A style is a predefined combination of text and paragraph formatting. This could include basics such as font size and line spacing, as well as advanced settings such as indents, alignment, borders and shading. Using a style can speed up and simplify the job of formatting text and assures that a document has a consistent look.
The following files are available for download:
At this point, our document has four distinct sections: People of the Lego Group, Important Dates in LEGO History, Ten Product Characteristics of LEGO, and Sources. The author of this document used the Normal Text style for all of the text. To differentiate the section headings from the content text, they simply adjusted the font size. By using a style to format these headings, we can make the document easier to understand and more visually interesting.
In addition to the obvious, visual changes, the use of styles allows us to utilize more advanced functions of Microsoft Word such as easily creating a table of contents, moving large sections of text, and altering the look of a document with little effort.
Styles are also important when considering document accessibility. Styles can add structure to a document, which is helpful for users who are utilizing a screen reader. Styles can also give readers a visual cue of section breaks.
Applying a style
There are several ways we could modify this text, but we're going to use the built-in styles.
Let's apply the Heading 1 style to the four section headers.
Styles are applied to the entire paragraph. Therefore, it isn't necessary to select the text. You can simply move your cursor to the paragraph you wish to change, then choose the desired style.
NOTE: Because of variations in monitor sizes, the Styles gallery may appear as a menu button instead of a collection of style previews. To display the Styles gallery, Click 
.
- To place your cursor in the first heading,
Click anywhere in the text "People of the Lego Group"
- To open the Styles gallery, on the Home tab, if necessary,
Click
- To apply the Heading 1 style, in the Styles gallery on the ribbon,
Click
The heading text is now larger and a different font.
Let's apply the heading style to the other section headings. We will follow the same steps to make these changes.
- To place the cursor in the second heading,
Click anywhere in the text "Important Dates in LEGO History"
- To open the Styles gallery, on the Home tab, if necessary,
Click
- To apply the Heading 1 style, in the Styles gallery,
Click
The first two headings have been formatted. The remaining headings, "Ten Product Characteristics of LEGO Toys" and "Sources" should be formatted using the same Heading 1 style. Let's select both headings and format them at the same time.
- To select the second heading,
Click in the text "Ten Product Characteristics of LEGO Toys"
- To select the other section headings, on the Home tab,
In Microsoft Word for Windows, in the Editing group, Click
, Click Select All Text with Similar Formatting
In Microsoft Word for macOS, Click
, Click 
- To open the Styles gallery, on the Home tab, if necessary,
Click
- To apply the Heading 1 style, in the Styles gallery,
Click
- To deselect the text,
Click in a blank area of the document
- To save the file, on the keyboard, press:
Control key + S
All of the section headings are now similarly formatted. Not only does our document look more consistent, these headings can be used later to build a table of contents.