10 Minute Guide to Word for Windows 95

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Formatting Characters

In this lesson, you'll learn how to apply special formatting to characters.

What Is Character Formatting?

The term character formatting refers to attributes that apply to individual characters in a document. Font, type size, underlining, italic, and boldface are examples of character formatting. A character format can apply to anything from a single letter to the entire document.

Using Fonts


Plain English: What Is a Font? The appearance of text is determined--in large part--by its font. A font specifies both the style of text--that is, the appearance of individual characters--and its size. For example, the text you are reading now is printed using the Helvetica font in 9 point size.

The style of a font is denoted by a name, such as Times Roman or Courier. The size of a font is specified in terms of points, with one point equal to 1/72 of an inch. As you enter text in a document, the formatting toolbar displays the font name and point size currently in use. For example, in Figure 11.1, Courier 12 point is the current font.

Figure 11.1
The formatting toolbar displays the name and size of the current font.

Changing the Font of Existing Text

Although the exact fonts and sizes that are available will vary, depending on your Windows installation and the printer you are using, you can change the font style and/or size of any portion of your document. To change font and/or size, follow these steps:

1. Select the text to change. If the selected text currently contains only a single font and size, it displays on the formatting toolbar. If it contains more than one font or size, then none display.

2. To change the font, open the Font Name drop-down box on the formatting toolbar. With the mouse, click the arrow next to the box. On the keyboard, press Ctrl+Shift+F and then press [arrowdown].

3. Select the desired font. With the mouse, click the font name. On the keyboard, use the arrow keys to highlight the name; press Enter.

4. To change point size with the mouse, open the Font Size drop-down box on the formatting toolbar and select the desired point size. On the keyboard, press Ctrl+Shift+P followed by [arrowdown].


Timesaver Tip: Fast Select! Remember that you can quickly select an entire document by pressing Ctrl+A.

If you are in Page Layout view or in Normal view with Draft mode off, the screen display will immediately update to show the new font. In Draft mode, different fonts are not displayed on the screen, but the formatting toolbar will display the name and size of the current font. To turn Draft mode on or off, select Tools Options, click the View tab, then click the Draft Font option.


Timesaver Tip: Fast Scroll! In documents with many different fonts, use Draft display mode to speed up screen scrolling.

Changing the Font of New Text

You change the font that will be used for new text that you type as follows:

1. Move the insertion point to the location where you will type in the new text.
2. Follow the procedures described above for changing the font of existing text (of course, you should not select a block of text).
3. Type the new text. It will appear in the newly specified font. Other text in your document will not be affected.

Bold, Underline, and Italic

The attributes boldface, italic, and/or underlining can be applied alone or in combination to any text in your document. These attributes are controlled by the toggle buttons marked B, I, and U on the formatting toolbar.


Plain English: Toggle Buttons These are buttons that, when selected, turn the corresponding attribute on if it is off, and off if it is on.

To apply attributes to new text that you type:

1. Move the insertion point to the location of the new text.

2. Click the Formatting toolbar button(s) for the desired formatting, or press Ctrl+B (bold), Ctrl+I (italic) or Ctrl+U (underlining). On the Formatting toolbar, the button for each attribute that is on appears depressed.

3. Type the text.

4. To turn off the attribute, click the button again or press the corresponding key combination.

To change existing text:

1. Select the text.

2. Click the Formatting toolbar button(s) for the desired formatting, or press Ctrl+B (bold), Ctrl+I (italic) or Ctrl+U (underlining).

In Draft mode, the presence of any character formatting is indicated by underlining. In all other modes, the text appears on-screen with all formatting displayed.

In this lesson, you learned how to format characters. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to set page margins and line spacing.


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