Modify the Structure and Appearance of Text in Microsoft Word 2016

Change the document theme

Every document you create is based on a template, and the look of the template is controlled by a theme. The theme is a combination of coordinated colors, fonts, and effects that visually convey a certain tone. To change the look of a document, you can apply a different theme from the Themes gallery.

The default installation of Word 2016 offers 30 themes to choose from

Each theme has a built-in font set and color set, and an associated effect style.

• Each font set includes two fonts—the first is used for headings and the second for body text. In some font sets, the heading and body fonts are the same.
• Each color in a color set has a specific role in the formatting of styled elements. For example, the first color in each set is applied to the Title and Intense Reference styles, and different shades of the third color are applied to the Subtitle, Heading 1, and Heading 2 styles.

If you like the background elements of a theme but not the colors or fonts, you can mix and match theme elements.

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Word 2016 offers thousands of different combinations for creating a custom theme that meets your exact needs

SEE ALSO

For information about creating custom themes, see “Create and manage custom themes” in Chapter 15, “Create custom document elements.”

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In addition to colors and fonts, you can control the more subtle design elements, such as paragraph spacing and visual effects that are associated with a theme.

By default, Word applies the Office theme to all new, blank documents. In Word 2016, the Office theme uses a primarily blue palette, the Calibri font for body text, and Calibri Light for headings. If you plan to frequently use a theme other than the Office theme, you can make that the default theme.

To apply a built-in theme to a document

1. On the Design tab, in the Document Formatting group, click the Themes button, and then click the theme you want to apply.

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If you have manually applied formatting to document content, the theme does not override the manual formatting. To ensure that all document elements are controlled by the theme, click Reset To The Default Style Set on the Document Formatting menu.

To change theme elements in a document

1. On the Design tab, in the Document Formatting group, do any of the following:

   • Click the Colors button (the ScreenTip says Theme Colors), and then click the color set you want to apply.
   • Click the Fonts button (the ScreenTip says Theme Fonts), and then click the font set you want to apply.
   • Click the Effects button (the ScreenTip says Theme Effects), and then click the effect style you want to apply.

To change the default theme

1. In the document, apply the theme you want to use as the default theme.
2. On the Design tab, in the Document Formatting group, click Set as Default.