Word: Reveal Formatting
Published on 1st February 2006
This month we are going to look at Reveal Formatting: a feature in Word that helps you check the formatting of your text and document. This is especially useful if you want to ensure consistency or find out why two different parts of your document don't quite look the same.
Reveal Formatting describes exactly how the selected part of the document is formatted. It was introduced in Microsoft Office XP, so if you are using Word 2000, unfortunately you can't benefit from this.
Using Reveal Formatting
- Open your Word document.
- Position the cursor in the text in question.
- Give the menu command Format - Reveal Formatting.
The Reveal Formatting Task Pane will appear on the right hand side of the screen. At the top it shows the appearance of the word where your cursor is positioned. Under the heading "Formatting of selected text" it lists the characteristics of the Font, Paragraph and Section formats. You may need to expand the information under the Section heading by clicking the little plus, where you will find details of the margins etc.
Changing a Format Through Reveal Formatting
Do you notice how each characteristic (such as Font or Justification) is underlined like a hyperlink on the internet? If you click that hyperlink it opens the appropriate dialog box to change the setting.
Comparing Two Formats
Reveal Formatting can make it really easy to see how two bits of text differ, so you can be sure of consistent formatting throughout your document.
- Select the first text in the usual way and make sure you can see the Reveal Formatting Task Pane (Format - Reveal Formatting).
- In the Reveal Formatting Task Pane, under the box that shows the Selected text, is a tick box "Compare to another selection". Tick this box.
- Scroll through your document and click in the second piece of text that you want to compare to the first.
The list of formatting characteristics shows only the differences between the two bits of text.
Reveal Formatting is a great way of seeing exactly how your text and document is set-up. Ex-WordPerfect users often say how much they miss Reveal Codes (which showed where a format started and ended), and this is the closest Microsoft Word has got to matching that feature.
By the way: One of the characteristics of the font is Character Spacing, which may show a setting of Kern at 12pt (for example). Kerning is: the adjustment of the spacing between two characters to create the appearance of even spacing, fit text to a given space, and adjust line breaks, and is unlikely to need changing.