Microsoft Word 2016 – Format selected text with the Mini Toolbar

When you select text in your Word document, a Mini Toolbar appears near your cursor, which provides you with easy access to the most commonly used formatting commands in Word.

Here’s what you do: 

The toolbar will also appear when you right-click on a selection of text.

Initially, the toolbar is semi-transparent to allow you a nearly unobstructed view of the text beneath, and becomes opaque when the mouse pointer moves over it.

The mini toolbar sometimes disappears; to get it back, reselect the text or right-click the text selection.

If you decide you don't like the mini toolbar and want to do things the old fashioned way, you can disable it:

Click the File tab > Options tab > General tab, and uncheck Show Mini Toolbar on selection.

Note: You can also format selected text or all text (Ctrl+A) by using the formatting tools on the Home tab.