Professional documents communicate hierarchy. Use heading styles for sections, lists for grouped items, tables for comparisons, and captions for figures. Applying a style keeps formatting consistent and allows navigation panes, generated tables of contents, and global changes.
title -> heading 1 -> heading 2 -> body text
|-> list / table / figure
Templates encode recurring decisions such as margins, typography, headers, and accessible color. Track changes and comments separate editing from the final document. Use descriptive filenames and version history rather than copies named “final-final.â€
Exercises
Convert a manually formatted report to heading styles.
Create a reusable project template.
Review a document for heading order and alternative text.
Self-check
Why use styles?
What does a template provide?
Why use version history?
Self-Check Quiz
1. What enables an automatic table of contents?
AnswerConsistent heading styles provide the document structure a word processor can index.
2. Why use alternative text?
AnswerIt communicates the purpose or meaning of an image to people who cannot perceive it visually.
Homework
Create a structured two-page project report.
Use styles, captions, page numbers, and a contents page.
Run an accessibility and consistency review.
Sample answerA strong report has a logical heading hierarchy, reusable styles, descriptive captions and alternative text, consistent margins and spacing, page numbers, and a generated contents page. The review checks reading order, contrast, links, and confusing manual formatting.