What Is Text Formatting?

Riley Walz

Aug 3, 2025

person working - What Is Text Formatting

Ever read a blog that was so difficult to get through that you just left it? You weren't alone; someone else probably opened it seconds after you and got the same impression. In under a minute, they, too, had moved on to something else. Everything about the post was so dull and dense that it was impossible to extract any usable information.

The text was poorly formatted, with no clear headings, structure, or organization to guide the reader. There was no space between paragraphs, and the small, dense font sucked out any enjoyment of reading. The blog's notes were all written in bullet points, and even those were difficult to decipher. To make matters worse, the language was overly technical and complex, making it hard to understand even for someone with knowledge of the topic.

As a writer, you never want to end up in this position. But if you ever do, you can figure out a way to escape the void with a bit of help from text formatting. Formatting has the power to transform your written content and improve its readability and structure. This post will focus on one specific aspect of content formatting: text formatting. What is text formatting? Well, let’s find out.

For content marketers, students, and business users, spreadsheet AI tools like Numerous are vital in making AI-generated content usable and reader-friendly.

What Is Text Formatting?

Text formatting refers to the way written content is visually structured and styled to improve clarity, readability, and user experience. It involves modifying how text appears—such as the font type, size, color, alignment, spacing, and structural hierarchy (like headings and lists)—to make the content more organized and engaging. In simpler terms: It’s the difference between a giant wall of text vs. clean, well-organized content that’s easy to scan, read, and understand.

What Does Text Formatting Include? (Key Elements)

Here are the most commonly used text formatting elements in digital writing and document editing tools like Google Docs, Word, Notion, or CMS platforms:

Font Style & Size

Choosing legible fonts (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman) and appropriate sizes (usually 12–16pt for body text) is crucial for ensuring readers can easily identify and process your written ideas.

Bold, Italic, Underline

These options help to emphasize keywords, phrases, or concepts. For example:

Bold = highlights importance
Italics = shows subtle emphasis or foreign terms
Underline = rarely used online as it can look like a hyperlink

Text Alignment

Left, center, right, or justified alignment depending on design purpose.

Headings and Subheadings

H1 for titles
H2 for main sections
H3 for subsections

These help structure content for readers and search engines.

Lists and Bullet Points

Used to break complex ideas into digestible steps or points.

Line and Paragraph Spacing

Controls the white space between lines and paragraphs to reduce visual strain.

Text Color and Highlights

Used sparingly to draw attention—while maintaining accessibility.

Real-World Example of Poor vs. Good Formatting

Without Formatting (Poor Example)

"Digital marketing is a complex process that includes SEO, content creation, social media strategy email marketing and data analytics. it helps businesses grow online presence and increase ROI"

With Formatting (Better Example)

Digital marketing is a complex process that includes:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Content creation
Social media strategy
Email marketing
Data analytics

It helps businesses grow their online presence and increase ROI.

The second version uses formatting to make the content more transparent, easier to follow, and more professional.

Why It Matters in the Age of AI Writing

With AI tools like Numerous, formatting isn't just cosmetic—it’s part of the content strategy. For example, Numerous helps automatically structure outputs into readable blocks. It highlights opportunities to break up long paragraphs, fix heading hierarchies, or convert dense text into bullet points. For content marketers, students, and business users, tools like Numerous are vital in making AI-generated content usable and reader-friendly.

10 Key Components a Proper Text Formatting Should Have

1. Clear Font Style and Size: Choose Readable Fonts

When formatting text for a document, stick to clear, legible fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. While decorative fonts have their place, they can be distracting and make reading long-form text difficult. Body text should typically stay between 12pt and 16pt.

2. Consistent Heading Hierarchy: Create Structure for Your Document

Headings help break up content and make it easier to digest. Using different heading styles creates a hierarchy that helps readers navigate your document. Use H1 for the main title, H2 for major sections, and H3-H4 for sub-points. This improves readability and search engine optimization (SEO). Tools like Numerous can auto-format headings to match the semantic structure.

