When you enter content into new documents, Word applies the default formatting to the font and paragraphs. You can customize paragraph formatting, both in the standard Normal template, which is used to create new documents in most situations, and in any other templates and documents created based on them. We will show you the procedure in both cases.
Change the paragraph formatting in the standard “Normal” template
To change paragraph formatting in the current document and in all documents that will be created from the Normal template, create a new Word file or open an existing one.
- If you create a new file, then the styles of the Normal template will be applied to whatever content you start typing.
- If you have an existing document open and want to set a different style for a paragraph, place the cursor on the paragraph whose formatting you want to change.
Click the Home (Home) and in the lower right corner of the section Paragraph (Paragraph) click Paragraph options (Paragraph Settings).
In the dialog box Paragraph (Paragraph) Select which settings you want to change. Please note that the settings are located on two tabs: Indentation and Spacing (Indents and Spacing) и Position on the page (Line and Page Breaks). When you’re done with settings, click By default (Set As Default).
A dialog box will appear asking if you want to change the default formatting for the current document only or for all documents based on the Normal template. To apply the new formatting settings to all documents you create, select the option All documents based on the Normal template (All documents based on the Normal.dotm template) and click OK.
The formatting of paragraphs that have the same style applied to the paragraph you selected will be changed.
Changing paragraph formatting in an existing document (and its original template)
You can quickly change the formatting of all paragraphs that have the same style applied in an existing document. Open the document and on the tab Home (Home) press the button Styles (Styles).
The panel of the same name will appear. Find the style you want to change in the list and hover your mouse over it. Click the down arrow and select from the dropdown list Change (Modify).
In the dialog box Style change (Modify Style) Set the desired formatting options. To open additional options, click the button Framework (Format).
To apply formatting changes to all new documents based on the current template, select the option In new documents using this template (New documents based on this template). This will save the formatting settings in the current template and will be used the next time you create a document based on this template.
Press OKto save changes and close the dialog Style change (Modify Style).
All paragraphs in the current document that are based on this style will change to reflect the new formatting options.
Notes: Other files (except the current one) previously created based on this template will not be changed.