Use colons sparingly. A colon between two statements usually signifies that what follows the colon illuminates or expands on what precedes the colon. When in doubt, use two sentences instead.

Style manuals do not agree whether the first word following a colon within a sentence should start with an uppercase letter. To ensure consistency in documentation, Microsoft style is to always use lowercase, except when:

Microsoft style

Treat the unknown risk just like any other risk: identify the resources available to address it, and develop countermeasures to take if it happens.

Microsoft ActiveSync cannot recognize this device for one of two reasons: the device was not connected properly; the device is not a smartphone.

What does it mean when I see a message that asks: “Are you trying to visit this site?”

These technologies are supported on all of the operating systems that can run the Live Framework: Windows 7 and Windows Vista, Macintosh OS X, and Windows Mobile.

Use a colon at the end of a sentence or fragment that introduces a list. Do not use a colon following a procedure heading or to introduce art, tables, code, or sections.

Microsoft style for a list

The basic configuration for your computer must include the following:

Microsoft style for a code sample

For example, use the following code to open the external Visual FoxPro database on the network share \FoxProData in the directory Ap.

... code sample