Introduction
To create and design effective documents, you need to know how to format
text. In addition to making your document more appealing, formatted
text can draw the reader's attention to specific parts of the document and
help communicate your message.
In this lesson, you'll learn to format the font size, style,
and color; highlight the text; and use the bold, italic, underline, and change
case commands.
Formatting text
Formatted text can emphasize important information and help organize
your document. In Word, you have several 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: You can download this example for extra practice.
To change the font size:
1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the drop-down arrow next to the Font
Size box on the Home tab. A drop-down menu
appears.
3. Select the desired font size from the menu.
Alternatively, you can type the value you want
and then press Enter on your keyboard.
You can also use the Grow Font and Shrink Font commands to change the
size.
To change the font:
1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the drop-down arrow next to
the Font box on the Home tab. The Font drop-
down menu appears.
3. Move the mouse pointer over the various fonts.
A live preview of the font will appear in the
document.
4. Select the font you want to use. The font will
change in the document.
To change the font color:
1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the Font Color drop-down arrow on
the Home tab. The Font Color menu appears.
3. Move the mouse pointer over the various font
colors. A live preview of the color will appear in
the document.
4. 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 list to access the Colors dialog box.
Choose the color you want, then click OK.
To highlight text:
1. From the Home tab, click the Text Highlight
Color drop-down arrow. The Highlight
Color menu appears.
2. Select the desired highlight color.
3. Select the text you want to modify. It will then
be highlighted.
4. To switch back to the normal cursor, click
the Text Highlight Color command.
To use the bold, italic, and underline commands:
1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the Bold, Italic, or Underline command in
the Font group on the Home tab.
To change text case:
1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the Change Case command in
the Font group on the Home tab.
3. Select the desired case option from the list.
To change text alignment:
1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Select one of the four alignment options from
the Paragraph group on the Home tab.
o Align Text Left: Aligns all selected
text to the left margin
o Center: Aligns text an equal
distance from the left and right
margins
o Align Text Right: Aligns all selected
text to the right margin
o Justify: Aligns text equally on both
sides and lines up equally to the right
and left margins; used by many
newspapers and magazines
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!
1. Open an existing Word document. If you
want, you can use this example.
2. Change the font size of some text.
3. Change the font style of some text.
4. Change the font color of some text.
5. Try various cases using the Change
Case command.
6. Try the four alignment commands.
7. Save the document.
