Q&A Styles

Note: This article is for Word versions 2003 and earlier. For Word 2007 and 2007, see Q&A Styles in Word 2007/2010.

How to create styles for questions and answers

Q: Can Word automatically format questions and answers so that I don’t have to type Q and A?

A: Yes, it can!

Word users who want Word to have the simplicity of a typewriter often complain about its AutoFormat features. They don’t want Word to “think” for them. But users who have learned to control Word’s “IntelliSense” often assume that there must be a way to make Word automatically do what they want it to do. In the case of automating question-and-answer formatting, they are right.

The users who have most need for this type of format are court reporters, the power typists who produce verbatim transcripts of depositions and trials. But Q&A formatting can also be used in reporting celebrity interviews for a magazine, for example, or any other situation where questions alternate with answers. While Q and A are the examples used in this article, such prefixes do not have to be single letters. They can be initials, or even full names, if you are a scriptwriter writing dialog.

Note: Q&A formatting should not be confused with multiple-choice question formatting, which involves numbered questions followed by a choice of possible answers. Usually the questions are numbered 1, 2, 3… and the answers a, b, c…, with the answer numbering restarting after each question. This type of formatting requires an outline-numbered list; you can find instructions for setting up such a list in Shauna Kelly’s article “How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Word document.”

There are several ways Q&A styles can be set up, depending on the format required, but all involve styles and numbering.

Step 1: Start with the styles

Assuming that you will want to use your Q&A styles in more than one document, the first thing you should do is create a template. You will create your styles in this template so they can be used in all documents based on the template.

You will need to define at least two paragraph styles. For convenience, we’ll name them Question and Answer. If your answers will sometimes run to more than one paragraph, you will also need a third style we’ll call Answer Continue.

Figure 1. Example of Question, Answer, and Answer Continue styles

Place the insertion point in a paragraph in Normal style.
In Word 2000 and earlier (and Mac versions), select Style on the Format menu and click New… In Word 2002 or 2003, click New Style… in the Styles and Formatting task pane.
In the New Style dialog, type the name for your style (Question) and click OK. Click Close rather than Apply.
Repeat the process to create a new style called Answer.
Repeat to create the Answer Continue style if needed.

Figure 2. The New Style dialog

Refine the styles

So far each of your two or three new styles will be identical to Normal except for the name. You will apply “number” formatting to them according to one of the methods that follow, but at this point you can apply any other formatting you need (you can also do this when you are initially creating the styles, if you prefer, or, if you know how to update a style by example, you can do that).

At this point your three new styles should be listed in the Styles list and the Styles and Formatting task pane.
In Word 2000 or earlier (and Mac versions), select one of the styles from the Styles list to apply it. Then choose Format | Style and click Modify… In Word 2002 or 2003, select the style from the Styles and Formatting task pane to apply it, then click the arrow beside the style name and choose Modify… (If the Styles and Formatting task pane is not displayed, right-click in the paragraph and choose Style…, then click Modify…)
In the Modify Style dialog, click Format and then Font, Paragraph, or whatever other formatting you wish to modify (recent versions of Word allow you to make some formatting choices in the Modify Style dialog itself). If you want to change the font or make the paragraph justified or double-spaced or add Space Before or After, this is the time to do it. Right indents may also be added, but do not add a left, first-line, or hanging indent; these indents must be applied from the Numbering dialog.
Repeat for each of the styles.

Figure 3. The Modify Style dialog showing formatting options

Make Word apply the styles automatically

Creating prefix styles is no improvement over typing Q or A and pressing Tab unless Word really applies these styles automatically. That’s why you have to do one more thing.

With your Question style selected, open the Modify Style dialog one more time. For the “Style for following paragraph,” select your Answer style.
Repeat for the Answer style, choosing the Question style as the following style.

Figure 4. Modify Style dialog showing style for following paragraph

This formatting will ensure that every time you press Enter at the end of a question, you will get the Answer style, and when you press Enter at the end of an answer, you will get the Question style. The styles will alternate.

