Formatting Pages and Fonts

In This Lesson

You will learn how to make your Google Doc look the way you want it to. You will learn about Page Setup, Alignments, Indents, Line Spacing, Styles, and Fonts,

Key Vocabulary

Margin- The edge around the outside of a document that will remain blank.

Orientation- The way in which the paper is meant to be displayed.

Portrait - The orientation in which the paper is longer top to bottom.

Landscape- The orientation in which the paper is longer left to right.

Style - Preset fonts for specific types of text. Styles also code selected text differently to be used in other application functions.

Page Setup

Most of the time when you are working in Docs, the default page setup will be exactly what you need. Other times there are going to be things that need to change or else the Doc will look wrong, not print correctly, or cut off elements. When you need to make changes like Margins, Orientation, Paper Size, or Page Color you will need to go to Page Setup. Watch the video to get detailed instructions for Page Setup.

Quick Reference for Page Setup

Click on File
Click Page Setup
Change settings as needed
Click OK to apply changes.

Alignment and Indents

By default the alignment for Google Docs is set to Left Align, but there are times you will want to change that. Similarly you might want to change the indents to offset text. Both of these functions can be found on the menu bar, or in the Tools pull down. See the quick reference below or the video for more details.

Quick Reference for Alignment and Indents

Highlight the text you want to align or indent (or you can change alignment and indent before you start typing).
Click on the corresponding alignment or indent option
Continue working on your document.

Line Spacing

Let's start this section off by clearing up a misconception. "Normal" line spacing doesn't really exist. There is double spaced, single spaced, or really any custom spacing you set the word processor to use. The reason that most programs use something different than single spaced dates back to a Viking superstition that whenever you allowed runic to touch the ones above or below it would bring bad luck, specifically plague. I'm kidding. Different programs just choose different line spacing based on what they think the majority of users want. It's easy to change, just follow the instructions below, or to permanently change line spacing see the video below.

Quick Reference for Line Spacing

Before you start typing, (or highlight text if you have already started), click the Line Spacing Icon
Choose from one of the Line Spacing options, or choose custom spacing to create specific spacing.

Styles

Styles is an often overlooked feature in any word processor, however the Styles feature is a great resource that can save you time and give your Doc a professional look. The main reasons to use styles are:

Consistency and Professionalism - Docs that have a consistency for titles, headings, and text look more professional than Docs that different/ unrelated fonts. Even if you a person that tries to use all the fonts at once, it is easy to make a mistake in size, font, color, etc. as your Doc gets longer and more complex.
Faster for Editing- Let's say you have a 2 page document with 3 headings. If you used styles for your headings, all you have to do is change one, update the style and you are done. The other headings will change automatically. If you didn't use styles you will need to change each heading manually, but be careful to make each one the same or your Doc will look unprofessional (see reason 1).
Added Features - Most of the time you will not create Docs that are so big you need a Table of Content, however for those times you do Google Docs can automatically make if for you, but only if you used Styles. You may also want to view your Doc as an outline. Once again, if you used styles you can do it in just a few clicks.

For detailed instructions on how to use Styles in Google Docs watch the video below.

Fonts

As stated in the previous section, when formatting your text you should use Styles. However in order to get the styles the way you want them, or to make a specific word stand out you will need to use fonts. Google Docs gives you the ability to do this. From the menu bar you can change the font type and size, you can make text bold, italic, or underlined, and you can highlight text or change the text color. If you go to the Format tab, you have the additional options of strike-through, superscript, subscript, and different options for capitalization. If you can't find a font that you like, click on More Fonts in the Fonts pull down menu.

Assignment 120: Formatting a Google Doc

Part 1:

Open Assignment Template Portrait .
Leave the page set setup to Portrait but change margins to .5.
Change line spacing to Single.
Type the word Title on the first line and make it a title .
Change the font, color, and size for the Title Style .
Type the word Directions on the second line.
Indented the directions and make them italics.

Part 2:

Open Assignment Template Landscape
Change the page setup to Landscape and change margins to .5.
Change line spacing to Single
Type the word Title on the first line and make it a title .
Change the font, color, and size for the Title Style .
Type the word Directions on the second line.
Indented the directions and make them italics.
Attach both documents to the assignment in Google Classroom and Submit.

Click the image above to go to the assignment on Google Classroom. If you are not in the Online Basic Assignments Class, click here to request the passcode.

In the Next Lesson:

Inserting images can make your documents look professional and give students useful visuals. In the next lesson, you will learn how to insert images and other things such as tables and equations.

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