Formatting Operations include breaking the text into lines (within a paragraph) and pages, choosing the location of paragraphs, indents and spaces between paragraphs, wrapping around individual paragraphs, as well as types and styles of fonts. These operations are performed by various word processors with varying degrees of automation. The essence of formatting is the ability of a word processor to change the design of a document on a page, namely:

• - change the boundaries of the working field, defining the fields above, below, left, right;
• - set line spacing (sparseness of lines on the page) and letter spacing in a word;
• - align text - center, press to the left or right border;
• - evenly distribute words in a line;
• - use different fonts, etc.

Text formatting. When editing a document, its content changes, and when formatting, it changes appearance. IN text editors differentiate character formatting And formatting paragraphs.

At character formatting, as a rule, font parameters are set: typeface, size, style, underline type, etc.

A typeface is a term that defines the overall shape of a character. For example, the roman typeface is a common name for a whole family of classic fonts and is distinguished by serifs at the ends of letters and combinations of thick and thin lines in the style of the character. This typeface is easy to read, so font developers have created many similar-looking fonts based on it, such as the Times New Roman font that comes with Windows.

For any fragment of a document (words, lines, paragraphs, sentences or the entire document), you can set font. The concept of a font includes a combination of the following parameters:

• — font type (or typeface). This could be the Times, Courier, etc.;
• - font size. Specified in points. For example: 14 pt, 16 pt, etc.;
• - style (regular, bold, italic, semi bold italic);
• - type of underlining (single, double, wavy, etc.);
• — font color;
• — effects (superscript and subscript, strikethrough, shadow, etc.);

To specify a different font, first select the fragment in which you are going to change the font. Then use the toolbar to change the font type, size, and style.

If you need to increase (decrease) the font size, then expand the list of sizes and select the desired value or enter it yourself. To change the font type, expand the list of fonts and select the one you need.

You can make the selected text fragment bold, italic or underlined (in any combination) by clicking the corresponding buttons on the toolbar. With their help, the corresponding effects are removed.

In the editor Microsoft Word finer font formatting can be done by selecting a piece of text and selecting the Format/Font... command. This command opens a dialog box in which you can make all the available font design options. Using the elements of this window, you can change not only the font type and size, but also all other font parameters. After making the necessary settings, press OK.

Most fonts include special characters and icons in addition to the regular characters displayed on the keyboard keys. These symbols are used when creating documents of a scientific or technical nature, as well as when working with languages ​​other than English. Since these types of symbols are not available on the keyboard, Word provides a dialog box for inserting them.

Formatting Paragraphs

Formatting is often applied to a paragraph.

A paragraph is a piece of text whose input process ended by pressing the Enter key. The paragraph is a key element in document structure for many word processors (although there are others, for example, in Microsoft Word - sections).

Paragraph formatting operations include setting paragraph boundaries and paragraph indentations, alignment, as well as enabling word wrap.

Setting paragraph boundaries performed using indent markers located on the coordinate ruler, or the corresponding menu commands.

Alignment(turn off). There are four types of horizontal (left, right, center, justified) and three types of vertical alignment (up, down, height).

Transfer. When automatic hyphenation is turned off, a word that does not fit on a line is completely wrapped to the next line. This will not add elegance to the text; its right edge remains uneven. To improve the appearance of text, use the hyphenation mode. With the manual hyphenation option, the user himself determines the location of the hyphen by entering a hyphen, and with a hard carriage return (by pressing the Enter key) moves to the next line. Using this hyphenation mode results in the need to remove hyphens when re-formatting the document text.

When the automatic transfer mode is enabled, a soft transfer option is implemented: word processor itself divides the word into a slot and transfers it in the best possible way. This mode does not create any difficulties when reformatting.

Formatting a Document

Character Formatting

Formatting is used to present the content of a document in a more understandable and expressive form. Symbols are the main objects that make up a text document, therefore, first of all, it is necessary to correctly set the basic parameters that determine their appearance: font, size, style and color.

Font. A font is a complete set of characters (letters, numbers, punctuation marks, mathematical symbols, and special characters) of a specific design. Each font has its own name, for example Times New Roman, Arial, Courier New, etc.

They differ in the way they are represented on a computer. raster And vector fonts. Methods used to represent bitmap fonts raster graphics, when the non-rift symbols are groups of pixels. Bitmap fonts can only be scaled by certain factors (for example, MS Sans Serif 8, 10, 12, etc.). In vector fonts, characters are described mathematical formulas and allow arbitrary scaling.

Usually various symbols fonts also have different widths, for example the letter “Ш” is wider than the letter “A”. However, there are also monospace fonts in which the width of all characters is the same. An example of such a font is the Courier New font.

