Shih tzu dog with curlers in its hair looking exasperated. Tedious document formatting? Try Words Style Sets.

The Styles function is ane of my favorite tools in Microsoft Discussion. With it, you can assign styles (font, colour, size, spacing, etc.) to dissimilar text elements—the body text, titles, headings, captions, and so on.

I've written near Styles earlier every bit a fashion to appraise your document's structure and organization using the Automatic Table of Contents and the Navigation Pane. When you employ styles, the TOC and Nav Pane automatically choice up the Heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) as office of the organizational structure.

To benefit from these tools, you tin utilize the default styles in Word. However, when y'all have a set of formatting you want to use once more and again, create a Style Set.

Ways to Apply a Mode Set

Here are three ways you lot can use manner sets.

Branding

Recently I taught a client how to create a style set for her branded materials. With a click of a push and a few tweaks, she tin can manage all her branded articles in Word and avoid the extra pace of having a designer format the manufactures in Publisher (which was costing her both time and money).

Alternative branding

I employ a style set for my own branded documents as well. Some of the fonts I use are nonstandard (i.e., they don't come with Word), which is fine as long every bit I ship documents in PDF class.

But when I need to transport an bodily Word certificate, to become the right await I would have to embed fonts, which can make a file huge. So I set up a style set that is very close to my brand fonts but uses fonts that are standard in Word. Once again, I can switch to these fonts with a click of a push.

Manuscript formatting

In the publishing industry, manuscripts have a common format—double-spaced, commencement line indented, standard font—to make manuscripts easier to read and edit. When I brainstorm work on a client'south manuscript, the kickoff thing I practise is reformat to the manufacture standard—with a click of a button (okay perchance two clicks and sometimes a footling cleanup).

If you frequently detect yourself going page by page through your document to change all your headings ane at a fourth dimension, yous are a candidate to use Styles and Style Sets.

How to Create a Manner Set

To ready and save a Fashion Prepare…

Step one: Prepare individual Styles.

Fix a document with the styles you lot want. I suggest starting with Normal, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and Title.

To change the formatting on whatever individual mode, in the Styles box (on the Domicile tab), right-click on the style (Normal in this instance) and choose Alter…

Word Styles, Modify menu

A dialog box will open that lets you set font, size, colour, and so on. If you click the Format button at lower left, you tin adjust more details in Font, Paragraph, Tab, and then on. When you're done, click OK.

Modify Style formatting box

(For more than on setting upwardly Styles, run across my TOC commodity or the Microsoft back up page.)

Step 2: Relieve the Way Set up.

Once y'all've prepare all the individual styles you want to employ together, go to the Design tab. In the Certificate Formatting box, at right click on the open/downwardly pointer.

Design tab, Document Formatting box

Click Relieve as a New Style Set up…

Available Styles in This Document, Custom, and Built-In

Yous will be prompted for a file proper name. What Word is doing is saving the formatting every bit a font template that you'll after be able to apply.

Save as a New Style Set dialog box

When you lot click Save, your style set up will become available in the Custom row of the Certificate Formatting box.

Style Sets in Custom row

How to Apply a Way Set

Once you lot've gear up a style set, using it is the like shooting fish in a barrel part.

Create or open a Word document. Go to the Design tab.

Design tab on Word ruler

In the Document Formatting box, choose the design gear up you want. You may see information technology in the toolbar, or you tin click on the open/downwards arrow and cull it from the Custom row.

Document Formatting box
Custom row of Style Sets

All text that you've applied a relevant style to (Normal, Heading one, etc.) will exist updated to reflect the chosen style set.

So I can start this document with the manuscript format I use:

Sample document in manuscript format

And then modify it to my branded styles with a click:

Sample document in branded format

Bonus tip: If you draft and edit in one way set so change to another to proofread, your eyes will be able to see errors more hands.

Requite Style Sets a Attempt!

The Style Sets feature is one of those tools that takes some upwardly-front time investment to learn but can make your writing life much easier in the long run. As the client I recently shared it with said, "Wow, I tin can't believe how much fourth dimension this saves and how well it helps me see what I'm really proverb. And non only that, merely I avoid handoffs and headaches, and all of that translates to saving me money!"

Her final comment was the kicker: "That work with you has given me the courage to experiment more."

My goal is non to teach yous applied science but rather to assist you share your ideas. Sometimes learning technology tricks can free up chapters to practice just that.

Delight don't call me for Discussion coaching! Practise call me for writing coaching! The Discussion tips are just a bonus y'all become when you work with me. 🙂