3. Logical Paragraph Structure: Keep Your Ideas Organized

Short paragraphs are easier to read and understand than long blocks of text. Aim for 2–4 sentences per paragraph and use topic sentences to guide the reader. If you have a long idea, break it into multiple paragraphs rather than creating a wall of text.

4. Effective Use of Bold and Italics: Highlight Important Concepts

Bold is great for helping readers identify important concepts or keywords. Italics can be used for foreign terms, subtle emphasis, or thoughts. Don’t overuse them—emphasis loses meaning if everything is emphasized.

5. Bullet Points and Numbered Lists: Break Information into Digestible Chunks

Bullet points and numbered lists help present lists or steps. They also break down complex information into digestible points. For example, Numerous can turn a long paragraph into a well-structured list with a prompt.

6. Proper Line Spacing: Enhance Readability with White Space

Ideal line spacing is 1.15–1.5x to enhance readability. Avoid crammed text; white space helps the eye rest.

7. Text Alignment: Choose the Best Option for Your Document

Most documents should use left alignment. Centered text is best for titles or headings. Justified alignment can be used for a formal, block-like look—but avoid it in digital content.

8. Appropriate Use of Color and Highlights: Use Sparingly to Boost Readability

Use color sparingly—ensure contrast meets accessibility standards. Highlights can be used to call attention to definitions, stats, or warnings. In Numerous, you can prompt AI to color-code key insights or errors for review.

9. Avoiding Text Overflow or Clipping: Ensure All Content is Visible

Especially in tools like Google Sheets or Docs, always wrap text inside cells or adjust margins so that all content is visible. Use “Shrink to fit” or “Wrap text” formatting wisely, depending on your goal.

10. Use of Semantic Tags for Web/HTML Content: Improve Accessibility and SEO

Web content should include the proper HTML tags for improved accessibility and SEO. Use <h1>, <p>, <ul>, <strong> etc. for HTML content. Platforms like Numerous help export well-structured content that’s web-ready and properly tagged.

Numerous is an AI-powered tool that helps content marketers and ecommerce businesses do tasks many times over through AI, like writing SEO blog posts, generating hashtags, mass categorizing products with sentiment analysis and classification, and many more. Get started today with Numerous.ai so that you can make business decisions at scale using AI. Learn more about how you can 10x your marketing efforts with Numerous’s ChatGPT for Spreadsheets.

10 Common Text Formatting Mistakes and How to Fix Them?

1. Stop Mixing Up Heading Styles

Mixing heading styles and sizes makes your document look disorganized. Instead of using heading styles to create structure, you may be randomly bolding or changing the size of text to create “sections.” This can create some visual structure. However, it’s not the structure that helps readers. Instead, it’s the consistent use of heading styles to create an organized hierarchy that readers and search engines recognize. To fix this, use the built-in heading styles to ensure your document has proper structure. In tools like Numerous, you can prompt the AI to standardize your heading hierarchy in seconds.

2. Don’t Overdo Text Styles

Bold, italicized, and underlined text all have specific purposes. When you misuse these text styles or overdo them, it creates visual clutter that reduces the impact of your content. Instead of helping readers, it distracts them. To fix this, reserve bold for key points, italics for subtle emphasis, and avoid underlines unless it’s a hyperlink.

3. Pay Attention to Spacing

Ignoring line spacing and paragraph breaks can create large blocks of text that strain the eyes and reduce readability. Instead of helping readers, it distracts them. To fix this, break text into shorter paragraphs and use 1.15–1.5 line spacing. Numerous can auto-adjust formatting for easier reading.

4. Don’t Forget About Text Alignment

Centered or right-aligned body text makes documents look unprofessional. It’s a dead giveaway that you ignored formatting. To fix this, stick with left alignment for body copy—only use centered for titles or key callouts.

