Styles

Word Secrets

Luckily, my first book on Word was Word For Windows 95 SECRETS.

The biggest Word secret of all
The granddaddy of all Word secrets is that you do not have to be content with Word the way it works out of the box. Word is probably the most customizable piece of software ever written . . . If you think Microsoft was out to lunch when its programmers populated the toolbars...scrap the standard toolbars and design your own. Do you think the menus are okay, but a few vital commands are missing? Add the commands that Microsoft forgot. Do you wish there was a keyboard shortcut to create a double underline? No problem, just create one.
--Word for Windows 95 SECRETS, p. 2

This is where my Word customization journey began.

Word's Default Styles

This is a list of the default styles that display when you open the Style pane.

Many have speculated about the thinking behind Microsoft's choices for Word's default style names and appearance.

My theory? Microsoft chose defaults so outrageous, they figured people would understand that the defaults were meant to be changed.

Who moves into a new house or apartment without changing it to suit your tastes and needs? That's essentially what you're doing when you accept Word's Defaults.

Accepting the defaults means you have to change a bunch of settings every time you start a new document.

Aren't you tired of this?

Styles Available in Word

Word 365 currently ships with 376 styles built-in styles.
https://www.thedoctools.com/word-macros-tips/word-macros/create-style-name-list/

Below is a list of the styles in my copy of Word 2016.

(Table styles are not shown.)

Think of Word's built-in styles as a starting point you can choose from.

Good News #1

You will never need to touch most of the built-in styles.

Good News #2

Word applies the styles automatically for several frequently used features, including:

Headers
Footers
Footnote
Footnote Reference
Endnote
Endnote Reference
Table of Contents : ToC 1 through ToC 9
Comment
Hyperlink
Index
Page Number

With customizations, this can also include:

List Numbers
List Bullets

Instead of the dreaded

List Paragraph

Your Core Set of Styles

Tales From the Front

Start with a core set of styles in Normal. The ones on the right are ideal.

If you need more styles for a particular type of document, do the following:

Create a template: File, Save as, DOTM
Format the styles based on the requirements of that document type.
Add any needed additional styles to the template.
Use the template for those types of documents.

This saves a TON of time. You know, the time you were trying to save by using "Dupe & Revise" also known as "Clone & Corrupt."

Don't Do This:

Click File, New.
Format as you go.

Only The Highlander has this kind of time. If you're an immortal, have at it.

Start here - 9-13-2021

You will never, ever need most of these styles.

Professional publishers create their own "house" styles using the their own naming convention.

Tales From the Front

Start with a core set of styles in Normal. If you need more styles for a particular type of document, create a template and add the styles to the template. This saves a TON of time.

Don't Do This

Click File, New.
Format as you go.

Only The Highlander has this kind of time. If you're an immortal, have at it.

Tales From the Front

Start with a core set of styles in Normal. If you need more styles for a particular type of document, create a template and add the styles to the template. This saves a TON of time.

Don't Do This

Click File, New.
Format as you go.

Only The Highlander has this kind of time. If you're an immortal, have at it.

My Custom Styles

Word currently ships with 376 styles. https://www.thedoctools.com/word-macros-tips/word-macros/create-style-name-list/

You will never, ever need most of these styles.

Good News!

For most documents, you only need to apply about 5-10 styles.

These are the styles in my copy of Normal.dotm.

Excluding paragraph numbering styles, the most frequently used styles in legal most documents are Body Text styles. These styles are either

Single-Spaced

Body Text
Body Text First Indent

Double-Spaced

Body Text 2
Body Text First Indent 2

For Documents that use the pleading paper format,

Body Text styles are changed from Single to 12pt exactly
Body Text 2 styles are changed from "Double" to "24 pt exactly"
(or 23.9, 22.9, depending on the firm).

Professional publishers create their own "house" styles. They work the same way. They just have different names.

List Numbers

List Bullets

Harvard Outline

Harvard Outline

Think of Word's built-in styles as a starting point you can choose from.

Good News #1

You will never need most of the built-in styles.

Good News #2

Word applies the styles automatically for several frequently used features.These include:

Headers & Footers
Footnotes & Endnotes
Table of Contents : ToC 1 through ToC 9

Your Core Set of Styles- b kup

Legal professionals will never, ever need most of these styles.

The core set of styles you are likely to need are to the right.

Tales From the Front

Start with a core set of styles in Normal. If you need more styles for a particular type of document, create a template and add the styles to the template. This saves a TON of time.

Don't Do This

Click File, New.
Format as you go.

Only The Highlander has this kind of time. If you're an immortal, have at it.

Tales From the Front

Start with a core set of styles in Normal. If you need more styles for a particular type of document, create a template and add the styles to the template. This saves a TON of time.

Don't Do This

Click File, New.
Format as you go.

Only The Highlander has this kind of time. If you're an immortal, have at it.

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