How to Change the Default Font in Microsoft Word?

[Palanan]

I just got a new copy of Microsoft Office for the Mac, and I’d like to know how to change the default font on new documents in Word. I don’t see any intuitive way to do this when a document opens, and I can’t find an obvious control in Preferences.

I assume this will take some digging deeper into the innards of Word, as these things often do, and I’d appreciate any advice. I’m trying to change the default font from Calibri to Times New Roman, if that helps at all.

[veti]

My first thought is, "don't". Times New Roman is a horrible, terrible, very bad no-good font for any layout that doesn't depend on narrow columns. But setting that aside...

This article (https://www.howtogeek.com/219767/how-to-set-the-default-font-in-word/) is probably the answer you're looking for.

[Lord Torath]

What I've heard is that serif fonts (Times New Roman, Cambria) are easier to read than san-serif fonts (Arial, Calibri). The serifs - the little marks on the ends of the letters - make the letters flow better, speeding your eyes along. San-serif fonts slow your eyes down, making reading it slower than a serif font. So serif fonts are best for the body of a text, while san-serif fonts are better for headings.

As I understand it, Times New Roman is better for print, while Cambria was designed for screens.

[Palanan]

Times New Roman is a standard font for what I’m doing, and it’s often specified for manuscript submissions. Nothing wrong with it.

As for my question, I appreciate the link, but that article was apparently written for an earlier version of Word. When I select the text in a new document, there’s no “Set As Default” option that I can see. Not sure how to find that in the version I have.

.

[Khedrac]

Which version of Word are you using?

I would suggest finding where your computer stores normal.dotm and open it (from within Word, double clicking will open a new document based on the template, you need to edit the template itself). Then edit the template as you need to and save the changes.

A long-winded way to do it, but should work for any version of Word (OK for earlier versions edit normal.dot instead).

Edit: the location is likely to be in AppData (a hidden folder), mine is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

Edit 2: bah - I had forgotten he said Mac - not had one of them since the first general power PC chips...

[factotum]

He's on a Mac, though, which doesn't have the same folder structure as Windows. According to this page, the correct location (in Word 2011, at any rate, don't know if Palanan is using a more recent one) is /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/ :

https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/Change-the-default-settings-for-new-documents-430b4132-e129-46e4-97d2-19c326352c7f

[crayzz]

Create a custom style with the font you want, and make that style the default. Much easier than personally messing with files.