Create a New Style Based on Formatting
You can quickly apply a set of formatting options consistently throughout your document by using styles. You can alter an existing style and customize it to your needs if you need formatting options that are not offered by Word’s pre-built styles and themes. The formatting (including font size, color, and text indentation) in styles used for titles, headings, paragraphs, lists, and other elements can be changed. To add a new style to the Styles gallery, you can also choose a section of formatted text from your document.
- Click on the paragraph that contains the formatting, (e.g., Bold, Underline, Center Aligned, and All Caps).
- Home tab | Styles group | Quick Styles Gallery drop-down |
- Select Create a Style
Displays the Create New Style from the Formatting dialog box - Type a Name for the Style, i.e., Court Title
- Optional: click the Modify… button to display additional formatting options.
- Click OK when finished
It automatically Adds Style to Quick Style Gallery
Tip: Custom styles are easier to distinguish if they are named with the same prefix. For example, add your firm’s initials, followed by a descriptive name (CBQuote, CBTitle, CBBody1, etc.) and look at your Styles Gallery and Task Pane to see where they appear.
Modify Styles
When you modify a style, every occurrence of the Style changes throughout the entire document. If you do not like the built-in Heading styles, modify them to fit your needs.
- From the Home tab | Styles group | Quick Styles Gallery
- Right-click the style, i.e., Heading 1
- Select Modify… from the list
Displays the Modify Style dialog box - Customize the style properties and formatting
- Click OK to save changes
Update Styles Based on Selection
You can remove all original formatting from the Built-in style, such as Heading 1, by changing the style to match your Normal style or the formatted text in the document. This will modify the default text to match the selected and formatted content in the document.
Pro Tip: First apply the Normal style to the text and format it accordingly
- Click on the formatted document text in the document, i.e. Normal.
- From Home tab | Styles group | Style Gallery
- Right-click on the style to update, i.e., Heading 1
- Select Update Heading 1 to Match Selection.
The formatting from the document is updated in the Style.