There is one more division of all fonts: fonts serif(eg Times New Roman) and chopped(eg Arial). Serif fonts are considered to be easier on the eye, which is why they are used in most printed texts. Block fonts are usually used for headings, highlights in text and captions for pictures." Examples of various fonts are presented in Table 3.4.

Font size. The unit of font size is the point (1 pt = 0.376 mm). Font sizes can be changed over a wide range (usually from 1 to 1638 points), with most editors using a 10 pt font size by default. Below are examples of representing text using different font sizes:

Character color. If you plan to print a document in multiple colors, then for different groups of characters you can set different colors selected from the palette offered by the text editor.

Control questions

1. What parameters determine the appearance of symbols?
2. What types of fonts are there?

Formatting Paragraphs

A paragraph identifies a part of the text that represents a fragment of a document complete in meaning, the end of which serves as a natural pause for the transition to a new thought. In computer-generated text documents, a paragraph ends with an end-of-paragraph control character. Entering the end of a paragraph is provided by pressing the (Enter) key and is indicated by the ¶ symbol if the display of non-printing characters is enabled.

A paragraph can consist of any set of characters, pictures, and objects from other applications. Formatting paragraphs allows you to prepare a correctly and beautifully formatted document.

Paragraph alignment. Alignment reflects the position of text relative to page margins. There are four most commonly used ways to align paragraphs: left, center, right And in width(Fig. 3.8).

Indents and spacing. The entire paragraph can be indented left And on right, which are measured from the page margin boundaries. So, epigraph to work of art or the addressee's details in the application are indented on the left, and when making a corner stamp, you can use the indentation on the right (Fig. 3.10).

Rice. 3.10. Paragraph indents

You can change the distance between document lines by specifying different line spacing values ​​( single, double etc.). To visually separate paragraphs from each other, you can set increased spacing before And after paragraph.

Control questions

1. What are the basic formatting options for paragraphs?
2. What is the difference between indenting the first line of a paragraph and indenting a paragraph?
3. What is the difference between line spacing and paragraph spacing?

Numbered and bulleted lists

Lists are a convenient option for formatting paragraphs according to a single pattern and are used to place various lists in a document.

Numbered lists. In numbered lists, list elements are sequentially designated using numbers (Arabic or Roman) and letters (Russian or Latin alphabets) (Fig. 3.11). When creating, deleting or moving items in a numbered list, the entire numbering is automatically changed. The user can set his own numbering system, for example, start the list from any number, skip a number, etc.

The user can set a convenient number format (font size and style, indentation of the number from the page margin, distance from the number to the text, etc.).

Multi-level lists. Multi-level lists can be used to display hierarchical lists (for example, hierarchical file system). In multi-level lists, lower-level lists (nested lists) are inserted into higher-level list items. The type of the nested list can be the same as the type of the main list, but it can also differ from it.

As an example, consider a multi-level list, in which at the first level there is a numbered list of three elements, the first element of which is nested bulleted list of two elements of the second level, and in the second element - a numbered list of two elements of the second level (Fig. 3.13).

Rice. 3.13. Multi-level list

Control questions

1. What is the difference between numbered and bulleted lists?
2. Can a multi-level list include both numbered and bulleted lists?

Formatting styles

For each paragraph, you can set your own paragraph, character, and list formatting options. With this approach, changing formatting parameters for each paragraph must be done separately and manually.

However, when creating multi-page documents, it is more convenient to use formatting styles. Each formatting style is given a name and any necessary font, paragraph, or list formatting options are set.

If you set the options for a formatting style and then apply it to a document selection, all paragraphs in the selection automatically receive the formatting options specified by that style. If you need to change paragraph formatting options, just change the style formatting options.

For example, this tutorial uses several different styles:

- Heading 1(used to set formatting options for chapter titles);
- Heading 2(used to set formatting parameters for paragraph titles);
- Heading 3(used to set formatting options for item names);
- Numbered list(used to set formatting options for the checklist);
- Multi-level numbered list (used to set formatting parameters for the list of test tasks);
- Ordinary(used to set formatting parameters for textbook text paragraphs).

For example, if you don't like the way your headings look, you can change the heading style formatting options and the headings will automatically change to a new look throughout your entire textbook.

Control questions

1. In which documents is it convenient to use styles and why?

In the process of creating a document, headings are created in it, for example, in this textbook, each chapter, paragraph and paragraph has a heading. To ensure that headings differ in appearance from each other, as well as from the body text, different formatting styles are used for them.

