Use styles

Format text using styles

Using styles is a must for formatting text. For example, suppose you want to change the size of all chapter titles in a book. If you initially created and applied a chapter title style, you can resize all chapter titles in the book at the same time by modifying the style, instead of having to reformat each title individually.

iBooks Author also depends on styles to create the table of contents.

Each template includes built-in styles, which you can modify however you like. (All placeholder text uses a style.) You can also create your own styles. All styles appear in the Styles drawer:

Styles Drawer button in format bar

There are three kinds of styles:

  • Paragraph styles can be applied only to entire paragraphs (ending with a Return character), not to individual words within paragraphs.

    By default, the next paragraph (after you press Return) uses the same style, but you can change this setting. For example, you might want the paragraph after Chapter Title to default to Chapter Subtitle. To change this setting, click More in the Text inspector and choose an option from the Following Paragraph Style pop-up menu.

  • Character styles can be applied to individual characters or groups of characters, or to individual words within paragraphs, without affecting the paragraph’s style.

  • List styles make it easy to create lists and outlines.

Apply a style to text

  1. Select the text you want to apply a style to.

    Tip: If you’re applying a style to a whole paragraph, you don’t need to select it; just put the insertion point anywhere in the paragraph.

  2. In the Styles drawer, click the style you want to apply to the selected text.

    If the Styles drawer isn’t open, click the Styles Drawer button in the format bar or choose View > Show Styles Drawer.

You can also apply a style to a selection by choosing a style from one of the pop-up menus (shown below) in the format bar:

Paragraph and character style pop-up menus in format bar

Modify an existing style

  1. Select text that uses the style you want to modify.

  2. Format the text the way you want the modified style to look.

  3. In the Styles drawer, click the red arrow next to the style name and choose Redefine Style from Selection from the pop-up menu.

    If the Styles drawer isn’t open, click the Styles Drawer button in the format bar or choose View > Show Styles Drawer.

All instances of the former style are updated to the new style format.

Create a new style

  1. Format text the way you want the new style to look, and then select the text.

  2. Choose an option from the Add Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Styles drawer.

    If the Styles drawer isn’t open, click the Styles Drawer button in the format bar or choose View > Show Styles Drawer.

  3. Type a name for the new style.

  4. If you don’t want to apply the style to the selected text, deselect “Apply this new style on creation.”

Tip: To create a keyboard shortcut for the new style, click the arrow next to the style name (in the Styles drawer), and choose Hot Key > Option from the pop-up menu. Now you can select text and press a function key to apply the style. To apply the style and clear overrides on the selected text, hold down the Option key while you press the function key.

Rename or delete a style

  1. If the Styles drawer isn’t open, click the Styles Drawer button in the format bar or choose View > Show Styles Drawer.

  2. In the Styles drawer, click the arrow next to the style you want to rename or delete, and do one of the following:

    • Choose Rename Style, type a new name, and press Return.

    • Choose Delete Style and, if the style is used in the current document, choose a replacement style.

Copy a paragraph or character style and apply it to other text

  1. Place the insertion point in a paragraph or word whose style you want to copy.

  2. Choose Format > Copy Option Style.

  3. Select the text you want to modify (or place the insertion point in a paragraph or word) and choose Format > Paste Option Style.

Remove style overrides

When you change a text attribute without applying a style, you create a style override. For example, if you select a paragraph that uses Body style and choose Format > Font > Bold, that paragraph’s style now has an override. When you select text that has a style override, the arrow next to the style name (in the Styles drawer) turns red. You can leave the override or you can remove it. (You can also incorporate the override into a new or existing style, as described in the tasks above.)

  1. Select the text you want to change.

  2. In the Styles drawer, click the arrow to the right of the selected style and choose Revert to Defined Style from the pop-up menu.

    If the Styles drawer isn’t open, click the Styles Drawer button in the format bar or choose View > Show Styles Drawer.

    Red arrow in Styles drawer indicating style override

To change all occurrences of a style to a different style, see the instructions for finding and replacing text.