5. Limit Your Fonts and Sizes

Using too many fonts and sizes makes your document look chaotic. To fix this, choose 1–2 font families max. Set standard sizes for titles, body text, and captions.

6. Watch for Overflowing Text

Allowing text overflow in tables or sheets can create messy-looking data that’s hard to read. To fix this, use “Wrap Text” or “Shrink to Fit” in Google Sheets. In Numerous, you can instruct the AI to clean up overflowing cells.

7. Use Lists for Complex Information

Jamming long items into sentences instead of using bullet or numbered lists creates unnecessary barriers for readers. Instead of helping them understand your content, it confuses them. To fix this, use bullet points for features, steps, or takeaways. AI tools like Numerous can restructure your text automatically into lists.

8. Always Use Alt Text for Accessibility

When you skip alt text or labels for accessibility, you leave behind a considerable portion of your audience. Screen readers can’t interpret images or data visuals without descriptions. To fix this, always add alt text to visuals and use clear labels in charts and tables.

9. Fix Inconsistent Spacing After Punctuation

Allowing inconsistent spacing after punctuation is a classic error that gives documents an unprofessional look. Some sentences have two spaces after periods, some only one. To fix this, use “Find & Replace” to clean up extra spacing. Numerous can also detect and fix these inconsistencies with a single command.

10. Preview Your Work

Neglecting mobile or print preview can leave your audience with a bad experience. What looks good on the desktop might look messy on mobile or print. To fix this, preview documents in multiple formats before sharing or exporting. Numerous supports responsive formatting commands tailored for mobile outputs.

Make Decisions At Scale Through AI With Numerous AI’s Spreadsheet AI Tool

Numerous is an AI-powered tool that enables content marketers, ecommerce businesses, and more to do tasks many times over through AI. With a simple prompt, Numerous returns any spreadsheet function, complex or straightforward, within seconds. The capabilities of Numerous are endless. It is versatile and can be used with Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

Get started today with Numerous.ai so that you can make business decisions at scale using AI, in both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Use Numerous AI’s spreadsheet AI tool to make decisions and complete tasks at scale.

What Is Text Formatting?

Text formatting refers to the way written content is visually structured and styled to improve clarity, readability, and user experience. It involves modifying how text appears—such as the font type, size, color, alignment, spacing, and structural hierarchy (like headings and lists)—to make the content more organized and engaging. In simpler terms: It’s the difference between a giant wall of text vs. clean, well-organized content that’s easy to scan, read, and understand.

What Does Text Formatting Include? (Key Elements)

Here are the most commonly used text formatting elements in digital writing and document editing tools like Google Docs, Word, Notion, or CMS platforms:

Font Style & Size

Choosing legible fonts (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman) and appropriate sizes (usually 12–16pt for body text) is crucial for ensuring readers can easily identify and process your written ideas.

Bold, Italic, Underline

These options help to emphasize keywords, phrases, or concepts. For example:

Bold = highlights importance
Italics = shows subtle emphasis or foreign terms
Underline = rarely used online as it can look like a hyperlink

Text Alignment

Left, center, right, or justified alignment depending on design purpose.

Headings and Subheadings

H1 for titles
H2 for main sections
H3 for subsections

These help structure content for readers and search engines.

Lists and Bullet Points

Used to break complex ideas into digestible steps or points.

Line and Paragraph Spacing

Controls the white space between lines and paragraphs to reduce visual strain.

Text Color and Highlights

Used sparingly to draw attention—while maintaining accessibility.

Real-World Example of Poor vs. Good Formatting

Without Formatting (Poor Example)

"Digital marketing is a complex process that includes SEO, content creation, social media strategy email marketing and data analytics. it helps businesses grow online presence and increase ROI"

With Formatting (Better Example)

Digital marketing is a complex process that includes:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Content creation
Social media strategy
Email marketing
Data analytics

It helps businesses grow their online presence and increase ROI.

