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In Microsoft Word is it possible to change the size of all fonts relatively? In other words, make all text "x" pts or percent smaller or larger? For documents to be read on screen I like a larger base text size, smaller for print.

I know I can modify the styles of each type (normal paragraph, heading, list, etc.) but that quickly turns into a lot of work for any document of more than a few styles.

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3 Answers 3

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There is in fact a "grow font" option command in Word 2003. To add it to your toolbar:

  1. Right-click on any of the toolbar buttons and select Customize
  2. Select the Commands tab
  3. Choose Format from the list under Categories
  4. Scroll down under Commands
  5. Drag Grow Font and Shrink font onto your taskbar where you want them to stick
  6. Click close

These buttons scale your fonts proportionally.

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  • Is this feature available in Word 2007 and 2010?
    – James Watt
    Aug 1, 2010 at 5:17
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    @James Watt - Yes. These two buttons are located on the Home tab, right next to the drop down for font size, in both Word 2007 and 2010.
    – variant
    Aug 1, 2010 at 12:19
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    These buttons are enabled by default in Word for Mac (2017), btw.
    – Mars
    Mar 24, 2017 at 22:22
  • Also enabled in Windows Word 2016. Very useful for large inheirited complex documents. Apr 26, 2017 at 23:48
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    Highlight and click Command+Shift+> or Command+Shift+< in MacOSx. Nov 7, 2020 at 22:17
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To re-size the text of your whole document without loosing their relative sizes is very easy in Ms-word.

Select all text with Ctrl+A in your word document or select portion of your document where you want to increase or decrease text sizes relatively

  • Ctrl+] (GrowFontOnePoint) increases all sizes by exactly 1 pt
  • Ctrl+[ (ShrinkFontOnePoint) decrease all sizes by exactly 1 pt

or

Select text to apply re-size. Use buttons provided by Ms Word to increase font sizes relatively.

enter image description here

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    the Q is specific to msoffice-2003, so this is off-topic as the Increase/Decrease buttons are not there (but maybe the keyboard commands will work anyway since the buttons are available with some work?). All the same your answer is nicely described and formatted. Jan 9, 2013 at 7:44
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    You are right @mattwilkie, I just shared the solution which worked for me so that others can benefit from this thread even if they are not using msoffice-2003. Jan 9, 2013 at 7:58
  • This solution also works in Word for Mac (2017), with the usual substitution of the Apple key for Ctrl. It has the buttons set up by default, as well.
    – Mars
    Mar 24, 2017 at 22:22
  • Also useful in Windows Word 2016. Apr 26, 2017 at 23:49
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Are you trying to change the file permanently, or just have a larger font when you're reading the document? If it's the latter, you can just change the view percentage. In Word 2007 or 2010 you can do this using the percentage slider in the bottom right corner of the window.

If you're trying to change the size of all text permanently, just select all (Ctrl-A) and then use the Grow Font button on the toolbar, which looks like this: A^, or hit Ctrl->.

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  • It's usually for print, so permanently. There doesn't appear to be a Grow Font command in Word 2003. Nice to know that whenever our office finally gets around to upgrading the option will be available. Thanks. Jul 23, 2010 at 20:24

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