it’s big and bold and centered)
Tip (if you’re going to have many tips, why not create a style for them)
How to boil an egg
Ingredients
An Egg
Water
Directions
Bring water to the boil
Carefully lower in the egg
Tip – use a spoon to lower it in without risk of burning your fingers.
This is what happens when you use styles
Heading 2
Heading 2
Normal
Normal
Normal
Normal
Keep it clean
In MSWord open up the Styles and Formatting Panel.
If you open up an old document, you will notice the Styles and formatting panel is most likely filled with listings. Probably most of them named after a font you often use. This the result of neglecting the correct use of styles.
If you keep this clean and tidy, you will find your documents are consistent and your text will be formatted automatically.
If there is no symbol, it represents formatting applied to a style.
This one is Normal + Arial + 22pt
If there is no symbol, it represents formatting applied to a style.
This one is Normal + Arial + 22pt
This is a paragraph style!This is a paragraph style!
Symbol = Style
This one is Heading 1 + RedThis one is Heading 1 + Red
Using styles
How to correctly format text: (just add those extra steps)
1. Select the text in question
2. In the Styles and Formatting Panel choose the style relevant for the text
3. Make the text look how you want by the usual route (using the toolbar and menus)
4. Before moving on either:
a) If you want the formatting to be applied to the style – Hit UPDATE
b) If you want the formatting to be unique to this type of text – Make a NEW style
Clean up
Right click Heading 1 and choose
Update to Match Selection
Right click Heading 1 and choose
Update to Match SelectionThat’s all you need to do for that heading.
However, you will lose all the subsequent formatting.
That bright red heading will become black. If you need to preserve that red heading, make it a new style first…
That’s all you need to do for that heading.
However, you will lose all the subsequent formatting.
That bright red heading will become black. If you need to preserve that red heading, make it a new style first…
This is the currentformatting of the text
This is the currentformatting of the text
No symbol. This means formatting based on a style
No symbol. This means formatting based on a style
We want to make it Heading 1We want to make it Heading 1
Select the textSelect the text
New Styles
There shouldn’t be many situations when you need to create a new style in most documents.
The built-in styles should be sufficient if you change the settings to suit your formatting needs.
One situation when you would is when you apply new formatting to a style which you don’t want to affect other text in that style. When you feel the need to create your own, there are some things to bear in mind.
“Based on:”
Your new style can be based on any existing style, inheriting all the formatting settings for that style. This is called the parent style (and the new style is called the child).
“Description:”
Here you can see what extra formatting is applied on top of that of the parent style.
Create a new style to preserve formatting
Choose new style
Select the text with formatting
Select the text with formatting
Style Options Window
Based on Heading 1 -So changes to Heading 1 willcascade through
Based on Heading 1 -So changes to Heading 1 willcascade through
You can ask MSWord to update paragraph styles automatically.
The risk is if you apply formatting to text… all the other text in that style will be instantly affected.
You can ask MSWord to update paragraph styles automatically.
The risk is if you apply formatting to text… all the other text in that style will be instantly affected.
Description of the formatting
Description of the formatting
Apply formatting to the style
Apply formatting to the style
Almost there…
Add that final stepAdd that final step
You’ve just created a new style, but wait…You’ve just created a new style, but wait…
This is the style you’ve just created.Click it and the formatting above will disappear
and NOW you’ve finished!
The formatting is still selected!
The formatting is still selected!
Clear Formatting
This is a useful entry in the panel.
By clicking this your selected text will lose all styles and formatting and return to Normal.
This is particularly useful when trying to style a messy document.
(It is always at the top)
Styled and sorted
No messy formatting just the styles we need.
No messy formatting just the styles we need.
NOTE: This was a custom style.
It’s good practice to name the style something relevant to the text,
rather than the formatting
Calling it “Big” is less useful than perhaps “Important” or “Edited”.
NOTE: This was a custom style.
It’s good practice to name the style something relevant to the text,
rather than the formatting
Calling it “Big” is less useful than perhaps “Important” or “Edited”.
Normal or Body Text?
Normal is the basecoat for all the proceeding styles in the document.
If Normal is formatted as Arial then all the styles will inherit this.
All styles are based on either Normal or a subsequent style.
If you choose to style your main content as Normal, any changes you make will cascade through to all the other styles in the document.
MSWord comes with 3 Body Text styles as standard. By using these you can format the text without affecting the other styles.
It is not essential that you use the style Body Text, but it is good practice and the benefits will become apparent.
As standard, Body Text is not listed in the shortlist of styles, but the exercises will show you how to enable it.
Old habits die hard…
From this moment on you will only use the ENTER key for one reason.
To finish a paragraph.
It is not the “I want to space these lines out” key.
By having 2 “returns” next to each other, you will confuse MSWord and cause problems with other facilities.
If you wish paragraphs to be spaced out, open up your paragraph settings and set “paragraph spacing: after” so that it is equal to your font size. Then update the style to match the new formatting settings.