But what if your answers often run on for several paragraphs? If so, select your Answer Continue style as the following style for your Answer style and assign a keyboard shortcut (such as Ctrl+Shift+Q or Ctrl+Alt+Q) to your Question style so you can return to it when needed. When you are in the Modify Style dialog, note that one of the options under Format is Shortcut key… This opens the Customize Keyboard dialog, in which you can enter your desired shortcut key combination. Alternatively (or additionally), the Outline List method offers an even slicker implementation that scriptwriters might especially appreciate.

Step 2. Create the prefixes

Now that your styles are established, you can decide how to add the Q and A prefixes. You have a choice of three methods.

Simple bullets are good for single-letter prefixes with no punctuation.
If you want punctuation after the letter (for example, Q:), then you need to use a numbered list. You can also set up a prefix as initials or a full name using a numbered list.
Setting up the prefixes as an outline-numbered list allows you to use more than one letter, plus punctuation, and also take advantage of other Word features.

Method 1: Bulleted list

If you do not need any punctuation after your “Q” and “A,” you can use a simple bulleted list.

With your Question style selected, open the Modify Style dialog following the instructions above.

Click Format and choose Numbering.
In the Bullets and Numbering dialog, select the Bulleted tab, choose any pane, and click Customize…

Figure 5. The Customize Bulleted List dialog showing Q selected as Character

In the Customize Bulleted List dialog, select any bullet and click Character.
By default, Word will display the Symbol font. Change this to “(normal text),” select the Q, and click OK.
If you want your Q to be bold, click Font and choose Bold, OK.
In the Customize Bulleted List dialog, change any of the indent settings as needed. By default, the “bullet” will be indented 0.25″, with a tab stop and hanging indent at 0.5″. If you want your bullet to be flush left, change the “Bullet position: Indent at” setting to 0″ and change the other indents accordingly. If you want your bullet indented and the left margin unindented, set the appropriate indent for the bullet and “Text position: Indent at” to 0″. Simple bulleted and numbered lists do not offer a choice of character following the bullet or number; there will be a tab, so set an appropriate position for “Text position: Tab space after.”
Repeat steps 1–7 for the Answer style, using A for the bullet.
If you created an Answer Continue style, it does not need a bullet, but if your Question and Answer styles have a first-line or hanging indent, you will want to apply the same indent to your Answer Continue style. This can be done through the ordinary Format: Paragraph dialog.

Method 2: Numbered list

If you need a colon or period following your Q and A, or if you want to use initials or a name, you will need to create a numbered list.

With your Question style selected, open the Modify Style dialog following the instructions above.
Click Format and choose Numbering.
In the Bullets and Numbering dialog, select the Numbered tab, choose the first pane (it should display 1., 2., 3.), and click Customize…

Figure 6. The Customize Numbered List dialog showing default numbering style and indents

In the Customize Numbered List dialog, observe that the “Number format” box shows a number 1 surrounded by a grey box, followed by a period.
Change the “Number style” to “(none).” The number will disappear and the period will remain.
Click to the left of the period and type Q. If you want a colon (or any other punctuation) instead of a period, delete the period and substitute your desired punctuation. (You can also use initials, a name, or any other short text.)
If you want your Q to be bold, click Font and choose Bold, OK.
In the Customize Numbered List dialog, change any of the indent settings as needed. By default, the “number” will be indented 0.25″, with a tab stop and hanging indent at 0.5″. If you want your prefix to be flush left, change the “Number position: Indent at” setting to 0″ and change the other indents accordingly. If you want your prefix indented and the left margin unindented, set the appropriate indent for the number and “Text position: Indent at” to 0″. Simple bulleted and numbered lists do not offer a choice of character following the bullet or number; there will be a tab, so set an appropriate position for “Text position: Tab space after.”
Repeat steps 1–8 for the Answer style, using A for the “number.”
If you created an Answer Continue style, it does not need a “number,” but if your Question and Answer styles have a first-line or hanging indent, you will want to apply the same indent to your Answer Continue style. This can be done through the ordinary Format: Paragraph dialog.

Method 3: Outline-numbered list

If you have ever used several levels of headings in Word, perhaps you have had occasion to create an outline-numbered list. Ordinarily we think of outline numbering as creating a hierarchy of some sort: Level 1 numbering for Heading 1, Level 2 for Heading 2, Level 3 for Heading 3, and so on, but it is possible to create an “outline-numbered” list for styles that are of equal “importance.”

