Formatting Is Applied to the Whole Document Instead of to the Selected Text in Word

When you select text and then apply formatting to this selection, the formatting may be applied to a larger portion of the document larger than the selected text, or it may even be applied to the whole document. However, if you try to undo the change, only your formatting changes to the original selection are undone.

This issue may occur if Microsoft Word is set to modify a particular style throughout the whole document whenever you apply manual formatting to that style.

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods, as appropriate to your version of Word.

Microsoft Word 2002 and Microsoft Office Word 2003

1. On the Format menu, click Styles and Formatting.
2. In the Pick formatting to apply list, right-click the style that you were trying to format when the problem occurred, and then click Modify.
3. In the Modify Style dialog box, click to clear the Automatically update check box, and then click OK.

If the issue is not resolved, repeat steps 2 and 3 for each style that is listed in the Pick formatting to apply list.

Microsoft Word 97 and Microsoft Word 2000

1. On the Format menu, click Style.
2. In the Styles list, click the style that you were trying to format when the problem occurred, and then click Modify.
3. In the Modify Style dialog box, click to clear the Automatically update check box.
4. Click OK, and then click Apply.

If the issue is not resolved, repeat steps 1 through 4 for each style listed in the Styles list.

If the Automatically update check box is selected, Word automatically modifies the selected style when you apply manual formatting to any paragraph with this style.