The second version uses formatting to make the content more transparent, easier to follow, and more professional.

Why It Matters in the Age of AI Writing

With AI tools like Numerous, formatting isn't just cosmetic—it’s part of the content strategy. For example, Numerous helps automatically structure outputs into readable blocks. It highlights opportunities to break up long paragraphs, fix heading hierarchies, or convert dense text into bullet points. For content marketers, students, and business users, tools like Numerous are vital in making AI-generated content usable and reader-friendly.

10 Key Components a Proper Text Formatting Should Have

1. Clear Font Style and Size: Choose Readable Fonts

When formatting text for a document, stick to clear, legible fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. While decorative fonts have their place, they can be distracting and make reading long-form text difficult. Body text should typically stay between 12pt and 16pt.

2. Consistent Heading Hierarchy: Create Structure for Your Document

Headings help break up content and make it easier to digest. Using different heading styles creates a hierarchy that helps readers navigate your document. Use H1 for the main title, H2 for major sections, and H3-H4 for sub-points. This improves readability and search engine optimization (SEO). Tools like Numerous can auto-format headings to match the semantic structure.

3. Logical Paragraph Structure: Keep Your Ideas Organized

Short paragraphs are easier to read and understand than long blocks of text. Aim for 2–4 sentences per paragraph and use topic sentences to guide the reader. If you have a long idea, break it into multiple paragraphs rather than creating a wall of text.

4. Effective Use of Bold and Italics: Highlight Important Concepts

Bold is great for helping readers identify important concepts or keywords. Italics can be used for foreign terms, subtle emphasis, or thoughts. Don’t overuse them—emphasis loses meaning if everything is emphasized.

5. Bullet Points and Numbered Lists: Break Information into Digestible Chunks

Bullet points and numbered lists help present lists or steps. They also break down complex information into digestible points. For example, Numerous can turn a long paragraph into a well-structured list with a prompt.

6. Proper Line Spacing: Enhance Readability with White Space

Ideal line spacing is 1.15–1.5x to enhance readability. Avoid crammed text; white space helps the eye rest.

7. Text Alignment: Choose the Best Option for Your Document

Most documents should use left alignment. Centered text is best for titles or headings. Justified alignment can be used for a formal, block-like look—but avoid it in digital content.

8. Appropriate Use of Color and Highlights: Use Sparingly to Boost Readability

Use color sparingly—ensure contrast meets accessibility standards. Highlights can be used to call attention to definitions, stats, or warnings. In Numerous, you can prompt AI to color-code key insights or errors for review.

9. Avoiding Text Overflow or Clipping: Ensure All Content is Visible

Especially in tools like Google Sheets or Docs, always wrap text inside cells or adjust margins so that all content is visible. Use “Shrink to fit” or “Wrap text” formatting wisely, depending on your goal.

10. Use of Semantic Tags for Web/HTML Content: Improve Accessibility and SEO

Web content should include the proper HTML tags for improved accessibility and SEO. Use <h1>, <p>, <ul>, <strong> etc. for HTML content. Platforms like Numerous help export well-structured content that’s web-ready and properly tagged.

Numerous is an AI-powered tool that helps content marketers and ecommerce businesses do tasks many times over through AI, like writing SEO blog posts, generating hashtags, mass categorizing products with sentiment analysis and classification, and many more. Get started today with Numerous.ai so that you can make business decisions at scale using AI. Learn more about how you can 10x your marketing efforts with Numerous’s ChatGPT for Spreadsheets.

10 Common Text Formatting Mistakes and How to Fix Them?

1. Stop Mixing Up Heading Styles

Mixing heading styles and sizes makes your document look disorganized. Instead of using heading styles to create structure, you may be randomly bolding or changing the size of text to create “sections.” This can create some visual structure. However, it’s not the structure that helps readers. Instead, it’s the consistent use of heading styles to create an organized hierarchy that readers and search engines recognize. To fix this, use the built-in heading styles to ensure your document has proper structure. In tools like Numerous, you can prompt the AI to standardize your heading hierarchy in seconds.