Formatting the styles

Setting up outline “numbering” for your Question, Answer, and Answer Continue styles is a little different from using a Bulleted or Numbered list because you will format them all in one go (this is essential so that they will be part of the same list).

With the insertion point in a Question style paragraph, open the Modify Style dialog as described above.
Click Format and choose Numbering.
In the Bullets and Numbering dialog, choose Outline Numbered, choose the first pane (it should display 1), a), i)), and click Customize…
On the left, under Level, 1 should be selected.
Change the “Number style” to “(none).” The number will disappear and the parenthesis will remain.
Click to the left of the parenthesis and type Q (or any other short text). Select the parenthesis and substitute your desired punctuation (if any).
If you want your Q to be bold, click Font and choose Bold, OK.
In the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, change any of the indent settings as needed. By default, the “number” will be flush left, with a tab stop and hanging indent at 0.25″. If you want your bullet indented and the left margin unindented, set the appropriate indent for the bullet and “Text position: Indent at” to 0″.
Click More, which will open the bottom part of the dialog. Outline-numbered lists offer a choice of character following the bullet or number; if you select “Tab character,” you will need to set an appropriate position for “Text position: Tab space after.”
Very important: In the box for “Link level to style,” select “Question.”

Figure 7. The Customize Outline Numbered List dialog showing Level 1 linked to Question style

Now select Level 2 and repeat the above steps for your Answer style, making sure that you link the level to the style.
If you are using an Answer Continue style, link it to Level 3. It will have no numbering, no text, no punctuation, but apply the appropriate indents.
When you have set up all the styles, click OK twice to exit the Customize Outline Numbered List and Bullets and Numbering dialogs, OK again to exit the Modify Style dialog, and Close or Apply (if necessary) to exit the Style dialog.

Note: If you’ve never created an outline-numbered list, you can find excellent instructions in Shauna Kelly’s article “How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Word document.”

Applying the styles

Here’s where the magic comes in. Apply the Question style to a paragraph (you may want to assign a keyboard shortcut to that style as described above). Type your question. Press Enter. If you have selected Answer as the following style, as described above, you will get an Answer paragraph. You can use keyboard shortcuts and following styles just as you could with “bulleted” or “numbered” styles, but because your styles are part of an outline list, you also have three other ways to switch styles.

Using Tab (demote) and Shift+Tab (promote). For these shortcuts to work, you must have the appropriate option enabled. In Word 2000 and earlier, check the box for “Tabs and backspace set left indent” on the Edit tab of Tools | Options (Word | Preferences in Mac versions). In Word 2002 and 2003, check the box for “Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces” on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools | AutoCorrect Options.
Using Alt+Shift+Right Arrow (demote) and Alt+Shift+Left Arrow (promote).
Using the Demote and Promote buttons on the toolbar.

Even if you don’t intend to apply the styles by promoting and demoting, there are advantages to creating your format using an outline-numbered list. The most important one is that it gives you the opportunity to link the numbering (prefix) format to the style, which can be helpful if you copy and paste text into another document. Another is that you can select the character (tab, space, or nothing) that you want to follow your prefix.

Another useful trick

When you create an outline-numbered list, you link your styles to list levels. Confusingly, there is another set of outline levels that is used for building a table of contents. Word’s built-in heading styles by default (and unchangeably) have TOC outline levels assigned to match (Level 1 for Heading 1, Level 2 for Heading 2, and so on). The styles you have created will by default have an outline level of Body Text, but you can change this. When you choose Format: Paragraph in the Modify Style dialog, you can change the TOC outline level (top right corner of the Paragraph dialog) to match your outline-numbered list level.

Figure 8. The Paragraph dialog showing TOC outline levels

Applying TOC levels allows you to manipulate the styles in Word’s Outline view. For example, if you want to see just the questions (without the answers), you can opt to display just Level 1. Better still, if you want to rearrange the order of the questions and have the answers move with them, display just Level 1; moving a question will also move all the lower-level text below it.