Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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: Applying Styles.

Applying Styles

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 13, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021


Styles do you no good if you cannot apply them to your text. You apply styles in three ways.

The first way depends on your use of the ribbon. On the Home tab of the ribbon you see the Styles group. It contains a series of styles that are known as a Style Set. You can click any of these styles and that style is applied to whatever text is selected in your document. (You can also hover the mouse pointer over any of these styles and the text in the document momentarily changes to reflect the style over which you are hovering. This allows you to see what a style looks like before actually applying it by clicking.)

The second method of applying styles uses the Styles task pane. You can follow these steps to apply a style:

  1. Select the portion of your document you want to format. For instance, position the insertion point in the paragraph to which you want to apply a paragraph style, or select the characters to which you want to apply a character style.
  2. Click the small down-pointing arrow icon at the lower-right corner of the Styles group on the Home tab of the ribbon. Word displays the Styles task pane.
  3. In the list of styles displayed, click the name of the style you want to apply.

The third method assumes that you have assigned your styles to specific shortcut keys. If you have, just select what you want to format and then use the shortcut key.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9772) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Applying Styles.

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

Turning Off Capital Corrections

If you type two capital letters at the beginning of a word, Word assumes that you made a typing error and will attempt to ...

Discover More

Deriving an Absolute Value

Want to know the absolute value of a number? It's easy to derive in VBA by using the Abs function.

Discover More

No New Fonts Error

Sometimes Excel does things that may appear just plain wacky. This particular tip deals with an issue that could crop up ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Shortcuts for Basic Style Formatting

Want to get your text away from the explicit formatting you applied, back to the underlying formatting? Here are a few ...

Discover More

Can't Find or Delete a Style

Using the shortcuts available in the Styles pane to select text can be very helpful. It may, however, be quite ...

Discover More

Intelligently Starting a New Paragraph

When using styles in a document, you can increase your productivity by letting Word know what paragraph style you expect ...

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 two more than 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.