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Format Font Styles in PowerPoint 2010

Learn about applying various font styles such as bold, italics, underline, etc. to format fonts in PowerPoint 2010.

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Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: PowerPoint 2010
OS: Windows 7 / Vista / XP

Date Created: August 7th 2012
Last Updated: April 5th 2013

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The appearance of text makes a huge difference to any presentation. The font typeface used in your slides is dictated by the active Theme or Theme Fonts set of your presentation -- you can certainly override these defaults and choose another font typeface and also change the font size. However, there are times when you need to highlight a word or a phrase contained within your text so that it stands apart and commands attention. To do so, you can apply font styling options that let you make your text bold, italics, underlined, etc. Often, slide titles in PowerPoint are formatted bold to attract attention; italicized text is mainly used to add emphasis or to mark foreign words. And you can underline text, add shadows, and even strike through any selected text. Read more to learn more about these font styles:

1. Create a new presentation and type some text in the placeholder, as shown in Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Text on the slide
   
   
2. Select the text which you want to format (refer to Figure 1, above). Now, navigate to the Home tab of the Ribbon and locate the Font group, as highlighted in red within Figure 2, below.
   
   
   Figure 2: Font group within the Home tab of the Ribbon
   
   The various Font Style options within this group are explained below, as marked in Figure 2, above:
   
   
   1. Bold (Ctrl+B): Makes the selected text bold.
      
      
   2. Italic (Ctrl+I): Italicizes the selected text.
      
      
   3. Underline (Ctrl+U): Underlines the selected text. See also Stop Underlining Your Descenders!
      
      
   4. Text Shadow: Applies shadow to the text.
      
      
   5. Strikethrough: Strikes a line through the middle of the selected text.
      
      
   Just click on any Font Style option to apply to the selected text. Figure 3 shows examples of each of the Font Styles explained above.
   
   
   Figure 3: Font Styles applied to the text
   
   Alternatively, you can click the dialog launcher button within the Font group, as shown highlighted in blue with Figure 2 above. This opens the Font dialog box with more Font Style options -- we cover these in our Font dialog box tutorial.
   
   
3. You can also summon the Mini Toolbar to access the Bold and Italic font style (highlighted in red within Figure 4).
   
   
   Figure 4: Bold and Italic options within Mini Toolbar
   
   
4. Save your presentation often.

See Also: Format Font Styles in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

 

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