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: Quickly Displaying the Font Dialog Box.

Quickly Displaying the Font Dialog Box

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 18, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you want to quickly format some characters in your document, try this trick:

Select the characters you want to format.
Right-click on the selected characters. A Context menu appears.
Select Font from the Context menu. Word displays the Font tab of the Font dialog box appears. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Font tab of the Font dialog box.

Format your characters.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1212) 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: Quickly Displaying the Font Dialog Box.

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

Selecting a Paper Size

Excel can print your worksheet on just about any paper size you can imagine. How you select the paper size you want used ...

Discover More

Printing Index Field Codes

Word allows you to configure what you see so that field codes are visible instead of the results of those field codes. ...

Discover More

Inserting the Workbook Name

Do you want to insert the name of your Excel workbook into a cell? There are a number of ways you can do this, as ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Applying Formatting to Words

You don't have to select whole words before applying direct character formatting. With the proper Word options set, ...

Discover More

Superscript and Subscript at the Same Place

Do you want a superscript and subscript character to appear directly above each other without using the Equation Editor? ...

Discover More

Changing the Height of a Font

Scaling the width of a font is easy to do with Word's formatting capabilities. Scaling the height of the fonts is not so ...

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 four 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.