Format Text: Bold, Italic, Font Size, Alignment
Lesson preview: the Mini Lesson and Vocabulary are open to everyone. Guided practice, exercises, the parent checklist and the printable PDF worksheet come with full access (free 7-day trial or membership).
What you will learn
- 1Identify common text formatting options in a word processor
- 2Describe what each formatting action does to text on screen
- 3Apply bold, italic, font size, and alignment changes to improve a document
Mini Lesson
When you type in a word processor, you can change how your text looks. This is called formatting. Formatting makes documents easier to read and helps important ideas stand out.
Common Formatting Options
- Bold — makes text heavier and darker so it stands out.
- Italic — slants the text to the right, used for titles or emphasis.
- Underline — adds a line under the text, often for links or headings.
- Font size — makes text larger or smaller on the page.
- Font color — changes the color of the letters.
- Highlight — adds a color background behind the text.
- Left align — lines text up at the left margin (most common for paragraphs).
- Center align — centers text in the middle of the page (great for titles).
- Right align — lines text up at the right margin.
How to Format Text
- Select (highlight) the text you want to format.
- Click the formatting button in the toolbar at the top of the window (B for Bold, I for Italic, etc.).
- The text changes immediately on screen.
- To remove formatting, select the text again and click the same button.
Words to know
Format
To change how text looks on the page
e.g. I format my title to make it stand out.
Bold
A heavier, darker text style used to emphasize words
e.g. Important words look better in bold.
Italic
A slanted text style often used for titles or emphasis
e.g. Book titles are usually shown in italic.
Font size
How large or small the letters appear
e.g. I made the heading a bigger font size.
Alignment
Whether text lines up on the left, center, or right of the page
e.g. Center alignment looks great for a title.
Do not use too many different styles in one document — keep it simple so your writing is easy to read.
Unlock the full HSEA system for 7 days.
Add your first kid profile and your 7 days start: every lesson in every grade, saved progress for each child. Nothing to set up, no card required, nothing to cancel.
- ✓ All 1,880 lessons, Grades 1–6, every subject
- ✓ Profiles + saved progress for every kid
- ✓ Printable lessons with answer key