Microsoft Word 2010 : Formatting Paragraphs (part 1) - Aligning Text, Adding Paragraph Borders, Shading Text, Indenting Text

WORD INCLUDES MANY FEATURES designed to assist you in placing text on the page just the way you want it. You can align text left to right using tabs or alignment options, or you can adjust your text vertically using line spacing options. Following are some of the available paragraph formatting choices.

Aligning Text

Alignment arranges the text to line up at one or both margins, or centers it between the margins. Alignment applies to entire paragraphs. In other words, you can’t center align part of a paragraph and left align another part of the same paragraph.

You can align text to the left, right, or center, or you can justify your text, which means that the text becomes evenly spaced across the page from the left margin to the right margin. Apply alignment options by selecting the text you want to align, then choosing Home > Paragraph and clicking one of the following alignment buttons:

• Align Text Left: The text aligns evenly at the left margin. This is the default choice.

• Center: The text centers evenly between the left and right margins.

• Align Text Right: The text aligns along the right document margin.

• Justify: The text fills with micro spaces so it aligns evenly on both the left and right margins.

Figure 1 illustrates a document with text matching each alignment option.

Figure 1. Changing alignment of selected text.

Adding Paragraph Borders

Word includes borders that you can apply to any size block of text, which draw the reader’s eye to specific areas for a “quick read.” Use a border to place a frame around a word, phrase, paragraph, or group of paragraphs to frame the text and call specific attention to the areas. A border can encase the entire area or be any combination of lines around the text, such as above and/or below the text. Select the text you want bordered and choose Home > Paragraph. Click the drop-down arrow next to the Borders button, which displays a list of options like the one you see in Figure 2. Choose the border option you want.

Figure 2. Adding borders around text.

Shading Text

Shading helps you distinguish headlines and important passages, such as sidebars, by creating a screen, which is typically light gray shading against the standard black text. Screens can add contrast to and enhance the readability of your document. Shading especially looks good when used in combination with a border.

You may be wondering what the difference is between shading and highlighting. Highlighting only covers the selected text and not the entire paragraph. Also, you typically use a light color for highlighting so you can still see the black text through it. When you add shading, the shading covers the entire paragraph, and if you choose a darker color, Word automatically changes the text color to one that coordinates so you can still effectively read the text.

Click anywhere in the paragraph you want shaded and choose Home > Paragraph > Shading. Choose a color from the resulting Shading gallery, as shown in Figure 3. In this figure, adding dark blue shading caused Word to change the font color to white.

Figure 3. Adding shading to your paragraphs.

Optionally, if you want to add a shading pattern ranging from a light 5% shade to patterns, such as diagonal stripes or polka dots, you can choose Home > Paragraph, and then click the Borders drop-down arrow. From the list, select Borders and Shading, which then displays the Borders and Shading dialog box. Click the Shading tab then click the Fill drop-down arrow to select a fill color. Choices are available in themes or standard colors. You can then click the Style drop-down list to select a pattern.

Indenting Text

Typically, text runs between the left and right margins, but you may want to indent particular paragraphs. Surprise! Word contains a tool for indenting. Click anywhere in the paragraph you want to indent, and then choose Home > Paragraph > Increase Indent. Each click of the Increase Indent button indents the text one-half inch from the left margin. Click the Decrease Indent button to move the text back one-half inch.

If you want to indent from the right margin or you want to manually set how much indentation Word applies, you can use the Format Paragraph dialog box. Click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher, which displays the Paragraph dialog box shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Set text apart by using indentation.

Click the spinner arrows for the Left or the Right text boxes to specify the number of inches to indent the left and right edge of the paragraph. The Preview box at the bottom shows the effects of your settings. Optionally, click the Special dropdown list and select an indenting option:

• First line: This option indents only the first line of the paragraph and leaves the rest of the paragraph even with the left margin.

• Hanging: This option indents all lines except the first line of the paragraph.

Click OK after you finish making selections. Word applies the paragraph indentation settings you selected.

Another way to control indention is by dragging the indentation icons on the ruler:

• Left Indent

• Hanging Indent

• First Line Indent

• Right Indent