Introduction

Styles and themes are powerful tools in Word that can help you create professional-looking documents easily. A style is a predefined combination of font style, color, and size of text that can be applied to selected text . A theme is a set of formatting choices that can be applied to an entire document and includes theme colors, fonts, and effects.

In this lesson, you will learn how to apply, modify, and create a style; use style sets; apply a document theme; and create a custom theme.

Using styles and themes

Download the example to work along with the video.

To select a style:

• Select the text to format. In this example, the title is selected.
• In the Style group on the Home tab, hover over each style to see a live preview in the document. Click the More drop-down arrow to see additional styles.

• Left-click a style to select it. Now the selected text appears formatted in the style.

You can also use styles to create a table of contents for your document. To learn how, review our article on How to Create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word .

To modify a style:

• Select the text in the style you want to change. In this example, we are changing AdWorks Agency, which has the Title style applied.
• Locate the style in the Styles group .
• Right-click the style, and a menu appears.
• Left-click Modify , and the Modify Style dialog box appears.

• Change any of the formatting.

• Click OK to apply the modifications to the style.

To create a new style:

• Click the arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Styles group. This opens the Styles task pane.

• Click the New Style button at the bottom, and a dialog box appears.

• Enter a name for the style, and make all of the formatting decisions.

• Select the button beside New Document based on this template so the style will be available to use in all of your documents.
• Click OK . The new style will appear in the list.

To apply a style set:

• Click the Change Styles command on the Ribbon.
• Select Style Set from the menu that appears.

• Left-click a style set to select it. The change is reflected in the entire document.

Style sets include a combination of title, heading, and paragraph styles. Style sets allow you to format all of the elements of your document at once, rather than formatting your title and headings separately.

For quick changes, you can modify the colors and fonts of a style set from the Change Styles command; however, the themes feature is more comprehensive and easier to use.

To apply a theme:

• Select the Page Layout tab.
• Click the Themes command.

• Hover your pointer over a theme to see it displayed in the document.
• Left-click a theme to select it.

A document theme is a set of formatting choices that includes font styles, sizes, and colors for different parts of the document, as well as a set of theme effects such as lines and fill effects.

To create a custom theme:

• Open the document you want to format.
• Select the Page Layout tab.
• Click the Colors command.
• Select Create New Theme Colors . A dialog box appears.

• Use the drop-down menus to change the colors for each part of the document.

• Enter a name for the theme color.
• Click Save .
• Click the Fonts command.
• Select Create New Theme Fonts . A dialog box appears.

• Use the drop-down menus to change the fonts in the dialog box.
• Enter a name for theme font.

• Click Save .
• Click the Effects command, and select an option from the drop-down menu.
• Click the Themes command.
• Select Save Current Theme . A dialog box appears.

• Enter a theme name , and click Save . Now the theme is available to use with other documents.

You cannot apply a theme to a document without applying styles first . Themes look for and replace the formats of each of the styles.

Challenge!

Use the report or any Word document you choose to complete this challenge.

• Apply a style to one section of your document.
• Apply a style set to your entire document.
• Modify an existing style.
• Apply a theme .