What Is a Style in Microsoft Word?

you could either leave the pre-defined styles as they are, orchange the style’s characteristicsto suit your requirements.

Let’s check some of these out in more detail.

Word document with the style group highlighted in the ribbon and examples of how pre-defined styles appear when used in a Word document.

When Would I Use a Style Separator?

The style separator is undervalued in its diversity and range of uses.

This will make it easier for you to check you have used your style separator accurately down the line.

Word document showing a table of contents that has been automatically created through the use of heading styles.

Todeactivate the Show/Hide option, simply hit the “Show/Hide” icon again, or press Ctrl+Shift+8 again.

You will now see markers alongside your text in your document.

Don’t worrythese won’t show if you print your document.

Word document showing how to access the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group.

They’re there to help you organize your document and its layout more easily.

In the following example, the two styles in use are a heading style and a normal style.

However, the same principle can be applied to any style, including styles containing different languages or fonts/colors.

Word document containing a header and the cursor placed at the end.

Now, we’re ready to use the style separator.

First, jot down the text you want to have in the first style.

In this case, we’ve chosen a modified header style.

Word document with the text formatted as a header and the cursor at the end.

you could now click anywhere either side of the style separator to amend the respective styles.

Let’s assume the following text is already typed into a Word document in a normal style.

First, we need to separate these sentences into two separate paragraphs.

Word document highlighting a style separator with Show/Hide turned on.

Place your cursor at the end of the first sentence (after any punctuation), and hit Enter.

you might now click anywhere within each sentence and separately adjust the styles to your preferred configs.

To do this, place your cursor immediately after the style separator and press the Backspace key.

Word document showing the header, the style separator, and the main text in a paragraph.

Word document containing two sentences in a normal style.

Word document showing text divided into two paragraphs.

Word document containing two sentences separated by a style separator.

Word document with the style separator removed, showing that the style for the first part of the newly formed paragraph is adopted by the rest of the paragraph.