Applying Character Formats the Easy Way in Microsoft Word

You can apply character formats before or after you type the text you want to format. To apply a character format to text as you type it, follow these steps:

1. Type text up to the point where you want to apply a format.

2. Turn on the special character formatting by using one of the keyboard shortcuts listed in Table 1.

Nothing happens at first, but wait. . . .

3. Type away.

Anything you type now assumes the format you applied in Step 2.

4. Turn off the special character formatting by using the keyboard shortcut again.

Word discontinues the special formatting. Any text you subsequently type formats as usual.

Table 1: Character Formatting the Easy Way

In addition to the keyboard shortcuts listed in Table 1, you can use toolbar buttons to control a few popular formats in Word. Bold, italic, and underline character formats all have their own toolbar buttons (featuring the letters B, I, and U with their respective formatting applied, natch).

To apply a character format to text you already typed, follow these steps:

1. Highlight the text you want to format.

To highlight a single word, double-click anywhere in the word. To highlight an entire paragraph, triple-click anywhere in the paragraph. Otherwise, highlight the text that you want to format by dragging the mouse over it while holding down the left mouse button or by using the arrow keys to move the cursor while holding down the Shift key.

If you enabled Word's Automatic Word Selection option, you don't have to double-click to select an entire word; Word automatically selects the entire word if the insertion point is anywhere in the word. To activate this option (or to deactivate it if it is already activated), choose Tools --> Options, click the Edit tab, and then click the Automatic Word Selection button. Click OK or press Enter to close the Options dialog box.

2. Apply the format using one of the keyboard shortcuts or toolbar buttons listed in Table 1.

The effects of your formatting are immediately apparent.

3. Move on.

Disperse. There's nothing more to see here. Return to your homes.

Some other tidbits on character formatting:

• You can gang-tackle text with formats, if you want. For example, you can format text as bold italic double-underlined if you're really desperate for attention.

• To remove all character formatting, highlight the text that you want to return to normal; then press Ctrl+spacebar or Ctrl+Shift+Z.

• To remove a specific character format, such as bold or italic, but leave other character formats intact, highlight the text and press the keyboard shortcut or click the toolbar button for the format you want to remove.