2. Don’t Overdo Text Styles

Bold, italicized, and underlined text all have specific purposes. When you misuse these text styles or overdo them, it creates visual clutter that reduces the impact of your content. Instead of helping readers, it distracts them. To fix this, reserve bold for key points, italics for subtle emphasis, and avoid underlines unless it’s a hyperlink.

3. Pay Attention to Spacing

Ignoring line spacing and paragraph breaks can create large blocks of text that strain the eyes and reduce readability. Instead of helping readers, it distracts them. To fix this, break text into shorter paragraphs and use 1.15–1.5 line spacing. Numerous can auto-adjust formatting for easier reading.

4. Don’t Forget About Text Alignment

Centered or right-aligned body text makes documents look unprofessional. It’s a dead giveaway that you ignored formatting. To fix this, stick with left alignment for body copy—only use centered for titles or key callouts.

5. Limit Your Fonts and Sizes

Using too many fonts and sizes makes your document look chaotic. To fix this, choose 1–2 font families max. Set standard sizes for titles, body text, and captions.

6. Watch for Overflowing Text

Allowing text overflow in tables or sheets can create messy-looking data that’s hard to read. To fix this, use “Wrap Text” or “Shrink to Fit” in Google Sheets. In Numerous, you can instruct the AI to clean up overflowing cells.

7. Use Lists for Complex Information

Jamming long items into sentences instead of using bullet or numbered lists creates unnecessary barriers for readers. Instead of helping them understand your content, it confuses them. To fix this, use bullet points for features, steps, or takeaways. AI tools like Numerous can restructure your text automatically into lists.

8. Always Use Alt Text for Accessibility

When you skip alt text or labels for accessibility, you leave behind a considerable portion of your audience. Screen readers can’t interpret images or data visuals without descriptions. To fix this, always add alt text to visuals and use clear labels in charts and tables.

9. Fix Inconsistent Spacing After Punctuation

Allowing inconsistent spacing after punctuation is a classic error that gives documents an unprofessional look. Some sentences have two spaces after periods, some only one. To fix this, use “Find & Replace” to clean up extra spacing. Numerous can also detect and fix these inconsistencies with a single command.

10. Preview Your Work

Neglecting mobile or print preview can leave your audience with a bad experience. What looks good on the desktop might look messy on mobile or print. To fix this, preview documents in multiple formats before sharing or exporting. Numerous supports responsive formatting commands tailored for mobile outputs.

Make Decisions At Scale Through AI With Numerous AI’s Spreadsheet AI Tool

Numerous is an AI-powered tool that enables content marketers, ecommerce businesses, and more to do tasks many times over through AI. With a simple prompt, Numerous returns any spreadsheet function, complex or straightforward, within seconds. The capabilities of Numerous are endless. It is versatile and can be used with Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

Get started today with Numerous.ai so that you can make business decisions at scale using AI, in both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Use Numerous AI’s spreadsheet AI tool to make decisions and complete tasks at scale.

What Is Text Formatting?

Text formatting refers to the way written content is visually structured and styled to improve clarity, readability, and user experience. It involves modifying how text appears—such as the font type, size, color, alignment, spacing, and structural hierarchy (like headings and lists)—to make the content more organized and engaging. In simpler terms: It’s the difference between a giant wall of text vs. clean, well-organized content that’s easy to scan, read, and understand.

What Does Text Formatting Include? (Key Elements)

Here are the most commonly used text formatting elements in digital writing and document editing tools like Google Docs, Word, Notion, or CMS platforms:

Font Style & Size

Choosing legible fonts (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman) and appropriate sizes (usually 12–16pt for body text) is crucial for ensuring readers can easily identify and process your written ideas.

