Word 2013
Formatting Text
Page 1
Introduction
Formatted text can draw the reader's attention to specific
parts of a document and emphasize important information. In Video: Formatting Text
Word, you have many options for adjusting the font of your
text including size, color, and inserting special symbols.
You can also adjust the alignment of the text to change how
it is displayed on the page.
Optional: Download our Lesson 8 Practice Document.
Watch the video (3:02). Need help?
To Change the Font:
By default, the font of each new document is set to Calibri. However, Word provides a wide variety of other fonts
that you can use to customize text and titles.
1. Select the text you wish to modify.
Selecting text 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. Move the mouse over the various font styles. A live preview of the font will appear in the document. Select
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
the font style you wish to use.
Changing the font style
4. The font will change in the document.
The new font style
When creating a professional document or a document that contains multiple paragraphs, you'll want to select a
font that is easy to read. Along with Calibri, standard reading fonts include Cambria, Times New Roman and
Arial.
To Change the Font Size:
1. Select the text you wish to modify.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Selecting text to modify
2. Select the desired font size formatting option:
» Font Size drop-down arrow: On the Home tab, click the Font Size drop-down arrow. A menu of
font sizes will appear. When you move the mouse over the various font sizes, a live preview of the font
size will appear in the document.
Selecting a font size
» Font Size box: When the font size you need is not available in the Font Size drop-down arrow, you
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
can click the Font Size box and type the desired font size. Then press Enter.
Entering a font size in the Font box
» Grow and Shrink Font commands: Click the Grow Font or Shrink Font commands to change
the font size.
The Grow Font and Shrink Font
commands
3. The font size will change in the document.
The new font size
To Change the Font Color:
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Select the text you wish to modify.
Selecting text to modify
2. On the Home tab, click the Font Color drop-down arrow. The Font Color menu appears.
3. Move the mouse over the various font colors. A live preview of the color will appear in the document.
Changing the font color
4. Select the font color you wish to use. The font color will change in the document.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
The new font color
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 that you want and click OK.
The Colors dialog box
To Highlight Text:
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Highlighting can be a useful tool for marking important text in your document.
1. Select the text you wish to highlight.
Selecting text to highlight
2. From the Home tab, click the Text Highlight Color drop-down arrow. The Highlight Color menu appears.
Choosing a highlight color
3. Select the desired highlight color. The selected text will then be highlighted in the document.
The highlighted text
To remove highlighting, select the highlighted text, and then click the Text Highlight Color drop-down arrow.
Select No Color from the drop-down menu.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Removing highlighting
If you need to highlight many lines of text, changing the mouse into a highlighter may be a helpful alternative to
selecting and highlighting individual lines. Simply click the Text Highlight Color command and the cursor
changes into a highlighter . You can then click, hold and drag the highlighter over the lines you wish to highlight.
Page 2
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 wish to modify.
Selecting text 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.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Making text bold
3. The selected text will be modified in the document.
The bolded text
To Change the Text Case:
When you need to quickly change text case, you can use the Change Case command instead of deleting and
retyping the text.
1. Select the text you wish to modify.
Selecting text to modify
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Changing the text case
4. The text case will be changed in the document.
The new text case
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 wish to modify.
2. On the Home tab, select one of the four alignment options from the Paragraph group.
Paragraph alignment commands
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Click the arrows in the slideshow below to learn more about the four text alignment options.
Align Text Left: Aligns all the 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.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Center: Aligns text an equal distance from the left and right margins.
Align Text Right: Aligns all the 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.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
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 Changing Your
Default Settings in Word.
Page 3
Symbols
Sometimes you may find that you need to add a symbol to your text, such as the Copyright symbol, ©. Word
offers a large collection of symbols for currency, languages, mathematics, and more.
Symbols collection
To Insert a Symbol:
1. Place the insertion point in the location where you want to insert a symbol.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Placing the insertion point
2. On the Insert tab, click the Symbol drop-down arrow. A menu of symbols will appear.
3. Select the desired symbol.
Selecting a symbol
4. The symbol will appear in your document.
The inserted symbol
If you don't see the symbol you're looking for, click More Symbols... to open the Symbol dialog box. Locate and
select the desired symbol and then click Insert.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Symbol dialog box
Page 4
Challenge!
1. Open an existing Word 2013 document. If you want, you can use our Lesson 8
Practice Document.
2. Change the font style of some text.
3. Change the font size of some text. If you are using the example, try changing the
font size of the title.
4. Change the font color of some text. If you are using the example, change the
color of the park's name.
5. Highlight some text.
6. Try bolding, italicizing, or underlining some text.
7. Change the case of some text. If you are using the example, change the case of
the title.
8. Center align some text.
9. Insert a symbol in the text. If you are using the example, insert a registered
trademark symbol, ®, after Sullie's Subs.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
©1998-2013 Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
