Manual formatting in Help+Manual works exactly as it does in a modern word processor. You apply formatting to text manually with the tools in the tab of the Ribbon, where you can select formatting options for , and .
Generally, however, you should use styles for formatting your text. Styles are more efficient, create uniform-looking documents and enable you to reformat your entire project quickly just by changing your style definitions. When you are working on a project in a team styles are essential for uniformly-formatted documents
 Productivity Tip
You can assign keyboard shortcuts to most manual formatting tools. Select View > Program Options > Keyboard Shortcuts to access the settings.
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There are two ways to apply formatting manually: Select a formatting option and start typing, or select text and then apply a formatting option.
Select a formatting option and start typing:
If you select a formatting option without selecting text first the formatting options you select will apply to all the text you type from that point onwards (unless you move the cursor again). If you press to create a new paragraph after applying formatting like this the new paragraph will also have all the formatting attributes you have just applied.
Select text and then apply a formatting option:
If you select text in the editor and then select formatting options the options will be applied to the selected text and paragraphs. If you then place the cursor directly after the formatted text any new text you type in that position will also have the formatting.
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To see what a formatting tool does just position the mouse over it for a second or two and a description will be displayed.
The Font and Paragraph tools:
The tools in the and groups of the tab all apply formatting manually in the current position. If text is selected the options are applied to the selected text. If no text is selected the options apply from the cursor position onwards when you start typing.
For more detailed formatting settings you can display the Font, Paragraph and Borders and Background dialogs. To display them just click on the little arrow icons at the bottom right of the and groups.
Quick access to Paragraph tool:
Right-click in the ruler above the main editor window and select Paragraph to open the paragraph tool. You can also access the program settings for the editor here.
The Borders and Background tool:
This tool is included in the group in the tab. You can display a full dialog of options by clicking on the little arrow next to the Border Tool.
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Use the Format Painter tool in the group ( and tabs) to copy formatting. The Format Painter works in the same way as similar tools in Word processors.
1.Select text or click in the paragraph whose formatting you want to copy, then click once to use the painter once, or double-click to turn on the painter for multiple use. The mouse pointer changes to a painter symbol.
2.Click in the paragraph or select the text that you want to apply the formatting to.
3.Press ESC or click on the Format Painter tool again to turn it off if necessary. |
You can convert selected paragraphs to a table. Columns will be created automatically at tab characters in the text. Note that you cannot convert text to a table inside another table.
Context menu: Direct conversion without a dialog
Right-click on the selected text and select Convert text to a Table in the context menu. This uses the default table format directly. You can configure the table afterwards with the tool in the tab.
Table tool: Configure the table with a dialog
Select the paragraphs you want to convert and then select the tool in the or tab. Before the table is created the table properties dialog is displayed with which you can configure all table attributes except the number of columns and rows. Those are based on the selected paragraphs and the tab characters they contain.
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See also:
Formatting text with styles
The Format Menu (Reference)
Syntax highlighting for program code
