Everybody wants to make documents in Microsoft Word that are aesthetically pleasing, but not everybody has the eye, skillset, or time to make this happen. Does this mean that good looking documents only belong to the graphic design experts of the world? Absolutely not!
Microsoft Word provides two specific features that make creating great looking documents quick and simple. These features are known as Styles and Themes. The learning curve on these features is very small and once you realize they are available to you, you’ll be making professional looking documents in no time. Let’s talk about what these features do:
Styles: Styles is a feature that allows you to apply consistent formatting to your document. With Styles, you can format headings, subheadings, body text, and other elements of your document in a quick and efficient manner. Styles can save time, improve consistency, and make your document more accessible. They also help to create a clear and logical document structure, making it easier for readers to understand the content and flow of your document. By using Styles, you can create professional-looking documents with ease.
Themes: Themes is a feature that allows you to apply a set of formatting choices to your document, including colors, fonts, and effects. With Themes, you can quickly and easily change the look and feel of your document. Themes are a collection of coordinated formatting options that can give your document a professional and polished appearance. You can select from a variety of pre-designed Themes, or you can create your own custom Theme. Themes are useful for creating documents that are visually appealing, consistent, and on-brand. They can save time and effort by providing a pre-set format for your document, allowing you to focus on the content. Overall, Themes in Microsoft Word are a powerful tool for creating documents with a consistent and professional look.
So how do you use Styles and Themes?
Styles: First, write out your document without adding any special formatting or colors. Just specify your titles, subtitles, headings, and general text and keep them on separate lines of the document. Next, identify each line of text you want to associate a certain style to. Highlight it and then select the style at the top on the “Home” tab (for example, highlight your title and select “Title”). You can do this for each line to associate the desired Style. After you finish this for each section, click the “Design” tab and browse through all the built in styles in the Document Formatting section to find the one that looks best for your document.
Themes: Start by making sure you have a good-looking style in place! You can then further enhance and polish your document by adding a Theme. On the “Design” tab, click the Themes icon to reveal a dropdown list of various Themes with different pre-selected colors and fonts. Hover over the theme and see it change on your document in real time. Once you find the one you want, click it to select it for you document. That’s it! Remember! You don’t have to select a Theme (if you accidently select one you didn’t like, reselect the first theme on the list – Office – to return it to the original theme. You can further fine tune your colors and fonts by selecting the Colors and Fonts dropdown lists on the Design tab. Just like with Themes, hover over the various selections to see a preview in real time, and then click to apply.
Don’t continue wasting time and effort trying to make documents look good on your own. Microsoft Word has provided built in tools to help free up time and energy for you to focus on things that matter. Using Styles and Themes will bring even more credibility to your content without any extra effort, so get started today using these great features!
Check out this month’s video!