Applying Styles in Word 2002 and Word 2003

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 20, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2002 and 2003

Styles will do you no good if you cannot apply them to your text. There are three ways you can apply styles. The first way to apply styles depends on your use of the toolbars. The Formatting toolbar includes the Style tool, which is a drop-down list that indicates the style of the current paragraph. You can change the style of the current paragraph (in the case of paragraph styles) or the characters you have selected (for character styles) by pulling down the list and selecting a different style.

The second method of applying styles uses the Styles and Formatting pane. You can follow these steps to apply a style:

Position the insertion point in the paragraph to which you want to apply a paragraph style, or select the text to which you want to apply a particular style.
Choose Styles and Formatting from the Tools menu. Word displays the Styles and Formatting pane at the right side of the program window.
In the Pick Formatting to Apply list, click once on the name of the style you want to apply.
Close the Styles and Formatting pane.

The final method assumes you have assigned your styles to specific shortcut keys. If you have, then you can position the insertion pointer in the paragraph to which you want to apply the style, and then use the shortcut key.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (954) applies to Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003.

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

Restoring a Keyboard Shortcut

Word uses keyboard shortcuts for all sorts of tasks. Sometimes you may create a shortcut that messes up one of the other ...

Discover More

Viewing Your Custom Styles

If you develop a set of preferred styles, you may want to use those styles with a document you receive from someone else. ...

Discover More

Appending to a Non-Document Text File

Your macros can easily add information to the end of an existing text file. This is done by opening the target file in ...

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)

Renaming a Style

Styles are invaluable when it comes to applying consistent formatting in and across documents. If you need to rename a ...

Discover More

Assigning a Shortcut Key to Styles

Shortcut keys are a great way to apply styles to text in a document. You can easily create a shortcut key assignment for ...

Discover More

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

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 nine more than 8?

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.