Bold, Italic, Underline

These options help to emphasize keywords, phrases, or concepts. For example:

Bold = highlights importance
Italics = shows subtle emphasis or foreign terms
Underline = rarely used online as it can look like a hyperlink

Text Alignment

Left, center, right, or justified alignment depending on design purpose.

Headings and Subheadings

H1 for titles
H2 for main sections
H3 for subsections

These help structure content for readers and search engines.

Lists and Bullet Points

Used to break complex ideas into digestible steps or points.

Line and Paragraph Spacing

Controls the white space between lines and paragraphs to reduce visual strain.

Text Color and Highlights

Used sparingly to draw attention—while maintaining accessibility.

Real-World Example of Poor vs. Good Formatting

Without Formatting (Poor Example)

"Digital marketing is a complex process that includes SEO, content creation, social media strategy email marketing and data analytics. it helps businesses grow online presence and increase ROI"

With Formatting (Better Example)

Digital marketing is a complex process that includes:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Content creation
Social media strategy
Email marketing
Data analytics

It helps businesses grow their online presence and increase ROI.

The second version uses formatting to make the content more transparent, easier to follow, and more professional.

Why It Matters in the Age of AI Writing

With AI tools like Numerous, formatting isn't just cosmetic—it’s part of the content strategy. For example, Numerous helps automatically structure outputs into readable blocks. It highlights opportunities to break up long paragraphs, fix heading hierarchies, or convert dense text into bullet points. For content marketers, students, and business users, tools like Numerous are vital in making AI-generated content usable and reader-friendly.

10 Key Components a Proper Text Formatting Should Have

1. Clear Font Style and Size: Choose Readable Fonts

When formatting text for a document, stick to clear, legible fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. While decorative fonts have their place, they can be distracting and make reading long-form text difficult. Body text should typically stay between 12pt and 16pt.

2. Consistent Heading Hierarchy: Create Structure for Your Document

Headings help break up content and make it easier to digest. Using different heading styles creates a hierarchy that helps readers navigate your document. Use H1 for the main title, H2 for major sections, and H3-H4 for sub-points. This improves readability and search engine optimization (SEO). Tools like Numerous can auto-format headings to match the semantic structure.

3. Logical Paragraph Structure: Keep Your Ideas Organized

Short paragraphs are easier to read and understand than long blocks of text. Aim for 2–4 sentences per paragraph and use topic sentences to guide the reader. If you have a long idea, break it into multiple paragraphs rather than creating a wall of text.

4. Effective Use of Bold and Italics: Highlight Important Concepts

Bold is great for helping readers identify important concepts or keywords. Italics can be used for foreign terms, subtle emphasis, or thoughts. Don’t overuse them—emphasis loses meaning if everything is emphasized.

5. Bullet Points and Numbered Lists: Break Information into Digestible Chunks

Bullet points and numbered lists help present lists or steps. They also break down complex information into digestible points. For example, Numerous can turn a long paragraph into a well-structured list with a prompt.

6. Proper Line Spacing: Enhance Readability with White Space

Ideal line spacing is 1.15–1.5x to enhance readability. Avoid crammed text; white space helps the eye rest.

7. Text Alignment: Choose the Best Option for Your Document

Most documents should use left alignment. Centered text is best for titles or headings. Justified alignment can be used for a formal, block-like look—but avoid it in digital content.

8. Appropriate Use of Color and Highlights: Use Sparingly to Boost Readability

Use color sparingly—ensure contrast meets accessibility standards. Highlights can be used to call attention to definitions, stats, or warnings. In Numerous, you can prompt AI to color-code key insights or errors for review.

9. Avoiding Text Overflow or Clipping: Ensure All Content is Visible

Especially in tools like Google Sheets or Docs, always wrap text inside cells or adjust margins so that all content is visible. Use “Shrink to fit” or “Wrap text” formatting wisely, depending on your goal.

