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Styles to go

Styles are an important productivity tool. Spend a while learning how to use them and they'll reward you with savings in time and effort and help you increase your productivity and consistency, as Helen Bradley demonstrates.
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tutorial Part 1

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tutorial Part 2

 So, what is a style? A style is a name given to a set of formatting options. Say, for example, the headings in your document are 14 point, bold, Arial type. You can create these headings by formatting each one individually (the hard way) or you can create a style called 'FirstHeading' which is 14 point, bold, Arial type and use it to format every heading in your document (the easy way).

Word offers you a choice between its own in-built range of styles or creating your own custom styles.

Using built-in Word styles
To experiment with styles:

Step 1: Create a new document based on the Normal template using File, New, Normal, OK.

Step 2: Type in the lines of text from the box so you have some words to work with.

Step 3: Place the insertion point somewhere in the first line of type and select Format, Style and from the List box select All Styles to display a list of all the styles attached to the Normal template. From the Style list select the Title style and click Apply. This formats the first line of text to Word's in-built 'Title' style.

Figure 1: With the Formatting toolbar visible you can select styles with the mouse from the drop down Style List box.

 Using the Toolbar
Another way of selecting a style is using the Style list box on the Formatting toolbar (see Figure 2a. If this toolbar isn't visible, display it by selecting View, Toolbars, select the Formatting check box and click OK.

Step 4: Place the insertion point in the second line of type and using the mouse select Heading 1 from the Style list box on the Formatting Toolbar to format the second line with Word's first level heading style.

Creating your own styles
You can create your own styles by formatting a paragraph and creating the style by example, or you can create the style from scratch. These steps show you each of these processes:

Step 5: To create a style by example, first format the third line of type to Times New Roman, 10 point, italic. Now highlight the line and select Ctrl+Shift+S to access the Style list on the Formatting Toolbar. Type in the name of the new style -- call it 'SubHead' -- and press Enter. You have now created the style SubHead 'by example'.

Step 6: To create a style from scratch, select Format, Style, New and in the Name text box type BodyType as the name of your new style. Select Format, Font and select Times New Roman, 11 point, and click OK. Select Format, Paragraph and set Left to 1.27cm, and select OK, OK and Close. Now, to use this style, place the insertion point in the fourth paragraph of the passage and select Ctrl+Shift+S, and click on the name BodyType to format the paragraph with this style.

Figure 2: If you alter a style by example, you'll be prompted to confirm that changing the style is what you really want to do.

 What's in a style?
To see what formatting is in a style before you use it:

Step 7: Select the fifth paragraph of your text, select Format, Style and from the List list box select Styles in Use to display details of only those styles currently being used in the document, and from the Styles list select the style Heading 1. In the Description box you'll see a description of the formatting for this style. Choose Apply to format this line with this style.

Shortcut keys
Some of Word's in-built styles are accessible by shortcut keys (see Style Tips box) and you can create shortcut keys for your own custom styles.

Step 8: Select Format, Style, select the style BodyType, click on the Modify button and select Shortcut Key. In the Press New Shortcut Key box press Ctrl+Shift+1, this should be currently unassigned (if not, experiment with other key combinations until you find an unassigned one), and select Assign, Close, OK, Close. Test this new key combination by using it to format the sixth line of the document.

Changing Styles
Like creating a style, you can change a style by example.

Step 9: To change the formatting of the BodyType style, select a paragraph already formatted with the style BodyType, say line 4, and change the font size to 12 point. With the paragraph still highlighted, select BodyType from the Style list box on the Formatting toolbar. When you are prompted with the options shown in Figure 2b, select Redefine the Style, using the selection as an example. Notice that the other paragraph formatted with this style is now altered too.

Copying styles
The Organizer allows you to copy styles from one document to another. Select Format, Style, Organizer and select the Styles tab. Open both the document which has the style to be copied and the one you will copy it to, select the style to copy and click the Copy button. You can copy styles between documents and/or templates, and also Delete and Rename styles using this option.

Figure 3: By selecting the Add to template checkbox in the New Style (or Modify Style) dialog box you'll add your style to the current template.

Style.DOC and Style1.DOC example files can be found in the Interact\Style folder on the CD.

 Why you should use styles
Styles help you keep the formatting of a document consistent -- every paragraph formatted with a style will look like every other paragraph formatted in the same style.

Styles make it easy for you to change the format of your document. For example, if you decide you really want 14 point, italic, Arial type headings, you'll simply change the specifications of the heading style you are using and every piece of text formatted in that style will change automatically.
You can also use styles from another document by copying them from one document to another and you can store your favourite styles in a template so they are always available.

Other packages
Styles are a tool you will find in all top-end word processing packages. If you aren't sure how to access them in your word processor, try searching for styles in the Help options. Here are quick instructions for Word Perfect 7.0 and WordPro:

Corel WordPerfect 7.0: Select your text and use Format, Styles to access the styles dialogue box. Select the style you want from the list and click on Apply. This same dialogue box allows you to create and edit styles.

Lotus WordPro 96: Select text and right-click on it. From the menu select Named Styles, Apply and select the style from the list. Other buttons on the default SmartIcon bar allow you to create and redefine styles.

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