How to Create a Style from Existing Formatted Text in Word 2016

Word 2010 For Dummies

To build a style in Word 2016, summon the Create New Style from Formatting dialog box. Beyond having a tediously long name, the Create New Style from Formatting dialog box lists all Word's formatting settings and options in one place. If you're familiar with Word's formatting commands, you can use the dialog box to create new styles.

The Create New Style from Formatting dialog box.

Follow these steps:

Summon the Styles pane.

The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S.
Click the New Style button.

The button is shown in the margin. Click it to see the Create New Style from Formatting dialog box, as shown.
Type a short, descriptive name for the new style.
Ensure that Paragraph is chosen for the style type.

If the format is a character style, choose Character. An example of a character style is blue, bold, Courier, 12-point —used in some documents for filenames.
Choose an existing style as a base from the Style Based On drop-down list.

Use this step to save time. If the style you're creating features a lot of the same formatting as an existing style, choose that style from the list. The formats from that style are copied over, letting you build upon them or reuse them in a different way.
Use the controls in the dialog box to set the style's format.

The Create New Style from Formatting dialog box is brimming with style command buttons.

Use the Format button in the dialog box's lower-left corner to apply specific formatting commands. Choose a category from the button's menu to see a dialog box specific to one of Word's formatting categories.
Click the OK button when you're done.

The new style is created.

About This Article

About the book author:

Dan Gookin has been writing about technology for 20 years. He has contributed articles to numerous high-tech magazines and written more than 90 books about personal computing technology, many of them accurate.
He combines his love of writing with his interest in technology to create books that are informative and entertaining, but not boring. Having sold more than 14 million titles translated into more than 30 languages, Dan can attest that his method of crafting computer tomes does seem to work.
Perhaps Dan’s most famous title is the original DOS For Dummies, published in 1991. It became the world’s fastest-selling computer book, at one time moving more copies per week than the New York Times number-one best seller (although, because it’s a reference book, it could not be listed on the NYT best seller list). That book spawned the entire line of For Dummies books, which remains a publishing phenomenon to this day.
Dan’s most recent titles include PCs For Dummies, 9th Edition; Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2005 Edition; Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies; Dan Gookin’s Naked Windows XP; and Dan Gookin’s Naked Office. He publishes a free weekly computer newsletter, “Weekly Wambooli Salad,” and also maintains the vast and helpful Web site www.wambooli.com.