How to format a Word 2007 document

A step-by-step guide to formatting documents in Word

Most documents are made up of different types of text – a heading or title at the top of the page, for example, and a main body of text divided up by sub-headings. 

You can differentiate between different types of text by applying individual styles to them, while additional text styles can help to make a document look more interesting. Try adding a pull quote in a different style, for example, to break up long passages of dense text. 

Luckily, Word 2007 makes many of the most common text styles available right from the Home toolbar, and as with many of Word’s formatting tools, you can preview what they'll look like before you decide to apply them.

1Check out the Style gallery

The Style gallery can be found under Styles in the Home toolbar. Depending on how large your computer screen is, there may only be 3 or 4 examples on display here in boxes (click the down arrow to see more). The first one - ‘Normal’ - should be highlighted with a yellow outline.

2Styles for heading

Type some text into a blank document, including a heading, subtitle, a paragraph and a quote. Highlight the heading text (in our case the words ‘Microsoft Word 2007’) > then point your mouse cursor over the Heading style box in the toolbar for an idea of what the Heading style will look like. Click on the Heading style box to apply your style to the highlighted text.

3Styles for other kinds of text

To apply a style to a subtitle or a quote, highlight the relevant text in your document > then click the More button (a down arrow with a line above it) to the right of the currently displayed text styles. Further text styles will be shown in a palette. You can preview the one you want and then click on it to apply the changes.

4Applying styles to a document

There are many different style sets in Word 2007, each of which contain a different range of unified text styles to choose from. To switch to a different style set, click on the Change Styles button to the right of the Style gallery > go to Style Set > then click on the style set of your choice. Bear in mind that your choice here will have an impact on the entire document, not just the text that’s currently highlighted.