Formatting text (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 of 12 · about 12 minutes

Formatting text

Change how your words look: Font, size, bold, colour and highlight. Formatting text never changes the words, only how they look.

In this chapter

  • Make text bold, italic or underlined
  • Change the font and its size
  • Colour and highlight text
  • Change text to capitals or small letters
  • Copy formatting with Format Painter and clear formatting

Before you start: Open wme-guide-chapter-04-start.docx. The steps in this chapter use it.

Using your own document? The steps use the practice newsletter, but they work the same on any document. Wherever a step names part of the newsletter, such as the title or the date, use the matching text in your own document.

Formatting means changing how text looks. It never changes the words themselves. All the buttons in this chapter are on the Home tab.

This guide uses the US English button names, such as Font Color. If your Word is set to UK English, you may see Font Colour instead.

Make text bold

Bold text stands out, so use it for titles and important words. Word only formats text that you have selected.

  1. Select the newsletter title (or your own heading), Riverside Community News. Click three times quickly on it to select the whole line.The title is shaded grey.
    Example of selected text in Microsoft Word: The newsletter title Riverside Community News is shaded grey to show it is selected.
    You should see: The title is selected, so it is shaded grey.
  2. Click the Home tab.
    Making text bold in Microsoft Word: The Home tab is marked 2 and the Bold button in the Font group is marked 3.
    Open the Home tab (2), then click Bold in the Font group (3).
  3. In the Font group, click Bold (the B button).The title turns bold.
Watch it happen: Select the text, click Bold, and it turns thick and dark.

Italic and underline work the same way. Select the text, then click Italic (the slanted I button) or Underline (the U button). Both sit next to Bold.

Change the font and its size

The font is the style of the letters. A bigger size makes a title stand out.

  1. Select the newsletter title (or your own heading).
  2. In the Font group, click the arrow beside the Font box (it shows the font name, such as Aptos).
    The Font group on the Home tab in Microsoft Word: The arrow beside the Font box is marked 2 and the arrow beside the Font Size box is marked 4.
    Open the Font list (2), then the Font Size list (4).
    A long list of fonts opens.
  3. Click a font, such as Georgia.The title changes to that font. The pictures in this guide keep the standard Aptos font, so press Ctrl + Z if you want your page to match them.
  4. Click the arrow beside the Font Size box (it shows 12).A list of sizes opens.
  5. Click 28.The title grows much bigger.
    Example of how to format text in Word: The title Riverside Community News is now bold and 28 point, much larger than the date below it.
    You should see: The title is now 28 pt, so it stands out.

Hover over a font or size in the list to preview it. The text only changes for good when you click.

Colour and highlight text

Font colour changes the colour of the letters. Highlight puts a bright band behind them, like a highlighter pen.

  1. Select the newsletter title (or your own heading).
  2. In the Font group, click the arrow beside Font Color (the A with a coloured bar under it).
    The Font Color menu in Microsoft Word: The arrow beside the Font Color button is marked 2 and Dark Blue under Standard Colors is marked 3.
    Open the Font Color menu (2), then click Dark Blue (3).
    A box of colours opens.
  3. Under Standard Colors, click Dark Blue.The title turns dark blue.
  4. Select the date (or any line of text).
  5. Click the arrow beside Text Highlight Color (the pen with a yellow bar under it).
    The Text Highlight Color menu in Microsoft Word: The arrow beside the Text Highlight Color button is marked 5 and Yellow is marked 6.
    Open the Text Highlight Color menu (5), then click Yellow (6).
    A set of highlight colours opens.
  6. Click Yellow.The date now has a yellow band behind it.
    Example in Microsoft Word: The date Saturday 24 October 2026 has a yellow highlight behind it, below the dark blue title.
    You should see: The date is highlighted in yellow.
Watch it happen: Point at each colour and the text previews it before you choose.

To remove a highlight, select the text, open the Text Highlight Color menu and click No Color.

Change text to capitals or small letters

If you typed something in the wrong case, you don’t need to type it again. Change Case fixes it for you.

  1. Select the date (or any line of text).
  2. In the Font group, click Change Case (the Aa button).
    The Change Case menu in Microsoft Word: The Change Case button in the Font group is marked 2 and the UPPERCASE option is marked 3.
    Click Change Case (2), then click UPPERCASE (3).
    A short menu opens.
  3. Click UPPERCASE.The date is now all in capital letters.
    Example in Microsoft Word: The date now reads SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER 2026 in capital letters.
    You should see: The date in UPPERCASE.
  4. Press Ctrl + Z to put it back.The date returns to normal.
Watch it happen: Choose UPPERCASE from Change Case and the selected text turns into capitals.

The menu has five main choices. (If your Word also lists Half-width and Full-width, those are for Asian languages and you can ignore them.) Sentence case. gives a capital at the start only. lowercase and UPPERCASE change every letter. Capitalize Each Word gives each word a capital. tOGGLE cASE swaps capitals and small letters.

Copy formatting with Format Painter

Format Painter copies the look of some text onto other text. It saves you doing the same steps twice.

Get ready first: Double-click £640 in the first paragraph to select it. Press Ctrl + B, then use Font Color > Dark Blue, as you did above.

  1. Click anywhere inside £640.
  2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Format Painter (the paintbrush button).
    The Clipboard group on the Home tab in Microsoft Word: The Format Painter paintbrush button is marked 2.
    Click Format Painter in the Clipboard group (2).
    The pointer turns into a paintbrush.
  3. Drag across 10am in the next paragraph.10am becomes bold and dark blue, like £640.
    Example in Microsoft Word: Both £640 and 10am are bold and dark blue after using Format Painter.
    You should see: 10am now matches £640.

Clear formatting

To remove all the formatting you added, use Clear All Formatting. The text goes back to plain text.

  1. Select the paragraph that starts The garden opens next month.
  2. In the Font group, click Clear All Formatting (the A with a pink eraser).
    The Font group on the Home tab in Microsoft Word: The Clear All Formatting button is marked 2.
    Click Clear All Formatting (2).
    The paragraph goes back to plain text, and 10am is no longer bold or blue.

Mac and Word for the web: The buttons are in the same places on the Home tab. On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl, for example Cmd + B.

Video: formatting text with bold, italic and underline

Formatting text: How To Bold, Italic & Underline Text in Microsoft Word video thumbnail1:32

See it done in Word: How To Bold, Italic & Underline Text in Microsoft Word.