Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document

You can use the Eyedropper tool to copy type attributes such as character, paragraph, fill, and stroke settings, and then apply those attributes to other type. By default, the Eyedropper tool copies all type attributes. To customize the attributes you want to copy with the Eyedropper tool, use the Eyedropper Options dialog box.

To change formatting in a document, insert a section break at the beginning of where you want the change. Set up the formatting change just past the new section break. If you want to change formatting again, put in another section break. If your changes are to be on the same page, choose the Continuous section break. Otherwise, choose Next Page, Odd Page, or Even Page section breaks.

If the formatting change occurs in the previous section, press Ctrl or Command + Z and move your cursor to after the section break and try it again.

Use section breaks to layout or format a document

When you insert a section break, choose the type of break that fits the changes you want to make. Here are the types with usage suggestions:

The Next Page command inserts a section break and starts the new section on the next page. This type of section break is useful to start new chapters in a document.

Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document

The Continuous command inserts a section break and starts the new section on the same page. A continuous section break is useful to create format changes such as a different number of columns on a page.

Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document

The Even Page or Odd Page command inserts a section break and starts the new section on the next even-numbered or odd-numbered page. To start document chapters always on an odd or even page, use the Odd page or Even page section break option.

You can use keyboard shortcuts or the Ribbon to clear formatting in a Word document. Since there are two types of text formatting (character and paragraph), you can choose to clear all formatting or just character or paragraph formatting. If you want to clear formatting for text where a specific style has been applied, you'll need to select the text that uses the style first and then remove the formatting.

You can find and replace formatting in Word by searching for specific formatting, such as bold or italic, and changing it to other formats. You or even search for text with specific formatting and change the text and the formats. With Find and Replace, you can search for and change both character and paragraph formatting.

So you have your document written out, but you don’t like the way it looks. No problem. Changing the font of the entire document in Microsoft Word is easy and can be done in a few simple steps. If you are using Open Office, Google Docs, or another alternative, the process is very similar. Once you learn how to do it with a one-word processing program, you can pretty much do it in all of them.

Change Font of an Entire Microsoft Word Doc

First, select all of the text in the document. To do that, just use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A on your keyboard. Or, if you don’t like using keyboard shortcuts, select the Home tab on the Ribbon and from the “Editing” section, click Select > Select All.

Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document
Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document

All of the text in your document should now be selected and highlighted. With this done, you can edit the entire document at once.

On the Home ribbon, you’ll find everything you need under the “Font” heading.

Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document
Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document

Click the wide font box to display a list of fonts. From this list, you can hover the mouse over a font to preview it or click it to change the text to that font.  You can also adjust boldness, italics, color, size, and underline.

Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document
Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document

But, manually adjusting the font might not be the easiest or the fastest way to make your document look great. The first thing you should try is styles; I’ll show you where they are below.

Word Document Styles

Alternatively, you can use the “Styles” menu from the Home tab to select pre-made font sets. A style will automatically adjust the color and font of your document. It also applies different values to headings, titles, and other special text.

Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document
Which command changes the font and paragraph formatting of an entire document

With a pre-made style, you can change the look of your entire document to something professional and appropriate with a click of the mouse.

Styles allow you to quickly apply a set of formatting choices consistently throughout your document.

14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. David

    I have been doing this for as long as I’ve used MS Word (since the 1980s). However, I can’t seem to make it so that font I’ve assigned sticks.

    First, after having selected all, applied the font size and type (in this case Ariel 10), and saved, when I select all again, I see that the Font window shows a blank instead of showing the font I used. I take this to mean that somewhere in the document, it’s not Ariel 10.

    Second, in the middle of moving things around, sure enough some other font starts appearing. It often happens when I get rid of a paragraph marker, so I think it’s somewhere in the paragraph-level formatting.

    Is there a way to do the select-all/format/save thing (meme? riff?) such that Word knows that I really mean it?

    TIA,
    David

    • Dee

      I was having the same issue as David above where the font I selected did not stick and the fonts section stayed blank. I am aware it is a few years on since the question was posted but I thought the answer would benefit someone else as I found a solution which worked for me.

      Select the all the text requiring font change – Go to the Toolbar – Select format – Go to Font – Change the font.

      This worked for me :)

      Good luck!

      D

    • Jen

      same problem. This shouldn’t be so difficult.

      • LK

        Same problem. I select the whole document and choose a font – tried this in numerous docx files – but it simply doesn’t work. A mishmash of fonts remains.

        • Gillian M Dale

          I was having this problem. I finally got it into all one font and size, but the spacing was off in parts that had included some i had pasted from elsewhere. What finally got it to all look the same was to highlight the misfit section, go to STYLES and click on the first one, and presto, they then all looked the same. i hope this helps someone as i thought i was going to go nuts with frustration.

  2. Robert Elsner

    I’m trying to convert a file to font GENEVA. Can’t find it. Suggestions?
    Thanks!

    • Austin Krause

      Perhaps its not installed on your PC. You could try downloading it from http://fontzone.net/font-details/Geneva/

      Then just add it. Instructions here: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/add-custom-fonts-to-windows-7/

  3. Steve

    This doesn’t change the fonts used in a numbered list. Is there a way to change ALL fonts to a single font, including those in numbered lists?

    • hou

      I would like to automatically convert the font of a text that I insert into an existing document.

      Thank you

  4. Helen

    I know how to change the font, but I want to change the size after I have already chosen a letter template. Nothing I am doing is working. Can you help?

  5. ibrahim shaikh

    when i typing in the word 2007 that time work is go on good but I’m close the word file then open the word file font is change and more than spacing leave so how to this problem solve???????????????? please give me the answer…….

  6. Elaine

    hi! I was wondering can you tell me how to make the font look bigger without changing the font size. i really appreciate it if you answer it within this week thanks! :)

  7. Gilbert Fitzsimmons

    For several years, once I created a document I would change the font to an “8”. This worked until this morning, 12.23.16 when I noticed that the font has been changed to a “14”. The program will not allow a change from this “14” to an “8”. How can this be done?

  8. piecevcake

    Yes thats because you need to change NORMAL STYLE in the document which will change all the styles based on it. Including headers and footers.

    Which command uses a unique set of colors fonts and effects to create a consistent look?

    A Theme is a unique set of colors, fonts and effects that can quickly change the look of an entire slide show.

    Which of these document components changes when you apply a theme?

    You can customize the individual elements of a theme by changing its style set, color set, font set, and paragraph spacing. After making changes to a theme, you can then save it as a new theme you can later apply to other documents in Word.

    Which tab would you select on the ribbon to insert a shape?

    On the Insert tab, click Shapes. Click the shape you want, click anywhere in the workspace, and then drag to place the shape.