Chapter 4 · 4.1
Formatting text: font, size, colour and alignment
On the Home tab, you'll find everything you need to format text. It works just as you're used to from Word: first select the text, then choose the formatting.
How to format text
- Select the text: drag with your mouse over the text, or double click on a word. Click three times to select a whole paragraph.
- Choose the font (1) and the font size (2). With the buttons showing a large and small A, you can increase or decrease the text size step by step.
- Make text bold, italic or underlined (3). You'll also find strikethrough, superscript and subscript here.
- Give the text a colour with the Font color button (4), or give it a coloured background like a highlighter pen, with Highlight color (5).
- Choose the alignment (6): left, centred, right or justified.
Choosing colours
Click the arrow next to the font colour button. You can choose from the theme colours, the standard colours or a custom colour. Use the eyedropper to pick up a colour that's already in your document.
Handy keyboard shortcuts
| What | Windows and Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | Ctrl + B | Cmd + B |
| Italic | Ctrl + I | Cmd + I |
| Underline | Ctrl + U | Cmd + U |
| Left, centre, right, justify | Ctrl + L, E, R, J | Cmd + L, E, R, J |
| Clear formatting | Ctrl + Space | Cmd + Space |
Tip: want to use the same formatting again? Place the cursor in the formatted text, click the button with the paintbrush (Copy style) and then select the text that should get the same formatting.
Using the same formatting for all headings? Then it's better to use styles. You can read how that works in Using styles and headings.