Word's text selection isn't limited to a single continuous block. It can hold several separate selections at once, all editable together.
It's a small feature that quietly removes a lot of repetitive clicking.
Here's the trick:
Hold Ctrl and select separate blocks of text, then apply bold, color or a style to all of them in one go.
How to use it
- Select your first block of text normally, by clicking and dragging.
- Hold Ctrl and click-drag to select a second, separate block elsewhere in the document.
- Keep holding Ctrl to add as many additional blocks as you need.
- Apply any formatting — bold, italic, a color, a style — once. It applies to every block you selected.
Where it helps most
Making every instance of a specific term bold, unifying scattered callouts, or applying one style to several disconnected phrases without repeating the same click sequence over and over.
One thing to watch for
This works within a single open document only — you can't hold a multi-selection across two separate Word windows.
Found a faster way to do this, or a version that works differently on Mac? That's what the comments are for — this section connects to your comment system of choice (Disqus, giscus, etc.) once the site is live.