Formatting Word Documents
Document formatting refers to how the words appear on the page as well as how long documents can be navigated. A well-formatted document should be easy to read and, with technical papers, easily navigated. The document formatting includes font selection, font size and presentation (bold italics, underlining), spacing, margins, alignment, columns, indentation, and lists. Basically, the mechanics of how the words appear on the page.
The visual appeal of a document may influence the reader and how they perceive the information. Formatting makes the information more accessible to the reader by creating and labeling sections (headings), highlighting key words or ideas (bold, italics, or lists), and making a good impression by the professional look and feel for the document type.
This document provides guidance to preparing a document prepared in Microsoft Word ©. This guide will cover the following topics:
- General Formatting including margins, orientation, and paper size
- Adding Breaks to the document including page breaks and section breaks
- Use of Styles
- Creating a table of contents
- Adding footnotes
- Adding heading and footings to the document including adding page numbers
- Creating Links within the document
- Adding Bookmarks to the document
- Formatting and Printing to Acrobat PDF