How To Decorate A Document
Microsoft Word is packed with so many features that yous tin can produce pretty much whatsoever you want with it. But these features don't always result in the kind of beautiful, high-quality, and professional document designs that you lot may wait.
Information technology's one thing to know everything about Microsoft Word, all of its intricacies and quirks and functions—information technology's something else entirely to know what makes a great document. Here, we'll show you lot how to format a Discussion document to make it expect professional.
ane. Keep It Simple, Less Is More than
Want to know how to make a Word document wait good? Only keep it simple, and take advantage of the hidden features that Microsoft Word comes with. If yous remember one thing from this article, let it be this, and you'll be able to make the right blueprint decisions in the time to come!
When writing a certificate, the content should be the main focus. Certificate formatting guidelines exist to make that content easier to read and digest.
Eliminate the temptation to introduce heart-catching elements that only serve to distract. Maximize whitespace. Keep your wording tight and revise any wordy sentences or paragraphs. Simple and minimal rules overall.
ii. Choose a Context-Appropriate Typeface
Your get-go big design decision should exist which typeface yous're going to use. Traditional knowledge says that serif fonts are easier to read in printed documents, whereas sans-serif fonts are better on the eyes when read on a digital screen.
Good examples of serif fonts include Garamond, Georgia, Hoefler Text, and Palatino, while skilful examples of sans-serif fonts include Arial, Gill Sans, Helvetica, and Lucida Sans.
Skip Comic Sans if you want to avoid 1 of the most common presentation blueprint mistakes. And whatever you lot end up using, stick to the same typeface throughout to make your Word document professional. If desired, yous tin use a unlike typeface for headings.
iii. Use Standard Font Size and Colour
You can't learn how to format a word certificate to look professional without paying attending to the look of the text. Business organisation and academic papers by and large employ 12-bespeak font sizes, which produce the most readable paragraphs when used in combination with the guidelines discussed beneath for folio size, margins, and line spacing.
Some information-dense reports may sometimes go down to ten-point font size, but never less than that.
In general, it'due south all-time to keep your hands off of anything related to colors, especially for printed documents. You'll have to pay more for the color ink, and it won't behave over if the document always gets copied. For digital documents, reserve colored text for critical warnings and the like. Prefer to emphasize using bolded and italic text.
iv. Use Standard Page Size and Margins
Nearly all office documents are formatted to the aforementioned page size as they are printed for standard 8½" ten 11" pages, known as Usa Letter size (also known as A4 elsewhere, which is 210mm 10 297mm). This is the only size that's guaranteed to exist available regardless of which printer you lot utilize.
Equally for margins, most style manuals and way guides call for a 1" margin on all sides of the folio, which produces the all-time readability for line lengths and allows for written annotations if necessary. In Word, yous can select Normal nether Margins to exercise so. However, if the document is going to be leap in a binder, you lot may want to apply Custom Margins to increase the side margins to 1½" to accommodate the rings.
v. Align Paragraphs to the Left
You may be tempted to use justified alignment considering that's what'southward used in newspapers, novels, and some textbooks, but information technology's the wrong choice for function and academic documents. Why is information technology important to make a certificate formal? Without formality, your certificate becomes unreadable.
What y'all want is left alignment for text. This produces jaggedness on the right side of paragraphs, merely it keeps alphabetic character spacing as intended by whatsoever typeface you're using, and that means optimal legibility.
Otherwise, you may finish upwardly with typographic rivers, which are extremely distracting and simply wait ugly. This is something you certainly want to avert when you want to make your Discussion certificate look professional.
6. Indent the First Lines of Paragraphs
Paragraphs should have no extra spacing between them, and the first lines of paragraphs should exist indented to brand each paragraph stand out. The just exception is for paragraphs that directly follow a section heading, which tin can be left unindented because the surrounding context makes it clear that information technology's its own paragraph.
To make a document look professional, a full general rule of thumb is to have the indent size the same equally the font size. Make certain you lot utilize Discussion's paragraph styling features to handle the indents rather than using the Tab key!
7. Identify Images Between Paragraphs
Inserting images is a office of designing your Word document. Information technology may be okay to place images inside a paragraph and permit the surrounding text to flow around it, and if your organization follows this certificate formatting guideline, then go ahead and practice that.
But mostly speaking, information technology can damage readability, especially in information-driven reports. The safest option, particularly for graphs, charts, and tables, is to put images in between paragraphs and proceed them middle aligned. That way, your images aid to brand your document attractive, merely they are never vying for attention with the surrounding text. It also helps captions to stand out.
8. Cull Context-Appropriate Line Spacing
To format a certificate to expect professional, the correct choice for line spacing (the whitespace that separates a line of text from the side by side line of text) really depends on what kind of document yous're writing.
Academic papers should first follow any bookish fashion guides in identify, then prefer double-spacing if no mode guide exists. Business and office documents tend to be single-spaced to minimize the number of pages needed when printing, but digital documents may be easier to read if spaced at somewhere between 120-150 percent.
nine. Break Up Text With Headings and Lists
The longer the document, the more important headings become. Would yous rather read a xx-folio report that'southward nothing but a wall of text from end to end? Or a thirty-folio report that'southward organized into proper sections, subsections, and headings? It'due south highly likely yous'll prefer the latter.
Lists are also good for breaking upwards walls of text and drawing eyes to important points. In Discussion, use Numbering to create numbered lists when counting a set of items (eastward.k., "the five attributes of a successful entrepreneur") or when providing step-by-step instructions. Otherwise, employ Bullets to make bulleted lists.
Just be sure to avoid overusing lists, which detracts readability from your Word document blueprint. This is especially of import when it comes to using Word to format a screenplay.
10. Separate Sections With Breaks
When yous desire to learn how to make your study await professional, you need to become acquainted with section breaks. In Microsoft Word, section breaks allow you lot to differentiate sure pages with changes in orientation, columns, headers, footers, folio numbers, and more. Department breaks come in four forms:
- Adjacent Page: Start the next section on the post-obit page.
- Continuous: Start the next section on the current page.
- Even Page: Start the next section on the side by side even page.
- Odd Page: Start the side by side section on the next even folio.
If your document is large enough to need chapters, this is the best way to format them in a clean fashion. Each chapter should be made with a Adjacent Folio department break, or the Even Page or Odd Folio department breaks if you lot're going to place information technology within a binder. We've shown how to remove folio breaks if needed, too.
Learn How to Format a Discussion Document to Await Professional
Unless your system or schoolhouse requires a specific layout and format, y'all can skip the hard work of setting up your own template and just download one instead. This helps you quickly achieve a professional certificate design.
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