Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 25, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365
Phil notes that a peculiar feature of Word is its tendency to sometimes undo font changes. He might type, "the cat sat on the mat" and want the word "sat" in italic. That's easy; he hits Ctrl+I before typing the word "sat" and it duly appears in italic as he types. But, when he then hits Ctrl+I at the end of the word (to turn off italic), Word sometimes thinks this is an undo request and un-italicizes the entire word "sat." This doesn't always happen, but does most times, and it really slows down Phil's typing. He wonders why Word does this.
Word seems to do this if it cannot, for some reason, detect that you have typed at least a full word since turning on the italic formatting. Several readers noted that they had the same problem but were able to eliminate the problem by simply pressing the second Ctrl+I after typing the space after the word "sat."
Longtime Word users will also recognize that there is another way around this—change how you apply the italic formatting. Many (if not most) Word users will type first, without worrying about formatting. Then they will go back and apply the formatting after they are done composing and editing the text. In this approach, you would type your entire sentence, then double-click on the word "sat," and finally press Ctrl+I. (Of course, you wouldn't do this after typing each sentence. I would suggest doing it after each paragraph, each page, or every few pages.)
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (888) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.
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