10. Use of Semantic Tags for Web/HTML Content: Improve Accessibility and SEO

Web content should include the proper HTML tags for improved accessibility and SEO. Use <h1>, <p>, <ul>, <strong> etc. for HTML content. Platforms like Numerous help export well-structured content that’s web-ready and properly tagged.

Numerous is an AI-powered tool that helps content marketers and ecommerce businesses do tasks many times over through AI, like writing SEO blog posts, generating hashtags, mass categorizing products with sentiment analysis and classification, and many more. Get started today with Numerous.ai so that you can make business decisions at scale using AI. Learn more about how you can 10x your marketing efforts with Numerous’s ChatGPT for Spreadsheets.

10 Common Text Formatting Mistakes and How to Fix Them?

1. Stop Mixing Up Heading Styles

Mixing heading styles and sizes makes your document look disorganized. Instead of using heading styles to create structure, you may be randomly bolding or changing the size of text to create “sections.” This can create some visual structure. However, it’s not the structure that helps readers. Instead, it’s the consistent use of heading styles to create an organized hierarchy that readers and search engines recognize. To fix this, use the built-in heading styles to ensure your document has proper structure. In tools like Numerous, you can prompt the AI to standardize your heading hierarchy in seconds.

2. Don’t Overdo Text Styles

Bold, italicized, and underlined text all have specific purposes. When you misuse these text styles or overdo them, it creates visual clutter that reduces the impact of your content. Instead of helping readers, it distracts them. To fix this, reserve bold for key points, italics for subtle emphasis, and avoid underlines unless it’s a hyperlink.

3. Pay Attention to Spacing

Ignoring line spacing and paragraph breaks can create large blocks of text that strain the eyes and reduce readability. Instead of helping readers, it distracts them. To fix this, break text into shorter paragraphs and use 1.15–1.5 line spacing. Numerous can auto-adjust formatting for easier reading.

4. Don’t Forget About Text Alignment

Centered or right-aligned body text makes documents look unprofessional. It’s a dead giveaway that you ignored formatting. To fix this, stick with left alignment for body copy—only use centered for titles or key callouts.

5. Limit Your Fonts and Sizes

Using too many fonts and sizes makes your document look chaotic. To fix this, choose 1–2 font families max. Set standard sizes for titles, body text, and captions.

6. Watch for Overflowing Text

Allowing text overflow in tables or sheets can create messy-looking data that’s hard to read. To fix this, use “Wrap Text” or “Shrink to Fit” in Google Sheets. In Numerous, you can instruct the AI to clean up overflowing cells.

7. Use Lists for Complex Information

Jamming long items into sentences instead of using bullet or numbered lists creates unnecessary barriers for readers. Instead of helping them understand your content, it confuses them. To fix this, use bullet points for features, steps, or takeaways. AI tools like Numerous can restructure your text automatically into lists.

8. Always Use Alt Text for Accessibility

When you skip alt text or labels for accessibility, you leave behind a considerable portion of your audience. Screen readers can’t interpret images or data visuals without descriptions. To fix this, always add alt text to visuals and use clear labels in charts and tables.

9. Fix Inconsistent Spacing After Punctuation

Allowing inconsistent spacing after punctuation is a classic error that gives documents an unprofessional look. Some sentences have two spaces after periods, some only one. To fix this, use “Find & Replace” to clean up extra spacing. Numerous can also detect and fix these inconsistencies with a single command.

10. Preview Your Work

Neglecting mobile or print preview can leave your audience with a bad experience. What looks good on the desktop might look messy on mobile or print. To fix this, preview documents in multiple formats before sharing or exporting. Numerous supports responsive formatting commands tailored for mobile outputs.

