Basic concepts
Styles
Tips for understanding styles in Microsoft Word
How to apply a style using the keyboard in Microsoft Word 2007
How to reinstate the Styles combo box in Word 2007
Why I don't use Custom Table Styles
Layout
Keep a figure on the same page as its caption
Is your image slipping? How to get your images to stand still
Formatting
How the Styles and Formatting Pane works
Why does text change format when I copy it into another document?
Letters are missing in my watermark when I print
How to tell Word to use Australian English or other non-US form of English
Numbering, bullets, headings, outlines
Number headings and figures in Appendixes
Why use Word's built-in heading styles?
Templates
Relationship between documents and templates
Attaching a template to a document
Word and Excel
How to copy a chart from Excel into a Word document
Insert an Excel chart or worksheet into a landscape page
How to create a hyperlink from a Word document to an Excel workbook
Sharing documents
What happens when I send my document to someone else?
How to use the Reviewing Toolbar in Microsoft Word 2002 and Word 2003
Control how a Word document opens from the internet or an intranet
Tools
Resources
Getting help, asking questions
Home
Word
How to reinstate the Styles combo box in Microsoft Word 2007
Quick Reference: How to apply a paragraph style using the keyboard in Word 2007
1 Alt-Shift-S to display the Apply Styles pane.
2 Type the name of your style and press Enter.
Before Word 2007, the Formatting toolbar held the Styles drop-down combo box.
This box was used to apply a style, and it reported the name of the style that had been applied at the selection point.
It was removed in Word 2007, but it is a good way to reliably know what style has been applied to the selected text. And unlike elements on the ribbon and the various panes, it's visible all the time.
Here's how to reinstate it.
1 Find the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)
First, locate the Quick Access Toolbar. It may be above or below the Ribbon.
Out of the box, it looks like Figure 1.
Figure 1: Quick Access Toolbar as it looks when Word is first installed.
2 Customize the Quick Access Toolbar to display the Styles combo box
Click the little arrow at the end of the QAT and choose "More Commands" (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Click the little button at the end of the QAT to customize it
In the Word Options dialog box, in the "Choose commands from:" box, choose "Commands not on the Ribbon".
In the list, find the "Style" item, and click the Add button. Then click OK.
3 The Styles combo box will appear on your QAT
The Styles combo box will look something like Figure 3.
Figure 3. The Quick Access Toolbar showing the Styles combo box. In this example, the insertion point is in a paragraph with Heading 1 style, so the Styles box on the QAT reports 'Heading 1'.
You can use the drop-down box to apply a style. Or you can use the box to tell you want style has been applied.
Unfortunately, there is no longer any way to make the Styles box wider so that you can see the long style names.
Office DevCon 2008, Sydney, Australia.
For Microsoft Office developers and power users.
15-16 November 2008.