After creating a lengthy document, it is advisable to insert a table of contents into the document, which will allow the reader to better navigate the contents of the document. A table of contents is a list of headings contained in a document, along with page numbers.

The table of contents of a document, including chapters, paragraphs and clauses, is a multi-level list in which headings are placed at the appropriate list levels. Thus, in the table of contents of the textbook at the first level there are chapter titles (style Heading 1), at the second level - paragraph titles (style Heading 2), at the third level - names of items (style Heading 3) (Table 3.6).

So, the title of this item “Document Table of Contents” refers to the style Heading 3 and is located on the third level of a multi-level table of contents.

If you compile a table of contents manually, then after each change is made to the document, the table of contents must also be redone. In powerful text editors, the table of contents is generated automatically.

If necessary, you can raise or lower the level of headings, thereby rearranging the table of contents. You can customize the appearance of the table of contents by setting individual font and paragraph formatting options for each table of contents level.

Control questions

1. At what levels in the textbook table of contents are chapter headings located? Paragraph headings? Point headings?
2. How do the formatting options differ for different levels of the textbook's table of contents?

Anyone who works with text documents in an office Word editor, knows that the readability and appearance of typed text often plays a primary role in the perception of the material and the document as a whole. For this, so-called formatting is used. Next we will show you how to format text in Word using a few simple rules. These tips will be useful to everyone without exception, and document being created will look more presentable.

What does "Format text in Word" mean?

Let's start with the concept of text formatting. What it is? Roughly speaking, this is the design of material in such a way that it is easily perceived visually when read.

Agree, not everyone perceives small or too large letters. The same applies to moments when, for example, some main points are not highlighted, and the reader may simply lose the main idea of ​​​​the content. Various tricky fonts can also make the text completely unreadable, not to mention the use of color schemes or fills (if this is completely unnecessary) and the absence of paragraphs when the text turns out to be “crumpled”.

How to properly format text in Word and what to pay attention to first?

So, what design tools are available in the editor itself? Speaking about how to format text in Word, among the fundamental processing principles we can highlight the following:

• font design (type, size, register, spacing between letters and symbols, color, fill, etc.);
• alignment of text on the page;
• setting paragraphs and indents;
• assigning document page parameters;
• text processing with the creation of additional design elements (headings, columns, footers, lists).

Working with fonts

Let's start with the simplest thing - setting font parameters. How to format text in Word using this toolkit? Very simple. To do this, in the editor (if you do not take into account the sections of the main menus of the main panel), all the necessary tools are placed on the toolbar and are located in a special section with buttons and drop-down menus.

In principle, the question of how to format text in Word 2007, 2003, 2010, 2013 or 2016 is solved quite simply in all versions. To begin, select the desired font from the drop-down list (for example, Times New Roman), then set the font size from the same list (it is better to use 12 or 14).

After that, by clicking the highlight buttons, you can set its type (bold, italic, underlined, strikethrough). A little to the right there are buttons for changing the color of the font itself or its background fill. You should not get carried away with using such a design, but use it only in extreme cases when it is necessary to emphasize the importance of the content. The same applies to setting the previous parameters.

Text alignment

The next step is to set the text alignment options. By default, the editor is set to left alignment. But this position of the text for reading is not always convenient.

There are four main buttons on the toolbar for setting alignment:

• on the left edge;
• in the center;
• on the right edge;
• in width.

Aligning to the edges or to the center is usually used in the case of creating “headers” or setting a place, say, for a signature in a contract. The most convenient one is in which the first and last letters of each line are located at the same distance from the edge of the page, not counting paragraphs. How to format text by width in Word? Yes, just select the desired fragment and press the appropriate button. You can also press it if you are only supposed to enter text (empty line).

Setting indents

Now you need to select paragraphs or red lines. In the simplest case, when entering text from the red line, you can use the Tab key, which by default is usually set to a horizontal indent of 1.25 cm.

You can change it and additional parameters by moving the slider in the form of triangles and corners on the horizontal ruler (but only when the corresponding document display mode is active).

Pay attention to the view buttons located on the panel on the right side. To quickly set vertical spacing, you can use the view presets (for example, no spacing, normal, headings, etc.).

In the case when you need to apply strictly defined parameters, in Word versions 2010 and higher you must use the “Layout” menu and the section for setting the spacing between paragraphs. Here all custom indents can be specified manually. Particular attention should be paid to the line spacing menu. Many users who at one time typed diplomas in the editor know that the requirements indicate a one-and-a-half interval, which you can select from the drop-down list or set the value yourself.

Page settings

Another point in considering the question of how to format text in Word is related to setting the parameters of the page itself, which in the latest versions of the editor can be accessed through the design menu with a choice of margins, orientation or sheet size.

