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How To Use Paragraph Styles

Microsoft Word contains a plethora of tools to make drafting documents easier, and paragraph styles are among the most useful for keeping your manuscript organized and easy to navigate.

What Are Paragraph Styles?

Paragraph styles are tools within Microsoft Word (and other word processors) that allow you to apply characteristics to alike paragraphs. In other words, paragraph styles control the way paragraphs look, from font, size, and colour to line spacing and alignment.

Some paragraph styles, like headings, also provide Word with the ability to populate the navigation pane and tables of contents.

How To Use Paragraph Styles

Paragraph styles are very easy to use. You simply select the paragraph you wish to apply a style to and click on a style in the Styles gallery, which can be found on the Home Tab. Alternatively, you can start a new paragraph, choose your style in the Styles gallery, and begin typing.

The Styles gallery appears under the Home tab on the Ribbon in Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365, version 2405).

Microsoft Word comes with a handful of default style options, all of which can be updated to suit your document. You can also create your own custom styles.

How To Update Existing Styles

There are two ways you can change a default style: by modifying the style manually in the Modify Style menu or by modifying a style based on formatting that already exists in your document.

To modify a style manually:

  1. In the Styles gallery, right click on the style you want to update, and then clicking Modify to access the Modify Style menu.
  2. Under Formatting, choose the formatting changes you want (font, size, colour, spacing, alignment etc.).
  3. Click OK.
Options available upon right clicking on a style in the Style gallery in Microsoft Word.
A popup menu in Microsoft Word titled Modify Style. Contains options for adjusting the formatting of text.
The Modify Style menu in Microsoft Word.

To modify a style based on formatting that already exists in your document:

  1. Select a paragraph in your document.
  2. In the Styles gallery, right click on the style you want to update to look like the selected paragraph.
  3. Click Update [Style Name] to Match Current Selection.

Note that all paragraphs that are already using the style will automatically change to match the updated formatting. This will save you time if, say, you have to change the font on all your chapter titles. But if you haven’t applied styles consistently, you might get some surprises.

How To Create A New Style

Just as there are multiple ways to update a style, there are also multiple ways to create a new style. You can create a new style manually or create a new style based on formatting that already exists in your document.

To create a new style manually:

  1. Expand the Styles gallery to access the Styles toolbar.
  2. Click the New Style button.
  3. Under Properties, name your new style, then choose the type of style, the style you’d like to base the new style on, and the style of the paragraph to follow.
  4. Under Formatting choose the formatting you want (font, size, colour, spacing, alignment etc.).
  5. Click OK.
The paragraph styles toolbar in Microsoft Word
The styles toolbar. The buttons from left to right are: New Style, Style Inspector, Manage Styles, and Options.
The New Style menu.

To create a new style based on document formatting:

  1. Select the paragraph that has the characteristics you want to base a new style on.
  2. Expand the Styles gallery to access the Styles toolbar
  3. Click the New Style Button
  4. Under Properties, name your new style
  5. Click OK

What To Use Paragraph Styles For

Most manuscripts can use multiple paragraph styles. Typically, it makes sense to set a style for chapter or section titles (ex. Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and so on), and for typical paragraphs (ex. Normal).

But any paragraph that needs to be visually distinguished from surrounding text can use its own style. For example, you can create new styles for:

  • Block quotations
  • Captions for illustrations, figures, or tables
  • Footnotes or endnotes
  • Direct thoughts
  • Text messages or other electronic communications
  • Signage or letters
  • Sound effects

Using paragraph styles will keep your document organized and consistent, saving you time if you need to update a style. For example, if you decide your chapter titles need to be bigger, you can update the style and change them all at once rather than scrolling through your entire manuscript to change each chapter title manually.

And of course, an organized, consistent manuscript helps your entire publishing team understand and work on your project. Your proper use of paragraph styles might even save the other members of your publishing team time, which can earn you brownie points (and save you money if you’re self-publishing).

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