There are very few documents created where you would want all the text to look exactly the same. You would typically have a heading, subheadings and main body text. Each of these have their own formatting eg different font, font sizes, font colours etc. Styles can be created in order to provide a method of formatting these different sections of your document quickly and easily.

If you have a large document with 20 headings, should you wish to make the heading larger than at present you need to alter all 20 headings. When using styles all you would need do is alter the heading style and all 20 headings would be updated automatically. Styles are grouped into sets.

How do I use a pre-existing style?

1. Position your cursor within the paragraph you wish to change or if you wish to change more than one paragraph select the relevant paragraphs.
2. In the ‘Home’ ribbon select one of the styles in the ‘Styles’ section of the ribbon or click the drop down menu to display more options.

As you move your cursor over the styles your selected paragraph(s) will be altered to preview how they will look should you apply this style to them.

How do I create a new style?

The easiest way to create a new style is to format a paragraph in your document and base the style on this paragraph.

1. Format your paragraph the way you want in relation to font colour, size, alignment etc.
2. Right click within this paragraph.
3. Click the ‘Styles’ button.
4. Click ‘Create a Style’ to display the ‘Create New Style Item Formatting’ dialogue box.
5. In the ‘Name’ box enter a name for your style.
6. Click ‘Modify’ if you wish to make changes to your style.
7. Click ‘OK’.
   The style will be amended in the style bar and any paragraphs using this style will be updated.

How do I amend a pre-existing style?

1. In the ‘Home’ ribbon, locate and right click the style to be amended.
2. Click ‘Modify’ to display the 'Modify Style’ dialogue box.
3. Use the ‘Formatting’ section of the box to alter the text formatting of the style.
   The preview window will update to illustrate the changes made.
4. Click ‘OK’.

The style will be amended and available for use in the style bar. Any paragraphs using this style will be updated.

How do I delete a style?

1. Right click on the style you wish to delete in the ‘Styles and Formatting’ section of the ‘Home’ ribbon.
2. Click ‘Remove from Quick Style Gallery’.