Opens the Font window, where you can make all kinds of marvelous tweaks to the type choices of the selected (or about-to-be-typed) text. Keyboard shortcut: ⌘-D.

Opens the Paragraph window, where you can change paragraph-level formatting options (such as line spacing and indents). Keyboard shortcut: Option-⌘-M.

Opens the Document window, where you can change document-level formatting options (such as margins and how sections begin).

Opens the “Bullets and Numbering” window, where you can control how bulleted and numbered lists look (see Formatting).

Opens the “Borders and Shading” window, where you can add and change borders and shaded areas in your Word document (see Applying tabs to paragraphs and styles).

Opens the Columns window, where you can set the number of columns used in the current document (see Working with Columns). You can also control the column width and spacing in this window.

Opens the Tabs window, where you can add, edit, and remove tab stops in the currently open Word document (see Tabs).

Lets you add a drop cap to the currently open Word document (see the box on Formatting). You can choose from one of three styles in the window that pops up.

Lets you choose from three text direction orientations: left to right, top to bottom, or bottom to top. For use primarily in table cells (see Formatting Within Text Boxes).

Opens the Change Case window, where you can change the capitalization of the selected text: sentence case, lowercase, uppercase, title case, and toggle case.

Automatically adds formatting according to the AutoFormat rules that you set to the currently open Word document (see AutoFormat).

Lets you add, edit, and remove styles in the currently open Word document (see Styles).

Hides or shows the Background toolbar, which you can use to add a little color to your Word document (see Changing the background color or border style).

This menu’s wording reflects whatever’s selected in the document window (Picture, AutoShape, and so on). It opens the corresponding Format window.