Using Word's Style Gallery to Create Structure in Your Document

Add both structure and consistency using appropriate headings in the appropriate order in Word. Utilizing the in-program styles not only provides visual style to the document but also allows screen readers to easily scan the information. Additionally, these styles allow authors to easily create a table of contents or browse by headings.

Changing Text Formatting Is Not the Same as Changing Style
Simply applying font changes to the text does not provide document structure—or information—for screen readers. Only in-program styles do that.

Screen Reader Demo with Headings (YouTube)

There are different ways to use in-program styles. The instructions below demonstrate how to format text in the body of the document and merge that formatting into one of the built-in styles.

Step-by-Step Guide to Headings in Word Using the Home Tab

Navigate to the Home menu...
...to find the Styles Gallery.
Select the text to format
Select Heading 1 for your document titles

Heading 1, Title, and Subtitle
Use Heading 1 for your document's title, not the Title or Subtitle styles, which are very rarely needed.
Only use Heading 1 (or <h1> in HTML) once in a document.

Continue through the document, applying subsequent headings in order: i.e., Heading 2, Heading 3, Heading 4
Now that all headings have a style applied to them, you can change the look of the heading styles, if desired. To your first Heading 2, apply formatting such as typeface, size, indent, line spacing, and/or paragraph spacing using familiar formatting options, such as the Font menu and the Paragraph menu. You will only need to apply this formatting to one Heading 2; it will be automatically applied to all Heading 2s in a subsequent step

Underlines Are for Links
Only use underlines for hyperlinks. When people encounter underlines in electronic format, they typically expect a hyperlink. The exception to this rule is when underlining may be required by academic citations (e.g., MLA).

Select the Heading 2 text you just formatted, then click on Home and navigate to the Styles Gallery. Right-click or control-click on Heading 2.
Select Update Heading 2 to Match Selection and be amazed. (Look at all your Headings 2s!)
Do this for all subsequent headings. You can change the look of Heading 1 as well, though it will only appear once.

Here's a snapshot of the document, with indicators for each section and subsection.

Headings vs. Normal Text
Of course, documents also have normal text. In fact, the majority of most documents will be marked as "Normal" text.

Step-by-Step Guide to Headings in Word Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Select a sentence/phrase that you want to become a heading.
Press Alt + H, then L.
Select the heading style you want, such as the Heading 1 button.

Common Pitfalls

Manually entering space between paragraphs. Build spacing into styles instead.
Indented lines for visual appeal. Ask yourself, why is the indent needed? To make a list stand out? If so, use the Style Gallery to choose a bulleted or numbered list style. To break up text with white space? Use spacing between paragraphs instead.
Using bold or italics as the sole way to create meaning or emphasis. Use words to make something stand out. If the bolded text is intended for grabbing attention, it can be useful instead to include words like "Important:" or "Note:" or "Attention:" in front so that someone who is using a screen reader has the audible cue that a reader with sight would receive visually.

Contributors

Many thanks to those who have helped define and refine this page over time: