Read the first 20 paragraphs here:
Importance of Styles in Word
or, read
Yet Another "Use Styles" Verbal Beating! by Dian Chapman, MVP which is almost 20 years old.
If every paragraph in your book is formatted differently, I certainly would not want to read it. 90% or more of your text should be in a single style.
Styles are about having paragraphs that have the same type of content formatted exactly the same, and more. Documents formatted using direct formatting are far more complex under the hood than those formatted using styles. Opening and saving them takes longer. Moving text takes longer.
Read and take to heart the series of short tutorials: Basic concepts of Microsoft Word: An introduction by Shauna Kelly, MVP Even though written before the Ribbon version, they still apply. If you need the Ribbon version, start here: Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly
I guarantee you will recover the time you spend reading it within the first week and be ahead of the game from then on. Like me, you will kick yourself for not learning to use styles earlier.
Applying styles can be very easy. They can be in your
Quick Styles Gallery.
That link is to a short tutorial on styles. You can attach keyboard shortcuts to them.
Quote:
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Any ideas as to how I can make Microsoft Office behave exactly the way it did up to a couple of weeks ago would be very gratefully received.
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As to your last request, Michael Fox borrowed the DeLorean and has not returned it.
Bottom line:
- You are working on a big and important project.
- You have a lot of work ahead of you.
- You can make it quicker and easier by learning about the tools you are using.
- Or not.
Right now you are in the position of someone who has started taking apart the engine on a car and put it back together without a manual and it is not working. It is time to read the manual.