Office 2013 Bible: The Comprehensive Tutorial Resource

Chapter 5

Font/Character Formatting

IN THIS CHAPTER

Choosing between character styles versus direct character formatting

Applying, clearing, and copying character formatting

Using the Font dialog box and Mini Toolbar

Learning about OpenType features

Commanding character formatting keyboard shortcuts

In some early word processors, users applied text formatting by inserting formatting codes. For example, you had to add a code to turn on bold formatting, and add a second code to turn bold off later. Text between the codes was bold. This method of relying on a pair of codes often tripped up users. Accidentally delete one code in the pair, and you inadvertently changed the formatting for half the document.

Rather than letting you turn formatting on or off for a string of characters, Word uses an object-oriented formatting approach. In Word, you format objects such as letters, words, paragraphs, tables, pictures, and so on.

Another way to think about formatting is in units. Formatting can be applied to any unit you can select. The smallest unit that can be formatted is a single character. Discrete units larger than characters are words, sentences, paragraphs, document sections, and the whole document. Some types of formatting apply only to certain type of units. For example, you can’t indent a single word; indention is a paragraph-level setting that applies to some or all of the lines in a paragraph.

Reviewing the Ways You Can Format Text in Word

Word has four levels of formatting: character/font, ...