How to Display All Available Styles in a Word Document (Including Headings 1-9)

Use the Styles Task Pane to Display All Styles in a Word Document

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated April 19, 2022

Applies to: Microsoft ® Word ® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 or 365 (Windows)

You can display all available styles in a Microsoft Word document using the Styles task pane. By default, only some of the available styles (including heading styles) are displayed in the Home tab in the Ribbon. There are 9 levels of heading styles that can be displayed as well as many other styles. In order to view all available styles, you will need to customize the Styles task pane.

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Note: Screenshots in this article are from Word 365 but are very similar in previous versions of Word.

Displaying styles in the Ribbon

The easiest way to view and apply styles in Word is by using the Styles Gallery in the Home tab in the Ribbon.

To view styles using the Ribbon:

1. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Styles group, click the down arrow on the bottom right of the Styles Gallery to view styles.

All available styles do not appear in the Styles Gallery.

The Styles Gallery appears as follows on the Home tab in the Word Ribbon:

If you click the More arrow on the bottom right of the Styles Gallery, an expanded Styles Gallery appears:

Although more styles appear in the expanded Styles Gallery, all available styles are not displayed.

Displaying styles in the Styles task pane

To display styles in the Styles task pane:

1. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
2. Click the dialog box launcher (diagonal arrow) on the bottom right in the Styles group. You can also press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S. The Styles task pane will appear. If the task pane is floating, double-click the title bar.

The Styles task pane appears with styles in the document (this is the default display setting and all styles are typically not displayed):

Displaying all available styles in a document

To display all available styles in a document (including headings 1-9):

1. Ensure the Styles task pane is displayed using the method(s) above.
2. At the bottom of the Styles task pane, click Options. A dialog box appears.
3. Below Select styles to show, select All Styles from the drop-down menu.
4. Below How list is sorted, choose Alphabetical or another option from the drop-down menu.
5. To apply this setting to the current document only, select Only in this document.
6. Click OK.

Below is the Styles Pane Options dialog box with options to display all styles in the current document:

All available styles will appear in the task pane and you can apply or modify the styles.

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