To change the font size:

1. Select the text you want to modify.

2. On the Home tab, click the Font Size drop-down arrow. Select a font size from the
menu. If the font size you need is not available in the menu, you can click the Font
Size box and type the desired size, then press Enter.
3. The font size will change in the document.
You can also use the Grow Font and Shrink Font commands to change the font size.

To change the font:

By default, the font of each new document is set to Calibri. However, Word provides many
other fonts you can use to customize text.

1. Select the text you want to modify.

2. On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Font box. A menu of font
styles will appear.
3. Select the font style you want to use.
4. The font will change in the document.
When creating a professional document or a document that contains multiple paragraphs,
you'll want to select a font that's easy to read. Along with Calibri, standard reading fonts
include Cambria, Times New Roman, and Arial.

To change the font color:

1. Select the text you want to modify.

2. On the Home tab, click the Font Color drop-down arrow. The Font Color menu
appears.
3. Select the font color you want to use. The font color will change in the document.
Your color choices aren't limited to the drop-down menu that appears. Select More Colors at
the bottom of the menu to access the Colors dialog box. Choose the color you want, then
click OK.
To use the Bold, Italic, and Underline commands:

The Bold, Italic, and Underline commands can be used to help draw attention to important
words or phrases.

1. Select the text you want to modify.

2. On the Home tab, click the Bold (B), Italic (I), or Underline (U) command in the Font
group. In our example, we'll click Bold.

3. The selected text will be modified in the document.

To change text case:

When you need to quickly change text case, you can use the Change Case command instead
of deleting and retyping text.

1. Select the text you want to modify.

2. On the Home tab, click the Change Case command in the Font group.
3. A drop-down menu will appear. Select the desired case option from the menu.

4. The text case will be changed in the document.

To highlight text:

Highlighting can be a useful tool for marking important text in your document.

1. Select the text you want to highlight.

2. From the Home tab, click the Text Highlight Color drop-down arrow. The Highlight
Color menu appears.

3. Select the desired highlight color. The selected text will then be highlighted in the
document.
To remove highlighting, select the highlighted text, then click the Text Highlight Color
drop-down arrow. Select No Color from the drop-down menu.

If you need to highlight several lines of text, changing the mouse into a highlighter may be a
helpful alternative to selecting and highlighting individual lines. Click the Text Highlight
Color command, and the cursor changes into a highlighter. You can then click and drag the
highlighter over the lines you want to highlight.

To change text alignment:

By default, Word aligns text to the left margin in new documents. However, there may be
times when you want to adjust text alignment to the center or right.

1. Select the text you want to modify.

2. On the Home tab, select one of the four alignment options from the Paragraph
group. In our example, we've selected Center Alignment.

3. The text will be realigned in the document.

Click the arrows in the slideshow below to learn more about the four text alignment options.

Align Text Left: This aligns all selected text to the left margin. The Align Text Left
command is the most common alignment and is selected by default when a new document is
created.


Center: This aligns text an equal distance from the left and right margins.

Align Text Right: This aligns all selected text to the right margin.


Justify: Justified text is equal on both sides. It lines up equally to the right and left margins.
Many newspapers and magazines use full justification.

You can use Word's convenient Set as Default feature to save all of the formatting changes
you've made and automatically apply them to new documents. To learn how to do this, read
our article on Changing Your Default Settings in Word.

Challenge!

Indenting text

In many types of documents, you may want to indent only the first line of each paragraph.
This helps to visually separate paragraphs from one another.

It's also possible to indent every line except for the first line, which is known as a hanging
indent.
To indent using the Tab key:

A quick way to indent is to use the Tab key. This will create a first-line indent of 1/2 inch.

1. Place the insertion point at the very beginning of the paragraph you want to indent.

2. Press the Tab key. On the Ruler, you should see the first-line indent marker move
to the right by 1/2 inch.
3. The first line of the paragraph will be indented.
If you can't see the Ruler, select the View tab, then click the checkbox next to the Ruler.

Indent markers

In some cases, you may want to have more control over indents. Word provides indent
markers that allow you to indent paragraphs to the location you want.

The indent markers are located to the left of the horizontal ruler, and they provide several
indenting options:
  First-line indent marker adjusts the first-line indent
 Hanging indent marker adjusts the hanging indent
 Left indent marker moves both the first-line indent and hanging indent markers at
the same time (indenting all lines in a paragraph)

To indent using the indent markers:

1. Place the insertion point anywhere in the paragraph you want to indent, or select one
or more paragraphs.

2. Click and drag the desired indent marker. In our example, we'll click and drag the
left indent marker.
3. Release the mouse. The paragraphs will be indented.
To indent using the Indent commands:

If you want to indent multiple lines of text or all lines of a paragraph, you can use the Indent
commands. The Indent commands will adjust the indent by 1/2-inch increments.

