Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Controlling How Body Text is Displayed.

Controlling How Body Text is Displayed

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 27, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007 and 2010


1

When you are working in Outline view, there will be times when you want to see the body text associated with headings. Word allows you to control how body text is displayed. You can either display the entire body text or only the first line of each paragraph of body text. This is a toggle condition, controlled by a tool on the Outlining tab of the ribbon. (Look for the Show First Line Only tool, in the Outline Tools group.)

The first time you click your mouse on the Show First Line Only tool, Word displays only the first line of each body text paragraph; the second time, Word displays the entire text of each paragraph. You should note that this tool does not affect headings. Thus, if you have headings that require multiple lines, they are always displayed in their entirety.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11780) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Controlling How Body Text is Displayed.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Centering Your Worksheet

Got just a small amount of worksheet data to print out? It might look better on the printed page if you center it. Excel ...

Discover More

Formatting a Cover Page

Formal reports look better when they are set up with an introductory cover page. Here's how you can add a cover page in a ...

Discover More

Summing Absolute Values

You can easily sum a series of values in Excel, but it is not so easy to sum the absolute values of each value in a ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Changing Outline Heading Level

Working with a document's outline can be a great way to organize your writing. Word provides a variety of tools for ...

Discover More

Changing Body Text to a Heading

When working on a document in Outline view, you may need to change regular body text to a heading in the outline. It's ...

Discover More

Changing a Heading to Body Text

When working on an outline of your document, you may want to demote a heading so that it is treated just like your body ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five more than 3?

2015-03-26 11:20:50

Lois E. Power

I just discovered that if you want to print the outline view to see if your outline looks right (especially if you have a very long document) that if your press "Quickprint" it will print it out the way it looks on the screen. lp


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.