Using the Formatting Toolbar

Using the Formatting toolbar's buttons is easy. You select the information you want to format. Then you click the button that represents the type of formatting you want. For example, if you want to boldface some chunk of text or a worksheet range, you select the text or range (such as by dragging the mouse across the text or cells), and then you click the Bold button. If you want to change the font, or typeface, used for a chunk of text or a worksheet range, you select the text or range and then you select a new font from the Font list box.

TIP: Remember, if you point to any toolbar box or button, the Office program displays the tool name in a pop-up box called a ScreenTip. Also, if you don’t see a particular button displayed on your toolbar, click the More button.

LEARN BY EXAMPLE: You can open the sample Word document Figure 3-A (example document for formatting) if you want a simple document you can use for experimenting with the Word Formatting toolbar. You can open the sample Excel workbook Figure 3-B (example workbook for formatting) if you want a simple workbook that you can use for experimenting with the Excel Formatting toolbar. You can open the sample PowerPoint presentation Figure 3-C (example presentation for formatting) if you want a simple presentation that you can use for experimenting with the PowerPoint Formatting toolbar.

Reviewing the Formatting Toolbar's Buttons

The Formatting toolbar provides drop-down list boxes and clickable buttons you can use to change the appearance of the information you've selected in a Word document, Excel workbook, or PowerPoint presentation. Table 3-1 describes each of these boxes and buttons, but your best route for learning what these tools do is simply to experiment with them.

Button	Available In	What It Lets You Do
Style	Word	Selects a style from a drop-down list box for the selection.
Font	All	Selects a font (typeface) from a drop-down list box for the selection.
Font Size	All	Specifies a point size for the selection. You can select a point size from the drop-down list or you can enter a point size into the box.
Bold	All	Boldfaces the selection.
Italic	All	Italicizes the selection.
Underline	All	Underlines the selection.
Shadow	PowerPoint	Adds a shadow to the selection.
Align Left	All	Left-aligns the text in the selection.
Center	All	Centers the text in the selection.
Align Right	All	Right-aligns the text in the selection.
Justify	Word	Justifies the text in the selection so the text is flush against both the left and right margin edges.
Merge and Center	Excel	Concatenates the cell contents in each selected cell and then centers the new concatenated contents across the selected columns.
Numbering	Word and PowerPoint	Turns the selected paragraphs into a numbered list.
Currency Style	Excel	Formats the selected worksheet range to include a currency symbol, a comma as the thousands separator, and two decimal places.
Percent Style	Excel	Formats the selected worksheet range to show values as percentages and adds the percent symbol (for example, the value 1 shows as 100%).
Comma Style	Excel	Formats the selected worksheet range to include a comma as the thousands separator and two decimal places.
Bullets	Word and PowerPoint	Turns the selected paragraphs into a bulleted list.
Increase Decimal	Excel	Increases the number of decimal places shown for the selected worksheet range.
Decrease Decimal	Excel	Decreases the number of decimal places shown for the selected worksheet range.
Decrease Indent	Word and Excel	Reduces the indention of the selection.
Increase Indent	Word and Excel	Increases the indention of the selection.
Increase Font Size	PowerPoint	Increases the point size of the selection to the next larger size shown in the Font Size list box.
Decrease Font Size	PowerPoint	Decreases the point size of the selection to the next smaller size shown in the Font Size list box.
Promote	PowerPoint	Promotes the selected paragraph to the next higher level in the presentation's outline.
Demote	PowerPoint	Demotes the selected paragraph to the next lower level in the presentation's outline.
Animation Effects	PowerPoint	Displays the Animation Effects toolbar.
Borders	Word and Excel	Displays a list box you can use to add borders to the selection.
Highlight	Word	Highlights the selected text using the color shown on the face of the toolbar button. (If you click the arrow next to the button Word displays a drop-down list of colors from which you can choose your highlighting color.)
Fill Color	Excel	Fills the selected worksheet range using the color shown on the face of the toolbar button. (If you click the arrow next to the button Excel displays a drop-down list of colors from which you can choose your fill color.)
Font Color	Word and Excel	Colors the text in your selection using the color shown on the face of the toolbar button. (If you click the arrow next to the button Word and Excel display a drop-down list of colors from which you can choose your font color.)

Table 1: Formatting Toolbar Buttons

NOTE: Perhaps not surprisingly, all the Office programs provide many more tools you can use to customize the appearance of your document file contents. Both Word and Excel's Format menus, for example, provide an AutoFormat command, which you can use to richly format a Word document or Excel worksheet range. The Word and PowerPoint Format menus also all provide a Font command, which you can use to change the font typeface, style, point size, and color and to add special effects such as underlining, shadows, and so forth.