Applying Headings in Microsoft Word

The steps to apply headings are similar across different Microsoft Word versions.

The best way to add structure to Microsoft Word documents is through Heading Styles. You can use the built-in styles, or you can customize them.

Type the text of your heading, and then select it.
On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click the heading style that you want. If you don’t see the style that you want, click / select the More button to expand the Quick Styles gallery.

You can review how selected text will look with a particular style by placing your pointer over the style that you want to preview.

If the style that you want does not appear in the Quick Styles gallery, press Ctrl + Shift + S to open the Apply Styles task pane. Under Style Name, type the name of the style that you want. The list shows only those styles that you already used in the document, but you can type the name of any style that is defined for the document.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Styles can also be applied using keyboard shortcuts:

Ctrl + Alt + 1 Heading Level 1
Ctrl + Alt + 2 Heading Level 2
Ctrl + Alt + 3 Heading Level 3
Ctrl + Shift + N Normal style
Ctrl + Shift + L List Bullets

Customize a heading style

You can change the font and formatting of a heading style.

Select the heading text that you want to customize.
On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click the heading style that you want to customize.
Make the changes that you want. For example, you can change the font, the size, or the color.
On the Home tab, in the Styles group, right-click the heading style that you customized, and then click Update Heading to Match Selection.

Related Resources

More information is provided on the Office Support page or in the tutorial on YouTube, produced by CSU Fullerton .

Additional information about headings and digital document / publication structure is available on the W3C WAI website.

Tags: Word