Use this spacing setting often.
To space headings out from previous paragraphs.
To space out the end of lists.
If you select “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style” you can make sure there are only gaps at the end and/or beginning of the style.
In the exercises, you will setup Body Text to prevent paragraph abuse
Set-up MSWord to guide you
The styles info column describes the relevant style for each paragraph.
Turn this up to see the styles info column to the
left of the document in Normal and Outline view.
Paragraph or Character Style?
When a style is applied to the whole paragraph it is called a Paragraph Style. It contains information on the font, indent and line spacing settings of the style.
When a style is applied to text within a paragraph, it is called a Character Style. It only contains information on the font settings. Line spacing and indent settings do not apply.
Paragraph style
Character style
This is a sentence with a bold word
NOTE: This example is not the result of hitting the bold button.
This is the result of applying a Character style with bold in its
settings.
NOTE: This example is not the result of hitting the bold button.
This is the result of applying a Character style with bold in its
settings.
Character styles
This is the symbol for a
character style
This is the symbol for a
character style
Character styles are not essential, however they are useful.
You could replace the bold button, for a character style named Bold.
The benefits of doing this are:
– The words which are Bold, will remain Bold even when the Paragraph style is changed.
• If you were just to apply bold formatting (i.e. hit the bold button), this formatting is sometimes lost if you change the Paragraph style.
– If you later decide that you’d like all bold words to be underlined instead. You can simply change the settings of Bold.
– The Character style acts as a settings toggle. If you apply Bold to a style that is already bold, the text becomes normal.
Lists
When you use the bullets and numbering toolbar button, MSWord adds the bullet as extra formatting to the style of the text.
To best use the list function, you should turn the list into a styled list.
A styled list has 9 levels with customisable positioning and bullets for each level. These styles are independent of the text attached to the list.
Therefore, text with a bullet at the front can be:
1. Text with the extra formatting of a bullet
• This is the result of just hitting the “bullets and numbering” button
2. Text with a bullet included in the style settings
• This would be the result if you hit “update style” after the “bullets and numbering” button
3. Text with a list style attached.
• Remember, a list style is independent of the text attached to the list.
This 3rd setup is the preferred option. This is because the same list style can be applied to many different paragraph styles, also any sublists will all be contained in the one style.
Always look for the symbol…
All 3 look the sameAll 3 look the same
Setup 1 – Bullet is Formatting only
Setup 1 – Bullet is Formatting only
Setup 2 – Bullet is set in the paragraph styleSetup 2 – Bullet is set in the paragraph style
Setup 3 – Bullet is a LIST styleSetup 3 – Bullet is a LIST style
List styles…
MSWord comes with 3 standard list styles:
1.
1.1.
1.1.1.
1.
a)
i
Article I - this list style attaches itself to the headings hierarchy so this is automatically heading 1
Section 1.01 - heading 2
(a)- heading 3
You may want to create your own bullet list style. This can only be done within the “Modify style” window.
Any changes made to the bullets outside of this window will not be applied to the List style, EVEN if you press update.
This is one reason why Bullets in Paragraph Styles (setup 2) might be preferable over List Styles – because they are easier to modify.
Template common styles
If you make any Styles or changes which you will want to be the same in
all your documents;
– Open up the Modify window
– Click “Add to template”
Eventually you will build up a good database of styles that you know
inside-out, your documents will all be consistent and you’ll be able to style
them in seconds.
In the following exercises you will make a few useful template styles
The exercises
You will need an extra computer or 2 screens to complete the exercises whilst running this presentation.
If you do not have an extra computer, please print the exercise out.
Make Your Own Styles Toolbar
• Right click on a toolbar in MSWord and choose “Customize”.
• In the “Toolbars” tab, select New…
• Name your toolbar “Styles”
• A new blank floating toolbar will appear
• Goto the Commands tab, Find “Format” and scroll down until you find “Style by example”
• Drag and drop onto your new toolbar
• Repeat for:
– Modify Style
– Redefine Style
– Rename Style
– Style… (this is a little further down)
• Right click on each button and change the names to:
–&Modify Style CHANGE TO &Modify…
• This opens up the modify window
–&Style by example CHANGE TO &New
• This automatically creates a new style, ready to be renamed
–&Redefine Style CHANGE TO &Update
• This updates the current style to match any new formatting (VERY USEFUL)
–&Rename Style CHANGE TO &Rename
The new toolbar should look like this
Exercise : Make your Normal, normal
Normal is default as being Times New Roman.
If you work in Times New Roman, this is fine. But many people don’t.
Lets say you work in Arial. Don’t open up every new document and change the Font to Arial;
Just this once:
• Open up a new document
• Change the font to Arial
• Hit Update
• Hit Modify…
• Tick “Add to template” and hit OK
Now open up a new document… Normal is now your normal.
