How to Format a Word Document

Formatting Document Layout

1. Explore the Word user interface. Familiarize yourself with the interface elements that hold all of your formatting tools. You may need to enable tools on your tool bar. You can do this by selecting Toolbars from the "View" tab and choosing "Standard."

   1. The Menu bar is the area at the top of the screen where you will find File, Edit, View, and other important menu commands.
   2. The Toolbar is directly below the Menu bar and displays common tasks like saving, printing, and opening a document.
   3. The Ribbon is at the top of your workspace, below the Toolbar and organizes features of Microsoft Word into categories, like the Home tab and Layout tab.

2. Adjust the alignment of your document. Different types of documents call for different text alignments. You can choose whether to align your entire document to the left, right, or at the center, by clicking the Alignment buttons in the Paragraph section in the Ribbon.

   1. These are the buttons that look like a small version of a document, with small black lines according to their buttons alignment function.
   2. You can find the alignment buttons toward the center of the Ribbon, after the Underline button and before the Bullets button.

3. Set the line spacing of your document. Adjust settings by clicking the Line and Paragraph Spacing button. Every text you type after using this tool will follow the spacing you've set.

   1. Find the Line and Paragraph spacing button on the Ribbon after the Alignment buttons. This button looks like a row of lines with vertical arrows to the left of the lines pointing upward and downward.
   2. If you want to edit the spacing of an existing line or paragraph, highlight the context and click the Line and Paragraph Spacing button to edit it.
   3. You can also edit line and paragraph spacing by clicking on the Format tab on the Menu bar at the top of your screen, selecting 'Paragraph' from the list, and selecting your desired spacing.
   4. Many professional documents like college essays and cover letters should be double-spaced.

4. Adjust the page orientation. If you need to write the document in a different orientation, click the 'Orientations' option in the Page Layout section on the Menu bar, and select either Portrait or Landscape form from the drop-down list.

5. Change the size of the paper on the Page Layout section on the Menu bar. If you need to print the document on a specific paper size, click the 'Size' button, and select your desired size from drop-down list.

   1. This will change the virtual size of the document you're writing.

6. Adjust the document headers and footers. A header contains details that will appear on every page of the paper.

   1. To set the header of your document, double-click on the topmost part of the page and the header field will appear.
   2. Adjust the document footers. Footers are just like document headers. All text in the footer will appear at the bottom of each page of your document.
   3. To set the footer of your paper, double-click on the bottommost part of the page and the footer field will appear.
   4. You can also format your headers and footers by selecting the 'View' tab from the Menu bar at the top of your screen and clicking 'Header and Footer' on the list. This action will open the headers and footers on your page and allow you to create them.

7. Adjust the margin. Click the 'Margins' button on the Page Setup section of the Page Layout tab and select a margin from the pre-defined margin settings listed on the drop-down list.

   1. If you want to use your own margin measurements, click 'Custom Margins' at the very bottom of the drop-down list to set your own.

8. Add columns. If you need to create a newspaper-like document, you can do so by adjusting the format of the document to columns. Select the 'Columns' option from the Ribbon and choose the number and alignment of columns you desire from the drop-down list. You will find the Columns button on the top row of the Ribbon. This button has a green icon showing a small rectangle divided in half.

   1. If you want to create one, two, or three columns, you can do so from the preset options. If you'd like to create more, you'll need to choose "More Columns."
   2. Note that this column option is different from the columns you get when you insert items like tables on your document.

9. Add bullets and numbers. Highlight the text that you would like to be numbered or bulleted and click the Numbering or Bullets button on the Ribbon.

   1. These buttons can be found side by side on the Ribbon, after the alignment buttons. The Numbering button displays three small lines with numbers to the left of the lines and the Bullets button displays three small lines with bullet points to the left of the lines.

10. Format your document style. All documents have standard built-in styles (for example, Normal, Title, Heading 1). The default style for text is Normal. The template that a document is based on (for example, Normal.dotx), determines which styles appear on the Ribbon and on the Styles tab.

    1. Before you apply a style, you can see all of the available styles and preview how they will appear when applied.
    2. On the Home tab or under the Format tab on the Menu bar, under Styles, select a style and click your desired style.
    3. You can also click the Modify button on the Styles tab to create your own style.
    4. By default, Word applies a paragraph style (for example, Heading 1) to the entire paragraph. To apply a paragraph style to part of a paragraph, select only the specific part that you wish to modify.