Typically, when creating documents, A4 with portrait (vertical) orientation is used. When you select the desired values, these parameters can be changed at your discretion. As for setting the margins, returning to the question of designing theses, it is required to set the left margin to 3 cm, the right margin to 2 cm, the top and bottom margin to 1.5 cm. If there are no requirements as such, the default values ​​can be left alone or changed them, depending on your preferences.

In the design section of the page, you can set borders and backgrounds, change colors, or apply custom themes (unless the document was created or opened in file save compatibility mode). DOC format older versions of the editor, and not in DOCX format of the current version of the program).

Headings, lists, columns and footers

You can select headings quite simply by using the buttons on the main panel, where you can select the desired view from several built-in templates.

When creating lists, you use special buttons for setting bullets, numbering, or For each, there is a pull-out menu in which you can select a specific template or configure the list display parameters yourself.

Headers and footers, where the text you enter appears on each page, can be set from the insert menu (header or footer). Their parameters can also be changed. There are also tools for inserting page numbers, notes, links, etc. (if provided for by the document structure).

Formatting as a pattern

Finally, let's assume that you have formatted the piece of text or specific section you need. The editor has an interesting feature for using pattern formatting.

The button to use it is located on the panel if the main menu is used. Simply select the desired fragment of text, click on the button (it will turn into a brush with a pointer), then move the cursor to another fragment and click left button mice. After this, the format will be applied without changing the text content of the fragment.

Note: You can also use all sorts of templates, styles, and many other tools that were not covered in detail here due to the emphasis on manual formatting.

After editing the text, you need to change its appearance, i.e. draw up a document or format it. Word 2007 allows you to format characters, paragraphs, tables, pages, sections, and the entire document.

Character formatting attributes include: font type, font size, font style (bold, italic, underlined), text highlight color, text color, case, spacing between characters in a word, etc.

Paragraph formatting parameters include: text alignment (left or right, centered, justified), paragraph indents, first line indents of paragraphs, line spacing, background color fill, bullets and list numbering, etc.

Elements of table formatting include: borders and shading (we'll look at it in more detail in the section Working with tables).

Basic page formatting (design) parameters: boundaries of the working area (margins at the top, bottom, left, right), page dimensions, page orientation.

Formatting sections includes creating new sections from the next page or on the current page, section headers, creating columns, etc.

Formatting the document as a whole means formatting page numbers, designing an auto-assembled or manual table of contents, etc.

In Word 2007, the main tools for formatting text, paragraphs, and tables are located on the Home tab. For quick formatting To manually create characters (text) and paragraphs, you can use the commands in the Font and Paragraph group on the Home tab.

Rice. 2.1.4.1

In addition, formatting commands are available in the Mini Toolbar, which appears when you hover your mouse over a selected piece of text.

Rice. 2.1.4.2

It should be noted that there is another tool for quickly formatting text - this is the "Format Painter" button in the "Clipboard" group on the "Home" tab, which allows you to copy the formatting options of one fragment and transfer it to another fragment of text when you select it.

Rice. 2.1.4.3

To quickly and simultaneously change multiple character and paragraph formatting attributes, you can use Quick Styles from the Styles group on the Home tab.

Rice. 2.1.4.4

Styles are intended for designing document text and paragraphs. To format characters and paragraphs manually, use not only the quick formatting buttons, but also the Font and Paragraph dialog boxes, which are activated by buttons on the Home tab in the Font and Paragraph groups, respectively.

Step-by-step instructions for formatting text

By default, a new document is created in the Normal style, which means that all text looks the same. But with the help of formatting tools you can always change the appearance of the document. To do this, select a character, fragment or paragraph and click on the desired button to apply a different format.

Let's format the text document that we created and edited in the "Entering and editing document text" section, a screenshot of which is presented in Figure 2.1.4.5.

Rice. 2.1.4.5

Stages of document text formatting:

• open the edited document and change the “Normal” style to “Without spacing”, to do this, click on the “Without spacing” button in the styles group;
• set the font (font typeface) Times New Roman, size 12 points - select all the text, hover over it with the mouse pointer and in the Mini toolbar that appears, select the font: Times New Roman and size 12 points;
• align the text to the width; to do this, select all the text and click on the Justify button in the Paragraph group;
• set the first line indent, to do this, select the text, click on the Paragraph button and in the dialog box that opens, set the first line indent to 1.25 cm;
• add a heading to the text (My first document), set its heading level: Heading 1 and align it to the center, to do this, select the heading, click on the Heading 1 button in the styles group (the heading is formatted using the built-in heading style “Heading 1”), and then on the Center button in the Paragraph group;
• in the first paragraph, assign a text fragment (My first document) a style - italic, underlined, to do this, select the specified fragment and click on the Italic and Underlined buttons;
• set the page margin sizes: top and bottom - 2 cm, left - 2.5 cm, right - 1.5 cm, to do this, on the "Page Layout" tab, click on the button to launch the "Page Settings" dialog box in the "Page Settings" group .