Exercise : Body Text listed as standard
Here you will learn how to add the Body Text style to the “Available Styles” list, which is the standard list of styles in Normal.dot
You will probably find other standard styles that you will use often, and therefore want to add to the default list.
– Open up a new document.
– Type in a word and select the Body Text style from the All Styles list.
– Select Modify…
– Tick the box labelled “Add to template”
You could now add this style to your toolbar.
– In the customise toolbar dialogue
– Goto the “Commands” tab and the category STYLES
– Drag and drop the style onto the toolbar.
– You will probably want to rename the button to something shorter. E.g. Body Text CHANGE TO &Body OR &BT
Exercise : Prevent Paragraph abuse
Now that body text will appear as standard. Lets make it space out one line as standard.
– Right click the style Body Text and choose modify.
– In the bottom left, choose format > paragraph and set the “space: after” to 12pt.
– Hit OK
– Tick the box “Add to template” to save these settings to Normal.dot
– Now, if you use Body Text there’s no need for double Paragraphs.
Exercise : Template style
An invaluable template style to create is an Address style.
Many documents are letters, so save yourself some time:
– Open up an old letter
– Find the address area
– Click the first line and hit clear formatting
– Hit “New”
– Name the style = Address
– If you previously spaced out the address by using tabs, delete these tabs
– Now drag the text position slider to the right until the address lines up appropriately
– Hit Update
– Now hit Modify
– Tick “Add to template” and hit OK
– Now open up a new document. The address style will be listed
– Try it out!
– When you’ve typed the last line of the address, hit clear formatting to return to Normal.
Text position slider
Exercise : Document Writing
Now lets go through an exercise which uses a varied range of facilities in MSWord.
1. Open up MSWord.
2. Make sure you are in Normal view
3. Click Heading 1 in the styles panel
4. Type “Report” and press enter
5. Click Heading 2 in the styles panel
6. Now on your new styles toolbar, click Modify…
7. Under “Style for following paragraph” choose “Body Text”
8. Click OK
9. Now type “Section 1” and enter
10.You will notice you have automatically gone into “Body text”
11.Type in “This is the content for section 1” and enter
12.Click Heading 2 again
13.Type “Section 2” and enter
Exercise cont.
1. Type “this is the content of section 2”
2. Now goto Print layout view (the view that shows the separate pages).
3. Lets make some more room below the headings. Select the text “Section 1” and goto Format > Paragraph
4. Choose Spacing > After > 18pt
5. Hit OK
6. Now hit Update.
7. Notice how the other heading, “Section 2” spaces out equally.
Exercise cont. : Organise
1. Now goto Outline view
2. Click the + sign to the left of “Section 2”
It becomes selected
3. Now double click it
The content is hidden
4. Now click and drag above “Section 1”
1. Return to Print layout view
2. Open up the Document Map
3. In the grey area
•Click on “Report”
•Click on “Section 1”
•This is a fast way to navigate a large document
Exercise cont. : Navigate
Exercise cont. : Make an Outline of the document
1. Goto the styles panel
2. Right click on Heading 2 and choose “Select all 2 instances”
3. Hit Copy (Ctrl + C)
4. Click at the start of “Report”
5. Hit Paste (Ctrl + V)
6. Select at the start of the text you’ve just pasted, i.e. to type before “Section 2”
7. Type “Outline” and hit enter
8. Select “Outline” and change the style to Heading 1
9. Now hit Modify
10. In the bottom left goto Format > Paragraph
11. Choose the “Line and Page Breaks” tab
12. Click “Page break before”
13. Click OK and OK again
The Heading “Report” has disappeared to it’s own page
Exercise cont. : Clever header
1. Goto View > Header and Footer
2. You’ll notice the style Header is already assigned
3. Goto Insert > Field
4. In the list find “StyleRef”
5. You will see a list of all the styles. Select Heading 1
6. Click OK
7. Now center the heading by clicking the button on the toolbar.
8. Click update (for good practice)
9. The header will now reference the Heading 1 contained in that page
10. Test it. Come out of Header and Footer View
11. Using your document map click on “Report” and scroll up so you can see the header
12. Change it to say “Oranges”
13. Hover your mouse over the header to update the field
Exercise conclude : TOC
We created a Table of contents by selecting the headings then copy and pasting.
The problem with this is if we change the headings, the table of contents will need changing also.
So lets replace our copied text with a field which will update like our header does.
1. Select the copied text (below “Outline”) and delete.
2. Goto Insert > Field - choose TOC
3. Hit “Table of contents…”
4. We only want to show Heading 2 in the TOC so:
•Click “Options…”
•Delete the “1” under Heading 1
5. Click OK and again.
6. The TOC is now place under the “Outline” heading
Note: If we included Heading 1 in the TOC, because “Outline” is in Heading 1 it would also be included. To prevent this, change “Outline” to something other than Heading 1.