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One of my favorite things about Word is something that new users (and occasionally even seasoned Word experts) find frustrating…it’s the fact that Word is more than just software — it is a thinking, feeling, sentient being—and one that knows it’s own mind. And yes, folks…that can be a good quality in software! :)

In honor of the new year, I thought I’d get back to basics and offer a bit of primer on understanding how Word thinks when it comes to creating documents.

Think of it as relationship counseling for you and your document production partner. Too geeky for you? :) If so, just humor me (please) and you might find it interesting …

And, for those of you who plan to check out my level 200 Office System webcast on Word tips & tricks this Thursday (and I hope you can make it! … registration link is available below in an earlier post) this article is also being posted now to offer a quick and easy source for reviewing some of the basics, for anyone who’d like to—on topics for which I’ll be offering more advanced tips in that webcast…

The thing about Word is that it’s so powerful, with so much capability, that if you try to approach it as a bunch of isolated features and settings… click here, point there … it will never all fit together. Instead, when you take just a bit of time to understand why Word behaves the way it does and how the fundamental pieces work together… you’ll not only save tons of time on every document you need to create, but you’ll be able to take on any new Word task more confidently. That said, this article is going to talk about the 3 levels of formatting in Word that help you manage about 85 to 90% of what you can do in a document … and then I’ll touch on a few basic pointers for the core elements of complex documents: styles, tables, sections, graphics, fields … and when to get Excel and PowerPoint involved. Okay … here goes…

Understanding Word’s Three Levels of Formatting

First, it's important to come to terms with the fact that Word isn't a typewriter. That's one reason why just typing and formatting as you go can get your documents into trouble.

Word thinks like a layout application ... it looks at the document as a whole and breaks it up into nice, easy manageable pieces. The fact is, as you might have heard from me before (I say this a lot) Word likes things to be as simple as possible. So much so, in fact, that when you use overcomplicated workarounds, or simply do too much work to accomplish a task ... Word is likely to rebel.

Word organizes most of the formatting you can do in a document into 3 levels of formatting, so that you can keep things simple and organized: font, paragraph, and section. So what about them?

Font formatting: anything you can do to as little as one character, including anything in the Font dialog box (on the Format menu)... like font face, size, color, character spacing, etc ... as well as text borders and shading, and language settings.

Paragraph formatting: anything you can do to as little as one paragraph, including anything in the Paragraph dialog box (on the Format menu) ... like indents, space before and after the paragraph, line spacing, etc ... as well as tabs, paragraph borders and shading, and bullets and numbering.

Section formatting: also referred to as page formatting. Any formatting that requires a section break in order to change it for just part of the document, including anything in the Page Setup dialog box (on the File menu) ... like margins, page orientation, etc ... as well as page borders, headers and footers, page and footnote/endnote numbering, and text columns.

If you've not used a section break before ... just place your insertion point right before where you want your section formatting to change and go to Insert, Break. Then select the type of section break you want (usually a next page section break, because you'll usually want new section formatting to start on a new page). Once the break is inserted ... change whatever page formatting you like for the new section. (Just keep an eye on the Apply To dropdown list in whatever dialog box you go to for formatting ... make sure that dropdown list indicates that you'll be applying the formatting to the desired part of your document.) And remember, you can always press Ctrl+Z to undo your last action if you end up applying the formatting differently than you intended.

What's the significance of the 3 levels of formatting?

- All font formatting you apply in your document is stored in the character to which you apply it.
- All paragraph formatting you apply is stored in the paragraph mark that falls at the end of the paragraph.
- All section formatting is stored in the section break that falls at the end of the section (except for the last section in your document...in which case the last paragraph mark also stores the section formatting).

Why should you care?

Well, for example ... have you ever moved text from one part of your document to another and the formatting changed against your will? Chances are, you moved it into a paragraph mark that already contained formatting.

You can avoid unpredictable formatting, and always easily see what's going on in your documents when you work with formatting marks visible (click the icon on the standard toolbar to turn them on). Then, you will see paragraph marks and section breaks (both of which store formatting -- so adding or deleting them can drastically affect how your document looks) as well as other formatting marks that can simplify or complicate your document ... like spaces, tab characters, and page breaks.

Also, you can quickly see all formatting for your selection by turning on the Reveal Formatting task pane ... which also gives you a good look at Word's take on the 3 levels of formatting - check it out:

See all font, paragraph, and section formatting at your selection (you don't have to actually select something ... Word considers your selection to be wherever your insertion point currently is) ... Reveal Formatting will also show bullets and numbering and table formatting, if applicable to your selection.
(Note that bullets and numbering ... even though it's paragraph formatting ... is separated out because it is a uniquely handled feature. I'm not going to go into that here ... but if it's a feature you use, particularly Outline Numbered lists ... and you'd like more info on that -- check out an earlier post: The Psychology of Outline Numbered Lists)

To sum up the topic of the three levels of formatting: when you approach any document, take just a bit of time to plan. Look at the document from the outside, in ... what formatting can you do to the entire document? where do you need individual sections? what paragraph or font formatting can you widely apply? Simply, organize your formatting into as few pieces as possible -- keep it simple ... and always keep an eye on what's happening in the document. When you take the time to stay in control and understand what's going on in your document, you'll always spend less time getting it done and be happier with the results.

Meanwhile -- before I leave you for today ... just a quick note on how some of Word's core features relate to your document:

Styles: A style is a collection of formatting commands that you give a name, so that you can apply of the included formatting with a single click. Because the collection is named and stored in your document, you can also change it just once ... and it will update to match wherever you've applied that style in your document. So, styles save you time applying and editing formatting in your document and they help keep your results more consistent with less work.

There are four types of styles available to you: character (which can include any type of font formatting), paragraph (which can include both paragraph formatting and any font formatting that you want applied to an entire paragraph), list (for outline numbered lists), and table (for formatting table structure). Select Styles And Formatting on the Format menu to open and check out the Styles And Formatting task pane. Search 'Styles' using the Type a Question For Help box on the top right corner of your Word window for several help topics on style basics.

Tables: A table is a container. It's an organizer. It also happens to be my favorite Word feature. Word tables look, when first inserted, like a spreadsheet ... a bunch of cells making up rows and columns. But Word tables aren't about working with numbers. They can be used for so many things. For starters, tables are the best, easiest, and fastest way to create complex page layouts. Tables can contain text, graphic objects, and even other tables! You can apply font and paragraph formatting in tables just like you do in body text. Check out my earlier post Learning to Love Word Tables: In a Nutshell for a host of basic tips and guidance for using tables to simplify almost every document you create.

Sections: I'm mentioning sections again here because they are an important part of building complex documents. Being comfortable with using section breaks ... knowing when you need them (as discussed above) and when you don't (for example ... you don't need a section break to insert a table, to insert a table of contents, to change outline numbered list styles, or to insert graphics). Section breaks help you control page formatting. Fortunately, because of advances in table functionality, you don't need them nearly as much as you used to for page layout ... but they are nonetheless important. Search for the Word help topic called 'About Sections and Section Breaks' for some help getting started with section basics.

Graphics: When you work with graphic objects in your Word document, the key to keeping them easy is to keep them ... like everything else in Word ... as simple as possible. I've written about this topic a lot here on the blog -- so, instead of repeating myself, I'm going to leave you with a few links on creating graphics that will play nicely in Word ... as well as when to get PowerPoint and Excel in on the act:

To Float or Not to Float
Using PowerPoint as a Word Document Tool
Sizing Excel Charts for Word

Posted by Stephanie

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