1. Select the text you want to indent.

 2. On the Home tab, click the Increase Indent or Decrease Indent command.

3. The text will indent.

To customize the indent amounts, select the Layout tab near the desired values in the boxes
under Indent.
Tabs

Using tabs gives you more control over the placement of text. By default, every time you
press the Tab key, the insertion point will move 1/2 inch to the right. Adding tab stops to the
Ruler allows you to change the size of the tabs, and Word even allows you to apply more
than one tab stop to a single line. For example, on a resume you could left-align the
beginning of a line and right-align the end of the line by adding a Right Tab, as shown in
the image below.

Pressing the Tab key can either add a tab or create a first-line indent, depending on where
the insertion point is. Generally, if the insertion point is at the beginning of an existing
paragraph, it will create a first-line indent; otherwise, it will create a tab.

The tab selector

The tab selector is located above the vertical ruler on the left. Hover the mouse over the tab
selector to see the name of the active tab stop.
Types of tab stops:

 Left Tab left-aligns the text at the tab stop

 Center Tab centers the text around the tab stop
 Right Tab right-aligns the text at the tab stop
 Decimal Tab aligns decimal numbers using the decimal point
 Bar Tab draws a vertical line on the document
 First Line Indent inserts the indent marker on the Ruler and indents the first line of
text in a paragraph
 Hanging Indent inserts the hanging indent marker and indents all lines other than
the first line

Although Bar Tab, First Line Indent, and Hanging Indent appear on the tab selector,
they're not technically tabs.

To add tab stops:

1. Select the paragraph or paragraphs you want to add tab stops to. If you don't select
any paragraphs, the tab stops will apply to the current paragraph and any new
paragraphs you type below it.
2. Click the tab selector until the tab stop you want to use appears. In our example, we'll
select Right Tab.

3. Click the location on the horizontal ruler where you want your text to appear (it
helps to click the bottom edge of the Ruler). You can add as many tab stops as you
want.
 4. Place the insertion point in front of the text you want to tab, then press the Tab key.
The text will jump to the next tab stop. In our example, we will move each date range
to the tab stop we created.

Removing tab stops

It's a good idea to remove any tab stops you aren't using so they don't get in the way. To
remove a tab stop, first select all of the text that uses the tab stop. Then click and drag it off
of the Ruler.
Word can also display hidden formatting symbols such as spaces ( ), paragraph marks ( ),
and tabs ( ) to help you see the formatting in your document. To show hidden formatting
symbols, select the Home tab, then click the Show/Hide command.
Challenge!

Line spacing

Line spacing is the space between each line in a paragraph. Word allows you to customize
the line spacing to be single spaced (one line high), double spaced (two lines high), or any
other amount you want. The default spacing in Word is 1.08 lines, which is slightly larger
than single spaced.

In the images below, you can compare different types of line spacing. From left to right, these
images show default line spacing, single spacing, and double spacing.
Line spacing is also known as leading (pronounced to rhyme with wedding).

To format line spacing:

1. Select the text you want to format.

2. On the Home tab, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing command, then select the
desired line spacing.
 3. The line spacing will change in the document.

Adjusting line spacing

Your line spacing options aren't limited to the ones in the Line and Paragraph Spacing
menu. To adjust spacing with more precision, select Line Spacing Options from the menu to
access the Paragraph dialog box. You'll then have a few additional options you can use to
customize spacing.

 Exactly: When you choose this option, the line spacing is measured in points, just
like font size. For example, if you're using 12-point text, you could use 15-point
spacing.

 At least: Like the the Exactly option, this lets you choose how many points of
spacing you want. However, if you have different sizes of text on the same line, the
spacing will expand to fit the larger text.
 Multiple: This option lets you type the number of lines of spacing you want. For
example, choosing Multiple and changing the spacing to 1.2 will make the text
slightly more spread out than single-spaced text. If you want the lines to be closer
together, you can choose a smaller value, like 0.9.
Paragraph spacing

Just as you can format spacing between lines in your document, you can adjust spacing
before and after paragraphs. This is useful for separating paragraphs, headings, and
subheadings.

To format paragraph spacing:

In our example, we'll increase the space before each paragraph to separate them a bit more.
This will make it a little easier to read.

1. Select the paragraph or paragraphs you want to format.

2. On the Home tab, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing command. Click Add
Space Before Paragraph or Remove Space After Paragraph from the drop-down
menu. In our example, we'll select Add Space Before Paragraph.
 3. The paragraph spacing will change in the document.

From the drop-down menu, you can also select Line Spacing Options to open the Paragraph
dialog box. From here, you can control how much space there is before and after the
paragraph.
You can use Word's convenient Set as Default feature to save all of the formatting changes
you've made and automatically apply them to new documents. To learn how to do this, read
our article on Changing Your Default Settings in Word.

Challenge!

