Save yourself time & effort with these formatting tips & tricks! Intended for resumes, CVs, or any other documents in both Google Docs and in Word.
Regardless of what program or app you use to create your resume, remember to save it as a PDF when submitting it to employers (unless directed otherwise by the employer) to ensure the formatting is preserved.
- Clean Up Formatting
- Save Time
- Save Space
Format Painter
Format painter allows you to quickly apply the same formatting (color, font style and/or size, border style, etc.), to multiple pieces of text or graphics.
Google Docs: Highlight the text whose format you want to copy, click the paintbrush icon in the toolbar, then highlight where you want to apply.
Word: Highlight the text whose format you want to copy, click the paintbrush icon in the ‘Home’ ribbon, then highlight where you want to apply.
Select All with Similar Formatting
To make a formatting change to all sections at once, use this trick to select all text that has the same formatting – it works with headers, bullet points, bolded text, etc.
Note: if not all headers or bullet points auto-select, it may mean there are currently some formatting inconsistencies.
Google Docs: Highlight a piece of text with the formatting you want to select. Right click > Format options > Select all matching text.
Word: Highlight a piece of text with the formatting you want to select. On the ‘Home’ ribbon, go to Editing > Select > Select All Text With Similar Formatting (No Data).
Border under Headers
If you want to have a line under header that automatically span the width of the page, you may want to use a border.
Google Docs: Highlight the text you want underlined, then go to Format > Paragraph styles > Borders and shading, then select bottom border & click apply.
Word: Highlight the text you want underlined. On the ‘Home’ ribbon, go to Paragraph > Borders > Bottom Border.
Change Headers to All Upper-Case
Quicky change a header, paragraph, or section from one case to another with no retyping.
Google Docs: Highlight the text you want to change. Go to Format > Text > Capitalization – there are options for UPPERCASE, lowercase, and Capitalize Each Word.
Word: Highlight the text you want to change. On the ‘Home’ ribbon, go to the ‘Change Case’ button – there are options for Sentence case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, and Capitalize Each Word.
Adjust Page Margins
Taking the page margins down can give you more space.
Google Docs: Go to File > Page setup. – there are options for UPPERCASE, lowercase, and Capitalize Each Word.
Just make sure they stay above 1.25cm and are even on all sides.
Word: On the ‘Layout’ ribbon, go to Margins > Custom Margins.
Just make sure they stay above .5 inches and are even on all sides.
Paragraph Spacing
Remove or add space before/after a paragraph or section.
Google Docs: Highlight the text you want to change. Go to Format > Line & paragraph spacing. There are options to add and remove space before or after a paragraph.
Word: Highlight the text you want to change. On the ‘Home’ ribbon, go to Paragraph > Borders > Bottom Border.
