Mike
McBride

# Formatting Characters

This section will cover the changes that can be made to individual characters or blocks of characters including:

- Character size

- Font

- Font style (italic, bold, etc).

- Underlines, superscript, subscript, strikeout, etc.

- Character color and background color.

- Character case.

## Changing Size, Font, Font Style, Text color and Background Color

### Using the Keyboard or toolbars

There are several keyboard shortcuts which you can use to make common changes to character formatting. After selecting the text, you can use these key combinations to toggle each attribute.

The Basic Formatting toolbar also has buttons which you can use to toggle these same attributes.

The following table details each attribute, the toolbar buttons and the keyboard shortcuts.

Attribute | Toolbar Button | Key Combo
--- | --- | ---
Font Size |  | Decrease font size: Ctrl< Increase font size: Ctrl>
Font |  | -
Bold Face |  | &Ctrl;B
Italics |  | Ctrl I
Underline |  | Ctrl U
Strikethrough |  | -
Superscript |  | -
Subscript |  | -
Font Color |  | -

You cannot change the all text attributes using the keyboard or a button on a toolbar. For these attributes, you must use the dialog box.

### Using the Dialog Box

If you have many changes to make, you can also use a dialog box to set these same attributes.

You can open the Character Formatting Dialog box in one of three ways:

- Select Format Font... from the menubar.

- Click on the selected text with the &RMB;. A small menu will appear. Select Font... from the menu.

- You can use the keyboard shortcut: &Alt;&Ctrl;F

Either method will open a dialog box

Using this dialog box, you can select the font, size, italics and boldface options from the top three list boxes.

The preview box along the middle of the dialog, will show you how your current settings will appear.

If the default preview string is not appropriate, you can change it by clicking once inside the preview box with the &LMB;. A text cursor will appear. You can edit the text to suit your needs.

The sample sentence will revert to the default the next time you open this dialog.

Clicking the button labeled Change Color... will allow you to change the color of the text using the color selection dialog box.

Clicking the button labeled Change Background Color... will allow you to change the color of the background using the color selection dialog box.

If you click the tab labeled Font Effects, the dialog changes to:

The subsection labeled Underlining has two combo boxes and a Change Color... button. In the left most combo box select between no underline (None), Single, Simple Bold, Double or Wave underlining.

Use the center combo box to select the style of underlining (Solid line, dashed line, etc.).

Use the Change Color... button to select a color for the underline using the color selection dialog box.

The subsection labeled Strikethrough has two combo boxes. Use the left combo box to select between no strikethrough (Without), Single or Double strikethrough. Use the right combo box to select the line style.

The checkbox labeled Word by Word determines how underlining and strikethrough are drawn.

The section labeled Position is used to create superscripted and subscripted characters. Simply select the checkbox labeled Superscript or Subscript. You can adjust the size of the superscripted or subscripted character by using the spin box labeled Relative Size. You can move the superscripted or subscripted character up or down relative to the normal characters by raising or lowering the value in the spin box labeled Offset from baseline.

The section labeled Capitalization lets you select one of four special capitalization options.

You can select the language to use with the drop down box. If the checkbox labeled Auto hyphenation is selected, &kword; will use general rules of spelling to automatically hyphenate the document.

The third tab labeled Shadowing allows you to create artificial shadows for your characters. Click on the tab:

First, select the color you want your shadow by clicking the button labeled Color. Then select the distance between the shadow and the text using the spin box labeld Distance. Finally, select the direction by selecting one of the eight red squares. A preview of your shadow appears in the pane on the right.

Clicking OK will commit your changes to the document.

Clicking Cancel will abort all changes made.

## Changing Font Case

&kword; can change the case (uppercase or lowercase) of large blocks of text to one of five pre-defined styles. Begin by selecting the block of text you want changed. Select Tools Change Case... from the menubar.

A small dialog box will appear with five options:

Uppercase

  Will convert all characters to uppercase.

  Example: KWORD WILL AUTOMATICALLY CHANGE CASES.

Lowercase

  Will convert all characters to lowercase.

  Example: kword will automatically change cases.

Title Case

  Will capitalize every word.

  Example: Kword Will Automatically Change Cases.

Toggle Case

  Converts all lowercase letters to uppercase and converts all uppercase letters to lowercase.

Sentence Case

  Capitalizes the first character after a period.

When you have selected the desired options click OK and &kword; will make the changes.