Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Using the Style Area.

Using the Style Area

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 7, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word can show you what the style names are for all paragraphs in your document. This is useful if you are editing a document and need to see if the appropriate styles have been applied. To reveal styles on the left side of the screen, follow these steps:

Make sure you are viewing your document using Normal view.
Choose Options from the Tools menu.
Make sure the View tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

Set the Style Area Width field to a value other than 0. (A good starting point is .5, which represents one-half inch.)
Click on OK to close the dialog box.

At the left side of your document you should now see a style area. Notice that the style assigned to each paragraph is now visible within the style area. If you want to change the width of the style area at this point, you can do so by using the mouse. Simply click on the vertical line that sets off the style area and drag it left or right. You should note that the style area is only visible if you are using Normal or, in some versions of Word, Outline views. If you switch to any other view, the style area disappears. If you are using any version of Word prior to Word 2000, and you cannot see the Style Area Width box in step 4, then you forgot to switch to Normal view, as mentioned in step 1.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (470) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Using the Style Area.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Calculating Business Days

There are calendar days and then there are business days. Excel provides the NETWORKDAYS function that is helpful to ...

Discover More

Converting Radians to Degrees

When applying trigonometry to the values in a worksheet, you may need to convert radians to degrees. This is done by ...

Discover More

Opening Two Workbooks at Once

Do you work with a group of workbooks all the time in Excel? Windows and Excel both provide a plethora of ways you can ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Searching for Styles

If you use styles to format your text, you can later search for words and phrases that are formatted using various ...

Discover More

Listing All Styles in the Style Drop-Down List

Want to see all the built-in styles in the Style drop-down list? Here's the quick way to do it.

Discover More

Adding Individual Styles to the Template

One of the things you can store within templates are styles. When you use styles, it is critical that you understand how ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is five minus 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.