12 Reason to use Heading Styles in Word

Using the heading styles is so important especially if you are working with a long document. It not only creates an interactive hieratical outline of your document but also you can benefit from the Heading styles in several ways:

1-?????To display and move to document headings: If you are using heading styles, you can navigate around your documents using the Navigation pane.

To display the navigation panel, check the Navigation panel option under the view Ribbon.

You will see all your outlines listed in the Headings tab of the Navigation Panel. Now you can easily go to any title directly by clicking on it without the need to scroll up and down in your document.

2-?????Collapse and expand parts of your document: Using the Built-In heading styles will make sections of?your document collapsible so that you can focus on the part that you want to concentrate on when working with a lengthy and complex document.

3-?? Use the GOTO dialog box to jump to specific Headings relative to the current position: When you press [F5] on your keyboard, the Go To tab in the Find and Replace window will appear. If you select “Heading” form “Go To What” list, then you can typed [+ or – a number] to be able to move relative to the current location. In this example: Typing +4 will move the curser from the Introduction Title to the Findings headings directly.

4-???Create a link to a Heading: Having titles formatted with the heading style, will make it possible to add a hyperlink to this place within the document. By selecting the text that you want to use as a hyperlink, then from the Insert Ribbon choose “Insert Link” à “Place in this document”, You will see all the available Headings.

5-?????Unified Appearance: ?Since the main function of the Headings style is to organize the document, keep the characteristics of titles and subtitles unique and lead the reader through the paper. Using Headings style will create documents that have a consistent look without having to manually format each heading. Additionally, each time you alter the theme using the design ribbon, the entire document will update, and all headings will use the new heading style accordingly.

?6-???Create a Table of Contents (TOC): Headings are used to generate a table of contents in a document. If you don’t use heading styles in your document, you won’t be able to construct a table of Contents that links the reader to the headings within the document.

Position the curser in the location that you want to add the TOC, and go to References > Table of Contents. Then, choose any built-In automatic style or go to Custom Table of content to adjust more options. By default, Word creates a table of contents using the first three built-in heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3).

In addition, when you make changes to your document that have an impact on TOC, you can update it easily by just clicking on Update Table that appears above the TOC on the page itself.

Note: Missing entries in the TOC often happen because headings aren't formatted with headings styles. So, you need to format each heading that you want to see in the table of contents with a suitable heading style.

7-?????Working in the Outline View: The outline view displays the structure of a document as nested levels of headings and body text. To enable the outline view, Go to View ribbon then click on Outline in the views group.

The outline view also provides tools for viewing the overall document and changing its hierarchy such as promote or demote the level of the heading and specify the level of content that you want to display i.e choosing ?level 1 from the dropdown list will display only Heading 1 in the document but choosing ?Level 2 will display both level 1 and 2 headings of the hierarchal structure.

8-???Move the Heading and its content together: whether you are working in Outline view or in the navigation panel, you can select the entire section ( heading + body text) as a whole piece and move it up or down to change the order in which the heads are arranged. Either by drag and drop froom the (+) sign or by using the move up/down buttons from the outlines Tools on the Ribbon?

9-?????Insert Reference to a Heading: A cross-reference is a place in a document that points to content that is located elsewhere in the same document. The cross-reference creates a link that directs readers to the item which it refers to. For instance, you may link to a chart, bookmark, heading, or graphic using a cross-reference.

Note: ?You can't cross-reference something that doesn't exist, so first make sure to create headings to be able to link to it.?

Position the cursor where you want to insert your cross-reference then type the text that you want to precede the cross-reference (such as See) and any necessary spacing.

Next, go to the References ribbon and click on the Cross references, then select “Heading” from the Reference type list and choose the exact heading that you want to create a link to.

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10-?Include chapter number in the caption label Page numbering with “chapter” numbering.

Having headings styles will enable you to add the chapter number to the figure numberin the caption. This will organize figures and remind the reader with the current chapter number.

Example: Figure II-1 and Table 1-A

11-??Add Section numbering in the page number: You can insert a page number and include the section number within it if you have several Chapters in the same document.

To enable this option, go to Insert Tab then Page number and select Format page number, the page number format box will appear, so check ?include page number

Note: You can not use this method unless you use a Multilevel list in the document to define your headings. A Multilevel list contains Headings styles by default.

To create a multilevel list in Microsoft Word, click the multilevel bullet icon under the Home tab. Once the list is started, enter each of the list items you want. To create a sub-item or another level in the list, press Tab. Pressing Tab again creates another level in the list.

If you want to customize your multilevel list style, you can define a new multilevel list by selecting the text or numbered list you want to change. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Multilevel List , and then click Define New Multilevel List. Expand the Multilevel list dialog box by clicking More in the lower left corner .

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12-??Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities: Headers make it easier for screen reader (Narrator) users to determine the structure of the document?and navigate the headings.