As a result, we get the formatted text of the document, a screenshot of which is presented in Figure 2.1.4.6.

Rice. 2.1.4.6

For large documents (abstracts, term papers and dissertations), in addition to formatting characters, paragraphs and pages, formatting of sections and the document as a whole is performed. We will consider these stages of formatting a large document in the section: Working with large documents in Word 2007.

Large documents (structured documents containing several pages) are typically divided into sections. Creating new sections from the next page or on the current page, inserting a header and footer for the previous and next sections, creating newspaper columns are all steps in document formatting.

Section breaks are made on the Page Layout tab in the Page Setup group, Breaks button. Inserting headers and footers is done on the Insert tab in the Header and Footers group, and working with headers and footers is done on the Design tab, which appears on the Ribbon when working with headers and footers.

Formatting the document as a whole means formatting page numbers, designing an auto-assembled or manual table of contents, etc. Page numbers are inserted on the Insert tab in the Header and Footer group. In the dialog box, you need to set the page number format options: Number Format, Include Chapter Number, Page Numbering (Continue or Start From). A table of contents is added to the document on the Links tab in the Table of Contents group, Table of Contents button.

We have already written more than once about tools for working with text in MS Word, about the intricacies of its design, modification and editing. We talked about each of these functions in separate articles, but in order to make the text more attractive and easier to read, you will need most of them, and done in the correct order.

Exactly how to properly format text in Microsoft document Word and will be discussed in this article.

We have already written about how to change fonts in Word. Most likely, you initially typed the text in the font you liked, choosing the appropriate size. You can find out more about how to work with fonts in our article.

Having chosen the appropriate font for the main text (don’t rush to change headings and subheadings just yet), go through the entire text. Perhaps some fragments need to be italicized or bold, something needs to be emphasized. Here is an example of what an article might look like on our website.

Header selection

There is a 99.9% chance that the article you want to format has a title, and most likely it has subheadings as well. Of course, they need to be separated from the main text. You can do this using built-in Word styles, and you can find out more about how to work with these tools in our article.

If you are using latest version MS Word, additional styles for document design can be found in the tab "Design" in a group with a self-explanatory name "Text formatting".

Text alignment

By default, text in a document is aligned left. However, if necessary, you can change the alignment of the entire text or a single selected fragment to suit your needs by selecting one of the appropriate options:

On the left edge;

Centered;

On the right edge;

By width.

The instructions presented on our website will help you correctly position the text on the pages of the document. The text fragments highlighted with a red rectangle in the screenshot and the arrows associated with them show which alignment style is selected for these parts of the document. The rest of the file content is aligned according to the standard, that is, left-aligned.

Changing intervals

The default distance between lines in MS Word is 1.15, however, it can always be changed to larger or smaller (template), and you can also manually set any suitable value. More detailed instructions You will find information about how to work with intervals, change and customize them in our article.

In addition to the spacing between lines, in Word you can also change the distance between paragraphs, both before and after them. Again, you can choose a template value that suits you, or set your own manually.

Note: If the heading and subheadings that are in your text document, designed using one of the built-in styles, the interval of a certain size between them and the following paragraphs is set automatically, and it depends on the selected design style.

Adding bulleted and numbered lists

If your document contains lists, there is no need to number or even label them manually. Microsoft Word provides special tools for these purposes. They, like the tools for working with intervals, are located in the group "Paragraph", tab "Home".

1. Select a piece of text that you want to convert into a bulleted or numbered list.

2. Press one of the buttons ( “Markers” or “Numbering”) on the control panel in the group "Paragraph".

3. The selected piece of text is converted into a beautiful bulleted or numbered list, depending on which tool you selected.

Advice: If you expand the menu of buttons responsible for lists (to do this, click on the small arrow to the right of the icon), you can see additional list design styles.

Advice: If during the execution of a document, when performing one or another operation to format it, you made a mistake, you can always correct it, that is, cancel it. To do this, simply click on the rounded arrow (pointing left) located next to the button "Save". Also, to cancel any action in Word, be it text formatting or any other operation, you can use a key combination “CTRL+Z”.

We can safely end here. Now you know exactly how to format text in Word, making it not just attractive, but highly readable, designed in accordance with the requirements.