Make Decisions At Scale Through AI With Numerous AI’s Spreadsheet AI Tool

Numerous is an AI-powered tool that enables content marketers, ecommerce businesses, and more to do tasks many times over through AI. With a simple prompt, Numerous returns any spreadsheet function, complex or straightforward, within seconds. The capabilities of Numerous are endless. It is versatile and can be used with Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

Get started today with Numerous.ai so that you can make business decisions at scale using AI, in both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Use Numerous AI’s spreadsheet AI tool to make decisions and complete tasks at scale.

What Is Text Formatting?

What Is Text Formatting?

Table Of Contents

What Is Text Formatting?

What Does Text Formatting Include? (Key Elements)

Font Style & Size

Bold, Italic, Underline

Text Alignment

Headings and Subheadings

Lists and Bullet Points

Line and Paragraph Spacing

Text Color and Highlights

Real-World Example of Poor vs. Good Formatting

Without Formatting (Poor Example)

With Formatting (Better Example)

Why It Matters in the Age of AI Writing

Related Reading

10 Key Components a Proper Text Formatting Should Have

1. Clear Font Style and Size: Choose Readable Fonts

2. Consistent Heading Hierarchy: Create Structure for Your Document

3. Logical Paragraph Structure: Keep Your Ideas Organized

4. Effective Use of Bold and Italics: Highlight Important Concepts

5. Bullet Points and Numbered Lists: Break Information into Digestible Chunks

6. Proper Line Spacing: Enhance Readability with White Space

7. Text Alignment: Choose the Best Option for Your Document

8. Appropriate Use of Color and Highlights: Use Sparingly to Boost Readability

9. Avoiding Text Overflow or Clipping: Ensure All Content is Visible

10. Use of Semantic Tags for Web/HTML Content: Improve Accessibility and SEO

10 Common Text Formatting Mistakes and How to Fix Them?

1. Stop Mixing Up Heading Styles

2. Don’t Overdo Text Styles

3. Pay Attention to Spacing

4. Don’t Forget About Text Alignment

5. Limit Your Fonts and Sizes

6. Watch for Overflowing Text

7. Use Lists for Complex Information

8. Always Use Alt Text for Accessibility

9. Fix Inconsistent Spacing After Punctuation

10. Preview Your Work

Related Reading

Make Decisions At Scale Through AI With Numerous AI’s Spreadsheet AI Tool

Related Reading

Table Of Contents

What Is Text Formatting?

What Does Text Formatting Include? (Key Elements)

Font Style & Size

Bold, Italic, Underline

Text Alignment

Headings and Subheadings

Lists and Bullet Points

Line and Paragraph Spacing

Text Color and Highlights

Real-World Example of Poor vs. Good Formatting

Without Formatting (Poor Example)

With Formatting (Better Example)

Why It Matters in the Age of AI Writing

Related Reading

10 Key Components a Proper Text Formatting Should Have

1. Clear Font Style and Size: Choose Readable Fonts

2. Consistent Heading Hierarchy: Create Structure for Your Document

3. Logical Paragraph Structure: Keep Your Ideas Organized

4. Effective Use of Bold and Italics: Highlight Important Concepts

5. Bullet Points and Numbered Lists: Break Information into Digestible Chunks

6. Proper Line Spacing: Enhance Readability with White Space

7. Text Alignment: Choose the Best Option for Your Document

8. Appropriate Use of Color and Highlights: Use Sparingly to Boost Readability

9. Avoiding Text Overflow or Clipping: Ensure All Content is Visible

10. Use of Semantic Tags for Web/HTML Content: Improve Accessibility and SEO

10 Common Text Formatting Mistakes and How to Fix Them?

1. Stop Mixing Up Heading Styles

2. Don’t Overdo Text Styles

3. Pay Attention to Spacing

4. Don’t Forget About Text Alignment

5. Limit Your Fonts and Sizes

6. Watch for Overflowing Text

7. Use Lists for Complex Information

8. Always Use Alt Text for Accessibility

9. Fix Inconsistent Spacing After Punctuation

10. Preview Your Work

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