To create a bulleted list:

1. Select the text you want to format as a list.

2. On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Bullets command. A menu
of bullet styles will appear.

3. Move the mouse over the various bullet styles. A live preview of the bullet style will
appear in the document. Select the bullet style you want to use.

4. The text will be formatted as a bulleted list.

Options for working with lists

 To remove numbers or bullets from a list, select the list and click the Bulleted or
Numbered list command.
 When you're editing a list, you can press Enter to start a new line, and the new line
will automatically have a bullet or number. When you've reached the end of your list,
press Enter twice to return to normal formatting.
 By dragging the indent markers on the Ruler, you can customize the indenting of your
list and the distance between the text and the bullet or number.

To create a numbered list:

When you need to organize text into a numbered list, Word offers several numbering
options. You can format your list with numbers, letters, or Roman numerals.

1. Select the text you want to format as a list.

2. On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Numbering command. A
menu of numbering styles will appear.

3. Move the mouse over the various numbering styles. A live preview of the numbering
style will appear in the document. Select the numbering style you want to use.
 4. The text will format as a numbered list.

To restart a numbered list:

If you want to restart the numbering of a list, Word has a Restart at 1 option. It can be
applied to numeric and alphabetical lists.
1. Right-click the list item you want to restart the numbering for, then select Restart at
1 from the menu that appears.

2. The list numbering will restart.

You can also set a list to continue numbering from the previous list. To do this, right-click
and select Continue Numbering.
Customizing bullets

Customizing the look of the bullets in your list can help you emphasize certain list items and
personalize the design of your list. Word allows you to format bullets in a variety of ways.
You can use symbols and different colors, or even upload a picture as a bullet.

To use a symbol as a bullet:

1. Select an existing list you want to format.

2. On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Bullets command. Select
Define New Bullet from the drop-down menu.

3. The Define New Bullet dialog box will appear. Click the Symbol button.
4. The Symbol dialog box will appear.
5. Click the Font drop-down box and select a font. The Wingdings and Symbol fonts
are good choices because they have many useful symbols.
6. Select the desired symbol, then click OK.

7. The symbol will appear in the Preview section of the Define New Bullet dialog box.
Click OK.
 8. The symbol will appear in the list.

To change the bullet color:

1. Select an existing list you want to format.

2. On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Bullets command. Select
Define New Bullet from the drop-down menu.

3. The Define New Bullet dialog box will appear. Click the Font button.
4. The Font dialog box will appear. Click the Font Color drop-down box. A menu of
font colors will appear.
5. Select the desired color, then click OK.
6. The bullet color will appear in the Preview section of the Define New Bullet dialog
box. Click OK.
 7. The bullet color will change in the list.

Multilevel lists
Multilevel lists allow you to create an outline with multiple levels. Any bulleted or
numbered list can be turned into a multilevel list by using the Tab key.

To create a multilevel list:

1. Place the insertion point at the beginning of the line you want to move.
 2. Press the Tab key to increase the indent level of the line. The line will move to the
right.

To increase or decrease an indent level:

You can make adjustments to the organization of a multilevel list by increasing or decreasing
the indent levels. There are several ways to change the indent level.

 To increase the indent by more than one level, place the insertion point at the
beginning of the line, then press the Tab key until the desired level is reached.

 To decrease the indent level, place the insertion point at the beginning of the line,
then hold the Shift key and press the Tab key.
  You can also increase or decrease the levels of text by placing the insertion point
anywhere in the line and clicking the Increase Indent or Decrease Indent
commands.

When formatting a multilevel list, Word will use the default bullet style. To change the style
of a multilevel list, select the list, then click the Multilevel list command on the Home tab.
Challeng

To insert text:

 Move your mouse to the location where you want text to appear in the document.
 Left-click the mouse. The insertion point appears.
 Type the text you want to appear.

To delete text:

 Place your cursor next to the text you want to delete.

 Press the Backspace key on your keyboard to delete text to the left of the cursor.
 Press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete text to the right of the cursor.

To select text:

 Place the insertion point next to the text you want to select.
 Left-click your mouse. While holding it down, drag your mouse over the text to select
it.
  Release the mouse button. You have selected the text. A highlighted box will appear
over the selected text.

When you select text or images in Word, a hover toolbar with formatting options appears.
This makes formatting commands easily accessible, which can save you time.

To copy and paste text:

 Select the text you want to copy.

 Click the Copy command on the Home tab.
 Place the insertion point where you want text to appear.
 Click the Paste command on the Home tab. The text will appear.

To drag and drop text:

 Select the text you want to copy.

 Left-click your mouse, and drag the text to the location where you want it to appear.
The cursor will have a text box underneath it to indicate that you are moving text.

 Release the mouse button, and the text will appear.

If text does not appear in the exact location you want, you can click the Enter key on your
keyboard to move the text to a new line.

Challenge!