Tag Archives for " consistent formatting "

6 Creating new Styles in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word Styles are the most basic building blocks in Word. One of the first things you’ll need to learn after you master the interface and basic formatting is using the Quick Styles listed on the Home tab. Often, though, the Quick Styles don’t contain a particular Style your document needs.

If the default Microsoft Word Styles don’t fully meet your needs (for example, you need one for block quotes), you can create a new one. There are a couple of different ways to do this. I’ll start with what I think is the easiest one first. Keep reading →

1 Guest post @ Lawyerist: Using Microsoft Word Styles

Lawyerist editor-in-chief Sam Glover shot me an email from his crackberry a few weeks ago making a special request for my next guest post:

A primer on using styles, including how to create style sets and make them default.

How to move Normal.dot to a network drive or put it in your Dropbox so Word will use the same template across computers.

Typed on a small screen with my thumbs. Please excuse my brevity and typos.

So even though I already champion Styles usage for consistent formatting, particularly in long documents like briefs and contracts, I starting boning up, researching some more advanced techniques in my trusty Word 2010 reference.

Whoo, boy — what started out as “a primer on using styles” has morphed into a series. There’s a lot of untapped potential here, people, and I’m doing my darnedest to walk that fine line between delivering as much goodness as I can and keeping it simple enough to actually use.

Click here for the first post in the series. I’ve written post #2, so be on the lookout for even more advanced Styles techniques.